Only one of the three candidates has any military experience, John McCain who was a prisoner of war POW, during the Vietnam War. Those of us who are old enough see great similarities between the Iraq War and the Vietnam War which continued through my entire childhood. I just don't know if Clinton or Obama have the experience that it is going to take to get us out of the Iraq War. I have listed their basic viewpoints on the war, some of which are very contradictory.



Hillary Clinton: Opposed troop increase. No timetable for completing withdrawal. Voted for war.

Barack Obama: Combat troops out in 16 months. Spoke against war at start.

John McCain: Early critic of how the war was fought backed troop increase. Opposes scheduled pullout.

McCain directly confronted the biggest obstacle to his White House ambitions: his unyielding support of a war that more than two-thirds of the country has turned against. "I understand the frustration caused by our mistakes in this war. I sympathize with the fatigue of the American people," he told cadets at the Virginia Military Institute. "But I also know the toll a lost war takes on an army and a country. It is the right road. It is necessary and just." McCain cited "the first glimmers" of progress from the president's "surge" of troops into Baghdad The former Vietnam prisoner of war warned against "false optimism" and urged Americans to have patience with the military's commanders as they pursue a new strategy in the Middle East "that deals with how things are . . . and not how we wish them to be."

Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama both support a withdrawal of troops and state their ideas of how they would accomplish this but whether these are feasible or not remains to be seen. They both support change which the American people desperately need. If not for the Iraq War, this could be a very exciting time in US politics; History is being made, we could have the first black President or the first woman President. No one is excited though, our economy is struggling without any end in sight, and people are sad and hopeless. I just hope that whoever we elect in November has the strength to do what has to be done to create the change.

My personal opinion is that we have no business being in the Iraq War at this time. I, like most Americans, at first thought it was necessary for our national security. The American people have not benefitted from the Iraq War. Lives are shattered and loved ones have been lost. I speak from experience as my only brother is a veteran of the Iraq War. He went into the war as a proud American soldier but has returned as a destroyed man. Those who have benefitted the most in this conflict are those who suffered the least; the multinational oil companies and the contractors with the no-bid reconstruction contracts.

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