In the wake of the Feingold withdrawal from (unofficial) candidacy, I felt deserted, I mean in a desert of uncertainty, and had a strong need to discover the positions on Iraq of the candidates and prospective candidates for President. It's pretty mushy out there...
DEMOCRATS
EVAN BAYH
You can't find the word "Iraq" on Bayh’s Senatorial overview "Issues in Focus" page. And his "War on Terrorism" page has just one sentence with the I-word: "As a member of the Armed Services Committee and the Intelligence Committee, Senator Bayh is continually monitoring the progress of national security abroad, as U.S. troops continue to fight terrorism and help the Iraqi and Afghani people rebuild their countries."
Voted NO on redeploying troops out of Iraq by July 2007, the Kerry-Feingold Amendment to National Defense Authorization Act. Jun 22, 2006
...
Voted YES on Levin-Reed Amendment to National Defense Authorization Act, a nonbinding "sense of the Senate" resolution calling for phased pullout from Iraq, to begin by the end of 2006 with an unspecified end date. Jun 22, 2006.
http://www.senate.gov/...
Over the weekend [Bush] pleaded for an end to the sectarian conflict, and Bush is expected to step up the pressure on the Iraqi government itself to do more.
Indiana Democrat Evan Bayh has been saying that's exactly what the President should do.
"We are never going to stabilize Iraq, no matter how long we stay, no matter now much we spend, no matter how many of our brave soldiers die, until the Iraqis get their act together," said Bayh.
http://www.wthr.com/...
The Indiana senator voted in 2002 to authorize the use of military force to oust Saddam Hussein. Since then, he has become a critic of the war. He supported the unsuccessful Levin-Reed amendment, which urged President Bush to transfer greater responsibility to the Iraqis and begin a phased redeployment of U.S. forces from Iraq by the end of the year. "If people don't trust us with their lives, they're unlikely to trust us with much else," Bayh said.
http://www.boston.com/...
JOE BIDEN
Voted NO on redeploying troops out of Iraq by July 2007, the Kerry-Feingold Amendment to National Defense Authorization Act. Jun 22, 2006
http://www.ontheissues.org/...
Voted YES on Levin-Reed Amendment to National Defense Authorization Act, a nonbinding "sense of the Senate" resolution calling for phased pullout from Iraq, to begin by the end of 2006 with an unspecified end date. Jun 22, 2006.
http://www.senate.gov/...
The Democrats' biggest long shot happens to be the author of the party's most comprehensive Iraq plan. Earlier this year, he and former Council on Foreign Relations president Leslie Gelb produced a plan calling for the division of Iraq into three autonomous states.
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/...
"The best way to get the Iraqis to concentrate on making the hard political decisions and compromises is to make clear to them that the presence of our troops in their present large numbers is not open-ended."
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/...
The incoming chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee voted in 2002 to give Bush the authority to use military force. Since then, the Delaware senator has become a critic of the war and has advocated a plan that would divide the country along ethnic lines, relying on a central government only for matters of border control and allocation of oil resources. He has been critical of efforts to install a Western-style democracy.
http://www.boston.com/...
WESLEY CLARK
Q: You have said you oppose setting a timetable for American troop withdrawal from Iraq.
A: I oppose Washington setting a Washington-driven timetable.
Q: Do you support an increase in American troop levels?
A: Not per se, but what I do support is a full kit bag of carrots and sticks when and if we send a negotiating team into the Middle East to work these issues.
http://www.browndailyherald.com/...
The retired four-star general and former NATO commander has criticized the war as "a path to nowhere -- replete with hyped intelligence, macho slogans and an incredible failure to see the obvious." The 2004 presidential candidate said the goal to institute Western-style government was a flawed idea. He recently called for sustained shuttle diplomacy in the region and increased cooperation among the White House, Pentagon and State Department.
http://www.boston.com/...
HILLARY CLINTON
Voted NO on redeploying troops out of Iraq by July 2007, the Kerry-Feingold Amendment to National Defense Authorization Act. Jun 22, 2006
http://www.ontheissues.org/...
