Mobile UPI  |   About UPI  |   UPI en Español  |   UPI Arabic  |   UPIU  |   My Account
Search:
Go

McCain, Obama views on Iraq creep closer

|
|
 
  
Presumptive Republican presidential nominee Sen. John McCain (R-AZ) answers questions at a town hall meeting on July 31, 2008 in Racine, Wisconsin. New polls show McCain is closing in on his Democratic rival Sen. Barack Obama (D-IL) in Ohio and Florida. (UPI Photo/Brian Kersey) 
License photo
Published: Aug. 4, 2008 at 10:23 AM

WASHINGTON, Aug. 4 (UPI) -- Sens. John McCain and Barack Obama inched closer together over U.S. policy in Iraq, with each camp saying the other candidate changed his point of view.

The Republican and Democratic parties' likely presidential nominees both say U.S. combat operations in Iraq can wind down while the United States should step up its military presence in Afghanistan, USA Today reported Monday.

Obama, D-Ill., has maintained a 16-month timetable for combat troop withdrawal from Iraq was doable. An Iraqi official indicated Obama's proposed U.S. troop pullout by 2010 was in an "appropriate" range. McCain, R-Ariz., after denouncing a schedule as a surrender last week said a 16-month withdrawal plan is "a pretty good timetable" depending on ground conditions.

McCain's argument that troop withdrawals are possible because of the success of the surge of military personnel, which Obama opposed. When Obama said recently he'd leave some troops behind in Iraq and the number would depend on conditions on the ground, aides to McCain said he was shifting toward the Arizona's point of view.

Military and political analysts told USA Today the shrinking gap reflects what happens during a campaign. History shows presidents can't hold onto one line of thinking, Anthony Cordesman of the Center for Strategic and International Studies said.

"I cannot conceive of a more disastrous president than one who did not change his policy positions to reflect changes in reality," Cordesman said to USA Today.

© 2008 United Press International, Inc. All Rights Reserved. Any reproduction, republication, redistribution and/or modification of any UPI content is expressly prohibited without UPI's prior written consent.

Order reprints
  
Join the conversation
Most Popular Collections
Notable deaths of 2012 Scripps National Spelling Bee AmfAR Cinema Against AIDS gala
Indianapolis 500 Presidential Medal of Freedom Memorial Day around the nation
Additional Top News Stories
1 of 20
Singer Janelle Monae arrives at the 2012 MTV Movie Awards in Universal City, California
View Caption
Singer Janelle Monae arrives for the MTV Movie Awards at the Gibson Amphitheatre in Universal City, California. UPI/Jim Ruymen
fark
Man turns dead pet cat into remote-controlled helicopter, calls it art (w/WTF pics)
"Good News" clubs teach children in public schools the Biblical importance of killing all nonbelievers...
Five arrested in prostitution sting. Article lists their names, ages and distance from a church
Photoshop this power tower technician
Driving drunk and unlicensed, with a kid not even buckled let alone in a safety seat, en route to...
Man killed in Spencer fire. The lava lamps must have ignited the blacklight posters