Obama vs. McCain: Overdue National Referendum on Iraq

The 2008 presidential race between presumptive nominees Republican Sen. John McCain and Democrat Sen. Barack Obama will be a long overdue referendum by the American people on the Iraq War. (See Iraq War Statistics, Updated Currently.)

After Sen. Hillary Clinton's unremarkable debate performance earlier this week, she's unlikely to win the party nomination. McCain has begun the presidential race with headline-grabbing rhetoric on the war. And Democrats have no choice but to move on from primary politics, and respond to Sen. McCain.

The electorate's choice between the two candidates' worldviews on the Iraq War is stark, and offers two very different paths for U.S. involvement in Iraq beyond 2008.

Barack Obama on the Iraq War
Barack Obama publicly opposed the war in 2002, orating:

"I don't oppose all wars. What I am opposed to is a dumb war. What I am opposed to is a rash war. What I am opposed to is the cynical attempt by Richard Perle and Paul Wolfowitz and other armchair, weekend warriors in this administration to shove their own ideological agendas down our throats, irrespective of the costs in lives lost and in hardships borne."

See the entirety of his words at Barack Obama's Stirring 2002 Speech Against the Iraq War

In March 2007, when marking the start of the fifth year of U.S. occupation of Iraq, Sen. Obama remarked on the Senate floor:

"Iraq has not been a failure of resolve, it has been a failure of strategy – and that strategy must change... There is no military solution to this war. No amount of U.S. soldiers... can solve the grievances that lay at the heart of someone else’s civil war. Our troops cannot serve as their diplomats, and we can no longer referee their civil war....

See the full text of his remarks at Senator Barack Obama: The Lessons of the Iraq War.

And in September 2007, Sen. Obama delivered a major policy speech in which he laid out his four-step ideology-free plan to bring peace back to the people of Iraq. (See Barack Obama's Visionary Peace Plan for Iraq.)

Step one of the Obama plan, of course, is to "responsibly remove U.S. combat troops from Iraq's civil war," Observed Sen. Obama:

"Violence is contained in some parts of Baghdad. That's no surprise. Our troops have cleared these neighborhoods at great costs. But our troops cannot police Baghdad indefinitely - only Iraqis can. Rather than use our presence to make progress, the Iraqi government has put off taking responsibility...

"... our troop presence cannot be sustained without crippling our military's ability to respond to other contingencies. Let me be clear: there is no military solution in Iraq, and there never was."

John McCain on the Iraq War
In great contrast, Sen. John McCain, a third generation Naval officer and decorated war hero, voted in 2002 to give President George Bush full authority to attack and invade Iraq. And he's continually served as supporter and cheerleader for the U.S. War in Iraq, albeit with some objections to strategies and leadership.

In fact, almost a year before the U.S. attacked Iraq, John McCain was pressing for aggressive action. The New York Times reported on February 3, 2002:

"Senator John McCain, Republican of Arizona, was even more explicit, saying that Iraq is the next front of the war and 'we should not shirk from acknowledging it.' ...

"Senator McCain also warned: 'A day of reckoning is approaching, not simply for Saddam Hussein, but for all members of the Atlantic community, whose governments face the choice of ending the threat we face every day from this rogue regime... "

In late 2006, Sen. McCain aggressively supported and campaigned for a "temporary" surge in U.S. combat troops in Iraq designed to provide security to Baghdad, and thus, to pave the way for Iraqi political progress. The surge was formalized by George Bush in January 2007.

As of February 2008, Iraqi political progress has been slow and frustrating, and "temporary" U.S. troops remain in Iraq.

John McCain's campaign website is clear about his plan for the Iraq War beyond 2008:

" ... greater military commitment now is necessary if we are to achieve long-term success in Iraq. John McCain agrees with retired Army General Jack Keane that there are simply not enough American forces in Iraq. More troops are necessary to:

• clear and hold insurgent strongholds;
• to provide security for rebuilding local institutions and economies;
• to halt sectarian violence in Baghdad and disarm Sunni and Shia militias;
• to dismantle al Qaeda; to train the Iraqi Army; and
• to embed American personnel in Iraqi police units.

"Accomplishing each of these goals will require more troops and is a crucial prerequisite for needed economic and political development in the country."

American People Will Decide Between Two Divergent Roads on Iraq
Yes, the contrasts are sharp between Barack Obama and John McCain on the central issue of the 2008 presidential race: the War in Iraq.

For me, the choice is easy. Like Sen. Obama, I opposed the war from the start, and have always regarded it as a ghastly (and eventually, bankrupting) blunder by the Bush administration and its avid supporters, including Sen. McCain.

I find much to admire about Sen. Obama's four-point plan to bring blessed peace to wartorn Iraq, which includes smart diplomacy, regional pacts, and doesn't neglect the humanitarian tragedies of the Iraq War, both in Iraq and the U.S.

The pairing of Barack Obama and John McCain in the 2008 presidential race finally allows the American people... and not the entrenched D.C. establishment... to decide, at the ballot box, which of two divergent roads the U.S. will take in Iraq.

I say... give peace a chance!

(Photo taken on July 18, 2006, when Sen. Barack Obama and Sen. John McCain both testified to the Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee about the 'Federal Funding Accountability and Transparency Act of 2006,' that required full disclosure of all entities and organizations that receive federal funds.)

Related Reading
New York Times Politics blog, Feb 27, 2008: Obama and McCain Spar Over Iraq