Voted YES on Levin-Reed Amendment to National Defense Authorization Act, a nonbinding "sense of the Senate" resolution calling for phased pullout from Iraq, to begin by the end of 2006 with an unspecified end date. Jun 22, 2006.
http://www.senate.gov/...
[Clinton] voted for the Iraq war and never expressed regret over doing so, even as the war became increasingly unpopular with her party's base. But by persistently criticizing the Bush administration's handling of the war, she has so far managed to avoid the wrath of the antiwar activists that dogged Joe Lieberman in 2006.
But now that she's in the majority, and seriously eying a run at the White House, what would she do about Iraq? She has so far advocated the creation of an oil trust—granting a share in oil profits to all Iraqis. She's backed a phased redeployment of troops—though she hasn't said how many troops would be redeployed or where they would go—and championed engagement with Syria and Iran. But she has yet to offer a comprehensive plan of her own. "It's for the president of the United States to present a plan to the American people," said her spokesman, Philippe Reines.
Clinton has developed a close working relationship with Rhode Island Sen. Jack Reed, a West Point graduate and the Senate Democrats' point man on Iraq....
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/...
Q: What should be done in Iraq?
A: #1: We need to resolve the political problems in Iraq. They've been allowed to fester. How are you going to guarantee the reasonable Sunni majority a place in the government? How are you going to distribute the oil revenue, so people don't feel that they're being ripped off? These are key issues for political resolution of sectarian violence. #2: We've got to have the regional neighbors involved--with a high-level contact group, where we bring the regional powers together. #3: The President's strategy has basically been, "Well, when the Iraqis stand up, we'll stand down." Well, the Iraqis have been standing up, but they haven't been fighting. That's why we need a phased redeployment--moving our troops out so they have to stand and fight for themselves.
Q: Give us a timetable for that phasing out.
A: When we originally proposed it, we said that 2006 should be a year of transition. We're running out of time in 2006. I think this needs to be done immediately.
Source: NY 2006 Senate Debate, at University of Rochester Oct 20, 2006
http://www.ontheissues.org/...
She also voted in 2002 to authorize the use of military force and has refused to recant her vote. But the New York senator has been a vocal critic of the way the war has been conducted, voting in June for the Levin-Reed amendment on a phased withdrawal. "Our country desperately needs a foreign policy based on bipartisan consensus and executed with nonpartisan competence," Clinton has said. At a Senate Armed Services Committee hearing Nov. 15, she quizzed Gen. John Abizaid, the top U.S. commander in the Middle East, about dividing the country along ethnic lines.
http://www.boston.com/...
HOWARD DEAN
Since he speaks as party chair, right?, it’s hard to know what Dean personally thinks the U.S. needs to do going forward Iraq. Here’s the best I could find (but please give me something better in the comments and I’m happy to revise/update):
Even if Democrats win control of Congress in elections next week, an immediate change of course in Iraq policy is unlikely, the party's chairman [Howard Dean] said on Sunday. ...
"The president will still be in charge of foreign policy and the military ... I don't imagine we're going to be able to force the president to reverse his course," he told the CBS "Face the Nation" program.
"But we will put some pressure on him to have some benchmarks, some timetables and a real plan other than stay the course," he added. ...
Dean said a small U.S. force should be left somewhere near Iraq to help prevent the establishment of a terrorist haven in the region.
"We will need to leave a force of special-operations folks in the Middle East, not in Iraq but on the periphery of Iraq, so we can deal with terrorism in a timely manner.
"We don't believe now we should suddenly pull everybody out...," he said.
http://www.votersforpeace.us/...
CHRIS DODD
Voted NO on redeploying troops out of Iraq by July 2007, the Kerry-Feingold Amendment to National Defense Authorization Act. Jun 22, 2006
http://www.ontheissues.org/...
Voted YES on Levin-Reed Amendment to National Defense Authorization Act, a nonbinding "sense of the Senate" resolution calling for phased pullout from Iraq, to begin by the end of 2006 with an unspecified end date. Jun 22, 2006.
http://www.senate.gov/...
