Before you attack, I really serious about this question

[samintx]

What is magical about the 16 months to be out of Iraq? Why not 10, 12, or 17? Why is 16 the magic number? I know it is a year and half but why not a year?



sorry, freudian slip I said IRAN. Have corrected

[AlphaDog]

Actually it's a year and a third. I don't know the significance of 16 months, but I strongly suspect the word 'negotiate' entered in there someplace. I haven't looked, but might it coincide with some specific date that's politically significant?

[cbelt3]

Because it's:
1- a psychological compromise between 2 years (too long) and less than 1 year (too short!)
2- Just barely enough time to remove all the incredibly huge amounts of materiel that we've emplaced in that embattled nation. I recall seeing a study that detailed how long it would take to get all the vehicles out, and it was something like 14 months of just plain evacuation. The alternative, of course, is to either demilitarize them and/or destroy them.
3- At the start of the Obama Administration's campaign drive for his second term in 2012.

[mattkime]

perhaps because its a reasonable amount of time to accomplish the goals necessary for us to leave?

[laarree]

samintx wrote:
What is magical about the 16 months to be out of Iran? Why not 10, 12, or 17? Why is 16 the magic number? I know it is a year and half but why not a year?

Iran??!

[Spock]

samintx wrote:
What is magical about the 16 months to be out of Iran? Why not 10, 12, or 17? Why is 16 the magic number? I know it is a year and half but why not a year?

For the geographically and geo-politically challenged, we are not in IRAN.

[Dennis S]

It's very likely that some people put some thought and planning into it and came up with 16. 12 or 24 would seem sort of arbitrary to me.

[karsen]

I suspect they came up with 16 months to withdraw from Iraq much the same way they came up with 850 Billion dollars for bail outs. Somebody's best guess.

[(vikm)]

I have no idea for sure but it could be that based on gathered data and prognosis, 16 months is the amount of time it would take to leave the country with the ability to stand on its own in addition to providing us the required time to safely remove troops and equipment. Not like they can nail it down to the specific day of the week so any "estimate" going to be just that.

[OWC Jamie]

[spoiler=For the geographically and geo-politically challenged, we are not in IRAN.]

[/spoiler]