Civic Engagement Piece

Civic Engagement Piece

Civic Engagement Piece

As Americans set off to the polls to vote on Tuesday, one concern that remains on every one’s mind is the war in Iraq. Since the invasion in 2003, Americans have had diverse opinions on whether sending more troops overseas. The debates and campaigns between the two presidential candidates was their opportunity to express their feelings on this issue and let Americans know what they would do if
elected. The war in Iraq is the dominant issue in the 2008 race for the White House. (Presidential Candidates, par. 1)
The Democratic candidate Barack Obama was one of the few presidential candidates who opposed the war from the start. Senator Obama believes that the United States needs to “refocus attention on the broader Middle East,” he wrote in an essay on Foreign Affairs. Obama believes like several other Americans that there is not any type of military solution to the problems in Iraq; therefore he opposes the
establishment of United States military bases in Iraq. Obama stated that he opposed the Bush Administration's plan to go to war in Iraq because he felt it was an ill-conceived venture which would require a U.S. occupation of undetermined length, at undermined cost, with undetermined consequences.(Iraq, par.1) In the September 2008 presidential debate he said that “We are currently spending 10 billion a month in Iraq and it seems to me that if we’re going to be strong at home as well as strong abroad, we have to look at bringing that war to a close.” In 2007 Obama released his plan to end the war in Iraq, it called for an entire redeployment of United States troops from Iraq by the end of 2009.
The Republican candidate John McCain has always been a supporter of the war effort. He was one of the strongest supporters in Congress when Bush proposed in January 2007 to temporarily boost U.S. troop levels in Iraq to combat sectarian violence and help Iraqis achieve independence. (Presidential Candidates on Iraq: John McCain, par. 3)...

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