Obama Timetable for withdrawal
Statement by the McCain Campaign
ARLINGTON, VA -- Today, McCain 2008 Senior Foreign Policy Advisor Randy Scheunemann issued the following statement:
"Barack Obama has said repeatedly that, if elected President, he would summon the Joint Chiefs of Staff and give them a new mission: get all U.S. forces out of Iraq within 16 months, regardless of the conditions on the ground. Today, Chairman of the Joint Chiefs Admiral Mike Mullen, the nation's highest ranking officer, made clear that he believes such an approach could be 'very dangerous.' Admiral Mullen further added that his view is shared by U.S. commanders in Iraq, who are 'adamant about continuing progress, about making decisions based on what's actually happening in the battle space.' Barack Obama says he wants a 'safe and responsible' withdrawal from Iraq, but is stubbornly adhering to an unconditional withdrawal that places politics above the advice of our military commanders, the success of our troops, and the security of the American people. Barack Obama is wrong to advocate withdrawal at any cost just as he was wrong to oppose the surge that has put victory within reach. It is a strategy for defeat, and it is the only strategy Barack Obama has ever supported."
Udate: Video of Mullen:Timetable for withdrawal is Dangerous
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Back on June 25th I posted about the Obama camps waffling on the issue of withdrawal from Iraq. I pointed out that his surrogates seemed to be leaving a huge amount of room available for Obama to move towards the center on the subject.
From June 25th:
Based on this story in the Financial Times ,I believe that Barack Obama will change his mind about withdrawing our troops from Iraq. His decision will be based on one principle. Political expediency. He will "Modify" his plan and mold it in to the most efficient model of assuring the most votes in November.
Apparently he has already started this process:
...Senior advisers to Mr Obama say the campaign is constantly monitoring and debating its response to the situation on the ground in Iraq. But they say that Mr Obama has no plans to modify his timetable for US troop withdrawal. However, Mr Obama and some of his most senior foreign policy advisers have been dropping tantalising hints that there might be a new flexibility over their definition of “withdrawal”...
Read the entire post here.
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Now others seem to agree that Obama WILL change his mind about withdrawing troops form Iraq.
From Jonathan Martin at Politico.
June 30, 2008
Categories: ObamaTomorrow's Obama flop today?
The next, and perhaps most significant, Obama move to the middle could be on the issue which initially sparked his campaign: Iraq.
Observers from the Weekly Standard's Bill Kristol to George Packer, the New Yorker writer and author of "The Assassins Gate" can already see it coming:
Said Kristol yesterday on Fox News Sunday:
The next big flip for Obama, and this will make Brit even more astonished, will be on Iraq. He's going to go to Iraq, meet with General Petraeus, decide the surge is working and walk back from his immediate unconditioned withdrawal. And suddenly, it's going to be, "Well, we're going to be very careful, gradual." "Honorable withdrawal," Obama said the other day -- an honorable conclusion to the Iraq war. read more »
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