Demobilization

In one of his first acts as president, Barack Obama is planning to lift a rule that prevents federal money from going to international family planning groups that counsel women on abortion or perform the procedure. Obama's repeal of the abortion aid policy is one of several executive actions he will take soon after his inauguration today, according to Obama transition aides. He is also considering lifting Bush administration restrictions on federally funded stem cell research.

The signs -- mostly hand-drawn, all heartfelt -- told a story of stress and joy as 300 Marines and sailors returned Sunday to their base at Camp Pendleton after a year in Iraq. "Welcome Home From Iraq, Half Of My Heart Has Returned." "Welcome home Daddy! Can I have a puppy?" "Kayla Loves Riley." "Babe, 386 Days of Deployment Over!" Along with the signs came stories of how families coped with having a loved one in a war zone.

The chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff said Friday that no decision had been made to stop the withdrawal of troops in Iraq this summer, a subtle rebuke of the top U.S. commander there, who suggested that reductions would pause after the current round of cuts was completed in July. The comments underscore the divergent views among top Defense Department officials over the long-term troop commitment to Iraq.

In a pageant filled with poetry, song, political speeches and a display of the Iraqi security forces' increased firepower, the U.S. Marines on Thursday turned over major responsibility for protecting this Euphrates River valley town to the Iraqi army and police. It was the second such turnover in recent weeks in the western province of Anbar, once a major battleground with Sunni Arab insurgents, with more expected, Marine officials said.

The Bush administration believes a halt in troop reductions in Iraq after July is needed in part to ensure a large enough force is present to provide security for local elections, a senior administration official said Friday. By tying troop levels to Iraq's provincial elections, officials in effect established a new milestone to guide U.S. policy during President Bush's last months in office.

By many important measures, the U.S. military has reason to feel better about Iraq. Violence has declined, casualties are down, the president is touting the current strategy and the public's anguish has ebbed. But inside the Pentagon, turmoil over the war has increased. Top levels of the military leadership remain divided over war strategy and the pace of troop cuts. Tension has risen along with concern over the strain of unending cycles of deployments.

After launching their candidacies with opposite positions on the Iraq war, Republican John McCain and Democrat Barack Obama seem to be edging toward a middle ground between them. McCain has long denounced timetables for withdrawal, but said for the first time Thursday that he would like to see most U.S. troops out of Iraq by a specific date: 2013.

Sen. John McCain triggered a tempest over Iraq on Wednesday, saying it was "not too important" to set a timetable for American troop withdrawals from Iraq. The presumptive Republican presidential nominee was asked on NBC's "Today" show if he had an estimate for when U.S. troops might leave Iraq. "No, but that's not too important," he replied. "What's important is casualties in Iraq. . . . Americans are in South Korea. Americans are in Japan. American troops are in Germany. That's all fine. . . .

President Bush has agreed to a "general time horizon" for withdrawals of U.S. combat troops from Iraq, the White House announced Friday in a marked softening of his long-standing opposition to deadlines for reducing the American presence. Administration officials portrayed the shift, which was announced a day after a video conference between Bush and Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri Maliki, as an evolution in policy rather than a fundamental change.

The departure this month of the last of the 28,500 extra troops sent in a U.S. military buildup leaves Iraq in a rickety calm, an in-between space that is not quite war and not quite peace where ethnic and sectarian tensions bubble beneath the surface. Politicians and U.S. officials hail the remarkable turnaround from open civil war that left 3,700 Iraqis dead during the worst month in the fall of 2006, compared with June's toll of 490, according to Pentagon estimates.