Obama's 'secret plan' to end the war in Iraq

The man who promised the far left he would end the war in Iraq as soon as he was sworn into office as president is now saying he might end the war in 18 months or 24 months or two years or maybe never.

With the Democratic Party nomination in hand, Sen. Barack Obama has already backpedaled on his promise to get American troops out of Iraq.

You would think he would have kept his mouth shut until after Nov. 4, but I guess that's confidence for you.

Obama is so sure he's going to be president that he's already broken his promises to the far left.

Or has he?

Bret Stephens, writing in The Wall Street Journal, wonders if Sen. Obama has a "secret plan" end end the war in Iraq, much like Richard Nixon's secret plan to end the war in Vietnam 35 years ago.

Stephens writes:

The presumptive Democratic nominee set off media firecrackers last week by hinting at further refinements to his strategy for withdrawal. Previous strategies include his January 2007 call for a complete withdrawal by March 2008, followed by his March 2008 call for a complete withdrawal by July 2010, or 16 months after he takes office.

Now Mr. Obama tells us that the 16-month timeline is contingent on (1) "[making] sure that our troops are safe and that Iraq is stable" (my emphasis), and (2) the opinion of "the commanders on the ground." Also in question is the size of the "residual force" that the Illinois senator envisions for Iraq after the bulk of U.S. forces is withdrawn. Will it be an embassy guard, plus some military advisers and special-ops forces? Or, as suggested in a March paper by Colin H. Kahl, who runs Mr. Obama's working group on Iraq, an "overwatch force" of between 60,000 and 80,000 soldiers?

Read the full column, "Obama's Nixon Reprise," in the WSJ.