Withdrawal of U.S. troops from Iraq

Kerry said in August 2004 that he would make the withdrawal of all U.S. forces from Iraq a goal of his first presidential term. In the debate, he said that he reiterated that withdrawal was a goal, if an initial troop increase works.

In the debate, Bush did not offer any timetable or estimate of troops, either increasing or decreasing, but said only that the commanders of the troops in Iraq had the ability to ask for whatever force they needed. In general, this is consistent with his earlier remarks. Whenever questioned about troop strength, Bush and Donald Rumsfeld have said that they are using the troops asked for by the general staff. However, Bush also projected a withdrawal of troops by December of 2004 in August of 2003, and initial projections by Douglas Feith and others were that troops would be drawn down in the summer of 2004 after an easy victory in the war.