Jon Powers Flops on Iraq
Jon Powers can't really seem to make up his mind. He lets people think he is an anti-war Iraqi veteran, but his own words seem to trip him up from time to time.
"I don't use the term withdrawal because I don't think we can just pick up and leave," Powers said. "What I mean by that is we've gotta stay engaged economically. We've gotta stay engaged diplomatically with the neighbors and with the Iraqi friends we have but we also have to look at just the simple humanitarian side of this."
So what does "stay engaged" mean? How do we stay engaged economically and diplomatically without a robust military presence? When asked how long troops should stay, Powers said this:
"My answer is let's not put our soldiers in the middle, and that reality is, it's a decision the Iraqi's have to make, we can't make for them.
So, while we can start to bring ourselves back, you know, we can stay engaged, help them figure out ways to go forward, but I don't think our military is the way to do it.
Got that? Start to pull back, but stay engaged. A position only a politician could love.
But it gets better. Jack Davis, a consistent opponent of the war, sent out a mailer detailing his opposition, and stated that he was the only candidate supporting an immediate and safe withdrawal of troops from Iraq.
(Ms. Alice Kryzan, the other Democratic candidate, supports the Responsible Plan, which Mr. Powers will not endorse, and Mr. Davis believes is too deliberate.)
Mr. Powers responded by changing his position, no longer talking about "staying engaged," but now advocating to "redeploy our troops safely, securely and soon."
Perhaps that means "withdrawal" but it depends on what your definition of "soon" is. One thing is clear - "soon" does not mean "immediate."