[Peace-discuss] Fwd: [Ufpj-disc] Obama "comfortable" with 35, 000 troops in Iraq "long term"

Thu Mar 6 11:25:30 CST 2008

FYI.  --mkb

Begin forwarded message:

> From: Steve Burns <outreach at wnpj.org>
> Date: March 5, 2008 4:19:16 PM CST
> To: troopwithdrawal at yahoogroups.com,  
> wisconsintroopshome at yahoogroups.com, ufpj-disc at lists.mayfirst.org
> Subject: [Ufpj-disc] Obama "comfortable" with 35,	000 troops in  
> Iraq "long term"
>
> **Please see footer for list protocol**
>
> The Wall Street Journal article below quotes an unnamed “senior  
> adviser” for the Obama campaign saying Obama would be “comfortable”  
> with a “long-term” presence of 35,000 troops in Iraq.
>
>
>
> Since January 2007, we’ve known that Obama’s “withdrawal” plan  
> (.pdf) left a loophole for troops “striking at Al Qaeda in Iraq”,  
> “training Iraqi security forces” and “protecting US facilities and  
> personnel”, but until now we didn’t know how big the loophole was.
>
>
>
> Some questions still remain, like how long is “long term”, and  
> which of our troops get stuck with the job of being the last 35,000  
> U.S. troops in Iraq.
>
>
>
> Steve Burns
>
> Wisconsin Network for Peace and Justice
>
> 122 State St. #402
>
> Madison, WI 53703
>
> (608) 250 9240
>
>
>
>
>
> February 29, 2008
>
>
>
> THE FIGHT FOR IRAQ
>
> Many Troops Would Stay In Iraq if a Democrat Wins By YOCHI J.  
> DREAZEN February 29, 2008; Page A4
>
> http://online.wsj.com/article/SB120424840649401731.html
>
>
>
> WASHINGTON -- Despite the rhetoric of the Democratic presidential  
> candidates, significant numbers of U.S. troops will remain in Iraq  
> regardless who wins in November.
>
>
>
> In their final push to win the nomination, Sens. Barack Obama of  
> Illinois and Hillary Clinton of New York are repeating their vow to  
> start withdrawing U.S. forces shortly after taking office. But both  
> candidates draw a distinction between "combat" troops, whom they  
> want to withdraw, and "noncombat" troops, who will stay to battle  
> terrorists, protect the U.S. civilian presence and possibly train  
> and mentor Iraqi security forces.
>
>
>
> Conducting such missions would likely require the sustained  
> deployment of tens of thousands of American military personnel,  
> foreign-policy advisers from both campaigns acknowledge.
>
>
>
> "No one is talking about getting to zero," said a foreign-policy  
> adviser to Sen. Obama.
>
>
>
> The upshot: When voters go to the polls in November, they will face  
> a stark choice about the future direction of the Iraq war, but they  
> won't be able bring American involvement to a quick end.
>
>
>
> Republican front-runner Sen. John McCain was an early and vocal  
> advocate of the Bush administration's troop "surge,"
>
> which deployed an additional 30,000 combat troops to Iraq as part  
> of a broader shift to a counterinsurgency strategy.
>
>
>
> If elected, Sen. McCain has said that he would maintain the current  
> approach, which focuses on protecting Iraq's population by having  
> small units of American troops live in neighborhoods and towns.  
> That would mean keeping U.S.
>
> troop levels at or near 130,000, roughly the number deployed there  
> since the start of the war in 2003.
>
>
>
> The two Democratic candidates, by contrast, want to abandon the  
> counterinsurgency approach. Both say they will begin withdrawing  
> combat troops shortly after taking office and will shift the  
> remaining U.S. forces to a more limited mission that won't include  
> explicitly trying to deter Iranian activity within Iraq or moving  
> against Shiite militias responsible for much of the country's carnage.
>
>
>
> Sen. Obama, on his Web site, says that the drawdowns would begin  
> "immediately" and continue at a pace of one to two brigades --  
> which each normally number between 3,500 and 4,500 troops -- per  
> month. He hopes to have all combat troops out of Iraq within 16  
> months of taking office, or by the middle of 2010.
>
>
>
> Obama foreign-policy adviser Dennis McDonough says the Democratic  
> front-runner wants the residual U.S. forces to focus on  
> counterterrorism -- largely directed against al Qaeda in Iraq, the  
> homegrown extremist organization responsible for the deaths of  
> thousands of Iraqi civilians -- and protecting the enormous U.S.  
> embassy in Baghdad.
>
>
>
> Mr. McDonough says Sen. Obama is open to leaving additional forces  
> in Iraq to train and advise Iraqi security forces, but only if the  
> Iraqi government takes steps to reconcile the country's sectarian  
> groups. Absent such progress, Sen. Obama would halt the training  
> effort, he said. "Our support wouldn't be open-ended," said Bill  
> Burton, a spokesman for Sen. Obama.
>
>
>
> Mr. McDonough declined to say how many troops Sen. Obama hoped to  
> have in Iraq after the initial 16 months of withdrawals. But  
> another senior adviser said that Mr. Obama was comfortable with a  
> long-term U.S. troop presence of around five brigades, which --  
> depending on the numbers of support troops and other personnel --  
> would likely leave around 35,000 troops in Iraq.
>
>
>
> Sen. Clinton takes a similar approach and promises to begin  
> withdrawing combat troops within 60 days of assuming the  
> presidency. Lee Feinstein, the Clinton campaign's national security  
> director, says "the principal focus" of the remaining U.S. forces  
> will be fighting al-Qaeda in Iraq.
>
>
>
> U.S. forces would no longer patrol Iraqi streets and towns or seek  
> to prevent sectarian strife between Shiites and Sunnis, or between  
> Arabs and Kurds, he said. "Our troops will not be there to patrol a  
> civil war," Mr. Feinstein said.
>
>
>
> Mr. Feinstein declined to say how many troops Sen. Clinton wanted  
> to leave in Iraq, but said that they would be there "in sufficient  
> numbers to carry out the more limited set of missions."
>
>
>
> Write to Yochi J. Dreazen at yochi.dreazen at wsj.com1
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
> Steve Burns
>
> Wisconsin Network for Peace and Justice
>
> 122 State St. #402
>
> Madison, WI 53703
>
> (608) 250 9240
>
>
>
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