Obama Refuses to Credit Surge Strategy
July 23, 2008 4 Comments
From CBS News:
Obama: Katie, as … you’ve asked me three different times, and I have said repeatedly that there is no doubt that our troops helped to reduce violence. There’s no doubt.
Couric: But yet you’re saying … given what you know now, you still wouldn’t support it … so I’m just trying to understand this.
Obama: Because … it’s pretty straightforward. By us putting $10 billion to $12 billion a month, $200 billion, that’s money that could have gone into Afghanistan. Those additional troops could have gone into Afghanistan. That money also could have been used to shore up a declining economic situation in the United States. That money could have been applied to having a serious energy security plan so that we were reducing our demand on oil, which is helping to fund the insurgents in many countries. So those are all factors that would be taken into consideration in my decision– to deal with a specific tactic or strategy inside of Iraq.
Couric: And I really don’t mean to belabor this, Senator, because I’m really, I’m trying … to figure out your position. Do you think the level of security in Iraq …
Obama: Yes.
Couric … would exist today without the surge?
Obama: Katie, I have no idea what would have happened had we applied my approach, which was to put more pressure on the Iraqis to arrive at a political reconciliation. So this is all hypotheticals. What I can say is that there’s no doubt that our U.S. troops have contributed to a reduction of violence in Iraq. I said that, not just today, not just yesterday, but I’ve said that previously. What that doesn’t change is that we’ve got to have a different strategic approach if we’re going to make America as safe as possible.
Analysis: While Obama pays lip service to our brave fighting men and women he refuses to admit that the surge strategy created the conditions where everything else could click. I agree with his point that money spent in Iraq cannot be spent elsewhere, but does he really believe, when faced with the facts as they are, that his non-military solution would have worked? This is why I doubt his chops on foreign policy. Obama’s solution was to, “…put more pressure on the Iraqis to arrive at a political reconciliation. “ I’m curious as to what form this ‘pressure’ would have taken and how it would have accomplished the same things.
“that’s money that could have gone into Afghanistan”
What is this obsession with Afghanistan? Does he really believe that in the geopolitical grand scheme the stability of Afghanistan is more important than that of Iraq? What would happen if we lost Iraq (the world’s third largest oil producer) to an Al Q. led insurgency? Or if Iraq basically became a puppet regime of Iran?
Losing Afghanistan would be serious, but nowhere near as serious as Losing Iraq. Afghanistan can be isolated and quarantined, Iraq can’t.
I don’t have any interest in pumping money into Afghanistan, which is essentially a lawless place and not really worth our time. I DO have an interest in pumping a few hundred special forces operators into Pakistan though.
I remain utterly unconvinced that the Surge *has* worked. Though we’re no doubt facing remarkable peace brought about by having an overwhelming amount of force there to begin with, do we have a guarantee that our soldiers are doing anything but buffer the factions against each other, such that without the buffer, we’re back to square 1? I question the legitimate, lasting success the Surge has had…. this was Hillary’s talking point for a while, and I think she was on to something.
The stated purpose of the surge from the beginning was to create breathing room for the government to get things in better shape. It was also intended to give the Iraqis a chance to get better trained so they could fight for themselves. On both fronts that has been accomplished, so I call that a pass.
If you’re talking about acting as a buffer, I would point to the continuing presence troops have in places like Bosnia, North Korea and elsewhere. You will note that the public doesn’t seem to mine military deployments when our troops are relatively safe.