by Nick on July 14, 2008
Posted By: Nick
Barack Obama writes his plan for Iraq in today’s NYTimes. I’m sure this is mostly in response to the criticism he recieved last week when he said he would visit Iraq and reevaluate after his trip. I think it’s clear he meant he was open to tweeking his plan here and there as required based on the reality of the situation, but never fundamentally mean that his position of ending the war would change. Of course his poor choice of words left him open to attack, so today he has clearly stated his position so as to avoid any confusion.
Here are some bits I especially like:
Unlike Senator John McCain, I opposed the war in Iraq before it began, and would end it as president. I believed it was a grave mistake to allow ourselves to be distracted from the fight against Al Qaeda and the Taliban by invading a country that posed no imminent threat and had nothing to do with the 9/11 attacks. Since then, more than 4,000 Americans have died and we have spent nearly $1 trillion. Our military is overstretched. Nearly every threat we face — from Afghanistan to Al Qaeda to Iran — has grown.
But [the Bush/McCain plan] is not a strategy for success — it is a strategy for staying that runs contrary to the will of the Iraqi people, the American people and the security interests of the United States. That is why, on my first day in office, I would give the military a new mission: ending this war.
As president, I would pursue a new strategy, and begin by providing at least two additional combat brigades to support our effort in Afghanistan. We need more troops, more helicopters, better intelligence-gathering and more nonmilitary assistance to accomplish the mission there. I would not hold our military, our resources and our foreign policy hostage to a misguided desire to maintain permanent bases in Iraq.
I love it. He’s saying exactly what we should be doing. Get out of Iraq ASAP, and get more focused on Afghanistan.
by Nick on July 11, 2008
Posted By: Nick
There has been quite the increase in commentary this week about possible war with Iran. It’s an unfortunate situation that looks like it may not have a happy ending with the current administration running the show.
The truth of a war with Iran is that the United States would win. While Iran is larger than Iraq, and has a better military, they are still no match for the United States Military. We would win. We would win quickly and decisively. But after we win… then what? Suddenly we would find ourselves occupying a vast swath of the middle east (Iraq, Iran, and Afghanistan). Iran is much larger than Iraq both in terms of geographic area and population. The occupation of Iraq will likely pale in comparison to an occupation of Iran.
The further concern is what will happen in terms of the broader Middle East. Will Iran launch missiles at Israel in response? Will this draw other nations into the conflict? The situation could quickly get out of hand. The mere though of the United States occupying so much more of the Middle East will surely inflame the Islamic world.
Oil prices, already at ridiculous levels, will surely increase.
But these things may be inevitable. Afterall, a nuclear Iran is unacceptable. Though some in my party on the far left would like us to never go to war for any reason, sometimes we must. If Iran looks to be on the verge of developing a bomb, we must stop them. Fortunately the recent estimates I’ve read give us at least another year before Iran has an operational nuclear weapon. And even then, they would have only the one (or maybe two?). We still have time to resolve the situation without war, and the Bush administration (and whichever administration comes in next year) should actively pursue all avenues of dealing with Iran. We should be talking to Iranians. Diplomacy works, and can work in this situation. But that shouldn’t be our only action. We should continue to actively seek sanctions as long as the Iranians continue nuclear development. We should maintain our covert actions to both hamper Iran’s nuclear production and to make Iran’s cost of doing business unmanageable.
If we actively engage Iran on numerous fronts (Diplomatic, Economic, Military [covert operations and threats]) we can resolve this situation before it gets out of hand.
The alternative of course is a war that we will win, but which may cripple our nation as a result.
