Pentagon says Iraq exit plan ready on Obama's Day 1

WASHINGTON - Pentagon officials said yesterday that they would be ready on Inauguration Day with plans for a quick pullout of U.S. combat troops from Iraq if Barack Obama orders one, as he pledged to do during his presidential campaign.

A 16-month timeline for withdrawing battle forces from Iraq is among options being prepared, with an eye to Obama's pledge to call the Joint Chiefs of Staff to the White House on his first day in office with instructions to close down a war he opposed.

"Our military planners do not live in a vacuum," Pentagon spokesman Geoff Morrell said. "They are well aware that the president-elect campaigned on withdrawing troops from Iraq on a 16-month timeline, so it would be only prudent of them to draw up plans that reflected that option."

Morrell said the 16-month option, which would be a speedier withdrawal of battle troops than defense officials preferred, would be among a range of plans presented to Obama whenever he asks.

Since that request could come as early as Tuesday afternoon, the plans will be ready then, Morrell said.

Obama has not asked for any withdrawal plans or advice ahead of his swearing-in and has not yet asked for that promised meeting with the Joint Chiefs chairman, Adm. Mike Mullen, and others who will be his senior military advisers.

A Mullen spokesman, Capt. John Kirby, said the chairman looked forward to discussing national security issues with the new president "and will provide his best advice when he's asked for it."

Defense officials would not provide details of the emerging 16-month plan or other possible timelines, though the Pentagon was already drawing up separate pullout plans that would meet terms of an agreement the United States signed with Iraq late last year. Those plans for a slower drawdown were described to Obama before Christmas.

The Pentagon has also hired Rand Corp. to conduct detailed analyses of the logistics and risks involved in pulling out combat forces under several possible timelines. Results of that study are expected by summer.

Mullen has said he can meet Obama's deadline, though he once described it as risky. In a late November interview, he said the Pentagon had already identified and practiced travel routes for forces leaving Iraq through Turkey and Jordan.

Those countries are U.S. allies, and Mullen said they support the withdrawal planning effort.