Obama sees 'security progress' in Iraq

Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama said Tuesday that security in Iraq has improved and that the country's needs must now begin to be addressed politically and diplomatically.

[Ron Paul 2008]

Come and join the Revolution at www.CampaignforFreedom.com

[Dan]

It doesn't come as a shock that Obama has flip-flopped again, and is now supporting Bush policy in Iraq and Afghanistan. But it also reveals how lame Nancy Pelosi is, with her constant wagging about Bush being a complete failure. And it would appear the Democractic Party has yet to identify itself, on any national issue.

[Glasnos]

No thanks to Obama, who opposed the surge. What a know-nothing neophite dolt he is.
He is supposed to be a new improved politician? He is doing a very bad impression of an old pandering politician.

[JohnInLa]

Summer Rain wrote:

<quoted text>
So the GOP thugs threatened to kneecap the man and he had to back off a little bit. The UN mandate will still expire in December. The GOP will be out of power in January. And then the Democrats can start an intelligent foreign policy.
Bush has still been forced out of his hole. The GOP has agreed to a withdrawal.

Attention you democRat Skidmark!!

As I recall, did you or did you not mention you are a member of moveon.org ? And, isn't moveon.org a key contributor to the Obama Campaign to screw America?

And isn't moveon.org the slugs who called General David Petraeus "General Betrayus" in a 10 page newspaper ad? Tell this forum the truth about Obama’s scumbag lowlife contributors and that includes you.

Did candidate Obama denounce his key contributor’s stinking slanderous smear campaign against General David Petraeus or did he ignore it like he ignored the anti-American filth spewed by Rev. Jeremiah Wright, Bill Ayers, Louis Farrakhan, Father Phleger et al?

Perhaps you could list Obama's Military Service? I'll help you out with this one, it may be very difficult for you to admit you have nothing but poop between your ears...

Barack Hussein Obama's Military Service: "ZERO." Once again: "ZERO." And Once Again: "ZERO."

Please explain to this forum how the ZERO Military experience candidate Barack Obama could vote against the mission in Iraq and now wants to command the mission in Iraq...Explain it.

And after you're done explaining the above explain fully what makes Obama qualified to be president...And, spare the copy and paste platitudes and trinket promises.

http://www.cnn.com/2007/POLITICS/09/20/bush.p...

http://www.nypost.com/seven/07012008/news/nat...

[Summer Rain]

Dan, On Planet Earth, it looks as though Obama has taken the foreign policy lead:
"That the Iraqi government is now specifying a preferred withdrawal date could create problems on the campaign trail for McCain, who has slammed any talk of a timetable as tantamount to an admission of defeat," Liz Sly writes for the Chicago Tribune.

Obama is "getting to look like a leader this week, comparing withdrawal plans with Maliki, welcoming the Bush administration to the it's-OK-to-negotiate-with-Iran club, making McCain look like an isolated warmonger," writes Time's Michael Grunwald. "It was one thing when McCain was framing the election as a monumental decision of victory versus surrender; time horizon versus timetable is going to be a tougher sell."

"The continuing discussions appeared to reflect the influence of Sen. Barack Obama, the Democratic presidential candidate," per The Wall Street Journal.

"Obama's positions have come to look safe and reasonable, undercutting McCain's core argument about Obama's inexperience," columnist E.J. Dionne writes. "And if the Bush administration is seen as moving his way, Republicans can hardly dismiss Obama's ideas as dangerous or impractical."
http://abcnews.go.com/Politics/TheNote/story...

McCain Owns First Foreign Policy Gaffe During Obama's Iraq Trip
Asked by Diane Sawyer whether the "the situation in Afghanistan in precarious and urgent," McCain responded: "I think it's serious.... It's a serious situation, but there's a lot of things we need to do. We have a lot of work to do and I'm afraid it's a very hard struggle, particularly given the situation on the Iraq/Pakistan border."

But as ABC's Rick Klein noted: "Iraq and Pakistan do not share a border. Afghanistan and Pakistan do."
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2008/07/21/mcca...

Buchanan: McCain Showing His Age
http://bravenewfilms.org/blog/35042-buchanan-...

RUSSERT: The fact is you are different than George Bush.

