Obama seeks end to Iraq war
Issue date: 9/20/04 Section: News
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"If that strategy made sense and would lead ultimately to the pullout of U.S. troops but in the short term required additional troop strength to protect those who are already on the ground, then that's something I would support," said Obama.
His Republican opponent, Alan Keyes, suggested Saturday that critics of the Iraq war are endangering American lives.
Keyes said some people, including Democratic presidential candidate John Kerry, are calling the war a mistake because, in hindsight, there were no weapons of mass destruction.
"But, you know, the wisdom of hindsight is going to leave a lot of Americans dead," Keyes said.
Both candidates spoke Saturday to an Illinois News Broadcasters Association meeting in Springfield.
Obama, who opposed invading Iraq, said President Bush has bungled his handling of the war. It has cost thousands of lives, reduced American security abroad and distracted from the hunt for Osama bin Laden and other al-Qaida terrorists, he said, but pulling out now would make things worse.
A quick withdrawal would add to the chaos there and make it "an extraordinary hotbed of terrorist activity," he said.
It would also damage America's international prestige and amount to "a slap in the face" to the troops fighting there, he said.
Kerry has accused Bush of hiding a plan to mobilize more National Guard and Reserve troops after the election. Kerry says if elected, he would withdraw American troops from Iraq within four years - a timetable that Obama said he can accept.
"Given the situation on the ground, I think if we had our troops out in four years, that would be an extraordinary accomplishment," Obama said.