Obama on Iraq

Some words of wisdom from a certain presidential candidate:

"Having visited Iraq, I'm also acutely aware that a precipitous withdrawal of our troops, driven by Congressional edict rather than the realities on the ground, will not undo the mistakes... It could compound them. It could compound them by plunging Iraq into an even deeper and, perhaps, irreparable crisis."

"But I do not believe that setting a date certain for the total withdrawal of U.S. troops is the best approach to achieving, in a methodical and responsible way, the three basic goals that should drive our Iraq policy: that is, (1) stabilizing Iraq and giving the factions within Iraq the space they need to forge a political settlement; (2) containing and ultimately defeating the insurgency in Iraq; and (3) bringing our troops safely home."

"My position has been that it would not be responsible for us to unilaterally and precipitously draw troops down regardless of the politics, because I think that all of us have a stake in seeing Iraq succeed. We need to get the policy right, and it's inappropriate, I think, to have politics intrude at this point in such a critical stage in the development of the Middle East."

"A quick withdrawal would add to the chaos there and make it an extraordinary hotbed of terrorist activity. It would also damage America's international prestige and amount to a slap in the face to the troops fighting there."

"What the militias are essentially doing is they've just pulled back. They've said, 'As long as there's these increased troop presence, we'll lie low, we'll wait it out. As soon as the Americans start leaving and redeploying into other areas, we will come back in...'"

And just for good measure, he voted against 2006 legislation to withdraw from Iraq by July 2007.