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The Iraq war is not only costing lives, but it's also hurting our economy. Working families in America are suffering, and yet we're spending our taxpayer money on a war that should have never been authorized. George Bush and all the DC politicians who supported the Iraq war should be ashamed of themselves. Their bad judgment has led to the worst foreign policy disaster in a generation. We need change in Washington, and we need it now.
The flow of blood may be ebbing, but the flood of money into the Iraq war is steadily rising, new analyses show. In 2008, its sixth year, the war will cost approximately $12 billion a month, triple the "burn" rate of its earliest years, Nobel Prize-winning economist Joseph E. Stiglitz and co-author Linda J. Bilmes report in a new book.
Beyond 2008, working with "best-case" and "realistic-moderate" scenarios, they project the Iraq and Afghan wars, including long-term U.S. military occupations of those countries, will cost the U.S. budget between $1.7 trillion and $2.7 trillion - or more - by 2017.
Interest on money borrowed to pay those costs could alone add $816 billion to that bottom line, they say.
The nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office (CBO) has done its own projections and comes in lower, forecasting a cumulative cost by 2017 of $1.2 trillion to $1.7 trillion for the two wars, with Iraq generally accounting for three-quarters of the costs.
Variations in such estimates stem from the sliding scales of assumptions, scenarios and budget items that are counted. But whatever the estimate, the cost will be huge, the auditors of the Government Accountability Office say.
He neutralized her on healthcare and simply cleaned up on the war in Iraq. But most crucial: he seemed like a president. He was already battling McCain. She was still pivoting off Bush. In his body language, he carefully upstaged her, without looking as if he were trying. By the end of the debate, he was pulling her chair back for her.
In the context of the race, I think this helped Obama because it put the two of them on the same level, the same stature level. As I've said before, Obama in general has not been a good debater. But this was a good one for him.
Obama exploits the [Iraq] issue in two ways: First, he says Clinton's vote in favor of the war shows bad judgment.
"I was opposed to Iraq from the start," Obama said, "and I say that not just to look backwards, but also to look forwards, because I think what the next president has to show is the kind of judgment that will ensure that we are using our military power wisely."
Second, Obama says that his opposition to the war is something that he can use against the Republicans in the fall.
"I think I will be the Democrat who will be most effective in going up against a John McCain, or any other Republican," Obama said, "because they all want basically a continuation of George Bush's policies, [and] because I will offer a clear contrast as somebody who never supported this war, thought it was a bad idea."
Obama also implied that Clinton might show the same muddled thinking getting U.S. combat troops out of Iraq that she showed getting them in, and that this is why he wants a date definite for withdrawal.
In last night's debate, the contrast on Iraq became clear. While Hillary again struggled to defend her Iraq vote, Barack stated clearly that he was against Bush's war from the beginning.
Here are my points in which I hope President Obama would do in the Middle East.
Please tell me what you think about it.
Article 1: All nations within the Middle East must recognized the state and the people of Israel.
Article 2: All minority rights in Israel and Palestine shall be respect though civil, political, and social reforms.
Article 3: An international commission of 28 nations shall be created to protect the peace in Israel, Palestine, and Lebanon.
A) Each nation shall be appointed by Security Council of the United Nations.
B) The commission of 28 shall consists of fourteen (14) western democracies and fourteen (14) Islamic nations.
C) This commission shall run its course for 50 years.
Article 4: All signers shall agree to a non aggressive policy toward one other.
Article 5: All Religious buildings, sites, speech and freedom shall be respect by all parties.
Article 6: The sovereignty of Lebanon shall be respected by all parties.
Article 7: All parties must created legal and fair trade with Israel, Lebanon, and Palestine.
Article 8: The commission nations shall seek and dismantled terrorist organizations under the constitutional laws of each individual nation.
Article 9: All parties in the Middle East Region shall agree on reducing the sell, purchasing, and lending of weapons and arms.
Article 10: The parties shall impose an ban on nuclear, chemical, and biological weapons in the region.
Article 11: All parties shall have the right of self defense.
Article 12: The commission shall enforce all regulations lawfully.
Article 13: This treaty as well as the commission shall expire in fifty (50) years.
When the "experienced" DC Democrats were supporting Bush's Iraq war in 2002, Obama showed the courage to do what's right and oppose a politically popular war. The 5th anniversary of Obama's now famous Iraq speech is tomorrow.
On Tuesday, Sen. Barack Obama of Illinois will embark on a four-day campaign swing through Iowa, starting off with events that will mark the fifth anniversary of a speech he gave opposing the war at a rally in Chicago. His advisers have labeled it the "Judgment and Experience Tour," and Obama's success in persuading voters he has both may hold the key to his presidential aspirations.