The Connecticut senator voted to authorize military force in 2002 but later supported the Levin-Reed amendment. Dodd recently said he would prefer Iraqis take greater responsibility and the United States immediately deploy troops away from urban areas, into rural areas and along the border. Dodd opposes an ethnically divided Iraq and favors aggressive diplomacy.
http://www.boston.com/...
JOHN EDWARDS
Support for the Iraq war caused Edwards trouble in the 2004 Democratic primary. So in the spring of 2005, the former North Carolina senator asked aides to begin rethinking his policy on the war. The result: a Washington Post op-ed saying "I was wrong" and calling for a drawdown in troops and increased engagement with Iraq's neighbors in the Middle East. At the time, some close to Edwards worried that the former vice presidential candidate was taking too firm a stance on a rapidly shifting war. But now, with many Democrats making the case for phased withdrawal, Team Edwards feels the rest of the party is coming around to his view. ... Edwards's Iraq repudiation may help him emerge as the antiwar alternative to Clinton's stubborn hawk.
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/...
[On Nov. 20, 2006,] Edwards said he supports withdrawal of American troops from Iraq over 12 to 18 months...
http://www.newsobserver.com/...
The 2004 vice presidential nominee voted to authorize military intervention, but since leaving the Senate has recanted his vote. The former North Carolina lawmaker advocates a phased troop redeployment from Iraq.
http://www.boston.com/...
AL GORE
In his 2002 anti-invasion speech Gore was truly courageous on this issue (http://www.commonwealthclub.org/archive/02/02-09gore-speech.html), but I can’t find anything on what he proposes for Iraq going forward. As with Howard Dean, here’s the best I could find (but give me something better in the comments and I’m happy to revise/update):
Gore said the dangers of unchecked executive power can be seen in the war in Iraq, which the administration warned was necessary because Iraq was concealing chemical and biological weapons and trying to produce nuclear arms. No such weapons were found after the March 2003 invasion. ...
"Twenty-two hundred American soldiers have lost their lives as this false belief, as this belief bumped into a solid reality," he said. "Indeed, whenever power is unchecked and unaccountable, it almost inevitably leads to gross mistakes and abuses."
http://www.cnn.com/...
*New, added from comments (thanks MattBellamy):
[June 2006:] Gore, however, disagreed with Sen. John Kerry's, D-Mass., call to withdraw all U.S. troops from Iraq by the end of the year.
"I would pursue the twin objectives of trying to withdraw our forces as quickly as we possibly can, while at the same time minimizing the risk that we'll make the mess over there even worse and raise even higher the danger of civil war," Gore said.
Dismissing calls for any deadline, Gore added, "It's possible that setting a deadline could set in motion forces that would make it even worse. I think that we should analyze that very carefully. My guess is that a deadline is probably not the right approach; but again, you have to weigh that question in the context of how the political decisions are made between the Congress and the executive branch. Sometimes the Congress itself has blunt instruments and limited options to play a role in matters like this."
http://abcnews.go.com/...
JOHN KERRY
Sponsored and Voted YES on redeploying troops out of Iraq by July 2007, the Kerry-Feingold Amendment to National Defense Authorization Act. Jun 22, 2006
http://www.ontheissues.org/...
Voted YES on Levin-Reed Amendment to National Defense Authorization Act, a nonbinding "sense of the Senate" resolution calling for phased pullout from Iraq, to begin by the end of 2006 with an unspecified end date. Jun 22, 2006.
http://www.senate.gov/...
The 2004 presidential nominee voted to authorize military force. But he subsequently voted against additional funds for the effort and has said the authorization vote was his biggest legislative mistake.
http://www.boston.com/...
BARACK OBAMA
Voted NO on redeploying troops out of Iraq by July 2007, the Kerry-Feingold Amendment to National Defense Authorization Act. Jun 22, 2006
http://www.ontheissues.org/...
Voted YES on Levin-Reed Amendment to National Defense Authorization Act, a nonbinding "sense of the Senate" resolution calling for phased pullout from Iraq, to begin by the end of 2006 with an unspecified end date. Jun 22, 2006.
http://www.senate.gov/...
