Washington, Feb.12 (ANI): The Republicans have criticized US Vice-President Joe Biden for taking credit for American success in Iraq and the drawndown of troops both in Iraq and Afghanistan.

Biden said: “I am very optimistic about Iraq. I mean, this could be one of the great achievements of this (Obama) administration.”

Responding to Biden’s statement, Fox News quoted Republican Senator Jim Inhofe of Oklahoma, a member of the Armed Services Committee, as saying that they (Democrats) could not oppose the surge in Iraq when not in office and then claim it as a legacy.

“When Joe Biden was in the Senate and Obama was in the Senate, they authored and were the chief architect of the resolution opposing the surge,” Infoe said.

Biden also took credit for the troop drawdown.

“You’re going to see 90,000 American troops come marching home by the end of the summer. You’re going to see a stable government in Iraq that is actually moving toward a representative government,” Biden said.

But the fact remains that the drawdown was negotiated in the Status of Forces Agreement before the Obama administration took office.

“The reduction in U.S. forces that is under way right now is in fact important and it’s largely the continuation of the policy that President Bush had set in place when he negotiated the drawdown schedule with Prime Minister Maliki at the end of 2008,” Michael O’Hanlon of the Brookings Institution told Fox News.

In fact, the agreement called for having U.S. troops out of Iraqi cities by June 30, 2009, and all U.S. combat troops out by the end of 2011.

“The timetable for withdrawing those troops had been worked on for a long time, way preceding this administration coming into power, and that timetable really centered on success in Iraq,” said Col. Bill Cowan, a Fox News contributor.

“That success starting really after the surge that was implemented by the previous administration,” he added. (ANI)