SEN. McCAIN: No. No. The fact is that I have agreed with President Bush far more than I have disagreed. And on the transcendent issues, the most important issues of our day, I've been totally in agreement and support of President Bush.

[Summer Rain]

John in LA, Until you can address me in a civil manner, you can do your own damn research. I do not respond to abusive thugs.

GOP shills who did not serve:
Dennis Hastert: did not serve.
Tom Delay: did not serve.
Roy Blunt: did not serve.
Bill Frist: did not serve.
Rudy Giuliani: did not serve.
George Pataki: did not serve.
Mitch McConnell: did not serve.
Rick Santorum: did not serve.
Trent Lott: did not serve.
Dick Cheney: did not serve. Several deferments, had more important things to do.
John Ashcroft: did not serve. Seven deferments to teach business.
Jeb Bush: did not serve.
Karl Rove: did not serve.
Saxby Chambliss: did not serve.“Bad knee.” The man who attacked Max Cleland’s patriotism.
Paul Wolfowitz: did not serve.
Vin Weber: did not serve.
Richard Perle: did not serve.
Douglas Feith: did not serve.
Eliot Abrams: did not serve.
Richard Shelby: did not serve.
Jon Kyl: did not serve.
Tim Hutchison: did not serve.
Christopher Cox: did not serve.
Newt Gingrich: did not serve.
Don Rumsfeld: served in Navy (1954-57) as aviator and flight instructor.
George W. Bush: six-year Nat’l Guard commitment (incomplete).
Ronald Reagan: due to poor eyesight, served in a non-combat role making movies.
Gerald Ford: Navy, WWII
Phil Gramm: did not serve.
John McCain: Silver Star, Bronze Star, Legion of Merit, Purple Heart, Distinguished Flying Cross.
Bob Dole: an honorable veteran.
Chuck Hagel: two Purple Hearts and a Bronze Star, Vietnam.
Jeff Sessions: Army Reserves, 1973-1986
JC Watts: did not serve.
Lindsey Graham: National Guard lawyer.
G.H.W. Bush: Pilot in WWII. Shot down by the Japanese.
Tom Ridge: Bronze Star for Valor in Vietnam.
Antonin Scalia: did not serve.
Clarence Thomas: did not serve

Pundits and Preachers

Sean Hannity: did not serve.
Rush Limbaugh: did not serve (4-F with a ‘pilonidal cyst.’)
Bill O’Reilly: did not serve.
Michael Savage: did not serve.
George Will: did not serve.
Chris Matthews: did not serve.
Paul Gigot: did not serve.
Bill Bennett: did not serve.
Pat Buchanan: did not serve.
Bill Kristol: did not serve.
Kenneth Starr: did not serve.
Michael Medved: did not serve.

[JohnInLa]

Summer Rain wrote:

Dan, On Planet Earth, it looks as though Obama has taken the foreign policy lead:
"That the Iraqi government is now specifying a preferred withdrawal date could create problems on the campaign trail for McCain, who has slammed any talk of a timetable as tantamount to an admission of defeat," Liz Sly writes for the Chicago Tribune.
Obama is "getting to look like a leader this week, comparing withdrawal plans with Maliki, welcoming the Bush administration to the it's-OK-to-negotiate-with-Iran club, making McCain look like an isolated warmonger," writes Time's Michael Grunwald. "It was one thing when McCain was framing the election as a monumental decision of victory versus surrender; time horizon versus timetable is going to be a tougher sell."
"The continuing discussions appeared to reflect the influence of Sen. Barack Obama, the Democratic presidential candidate," per The Wall Street Journal.
"Obama's positions have come to look safe and reasonable, undercutting McCain's core argument about Obama's inexperience," columnist E.J. Dionne writes. "And if the Bush administration is seen as moving his way, Republicans can hardly dismiss Obama's ideas as dangerous or impractical."
http://abcnews.go.com/Politics/TheNote/story...
McCain Owns First Foreign Policy Gaffe During Obama's Iraq Trip
Asked by Diane Sawyer whether the "the situation in Afghanistan in precarious and urgent," McCain responded: "I think it's serious.... It's a serious situation, but there's a lot of things we need to do. We have a lot of work to do and I'm afraid it's a very hard struggle, particularly given the situation on the Iraq/Pakistan border."
But as ABC's Rick Klein noted: "Iraq and Pakistan do not share a border. Afghanistan and Pakistan do."
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2008/07/21/mcca...
Buchanan: McCain Showing His Age
http://bravenewfilms.org/blog/35042-buchanan-...
RUSSERT: The fact is you are different than George Bush.
SEN. McCAIN: No. No. The fact is that I have agreed with President Bush far more than I have disagreed. And on the transcendent issues, the most important issues of our day, I've been totally in agreement and support of President Bush.

