During President Bush's last year in office, he agreed to a timetable for troop withdrawals in Iraq: U.S. forces would leave by the end of 2011. The same year, Barack Obama insisted that if elected he would end the Iraq War. In a speech given shortly after his inauguration, he repeated the promise. "Let me say this as plainly as I can: By August 31, 2010, our combat mission in Iraq will end," he said. "I intend to remove all U.S. troops from Iraq by the end of 2011."
Now he may not honor his promise: AP reports that the Obama administration has offered to leave 10,000 troops in Iraq if its government so requests. Already the White House "has worked out options to keep 8,500 to 10,000 active-duty troops in Iraq to continue training security forces."
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