Candidates Focus On War

Much of the focus of the three leading presidential candidates has been on a U.S. economy that many say is struggling. However, the war in Iraq is beginning to come back into the spotlight, and two of the candidates stand in stark contrast to each other when it comes to their viewpoints on the war.

Most Republicans support the war, and those who voted on Super Tuesday and who named their top issue as the Iraq war voted in great majority for John McCain. Democrats strongly oppose the war by and large, and those who named the war as their top concern voted mostly for Barack Obama. Obama has opposed the war from its beginning. If the election is between McCain and Obama, voters will be faced with a choice between polar opposites when it comes to the issue of the war. McCain has been a staunch supporter of Bush's troop buildup, whereas Obama has been a consistent war opponent.

The debate beginning to emerge is over what poses a greater threat to security in the U.S.-staying in Iraq or withdrawing. Recent polls show that most Americans believe McCain has the ability to better handle the Iraq issue. McCain has said that a recent remark by him that American troops could stay in Iraq another 100 years has been distorted by his opponents. He does favor the possibility of a long-term occupation such as those in Korea and other countries, but that it should be under an environment where Americans are not being injured or killed. "As long as Americans are not being injured or harmed or wounded or killed, it's fine with me, and I hope it would be fine with you, if we maintain a presence in a very volatile part of the world where al-Qaida is training, recruiting, equipping and motivating people every single day," McCain has said.