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Analysis: War Resurfaces on the Campaign Trail

Council on Foreign Relations

July 23, 2008
Author: Robert McMahon

Since the start of the marathon presidential election campaign, the U.S. government has poured thirty-thousand additional troops into Iraq and deployed thousands of new forces in an increasingly difficult war in Afghanistan (PDF). Congress has passed counterterrorism legislation that gives the government sweeping new powers to eavesdrop on civilians. The Supreme Court, meanwhile, has struck down some of the White House's rules for detaining enemy combatants seized since 9/11. Yet for much of the past 18 months, the steady march of grim economic news has commanded more attention (WashPost) than national security.

This summer, however, the presidential campaigns have seized on national security as a dominant issue, offering nearly daily reminders of the importance of resolving two wars. It is no coincidence this resurgence of interest in Afghanistan and Iraq dovetails with the formal start of the general election contest between the presumptive Democratic nominee, Sen. Barack Obama (D-IL), and presumptive Republican rival Sen. John McCain (R-AZ). Since winning his party's primary nomination battle, McCain has emphasized his national security credentials. Obama, meanwhile, recently embarked on his first visit to Iraq and Afghanistan since becoming his party's presumptive candidate. The two candidates have traditionally presented sharply different views on Iraq. Obama stresses he will stick by a plan to withdraw most combat troops within sixteen months of taking office (AP). Earlier, Obama called Afghanistan the "central front" (Face the Nation) in U.S. counterterrorism efforts. McCain has countered that Iraq is the "central battleground in the war in the struggle against al-Qaeda" and says conditions on the ground, not timetables, should dictate the redeployment of U.S. combat forces from Iraq.

The Economist's Democracy in America blog, for instance, notes that on July 18 the White House endorsed "what is essentially a flexible timetable for the withdrawal of American troops."

Read the rest of this article on the cfr.org website.

Copyright 2008 by the Council on Foreign Relations. This material is republished on GlobalSecurity.org with specific permission from the cfr.org. Reprint and republication queries for this article should be directed to cfr.org.