Pres. Obama Says He Bases Timetable for Airstrikes on Iraqi Political Reform-Not What He Said Before

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August 9, 2014
STATEMENT BY THE PRESIDENT ON IRAQ

excerpt:

Q Mr. President, for how long a period of time do you see these airstrikes continuing for? And is your goal there to contain ISIS or to destroy it?

THE PRESIDENT: I’m not going to give a particular timetable, because as I’ve said from the start, wherever and whenever U.S. personnel and facilities are threatened, it’s my obligation, my responsibility as Commander-in-Chief, to make sure that they are protected. And we’re not moving our embassy anytime soon. We’re not moving our consulate anytime soon. And that means that, given the challenging security environment, we’re going to maintain vigilance and ensure that our people are safe.

Our initial goal is to not only make sure Americans are protected, but also to deal with this humanitarian situation in Sinjar. We feel confident that we can prevent ISIL from going up a mountain and slaughtering the people who are there. But the next step, which is going to be complicated logistically, is how do we give safe passage for people down from the mountain, and where can we ultimately relocate them so that they are safe. That’s the kind of coordination that we need to do internationally.

I was very pleased to get the cooperation of both Prime Minister Cameron and President Hollande in addressing some of the immediate needs in terms of airdrops and some of the assets and logistical support that they’re providing. But there’s a broader set of questions that our experts now are engaged in with the United Nations and our allies and partners, and that is how do we potentially create a safe corridor or some other mechanism so that these people can move. That may take some time -- because there are varying estimates of how many people are up there, but they’re in the thousands, and moving them is not simple in this kind of security environment.

Just to give people a sense, though, of a timetable -- that the most important timetable that I’m focused on right now is the Iraqi government getting formed and finalized . . .

. . . yet, here's President Obama on June 13:

NYT:

Mr. Obama, in a televised statement before he departed for a trip to North Dakota and California, emphasized that the problem was not just a short-term threat to the Iraqi government but also a long-term failure by Baghdad leaders to achieve political reconciliation across sectarian lines. He warned Iraqi leaders that if they want American help, they have to come up with a plan to accommodate minority factions in a meaningful way.

“The United States is not simply going to involve itself in a military action in the absence of a political plan by the Iraqis that gives us some assurance that they’re going to work together,” he said. “We’re not going to allow ourselves to be dragged back into a situation where when we’re there we’re keeping a lid on things”

It appears that his concern that political reconciliation precede any 'involvement in military action' has gone out the window. Still, his statement Saturday is belied by his previous admonition against military action before the political which he has said repeatedly is the primary long-term solution to conflict in Iraq.

Is there a 'political plan' already expressed, in place, or in the process of enactment by the Iraqi government?

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[dixiegrrrrl]

2. Actions speak louder than words.

Watch what they do, not what they say.