When it comes to saving my country from an Obamanation...McSame McBush is McFine with me.

I suggest you reply to my post concerning General Petraeus otherwise you look like you are constipated...again.

[Summer Rain]

McCain Defends Czechoslovakia, A Non-Existent Country -- Again

"I was concerned about a couple of steps that the Russian government took in the last several days. One was reducing the energy supplies to Czechoslovakia. Apparently that is in reaction to the Czech's agreement with us concerning missile defense, and again some of the Russian now announcement they are now retargeting new targets, something they abandoned at the end of the Cold War, is also a concern."
Czechoslovakia, of course, split into two separate countries in 1993.

It isn't the first time McCain has made this mistake, as TPM's Greg Sargent points out:

Around three months ago, McCain told Don Imus that he would "work closely with Czechoslovakia and Poland and other countries" to install the European Missile Defense System in Poland, according to the Democratic National Committee.(The slip-up was referenced elsewhere, too.)

And during a GOP debate in October 2007, McCain said: "The first thing I would do is make sure that we have a missile defense system in place in Czechoslovakia and Poland, and I don't care what his objections are to it."

There are more: in 1994, McCain suggested NATO be expanded to include Czechoslovakia. At a dinner in 1999, he "twice thanked the ambassador from 'Czechoslovakia' for his efforts," according to the Washington Post.

In fact, George Bush himself dinged McCain for this blunder back in the 2000 primary...This longstanding confusion persists despite McCain's numerous visits to both the Czech Republic and Slovakia "
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2008/07/14/mcca...
video: http://www.youtube.com/watch...

[x-nutmegger]

Summer Rain wrote:

John in LA, Until you can address me in a civil manner, you can do your own damn research. I do not respond to abusive thugs.
GOP shills who did not serve:

I served how about you ?

McCain has two sons serving now.
One a USMC EM in Iraq and the other in the USNA.

[JohnInLa]

Yes indeed, it's General Barack Obama...a clown who found his stars in a box of Cracker Jacks bestows upon us his "assessment" of the middle east.
Since what Obama says has no merit and no validity I won't bother mentioning it...Instead I will suggest voting for Gramps McCain....A man General Petraeus will not want to shove out of a helicopter.

[Summer Rain]

I'm half deaf. Have been all my life. They wouldn't have me if I worked for free.

[Summer Rain]

X-nutmegger, the above is for you

[JohnInLa]

Summer Rain wrote:

