By Rand Paul
Obama acts as though we no longer have a Constitution
All U.S. troops could withdraw from Afghanistan next year if enough progress has been made against al Qaeda or if the Afghan government does not grant immunity to American forces after the end of their combat mission in 2014, the Obama administration says.
The killing of Osama bin Laden last year was referenced repeatedly this week at the Democratic National Convention. This is ironic, as President Obama, in denying requests for basic information about the raid, said he wasn't going to release the information because he didn't want to be seen as "spiking the football."
Iraq's most senior military official warned Wednesday that the planned pullout of U.S. forces at the end of next year might be premature, as the White House said it was keeping to its schedule for removing troops from the war-torn country.
The Obama administration is touting the visit of Russian President Dmitry Medvedev, who arrives in Washington on Thursday, as evidence of President Obama's success in "resetting" relations with a former Cold War rival.
"There are, of course, many different ways of accomplishing those objectives," he said, "some of which might involve U.S. troops, some of which might not."
"The U.S. does not have an inherent objective of 'X' number of troops in Afghanistan," Mr. Rhodes said.
