Obama: Iraq's peaceful elections aid substantial US troop pullout

By JERUSALEM POST STAFF
US President Barack Obama said Sunday that the peaceful elections in Iraq are "good news" for US troops and their families, and he agreed with the suggestion that a substantial number of those troops could be home within a year. "We are in a position to start putting more responsibility on the Iraqis, and that's good news for not only the troops in the field but also their families, who are carrying an enormous burden," Obama said in an interview with NBC's Matt Lauer before the Super Bowl. Lauer asked Obama if he could assure the troops "that a substantial number of them will be home" a year from now, to which Obama replied: "Yes." Obama gave few details, but said "we're going to roll out in a very formal fashion what our intentions are in Iraq as well as Afghanistan." He said he has been talking with the Joint Chiefs of Staff and commanders on the ground.