The pact being negotiated between the US and Baghdad governments includes a direct rebuff to president-elect Barack Obama's promised policy of withdrawing American combat troops in 16-18 months. The pact instead would leave those troops in place until the end of 2011, a doubling of the timeline to which Obama pledged himself.but there's nothing inconsistent between obama's plan and the plan in the SOFA. first, obama's withdrawal timetable only applied to "combat troops". much to the chagrin of DFHs like me, obama never promised they all u.s. military personelle would be out by the end of his withdrawal timetable. the SOFA deadline, on the other hand, applies to all members of the u.s. military. thus, it doesn't contradict obama's plan (or "rebuke" it), it just gives an outer deadline for the non-combat personnel to leave. both obama's plan and the SOFA can be read together without contradiction: first the combat forces come out, and then a year later the rest come out.
but second, the SOFA pretty clearly states that the end of 2011 deadline is a floor, not a ceiling. that is, while all forces have to be out by then, nothing in the agreement prevents them from leaving earlier. indeed, article 24 of the agreement states quite clearly: "The Iraqi government admits to the sovereign right of the United States to withdraw U.S. forces from Iraq at anytime." that's not a "rebuke" to obama's position in favor of a quicker withdrawal, it's an endorsement of it in a legal document.
which once again makes me wonder whether the people making this argument have bothered to look at what the SOFA actually says.
