Wednesday, November 23, 2005
Obama calls for U.S. to back out of Iraq
On Tuesday rawstory.com reported that Sen. Barack Obama (D-IL) has called for the U.S. to begin reducing the number of troops in Iraq following the country's Dec. 15 elections.
"The senator parsed his words carefully, clearly articulating he was not advocating a full withdrawal..."
"First and foremost, after the December 15 elections and during the course of next year, we need to focus our attention on how reduce the U.S. military footprint in Iraq. Notice that I say "reduce," and not "fully withdraw."
This course of action will help to focus our efforts on a more effective counter-insurgency strategy and take steam out of the insurgency.
On this point, I am in basic agreement with our top military commander in Iraq. In testimony before Congress earlier this year, General Casey stated that a key goal of the military was to "reduce our presence in Iraq, taking away one of the elements that fuels the insurgency: that of the coalition forces as an occupying force."
