Obama gets it wrong

Ever since they took the reigns of government in 2007, the Democrats have been trying to “end the war” in Iraq by quitting the fight and leaving Iraq in the hands of our enemies. Time and again the House and Senate took up legislation to force troop withdrawals and to deny money for supplies and weapons.

Instead, the United States, under the lead of General Petraeus, embarked on a new strategy of increased troops, more direct military confrontation with the enemy, more involvement by increasingly trained Iraqi troops and more commitments by the fledgling Iraqi government.

Month by month conditions improved in Iraq, American losses decreased and attacks against civilians were reduced. The wheels of the Iraqi political machine turned ever so slowly toward long-sought goals and achievements. And the war’s opponents often denied what their eyes were seeing long after it was clear things were finally turning around.

None were more opposed to the troop surge than Senator Barack Obama. And no one stood more firmly for the surge than Senator John McCain.

In January of 2007, the two men appeared on the CBS show “Face the Nation,” to discuss the war. McCain made the case for the new surge strategy, “that we will go in and we will clear and hold and build.” “Do I believe it can succeed? Yes, I do.”

Democrats derisively labeled the plan “The McCain Doctrine.” Obama favored a plan to “constrain and condition what the president is doing” and to begin withdrawal “four to six months from now.” He said the surge would make things worse: “I am not persuaded that 20,000 additional troops in Iraq is going to solve the sectarian violence there. In fact, I think it will do the reverse.”

Obama introduced legislation which would have started troop withdrawal in May of 2007. In July, Obama told a crowd in New Hampshire “Here’s what we know. The surge has not worked.” In December, he told another audience “The surge is not the solution to Iraq’s problems,” and in a January 2008 response to the State of the Union, said “Bush said that the surge in Iraq is working, when we know
that’s just not true.”

But a funny thing happened on the way to the Democrat’s Iraqi surrender — we are actually succeeding. It is possible that by the time the next president takes office, our troops could be coming home — under a banner of victory, rather than the shame of defeat.

Even Obama has grudgingly acknowledged success, saying in a recent debate “I welcome the genuine reductions of violence that have taken place.” In fact, the surge has done more than just reduce violence. By clearing out terror cells and insurgent strongholds and holding the territory, the surge has brought real progress for the Iraqi people.

As a result, some say the Iraqi government has met 12 of the 18 political benchmarks and is making progress on 5 more. The surge gave the Iraqi people the space they needed to turn things around — as it was hoped to do and as John McCain said it could work.

Because of the McCain Doctrine, there is new hope for Iraq. If Barack Obama had been president in 2007, we’d face an Iraq torn apart by war and controlled by a terror-backing Iran. If leaders are judged by their effectiveness, the McCain doctrine was implemented and has succeeded in turning Iraq around, while Obama was unable to get his own party to follow him down the path of defeat.

And if a mark of a leader is the ability to learn from their mistakes, there is no sign Obama even acknowledges his error. In a debate in January of this year, Obama contradicted his previous position, claiming “Now, I had no doubt — and I said at the time … if we place 30,000 more troops in there, then we would see an improvement in the security situation and we would see a reduction in the violence.” And his continued insistence on troop withdrawal without preconditions shows a lack of reflection and correction.

In his defense, Obama has little time in national politics and little experience in foreign affairs or the military. He has only been to Iraq once, before the surge. If he finds time to visit Iraq again, he may recognize the surge has succeeded and that now is not the time for a premature and ill-considered retreat.

Charles Reichley has been a Prince William County resident since 1981. He can be reached at critically thinking@msn.com.