Obama: Iraq War ‘Distracts’ Military From Other Threats (Obama thinks Iraq not a real war)

Fox News ^ | 7/15/2008 | Fox News

[tobyhill]

Barack Obama restated his pledge to end the Iraq war by the summer of 2010, arguing that the U.S. must focus on defeating Al Qaeda in Afghanistan and keeping nuclear weapons out of the hands of Iran.

The presumptive Democratic presidential nominee, in a speech delivered ahead of a trip to the Middle East, said Tuesday in Washington, D.C., that the United States is still at risk of a terrorist attack, but the Iraq war has become a burden on the country that only diminishes security.

[tobyhill]

***Meanwhile, the New York Daily News reported that the Obama campaign altered its Web site to remove a statement that Bush’s surge of troops in Iraq “is not working.” Over the weekend, the site was changed to describe an “improved security situation” at the cost of U.S. lives.

Campaign aide Wendy Morigi told the newspaper that Obama is “not softening his criticism of the surge. We regularly update the Web site to reflect changes in current events.”***

[Gator113]

Obama spits on the graves of our fallen hero’s.

This black racist is easy to hate.

[hsalaw]

McCain said: “He (Obama) is speaking today about his plans for Iraq and Afghanistan before he’s even left, before he has talked to General Petraeus, before he has seen the progress in Iraq, and before he has set foot in Afghanistan for the first time. In my experience … fact-finding missions usually work best the other way around: First you assess the facts on the ground, then you present a new strategy.”

Obama is such an idiot, he makes McCain look good.

[tobyhill]

Anyone that can make McCain look good is really bad.

[AngelesCrestHighway]

Obama and his ass-backwards hope and change. His inexperience is showing....

[hsalaw]

Anyone that can make McCain look good is really bad.

My point exactly.

[Liberty 275]

I suggest forcing the next president to serve the first two years of his term in the green zone, Iraq. hussein obama is cowardly enough I bet he’d drop out of the race.

[RWB Patriot]

“that the United States is still at risk of a terrorist attack, but the Iraq war has become a burden on the country that only diminishes security.”

And this chump somehow thinks his planned military and defense cuts aren’t going to have the same effect?

By the way, who on here wants to bet that if Clinton or Gore had started this war, Obama would be singing a different tune?

[RC2]

Obama changes his website to “reflect the opinions of the general public” not “current events”. His experience is beginning to show through. I should say “lack of exerience”. Why don’t we just elect a high school student for President.....they have about as much experience. 143 days on the floor of the senate, out of 4 years, does not make a President.

[tobyhill]

We will probably always assume some risk of a terrorist attack regardless who the President is but since we haven’t been attacked in almost 7 years President Bush must have mitigated that risk pretty good.

[Polybius]

Barack Obama restated his pledge to end the Iraq war by the summer of 2010, arguing that the U.S. must focus on defeating Al Qaeda in Afghanistan and keeping nuclear weapons out of the hands of Iran.

How can you keep nuclear weapons out of the hands of Iran by bugging out of Iraq and handing Iraq over to Iran?

As things are right now, the U.S. massive military presence in Iraq has Iran's head on the chopping block.

It took the U.S. from December 1941 to June 1944 for the U.S. to establish a beachead in Europe and Obama wants to abandon the entire country right next door to Iran and fight Iran on Iran's terms.

[RC2]

Are you kidding me? With his VAST experience in the military? This guy wouldn’t know how to start a Jeep.

[tobyhill]

We also didn’t stay in Berlin to watch the Tulips grow, we stayed there to make sure the Soviets stopped where they were.

[Lucky9teen]

Critics say that Presidential candidate Barack Obama tries to “be all things to all people” and that he makes too many “pie-in-the-sky” promises. At a recent political rally, Obama tried to overcome these criticisms by emphasizing his commitment to principles. Afterwards, audience members lined up at a microphone to ask Obama questions.

The first person at the microphone said, “I oppose the war in Iraq. If you are elected, what will you do about that?”

