Who has had better judgement on Iraq?

Question

Obama was opposed to the war from the start and McCain pushed for more boots on the ground from day one in opposition to the clusterf%ck that Rummy created

Answer 1

McCain.

Obama is still in denial that Petraeus, McCain and the supporters of the surge were right.

Answer 2

The war was waged on false pretenses... so Obama had better judgment in that regard...however, whether it should have happened or not...I have to give McCain props for seeing a failure that was occurring, which was inadequate troop levels, and trying to correct it.

Answer 3

I hardly call giving one speech in 05 after the war began being aginst it from the start...Obama wasn;'t aginst it from the start regardless of what he likes to say....as for handling the war its not time to debate who has better judgment o we should have never went to war so vote for me...no its time to figure out who has a better stragty to win our guys are on the ground there no point in sayin I was aginst it so vote for me they need a way out and McCain knows the way....

Answer 4

Americans are so partisan it's almost impossible to get anyone to think anymore.  When you look at the answers to your question, the bulk are shamelessly partisan.  How sad for America that it has so many Republicans, Democrats conservatives, liberals and yet so few people who put America before ideology.

The person with the better judgment is the one whose judgment best serves American interests.

So, the first question is: what is in America's interest (not the Republicans' interest nor the Democrats' interest, but America's interest).  It is not in America's interest to "lose" a war, but sometimes a victory is not attainable.  If a victory is not attainable,  then it is in America's interest to cut its losses.  

So, the question then becomes can America obtain a greater victory in Iraq than what we have thus far, or should we cut our loses?  In my opinion, we lost momentum in the first year of the war when the insurgency broke out and we had too few troops in theater.  During the surge we've had what amounts to the maximum number of troops we can realistically hope to have in theater.  So, right now things are about as good as the United States can hope to make them.  Further improvement hinges on the Iraqi government, its police force and its army.  As everyone knows, they have been notoriously slow to act.  

Bottomline: we've got as much victory as we can realitically get, and the course of future events lies with the Iraqis.   That suggests that it is time to get out of the war and force Iraq to act.

It is also worth noting that we are fighting another war which (unlike the war in Iraq) was obviously needed to protect America: the war in Afghanistan.  We have been losing control of Afghanistan as the Taliban has reconstituted itself.  The loss in ground is due, in large part, to the war in Iraq and the drain it places on our limited military resources.  That too argues for a withdrawal from Iraq.

I could go on, but I wont bother.  The objective facts say that we need to get out of Iraq.  That sounds like it is closest to Obama's plan; therefore, I think Obama's judgment is best on this issue.  The Republican position is a mix of emotional and partisan desire to pursue a war which they began and don't want to be seen to have lost.  But American interests are more important than the Republican Party's interests.  And in the real world people need to take an unflinching look at the cold hard facts and act accordingly.  On this issue I don't think John McCain can do that.  

Of course, the Republicans out there will do their best to defend their politics with the usual unprincipled name calling.  But I value the truth and American interests more than I do the party hacks who are so much in evidence these days.

If you love America -- if you truly love America -- then do everything in your power to keep this country from making the kind of mistakes which have chracterized the past eight years.  To the Republicans I say this: stop trying so hard to be a loyal "conservative" and try to be a good American instead.  Hopefully that's not asking too much.

Answer 5

obama can say he didnt support it from the begining but had he actually been in a national office and had to vote on the issue it is likely he would have supported it.  it was wildly popular (as high as 70-80% support) and a vast majority of politicans voted for it because their consstituents would have had their heads otherwise. if things keep going well in iraq in 5 years from now we may be saying it was bad judgement for obama to have not supported the war which freed millions

Answer 6

mccain was right about the surge working.

obama was wrong to not give the surge a chance.

obama though has a better exit strategy. mccain is over estimating the success of the surge because the longer we stay, the more tension it creates and more hostile things get.

the sooner we leave, the sooner we can go to afganistan and get rid of the real bad guy and group that started this mess.

short term wise mccain. long term wise obama had better judgment on iraq.  

Answer 7

  McCain.....and with all the ruckus going on with Russia - the last thing we need is to have a preaident who has little political experience and who's past is starting to creep out finally.

NOBAMA  ' 08

VOTE MCCAIN   -   VOTE MCCAIN   -  VOTE MCCAIN