My respect for him grows.
NEW YORK (Reuters) – The United States needs to set milestones for progress, not a firm withdrawal date, before it can leave Iraq, Virginia governor and prospective Democratic presidential candidate Mark Warner said on Monday.
“This Democrat doesn’t think we need to re-fight how we got into (the Iraq war). I think we need to focus more on how to finish it,” Warner said.
“To set an arbitrary deadline or specific date is not appropriate,” he said. “… It is incumbent on the president to set milestones for what he believes will be the conclusion.”
Warner outlined an Iraq policy during his appearance before New York’s Asia Society, and said he might run for president after his term as governor expires in January. “I clearly want to be part of the national debate,” he said.
Now, this position will certainly upset the KOSsacks, but who cares. We need to do the right thing in Iraq, and even though that doesn’t seem to be lining up with the American public’s opinion of what we should do, it doesn’t matter. And I certainly give Warner credit for putting a stake in the ground and speaking truth to power.
Well done Mark. This is an unpopular position and you’re taking it up anyway because you feel it’s right.
And if that’s not the mark of a true leader, I don’t know what is.