Barack Obama on Bush's 'Stay the Course Iraq Strategy'

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Chicago, IL - Senator Obama released the following statement on President Bush' strategy of staying the course in Iraq.

"President Bush gave no answer to the most important question about the way forward in Iraq: how will we end this war that is not making us safer?

After five years, over four thousand lives, and over half a trillion dollars, we have a blank check strategy in Iraq that is overstretching our military, distracting us from the other challenges we face, burdening our economy, and failing to pressure the Iraqi government to take responsibility for their future.

We cannot press Iraq's leaders to resolve their differences and spend their money if our plan is to stay in Iraq indefinitely.

We cannot relieve the enormous strain on our military and our military families unless we restore adequate time at home for our troops – 12 month deployments represent a step forward, but we need to give our troops adequate dwell time at home.

We cannot finish the fight in Afghanistan and focus on Osama bin Laden and al Qaeda's core leadership unless we end this war that should've never been authorized. The decision to go to war in Iraq was an enormous strategic blunder, and President Bush is only adding to his disastrous legacy by refusing to show the American people any clear goal or any clear plan to end the war.

When I am President, I will bring our combat brigades home in 16 months, engage in the direct diplomacy in the region that is necessary to stabilize Iraq, restore our military strength, and renew our security and standing in the world. Our heroic troops have accomplished every mission that we have given them in Iraq and they have done so brilliantly; it is time to bring them home, and to ask the Iraqis to take responsibility for their country."


http://www.barackobama.com/2008/04/10/statement_of_barack_obama_on_p.php


Sen. Barack Obama speaks during a town hall meeting at Columbus East High School in Columbus, Ind., Friday, April 11, 2008.


Barack Obama | Iraq
http://www.barackobama.com/issues/iraq /

Barack Obama | Foreign Policy
http://www.barackobama.com/issues/foreignpolicy /

Barack Obama | Veterans
http://www.barackobama.com/issues/veterans /

March 19, 2008
Remarks of Senator Barack Obama: The World Beyond Iraq
http://www.barackobama.com/2008/03/19/remarks_of_senato...

March 20, 2008
Remarks for Senator Barack Obama: The Cost of War
http://www.barackobama.com/2008/03/20/remarks_for_senat...

Sen. Obama Confronts Petraeus and Crocker on 'Major Strategic Blunder' in Iraq
http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.ph...

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1. Gates drops Iraq pullout hopes

Washington - Defence Secretary Robert Gates said Thursday he has abandoned hope that US troop levels in Iraq will drop to 100 000 by the end of the year.

Instead, he told a Senate panel, he expects that General David Petraeus, the top military commander in the war, will be able to make an assessment of further drawdowns by mid-September.

The secretary held out hope late last year that troop levels in Iraq could continue to drop through 2008. While he would not put a specific number on troop levels, he agreed at the time that a consistent reduction would have left about 10 brigades, roughly 100 000 troops, by the end of the year.

However, Gates used a more optimistic tone in this testimony than Petraeus and even President George W Bush by describing plans to halt troop withdrawals this summer as a "brief pause". Petraeus and Bush have rejected that description.

"If the conditions continue to improve in Iraq, as we have seen them improve over the last 14 or 15 months, than we believe the circumstances are in place for him to be able to recommend continuing drawdowns," Gates said. "But I think while we have used different words, that certainly is my understanding and my expectation."

During the same hearing, the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff sought to dismiss any suggestion that the military might not support Petraeus's plan to stop troop withdrawals. Admiral Mike Mullen said the proposal has been endorsed by the service chiefs.

"That seemed prudent to me," Mullen said. "It's not a blank check. It's not an open-ended commitment of troops. It's merely recognition of the fact that war is unpredictable."

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2. wasted post

:kick: anyway

[NYCGirl]

3. No, it's not, bigtree. It's a wonderful post. There's just a lot of dumb squabbling

going around here right now.