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Civil Rights Roundup: 08/21/08 »

Iraq Deal: Good News, Bad News, Good News

Posted by SHAUN MULLEN, TMV Columnist in At TMV.
Aug 21st, 2008 | Comments

Once I am able to get past the immorality of the Iraq war, as well as the carnage in human lives and its devastating impact on stability in the Mideast and the American economy (and that ain’t easy), the tentative troop withdrawal agreement reached between Baghdad and Washington is good news for Barack Obama.

It also is bad news and good news for John McCain. It is bad news because Obama can correctly claim that “This is what I’ve been urging the U.S. to do all along,” and good news because McCain can claim that his Surge made it all possible.

And, if he is elected, he’ll have troops to commit to the wars that he is bound to start.

Painting by Steve Mumford

jchem

Geez, Shaun. I figured there would be a bit more activity on this thread, given the number of different funding bills that were vetoed specifically because a timetable was attached. Here now we have a complete reversal of policy. It seems to me that when Obama or McCain flip-flops, we hear about it all day every day. Why not so now with our current Pres? I mean, like it or not, we still have to put up with him until January.

Take this with McCain's "counting malfunction" and I'd say Obama has had himself a pretty good day.

DLS

Shaun, you really need to find something else to be obscessed about besides Iraq, plus the cheap shots against McCain that go nowhere. (If anything, they are a source of laughs, at your and other "Warmonger!" shouters' expense.)

I'm curious what else Obama or McCain may do, in Obama's case for a cynical objective that doesn't suffer from the tarnish of your constant Iraq-, Bush-, and now McCain-bashing. (Obama is likely, along with other Democrats, to go beyond reasonable reform and truly gut the military to pay for vote-buying social spending programs.)

Will either man take troops out of Iraq and put them in Afghanistan? (Obama is more likely to bring them home instead.) What about a broader change to our overseas military deployments, such as removing our troops from Europe (no, McCain is not likely to send huge additional numbers there to tweak Bruno, though that's what Bruno is asking for)? What about removing them from South Korea, too, as well as from Okinawa?

In fact, a cost-cutting rationalization of the first order, even after increased expenditures are made specifically there, involves relocating our Asian forces to Guam and even rotating more troops and other assets there for training as well as stationing.

www.nwc.navy.mil/press/newportpapers/documents/...

Either man should also pursue current problems with the Army that not only include underfunding and questionable future strategy and planning, but contracting.

www.acq.osd.mil/dpap/contingency/reports/docs/g...

And how will we direct the future of our military, and _learning_lessons_ from our failures as well as successes in Iraq as well as with our overall military's future.

http://www.opinionjournal.com/extra/?id=110004289

armedservices.house.gov/pdfs/FC071807/Kagan_Testimony071807.pdf

_That_, and similar things like that, related to troop withdrawals and relocations and how they involve our military overall, are what ought to be "triggered" by (sane) thought about the Iraq deal or the name, "Iraq." I actually hope either man begins or has begun thinking about these things.

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