Barack Obama opposed the war in Iraq. Although he later said he was not sure how he would have voted had he been in the Senate, he made this comment as he prepared to keynote the Democratic National Convention in 2004, the purpose of which was to nominate John Kerry, who had voted for the war. It’s understandable, though not Obama’s proudest moment if he has been the consistent Iraq War opponent he would now have us believe. It’s fair to say that from a policy perspective, the Iraq War and everything it involves is at the center of Obama’s candidacy. He turns to it often. A question about the deficit? Obama says we’re overspending on Iraq? And how will the government afford his many new programs? By ending the war in Iraq. Putin’s behavior in Russia? George W. Bush has been distracted by Iraq. One of the chief arguments he makes against the Iraq War — beginning it and continuing it — is that our operations there have damaged our effort in Afghanistan. At the Democratic debate last week in Texas, he complained that the Iraq War had distracted the U.S. from Afghanistan and sought to give that vague complaint some definition by citing a story of equipment and troop shortfalls one soldier had shared with his staff. Then, last night Obama argued that our European allies are not pulling their weight in Afghanistan because, well, something having to do with Iraq. In fact, the reason the Europeans aren’t doing more in Afghanistan is that they are European. Okay, somewhat unfair. But not entirely. Here is an email I received last night from someone involved in U.S. policy on Afghanistan. He explains the European fecklessness in Afghanistan this way.