John Edwards pulls a stunt on the eve of the Iowa caucuses that he should have pulled a year ago.
John Edwards says that if elected president he would withdraw the American troops who are training the Iraqi army and police as part of a broader plan to remove virtually all American forces within 10 months.
Mr. Edwards, the former senator from North Carolina who is waging a populist campaign for the Democratic nomination, said that extending the American training effort in Iraq into the next presidency would require the deployment of tens of thousands of troops to provide logistical support and protect the advisers.
“To me, that is a continuation of the occupation of Iraq,” he said in a 40-minute interview on Sunday aboard his campaign bus as it rumbled through western Iowa.
His wife clarified:
Elizabeth Edwards, his wife and political partner, who listened in on the interview from a seat across the aisle, intervened at the end of the session to underscore that Mr. Edwards did not intend to stop all training and was prepared to train Iraqi forces outside of the country. Mr. Edwards continued the theme while acknowledging that the benefits of such training would be limited.
Do you think the media will give Edwards credit for telling difficult truths to the American people? Perhaps he doesn’t really deserve it, since he waited until the day before the caucuses to make his case explicit. But, he’s right. We shouldn’t abandon all training but we should do it out of country and we shouldn’t expect much benefit from it.
It’s a good political move by Edwards. But it comes with risks because the media will think it is just more evidence that he isn’t ‘serious’.
