Stuck In the Middle (East.)

From the AP: 

President Barack Obama is expected to order all U.S. combat troops to leave Iraq by August of next year, administration officials said, closing the door on a war that has led to the deaths of at least 4,250 members of the U.S. military.

The pullout recommended by Obama's security advisers would free up troops and resources for the war in Afghanistan, where Obama has said the threat to national security is acute. The Iraq withdrawal would be completed 18 months from now.

Officials said that upon entering the White House, Obama requested a range of options from his top military advisers, asking for plans ranging between 16 to 23 months.

About 142,000 U.S. troops are in Iraq, roughly 14 brigades, about 11,000 more than the total in Iraq when President George W. Bush announced in January 2007 that he would "surge" the force to put down the insurgency. He sent an additional 21,000 combat troops to Baghdad and Anbar province.

Although the number of combat brigades has dropped from 20 to 14, the U.S. has increased the number of logistical and other support troops. A brigade is usually about 3,000 to 5,000 troops.

Congress has approved more than $657 billion so far for the Iraq war, according to a report last year from the Congressional Research Service.

Those billions have stimulated 4,249 confirmed U.S. Iraq War deaths, according to icasualties.org. The same organization reports 31, 010 wonded U.S. soldiers through January '09.

Obama's Iraq pull-out will take a while longer than his 16-month campaign pledge.

More from the AP: 

Obama expects to leave a large contingent of troops in Iraq, between 30,000 and 50,000 troops, after August, 2010 to advise and train Iraqi security forces and to protect U.S. interests, according to two administration officials who spoke on condition of anonymity because the plan has not been made public. The contingent will include intelligence and surveillance specialists and their equipment, such as unmanned aircraft.

It will be heartening to hear an official announcement for withdrawal in Iraq and better still when we are the hell out of there. But how many years will we linger in Afghanistan? And what about Iran?

Just askin'...