Obama: Time to bring troops home from Iraq

By Ed Tibbetts

CLINTON, Iowa - Democratic presidential hopeful Barack Obama proposed Wednesday that the United States begin withdrawing troops from Iraq immediately, but the pace at which he would complete the job prompted some of his rivals to claim he wasn't moving fast enough.

In an address at Ashford University in Clinton, Obama laid out a plan to deal with the Iraq war, calling for the withdrawal of all combat brigades by the end of next year and pledging to take a more personal role in rejuvenating the U.S. diplomatic effort in the region. He also urged a broader humanitarian effort in Iraq.

"There's no military solution in Iraq; there never was," Obama said. "The best way to protect our security and to pressure Iraq's leaders to resolve their civil war is to immediately begin to remove our combat troops. Not in six months or one year - now."

Obama said some troops would remain for force protection and to strike at al-Qaida, but he didn't say how many or for how long.

That pace of withdrawal, however, wasn't fast enough for some of his Democratic rivals.

John Edwards' campaign compared it with what Gen. David Petraeus, the top military commander in Iraq, recommended in his congressional testimony this week.

Patraeus recommended withdrawing as many as 30,000 troops by next summer. However, he did not project what might happen beyond that. There are generally 3,000 to 5,000 soldiers in a brigade.

"Slowing down the process only leaves our troops in harm's way longer," said Dan Leistikow, an Edwards spokesman. Edwards has called for an immediate withdrawal of 40,000 to 50,000 troops.

Tommy Vietor, a spokesman for Obama, responded that withdrawing one to two brigades a month would amount to more troops out of the country by next summer than Petraeus has proposed.

"I think they might be confused," he said.

Among Democrats, the pace of a U.S. troop withdrawal has been a simmering debate. Sen. Joe Biden, D-Del., has called a time frame in the months to be unrealistic. And this summer, military experts at a left-leaning think tank, the Center for American Progress, said combat troops could be withdrawn in 10 to 12 months. Some military officials have suggested it will take even longer.

Obama also proposed here that there be an increase in humanitarian assistance to Iraq, suggesting boosting aid to $2 billion. He also pledged a renewed diplomatic effort, which would include talks with Syria and Iran. Administration and military officials have said both countries have taken significant steps against U.S. interests in Iraq.

"Conventional thinking in Washington says presidents cannot lead this diplomacy," Obama said. "Strong presidents tell our adversaries where we stand, and that's what I would do."

Earlier this year, Obama and Sen. Hillary Clinton, D-N.Y., clashed over the circumstances under which presidents should engage with this country's adversaries.

In addition to raising that subject again, he pointedly criticized Clinton and Edwards over their votes to authorize the war in 2002.

"The pundits judged the political winds to be blowing in the direction of the president," Obama said. "Despite, or perhaps because of how much experience they had in Washington, too many politicians feared looking weak and failed to ask the hard questions. Too many took the president at his word instead of reading the intelligence for themselves."

A Clinton spokesperson, Mark Daley, responded that Clinton is focused on ending the war, "not fighting with other Democrats."

The fact Obama's speech was given in a city sharing the name of a chief rival was a "happy accident," the Illinois senator said, but that didn't stop him from having fun with it, suggesting that by the end of the day perhaps Clinton (the city, presumably) would endorse him.

After the speech, he went to a large rally at LeClaire Park in Davenport, where he repeated many of the same points of his speech. "We will set our own direction and our own pace and our direction will be out of Iraq," he said.

Steve Burke, of Charlotte, Iowa, said he would likely support Obama, in part because of the differences with Clinton over how to approach diplomacy.

"I think we've got to talk to those people rather than fight them," said Burke, who attended the speech in Clinton.

Obama was accompanied on his trip by Zbigniew Brzezinski, the former national security adviser for Jimmy Carter who is on his first campaign swing with the senator. Also preceding Obama was John Melvin of DeWitt, an Iraq war veteran who said he would go back if asked but added he couldn't say that staying in Iraq is the right thing to do.

"One year from now, there will be the same number of troops in Iraq as there were one year ago," Mrs. Clinton wrote. "Mr. President, that is simply too little too late, and unacceptable to this Congress, and to the American people who have made clear their strong desire to bring our troops home, and end this war."
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