Silicon Investor (SI) -- The First Internet Community

STOCKTALK

We've detected that you're using an ad content blocking browser plug-in or feature. Ads provide a critical source of revenue to the continued operation of Silicon Investor. We ask that you disable ad blocking while on Silicon Investor in the best interests of our community. If you are not using an ad blocker but are still receiving this message, make sure your browser's tracking protection is set to the 'standard' level.

Politics : Sioux Nation -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: DayTraderKidd who wrote (89375)	11/20/2006 6:52:22 PM
From: stockman_scott	Read Replies (2) \| Respond to of 361082

Obama: No good options left for Iraq war ___________________________________________________________ By Philip Dine ST. LOUIS POST-DISPATCH WASHINGTON BUREAU 11/20/2006 WASHINGTON – U.S. troops should begin to leave Iraq as soon as possible, because military action is not accomplishing the goal of producing a stable Iraq, Sen. Barack Obama, D-Ill., said Monday. Despite the deaths of almost 3,000 Americans and the serious wounding of thousands more, and the expenditure of hundreds of billions of dollars, Iraq "is descending into chaos," Obama said. In his most significant statement on the Iraq war, Obama, who is considering a presidential bid in 2008, issued a scathing criticism of the strategic conduct of the war as well as the principles behind it. "It is time to give Iraqis their country back," Obama said in a speech to the Chicago Council on Global Affairs. "There are no good options left in this war." He called on the administration to tell the Iraqis that U.S. policy from now on will include a "gradual and substantial reduction in U.S. forces," and then to work with American military commanders "to map out the best plan for such a redeployment and determine precise levels and dates." Obama also urged talks with Syria and Iran about Iraq. And he said the United States must forget its hopes of building a democracy in Iraq and instead settle for preventing Iraq from becoming a terrorist state. In the future, he said, the United States "should be more modest in our belief that we can impose democracy on a country through military force." Brian Darling, a Senate expert at the conservative Heritage Foundation, said Obama’s speech suggests he’s seriously weighing a presidential bid. "Clearly, this is an effort on Sen. Obama’s part to become more high profile on the issue of the war in Iraq, and this may be a signal that he’s considering higher office." Other potential Democratic presidential contenders, such as Sen. Hillary Clinton, D-N.Y., and Sen. John Kerry, D-Mass., originally supported the war but have grown critical of the way it has been waged. Obama, a freshman senator who was not in the Senate at the time of the initial vote on using force in Iraq, has publicly opposed the invasion from the start. He stressed Monday that he opposes not only the management of the war but the concept behind it. Jennifer Duffy, the editor of the non-partisan Cook Political Report, said that Obama’s speech must be viewed in the context of his political aspirations. "I think the minute he announced he was thinking about running for president, he started building a record on issues and the foundations of a platform, and this is just one more brick," Duffy said. "Comparatively speaking he doesn’t have a record. He doesn’t have (Arizona Republican Sen.) John McCain’s 20-year record, he doesn’t have John Kerry’s 22-year record. "There are a lot of issues he hasn’t spoken out on, and this is obviously an opportunity to do that. By staking out these positions he is working very hard to define himself before his opponents and the media can do it. He knows what he needs to do." Obama’s recommendations do not differ much from those of several other Democratic senators, with his call for a redeployment in four to six months matching that of Sen. Carl Levin, D-Mich., and his suggestion for regional talks similar to Sen. Joe Biden, D-Del. He did emphasize that more troops should not be sent, separating himself from McCain, the Republican presidential frontrunner. And Obama’s condemnation of U.S. policy and those who made it was particularly sharp and far-reaching. Obama said the war in Iraq has isolated the United States from other nations, created more terrorists, and distracted U.S. officials from growing threats in North Korea, Iran and Afghanistan. Larry Korb, a former assistant secretary of defense and now a military expert with the Democratic-leaning Center for American Progress, said Obama’s speech puts him in alignment with Levin and Jack Reed, D-R.I. – who are leading Democratic war critics on the Senate Armed Services Committee. Darling said that Obama didn’t explain how withdrawing U.S. troops would prevent Iraq from becoming a terrorist state like Afghanistan under the Taliban. But the speech will help any presidential ambitions on his part, especially given the notoriety Obama already has attracted because of his personal charisma, Darling added. "It helps him. Sen. Obama hasn’t been in the Senate all that long. How often do you see freshmen senators make the round to talk about foreign policy issues? It just isn’t done.