2007 Democratic primary debate at Dartmouth College: on War & Peace


Barack Obama: Leave troops for protection of Americans & counterterrorism

The first thing I will do is initiate a phased redeployment. Military personnel indicate we can get one brigade to two brigades out per month. I would immediately begin that process. We would get combat troops out of Iraq. The only troops that would remain would be those that have to protect US bases and US civilians, as well as to engage in counterterrorism activities in Iraq.
Source: 2007 Democratic primary debate at Dartmouth College Sep 26, 2007

Barack Obama: Hopes to remove all troops from Iraq by 2013, but no pledge

Q: Gen. Petraeus and Pres. Bush indicated that in January 2009, there will be 100,000 troops in Iraq. What do you do?

A: I hope and will work diligently in the Senate to bring an end to this war before I take office. And it is very important at this stage, understanding how badly the president’s strategy has failed, that we not vote for funding without some timetable for this war. If there are still large troop presences in when I take office, then

Q: Will you pledge that by January 2013, the end of your first term, there will be no US troops in Iraq?

A: I think it’s hard to project four years from now, and I think it would be irresponsible. We don’t know what contingency will be out there. I believe that we should have all our troops out by 2013, but I don’t want to make promises, not knowing what the situation’s going to be three or four years out.

Source: 2007 Democratic primary debate at Dartmouth College Sep 26, 2007

Bill Richardson: Leaving some troops is just changing mission, not ending war

Q: You have said that you will bring home all troops within a year. You’ve heard three opponents say they can’t do it in four years. How can you do it in one year?

A: I have a fundamental difference with Sen. Obama, Sen. Edwards & Sen. Clinton. Their position basically is changing the mission. My position in bringing all troops out of Iraq is to end the war. The American people want us to end this war. Our kids are dying--and my position is, that you cannot start the reconciliation of Iraq, a political settlement, an all-Muslim peacekeeping force to deal with security & boundaries & possibly this issue of a separation [into 3 states], until we get all our troops out, because they have become targets.

Q: How are you going to do this in one year?

A: We have been able to move our troops within three months--240,000--in and out of Iraq through Kuwait. I would bring them out through roads through Kuwait and through Turkey. I would leave some of the light equipment behind.

Source: 2007 Democratic primary debate at Dartmouth College Sep 26, 2007

Chris Dodd: Military in Iraq is counterproductive: all out before 2013

Q: Gen. Petraeus and Pres. Bush indicated that in January 2009, there will be 100,000 troops in Iraq. What do you do?

A: The question is not just how you bring the troops out, but why are we there? As president of the United States, your first responsibility is to guarantee the safety and security of the American people. And so the question you must ask yourself as president: Is the continuation of our military presence enhancing that goal? I happen to believe very strongly that this policy of ours, military involvement in Iraq, is counterproductive. We’re less safe, less secure, more vulnerable and more isolated today as a result of the policy. So I believe that we ought to begin that process of redeployment here.

Q: Will you pledge as commander in chief that you have all troops out of Iraq by January of 2013?

A: I will get that done.

Source: 2007 Democratic primary debate at Dartmouth College Sep 26, 2007

Dennis Kucinich: All troops out well before 2013, with no partition

Q: Gen. Petraeus and Pres. Bush indicated that in January 2009, there will be 100,000 troops in Iraq. You’ve heard three opponents say they can’t bring home all the troops by 2013. What do you do?

A: To me, it is fairly astonishing to have Democrats, who took back power in the Congress in 2006, to stand on this stage and tell the American people that this war will continue to 2013 and perhaps past that. We can get out of there three months after the new president takes office, if one is determined to do that. And I want to make it clear that my plan includes closing the bases, bringing the troops home, setting in motion a program of reconciliation, not partition, between the Sunnis, the Shi’ites and the Kurds, having an honest reconstruction program, having a program of reparations, and giving the people of Iraq full control over their oil, which currently most of the people on this stage have said should be privatized. If we’re really going to have peace, no partition, let them--let them unite.

Source: 2007 Democratic primary debate at Dartmouth College Sep 26, 2007

Hillary Clinton: Goal to remove all troops from Iraq by 2013, but no pledge

Q: In 2006, Democrats were elected to the majority in the House and Senate, and many believed that was a signal to end the war. You have said that will not pledge to have all troops out by the end of your first term, 2013. Why not?

A: It is my goal to have all troops out by the end of my first term. But it is very difficult to know what we’re going to be inheriting. We do not know, walking into the White House in January 2009, what we’re going to find. What is the state of planning for withdrawal? That’s why last spring I began pressing the Pentagon to be very clear about whether or not they were planning to bring our troops out. And what I found was that they weren’t doing the kind of planning that is necessary, and we’ve been pushing them very hard to do so. You know, though, about the Democrats taking control of the Congress, I think the Democrats have pushed extremely hard to change this president’s course in Iraq. The Democrats keep voting for what we believe would be a better course.

