Organizing for America | For My Federalist AncestorsBlog: Regarding Iraq

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Regarding Iraq

By Kaye - Jul 4th, 2008 at 2:53 am EDT

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The media is all over Obama's comments today regarding his stance on pulling the troops out of Iraq. Over the course of the last year, I've paid very close attention to what Senator Obama has said regarding pulling out of Iraq. And yes, he has said he will pull the troops out in 16 months, at a rate of one or two troops per month. But he has also stated continuously that the rate of pullout per month would depend upon the conditions on the ground. Maybe some people failed to hear that specificity.

While we all want the troops to leave Iraq a quickly as possible and to invest our main efforts against the real target enemies, Al Qaeda, leaving Iraq too abruptly may cause security problems for our own forces. In addition, to paraphrase Colin Powell, we broke the store, it's up to us to fix it. Imagine if you will that your kids and their friends enter your house and proceed to make a big mess. They break your furnishings and destroy your household. Would you hold them unaccountable or would you want them to fix the mess they've created? Is this mess really any different?

That said it does not in any way relieve or eliminate the responsibility of the Iraqi government to fix or eliminate the problems existing within their own country. To my thinking as long as we continue to take the primary responsibility for their security, they will continue to prolong the need to take care of themselves and work out their own problems. Imagine your own family or workplace. If you're always there to solve the problems, what need is there of the participants to solve the problems for themselves. All they have to do is to continue to play innocent, blame the other, and complain about the other. They have no need to solve their own problems. After all, they have you to do that for them. We must force the Iraqi government to take care of the people of Iraq and the country. We cannot fix their problems. Only they can do that.

We've given them five years to solve their problems, and we cannot continue to be their buffer forever. Leaving responsibly is our only choice. But leaving responsibly means we do it in a way that protects our military men and women. I'm old enough to remember the evacuation of Saigon. I don't want that same kind of chaos again.

But unlike Sen. McCain, I do not believe we need to stay in Iraq forever if needed to insure we win. McCain, I believe, is still caught in the Vietnam era. I suspect that he sees Iraq in terms of Vietnam: the US has to indisputably win, as in WWII, or we've lost. It's a psychological problem for Sen. McCain, perhaps because he was a prisoner of war. Unfortunately, Sen. McCain, like many military men, cannot accept anything but an all out, declared victory that vindicates for all time, past, present and future, the US military.

This is not a slam on Sen. McCain. I grew up in a military family. My father was Master Sergeant, Flight Engineer in the Air Force for over 20 years. My ex-husband was stationed in 'Nam as a radio operator with the Army. I know the military. I understand the military. I love the fact that I'm a military brat. I've always loved the guys and gals proudly serving in our Armed Forces. When I was a small kid, those GIs treated my brothers and me as their own kid brothers and sister. They watched out for us and took care of us. They made sure we were safe and even let us win at poker. They were the best of the best. I love them dearly. And I am extraordinarily proud of each and every person serving in uniform today. As a matter of fact, my experience has been that those serving in uniform are the best citizens we have, and certainly the senior officers are among the most intelligent and most well educated we have. Nevertheless, Sen. McCain, I believe, has allowed his own deep-seated feelings over what finally occurred in Vietnam color his views on Iraq. To put it simply, it's an "honor" thing with him: the honor of the US military forces as the best and only undefeated military, after Vietnam, must be vindicated. Unfortunately, he is wrong. This is not Vietnam. And if he had taken the time and effort to learn the totality of the Vietnam conflict, perhaps he would not now be so adamant about our military forces staying in Iraq forever until total peace as occurred at the end of WWII.

Regardless of the McCain campaign's message today, I believe Sen. Obama has not changed his views on Iraq. Obama is a pragmatic man. He will do what appears to be the right thing for the time in which a decision is necessary. I believe that like Pres. Kennedy he will face with a stern force those challenges that require sternness and he will negotiate peace whenever possible. One thing I learned from my Air Force Dad was to stand up for what you believed was right, even if it meant armed conflict, but always be willing to talk and negotiate before putting anyone, including GIs, in harms way. This is the kind of person we need in the White House, one who will face the challenges of the future, including Iraq, and will not shy away from what is right for the US. Obama does not bring with him the psychological failures of Vietnam. He does not bring with him the sense of failing and loss that Vietnam caused amongst so many of his compatriots. He can see clearly what is necessary for the US and respond pragmatically to what needs to be done. He can reason out the outcomes of any decision and choose a path that best protects all our very young people in uniform while forcing the Iraqi government to stand on it's own two feet and defend itself and solve its own internal secular problems.

We cannot fix Iraq. Only Iraq can do that. But we can announce to Iraq that it must solve its own problems for itself and that we will not stay there forever to enable an inept government incapable of or unwilling to bring together its own people. No Civil War can be solved by a third party military. Just read history.

So, back to my main point: Obama has not changed his position on Iraq. He has always stated that he will move the troops out of Iraq within 16 months, but that he will rely upon the commanders in the field to assist him in making the decision as to how many troops are removed at any specific time.

Obama has not flip-flopped as the McCain campaign has decreed. This flip-flop claim is yet another Republican scare tactic…a tactic at which they are past masters. The Republicans are relying upon Americans to not remember what Obama has always said. They are relying upon your lack of memory, your laziness in not learning the facts for yourself, and in your inability to think about what is in your own self-interest if they apply enough fear tactics.

I refuse to submit to their fear tactics. I refuse to follow blindly what anyone says. I choose to think for myself. I've waited fifty years, since JFK and RFK, for a presidential candidate to inspire me as much Obama has. I believe he has the right stuff for this moment in history. And I believe that, more than nearly any president in recent history, he will tell us the truth.

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