The outcome of the study would not be binding, but could serve as ammunition for Democrats who have been trying, unsuccessfully, to pass legislation that would force the current administration to redeploy the military from Iraq.
It also could put pressure on the Pentagon to accelerate its plans on withdrawing troops. Lawmakers have doubts about the status of Pentagon’s formal planning with regards to taking troops out of Iraq.
McCain has warned that pulling troops from Iraq too quickly could set back security gains made since the “surge” of troops in 2007. He argues Obama would pull U.S. troops out of Iraq at a time when victory for the U.S. is within reach.
Since winning majorities in 2006, Democrats in the House and Senate have been unable to move legislation on a troop withdrawal, and the $612 billion defense-spending bill does not call for troops to be removed. Fights over Iraq dominated the Congress in 2007, but Democrats this year backed away from an election-season showdown over Iraq with President Bush.
In testimony to the Senate Armed Services Committee on Sept. 23, Defense Secretary Robert Gates said that the United States has entered “the endgame” in Iraq. But Gates has opposed any congressional efforts to set a timetable for withdrawing troops, or requiring troop reduction.
Gates also told the panel that the greatest threat to the United States comes from tribal lands in Pakistan along the border with Afghanistan, not Iraq. But he cautioned that withdrawing more troops from Iraq, where violence has declined by 80 percent since the surge, has to be done carefully.
Bush in early September said that he would not withdraw a significant number of troops from Iraq after Gen. David Petraeus, the former top U.S. commander in Iraq and now the head of Central Command, advised him against it. Bush announced a withdrawal of 8,000 troops by February. Additionally, about 30,000 combat troops that were part of the so-called surge strategy in Iraq in 2007 have returned home.
Petraeus argued that the security gains achieved with the extra troops could be at risk in the event of another significant withdrawal.
There are currently about 146,000 U.S. troops in Iraq.
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