The Obama campaign is pushing back against criticism from Mitt Romney that the White House’s plan to withdraw from Iraq on the schedule negotiated by President Bush is an “astonishing failure.”
“The President kept his pledge to the nation to end the war in Iraq in a responsible way, he has promoted our security in Afghanistan and eliminated key Al Qaeda leaders while strengthening American leadership around the world,” Obama campaign spokesman Ben LaBolt said in a statement. “Mitt Romney didn’t lay out a plan to end the war in Iraq in his foreign policy agenda – he barely even mentioned Iraq – but he is apparently willing to leave American troops there without identifying a new mission. Mitt Romney’s foreign policy experience is limited to his work as a finance executive shipping American jobs overseas.”
Earlier, Romney said in a statement that “President Obama’s astonishing failure to secure an orderly transition in Iraq has unnecessarily put at risk the victories that were won through the blood and sacrifice of thousands of American men and women.” He further questioned “whether this decision is the result of a naked political calculation or simply sheer ineptitude in negotiations with the Iraqi government.”
As their statement indicated, the Obama campaign is increasingly flexing its muscle on foreign policy, pointing to the White House’s success in its part in deposing Muammar Qaddafi, killing Osama Bin Laden, and now ending the war in Iraq.
Romney did not mention Iraq in a major foreign policy address this month, other than a passing “thank you” to American forces for their efforts. He did telegraph his opposition to withdrawing by the end of 2011 in a white paper released by his campaign, however, he called on the US to negotiate a new agreement with the Iraqi government to keep forces in place for a longer stretch. The US is legally required to remove all of its troops by the end of 2011 as part of a deal negotiated between President Bush and the Iraqi government in 2008. The Obama administration’s attempts to secure a new deal with the Iraqi government were not successful.
“Today, after struggle and sacrifice, the goal of a democratic Iraq allied with the United States is within our reach,” Romney’s briefing paper read. “The Obama administration,however, is threatening to snatch defeat from the jaws of victory. “We are nearing the December 31, 2011 deadline for reaching a new Status of Force Agreement that will allow U.S. troops to remain inIraq to continue their training mission. Reports indicate that President Obama is seeking to keep 3,000 troops in the country after 2011, a number far below the reported 14,000 to 18,000 our commanders in the field have recommended as the minimum necessary to carry out our mission. In light of these developments, it is impossible to forecast what conditions in Iraq will confront the next American president in January 2013.”
