President Bush announced plans yesterday to bring home 8,000 combat and support troops from Iraq by February, and send a battalion of 4,500 Marines headed to Iraq in November to Afghanistan instead.
The announcement gives voters an insight into Barack Obama's and John McCain's stances regarding how and when to withdraw American forces from Iraq. The presidential candidates came out with two very different reactions.
Obama sharply criticized Bush and McCain as being in denial of the reality:
What President Bush and Senator McCain don't understand is that the central front in the war on terror is not in Iraq, and it never was — the central front is in Afghanistan and Pakistan, where the terrorists who hit us on 9/11 are still plotting attacks seven years later. Now, the choice for the American people could not be clearer. John McCain has been talking a lot about change, but he's running for four more years of the same foreign policy that we've had under George Bush.
McCain on the other hand avoided timelines, instead talking about withdrawals based on success. To see his take on Bush's modest withdrawal plan, read more.
McCain addressed the decision and argued:
Today's announcement of additional withdrawals of American forces in Iraq demonstrates what success in our efforts there can look like. American troops are returning home in success and with honor because of the improvements in security that followed implementation of the surge strategy. Today's announcement makes clear that the planned withdrawal of up to 8,000 troops is based, as it should be, on conditions on the ground and the advice of our military commanders in the field. Senator Obama is utterly confused by the progress in the war in Iraq.
Obama's Iraq plan states that troop removal would be directed by military commanders, in consultation with the Iraqi government. But Obama would set a pace that would remove one to two brigades a month, so they would all be gone in 16 months. McCain's Iraq plan holds that only when Iraqi forces can safeguard their own country, American troops can return home. He notes the progress made by the surge, but maintains that these advancements will be lost if the US withdraws most troops.
Based on how the candidates responded to Bush's announcement, whose approach sounds the best to you?
Forte Forte
Maine New England
Tomster
I like Obama's plan much better. I think its time for those men and women to get out of there.
1For once I completely agree with Barack Obama, Saddam was a dictator like so many others in the world but last I heard it was Osama Bin Laden who brought the word terrorist to the fore.
2I am so sick of hearing the "McCain is Bush" argument. It's old, it's not true, get a new slogan.
3I find most republicans are sick of that slogan.
4It just bothers them because it's true.
5SHUT UP BUSH! McCain is McSame. Eight is Enough -- I like that slogan!
6The problem with a success-based withdrawal plan is that the parameters of "success" can continually be amended.
7"John McCain believes it is strategically and morally essential for the United States to support the Government of Iraq to become capable of governing itself and safeguarding its people. He strongly disagrees with those who advocate withdrawing American troops before that has occurred."
"Obama's Iraq plan states that troop removal would be directed by military commanders, in consultation with the Iraqi government" However, the goal would be a sixteen month pace.
I don't know about you but the only difference I see is semantics. At least to me it is obvious that Sen. Obama's (goal) is not a certainty regardless of his precondition. It is his precondition that is the certainty and it is the precondition which has a goal.
I personally am much more comfortable with a Commander & Chief who says alright people let's shoot for this date. Than a Commander & Chief who simply wants to prove we can hold on the longest no matter which way the wind blows. Reasonable goals are good things. I honestly don't know why we're so mortified at a 1.5 year goal while at the same time boasting that we have the best military in the world and they can do anything. Well here is their new challenge 1.5 years. If they do it in 2 hey I'm not mad at them the point is we're moving in the right direction as expediently as possible.
“Here is the truth: fighting a war without end will not force the Iraqis to take responsibility for their own future. And fighting in a war without end will not make the American people safer.
So when I am Commander-in-Chief, I will set a new goal on day one: I will end this war. Not because politics compels it. Not because our troops cannot bear the burden- as heavy as it is. But because it is the right thing to do for our national security, and it will ultimately make us safer.”
8Obama is right. We need to fight terror outside of Iraq. HOWEVER, we destroyed Iraq. We are responsible for making sure Iraq is safe and on the road to recovery after everything thing we have done. Having all of the troops leave in the next 16 months seems like abandonment to me. I think McCain is right that we need to have a presence in Iraq in the future with the hope of getting out of there as soon as possible. How can Obama know that 16 months will due the trick? The time line for this is impossible to predict.
9Were we wrong to fight WWI, II, Korea, Vietnam, or Iraq I without a timeline? It's one thing to say "Let's shoot for this date." It's another to say "We will be out of Iraq in 16 months." I agree that that we need to get out of Iraq as soon as we can, but that should not be before Iraq is able to care for themselves.
10Well then UnDave you, me, McCain and Obama agree.
11"The time line for this is impossible to predict."
12The Iraqis are pretty much setting the tune now, and they're sticking pretty close to what Obama called for. They do not seem to want an open-ended agreement.
@ hypnoticmix
13If Obama is the one that is "utterly confused"...how come he has been on the same page as the Iraqi government for quite some time now? I do not understand how McCain can plug his ears and ignore the requests of the government we helped create.
"Having all of the troops leave in the next 16 months seems like abandonment to me."
Having the military leave slowly leave is not the same as stopping humanitarian and political support.
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