Barack Obama: The differences on Iraq in this campaign are deep. Unlike Senator John McCain, I opposed the war in Iraq before it began, and would end it as president. I believed it was a grave mistake to allow ourselves to be distracted from the fight against Al Qaeda and the Taliban by invading a country that posed no imminent threat and had nothing to do with the 9/11 attacks. Since then, more than 4,000 Americans have died and we have spent nearly $1 trillion. Our military is overstretched. Nearly every threat we face — from Afghanistan to Al Qaeda to Iran — has grown.
In the 18 months since President Bush announced the surge, our troops have performed heroically in bringing down the level of violence. New tactics have protected the Iraqi population, and the Sunni tribes have rejected Al Qaeda — greatly weakening its effectiveness.
But the same factors that led me to oppose the surge still hold true. The strain on our military has grown, the situation in Afghanistan has deteriorated and we've spent nearly $200 billion more in Iraq than we had budgeted. Iraq's leaders have failed to invest tens of billions of dollars in oil revenues in rebuilding their own country, and they have not reached the political accommodation that was the stated purpose of the surge.
The good news is that Iraq's leaders want to take responsibility for their country by negotiating a timetable for the removal of American troops. Meanwhile, Lt. Gen. James Dubik, the American officer in charge of training Iraq's security forces, estimates that the Iraqi Army and police will be ready to assume responsibility for security in 2009.
Only by redeploying our troops can we press the Iraqis to reach comprehensive political accommodation and achieve a successful transition to Iraqis' taking responsibility for the security and stability of their country. Instead of seizing the moment and encouraging Iraqis to step up, the Bush administration and Senator McCain are refusing to embrace this transition — despite their previous commitments to respect the will of Iraq's sovereign government. They call any timetable for the removal of American troops "surrender," even though we would be turning Iraq over to a sovereign Iraqi government.
But this is not a strategy for success — it is a strategy for staying that runs contrary to the will of the Iraqi people, the American people and the security interests of the United States. That is why, on my first day in office, I would give the military a new mission: ending this war.
As I've said many times, we must be as careful getting out of Iraq as we were careless getting in. We can safely redeploy our combat brigades at a pace that would remove them in 16 months. That would be the summer of 2010 — two years from now, and more than seven years after the war began. After this redeployment, a residual force in Iraq would perform limited missions: going after any remnants of Al Qaeda in Mesopotamia, protecting American service members and, so long as the Iraqis make political progress, training Iraqi security forces. That would not be a precipitous withdrawal.
Ending the war is essential to meeting our broader strategic goals, starting in Afghanistan and Pakistan, where the Taliban is resurgent and Al Qaeda has a safe haven. Iraq is not the central front in the war on terrorism, and it never has been. As Adm. Mike Mullen, the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, recently pointed out, we won't have sufficient resources to finish the job in Afghanistan until we reduce our commitment to Iraq.
As president, I would pursue a new strategy, and begin by providing at least two additional combat brigades to support our effort in Afghanistan. We need more troops, more helicopters, better intelligence-gathering and more nonmilitary assistance to accomplish the mission there. I would not hold our military, our resources and our foreign policy hostage to a misguided desire to maintain permanent bases in Iraq.
In this campaign, there are honest differences over Iraq, and we should discuss them with the thoroughness they deserve. Unlike Senator McCain, I would make it absolutely clear that we seek no presence in Iraq similar to our permanent bases in South Korea, and would redeploy our troops out of Iraq and focus on the broader security challenges that we face. But for far too long, those responsible for the greatest strategic blunder in the recent history of American foreign policy have ignored useful debate in favor of making false charges about flip-flops and surrender. It's not going to work this time. It's time to end this war.
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/07/14/opinion/14obama.html?_r=2&hp&oref=s...
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@zk0
ah, another member of the Cult of ManBearPig.....lol
crowsting123 2 years ago
Keith "Dickhead" Obermother, why the fuck dose MSNBC have you one jabbering away, with nothing but destructive , negative bullshit? You sucked as a sports reporter in L.A. And you suck now......Please someone pull the plug on this waste of space
ANigg007 3 years ago
OK !!!!! (Someone)... please tell me "WHY" are we not talking to, or about, Newly elected president Zardari in Pakistan who has taken the role from his assassinated wife Benazir Bhutto who was pushing for democracy ???? Could it be that Bush has screwed us again by not vigorously asserting diplomacy? And has instead breached pakistani borders already without permission ! I still can't believe the bungling of this administration !!
underdogD 3 years ago
Al-Qaeda.. the buzz word of fear. Al-Qada was a very small portion of those we fought in Iraq. The only reason Sadr has stepped off is that he is trying (with the Iraqi govt) to get us to set a timetable to leave..
Speaking of Hitler, look to Bush,he has used all the same tactics to control the populace Hitler did, interestingly enough, The Patriot Act (which every good american should oppose)is very similar to a piece of legislation Hitler passed to help him control the masses as well.
theagy76 3 years ago
Are you stupid? Really, I am asking. Even if all restrictions ended, all drill ships and rigs, you know, the things the oil companies need to...you know...drill offshore? Booked for the next few years! They simply CAN'T do it! Supply and demand, you moron!
Himechansexytightass 3 years ago
Show me bin Laden. Oh, you can't? And if they have been defeated, WHY THE HELL are we still there when Bin Laden is on the lose?! AND last time I checked, AL-SADR proposed another cease fire and demilitarizing on his own will! Oh, and the Iraqi military that came in to kick his ass? Ran/deserted/joined him and we had to come in and the BEST we could do is a fucking cease fire!
Himechansexytightass 3 years ago
How does McCain know how to win a war? As far as I know Vietnam didn't go all that well
Nietzcho 3 years ago
Wow, you must really be ignorant and stupid if you claim global warming is a hoax. It's time to end the discussion with you here, because there is no point in wasting any more time with you.
zk0 3 years ago
The Republican George Bush was President during 9/11, was he not? YOU FAIL! Gas, energy and food prices have risen during the Republicans time in office. The economy has gone into a recession during the Republicans time in office. If we vote for John McBush the mess will continue and the country will surely going to die.
zk0 3 years ago
Offshore drilling wont lower gas prices.. I guessed you knew that, but hey, what can we expect from a climate change denier like yourself who obviously don't know sh*t about science and intelligence?
zk0 3 years ago