One of Obama's chief assets as a potential challenger to Clinton: consistency on Iraq. He's said that he and the former First Lady had "differing assessments" of the need to go to war in the first place—and, indeed, as a state senator in the fall of 2002, he spoke out passionately against the war while Clinton was voting for it. He has resisted taking a strong position on an exit strategy for Iraq, saying simply, "I'm not a military man."
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/...
On Monday, Sen. Barack Obama of Illinois urged a "gradual and substantial" reduction of forces to begin in four months to six months based on ground conditions and the advice of U.S. commanders. He left the specifics to them...
http://www.usatoday.com/...
Democratic Sen. Barack Obama, who is contemplating a run for the presidency, on Monday called for a "gradual and substantial" reduction of U.S. forces from Iraq that would begin in four to six months.
Speaking to the Chicago Council on Global Affairs, Obama envisioned a flexible timetable for withdrawal linked to conditions on the ground in Iraq and based on the advice of U.S. commanders. ...
Obama was careful not to set a specific timetable for withdrawal of troops or suggest troop levels.
"We cannot compromise on the safety of our troops, and we should be willing to adjust to realities on the ground," he said.
He proposed redeploying troops to Northern Iraq and to other countries in the region. He recommended boosting troop strength in Afghanistan, "where our lack of focus and commitment of resources has led to an increasing deterioration of the security situation there."
http://news.yahoo.com/...
The Illinois senator is a longtime critic of the war, elected to the Senate after the conflict began. ... In a recent speech, Obama called a "gradual and substantial" reduction of U.S. forces from Iraq that would begin in four months to six months. He also called for intensified efforts to train Iraqi security forces and new diplomacy with Syria and Iran.
http://www.boston.com/...
BILL RICHARDSON
..."I would set a timetable for withdrawal. I would couple that with a political solution of the three ethnic groups forcing them to have a political solution. There is no military solution. Specifically, I would divide up the oil revenue, the cabinet ministries and force them to come up with a new political framework. I would also study Senator Biden's federation [proposal]. I think that may be ultimately the right solution."
Richardson continued: "I would set up a Middle East peace conference that would deal with civil administration and reconstruction of Iraq.... Muslim and European nations would be part of that. I would then redeploy [US] troops, leave a residual force in Iraq [and] put [troops] where we really need them, [in] Afghanistan. I would put others in Gulf States to deal with international terrorism threats."
http://www.csmonitor.com/...
In September, the New Mexico governor and former U.N. ambassador outlined a strategy for Iraq that echoed the Biden approach: "I would set a timetable for withdrawal. I would couple that with a political solution of the three ethnic groups forcing them to have a political solution. There is no military solution. Specifically, I would divide up the oil revenue, the cabinet ministries and force them to come up with a new political framework."
http://www.boston.com/...
TOM VILSACK
Vilsack proposed pulling troops out of southern and central Iraq, where most of the violence is occurring.
"We've created a culture of dependency in which the Iraqis are essentially using America either as an excuse or a reason not to confront the problem.... No matter how long we are there, no matter what we do, eventually they have to decide for themselves, do they want safety and security and stability or not?"
But Vilsack said he would maintain some troops in the northern part of the country to allow for a quick response if the stability of the Mideast is at stake.
A military presence may also be necessary to put pressure on Iran to stop its nuclear program, he said. Vilsack called for more aggressive diplomacy to stop Iran from becoming a nuclear power.
Once American troops are out of harm's way in Iraq, he said he'd encourage regional involvement in reconstruction.
"And I'd be asking some serious questions about where our money has gone and what has been done with it," he said.
http://news.yahoo.com/...
Asked about Iraq, Vilsack said he is not advocating a timetable for withdrawing U.S. troops but said the situation could be improved by redeploying troops within the country.
http://desmoinesregister.com/...
"In Iraq, we must act, take our troops out of harm's way and allow Iraqis to begin providing their own security."
http://www.chicagotribune.com/...
The Iowa governor has bemoaned the loss of the U.S. ability to negotiate a solution because it has squandered its diplomatic clout. "The U.S. doesn't seem like it's in position to broker peace," he said. "It doesn't seem to have the power. ... We're now dependent on other states to carry out diplomacy."
http://www.boston.com/...