John in LA, Until you can address me in a civil manner, you can do your own damn research. I do not respond to abusive thugs.
GOP shills who did not serve:
Dennis Hastert: did not serve.
Tom Delay: did not serve.
Roy Blunt: did not serve.
Bill Frist: did not serve.
Rudy Giuliani: did not serve.
George Pataki: did not serve.
Mitch McConnell: did not serve.
Rick Santorum: did not serve.
Trent Lott: did not serve.
Dick Cheney: did not serve. Several deferments, had more important things to do.
John Ashcroft: did not serve. Seven deferments to teach business.
Jeb Bush: did not serve.
Karl Rove: did not serve.
Saxby Chambliss: did not serve.“Bad knee.” The man who attacked Max Cleland’s patriotism.
Paul Wolfowitz: did not serve.
Vin Weber: did not serve.
Richard Perle: did not serve.
Douglas Feith: did not serve.
Eliot Abrams: did not serve.
Richard Shelby: did not serve.
Jon Kyl: did not serve.
Tim Hutchison: did not serve.
Christopher Cox: did not serve.
Newt Gingrich: did not serve.
Don Rumsfeld: served in Navy (1954-57) as aviator and flight instructor.
George W. Bush: six-year Nat’l Guard commitment (incomplete).
Ronald Reagan: due to poor eyesight, served in a non-combat role making movies.
Gerald Ford: Navy, WWII
Phil Gramm: did not serve.
John McCain: Silver Star, Bronze Star, Legion of Merit, Purple Heart, Distinguished Flying Cross.
Bob Dole: an honorable veteran.
Chuck Hagel: two Purple Hearts and a Bronze Star, Vietnam.
Jeff Sessions: Army Reserves, 1973-1986
JC Watts: did not serve.
Lindsey Graham: National Guard lawyer.
G.H.W. Bush: Pilot in WWII. Shot down by the Japanese.
Tom Ridge: Bronze Star for Valor in Vietnam.
Antonin Scalia: did not serve.
Clarence Thomas: did not serve
Pundits and Preachers
Sean Hannity: did not serve.
Rush Limbaugh: did not serve (4-F with a ‘pilonidal cyst.’)
Bill O’Reilly: did not serve.
Michael Savage: did not serve.
George Will: did not serve.
Chris Matthews: did not serve.
Paul Gigot: did not serve.
Bill Bennett: did not serve.
Pat Buchanan: did not serve.
Bill Kristol: did not serve.
Kenneth Starr: did not serve.
Michael Medved: did not serve.

The above list is not running for president...And if they did run they would not be an inept self-serving jackass like Obama who is trying to politicize the sweat and sacrifice of those in Iraq and Afghanistan who are pulling the wagon...Especially if the above list voted against the mission and against the surge and if their contributors were anti-American euro-socialist garbage...like you.
You have a filthy persona, I call it as I see it, douche bag.

[JohnInLa]

Summer Rain wrote:

I'm half deaf. Have been all my life. They wouldn't have me if I worked for free.

You wouldn't have served anyone but yourself just like you do now....by screwing those who pull the wagon with an Obamanation...nitwit.

[JohnInLa]

Let’s hear from some dirty diaper democRat saboteurs…

• Democrat John Kerry, Feb. 2007: "The simple fact is that sending in over 20,000 additional troops isn't the answer--in fact, it's a tragic mistake. It won't end the violence; it won't provide security; ...it won't turn back the clock and avoid the civil war that is already underway; it won't deter terrorists, who have a completely different agenda; it won't rein in the militias."
• Democrat Dennis Kucinich, Feb. 2007: "It has been proven time and time again that troop surges don't work."
• Democrat Harry Reid, Apr. 2007: "The war is lost... This surge is not accomplishing anything."
• Democrat Christopher Dodd, Apr. 2007: "We don't need a surge of troops in Iraq... there is no military solution in Iraq. To insist upon a surge is wrong."
• Democrat Barack Obama, Jul. 2007: "My assessment is that the surge has not worked."
• Democrat Dick Durbin, Aug. 2007: "By carefully manipulating the statistics, the Bush-Petraeus report will try to persuade us that violence in Iraq is decreasing and thus the surge is working. Even if the figures were right, the conclusion is wrong."
• Democrat Jan Schakowsky, Aug. 2007: "I believe overall the surge is a failure....It’s clear to me we cannot win..."
• Democrat Joe Biden, Sep. 2007: "We should stop the surge and start bringing our troops home...[When asked whether Iraq closer to political reconciliation than before the surge began, and would continuing the operation stop the killing between Sunnis, Shi'ites and Kurds?]...The answer to both those questions is no."
• Democrat John Kerry, Sep. 2007: ""The president's escalation ... has failed to achieve its goal of bringing about a resolution of the fundamental conflict between Sunni and Shi'ite."
• Democrat Chris Dodd, Sep. 2007: "It pains me to say that ... the surge tactic is a failure — and that failure is reconfirmed everyday by unfolding events in Iraq."
• Democrat Barack Obama, Oct. 2007: "[The surge is a] complete failure... Iraq’s leaders are not reconciling. They are not achieving political benchmarks."
• Democrat Harry Reid, Nov. 2007: "It is indisputable that the goals of the surge have failed."
• Democrat Joe Biden, Nov. 2007: "This whole notion that the surge is working is fantasy."
• Democrat Nancy Pelosi, Feb. 2008: "There haven't been gains [in Iraq]... The gains have not produced the desired effect, which is the reconciliation of Iraq. This is a failure. This is a failure."
• Democrat Carl Levin, Apr. 2008: "...the purpose of the surge as announced by President Bush last year... has not been achieved"
• Democrat Joe Biden, Apr. 2008: "The purpose of the surge was to bring violence in Iraq down so that its leaders could come together politically. Violence has come down, but the Iraqis have not come together... We Democrats understand that this war must end..."
• Democrat Bill Richardson, Jun. 2008: "[when asked if he was ready to concede that John McCain had been right in proposing the surge, said] "Absolutely not."

