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Related: Editorials & Other Articles, Issue Forums, Alliance Forums, Region ForumsObama Sets McCain Straight On 'Fighting the Right War' in Iraq
excerpts from Senator Obama's speech on the fifth anniversary of the Iraq War in Fayetteville, N.C., March 19, 2008:
. . . If you believe we are fighting the right war, then the problems we face are purely tactical in nature. That is what Senator McCain wants to discuss tactics. What he and the Administration have failed to present is an overarching strategy: how the war in Iraq enhances our long-term security, or will in the future. Thats why this Administration cannot answer the simple question posed by Senator John Warner in hearings last year: Are we safer because of this war? And that is why Senator McCain can argue as he did last year that we couldnt leave Iraq because violence was up, and then argue this year that we cant leave Iraq because violence is down.
When you have no overarching strategy, there is no clear definition of success. Success comes to be defined as the ability to maintain a flawed policy indefinitely. Here is the truth: fighting a war without end will not force the Iraqis to take responsibility for their own future. And fighting in a war without end will not make the American people safer.
. . . when I am Commander-in-Chief, I will set a new goal on Day One: I will end this war. Not because politics compels it. Not because our troops cannot bear the burden as heavy as it is. But because it is the right thing to do for our national security, and it will ultimately make us safer.
My plan to end this war will finally put pressure on Iraqs leaders to take responsibility for their future. Because weve learned that when we tell Iraqs leaders that well stay as long as it takes, they take as long as they want. We need to send a different message. We will help Iraq reach a meaningful accord on national reconciliation. We will engage with every country in the region and the UN to support the stability and territorial integrity of Iraq. And we will launch a major humanitarian initiative to support Iraqs refugees and people. But Iraqis must take responsibility for their country. It is precisely this kind of approach an approach that puts the onus on the Iraqis, and that relies on more than just military power that is needed to stabilize Iraq.
Now we know what well hear from those like John McCain who support open-ended war. They will argue that leaving Iraq is surrender. That we are emboldening the enemy. These are the mistaken and misleading arguments we hear from those who have failed to demonstrate how the war in Iraq has made us safer. Just yesterday, we heard Senator McCain confuse Sunni and Shiite, Iran and al Qaeda. Maybe that is why he voted to go to war with a country that had no al Qaeda ties. Maybe that is why he completely fails to understand that the war in Iraq has done more to embolden Americas enemies than any strategic choice that we have made in decades.
read speech: http://blogs.suntimes.com/sweet/2008/03/sweet-obama-on-iraq-war-and-na.html
Fred Sanders
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Cha
(295,926 posts). . . picking up where we left off.