Democratic presidential candidate Sen. Barack Obama D-Ill. addresses the American Israel Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC) Policy Conference 2008, Wednesday, June 4, 2008, at the Washington Convention Center in Washington. (AP Photo/Alex Brandon)
Posted on 06/04/2008 12:29:19 PM PDT by NormsRevenge
WASHINGTON - The war in Iraq has made Iran stronger and the United States and Israel less secure, Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama said Wednesday in a speech to Jewish political activists.
Only hours after securing his party's nomination, Obama tied his Republican opponent, John McCain, to the Bush administration's Middle East policies, which Obama described as disastrous.
Because of the war in Iraq, he said, "Iran, which always posed a greater threat to Israel than Iraq, is emboldened, and poses the greatest strategic challenge to the United States and Israel in the Middle East in a generation."
"Iraq is unstable," Obama said in a long-scheduled speech to the American Israel Public Affairs Committee, a major Jewish bipartisan group. "And al-Qaida has stepped up its recruitment."
Israel's peace efforts have stalled, he said, "and America is more isolated in the region, reducing our strength and jeopardizing Israel's safety."
"As president I will never compromise when it comes to Israel's security," he told the crowd of 7,000.
McCain, President Bush and some Democrats have criticized Obama for saying he would talk with leaders of hostile governments, and they say he underestimates the threat posed by Iran. Such attacks could pose problems for Obama in key states such as Florida, home to many Jewish voters, some of whom question his commitment to Israel.
Obama used the occasion to outline his limits on negotiations with adversaries.
"We must isolate Hamas unless and until they renounce terrorism, recognize Israel's right to exist, and abide by past agreements," he said of the Palestinian group opposed to Israel. "There is no room at the negotiating table for terrorist organizations."
"Contrary to the claims of some, I have no interest in sitting down with our adversaries just for the sake of talking," Obama said. But if elected, he said, "I would be willing to lead tough and principled diplomacy with the appropriate Iranian leaders at a time and place of my choosing if, and only if it can advance the interests of the United States."
"I will always keep the threat of military action on the table to defend our security and our ally Israel," he said.
When McCain addressed the AIPAC group Monday, he ridiculed Obama for suggesting he would sit down with Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad.
Obama said Wednesday there is no greater threat to Israel than Iran, which "supports violent extremists" and "pursues a nuclear capability that could spark a dangerous arms race." All those threats were known in 2002, he said, yet the Bush administration "ignored it and instead invaded and occupied Iraq."
He said McCain "refuses to understand or acknowledge the failure of the policy that he would continue. He criticizes my willingness to use strong diplomacy, but offers only an alternate reality — one where the war in Iraq has somehow put Iran on its heels. The truth is the opposite."
Obama was followed on stage by Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton, whom he had warmly praised. She did not formally concede the nomination to him but told the audience that Obama "will be a good friend to Israel."
Some Jewish voters are wary of Obama partly because his former pastor praised Black Muslim leader Louis Farrakhan, who has made anti-Semitic remarks. Obama has disavowed the pastor's intemperate remarks and later resigned from that church.
Obama also cited e-mails "filled with tall tales and dire warnings about a certain candidate for president," a reference to false accusations that he is a Muslim with a hidden agenda. "Let me know if you see this guy named Barack Obama, because he sounds pretty scary," he said.
Obama clearly impressed some in the massive hall.
"He had me in tears, this feeling for an understanding of Israel's predicament," said Leonard Eisenfeld, a Connecticut pediatrician whose son was killed in a Hamas bus bombing in Jerusalem in 1996. He said he respects McCain, but is now more open to Obama, calling him a "good soul" in Yiddish.
But Evelyn Mottsman of Pittsburgh said it "disturbs a lot of people that he thinks diplomacy is possible" with Iran.
Democratic presidential candidate Sen. Barack Obama D-Ill. addresses the American Israel Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC) Policy Conference 2008, Wednesday, June 4, 2008, at the Washington Convention Center in Washington. (AP Photo/Alex Brandon)
God help us if this man gets elected....
