A coherent path out of Iraq

For all the loose talk about ending the war in Iraq, Sen. Barack Obama's repeated intention to move troops out of that country has more urgency and focus than all the other political chatter.

The Democratic presidential nominee's framework for ending the war should not devolve into a battle over removing troops within 16 months after January versus 17 or 18 months. This should not become a war of words over what Prime Minister Nouri Kamal al-Maliki said or didn't say to a German magazine. According to one version, al-Maliki said he supported Obama's timetable; later, he tried to take that statement back.

It really doesn't matter. The key point is that Iraqi leaders and one candidate for president understand U.S. troops need to come home sooner rather than later. Troops need to move to places that make more strategic sense, namely Afghanistan. Obama has been more clear about this, although both he and presumptive Republican nominee Sen. John McCain agree in principle that American and NATO troops should strengthen their presence in Afghanistan.

The Iraq war, as Obama argued in a recent New York Times op-ed piece, distracts from the real challenge facing our military.

"Ending the war is essential to meeting our broader strategic goals, starting in Afghanistan and Pakistan, where the Taliban are resurgent and [al-Qaida] has a safe haven," he wrote. Obama correctly points out the U.S. will not have sufficient resources to finish the job in Afghanistan until troop numbers are reduced in Iraq.

McCain has more military and foreign-policy experience than Obama but is too fixated on staying in Iraq in search of victory.

The apparent success of the troop surge there is not victory, but a lull in a conflict that will not be settled until an Iraqi government can stand on its own. Obama says the way to hasten Iraq's self-reliance depends on gradually taking American troops out.

America does not have unlimited troops. Some need to be moved. Some need to come home. The war has dragged on too long and cost many billions of dollars more than imagined. Even President Bush agreed Friday to an undefined "general time horizon" for pulling troops out of Iraq.

This is a time for leaders ready to work the nitty-gritty of the end game. At the moment, Obama has a more coherent strategy and greater resolve to bring troops home and redeploy them to places where efforts could be more direct and more successful.