Edwards Calls for Pullout of Troops Training Iraqis

[unhappycamper]

John Edwards met Monday with undecided caucusgoers at Iowa Lakes Community College in Spencer, Iowa.


Edwards Calls for Pullout of Troops Training Iraqis
By MICHAEL R. GORDON
Published: January 2, 2008

SIOUX CITY, Iowa — John Edwards says that if elected president he would withdraw the American troops who are training the Iraqi army and police as part of a broader plan to remove virtually all American forces within 10 months.

Mr. Edwards, the former senator from North Carolina who is waging a populist campaign for the Democratic nomination, said that extending the American training effort in Iraq into the next presidency would require the deployment of tens of thousands of troops to provide logistical support and protect the advisers.

“To me, that is a continuation of the occupation of Iraq,” he said in a 40-minute interview on Sunday aboard his campaign bus as it rumbled through western Iowa.

In one of his most detailed discussions to date about how he would handle Iraq as president, Mr. Edwards staked out a position that would lead to a more rapid and complete troop withdrawal than his principal rivals, Senators Hillary Rodham Clinton and Barack Obama, who have indicated they are open to keeping American trainers and counterterrorism units in Iraq.

Elizabeth Edwards, his wife and political partner, who listened in on the interview from a seat across the aisle, intervened at the end of the session to underscore that Mr. Edwards did not intend to stop all training and was prepared to train Iraqi forces outside of the country. Mr. Edwards continued the theme while acknowledging that the benefits of such training would be limited.


Rest of article at: http://www.nytimes.com/2008/01/02/us/politics/02edwards.html?ex=1356930000&en=9b946930b4d2bdbc&ei=5088&partner=rssnyt&emc=rss

[Warren Stupidity]

1. Edwards has called for a complete withdrawal of our military forces

That would be all the troops. All of them. No bases. No fortress embassies. No garrisons posing as 'advisors' engaged in 'training' operations.