Barack Obama

Obama: Pull GIs from Iraq gradually

Wednesday, November 23, 2005

CHICAGO TRIBUNE
By Jeff Zeleny

Senator adds voice to troop-level debate

Sen. Barack Obama (D-Ill.) injected himself Tuesday into the forefront of a growing bipartisan call to reappraise American foreign policy in Iraq, saying the U.S. should begin a gradual withdrawal of its troops next year so Iraqis become empowered to take charge of their country's fate.

As he scolded the White House for what he called "shameful" attempts to silence dissent about the war, Obama urged President Bush to look beyond politics and admit that mistakes were made in Iraq. He said the U.S. should seek to accelerate its training of Iraqi troops and seek political solutions that are more practical than striving to create a "Jeffersonian democracy" in Iraq.

"During the course of the next year, we need to focus our attention on how to reduce the U.S. military footprint in Iraq," Obama said in a luncheon speech to the Chicago Council on Foreign Relations, a forum he had requested. "Notice that I say `reduce,' and not `fully withdraw.'"

Obama, who vigorously opposed the war during his Senate candidacy, made his first major foray into the escalating public debate as Congress and the White House wrestle with the past and the future of U.S. involvement in Iraq and as American military deaths in conflict neared 2,100.

"The administration has narrowed an entire debate about war into two camps: `cut-and-run' or `stay the course,'" Obama said. "If you offer any criticism or even mention that we should take a second look at our strategy and change our approach, you are branded `cut-and-run.' If you are ready to blindly trust the administration no matter what they do, you are willing to stay the course."

In a 35-minute address followed by a question-and-answer session, Obama called on the United States to "launch a major diplomatic effort" to enlist the involvement of Iraq's neighbors in reaching a political solution in the country. He noted that the political goals in Iraq might have to be scaled back, allowing for the possibility that Iraq might become a "loose federation" of Shiite, Kurd and Sunni enclaves.

Obama, a member of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, said he did not back an immediate withdrawal of troops from Iraq, but he joined other Democrats in calling for a phased pullout. He declined to set a firm deadline but said a significant portion of the 160,000 U.S. troops should be home by the end of next year.

"We don't necessarily need a timetable, in the sense of a precise date for U.S. troop pullouts, but a time frame for such a phased withdrawal," Obama said. "We need to say that there will be no bases in Iraq a decade from now and the United States armed forces cannot stand up and support an Iraqi government in perpetuity."

Obama said neither the Iraqi people nor the government would begin to take ownership of the country's reconstruction if the U.S. military presence remained at its current level. The U.S. is viewed, he said, as the military force keeping the Shiites in power, driving a wedge between factions and keeping Sunnis away from government.

However, Obama said, he did not support the immediate removal of American troops.

"I believe that U.S. forces are still a part of the solution in Iraq," Obama said. "Sufficient numbers of U.S. troops should be left in place to prevent Iraq from exploding into civil war, ethnic cleansing and a haven for terrorism."

But Obama defended those who believe otherwise, including Rep. John Murtha (D-Pa.), a decorated Marine who was excoriated by the Bush administration after his call last week for an expedited troop withdrawal.

"Let me suggest that they put the words `coward' and `unpatriotic' out of their vocabulary," Obama said, "at least when it comes to veterans like John Murtha who have put their lives on the line for this country."

The president "could take the politics out of Iraq once and for all if he would simply go on television and say to the American people, `Yes, we made mistakes,'" Obama told the audience of nearly 500 at the Palmer House Hilton. "Imagine if he did that, how it would transform the politics of our country."

Instead, a new television ad on the Iraq war began airing this week. The commercial, sponsored by the Republican National Committee, highlights what it calls an ever-evolving position of Democrats who have struggled to find a consistent voice on Iraq.

Throughout the spring and summer, the war in Iraq had fallen out of the leading discussion points in Congress. But in recent weeks, the U.S. Iraq policy has emerged as a leading topic in Washington and across the country.

In an interview Tuesday, Obama said he plans to make his first visit to Iraq in early January. He said he hopes to gain a better understanding of the challenges there.

"I'm not a military man," Obama said when pressed for specific answers to his vision of how troops should be withdrawn. "I'm not running the war in Iraq."