Obama's incoherence on Iraq

NY Post Editorial:

Barack Obama says he's got the perfect prescription for Iraq: Pull out all American troops now, but then rush back in once al Qaeda overruns the place - which, of course, it would after a US cut-and-run.

Actually, Obama didn't really promise to confront a resurgent al Qaeda - only that he "would always reserve the right to go in and strike" if "al Qaeda is forming a base in Iraq."

John McCain rightly noted just how nonsensical that position is - by pointing out to Obama that "al Qaeda already is in Iraq."

To which Obama replied: "There was no such thing as al Qaeda in Iraq until George Bush and John McCain decided to invade Iraq."

True enough.

Just as it's true that there used to be two tall office buildings in downtown Manhattan until al Qaeda in Afghanistan - that is to say, radical Islam - decided to knock them down, initiating a global war that has taken many unpredictable turns since then.

As it will continue to do, no matter who is elected president in November.

In a sense, Obama was trying to reignite a six-year-old debate in order to curry favor with the Democratic Party's head-in-the-sand antiwar element.

He probably didn't anticipate that McCain would inject some inconvenient truths into the debate.

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Forget the future - when it comes to Iraq, Obama isn't even particularly adept at handling the present.

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The war in Iraq forced al Qaeda to divert its efforts from Afghanistan to Iraq where the US has several advantages it does not have in Afghanistan. Because of that al Qaeda has suffered a defeat and will be defeated unless we elect Democrats.

Obama has spent too much time in the Democrat echo chambered. He has in effect disarmed himself for a campaign with Republicans because of the false premise of his campaign, where he has argued about who opposed the war first instead of how to handle the situation we are in. The fact is that his early opposition is irrelevant other than to demonstrate his lack of strategic vision from the beginning.