Your response sir?

Obama penned an Op-Ed about Iraq policy that contained:

We can safely redeploy our combat brigades at a pace that would remove them in 16 months.

In a follow up news story, we learn that Michael O'Hanlon was "livid":

Michael E. O'Hanlon, a Democratic defense analyst at the Brookings Institution who has been an outspoken supporter of the war in Iraq, said he could not believe that Obama would put such a definitive timeline into print before a trip to Iraq, where he is to consult with Iraqi leaders and U.S. commanders.

"To say you're going to get out on a certain schedule -- regardless of what the Iraqis do, regardless of what our enemies do, regardless of what is happening on the ground -- is the height of absurdity," said O'Hanlon, who described himself as "livid." "I'm not going to go to the next level of invective and say he shouldn't be president. I'll leave that to someone else."

But now Maliki says he's in favor of Obama's plan:

"U.S. presidential candidate Barack Obama talks about 16 months. That, we think, would be the right timeframe for a withdrawal, with the possibility of slight changes."

So what does O'Hanlon say now?


posted by Quiddity at 7/20/2008 01:42:00 PM