Obama to Call for an Immediate Withdrawal of Our Troops

"Let me be clear: There is no military solution in Iraq and there never was," Obama was expected to say in a speech Wednesday at Ashford University. "The best way to protect our security and to pressure Iraq's leaders to resolve their civil war is to immediately begin to remove our combat troops. Not in six months or one year _ now," the Illinois senator was to say.

This is momentous and will certainly begin a distinction between he and Hillary Clinton, who voted to authorize the war and recently seemed to buy into the "success" of the surge. Though, this will certainly put pressure on her and she will most certainly follow suit.

This comes after General Patraeus' testimony to Congress the past two days. Petraeus recommended that a 2,000-member Marine unit come home this month and not be replaced. That would be followed in mid-December by the departure of an Army brigade of 3,500 to 4,000 soldiers. An additional four combat brigades would be withdrawn by July 2008.

Last night on Olbermann he pointed out why if the "surge" is working would troops come home? If it has been such a success should the policy wonks advocating for such a program want to stay this course. Not here, instead it is a political game set to appease the democrats. And it seems to be working. But, Dodd, Edwards and now Barack Obama seemed to be gaining some chutzpah that is badly needed.

Obama says the withdrawal should be strategic and begin the withdrawal of the most secure areas while the most volatile areas will maintain troop levels until the end of next year when he says all combat troops should be home.

"The president would have us believe there are two choices: keep all of our troops in Iraq or abandon these Iraqis," Obama said. "I reject this choice."

Instead, he argued for creating an international working group of countries in the region and in Asia and Europe that would work to stabilize Iraq.

Obama called for increasing U.S. aid to $2 billion to support such an effort, to expand access to social services for Iraqi refugees in neighboring countries and to assure that Iraqis displaced inside their own country can find safe haven. He also wants a commission to monitor and hold accountable perpetrators of war crimes in Iraq.

Here is a video comparing Clinton and Obama on Iraq. There is a clear difference here and now Obama is seeking to separate himself. Good for him.