“A Surge In Honesty”
Sen. Obama released a statement today in response to comments by Sen. McCain encouraging congressional Democrats to “heed the advice of one of their leading candidates for President, Senator Obama, and immediately pass a new bill to provide support to our troops in Iraq without substituting their partisan interests for those of our troops and our country.”
Speaking about the realities of Iraq War funding, last week Sen. Obama observed that if President Bush vetoes the current Senate bill that funds the war but sets a withdrawal date, Congress “will provide the money without the withdrawal timeline the White House objects to because no lawmaker ‘wants to play chicken with our troops,’” according to the AP.
Here is Sen. Obama’s response to Sen. McCain, which takes particular aim at McCain’s attempt to convince voters that Iraq is becoming stable by taking a high-profile and heavily-armed excursion into a Baghdad market. As the AP notes, “The market has been hit by several recent bombings, including one in February that killed 137 people.”
Progress in Iraq cannot be measured by the same ideological fantasies that got us into this war, it must be measured by the reality of the facts on the ground, and today those sobering facts tell us to change our strategy and bring a responsible end to this war.
No matter how much this Administration wishes it to be true, the idea that the situation in Iraq is improving because it only takes a security detail of 100 soldiers, three Blackhawk helicopters, and two Apache gunships to walk through a market in the middle of Baghdad is simply not credible or reflective of the facts on the ground.
What we need today is a surge in honesty. The truth is, the Iraqis have made little progress toward the political solution between Shiia and Sunni which is the last, best hope to end this war. I believe that letting the Iraqi government know America will not be there forever is the best way to pressure the warring factions toward this political settlement, which is why my plan begins a phased withdrawal from Iraq on May 1st, 2007, with the goal of removing all combat troops by March 31st, 2008.
April 12th, 2007 at 6:44 am EST
Last time around, McCain was the sane voice in a GOP gone extremist, and, going even more so. Many write-ups have spoken about the Arizona Senator’s commitment to public service; however,there seems to be this desperation to be president, whatever it takes. His support for an unjustifiable war shows this quite clearly. If the everyday trader in the market had 100+ soldiers and a few helicopters over his head, such everyday trader would probably mis-speak.
As an aside, can non-Americans who dont live in the USA donate?
As a non-American [though my sister and hundreds of friends are citizens] one thinks very hard on what American policies do. The f…… world is a village. But, those in power do not seem to understand the good that America can do. “We the people” is a statement that has resonated ; [ and it continues to resonate].
Honesty is something that we all would like to see in public life; we aren’t likely to, though! Not unless you guys over there vote in Barack. There’ll still be lies and what not; but considerably fewer than in the past, we hope. America’s wealth and dominance tells us one thing: AN HONEST AMERICA MAKES AN INFINITELY BETTER WORLD. The only candidate that offers such a hope is BO. If only RFK had…………… but, lets not go into reminiscence. Like the Bible says, “now is the time”………
September 7th, 2007 at 12:57 am EST
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