Obama Foreign Policy Aide: McCain Is Out Of GOP Mainstream On Iraq

Barack Obama's chief foreign policy adviser Susan Rice just strolled past past the Huffington Post office inside media pavilion number 5 here at the Democratic National Convention. So of course we ran down the hallway to catch up and get her reaction to the news that Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki is pushing for a full U.S. withdrawal by 2011.

"Well, I think Maliki's responding, obviously, to the domestic pressures and realities inside Iraq," Dr. Rice said. "But the important point is that Sen. [Barack] Obama has been saying for years now that we need to set a clear, predictable timeline -- that he believes we can responsibly withdraw our forces within 16 months, and do so safely. The Iraqis are now saying they're going to also insist on a timetable. The Bush administration has had to accommodate that position. And John McCain is the outlier, insisting he wants to stay in Iraq indefinitely, in permanent bases, regardless of what the what the Iraqis think."

Responding to the McCain camp's line that any U.S. withdrawal must be conducted based on real-time conditions, Rice added that the political will inside Iraq is in itself "a fact on the ground" before continuing on her way toward the convention hall.

Comments

[gditty]

Susan Rice is hott....

[monyae]

WHERE HAVE YOU BEEN GIRL?

[DoomSay]

Wait a second there is so much contradiction. First of all I thought Obama had said that the Surge would never work. Now because of the Surge, they are talking about a timetable to leave. He said timetable without a surge. Leave without any conditons. Rice say Malike responding to "realities in Iraq"? "Realities" that our brave troops are taking control of the situation and a stable Iraq is now forseable? So this justifies a timetable and Obama was right? Give me a break, he wanted to leave with or without victory and leave an unstable region. McCain knows and lived military strategy and never underestimates his enemies and that is why he wanted a surge and was right. Now Obama wants credit for the surge?

[BEHM777]

Do your Republican Talking Points come with a decoder ring?

Clearly you have forgotten we should have NEVER invaded Iraq in the first place.

Then again, you may be one of those geniuses that think they shipped all of the WMDs overland to Syria.

BEHusseinM777

[DoomSay]

Does your KoolAid come with sugar or aritficial sweetner? Latest Gallup tracking poll has Obama down 46 to 44. Drop since Biden selection. Tracking undecided? Well Hillary got undecided vote by 3 to 1. Because Obama is the huge risk, McCain becomes the default incumbent like Hillary in polls. Goooood Bye Obama.

[luvangelHussein330]

I'm her number one fan!!!

[DaOne]

Finally, a Rice we can get behind.

[luvienne]

Mccain how about that Iraqi withdrawal pact? Did you tell Bush it was okay?

[mick7191]

Man, that woman's smart.

[Greygolla]

We certainly did not invest our treasure and blood into that land just to defeat a tyrant, his regime, and forestall impending destruction. The tremendous investments, the projects, the humanitarian aid, the lives, the oil. We simply can not leave now. The situation on the ground has changed, the situation under it remains the same, the oil is still there.

[silverball]

you may have missed your own point...the need to develop a good alternative energy program (NOT fine tuned for the oil companies)­....inothi­ng gives us the right to invade countries rich in petroleum resources in order to force them to give us sweet heart deals....the losses and outrageous cost to this country and WE THE PEOPLE is the sole responsibility of the current occupant and his ilk serving under his "command"....like viet-nam, we shouldn't try to remain there just to show how strong we are militarily.....

[mosh]

But you missed the more explicit point I think that this war is and was all about the oil - not democracy or fighting terrorism.

We don't have a coherent energy policy - yet - and until we do this war and others is, and will be, all about the oil.

Otherwise I agree with you. We don't have any right to invade another country to get our hands on their natural resources but that is what we all 'empires' have done. And what we have always done. It is the nature of capitalism and our quest for endless expansion and consumption.

[BiGnBulKY]

Rice added that the political will inside Iraq is in itself "a fact on the ground"

Now shutup McCrash, with your "conditions on the ground" bullshet,,

[Levittown]

There are many in the Iraqi government that have close ties to Iran. George Bush # 41 knew that to weaken Iraq would make them vulnerable to Iran. This will eventually be a blow to true Iraqi independence, will interfere with US and Iraqi oil arrangements. George Bush # 43 did not heed his Daddys advice and instead let Cheney and Saudi Arabia misdirect him. The main reason he cut off access to the past records of his fathers administration was to keep the Cheney and Rumsfeld plans
out of the publics scrutiny. Halliburton and Bectel and others had logistics at the ready for the Iraqi
takeover. All they needed was the 9/11 excuse. And thanks to ' plausable deniability ' by Rice of the info left in the drawer ( the Richard Clarke bin Laden threat ) it worked out well for the " OILERS " but not for America. Millions of lives disrupted, thousands of Americans killed and woulned and many billions of dollars lost and unaccounted for and the infrastructure of Iraq in disarray.

[zoomzoomgal]

Wait 'til you read about Biden's idea to send $200 million to Iran, to show the "Arabs" that we're not hostile to them. I LMAO!! Iranians aren't Arabs; they're Persians. Further, buying the love ain't gonna make this country safer, my fellow Americans!
Good grief.

[Tortork]

I don’t know what‘s causing that segment of Americans to detour from the fact. We are ordering the Russian to get out of Georgia, but when Iraqis ask us to leave their country; we are saying no, we want to stay 100 years. We find ourselves telling the world what to do how to do when to do it. It is like telling your child not to drink alcohol and then come home to see you drunk.

[ZimboChick]

I hate to break it to you but there ARE Iranian Arabs just like there are Mizrahi Jews (Arab Jews). It's complicated - get into it it! You have to understand what we call tribal politics first before you throw around generalisations (I wont use the nastier name).

[S1m0n]

The Bush administration has been careful to make the new Iraqi army absolutely dependent on the US for air support. The tactics and training the infantry is getting depends of the use of air power, but the only air power around is going to be US air power.

Thus, the need for permenent bases...

[chs1965]

And we know who is qualified to lead the air squadron, he has only wrecked 5 planes to this point.

[ZimboChick]

*shudders*

[levibatgirl]

Maybe mcsame will hold his breath until he passes out to get his way.

[ZimboChick]

at this point I will not put it past him since he went on Jay Leno (last night) and declared/demanded that he was a POW, did u hear McSame is a POW, boo hoo he is a POW now stop asking him how many houses he has! *thinks he will smack someone anytime soon*

[BethStuart]

I think it's telling that the Bush administration is moving towards a withdrawal schedule while McCain remains fixed on an indefinite stay. It looks like there is no coordination between the white house and McCain that would help the latter.

[SgtLucifer]

This chic is hot. If she plays her cards right, I'll make her the mother of my children.

[mosh]

What a lucky broad.