Sen. John McCain’s (R-Ariz.) presidential campaign held a press conference call to discuss Sen. Barack Obama’s (D-Ill.) position on Iraq. Randy Scheunemann, the senior foreign policy adviser on the McCain campaign, explained that he is pleased to see Obama in Iraq and glad that Obama can see first hand the progress on security that has been made under the surge policy. Scheunemann said that Obama will meet with Gen. Petraeus and other commanders for the first time, witch the McCain team thinks is a great development.
Scheunemann explained that he hopes Obama will listen to the U.S. military commanders in Iraq when they explain the problems of a date driven withdrawal. Gen. Petraeus has made it clear that a withdrawal from Iraq must be based on the security conditions on the ground, on what the enemy is doing and is likely to do, otherwise all U.S. gains would be jeopardized. Scheunemann said that many commanders have previously explained that an unconditional, date driven withdrawal would be very dangerous. He also explained that McCain hopes Obama will not ignore military judgment on the importance of having a conditions based withdrawal and supplement it with his own military assessment, which is “really based more on a political calculation.”
Scheunemann explained that McCain has always said two things guide his view when it comes to withdrawal from Iraq: conditions on the ground and advice from U.S. military commanders. Because conditions are improving with the successful surge, and if conditions continue to improve, McCain does believe that the U.S. will be able to withdraw. Scheunemann explained, however, that this is not a date driven time table, but merely a hope based on gains made today and gains that will hopefully continue to be made in the future, opposed to Obama’s “irresponsible” plan. (13:43)
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Gary Ackerman,