On March 15, 2003, Governor Howard Dean, speaking to the California Democratic Party state convention, fired up Americans telling us "what I want to know is what in the world so many Democrats are doing supporting the President's unilateral intervention in Iraq?" It was Dean's constant refrain.
Four years later, though the question has changed some, the message is the same. What I want to know is why Hillary Clinton, Barack Obama and John Edwards won't commit to getting all American troops out of Iraq before 2013?
That's 6 more years of stay the course.
Of the major candidates, only Governor Bill Richardson is committed to getting all American troops out of Iraq as soon as he takes office.
Follow me over the fold for more of what I want to know.
We all know that Hillary recently voted for Kyl-Lieberman, banging the drums of war against Iran, in addition to voting for the war in Iraq. Hillary would leave residual troops in Iraq, making them continued targets of violence.
So as we redeploy our troops from Iraq, I will not let down my guard against terrorism. I will devote the resources we need to fight it and fight it smartly. I will order specialized units to engage in narrow and targeted operations against al Qaeda and other terrorist organizations in the region.
They will also provide security for U.S. troops and personnel and train and equip Iraqi security services to keep order and promote stability in the country, but only to the extent we believe such training is actually working. I would also consider, as I have said before, leaving some forces in the Kurdish area to protect the fragile but real democracy and relative peace and security that has developed there.
Barack Obama would also leave residual troops in Iraq and won't commit to getting all American troops out before 2013.
Residual Force to Remain: Under the Obama plan, American troops may remain in Iraq or the region. These American troops will protect American diplomatic and military personnel in Iraq, and continue striking at al
Qaeda in Iraq. If Iraq makes political progress and their security forces are not sectarian, we would also continue training othe Iraqi Security Forces. In the event of an outbreak of genocide, we would reserve the right to intervene, with the international community, if that intervention was needed to provide civilians with a safehaven.
John Edwards used to split hairs on troop reduction in Iraq, talking about removing combat troops, but not addressing all of the non-combat troops who would have been left behind. But now I see his website has evolved:
We should leave behind in Iraq only a brigade of 3,500 to 5,000 troops to protect the embassy and possibly a few hundred troops to guard humanitarian workers.
Edwards is closer to Bill Richardson's position on Iraq, but not there yet. And while Richardson has been calling for bringing all troops home since the beginning of this race, Edwards is just coming to that realization (perhaps as he did when he decided his vote for the war was wrong).
But don't think for a minute that the only passenger on the so-called "Double Talk Express" is Hillary Clinton. Yes, folks, John Edwards booked a seat on that ride too, with his hawkish words against Iran.
Speaking to an annual gathering of the leading members of the Israeli security establishment last January, Edwards said the following:
At the top of these threats is Iran. Iran threatens the security of Israel and the entire world. Let me be clear: Under no circumstances can Iran be allowed to have nuclear weapons. For years, the US hasn’t done enough to deal with what I have seen as a threat from Iran. As my country stayed on the sidelines, these problems got worse. To a large extent, the US abdicated its responsibility to the Europeans. This was a mistake. The Iranian president’s statements such as his description of the Holocaust as a myth and his goals to wipe Israel off the map indicate that Iran is serious about its threats.
Once Iran goes nuclear, other countries in the Middle East will go nuclear, making Israel’s neighborhood much more volatile.
Iran must know that the world won’t back down. The recent UN resolution ordering Iran to halt the enrichment of uranium was not enough. We need meaningful political and economic sanctions. We have muddled along for far too long. To ensure that Iran never gets nuclear weapons, we need to keep ALL options on the table, Let me reiterate – ALL options must remain on the table.[emphasis mine]
Sounds like a lot of saber rattling to me.
Bill Richardson, on the other hand, has called for withdrawing all of the troops out of Iraq. He would leave behind only the usual contingent of Marines to guard the embassy, which I will note, is considered sovereign U.S. soil. Marines guard every U.S. embassy in the world and are not residual forces.
Naysayers say that Bill Richardson's timeline won't work, that it's too short to get that many troops and all of their equipment out. Not true, says I, remember D-Day.
Overnight, about 2,700 ships with landing craft and 176,000 soldiers cross the Channel. Minesweepers go ahead to clear the water, and paratroopers drop behind German lines to capture bridges and railroad tracks. The landing includes more than 5,000 ships and 11,000 airplanes.
That's 176,000 troops with equipment going from a point on the Allied side of the lines, to behind enemy lines. It was done before and under Bill Richardson it can and will be done again.
After 8 years of letting the kids play the game of foreign policy, it's time to have an adult back in the room. Bill Richardson's foreign policy acumen and diplomatic skills are unrivaled by any other candidate in this race.
As I've said before, according to the National Priorities project, the United States of America is paying an estimated $275 million per day on the Iraq war. But it's not just money that's being lost in Iraq, so are lives.
Universal health care cannot be funded, education can't be funded at a level to produce consistent excellence around the country, and climate change cannot be fought adequately, unless the war in Iraq is ended and all American troops pulled out.
So don't tell me what your candidate is going to do for my health care, or to reduce my taxes, or to make sure my kids have an excellent education, or how he/she will solve the problem of climate change. Because unless your candidate will end the war in Iraq immediately upon entering office, nothing else will matter.
Bill Richardson is the only major candidate who will bring all of the troops home immediately, and I've proudly supported his campaign before it was a campaign.