Obama on Iraq and Afghanistan

The White House: The President was asked about Iraq and Afghanistan at his First Prime Time Press Conference. The President stated the following, " With respect to Afghanistan, this is going to be a big challenge. I think because of the extraordinary work done by our troops, and some very good diplomatic work done by Ambassador Crocker in Iraq, we just saw an election in Iraq that went relatively peacefully. And you get a sense that the political system is now functioning in a meaningful way. You do not see that yet in Afghanistan. They've got elections coming up, but effectively the national government seems very detached from what's going on in the surrounding community. " The President did not mention any timetable for Iraq, even though the question stated his Campaign pledge to get out of Iraq in sixteen months, the President did not confirm that in his answer. As Fox News has reported the Pentagon is in favour of a 23 month withdrawal, this would allow a effective withdrawal of troops and equipment. Also it would allow the Obama Administration to change the status of most troops from Combat to Training Troops, there can be a lot of trainers over a hundred thousand. President Obama is clever guy, even if his press conferences are dull! he knows that Iraq has worked, Afghanistan could be a bloody nightmare, think LBJ and Vietnam but worse, at least Vietnam never attacked the American homeland, the terrorists in Afghanistan did on 9/11 2001. Thus Obama cant get out of Afghanistan, if the USA leaves and the terrorists come back, we are back to more attacks like 9/11. Thus one can postulate that Obama will find good reasons to stay in Iraq, and keep Afghanistan at a low boiling point. The Economic Crisis, two wars are enough for two terms, if he makes a mistake in Iraq he could have a war with Iran on his hands. Thus expect the tone to change but not actual policy.