They're still waiting to come home (Reuters)
Looks like that Dec. 31 deadline is being quietly kicked to the curb:
U.S. officials on Wednesday welcomed Iraq’s decision to negotiate with Washington on keeping some U.S. troops in the country into next year, seeing it as a move toward ending the months-long political stalemate that has complicated U.S. plans for a December withdrawal.
More:
The agreement to begin talks on extending the U.S. troops presence is a crucial first step that could lead to several thousand U.S. troops remaining in Iraq after the Dec. 31 deadline set for their departure under a "status of forces agreement" that Iraq and the United States signed in 2008. How many troops might stay behind in unknown, but U.S. officials have said privately that the number would be fewer than 10,000.
President Barack Obama made withdrawing all U.S. forces from Iraq a campaign pledge but in recent months, U.S. officials have raised a variety of reasons, including threats from Iran, for why both the U.S. and Iraq would benefit from a continued American military presence.
Here is what President "what I oppose is a dumb war" "never shoulda been authorized, never shoulda been waged" Obama said just last year:
President Obama pledged Saturday to pull all troops from Iraq by the end of next year, declaring "the war is ending."
His commitment comes after Tuesday's withdrawal of all combat troops in the war-torn country and before his Aug. 31 deadline to change the course of the war.
"The bottom line is: The war is ending. Like any sovereign independent nation, Iraq is free to chart its own course. And by the end of the year, all of our troops will be home," Obama said during his radio address from Martha's Vineyard, where he was vacationing.
Lemme guess: President Obama couldn't order all the troops home because that would require an act of Congress and there is no way the House would approve such a thing caved to the Defense establishment.