Not only is John Edwards’ response to Bush’s speech good, but by presenting me with a convenient embedable video, he’s helping meet this blog’s desperate thirst for multimedia content:
Woo!
UPDATE: That said, John Edwards’ stated policy on Iraq seems less-than-brilliant to me:
Edwards believes we should completely withdraw all combat troops in Iraq within about a year and prohibit permanent U.S. military bases in Iraq. After withdrawal, we should retain sufficient forces in the region to contain the conflict and ensure that instability in Iraq does not spill over into other countries, creating a regional war, a terrorist haven, or a genocide.
It seems to me that these war aims (ensuring that instability in Iraq doesn’t spill over into other countries, create a regional war, a terrorist haven, or a genocide) are basically the same as George W. Bush’s and that, as from the beginning in Iraq, to achieve them you would need 450,000 or so troops in Iraq. Now, obviously, Edwards is proposing no such thing, but it’s not clear to me what he is proposing. As I’ve argued before, these nightmare scenarios of regional conflagration, genocide, terrorist havens, etc. all strike me as implausible. If we just leave Iraq, I bet none of it will happen. But the only way to ensure this stuff doesn’t happen is to baby-sit the civil war.