“I will end the war in Iraq within two weeks of taking office,” answered Obama. “All our troops will come home, and I will simultaneously make sure the Iraqi government is functioning and secure.”

The second person in line said, “I’m an illegal alien. What will you do for people like me?”

“If I am elected,” answered Obama, “every illegal alien will receive U.S. citizenship, free health coverage, and a scholarship to the university of your choice.”

The third person in line said, “I’m a conservative. If elected, what will you do for me?”

“I’ll send that first guy to Iraq, and the second guy back to Mexico.”

[HawaiianGecko]

From Obama's speech today:  "For eight years, we have paid the price for a foreign policy that lectures without listening, that divides us from one another -- and from the world..." 
This is BS.  What divided us was Howard Dean during the primaries in 2004.  All the other candidates with the exception of Dennis Kucinich voted in favor of war with Iraq.  They were acting civil, with each other and the President.  It was Howard that started shouting, lying, distorting and undermining the government of the United States, and it took three months before the other seven dwarfs realized that he was gaining traction.  (Fundamental error on all sides as Dean was blown out immediately when voting started)  What divides us is the hate speech of Howard Dean followed by the hate speech of Move-On and the Daily Kos.

"We cannot afford four more years of a strategy that is so out of balance and out of step with this defining moment."  This is blind indifference to reality.  It shows that Obama is a political hack willing to sacrifice the lives of Americans at home and abroad in his quest for power.  The strategy is working, if not perfectly, way beyond what is needed.

"It is unacceptable that almost seven years after nearly 3,000 Americans were killed on our soil, the terrorists who attacked us on 9/11 are still at large,"  The terrorists who attacked us are dead or in jail. All 19 on the planes are dead,  the mastermind Khalid Sheikh Mohammed is in Gitmo getting his face washed.  He also confessed to having a role in many of the most significant terrorist plots over the last twenty years, including the World Trade Center 1993 bombings, the Operation Bojinka plot, an aborted 2002 attack on Los Angeles' U.S. Bank Tower, the Bali nightclub bombings, the failed bombing of American Airlines Flight 63, the Millennium Plot, and was video taped murdering Daniel Pearl.  It makes one wonder why this man is lying in public.

"Make no mistake: we can't succeed in Afghanistan or secure our homeland unless we change our Pakistan policy. We must expect more of the Pakistani government, but we must offer more than a blank check to a General who has lost the confidence of his people. It's time to strengthen stability by standing up for the aspirations of the Pakistani people. That's why I'm cosponsoring a bill with Joe Biden and Dick Lugar to triple non-military aid to the Pakistani people and to sustain it for a decade."

When he says we need to offer more than a blank check to Pakistan he really does mean MORE, AS IN TRIPLE!

Obama aides foresee images of a candidate thronged by well-wishers abroad as he promises to restore U.S. standing in the world.
But not with the old Europeans like Merkel, Sarkozy, Berlusconi or any of the Eastern European leaders.  Putin will like him because he sees someone he can bend over and grease up.

[isrul]

Given the rules of engagement, the mulatto Mephistopheles is right. It's not a real war. It's a situation where Americans are put at unnecessary risk. And that has cost many lives.

[isrul]

Especially since McCain does everything he can to make Obama look good.

[Number_Cruncher]

Obama sees any issue of substance as a “distraction”. And he never says what we are being distrcted FROM.

[Number_Cruncher]

Obama sees any issue of substance as a “distraction”. And he never says what we are being distracted FROM.

[weegee]

arguing that the U.S. must focus on defeating Al Qaeda in Afghanistan and keeping nuclear weapons out of the hands of Iran.

Obama lies.

He has already said that military might is not the solution to the nuclear threat posed by Iran. So our "military" is not stretched too thin by remaining in Iraq.

And what is his proposal for "winning" the "war" in Afghanistan? He plans to cut and run in Iraq. But build up troops in Afghanistan? Or was it Darfur?

That isn't going to solve the stop loss problem.