Top Lawmakers Skeptical of Obama’s Plan to Leave up to 50,000 Troops in Iraq after 2010

By ANNE FLAHERTY | Associated Press

WASHINGTON – Congressional leaders were skeptical as they awaited details on President Barack Obama’s plan to begin withdrawing troops from Iraq while leaving tens of thousands behind. Senior administration officials were expected to outline a plan that would bring most of the 142,000 forces home by August 2010. As many as 50,000 troops could remain for cleanup and protection operations.

“I have been one for a long time that’s called for significant cutbacks in Iraq, and I am happy to listen to the secretary of defense and the president,” Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev., told reporters Thursday before the briefing at the White House. “But when they talk about 50,000, that’s a little higher number than I had anticipated.”

House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., had said Wednesday that she too wanted to hear the president’s justification for keeping 50,000 troops in Iraq.

“I do think that there’s a need for some,” Pelosi said in an interview on MSNBC. “I don’t know that all of them have to be in country.”

Republican lawmakers were skeptical for a different reason. They were concerned that troops might be pulled out too fast and security gains sacrificed …

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