Cain: "Irresponsible" for Bush to set Iraq date

Republican presidential candidate Herman Cain said Sunday it was "irresponsible" for former President George W. Bush to set a withdrawal date from Iraq, and that President Obama should have re-evaluated that date upon taking office.

Cain, in an appearance on CBS' "Face the Nation," said that a "responsible Commander in Chief" would have consulted military commanders on the ground and asked, "Should we continue with this or should we modify it?"

"Look, President Obama changed a lot of other things that Bush started, so I don't believe that he's doing it because it was in the Bush doctrine," he said, of Mr. Obama's recent announcement of a full Iraq withdrawal by the end of 2011.

Cain said he thought the drawdown would leave a "power vacuum" in Iraq.

Still, when pressed, Cain conceded that "It was irresponsible for George Bush to set a date certain" in the first place.

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"Face the Nation" transcript: October 30, 2011

"I believe that the Commander in Chief, if you have a new President, must re-evaluate the situation, and the biggest thing that I would do differently is listen to the commanders on the ground," he said. "I'm not convinced that the commanders on the ground agree with that strategy."

Cain said he thought America's most pressing foreign policy concern was a "lack of clarity relative to our relationship with other countries around the world."

"Let's take Afghanistan," he said. "Twelve Americans were killed last week. And then just a few days earlier, the president said that if America gets into a fight or some sort of war with Pakistan, that Afghanistan is going to side with Pakistan."

He added: "That lacks clarity, Bob. And if you take every relationship we have in the world, it lacks clarity."

[mollydtt]

Mr. Cain doesn't know much about the world, the world leaders, history, foreign policy.
It's so "refreshing?" to see him chastise those that have had to deal with serious world issues, because his pizza expertise makes him so insightful. I doubt if Mr. Cain has the information that the presidents have had access to.
Cain has a new viewpoint every five minutes. Voting for him would be like reading a ouija board.

[timwhite98]

CBS News has an important issue to revisit with Herman Cain.

Herman blasted Bush and for withdrawing from Iraq. Yet on May 22 (on Fox News with Chris Wallace), Herman Cain said that he had no plan for Afghanistan because he did not have the "intelligence information."

Does Herman have the intelligence information relating the Iraq withdrawal? If not, I hope CBS News (or others!) ask him to reconcile these two apparently contradictory statements.

He's running on judgment. Understanding the Cain Doctrine is important.

[gadfly65]

I guess selling pizzas made him a foreign policy expert.

[obwan222]

"I wish people would stop blaming Bush for things obama is doing now..."

That's now what Cain is doing. He seems to think it's wrong for anyone to bring home the troops even though he presents no evidence for that belief.

He says that Obama should re-evaluate the plan while assuming that just because Herman Cain has been consulted that there has been no evaluation. Obviously the situation is evaluated constantly in briefings and papers.

Cain says, "I'm not convinced that the commanders on the ground agree with that strategy." But he provides no evidence that he has consulted these commanders or that he has the slightest knowledge what they think.

Cain seems to think that Iraqi "democracy" should be under our control and we should set the conditions under which we remain there.

Cain seems to think that every Monday morning quarterback sitting in front of a camera should be able to substitute his limited knowledge of the situation for that of foreign policy experts and that kind of thinking is irresponsible.

[obwan222]

clarkalex: "The Iraqi's themselves are telling us to leave. Obama's mistake is trying to spin it to his advantage instead of telling it like it is."

Actually that's an oversimplification of the truth, which isn't unusual since conservatives can't handle the truth. The truth is that the world of diplomacy is complex and subtle. Hence Cain's dimwitted complaint that our relations with other countries aren't "clear". Of course they aren't because every country is pursuing it's own interests which doesn't always align perfectly with our interests. Even our allies, like Israel, don't bow to our every wish.

Now in Iraq the truth is that they are willing for us to stay but they want US troops to be under their laws. The Obama administration has evaluated this request and decided not to comply.

It is not an unusual request. In Japan and Italy and England and most other countries when a soldier or sailor breaks the law they can be arrested and tried by that country. Sometimes the US will intercede and make a request for leniency but not always, many times the suspect is left to his fate.

So it is a condition that the Obama administration could agree to, but they have decided it wouldn't be wise. Think about how you would howl if they agreed to let US troops be tried in Iraqi courts before you are so quick to criticize.

You also fail to take into account that the announcement of all US troops leaving is part of a diplomatic initiative to convince the Iraqi government to change THEIR minds.

Diplomacy is complex and subtle and not something that should be left to the dull tools of a two-dimensional mind.

[rick5369]

I wish people would stop blaming Bush for things obama is doing now.It's turning into an escape goat for obama to use whenever he does something he doesn't want to get blamed for, that's just stupid.

[reality_sanity]

Rob proves like Candidate Cain that he also believes in anarchy and unilaterally voiding what we accept in this country's laws as LEGALLY BINDING CONTRACTS.


by RobAla October 30, 2011 11:24 PM EDT

Republican presidential candidate Herman Cain said Sunday it was "irresponsible" for former President George W. Bush to set a withdrawal date from Iraq, and that President Obama should have re-evaluated that date upon taking office.

Cain is absolutely correct on this one.

[actornaught]

Obama did indeed reevaluate, and the result was the so-called "removal of combat troops" that was televised live on cable news. Fox didn't cover it live, but then it's not really news.

This was as much as he could do under w's binding agreement.

Blood & Treasure too much...

[reality_sanity]

It would appear that Candidate Cain does not believe in the sanctity of legal contracts internationally. Does anarchist Cain also believe the same is true of domestic legal contracts too?

[Progress4USA]

Like I'be been saying...it's all Bush's fault. Thank you Herman!

[imnho]

The Iraq goverment no longer wants us there so they have excercised there progative and told us to leave. If they were interested in having us in the country then they would have granted us immunity. If there is no immunity the the execution of one or more of our armed forces would be inevitable.

Now after they kick us outthe will cozy up to Iran. This is where the Necon forgin policy has led us. Iraq will be a satellite state of Iran and the people running Iram are socialpaths