WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Five years after the U.S. invasion of Iraq, the unpopular war reverberates through the 2008 presidential campaign with Democrats pledging an early troop pullout and Republicans promising to stay the course.
By Steve Holland
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Five years after the U.S. invasion of Iraq, the unpopular war reverberates through the 2008 presidential campaign with Democrats pledging an early troop pullout and Republicans promising to stay the course.
Democratic candidates Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton vow to begin withdrawing U.S. troops quickly if either wins the November election. Likely Republican nominee John McCain wants troops to stay until Iraq is more stable.
No matter who wins the White House, there are likely to be tens of thousands of U.S. troops still in Iraq when he or she takes office in January 2009. The Pentagon said last month it expected to have a force of about 140,000 there even after completing a planned drawdown of combat troops in July.
!ADVERTISEMENT!The Democrats offer a stark rejection of President George W. Bush's policy of leaving U.S. troops in Iraq in significant numbers to give the Iraqi government time to extend its reach and try to heal sectarian wounds.
But Obama and Clinton are also squabbling over Iraq.
Obama says Clinton's 2002 Senate vote to authorize the use of force in Iraq means she is not credible on the subject, while she says Obama, besides giving a speech against the war, has a record little different from her own.
Both basically agree they would start bringing home the troops one or two brigades at a time per month, with withdrawal completed in a year to 16 months.
Obama's consistent message of a speedy troop withdrawal drew questions when a foreign policy adviser, Samantha Power, was quoted as having said he may not be able to follow through on his campaign promises.
Power resigned after she was quoted as calling Clinton a "monster," but her comment opened Obama to charges he might not be able to match campaign rhetoric with presidential action.
"Once again, it looks like Sen. Obama is telling voters one thing while his campaign says those words should not to be mistaken for serious action," the Clinton campaign said.
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Obama said Clinton was trying to confuse the issue.
"What is true is that I want to be as careful getting out as we were careless getting in. And I want to make sure that our troops are protected and safe as we are withdrawing them and I don't want us to see Iraq collapse," he said.
McCain says neither of the Democrats has the experience to handle the national security responsibilities of the White House, and accuses them of promoting surrender in Iraq.
McCain's presidential campaign almost collapsed last summer in part because of his support for the troop buildup. His fortunes rose as the situation in Iraq improved.
"The next president must explain how he or she intends to bring that war to the swiftest possible conclusion without exacerbating a sectarian conflict that could quickly descend into genocide," he said last week.
Five years ago, Bush had most Americans behind him when he sent in U.S. troops to topple Saddam Hussein.
But his stated aim of ridding the country of weapons of mass destruction was based on faulty intelligence, and with almost 4,000 Americans dead and billions of dollars spent, many Americans have never forgiven him.
Democrats wrested control of Congress from Bush's Republicans in 2006 on a promise to get U.S. troops out but have been unable to make a difference.
Every withdrawal effort they have attempted has failed, and the relative success of adding 30,000 more troops a year ago has taken the war off America's front pages.
The Pew Research Center reported in late February that public attitudes about the war in Iraq had turned more positive, which the polling group said was a favorable development for McCain.
"A steadily growing number of Americans say progress is being made in Iraq. Moreover, 47 percent now favor keeping U.S. troops in Iraq until the situation there has stabilized, the highest percentage expressing this view in well more than a year," the poll found.
(Editing by Alan Elsner)
(To read more about the U.S. political campaign, visit Reuters "Tales from the Trail: 2008" online at http://blogs.reuters.com/trail08/