[Glasnos]

Summer Rain wrote:

John in LA, Until you can address me in a civil manner, you can do your own damn research. I do not respond to abusive thugs.
GOP shills who did not serve:
Dennis Hastert: did not serve.
Tom Delay: did not serve.
Roy Blunt: did not serve.
Bill Frist: did not serve.
Rudy Giuliani: did not serve.
George Pataki: did not serve.
Mitch McConnell: did not serve.
Rick Santorum: did not serve.
Trent Lott: did not serve.
Dick Cheney: did not serve. Several deferments, had more important things to do.
John Ashcroft: did not serve. Seven deferments to teach business.
Jeb Bush: did not serve.
Karl Rove: did not serve.
Saxby Chambliss: did not serve.“Bad knee.” The man who attacked Max Cleland’s patriotism.
Paul Wolfowitz: did not serve.
Vin Weber: did not serve.
Richard Perle: did not serve.
Douglas Feith: did not serve.
Eliot Abrams: did not serve.
Richard Shelby: did not serve.
Jon Kyl: did not serve.
Tim Hutchison: did not serve.
Christopher Cox: did not serve.
Newt Gingrich: did not serve.
Don Rumsfeld: served in Navy (1954-57) as aviator and flight instructor.
George W. Bush: six-year Nat’l Guard commitment (incomplete).
Ronald Reagan: due to poor eyesight, served in a non-combat role making movies.
Gerald Ford: Navy, WWII
Phil Gramm: did not serve.
John McCain: Silver Star, Bronze Star, Legion of Merit, Purple Heart, Distinguished Flying Cross.
Bob Dole: an honorable veteran.
Chuck Hagel: two Purple Hearts and a Bronze Star, Vietnam.
Jeff Sessions: Army Reserves, 1973-1986
JC Watts: did not serve.
Lindsey Graham: National Guard lawyer.
G.H.W. Bush: Pilot in WWII. Shot down by the Japanese.
Tom Ridge: Bronze Star for Valor in Vietnam.
Antonin Scalia: did not serve.
Clarence Thomas: did not serve
Pundits and Preachers
Sean Hannity: did not serve.
Rush Limbaugh: did not serve (4-F with a ‘pilonidal cyst.’)
Bill O’Reilly: did not serve.
Michael Savage: did not serve.
George Will: did not serve.
Chris Matthews: did not serve.
Paul Gigot: did not serve.
Bill Bennett: did not serve.
Pat Buchanan: did not serve.
Bill Kristol: did not serve.
Kenneth Starr: did not serve.
Michael Medved: did not serve.

You forgot Al Franken ... didn't serve ... well ... with the girl scouts maybe

[Summer Rain]

Summer Rain wrote:

I'm half deaf. Have been all my life. They wouldn't have me if I worked for free.

My youngest had a pre existing football injury blow up in boot camp and he washed out on a medical. No benefits, of course, it was pre existing. My oldest got out of the Navy a year ago. He's a network engineer for the US government. My other half is a Vietnam vet.

[Summer Rain]

'AS SOON AS POSSIBLE'
Iraq Leader Maliki Supports Obama's Withdrawal Plans

"...Maliki has long shown impatience with the open-ended presence of US troops in Iraq. In his conversation with SPIEGEL, he was once again candid about his frustration over the Bush administration's hesitancy about agreeing to a timetable for the withdrawal of US troops. But he did say he was optimistic that such a schedule would be drawn up before Bush leaves the White House next January -- a confidence that appeared justified following Friday's joint announcement in Baghdad and Washington that Bush has now, for the first time, spoken of "a general time horizon" for moving US troops out of Iraq.

