For her part, Hillary Clinton has promised to initiate a discussion among her top advisers on how to begin the process of troop withdrawal within 60 days of the start of her administration. While her pledge is to begin withdrawal rapidly, according to her campaign web site, no specific information on neither the numbers of troops to be brought home nor a time frame is indicated. Clinton's plan also insists that troop withdrawal would be based on stability in Iraq, a condition that appears to resemble the Bush-McCain conditions for troop reductions.
Obama's plan, as laid out in his most recent war policy statement made on Wed. Mar. 19, by contrast, rejected Bush's linkage of troop drawdowns to "success" and insisted that political stability in Iraq will only come as the threat of troop withdrawal is pronounced. (Many military experts point to the success of the anti-war sentiments in the 2006 US elections as at least one key reason a number of former insurgent Iraqi groups chose to begin to work with the US military.) Thus, Obama argued for an immediate phased withdrawal to aim at completion with 16 months, an immediate shift in mission away form combat duty, and refocusing efforts on Al Qaeda in the region.
The vagueness of Clinton's plan, its rationale and conditionality, and her vote to authorize the war in the first place make it difficult to believe that she will move with urgency to bring the war to an end.
Obama's plan appears to have originated from the school of thought in the military articulated by the so-called Jones Commission last fall. Mandated by Congress and President Bush, the Jones Commission argued that the cause of instability in Iraq lay in the size of the US "footprint" in Iraq.
The commission urged a "changed role for the US military" and the rapid shift of autonomy and control over security concerns to Iraqi authorities. The commission pointed to the phased withdrawal of British troops from Iraq as a model for how the US could begin to end its involvement there. Without an end date, the commission noted, Iraqis come to depend on US forces and feel no real urgency for resolving the political strife in their country.
"How much longer are we going to ask our troops to bear the cost of this war? When are we going to stop mortgaging our children's futures for Washington's mistakes?," Obama asked.
Ending the battle in Iraq will allow us to take up the fight for a universal health care system, improved education for our children, real job growth, and the fight to track down the real perpetrators of the September 11th attacks, Obama concluded.
Obama gave another speech today. I bet he was the best at the Toast Masters speech competition. Again I listened very closely as to what he has planned. Again he yells I have a dream. Again he says there will be change. Again he says I've seen wrongs throughout this country. He has seen the children left behind. etc...
I watched as the snakes in the pit began to dance swaying their heads side to side mesmerized by someone that can speak the English language.
Once the snakes are under his spell he starts to play with them telling them not to listen to the people that do not trust him. It is the others that spread hate not me.
Not once did Obama say what he was going to do to fix any of these problems. What was he going to change and how? Try writing that Oped.
I have noticed that when he is questioned on this matter he is as bumbling as George W. Bush.
by
Gallaher (2 articles, 0 quicklinks, 3 diaries, 789 comments)
on Friday, March 21, 2008 at 1:49:29 PM
OBAMA IS A GLOBALIST SMOKE SCREEN, IF I EVERY SAW ONE, WE ARE BACK TO THE LESSER OF EVIL AGAIN, AND WITH THE MASS MEDIA DECEPTION, THE AMERICAN VOTER DON;T EVEN HAVE A CLUE. THIS ELECTION IS A CONTEST AND WHO EVER GET THE CROWN THERE WILL BE NO CHANGE. JUST LOOK AT HIS VOTING RECORD, HE VOTES TO FUND THE WARS EVERY TIME AND HE VOTES GLOBAL EVERY TIME, AND HE PLAYS THIS GOOD GUY BAD GUY ABOUT BUSH, AND IRAQ, AND WHY NOT BUSH MAY BE GOING OUT THE DOOR IN 2009. AND BY THAT TIME WE BE AT WAR WITH IRAN. THE AMERICAN PEOPLE WANT CHANGE, BUT WITH ALL THE CANDIDATES THAT COULD HAVE MAYBE MADE A CHANGE, ARE OUT OF THE MEDIA PICTURE, AND THE RACE, THE AMERICAN PEOPLE ARE BEING DUPED AGAIN, WITH ALL THIS BULL IT MAKES ME SICK.
by
RICHARD SHADE (0 articles, 0 quicklinks, 0 diaries, 460 comments)
on Saturday, March 22, 2008 at 4:53:01 AM
2 comments
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