September 1, 2010 4:04PM 

# Obama’s ‘Perfectly Clear’ Iraq Policy 

By [Justin Logan](https://www.cato.org/people/justin-logan) 

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As someone who has his own snarky tendencies, I am really starting to have a hard time discerning when Matt Yglesias is being serious and when he is being sarcastic these days. For example, [he writes of President Obama’s Iraq speech last night that](http://yglesias.thinkprogress.org/2010/09/vision-in-unexpected-places/)

> I think Barack Obama’s Iraq policy was perfectly clear as of last week—war kinda sorta ending on August 31, 2010 and more honest-to-god ending in December 2011—so I wasn’t exactly glued to the set to watch his speech last night.

So Obama’s “perfectly clear” Iraq policy is that “the war” “kinda sorta ended” yesterday, and will have a “more honest-to-god \[than kinda sorta?\]” end on New Year’s Eve next year? But when does it just plain *end*?

Or maybe the best way to clear this up would be if I could put Tom Ricks’ question to Matt: “[How many U.S. military personnel will be in Iraq four years from today — that is, Feb. 25, 2014?”](https://www.cato.org/are-we-really-going-to-leave-iraq-contd/) Or if we’re assuming one term, by January 2013?

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[Defense and Foreign Policy](https://www.cato.org/defense-foreign-policy) 

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