Hillary Rodham Clinton, John Edwards and Barack Obama all agree that they can't ensure that U.S. forces would be out of Iraq by the end of their first term in 2013.
Sen. Hillary Clinton said it was her goal to have all troops out by 2013, "it is my goal to have all troops out by the end of my first term. But I agree with Barack [Obama]. It is very difficult to know what we're going to be inheriting."
Barack Obama, informed the crowd, "What I can promise is that if there are still troops in Iraq when I take office, which it appears there may be unless we can get some of our Republican colleagues to change their mind and cut off funding without a timetable, if there's no timetable, then I will drastically reduce our presence there to the mission of protecting our embassy, protecting our civilians and making sure that we're carrying out counterterrorism activities 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."
John Edwards said if elected, he would "immediately drawn down 40,000 to 50,000 troops"-nearly half of the 100,000 troops General Petraeus believes could still be stationed in Iraq when President Bush's presidential term expires in January 2009.
Edwards also added that, unlike his fellow candidates, he does not support continued combat missions in Iraq. "I do not think we should continue combat missions in Iraq," he added. But when asked whether he would commit to have all troops out of Iraq by the end of his first term, Edwards said "I cannot make that commitment."
Edwards, today, told a middle school student that the United States has troops in many parts of the world, and the key issue is combat troops. If elected, "I would have combat troops out of Iraq in about nine months," he said.
Transcript of Debate here
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