Senator Obama released his “plan for Iraq“, and to read it requires the willful suspension of disbelief as Hillary Clinton might say. His entire “plan” can be summed up in one sentence “That is why, on my first day in office, I would give the military a new mission: ending this war.” I suppose it is Obama’s belief that up until this point our military has merely been twiddling their thumbs, making no effort to win, but somehow I imagine General Petraeus would disagree with him. Of course in order for that to happen Obama would first have to take time out of his busy schedule fundraising to find out first hand exactly what is going on in Iraq, rather than basing his foreign policy on what he reads in the New York Times.

It is of no concern to the man who would be commander in chief, under what conditions we would leave Iraq, just that we withdraw immediately. As for the potential consequences of a premature withdrawal of our forces, well that is something the Iraqi’s will have to bare the burden for on their own. Success in Iraq, according to Obama, is not measured by the ending of sectarian violence, nor Iraq demonstrating they have a stable Democratic government. As evidenced by his speech yesterday, success only rests upon how quickly we can withdraw our soldiers.

“For weeks, now, Senator McCain has argued that the gains of the surge mean that I should change my commitment to end the war.

But this argument misconstrues what is necessary to succeed in Iraq, and stubbornly ignores the facts of the broader strategic picture that we face”.

Apparently, arguing that Obama should “refine” his commitment to withdrawing our troops within 16 months somehow ignores what is necessary to succeed. Count me among those that Obama would refer to as stubbornly ignorant then, as my view of success in Iraq is leaving a stable government which may serve as an ally in an otherwise hostile region.

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Barack Obama, Features, Iraq, Politics