"So far the Americans have had trouble agreeing to a concrete timetable for withdrawal, because they feel it would appear tantamount to an admission of defeat," Maliki told SPIEGEL. "But that isn't the case at all. If we come to an agreement, it is not evidence of a defeat, but of a victory, of a severe blow we have inflicted on al-Qaida and the militias."

He also bemoaned the fact that Baghdad has little control over the US troops in Iraq. "It is a fundamental problem for us that it should not be possible, in my country, to prosecute offenses or crimes committed by US soldiers against our population," Maliki said..."
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2008/07/19/iraq...

Read that last paragraph again. The surge has succeeded in uniting Iraqi's citizens in hatred of the US, producing political pressure on Maliki to drive the US out before the elections there this fall. It has also driven them closer to Iran as a broker for political disputes withing the Shiite factions. As the GOP scuttles around trying to figure out how to deal with the loss of their pet project, any one who has been following events can see the plain facts: Obama was right and the GOP was wrong. They invaded a country that never did a damn thing to us, did their level best to reduce it to rubble, tried to grab the oil and lost. Iran won. Heck of a job, GOP!

[Summer Rain]

DEMOCRATS

Richard Gephardt: Air National Guard, 1965-71.
David Bonior: Staff Sgt., Air Force 1968-72.
Tom Daschle: 1st Lt., Air Force SAC 1969-72.
Al Gore: enlisted Aug. 1969; sent to Vietnam Jan. 1971 as an army journalist in 20th Engineer Brigade.
Daniel Inouye: Army 1943-’47; Medal of Honor, WWII.
Bob Kerrey: Lt. j.g. Navy 1966-69; Medal of Honor, Vietnam.
John Kerry: Lt., Navy 1966-70; Silver Star, Bronze Star with Combat V Purple Hearts.
John Edwards: did not serve.
Charles Rangel: Staff Sgt., Army 1948-52; Bronze Star, Korea.
Max Cleland: Captain, Army 1965-68; Silver Star &Bronze Star, Vietnam.
Ted Kennedy: Army, 1951-1953.
Tom Harkin: Lt., Navy, 1962-67; Naval Reserve, 1968-74.
Jack Reed: Army Ranger, 1971-1979; Captain, Army Reserve 1979-91.
Fritz Hollings: Army officer in WWII, receiving the Bronze Star and seven campaign ribbons.
Leonard Boswell: Lt. Col., Army 1956-76; Vietnam, DFCs, Bronze Stars, and Soldier’s Medal.
Pete Peterson: Air Force Captain, POW. Purple Heart, Silver Star and Legion of Merit.
Mike Thompson: Staff sergeant, 173rd Airborne, Purple Heart.
Bill McBride: Candidate for Fla. Governor. Marine in Vietnam; Bronze Star with Combat V.
Gray Davis: Army Captain in Vietnam, Bronze Star.
Pete Stark: Air Force 1955-57
Chuck Robb: Vietnam
Howell Heflin: Silver Star
George McGovern: Silver Star &DFC during WWII.
Bill Clinton: Did not serve. Student deferments. Entered draft but received 311.
Jimmy Carter: Seven years in the Navy.
Walter Mondale: Army 1951-1953
John Glenn: WWII and Korea; six DFCs and Air Medal with 18 Clusters.
Tom Lantos: Served in Hungarian underground in WWII. Saved by Raoul Wallenberg.
Wesley Clark: U.S. Army, 1966-2000, West Point, Vietnam, Purple Heart, and Silver Star. Retired 4-star general.
John Dingell: WWII vet
John Conyers: Army 1950-57, Korea
Jim Webb US Marine Corps, Former Reagan Secretary of the Navy

[JohnInLa]

Yes indeed, the media can sugarcoat Obama until the cows come home but at the end of the day he's still an Obamanation.
You could take an ordinary pizza delivery kid, give him a suit, fly him to Iraq, give him a script, stick microphones in his face, take a few photos with short soldiers so he'll appear above it all and you've got another Obama...despicable.