Published in The New York Post on July 23, 2008.
Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki has cut the legs out from under John McCain by basically endorsing Sen. Barack Obama’s troop-withdrawal plan.
Just when McCain had Obama on the defensive over the Democrat’s plan to surrender after we’ve won in Iraq, Maliki has made McCain look the naïf for opposing a timetable for withdrawal.
Unless McCain changes his approach, he’s lost the use of this issue. He can’t come out for staying in Iraq longer than the government we support wants.
The Republican needs to shift the debate to Iraq’s future. Neither Obama’s belaboring of his previous opposition to the war nor McCain’s attacking the Democrat’s opposition to the surge is relevant - both lines are history lessons best left in the classroom. What voters want to know is: What now?
McCain needs to hammer at one basic theme: that Obama’s pullout plan will lead to a third Iraq war. The Democrat wants to keep substantial numbers of troops next door, to go back into Iraq if necessary. McCain should stress that a premature withdrawal will lead to a collapse - losing the hard-won stability in Iraq, opening the door to an Iranian takeover and al Qaeda revival, and potentially forcing a new US invasion.
Obama isn’t a peace candidate, McCain can say - just an advocate of a deferred war. Just as the first President George Bush left the ingredients in place for a second war when he failed to depose Saddam Hussein in 1991, so Obama will fail to finish the job and invite yet another war if he abandons Iraq before our gains have been consolidated.
With Ralph Nader running on a strict antiwar platform, Obama is vulnerable on the left. If he seems to falter on a withdrawal from Iraq, or leave the door open to re-entry, McCain’s attacks can drive liberals away from the Democrat.
It’s literally true that if McCain is elected, there will be fewer US deaths in Iraq than there will be if Obama prevails. By pulling out only when it’s safe to do so, McCain would finish the job and allow a peaceful transition to a stable democratic government. If we pull out too fast - and then have to go back in - the casualties will be many times those we now face.
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Dick:
My hat off to you with your article. Finally, someone has admitted that Daddy Bush didn’t complete his mission when he failed to dispose of Saddam, and since Baby Bush got elected, this was a personal issue with his father for final acceptance by daddy, at the expense of the American taxpayers and the forfeiting of the lives our young soliders for corporate gain. There was another President who mistakenly made a “moral committment” to a war about 40 years ago…..President Johnson. And Nixon had the common sense to withdraw and end the war……..and yet Vietnam still survives today and now they are our friends……let bygones be bygones…another history lesson from which the United States has learned absolutely nothing from.
What gains did we have we made in Iraq? You mentioned hard won stability…..that Dick is pure Bullsh$$. The only gain we have accomplished is the protection and security of the interest of the oil fields for corporate America. There is a hidden unstability which no one wants to admit because they are in self-denial. You mentioned that if Obama is elected and his withdrawl plan is put into effect, it will only invite another war and open the door to an Iranian takeover and an a Al Qaeda revial, so Obama will fail to finish the job. It is a job that can never be finished….another Vietnam. Daddy Bush completed his term and left the country with an open ended invitation to return if required….it didn’t mean that the baby Bush Administration and Congress had to accept the offer…..but again it was all for the same reason…security and protection of the oil fields and corporate profits. Should Obama get elected and implement his troop-withdrawal plan, it is not that Obama will have failed to finish the job, it simply means that baby Bush made the same mistake as his father and now leaves it to another President to resolve.
You said that the surge was revelant……are you so sure? Or is it what they want you to believe? And if this war is of much concern to the global community, then why is it the US doing all of the business of war? Success, and I used that term loosely,in Iraq depends on the support of Iraqi government and its people. This is the only hurdle the US needs to clear. As you so well stated, the Iraqi Prime Minister endorses Obama’s troop-withdrawl plan and the US needs to comply.
The US cannot always assure the future of our friends; but we have a better chance of assuring our future if we remember “who our friends really are.”…….and I don’t see Iraq as friendly.
Actually, Senator McCain may get considerable mileage from Senator Obama’s steadfast opposition to the surge — even now, when he knows the surge has been successful.
In Denver today, Senator McCain painted a very clear picture of what would have happened in Iraq had Senator Obama had his way: “If Senator Obama had prevailed, American forces would have had to retreat under fire. The Iraqi Army would have collapsed. Civilian casualties would have increased dramatically. Al Qaeda would have killed the Sunni sheikhs who had begun to cooperate with us, and the ‘Sunni Awakening’ would have been strangled at birth. Al Qaeda fighters would have safe havens, from where they could train Iraqis and foreigners, and turn Iraq into a base for launching attacks on Americans elsewhere. Civil war, genocide and wider conflict would have been likely.”
Obama opposed the surge because he believed the anti-American propoganda that a stronger military effort would provoke a backlash against our country. Thus, he believed the surge would be counter-productive.
McCain’s message can be a simple one: vote for the candidate who believes a strong America is good for the world.