In January 2008 when asked about the war in Iraq and Bush’s willingness to stay another 50 years, Sen. John McCain answered, “Make it a hundred. … That would be fine with me.” This powerful and firm stance was one of the main points in the McCain campaign, but it has recently come down as Nouri al-Maliki, Prime Minister of Iraq, expresses his desire for troops to be gone by the end of 2010.
“I think it’s a pretty good timetable,” McCain said in CNN’s “The Situation Room.” The man’s opinions have totally flip-flopped from his ardent passion against any sort of timetable to leave Iraq that he had before the primary elections, but for good reason.
On July 21, Sen. Obama met with Prime Minister Maliki and discussed different issues concerning foreign affairs. The spokesman of the meeting, Ali al-Dabbagh, was quoted by The Associated Press saying, “We are hoping that in 2010 that combat troops will withdrawn from Iraq.”
Obviously if the Iraqi government desires a withdrawal and believes that they can handle themselves and al-Qaida without our soldiers and their M-16’s, let us allow them! We handled ourselves just fine against the British when the entire world thought we’d never achieve independence, and look at us now. Who is to say that they cannot succeed similarly?
The government will not state a fixed date of withdrawal, but as of right now, both Obama and McCain plan to start a 16-month timetable for removal as soon as the election takes place and is confirmed. Yes, the Republican and the Democratic nominees have the same views and plans for one hot subject that is a crucial part of both their campaigns. However, will McCain’s base suffer?
His statements declaring Obama’s foreign policy “naive” can now be turned against him. Not only does the Iraqi government itself agree with Obama’s withdrawal process, but now McCain himself agrees with his opponents “naive” policy. Republicans are becoming less and less loving toward McCain, and this timetable could quite possibly have tipped the barrel.
However, take into consideration McCain’s time as a prisoner of war in Vietnam, a war that did not conclude in the most desirable way. His desire to make sure this war does not end the same way is understandable; he could still have a bad taste of failure in his mouth. After Obama’s meetings with Nouri al-Maliki, McCain now realizes that Iraq is ready to live without our
help.
Hats off to Sen. McCain for seeing the need to change and taking initiative.
