As most political “nerds” already know, Barack Obama has taken a lot of heat this week for his assumed flip-flop on his stance on Iraq, requiring him to hold two press conferences in one day in order to clarify his comments. Is it a change in his position? Only the next few weeks will tell, though the anti-Obama crowd is already working up commercials highlighting his conflicting comments in order to instill doubt in the minds of his supporters. So I thought we should do a quick comparison of where the two candidates stand on this issue by heading straight to their campaign websites.
On the initial decision to go to war:
Obama - Obama was not in a position to vote on the war at the time Congress did (he was not yet an U.S. Senator), but his campaign website says he was against the war from the beginning.
As a candidate for the United States Senate in 2002, Obama put his political career on the line to oppose going to war in Iraq, and warned of “an occupation of undetermined length, with undetermined costs, and undetermined consequences.” Obama has been a consistent, principled and vocal opponent of the war in Iraq.
McCain - McCain voted in favor of the U.S. returning to Iraq and has been a strong proponent of the conflict.
On the decision for the surge:
Obama – The Senate broke primarily along party lines in their vocal approval or disapproval of the surge of US troops into Iraq. Obama joined his Democratic Party brothers and sisters in denouncing the plan. His website states:
The goal of the surge was to create space for Iraq’s political leaders to reach an agreement to end Iraq’s civil war. At great cost, our troops have helped reduce violence in some areas of Iraq, but even those reductions do not get us below the unsustainable levels of violence of mid-2006. Moreover, Iraq’s political leaders have made no progress in resolving the political differences at the heart of their civil war.
McCain – McCain was one of the politicians instrumental in calling for and eventually convincing President Bush to accept the surge. Many view that McCain’s campaign hinged on the results on the surge. His website reads:
That strategy has paid off. From June 2007 through March 2008, sectarian and ethnic violence in Iraq was reduced by 90 percent. Civilian deaths and deaths of coalition forces fell by 70 percent. This has opened the way for a return to something that approaches normal political and economic life for the average Iraqi. Political reconciliation is occurring across Iraq at the local and provincial grassroots level. Sunni and Shi’a chased from their homes by terrorist and sectarian violence are returning. The “Sons of Iraq” and Awakening movements, where former Sunni insurgents have now joined in the fight against Al Qaeda, continue to grow.
On their plan once becoming President:
Obama – Obama has campaigned from the beginning as the anti-war candidate, calling the war unnecessary and must end immediately. In 2007, he formed the policy of withdrawing 1 or 2 brigades out of Iraq each month until all troops were removed from country within 16 months. That was later refined to leaving some troops within Iraq to protect US interests, but with no permanent bases.
Obama will immediately begin to remove our troops from Iraq. He will remove one to two combat brigades each month, and have all of our combat brigades out of Iraq within 16 months. Obama will make it clear that we will not build any permanent bases in Iraq. He will keep some troops in Iraq to protect our embassy and diplomats; if al Qaeda attempts to build a base within Iraq, he will keep troops in Iraq or elsewhere in the region to carry out targeted strikes on al Qaeda.
McCain – McCain’s position is that the troops should be withdrawn when the Iraqi forces can police their nation without U.S. support, withdrawing our forces in accordance with the conditions on the ground as to not create a power vacuum.
“I do not want to keep our troops in Iraq a minute longer than necessary to secure our interests there. Our goal is an Iraq that can stand on its own as a democratic ally and a responsible force for peace in its neighborhood. Our goal is an Iraq that no longer needs American troops. And I believe we can achieve that goal, perhaps sooner than many imagine.”
To me, it seems that the two candidate’s positions are clear. One is against the war, one is for it. It shouldn’t come as any surprise. So what is the Common Sense view of it all?
Whoever was for or against the war 6 years ago is irrelevant at this point. Obama wasn’t in a position to vote on sending US troops, and McCain was with the majority in Congress. That is all in the past. The surge has worked, both militarily and politically … though the latter not as fast as we had hoped. Violence within Iraq is down significantly and political progress is picking up. Even the latest report on the “benchmarks” shows that three-quarters of the list have been satisfactory met.
So all that really matters is the way forward. Do we continue with the post-surge objectives of training the Iraqi forces so they can police their own country, or do with set a 16-month withdrawal timetable, forcing the Iraqi’s to act faster on getting their house in order? While both candidates have 6 months of waiting and watching the conditions on the ground to see what direction Iraq progresses, the voters only have 4 months to decide which direction is correct.
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