Ending war may be easier said

May 3, 2008
By Erik Potter Post-Tribune staff writer

.. no matter who the next president is, voters shouldn't expect dramatic change right away ...

... the two Democratic presidential hopefuls .. have made hard-and-fast promises to remove combat troops from Iraq ...

.. if the next president inherits an ongoing war with 140,000 troops on the ground in January 2009, as is expected ... troop levels would not fall below 100,000 until at least next summer ...

To help avoid a full-scale civil war in post-withdrawal Iraq, both Clinton and Obama have committed to stepped-up diplomatic efforts with Iraq's neighbors, as well as to a residual troop presence to combat flare-ups of al-Qaida activity ...

http://www.post-trib.com/news/929820,issue.article