Contested Terrain: Obama's Iraq Withdrawal Plan and the Peace Movement

The meaning of President Obama's Iraq withdrawal speech, and its influence on real U.S. policy in Iraq, will not be determined solely by his actual words. The import of the speech - and whether its promises become real - will be determined by a fluid combination of what Obama says, his own definitions of what he says, AND the disparate ways his speech is heard, perceived, described and contested by others - the mainstream media, Congress, the military, other centers of elite power, and crucially, the peace movement.

Endless War

“There will still be American troops in Iraq, up to 50,000 of them.”
 

Partial Peace, Looming War

President Obama has surprised the national security establishment, and not a few in the peace movement, with his Friday commitment to pull all American troops out of Iraq by 2011.

US Influence in Iraq Far From Over

Barack Obama won the votes of many Americans by promising to swiftly end the Iraq War and bring U.S. troops home. He denounced George W. Bush's invasion of Iraq as a "violation of international law."

So will U.S. troops leave Iraq? Will those responsible for this trumped-up war face justice?

No, on both counts.

President Obama says U.S. combat troops will leave Iraq by August 2010. However, the U.S. military occupation will not end. What we are seeing is a public relations shell game.

Is Obama's War Strategy a Wise One or a Betrayal?

During the presidential campaign red and white anti-war signs dotted the countryside. In some towns, they lined the streets.

The initial impetus for Barack Obama's candidacy came from the anti-war movement and his promise to bring the troops home.

At first, Obama argued that U.S. involvement in the war would end quickly after he became president. As the campaign wore on that urgency migrated to getting the troops out in 16 months.