REPUBLICANS
SAM BROWNBACK
Voted NO on Levin-Reed Amendment to National Defense Authorization Act, a nonbinding "sense of the Senate" resolution calling for phased pullout from Iraq, to begin by the end of 2006 with an unspecified end date. Jun 22, 2006.
http://www.senate.gov/...
... Brownback has long been an Iraq hawk, cosponsoring the 1998 Senate bill that made "regime change" U.S. policy in dealing with Saddam Hussein. After Saddam was toppled, Brownback encouraged similar regime change in Iran.
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/...
The Kansas senator has supported the war and maintained his optimism. "We are coming to a time when we can hand this, much more, over to the Iraqis," he said. "And I think we need to do that, for both the Iraqi public and for the American public."
http://www.boston.com/...
BILL FRIST (Dropped out a few days ago)
Voted NO on Levin-Reed Amendment to National Defense Authorization Act, a nonbinding "sense of the Senate" resolution calling for phased pullout from Iraq, to begin by the end of 2006 with an unspecified end date. Jun 22, 2006.
http://www.senate.gov/...
He voted for the use of force and continues to defend his vote. "Leaving Iraq to the terrorists is simply not an option," said the Senate majority leader. He joined Bush to oppose Democratic calls to withdraw forces from Iraq, but the Tennessee senator acknowledged the war made it tough for GOP candidates.
http://www.boston.com/...
NEWT GINGRICH
Go ahead and read, but yes, he does seem to be contradicting himself.
Gingrich, who served on a key Pentagon board that advised Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld in the runup to the Iraq war, was eager to distance himself from the Bush administration's handling of the war.
He said a show of contrition by the White House would help the president regain the trust of the American people and avoid a quick pullout, which would be disastrous.
The first goal in Iraq, Gingrich said, should be to rebuild the national military, even if it requires spending tantamount to the Marshall Plan effort in the aftermath of World War II, in which the United States spent up to 3 percent of its gross domestic product.
"We have to show we are serious about winning and that we will defeat any person, Sunni or Shi'ite, that hopes to disrupt progress," he said. "But we can only do that if we have Iraqi troops on the ground."
http://www.boston.com/...
The former House speaker has been critical of the war and the way it has been fought. He told a South Dakota audience the United States should withdraw most of its troops from Iraq, leaving a small force behind similar to the postwar forces in Korea and Germany. "It was an enormous mistake for us to try to occupy that country after June of 2003," he said. "We have to pull back, and we have to recognize it."
http://www.boston.com/...
RUDY GIULIANI
... Giuliani has tried to shore up his conservative credentials with a vociferous defense of Bush's Iraq policy. He's said withdrawing troops would be akin to the Union pulling out halfway through the U.S. Civil War—and called on America to "do whatever it takes" to win. His staunch defense of the war has helped win brownie points with the White House. But aides say his commitment to the Iraq cause is genuine.
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/...
Former New York mayor Rudolph Giuliani ... was quoted last week as saying the United States needed to be "steadfast in Iraq."
http://news.yahoo.com/...
The former New York City mayor has supported Bush's war on terror and has said Democrats "don't support the military the way Republicans do." He said any withdrawal from Iraq would only encourage future attacks. "The jihadists very much want a victory in Iraq. They feel that if they could defeat us in Iraq they will have a great victory for terrorism," Giuliani said.
http://www.boston.com/...
LINDSEY GRAHAM
Voted NO on Levin-Reed Amendment to National Defense Authorization Act, a nonbinding "sense of the Senate" resolution calling for phased pullout from Iraq, to begin by the end of 2006 with an unspecified end date. Jun 22, 2006.
http://www.senate.gov/...
The South Carolina senator opposes the arbitrary withdrawal of U.S. troops from Iraq. Although he has been critical of the war, he said premature departure could be disastrous. He said both U.S. and Iraqi officials should be held accountable for the lack of progress. "We're on the verge of chaos, and the current plan is not working," he said.
http://www.boston.com/...
CHUCK HAGEL
Voted NO on Levin-Reed Amendment to National Defense Authorization Act, a nonbinding "sense of the Senate" resolution calling for phased pullout from Iraq, to begin by the end of 2006 with an unspecified end date. Jun 22, 2006.
http://www.senate.gov/...