> “He had me in tears, this feeling for an understanding of Israel’s predicament,” said Leonard Eisenfeld, a Connecticut pediatrician whose son was killed in a Hamas bus bombing in Jerusalem in 1996. He said he respects McCain, but is now more open to Obama, calling him a “good soul” in Yiddish.
McCain has his work cut out for him in overcoming the emotion generated by this Svengali Socialist.
I’ll say it again: If we had attacked Iran instead of Iraq, he’d be standing right there saying we should have gone after Saddam because of Kuwait, WMDs, and links with terrorism. I know this like I know my palm.
The human on the planet who can make Jimmy Carter appear wise in comparison...
A woman is reflected in a window display featuring US Democratic presidential
candidate Senator Barack Obama (D-IL) at Washington National Airport June 4, 2008.
REUTERS/Jim Young
He is naive at best.
He only understands his own liberal ideology and will only bring about destruction with his well meant methods.
Jimmy Carter II
Someone should have the guts and determination to call BHO himself a failure.
He who sets the rules of the debate, wins the debate.
Take this away from him NOW!
Leaving Iraq, so Al-Qaeda and Iran can take over however will make the US and Israel 100% secure./s
He obviously didn't study geography...
Can’t wait for McCain’s reply. Boy Wonder is getting used to making grandiose, sweeping statements with impunity. It’s ludicrous to think having 150,000 US troops sitting on one side of Iran and a pro-western government in Afghanistan on the other has “emboldened” Iran.
Hard headed and dumb like a rock.
How did this guy get into Harvard?
US has had no attacks on our soil since 9/11 and Israel has nearly completely eliminated all suicide bombings.
Tell me, Hussein, exactly how establishing two free republics, that are our staunch allies, on both soides of the leading state sponsor of terror in the world (Iran), where we can maintain bases and close vigilance, and punitive action against said state, makes us less safe?
Tell me oh Herr Obama, how killing the Jihadists by the tens of thosuands and causing their leadership to litterally hide in holes in the ground, afraid to even come out of those holes for fear that a Predator drone will drop Hellfire on their heads, makes us less sarfe?
Tell me, oh annointed one, how the fact that we have not been hit by another major terrorist attack, even though our enemies have been hell bent on doing just that for the last seven years, is indicative of us being less safe?
The fact is, we are more safe, and any individual with a scintilla of sense, or an honest bone in their body knows it.
Your words do not hold water Obama...no matter how much you think that just because you say them, or because you have tens of thousands of useless idiots fawning over you, makes you want them to be true.
Fact is, you yourself are the apex of the hate-America, domestic enemy in this nation and what you propose would aid and abett our enemies in the extreme...and they know it. That's why they all are hoping you will win.
Be aware Barack Hussein Obama that there are tens of millions of us who know exactly who you are and what you represent. we might not be what the MSM calls "energized", but we are out here watching and listening and we have heard your snide, arrogant remarks and foolish proposals and we are involved. We talk, we netwrok, and we are groinw...and we also vote.
Because of who you really are...because of what you really represent...you are going down. We hope to make your defeat make Mondale's defeat appear like a breath of fresh air to the DNC for the next cycle.
This is what many, including here at FR, don't understand or accept. This election, like most elections, will be all about feelings, not philosophies or government programs. It doesn't matter how we are doing in Iraq, it only matters how the voters feel about it. It doesn't matter how our economy is, it only matters how the voters feel about it.
Obama has a talent for making people feel good about what he says, McCain has just the opposite effect.
from the economist
Yeah, having military bases in Iraq are only good for surrendering to Iran. You need to build the bases so you have something to pull out from, surrender and go then home. Once you're home, go the church and hear the God D*mn America sermon and Barrack and the Iranians will love you.
Yes. Truly a great man, and such a strategist! Go right at your enemy, full face! Don't weaken him and soften him up by going after the small, weak ones around him. You don't want to surround your enemy so he has nowhere to go. Why that would be downright mean and hateful!
Pure political pandering...Obama now says we attacked the wrong country which means he does believe in military force as a tool of diplomacy, but, only when he is addressing Jews.
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