The Candidates on Iraq War

McCain Thumb John McCain In 2002 McCain voted to approve the use of American force in Iraq and remains supportive of President Bush's policies there. He has criticized management of the war but says pulling out would be a mistake that could lead to greater instability and future conflicts in the region. McCain has defended the moral justification for the war and has called it a "just war." He has referred to terrorism as "a malevolent force that defiles an honorable religion by disputing God's love for each and every soul on earth," and the war in Iraq as "a fight between right and wrong, good and evil." In a March 2008 interview with CNN, McCain said that the "surge is working" and that withdrawal from Iraq "means Al Qaeda wins." He favors a continued presence of American forces in Iraq after the war has ended.
Obama Thumb Barack Obama Obama was an opponent of the war effort as an Illinois state senator, arguing that the fight in Afghanistan should be finished before the U.S. embarked on a "dumb" and "rash" war. He campaigned against the war in his 2004 U.S. Senate bid. In his presidential campaign, he made his opposition to the war a central theme, telling voters that "they should ask themselves: Who got the single most important foreign policy decision since the end of the Cold War right, and who got it wrong?" During his campaign, Obama said he would remove one to two combat brigades each month and have all U.S. combat brigades out of Iraq within 16 months of taking office.