Politics and Culture

"If you look at our position, it's been very consistent," he said. "I am unwavering in the belief that this has been a strategic mistake and that this war has to end. It would be a further strategic mistake for us to continue with an open-ended occupation of the sort that John McCain has promised."

From here.

Dictionary: to take possession and control of (a place), as by military invasion.

If Iraq is a democracy and Iraq's elected officials want our continued help and we're giving instead of taking from Iraq, is it an "occupation?" Why does he keep using that language? Does anybody doubt that Obama will continue to "occupy" Iraq for a while if he becomes president?