Obama to announce Iraq withdrawl
Published:Friday | February 27, 2009 | 2:10 PM
US President Barack Obama is due to announce the withdrawal of most US troops in Iraq by August 2010.
In a speech later today, President Obama is expected to confirm that the US combat mission in Iraq will officially end by that time.
He’s also expected to say that up to 50,000 of the 142,000 troops will stay in Iraq after that date to advise Iraqi forces and protect American interests.
Some Democrats are concerned that the timetable may fall short of his election vow to withdraw troops.
Mr Obama had previously said that he would completely pull out troops within 16 months of taking the top job.
Earlier this month, he ordered the deployment of up to 17,000 extra US troops to Afghanistan.