How Will President Obama Respond?

CNN.com reports that Iraqi President Nuri al-Maliki may request that the deadline to withdraw combat troops be extended if the security situation in Iraq is questionable.

The current US administration highly touted the deadlines as both a sign of progress in Iraq as well as one delivering on one of the campaign promises that President Obama made as a candidate for the US presidency.

This is a significant change of President al-Maliki's stand on this issue. He had frequently stated previously that he was inflexible on the U.S. withdrawal deadline. Many believed that this position was necessary to convince the Iraqi people that he was neither a puppet of the U.S. or that U.S. troops in Iraq were an occupying force.

Clearly, al-Maliki is concerned about the apparent inability the of Iraqi military and police forces to step up to the challenge of keeping the peace in a nation and region that has been historically plagued by sectarianism. Only the strong, repressive regime of Saddam Hussein had managed to quell it, through the use of swift and violent retribution against those trying to rebel against his regime or committing violent actions.

President Obama will be put into something of a bind should the Iraqi president make this request. If he refuses then he shows the Iraqi government that the U.S. will not stand by its allies over the long term. If he commits to keeping combat troops in Iraq longer then he will be seen as betraying many of the voters who helped elect him to the U.S. presidency because of his promise to get U.S. combat troops out of Iraq by the end of summer this year.