Posted by
Armanius on Thursday, July 24, 2008 7:11:32 PM
Too bad the Military Times is not widely read by the mainstream American public. That publication actually had an interview with Obama on July 2, 2008 that is quite interesting:
Military Times: Can we talk about your Iraq policy for a moment? Particularly where you talk about withdrawing one or two brigades every month soon after you are elected as a process to get us down quickly. What will you do if your military commanders advise against that and they tell you you can’t do that? Like [Army Gen. David] Petraeus I think said before the Senate Foreign Relations Committee — you were there — that this is going to put everything at risk, my God you can’t do that.
OBAMA: Look, I’ve said this repeatedly from the start, and so I welcome the opportunity to correct the record. This whole notion that I would initiate a precipitous withdrawal just isn’t borne out by anything that I’ve said. What I have repeatedly said from the start, when I introduced my first piece of legislation on this issue in January of 2007 is that we should be as careful getting out as we were careless getting in ....
Compare to what Obama said in September of 2007:
"Let me be clear: There is no military solution in Iraq and there never was ... The best way to protect our security and to pressure Iraq's leaders to resolve their civil war is to immediately begin to remove our combat troops. Not in six months or one year - now."
And then compare to what Obama also said on his interview with the Military Times:
Military Times: If the withdrawal doesn’t begin as soon as you take office, when would you like it to begin? What kind of strategy would you set in terms of timing?
OBAMA: It’s very hard to anticipate what it’s going to be like six months from now. We saw how rapidly things have changed over the last six months, because of not only the extraordinary work of our armed forces, but also the shift in attitudes of tribal leaders in places like Anbar, the Mahdi army’s decision to — for now at least — to stand down the more aggressive posture that the Maliki government took in going into places like Basra. So if current trends continue and we are at a position where we continue to see reductions in violence and stabilization and continue to see some improvements on the part of the Iraqi army and Iraqi police, then my hope would be that we could draw down in a deliberate fashion in consultation with the Iraqi government at a pace that is determined in consultation with General Petraeus and the other commanders on the ground. It strikes me that that is something we could begin relatively soon after inauguration. If, on the other hand, you’ve got a deteriorating situation for some reason, then that’s going to have to be taken into account.
Here are the questions that I would love for someone to ask Obama.
(1) Senator Obama, is it your belief that some of the factors that need to be considered about the troop withdrawal are the reduction of violence and the stability of Iraq?
(2) If these factors are important, then why did you call for the immediate commencement of the withdrawal of our troops back in September 2007 when the level of violence was much higher and stability in Iraq was non-existent? Was the stability of Iraq, and the violence in Iraq not factors to consider back in September 2007?
(3) You are on the record stating that the war in Iraq is not central to America's security in its fight against terrorism. Then why are factors such as reduction of violence and stability in Iraq even worthy of consideration today? Why not just withdraw all our troops immediately and leave Iraq to its own fate as you proposed in September of 2007?
(4) It is your position today that General Petraeus' assessment of the situation in Iraq is an important factor regarding the rate of troop withdrawal. But when you called for the immediate commencement of troop withdrawal in September 2007, you had not had any meetings with General Petraeus regarding the subject matter. In fact, when you articulated your withdrawal schedule last week, you still had not discussed these matters with General Petraeus. Was General Petraeus' assessment of the Iraq situation not relevant to you back in September 2007?
(5) If it is hard to anticipate what is going to happen in the next six months, how can you articulate, justify, and implement an artificial schedule for the troop withdrawal?
(6) If the stability of Iraq is important to America and a factor to consider, then other than an artificial deadline/schedule for withdrawal that you propose, how is your Iraq policy different than John McCain's? And if the stability of Iraq is important, will you still withdraw all our troops by the deadline that you have set even if stability does not exist in Iraq?