I like what Obama had to say today:
Obama Says Iraq War Distorts American Foreign Policy
By JOHN M. BRODER
WASHINGTON — The war in Iraq has distorted America’s foreign policy, cost it thousands of lives, tarnished its image and emptied its treasury, Senator Barack Obama said on Tuesday.
He said that as president he would swiftly end the Iraq war and reorient the American approach to the world to address the challenges of terrorism, nuclear proliferation, climate change and energy dependence.
“What’s missing in our debate about Iraq, what has been missing since before the war began, is a discussion of the strategic consequences of Iraq and its dominance of our foreign policy,” Mr. Obama said in a 38-minute speech at the Ronald Reagan Building and International Trade Center in Washington. “This war distracts us from every threat that we face and so many opportunities we could seize. This war diminishes our security, our standing in the world, our military, our economy, and the resources that we need to confront the challenges of the 21st century. By any measure, our single-minded and open-ended focus on Iraq is not a sound strategy for keeping America safe.”
In a series of interviews, statements, advertisements and speeches over the past week, Mr. Obama, the presumptive Democratic presidential candidate, has been laying out a broad vision of America’s role in the world in an Obama presidency. He has spoken of reducing American combat forces in Iraq and adding as many as 10,000 more troops to battle al Qaeda and the Taliban in Afghanistan and Pakistan. He has emphasized the application of soft power — the use of diplomacy and economic aid over the use of force.
And he said that as president he would try to mend alliances that have frayed in the seven years of the Bush-Cheney administration.
After laying out his broad vision of American foreign policy, Mr. Obama plans to make his first overseas trip as a presidential candidate at the end of the week, visiting Iraq and Afghanistan with two like-minded senators, Jack Reed, Democrat of Rhode Island, and Chuck Hagel, Republican of Nebraska. Mr. Obama, an Illinois Democrat, will then move on to Jordan, Israel, the Palestinian territories, Germany, France and England.
In his remarks, Mr. Obama said that he would look beyond the immediate crisis in Iraq.
“As President, I will pursue a tough, smart and principled national security strategy — one that recognizes that we have interests beyond Baghdad, in Kandahar and Karachi, in Tokyo and London, in Beijing and Berlin,” he said. “I will focus this strategy on five goals essential to making America safer: ending the war in Iraq responsibly; finishing the fight against al Qaeda and the Taliban; securing all nuclear weapons and materials from terrorists and rogue states; achieving true energy security; and rebuilding our alliances to meet the challenges of the 21st century.”
“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,” he said. “Osama bin Laden and Ayman al-Zawahari are recording messages to their followers and plotting more terror. The Taliban controls parts of Afghanistan. Al Qaeda has an expanding base in Pakistan that is probably no farther from their old Afghan sanctuary than a train ride from Washington to Philadelphia. If another attack on our homeland comes, it will likely come from the same region where 9/11 was planned.”
“George Bush and John McCain don’t have a strategy for success in Iraq, they have a strategy for staying in Iraq,” Mr. Obama said. “They said we couldn’t leave when violence was up, they say we can’t leave when violence is down. They refuse to press the Iraqis to make tough choices, and they label any timetable to redeploy our troops surrender, even though we would be turning Iraq over to a sovereign Iraqi government not to a terrorist enemy.”
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/07/16/us/politics/15cnd-obama.html?hp=&pagewanted=print
Obama Says Iraq War Distorts American Foreign Policy
By JOHN M. BRODER
WASHINGTON — The war in Iraq has distorted America’s foreign policy, cost it thousands of lives, tarnished its image and emptied its treasury, Senator Barack Obama said on Tuesday.
He said that as president he would swiftly end the Iraq war and reorient the American approach to the world to address the challenges of terrorism, nuclear proliferation, climate change and energy dependence.
“What’s missing in our debate about Iraq, what has been missing since before the war began, is a discussion of the strategic consequences of Iraq and its dominance of our foreign policy,” Mr. Obama said in a 38-minute speech at the Ronald Reagan Building and International Trade Center in Washington. “This war distracts us from every threat that we face and so many opportunities we could seize. This war diminishes our security, our standing in the world, our military, our economy, and the resources that we need to confront the challenges of the 21st century. By any measure, our single-minded and open-ended focus on Iraq is not a sound strategy for keeping America safe.”
In a series of interviews, statements, advertisements and speeches over the past week, Mr. Obama, the presumptive Democratic presidential candidate, has been laying out a broad vision of America’s role in the world in an Obama presidency. He has spoken of reducing American combat forces in Iraq and adding as many as 10,000 more troops to battle al Qaeda and the Taliban in Afghanistan and Pakistan. He has emphasized the application of soft power — the use of diplomacy and economic aid over the use of force.
And he said that as president he would try to mend alliances that have frayed in the seven years of the Bush-Cheney administration.
After laying out his broad vision of American foreign policy, Mr. Obama plans to make his first overseas trip as a presidential candidate at the end of the week, visiting Iraq and Afghanistan with two like-minded senators, Jack Reed, Democrat of Rhode Island, and Chuck Hagel, Republican of Nebraska. Mr. Obama, an Illinois Democrat, will then move on to Jordan, Israel, the Palestinian territories, Germany, France and England.
In his remarks, Mr. Obama said that he would look beyond the immediate crisis in Iraq.
“As President, I will pursue a tough, smart and principled national security strategy — one that recognizes that we have interests beyond Baghdad, in Kandahar and Karachi, in Tokyo and London, in Beijing and Berlin,” he said. “I will focus this strategy on five goals essential to making America safer: ending the war in Iraq responsibly; finishing the fight against al Qaeda and the Taliban; securing all nuclear weapons and materials from terrorists and rogue states; achieving true energy security; and rebuilding our alliances to meet the challenges of the 21st century.”
“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,” he said. “Osama bin Laden and Ayman al-Zawahari are recording messages to their followers and plotting more terror. The Taliban controls parts of Afghanistan. Al Qaeda has an expanding base in Pakistan that is probably no farther from their old Afghan sanctuary than a train ride from Washington to Philadelphia. If another attack on our homeland comes, it will likely come from the same region where 9/11 was planned.”
“George Bush and John McCain don’t have a strategy for success in Iraq, they have a strategy for staying in Iraq,” Mr. Obama said. “They said we couldn’t leave when violence was up, they say we can’t leave when violence is down. They refuse to press the Iraqis to make tough choices, and they label any timetable to redeploy our troops surrender, even though we would be turning Iraq over to a sovereign Iraqi government not to a terrorist enemy.”
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/07/16/us/politics/15cnd-obama.html?hp=&pagewanted=print