[Senator Chuck Hagel] called Sunday [Nov. 26, 2006] for American troops to begin withdrawing from Iraq, declaring that a U.S. pullout is needed to head off "impending disaster" in the nearly 4-year-old war. ...
[Hagel said] President Bush should use the upcoming report from a bipartisan panel led by former Secretary of State James Baker to begin laying the groundwork for a "phased withdrawal" of U.S. troops.
"If the president fails to build a bipartisan foundation for an exit strategy, America will pay a high price for this blunder -- one that we will have difficulty recovering from in the years ahead," Hagel wrote. ...
In Sunday editions of the newspaper, he wrote that the U.S. "misunderstood, misread, misplanned and mismanaged our honorable intentions in Iraq with an arrogant self-delusion reminiscent of Vietnam." ...
... Hagel said sending more U.S. troops -- as a frequent ally, Arizona Republican Sen. John McCain, has called for -- would not accomplish the goal of bolstering the weak Iraqi government.
"The time for more U.S. troops in Iraq has passed," he wrote. "We do not have more troops to send and, even if we did, they would not bring a resolution to Iraq.
"Militaries are built to fight and win wars, not bind together failing nations. We are once again learning a very hard lesson in foreign affairs: America cannot impose a democracy on any nation -- regardless of our noble purpose."
http://edition.cnn.com/...
A strong critic of the Bush administration, the Nebraska senator has publicly questioned the president's plan and advisers. He recently said Sen. John McCain's call to send more troops comes too late. "The time for more troops is past. We don't want to put more troops in now. Even if we had them, that's the wrong approach," he said on MSNBC.
http://www.boston.com/...
MIKE HUCKABEE
"If we were to go over there, overthrow a tyrannical despot like Saddam Hussein, promise the Iraqi people that we'll help them to transition to a democratic form of government, establish a constitution, hold free elections, and be empowered to secure themselves -- and then leave before we really saw that through and left them vulnerable to a take-over by a force even worse than Saddam Hussein, I'm not sure anybody would ever trust the U.S. again. ...
So I feel that what we're doing is the right thing and we are making significant transition to the Iraqis. ...
I think the important thing is to realize that the establishment of a democracy is sometimes a messy thing and it takes time. Yeah, we been at it 240 years. We're still working on it. It took women 150 years to vote in this country. ...
I also look at it as if we had the same mentality of the Democrats after WWII and they'd have said, "Ok we have one year to make it work and we're pulling out," - if they'd have said that in Europe -- the face of the world, and particularly our own nation would be very, very different today."
[From an April 2006 interview]
http://www.rightwingnews.com/...
DUNCAN HUNTER
Voted YES on declaring Iraq part of War on Terror with no exit date. Reference: Resolution on Prevailing in the Global War on Terror. Jun 12, 2006
http://www.ontheissues.org/...
Another strong war supporter, Rep. Duncan Hunter, ... said Monday that he wants trained Iraqi security forces to be moved to the front lines to fight to stabilize the country.
http://www.usatoday.com/...
The California Republican who has led the House Armed Services Committee is a staunch defender of the war and the administration. His son is a Marine artillery officer who has served in Iraq. "This falloff of support among Democratic ranks is not shared by the war-fighting forces," Hunter said. "It's not shared by our troops."
http://www.boston.com/...
JOHN McCAIN
Voted NO on Levin-Reed Amendment to National Defense Authorization Act, a nonbinding "sense of the Senate" resolution calling for phased pullout from Iraq, to begin by the end of 2006 with an unspecified end date. Jun 22, 2006.
http://www.senate.gov/...
McCain was an early administration ally on Iraq, arguing that removing Saddam Hussein was vital to the broader war on terror. ... After the invasion, McCain began a relentless drumbeat for more U.S. troops.
McCain is that rare Republican with sympathy for both his party's realist and idealist wings... If McCain does make a White House run, his foreign policy would be coordinated by Randy Scheunemann, an analyst at the conservative think tank Project for the New American Century who founded the bipartisan Committee for the Liberation of Iraq, an independent group that advocated for regime change.
