Senator Obama: Debate This
Mon Feb 11, 2008 at 12:59:47 PM PDT
Hillary's my 1st Choice: Part I: Exiting Iraq
Policy statements are wonky by nature, and questions on policy in debates must be answered in ‘sound bites’ that fit into 90-second frames. To be both accurate and brief, the candidates can only give a broad outline of what they’ll do. For Obama it’s “we need to be as careful getting out as we were careless getting in.”
Clinton uses the questions to highlight various points:
She starts with telling us she’d asked for the exit plan and learned there is none. She says she’ll ask for an exit plan on day one.
She says the Iraqis know that if she’s elected we won’t be staying, and so there will be (1) no occupation, and (2) no long-term protection of Iraqi leaders with American troops or security paid for by Americans. Therefore, says she, they will know it’s incumbent on them to do what they can to stabilize the nation and to secure their own safety.
She then speaks of the logistics of leaving – we have troops, we have civilian workers, there are private American owned armies, and there are many Iraqis who’ve helped us, all of whom will need to be removed. We also have essential equipment and arms that must be removed. She states that there must be a plan for removing all of this that will ensure the safety of all involved. She promises the exits will start within two months, and she estimates the earliest it can all be accomplished will be something like fourteen months.
At the same time Clinton states she will implement the diplomacy plan. She has currently retired diplomats, professionals and experts on each foreign nation on board, prepared on “day one” to begin speaking to Iraq’s neighbors and to European, African and Asian leaders about the situation in order to give them an opportunity to get involved in stabilizing Iraq at the international level. But she’s not depending on any cooperation for her exit to go forward, she states, it will for forward as scheduled. She expects the possibility of a bloodier civil war in Iraq when we leave, but while international involvement would probably reduce ensuing violence, she will not make our exit plan dependent on international cooperation, under her watch we will leave regardless. Her only concern will be the safety of the operation, getting everyone and everything out safely.
Clinton has a plan for exiting Iraq, she will ask the commanders to start by counting; identifying those Iraqis we’ll need to rescue, identifying all essential equipment and materials, and developing a plan to remove our troops, our good friends, and American owned private armies. The point for Hillary is that there is no ‘good’ way out, and that although there likely will be an increase in civil violence when we leave, there is violence now, and while we’re there it’s violence with no end. The violence that erupts when we leave will have an end. And that’s better for all involved.
So here's one debate question for Senator Obama: How to you plan to exit Iraq?
