Obama in Iraq for Fact-Finding Mission (The messiah Has Arrived in Baghdad!)

AFP ^ | Monday, July 21, 2008

[kristinn]

Democratic White House candidate Barack Obama arrived in Iraq Monday on a fact-finding tour, days after confirming plans to withdraw US troops from Iraq in 16 months if he takes office next year.

"Senator Barack Obama arrived in Iraq this morning as part of a Congressional delegation, along with Senators Jack Reed and Chuck Hagel," embassy spokesman Armand Cucciniello said.

"The senators have a busy day ahead of them, as they meet with senior Iraqi officials, Coalition leadership and officials from the US embassy. They will also meet with constituent service members and civilian staff working in Iraq."

Obama flew in to Iraq -- his second trip after a similar January 2006 Congressional fact-finding tour -- from Kuwait where he spent the night after a visit to Kabul, where he pledged to downsize the number of US troops in Iraq and commit at least two more combat brigades to Afghanistan.

[ChiMark]

Fact finding mission?

First, the empty suit learns Iraq is not south of Indiana.

I can’t wait for the messiah’analysis of the war...

Barf!

[Tut]

A lie. He consistently opposed the Iraq War. That's the only principled position he's ever taken. But he's wrong about it - dead wrong!

Actually, Obama has been all over the map on this issue as well and when he was asked if he could have voted to authorize Bush to use military force against Iraq, Obama said he didn't know.

In 2004 he sung a different tune. "The failure of the Iraqi state would be a disaster," he said at a lunch sponsored by the Christian Science Monitor, according to an audiotape of the session. "It would dishonor the 900-plus men and women who have already died. . . . It would be a betrayal of the promise that we made to the Iraqi people, and it would be hugely destabilizing from a national security perspective."

And yes.... he expressed that we should not go to war with Iraq with these reasons.

After September 11th, after witnessing the carnage and destruction, the dust and the tears, I supported this Administration’s pledge to hunt down and root out those who would slaughter innocents in the name of intolerance, and I would willingly take up arms myself to prevent such a tragedy from happening again.

I don’t oppose all wars. And I know that in this crowd today, there is no shortage of patriots, or of patriotism. What I am opposed to is a dumb war. What I am opposed to is a rash war. What I am opposed to is the cynical attempt by Richard Perle and Paul Wolfowitz and other arm-chair, weekend warriors in this Administration to shove their own ideological agendas down our throats, irrespective of the costs in lives lost and in hardships borne.

What I am opposed to is the attempt by political hacks like Karl Rove to distract us from a rise in the uninsured, a rise in the poverty rate, a drop in the median income – to distract us from corporate scandals and a stock market that has just gone through the worst month since the Great Depression.

That’s what I’m opposed to. A dumb war. A rash war. A war based not on reason but on passion, not on principle but on politics.

Why was it a dumb war? He didn't say. He just thought it was a dumb war but from where I sit, he didn't know.

However, listening to his speech further, he gave a good case for war.

Now let me be clear – I suffer no illusions about Saddam Hussein. He is a brutal man. A ruthless man. A man who butchers his own people to secure his own power. He has repeatedly defied UN resolutions, thwarted UN inspection teams, developed chemical and biological weapons, and coveted nuclear capacity.

He’s a bad guy. The world, and the Iraqi people, would be better off without him.

But I like this part the best for his reasoning for going to war with Iraq is dumb.

I know that even a successful war against Iraq will require a US occupation of undetermined length, at undetermined cost, with undetermined consequences. I know that an invasion of Iraq without a clear rationale and without strong international support will only fan the flames of the Middle East, and encourage the worst, rather than best, impulses of the Arab world, and strengthen the recruitment arm of al-Qaeda.

I am not opposed to all wars. I’m opposed to dumb wars.

Iraq will require a US occupation of undetermined length?
at undetermined cost?
with undetermined consequences?

That struck mme funny some how.

[Allegra]

First, the empty suit learns Iraq is not south of Indiana.

It's really bot here today. I hope he's sweating buckets.

[Allegra]

bot = hot

The heat's getting to me. ;-)

[Bikkuri]

[Nathan Zachary]

"The man is an idiot."

I'd like to know what "facts" (and how he found them) he learned after spending a whopping 3 hrs shaking hands and posing for pics in Kabul. Same thing in Kuwait, and now Iraq.

I guess the Messiah just has to touch their hands and he gets an instant download of all their thoughts and memories, and on his "walk about" (flying 300 MPH at 1000 ft to see a few sites of interest) he will just mind melt with all the minds of Iraqi citizens and know everything.

[wideminded]

A lie. He consistently opposed the Iraq War.

Yes, Obama has opposed the Iraq War since he was in the Illinois Senate. But I was just pointing out that the article had made a blatant factual error (also mentioned in #16).

[W04Man]

Bump!

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http://Vets4McCain.com

[visualops]

Kuwait, Afghanistan, Iraq, Jordan, Israel, Germany, France and England in one week.
How can you get a sense of anything but jet-lag on a whirlwind trip like that?

[ballplayer]

Have the Muslims asked Obama to convert or be Beheaded ?They have to offer you know before they kill you

[panthermom]

Have y’all noticed that there are very few photos of him with the troops?

[Fresh Wind]

Don’t worry. Obomba has the media there to tell him what he learned.

[Forgiven_Sinner]

I liked this quote:

“”This proclamation is a mere political stunt,” said Abu Ali, 43.”

The quote about voting against the war is: “The Illinois senator, who voted against the March 2003 war to topple Saddam Hussein, is in Iraq at a time when violence has fallen to a four-year low — partly on the back of the controversial troop “surge” which he had strongly opposed.”

It doesn't say WHEN he voted against the March 2003 war—obviously NOT March 2003. It could apply to ANY vote he made against the war. The date refers to the start of the war, not the time of the vote.

[devolve]

[Bluebird Singing]

The fact that he was a muslim in his youth, and now professes to be a Christian, should logically be bringing on calls for his death in the muslim world, correct? Not a peep. He is their agent.

[Schnucki]

No, but they were seen to wink and fist-bump. ;)

[Go Gordon]

The Illinois senator, who voted against the March 2003 war to topple Saddam Hussein,

Clarification: BHO wasn't a senator in 2003. He didn't vote for crap. He just says he was always against the war.

[Miss Didi]

Have y’all noticed that there are very few photos of him with the troops?

[panthermom]

I have seen a wider angle view of this picture, where there are many who are not in uniform which leads me to believe they are civilian contractors and not troops.

[mewzilla]

FWIW, most of the coverage I’ve seen has consisted of tight camera shots on just a few troops at a time. Barry’s handlers are not taking any chances of someone ruining Obama’s Surrender Tour.