Which candidate supports a 16-month withdrawal timeline for combat troops that depends on conditions on the ground?
Barahn Sidssein McBama.
It's been an article of faith among some analysts that the two candidate's prescriptions for Iraq would converge, and now they have. Obama's residual force size depends on conditions. McCain's comfort with a 16 month timeline depends on conditions.
Good news: American policymakers basically agree on what to do.
So instead of who is right -- really, that's a matter of pride* -- the question really becomes: whom do you want as commander in chief as U.S. troops withdraw?
The rest is detail.
* = It' also about judgment, but polling suggests that Americans are comfortable crediting McCain's judgment about the surge and Obama's judgment about the war. Not mutually exclusive.
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