Ground experience in Iraq is substantially changing the political debate over the Iraq war. In the U.S. presidential race, Senator John McCain, who made his eighth trip to Iraq in March 2008, states that his frequent travel there grants legitimacy to his support of a continued American presence. Following his
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first visit to the country on July 21, Senator Barack Obama reports that the troop reduction timeline which he has proposed is favored and supported by Iraqi prime minister Nuri Kamal al Maliki.
In this context, former military officers and Iraq war veterans David Bellavia and Erik Swabb, who have just returned from Iraq, will add to the debate by sharing their day-to-day experiences in the area. Colin Kahl of the Center for a New American Security and Georgetown University, who has also recently visited Iraq, will respond. Panelists will discuss whether the successes prompted by the surge have made an American drawdown in troops acceptable or whether security and political advances require a sustained American presence to prevent a relapse. What are the differences between McCain and Obama’s plans for Iraq? How would each be implemented? AEI’s vice president for foreign and defense policy, Danielle Pletka, will moderate.
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12:00 p.m.
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Registration and Luncheon
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12:30
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Presenters:
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David Bellavia, former U.S. Army, Vets for Freedom
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Captain Erik Swabb, U.S. Marine Corps, Vets for Freedom
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Discussant:
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Colin Kahl, Center for a New American Security
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Moderator:
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Danielle Pletka, AEI
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2:00 Adjournment
Iraq Veterans Bullish on Security Situation There, Worry about Political Division at Home
WASHINGTON, AUGUST 19, 2008--Iraq war veterans said at AEI on August 14 that the military surge has given Iraqis room to promote political stability and that artificial timelines for withdrawal are dangerous. One day after their return from a fact-finding trip to Iraq, Vets for Freedom cofounder David Bellavia and member Erik Swabb, both of whom served in the battle for Fallujah in 2004, offered their most recent assessment.
"The surge allowed the situation for [Iraqis] to realize that they would do better working in the government than fighting," Swabb explained.
Bellavia added, "To pull out [of Iraq] on a timeline is like a SWAT team coming into a bank and saying 'No matter what, at nine o'clock, we are out of here'. . . . It is an improving situation, it is a dynamic situation, and, unfortunately, it is a fragile situation."
Colin Kahl, a professor at Georgetown University and a senior fellow at the Center for New American Security, agreed that the security situation in Iraq has vastly improved, but he contended that the current strategy remains insufficient. "Iraqis have begun to find their footing, [but] no one is doing a victory dance . . . because none of the sectarian differences have been addressed."
Kahl disagreed with Bellavia and Swabb about what steps should be taken next to secure Iraq's future. He predicted that changes would have to be made to the strategy in order to force Iraqi leaders to reconcile competing political groups. He argued that the United States should use credible leverage to make support "contingent upon accommodation." It is not constructive, Kahl said, simply "to cut [Prime Minister Nuri Kamal al] Maliki a blank check."
All three speakers noted that the increasingly partisan nature of the debate over the U.S. role in Iraq has hampered progress there. "There is no place on a dogtag for a political party," Bellavia said. "What we cannot do is carry our political flag and use it to stick our thumb in the eye of the other side. Let us get the best minds regardless of where they come from to work on the future of Iraq together."
--ARIEL FARRAR-WELLMAN
For video, audio, and more information about this event, visit www.aei.org/event1768/. For more information about AEI scholars' work on Iraq, visit www.aei.org/AEIonIraq/.
For media inquiries, contact Veronique Rodman at 202.862.4870 or vrodman@aei.org.
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