[Skybird]

That Obama would not pull put within 90 days after elction, should be no surprise. Different to his predecessor, he seems to be a man listening to others he asks for advice, in this case: the military. So the timetable looks okay.

Just that he wants to leave up to 50.000 as "instructors" and a rapid reaction force, made my eyebrow raise a bit. That is quite a lot of troops. It sounds more like maintaining the already established platform for an action-capable military presence in general, and projecting it's influence over Iraq - and beyond. The US has established a whole network of military basis throughout the Middle and Far East since the cold war ended, which serve as tripwires, ELINT basis and logistics nodes in the global network the US army is running, and while only some are very major and big in size, and while many of them are very small and unable to survive any dedicated military attack on them, each of them is capable to perform considerable intel gathering operations in it'S region. And again: they serve as tripwires and should dam both Russia and China, and help to remain in control distance of strategic hotspots like oil pipelines.

If it all is not already a little bit overstretched, or not, is worth a debate for itself.

Pelosi suggested a troop level of not more than 15-20 thousands. If it is about training the Iraqi army only, even significantly less would be sufficient. Anything exceeding this basic number indicates intentions leading beyond "army instruction and training" only.