Iraq

Iraq
Sen. Obama (D-IL) writes in Foreign Affairs that the United States needs to move beyond Iraq and “refocus our attention on the broader Middle East.” One of the few presidential candidates who opposed the war from the start, he says there is “no military solution” to the situation in Iraq. In January 2007, Obama proposed the Iraq War De-Escalation Act of 2007, which would reverse the troop surge and redeploy U.S. troops to Afghanistan and other locations in phases. He favors more funds for U.S. military equipment like night-vision goggles and reinforced Humvees, though his recent refusal to sign a war funding bill came under criticism from presidential aspirant John McCain (R-AZ), who, among other things, accused the senator of misspelling "flak jacket." Under Obama's plan, there may be a residual troop presence in Iraq for security and training purposes. His bill has not yet been voted on.

In September 2007, Obama released his plan to "responsibly end the war in Iraq," calling for a complete redeployment of U.S. troops from Iraq by the end of 2009, starting immediately. He also advocates a UN-led Iraqi constitutional convention in order to forge national reconciliation and to reach compromises on federalism, oil revenue sharing, and "de-Ba'athification." As president, Obama says he would establish an "international working group" to solve the Iraqi refugee crisis.

Obama opposes the establishment of permanent U.S. military bases in Iraq.Obama opposes Defense Secretary Robert Gates' plan to "pause" U.S. troop withdrawal (CNN) from Iraq in July 2008. In February 2008, Obama said he "strongly" disagrees with Gates' proposal, and warned against waging "war without end in Iraq while ignoring mounting costs to our troops and their families, our security and our economy."