Beating the Dead Horse Again

As perhaps I've mentioned before, Barack this week reneged on his primary campaign promise to withdraw our combat troops from Iraq in 16 months. For some reason, the media is refusing to notice. Here are just a couple of examples.

From Time Magazine:

Obama's liberal supporters, on the other hand, have been unsettled by his recent comments suggesting that, as President, he might "refine" his timetable for bringing American forces out of Iraq based on the recommendations he gets from American commanders.
It's already been as refined as white sugar.

The French news service AFP says in a story today:

In a major foreign policy address on Tuesday, Obama reiterated his promise to get most US combat troops out of Iraq within 16 months, and to focus on Al-Qaeda havens in Pakistan and Afghanistan.

No, he muddled the language on that commitment so that no one will ever be able to say he had such a commitment.

Just to recap, here is the position he erased from his website this week:

Obama will immediately begin to remove our troops from Iraq. He will remove one to two combat brigades each month, and have all of our combat brigades out of Iraq within 16 months.

Now, his new position, as articulated in his speech Tuesday.

We can safely redeploy our combat brigades at a pace that would remove them in 16 months... After this redeployment, we'll keep a residual force to perform specific missions in Iraq... We will make tactical adjustments as we implement this strategy - that is what any responsible Commander-in-Chief must do.

Notice that he says "we can" withdraw in 16 months. This sentence doesn't even make clear that a 16 month withdrawal is part of Barack's plan - we have to infer this from the later statement, "After this redeployment." And, that redeployment is now contingent on tactical adjustments.

It's Official - Barack Flips on Iraq

Welcome to visitors from sites like Instapundit, The Real Barack Obama, Small Dead Animals and Pundit Review. After you read this post, check out "Barack Lied, Hillary Died."

Barack's website has been updated - he is no longer calling for a blind withdrawal of troops from Iraq - the position that outflanked Hillary and won him the nomination.

Here's what his official position has been since before the primaries, as outlined on his website, without any caveats about talking to commanders or conditions on the ground:

Obama will immediately begin to remove our troops from Iraq. He will remove one to two combat brigades each month, and have all of our combat brigades out of Iraq within 16 months.

Could you give that to us again, just to make sure no one is confused?

Obama has a plan to immediately begin withdrawing our troops engaged in combat operations at a pace of one or two brigades every month, to be completed by the end of next year.

Here's Barack's new position:

Barack Obama believes we must be as careful getting out of Iraq as we were careless getting in. Immediately upon taking office, Obama will give his Secretary of Defense and military commanders a new mission in Iraq: ending the war. The removal of our troops will be responsible and phased, directed by military commanders on the ground and done in consultation with the Iraqi government. Military experts believe we can safely redeploy combat brigades from Iraq at a pace of 1 to 2 brigades a month that would remove them in 16 months. That would be the summer of 2010 – more than 7 years after the war began.

Under the Obama plan, a residual force will remain in Iraq and in the region to conduct targeted counter-terrorism missions against al Qaeda in Iraq and to protect American diplomatic and civilian personnel. He will not build permanent bases in Iraq, but will continue efforts to train and support the Iraqi security forces as long as Iraqi leaders move toward political reconciliation and away from sectarianism.

Democrats were duped into dumping Hillary. Has a more malicious and manipulative politician ever walked the earth? It's hard to imagine.