Source: 2007 Democratic primary debate at Dartmouth College Sep 26, 2007

Hillary Clinton: Leave combat troops in Iraq only for conterterrorism

EDWARDS: [To Clinton]: Good people have differences about this issue. I heard Senator Clinton say on Sunday that she wants to continue combat missions in Iraq. To me, that’s a continuation of the war. I do not think we should continue combat missions in Iraq, and when I’m on a stage with the Republican nominee come the fall of 2008, I’m going to make it clear that I’m for ending the war.

CLINTON: I said there may be a continuing counterterrorism mission, which, if it still exists, will be aimed at al Qaeda in Iraq. It may require combat, Special Operations Forces or some other form of that, but the vast majority of our combat troops should be out.

EDWARDS: I would not continue combat missions in Iraq. Combat missions mean that the war is continuing

Q: Would you send combat troops back in if there was genocide?

EDWARDS: I believe that America along with the rest of the world would have a responsibility to respond to genocide. But it’s not something we should do alone.

Source: 2007 Democratic primary debate at Dartmouth College Sep 26, 2007

Joe Biden: Troops out by 2013 if no political reconciliation

Q: Gen. Petraeus & Pres. Bush indicated that in January 2009, there will be 100,000 troops in Iraq. What do you do?

A: Everyone says there’s no military solution, only a political solution. We offered a political solution today, the Biden plan, & it go 75 votes. It rejected fundamentally the president’s position that there’s a possibility of establishing a strong central government in Iraq and said we’re going to have a federal system. That is the thing that will allow us to come home without leaving chaos behind.

Q: Will you pledge that you have all troops out of Iraq by January of 2013?

A: If you go along with the Biden plan, and you have a stable Iraq like we have in Bosnia--we’ve had 20,000 Western troops in Bosnia for 10 years. Not one has been killed--not one. The genocide has ended. So it would depend on the circumstances.

Q: You would not make a commitment?

A: I would make a commitment to have them all out if there is not a political reconciliation, because they’re just fodder.

Source: 2007 Democratic primary debate at Dartmouth College Sep 26, 2007

John Edwards: End combat missions & focus on removing all combat troops

EDWARDS: [To Clinton]: Good people have differences about this issue. I heard Senator Clinton say on Sunday that she wants to continue combat missions in Iraq. To me, that’s a continuation of the war. I do not think we should continue combat missions in Iraq, and when I’m on a stage with the Republican nominee come the fall of 2008, I’m going to make it clear that I’m for ending the war.

CLINTON: I said there may be a continuing counterterrorism mission, which, if it still exists, will be aimed at al Qaeda in Iraq. It may require combat, Special Operations Forces or some other form of that, but the vast majority of our combat troops should be out.

EDWARDS: I would not continue combat missions in Iraq. Combat missions mean that the war is continuing

Q: Would you send combat troops back in if there was genocide?

EDWARDS: I believe that America along with the rest of the world would have a responsibility to respond to genocide. But it’s not something we should do alone.

Source: (X-ref Clinton) 2007 Democratic primary debate at Dartmouth Sep 26, 2007

John Edwards: 40,000 troops out by 2009, but no pledge for all out by 2013

Q: Will you commit that at the end of your first term, in 2013, all US troops will be out of Iraq?

A: I cannot make that commitment. I can tell you what I would do as president. If there are in fact, as General Petraeus suggests, 100,000 American troops on the ground in Iraq, I will immediately draw down 40,000 to 50,000 troops and, over the course of the next several months, continue to bring our combat troops out of Iraq until all of our combat troops are in fact out of Iraq. I think the problem is, we will maintain an embassy in Baghdad. That embassy has to be protected. We will probably have humanitarian workers in Iraq. They have to be protected. I think somewhere in the neighborhood of a brigade of troops will be necessary to accomplish that--3,500 to 5,000 troops. Everyone up here wants to take a responsible course to end the war in Iraq. And the debate will be between a Democrat who wants to bring the war to an end, & a Republican who wants to continue the war.

Source: 2007 Democratic primary debate at Dartmouth College Sep 26, 2007

Mike Gravel: Make Congress vote on veto override and war will end

Q: What advice would you give your colleagues still in Congress about how they can stop the war even though they don’t have enough votes to stop a debate or to override a veto? What should they do?

A: You stop the debate by voting every single day on cloture, every day, 20 days, and you’ll overcome cloture. The president vetoes a law; it comes back to the Congress, and in the House at noon, every single day, you vote to override the president’s veto. And in 40 days, the American people will have weighed in, put the pressure on those--you tell me that the votes aren’t there, you go get them by the scruff of the neck. That’s what you do. You make them vote.

Q: Are you suggesting that these candidates suspend their campaigns, go back to Washington and for 40 consecutive days vote on the war?

A: If it stops the killing, my God, yes, do it!

Source: 2007 Democratic primary debate at Dartmouth College Sep 26, 2007

Barack Obama: Tell people the truth: quickest is 1-2 brigades per month

RICHARDSON: With all due respect to Sen. Obama & Sen. Clinton, what I heard tonight is that even in their second terms, they will not get the troops out. Therefore, the war will not end.