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/...
"I believe victory is still attainable," the Arizona Republican says. "But without additional combat forces we will not win this war."
In carefully scripted language, McCain then adds: If the country does not have the will to do what it takes to win in Iraq — send in more forces — then U.S. troops should not be made to serve more tours of duty.
"As troubling as it is, I can ask a young Marine to go back to Iraq," he said last week. "What I cannot do is ask him to return to Iraq, to risk life and limb, so that we might delay our defeat for a few months or a year. That is more to ask than patriotism requires.
http://www.usatoday.com/...
As Americans wonder when the troops will come home from Iraq, Republican White House hopeful John McCain is laying his first big bet of the 2008 campaign: demanding more soldiers for the war. ...
"Without additional forces, we cannot win this war," the former Vietnam War prisoner said. ...
On Sunday, McCain was asked on ABC if it was "immoral" to ask US troops to stay in Iraq, when in his view, they were undermanned.
"Yes, it is," McCain answered. "We've got to ask ... some questions. One, are we winning? And I think the answer is no ... Can we still win? Yes, I believe we can."
As Democrats demand a phased withdrawal of US troops, McCain says more men must be poured in to flush out insurgent strongholds, crush militias and sectarian violence and to train Iraqi forces.
http://news.yahoo.com/...
McCain's plan is the polar opposite of [Carl] Levin's. He believes - and has said so in public for three years - that we went into Iraq with too few troops and have never cured the problem. He wants more boots on the ground, perhaps as many as 40,000 more, in order to get control of the insurgency and to occupy areas that have been pacified and keep the rebels from returning. He doesn't call it an escalation, but that is what it is.
http://news.cincypost.com/...
The Arizona senator has warned that any pullout of troops could be disastrous. Instead, he has pushed the president to send in a heavy wave of troops to quell the violence and establish order. He has been public in his criticism of how the war has been run, but not the goals. During an exchange with Abizaid, McCain said: "I regret deeply that you seem to think that the status quo and the rate of progress we're making is acceptable. I think most Americans do not."
http://www.boston.com/...
GEORGE PATAKI
Pataki, in a news conference via satellite with New York reporters, hedged on whether America should withdraw its troops quickly if the Iraqi government doesn't get the violence under control.
In the past, Pataki has been a strong supporter of President Bush's efforts in Iraq.
The governor noted that things are "very different" in Iraq than when he visited more than two years ago and strolled the streets of Baghdad eating ice cream. He said that now Americans aren't allowed to leave the fortified "Green Zone" unless on a military mission.
http://www.newsday.com/...
MITT ROMNEY
More than any other top-tier candidate, Romney, the retiring governor of Massachusetts, can legitimately claim he's had nothing to do with the mess in Iraq. But as he travels the country selling himself as the strongest potential challenger to McCain, Romney has had to scramble to make up for his lack of foreign-policy bona fides. In May he traveled to Iraq and borrowed a White House talking point, warning that the U.S. couldn't "cut and run." In September, he conferred with L. Paul Bremer, the former U.S. viceroy in Iraq, about the war. Aides say Romney is still in the early stages of educating himself about the conflict and has no plans to offer concrete strategies soon.
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/...
The Massachusetts governor pledged support for the U.S.-led invasion in 2003 but later criticized Bush for not doing an "adequate job" outlining the rationale for the war. He said the attack was based on faulty intelligence and argued the U.S. had provided insufficient troops to stabilize the country following initial combat.
http://www.boston.com/...
TOM TANCREDO
Voted YES on declaring Iraq part of War on Terror with no exit date. Reference: Resolution on Prevailing in the Global War on Terror. Jun 12, 2006
http://www.ontheissues.org/...
TOMMY THOMPSON
The former Wisconsin governor and Health and Human Services chief has acknowledged Iraq would be a major issue in 2008. Beyond that, he has faced few questions about his views on U.S. policy in Iraq.
http://www.boston.com/...
By the way, along the internet byways I found a couple of very well done candidate surveys, SciPhi’s at http://everything2.com/... and http://www.electoral-vote.com/... You can find most of the candidate websites or the equivalent at http://www.2008horserace.com/