PSA #4: National security

John McCain on National Security and Iraq
Barack Obama on National Security and Iraq

First off, I wanted to point out that while Obama lists issues in alphabetical order on his website, McCain does not. I presume that they are in order of importance. He lists national security third (after the economy and energy), so I presume that in his eyes, this is one of the most important issues we face.

Iraq
McCain -- "John McCain believes it is strategically and morally essential for the United States to support the Government of Iraq to become capable of governing itself and safeguarding its people. He strongly disagrees with those who advocate withdrawing American troops before that has occurred." (a direct quote from his website)

Obama -- He believes that we need a new strategy for three reasons: (1) the security and political progress in Iraq have been inadequate; (2) U.S. involvement in Iraq is putting an unacceptable strain on our military that jeopardizes national security; and (3) the diversion of resources from Afghanistan to Iraq has allowed the Taliban to regain strength in Afghanistan, and that al Qaeda has taken advantage of our reduced presence there to begin retraining for a new attack on the U.S. Obama's plan would leave a residual force in Iraq (he doesn't say how many) to protect American diplomatic and civilian personnel, conduct counter-insurgency operations against al Qaeda in Iraq, and to support and train the Iraqi security forces as long as Iraqi leaders move toward political reconciliation and away from sectarianism. Obama wants to withdraw the remainder of our troops from Iraq in a phased and responsible manner -- he says that military experts believe we can redeploy 1-2 combat brigades per month for 16 months and safely accomplish the withdrawal from Iraq.

The military
McCain -- McCain says we need a larger and more capable military, but offers no specifics on how much larger he thinks it should be, or what he believes would make it more capable. He wants to modernize and adapt training, tactics and doctrine. He thinks we need more emphasis on civil affairs in our military, more special forces, and more forces that are highly mobile. He supports reform of the military contracting process. He is most specific on the topic of military funding. He wants to end the way we currently fund the military through special appropriations, and put it back in the regular appropriations process. He says this would allow Congress to better scrutinize military budgets and make sure we are spending wisely. He also says this would prevent the administration from spending in excess of budget caps, as they now do.

Obama -- Obama thinks our military is caught in the Cold War, and wants to modernize it into a "21st century military." He plans to increase the number of troops (the Army by 65,000 and the Marines by 27,000) and properly training and equipping them. He also wants to make sure we treat our soldiers well, and will end the stop-loss policy implemented by the Bush administration and establish predictable deployment schedules. He seems most focused, however, on changing the bureaucracy within the military, which he sees as too rigid. He wants to strengthen special operations forces, civil affairs and information operations, increase emphasis on foreign language training, cultural awareness, and human intelligence operations. He wants to improve our military's ability to train foreign security forces, so that they can do a better job of protecting themselves without our intervention. Last but not least, he wants to reform military contracting, creating transparency and accountability in the process and clarifying the legal status of contract employees.

National defense
McCain -- McCain wants to fight the war against terrorists intelligently, but does not describe specifically how that should be done. He believes that when the U.S. government impinges upon the rights of U.S. citizens in the process, we hand a victory to terrorists. I presume this is his way of saying that he does not support some aspects of the P.A.T.R.I.O.T. Act, but he does not come right out and say that. McCain strongly supports the creation of a missile defense system.

Obama -- Obama thinks that properly equipping our troops is very important to our national defense. He specifically mentions body armor, armored vehicles, and unmanned aerial vehicles. He would review all current major U.S. defense systems in light of current needs as well as future threats like September 11. He believes we need to preserve the strength of our air and naval powers, and invest in new technology in both areas. He supports a missile defenense system, but wants to make sure it's pragmatic and cost-effective.

Diplomacy
McCain -- McCain's website mentions "working with friends and partners overseas, from Africa to Southeast Asia, to help them combat terrorism and violent insurgencies in their own countries."

Obama -- Obama wants to renew and strengthen America's traditional alliances like NATO. He also wants to emphasize humanitarian aid operations in order to build friendships and alliances and "win hearts and minds."

Now discuss amongst yourselves...