Posted on 10/02/2007 9:58:39 AM PDT by LdSentinal
Sen. Barack Obama (Ill.), hoping to gain the high ground on the Iraq issue in the Democratic presidential race, was scheduled to deliver an address called "A New Beginning" in Chicago this afternoon. Here is his prepared text, as released by the campaign:
Thank you, Ted. Ted Sorensen has been counselor to a President in some of our toughest moments, and he has helped define our national purpose at pivotal turning points. Let me also welcome all of the elected officials from Illinois who are with us. Let me give a special welcome to all of the organizers and speakers who joined me to rally against going to war in Iraq five years ago. And I want to thank DePaul University and DePaul’s students for hosting this event.
We come together at a time of renewal for DePaul. A new academic year has begun. Professors are learning the names of new students, and students are reminded that you actually do have to attend class. That cold is beginning to creep into the Chicago air. The season is changing.
DePaul is now filled with students who have not spent a single day on campus without the reality of a war in Iraq. Four classes have matriculated and four classes have graduated since this war began. And we are reminded that America’s sons and daughters in uniform, and their families, bear the heavy burden. The wife of one soldier from Illinois wrote to me and said that her husband “feels like he’s stationed in Iraq and deploys home.” That’s a tragic statement. And it could be echoed by families across our country who have seen loved ones deployed to tour after tour of duty.
You are students. And the great responsibility of students is to question the world around you, to question things that don’t add up. With Iraq, we must ask the question: how did we go so wrong?
There are those who offer up easy answers. They will assert that Iraq is George Bush’s war, it’s all his fault. Or that Iraq was botched by the arrogance and incompetence of Donald Rumsfeld and Dick Cheney. Or that we would have gotten Iraq right if we went in with more troops, or if we had a different proconsul instead of Paul Bremer, or if only there were a stronger Iraqi Prime Minister.
These are the easy answers. And like most easy answers, they are partially true. But they don’t tell the whole truth, because they overlook a harder and more fundamental truth. The hard truth is that the war in Iraq is not about a catalog of many mistakes – it is about one big mistake. The war in Iraq should never have been fought.
Five years ago today, I was asked to speak at a rally against going to war in Iraq. The vote to authorize the war in Congress was less than ten days away and I was a candidate for the United States Senate. Some friends of mine advised me to keep quiet. Going to war in Iraq, they pointed out, was popular. All the other major candidates were supporting the war at the time. If the war goes well, they said, you’ll have thrown your political career away.
People who engage in hindsight are typically obnoxious. What do you call people who engage in hindsight and get it wrong?
Answer: “Democrat candidates for President!”
Oh. You mean like the time when Kennedy nearly got us all killed by blundering into the Cuban Missile Crisis? We wouldn't have got to that point if the Soviets hadn't perceived us (and Kennedy) as being weak, spineless, inexperienced and ineffectual.
Of course, Kennedy was a demi-god compared to any living Democrat except maybe Zell Miller.
This rhetoric is unbelievable. Bizzaro world alert!
I am so tired of these fools trying to ‘undo’ the war!
This may appeal to the magical thinking of his supporters but average Americans are sick and tired of this b*llsh*t!
There are two questions you ask when deciding to go to war.
The first is whether to wage it. (Answered)
The second is how to fight it. (That’s the reality you MUST deal with.)
I don’t see a point of going to war if we are sqeamish about totally wiping out the enemy.
Perhaps they should not vote either way, like you routinely do, Mr Hussein Obama?
What a lightweight.
That’s the conundrum we’re in now!
However the outcome should never be in doubt!
We’ve set goals for a sustainable nation state in Iraq.
We have put the burden of proof on the Iraqi government and (proudly) have started a ‘bottom up’ approach to rebuilding.
As long as the Iraqi government continues to ask for our help, can we simply refuse and pack up and leave? I think a good ‘sign’ would be if they passed a resolution requesting our departure. But they haven’t done that yet, have they?
We should learn the lesson from Iran and not abandon the citizens to the ‘wolves’ or in about ten years, we’ll be doing this all over agian!
this whole "I was right when I had an insignificant job" argument is garbage. I can't believe people are buying it. even DUmmies.
Barack, we’re winning the war.
And somebody should ask him what he would do different than Bush if he was president NOW not 15 months from now
I should add the boob probably doesn’t even have the faintest idea of what a Brigade is
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