Dems Disappointed with Obama's Iraq Plan

clipped from www.reuters.com President Barack Obama said on Friday he would end U.S. combat operations in Iraq in 18 months but leave up to 50,000 troops there to provide stability, a decision that riled Democrats who favored a larger withdrawal. "We are leaving Iraq to its people, and we have begun the work of ending this war," Obama said in an address to Marines almost six years after U.S.-led forces toppled Saddam Hussein in a vain hunt for weapons of mass destruction. Congressional Democrats who fought the Bush administration for two years to bring home U.S. forces home expressed disappointment, with Senate leader Harry Reid saying 50,000 troops was "higher than I had anticipated" and Representative Lynn Woolsey calling it "unacceptable."

Woolsey continued:

"Such a large number can only be viewed by the Iraqi public as an enduring occupation force," Woolsey said. "So long as the U.S. is viewed as an occupier, the Iraqis will be unable to achieve the necessary unification, reconciliation, and further democratization efforts that will be required for them to bring long-term stability to the country."

Meanwhile, AP reports that Obama "leaned heavily toward field commanders' preferences" in drafting his plan. Maybe someone should remind him who's in charge here.