OBAMA: It is important to tell the American people the truth. Military commanders indicate that they can safely get combat troops out at the pace of one to two brigades a month. That is the quickest pace that we can do it safely. I have said I will begin immediately and we will do it as rapidly as we can.

Source: 2007 Democratic primary debate at Dartmouth College Sep 6, 2007

Dennis Kucinich: Biden Plan splits up Iraq

Q: The Biden Plan, which got 75 votes, splits up Iraq....

BIDEN: What we voted on was not partition. I don’t want anybody thinking it was partition. And it’s the only time we got 26 Republicans to reject the president’s plan.

KUCINICH: You’re splitting Iraq up. That’s what it does.

BIDEN: No, it’s not.

Source: 2007 Democratic primary debate at Dartmouth College Sep 6, 2007

Hillary Clinton: Iran’s Revolutionary Guard promotes terrorism

GRAVEL: [to Clinton]: This is Fantasyland--we’re talking about ending the war; my God, we’re just starting another war! There was a vote in the Senate today--Joe Lieberman, who authored the Iraq resolution, has offered another resolution, and it’s essentially a fig leaf to let George Bush go to war with Iran. I want to congratulate Biden & Dodd for voting against it, and I’m ashamed of you, Hillary, for voting for it. You’re not going to get another shot at this--we invade and they’re looking for an excuse to do it. And Obama was not even there to vote.

CLINTON: My understanding of the revolutionary guard in Iran is that it is promoting terrorism. It is manufacturing weapons that are used against our troops in Iraq. It is certainly the main agent of support for Hezbollah, Hamas and others, and in what we voted for today, we will have an opportunity to designate it as a terrorist organization, which gives us the options to be able to impose sanctions on the leaders.

Source: 2007 Democratic primary debate at Dartmouth College Sep 6, 2007

Hillary Clinton: Prevent Iran from becoming nuclear power by diplomacy first

Q: [to Clinton]: Would the Israelis be justified in taking military action if they felt their security was threatened by a nuclear presence in Iran?

CLINTON: I’m not going to answer that because it’s hypothetical. There would need to be a high standard of proof.

Q: Rudy Giuliani said, “Iran is not going to be allowed to build a nuclear power. If they get to a point where they’re going to become a nuclear power, we will prevent them; we will set them back 8 to 10 years. That is not said as a threat; that should be said as a promise.“ Would you make that promise?

CLINTON: I will do everything I can to prevent Iran from becoming an nuclear power, including the use of diplomacy, the use of economic sanctions, opening up direct talks. We haven’t even tried. That’s what is so discouraging about this. We need a concerted, comprehensive strategy to deal with Iran. We haven’t had it. We need it. And I will provide it.

Source: 2007 Democratic primary debate at Dartmouth College Sep 6, 2007

Mike Gravel: Iran Resolution is a fig leaf to go to war with Iran

GRAVEL: [to Clinton]: This is Fantasyland--we’re talking about ending the war; my God, we’re just starting another war! There was a vote in the Senate today--Joe Lieberman, who authored the Iraq resolution, has offered another resolution, and it’s essentially a fig leaf to let George Bush go to war with Iran. I want to congratulate Biden & Dodd for voting against it, and I’m ashamed of you, Hillary, for voting for it. You’re not going to get another shot at this--we invade and they’re looking for an excuse to do it. And Obama was not even there to vote.

CLINTON: My understanding of the revolutionary guard in Iran is that it is promoting terrorism. It is manufacturing weapons that are used against our troops in Iraq. It is certainly the main agent of support for Hezbollah, Hamas and others, and in what we voted for today, we will have an opportunity to designate it as a terrorist organization, which gives us the options to be able to impose sanctions on the leaders.

Source: [Xref Clinton] 2007 Democratic primary debate at Dartmouth Sep 6, 2007

Rudy Giuliani: Promise: we will prevent Iran from becoming nuclear power

Q: [to Clinton]: Would the Israelis be justified in taking military action if they felt their security was threatened by a nuclear presence in Iran?

CLINTON: I’m not going to answer that because it’s hypothetical. There would need to be a high standard of proof.

Q: Rudy Giuliani said, “Iran is not going to be allowed to build a nuclear power. If they get to a point where they’re going to become a nuclear power, we will prevent them; we will set them back 8 to 10 years. That is not said as a threat; that should be said as a promise.“ Would you make that promise?

CLINTON: I will do everything I can to prevent Iran from becoming an nuclear power, including the use of diplomacy, the use of economic sanctions, opening up direct talks. We haven’t even tried. That’s what is so discouraging about this. We need a concerted, comprehensive strategy to deal with Iran. We haven’t had it. We need it. And I will provide it.

Source: [Xref Clinton] 2007 Democratic primary debate at Dartmouth Sep 6, 2007

  • The above quotations are from Democratic Presidential Debate on MSNBC, moderated by Tim Russert, at Dartmouth College in Hanover, New Hampshire, Sept. 26, 2007.
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