In this June 19, 2008 photo, a U.S. Marine takes cover behind an Iraqi Army humvee during the beginning of combat operations in Amarah, Iraq, 200 miles southeast of Baghdad. The U.S. will reportedly withdraw most of its troops from Iraq by August 2010, 19 months after President Barack Obama's inauguration day. AP Photo.AP PHOTOIn this June 19, 2008 photo, a U.S. Marine takes cover behind an Iraqi Army humvee during the beginning of combat operations in Amarah, Iraq, 200 miles southeast of Baghdad. The U.S. will reportedly withdraw most of its troops from Iraq by August 2010, 19 months after President Barack Obama’s inauguration day.
WASHINGTON – President Barack Obama plans to remove all U.S. combat troops from Iraq by August 2010, administration officials said Tuesday, ending the war three months later than he had promised during his presidential campaign.

The withdrawal plan – an announcement could come as early as this week – calls for leaving a large contingent of troops behind, between 30,000 and 50,000 troops, to advise and train Iraqi security forces and to protect U.S. interests.

Obama built enormous grass-roots support for his White House bid by pledging to withdraw troops 16 months after taking office. That schedule, based on removing roughly one brigade a month, was predicated on commanders determining that it would not endanger U.S. troops left behind or Iraq’s fragile security.

The contingent remaining will include intelligence and surveillance specialists and their equipment, including unmanned aircraft, according to two administration officials.

The complete withdrawal of American forces will take place by December 2011, the period by which the U.S. agreed with Iraq to remove all troops.

A senior White House official said Tuesday that Obama is at least a day away from making a final decision. About 142,000 U.S. troops are in Iraq, roughly 14 brigades, about 11,000 more than the total in Iraq when President George W. Bush announced in January 2007 that he would “surge” the force to put down the insurgency.

Removing so many people and tons of equipment presents logistical difficulties. The strategy to have the combat troops out by August 2010 is a compromise between commanders and advisers who worry that security gains could backslide in Iraq and those who think the bulk of U.S. combat work is long since done.

Marine Maj. Gen. John Kelly, who just left his job overseeing U.S. operations in Anbar Province, said Tuesday that in the area that was the home ground of the Sunni insurgency, American combat forces don’t have enough to do and most could have pulled out months ago.

In addition to the U.S. troops to be withdrawn, there is a sizable cadre of contractors who provide services to them who would pack their bags as well. There were 148,050 defense contractor personnel working in Iraq as of December, 39,262 of them U.S. citizens.

As of Monday, at least 4,250 members of the U.S. military had died in the Iraq war since it began in March 2003, according to an Associated Press count. More than 31,000 have been injured.

Congress has approved more than $657 billion so far for the Iraq war, according to a report last year from the Congressional Research Service.