John Kerry set a three-part test for removing U.S. troops from Iraq if he is elected president, while warning that President Bush might commence a more rapid draw-down this fall to improve his re-election prospects.
The three conditions, Mr. Kerry said in an interview with The Wall Street Journal, are "to measure the level of stability" in Iraq, "to measure the outlook for the stability to hold" and "to measure the ability ... of their security forces" to defend Iraq. Until each condition is satisfied, he added, "I will provide for the world's need not to have a failed state in Iraq."
Mr. Kerry's remarks, two weeks before he accepts the nomination of a Democratic Party with deep misgivings about the war, indicate the Massachusetts senator isn't preparing to spell out a timetable for rapid withdrawal of the roughly 140,000 U.S. troops now in Iraq. To the contrary, he suggested that Mr. Bush was more likely to do so, saying "I've heard [it] said by many people" that the White House might be gearing up to withdraw troops before the November election.
Incurably waffle-y, wasn't he?
It's a surprising twist of fate that McCain has not been able to make political mileage out of being proved right on Iraq. Still, the world is fickle, and recessions help no one in power when they arrive.
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