Obama has begun to sharpen his criticism of Clinton, something many supporters have been urging. At last week's debate at Dartmouth College, he criticized "Hillary" by name for using a task force that had closed meetings during her health-care reform effort in the 1990s as first lady. In New York the next day, he poked fun at Clinton for not answering a question in the debate about whether the Illinois native would cheer for the Yankees or the Cubs if they both made the World Series, then turned serious in criticizing Clinton for ducking a question about what she would do to reform Social Security.
But Axelrod emphasized that there will be no all-out assault on the New York senator.
"I know there's a tremendous blood lust out there in the political community who want us to be in a steel-cage match with her," he said. "Barack Obama didn't get in this race to tear Hillary Clinton down or anybody else down. He got into the race to lift the country up. No doubt we have differences, and he will draw those differences. But he's going to resist the thirst for gratuitous combat, because that's part of his critique of the political process."
When the "experienced" Democrats had a chance to stop the Iraq war before it started in 2002, they voted for Bush's war. Obama on the other hand had the courage and judgment to oppose a politically popular war.
Enjoy this video of Obama's 2002 speech on Iraq...
Obama marks anniversary of anti-war speech Baltimore Sun:
Next Tuesday is a high holy day in the calendar for Barack Obama supporters, who will mark the five-year anniversary of the moment their presidential candidate gave his first speech against the war in Iraq.
Obama was just an Illinois state senator that day in 2002, when he went to a rally in Daley Plaza at the invitation of Chicago Democratic doyenne Bettylu Saltzman and called the president's impending military action "a dumb war."
Not that many politicians were saying things like that at the time, most notably not the other people who would end up running for the Democratic nomination for president in 2008. Now that public and political sentiment has turned on the war, it's a distinction Obama, today a U.S. senator, mentions rather often.
So it comes as no surprise that the Obama for America campaign will mark next Tuesday's anniversary with some fanfare, with a set of rallies scheduled to take place in several cities around the country. Obama will deliver a foreign policy address in Chicago that day.
But I'm here today because it's not too late to come together as Americans. Because we're not going to be able to deal with the challenges that confront us until we end this war. What we can do is say that we will not be prisoners of uncertainty. That we reject the conventional thinking that led us into Iraq and that didn't ask hard questions until it was too late. What we can say is that we are ready for something new and something bold and something principled.
It's time for us to breathe again. That begins with ending this war - but it does not end there. It's time reclaim our foreign policy. It's time to reclaim our politics. And it's time to lead this country - and this world - again, to a new dawn of peace and unity.
Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama's plan to withdraw American combat forces from Iraq created immediate waves Wednesday in his party's presidential race and illustrated how the unpopular war has become the central battleground for the 2008 campaign.
Obama's tough Iraq policy speech suggests that "he's trying to take a little bit of the 'Clean Gene' McCarthy position," Michael Semler, professor of political science at Cal State Sacramento, said, referring to the late Sen. Eugene McCarthy, whose opposition to the war in Vietnam in the 1968 presidential race became a rallying point for many voters on the far left.
Semler said Obama is "trying to position himself as the first Democrat to make a detailed policy statement" responding to Gen. David Petraeus' recommendations that American troop levels in Iraq remain the same as they were before President Bush began his "surge" in January.
"He's forcing other Democrats to follow him, and respond to him," Semler added.
In Democratic-leaning California, which has more of its residents in military service in Iraq than any other state, voters see the war as a key campaign issue.
Obama clearly is "trying to carve out a space that distinguishes him from Hillary - and certainly in California, where overwhelmingly people don't support the war (and) this is bound to resonate with voters," said Barbara O'Connor, political communications professor at Cal State Sacramento.
Obama said the troop withdrawal should begin immediately and be completed by the end of next year.
"We will need to retain some forces in Iraq and the region," said Obama, who contrasted his long opposition to the war with rivals who voted to authorize the conflict. "I welcome all the folks who have changed their position over these last months and years."
Senator Barack Obama yesterday presented his most extensive plan yet for winding down the war in Iraq, proposing to withdraw all combat brigades by the end of next year while leaving behind an unspecified smaller force to strike at terrorists, train Iraqi soldiers and protect American interests.
Mr. Obama, of Illinois, used the speech to highlight again his early and consistent opposition to the war, and to compare it to the votes in 2002 by Senator Hillary Rodham Clinton of New York and John Edwards, then a senator from North Carolina, to give President Bush the authority to go to war in Iraq.
I'm hoping some (or all) of you can come up to Fort Worth for a wonderful free anti-war rally downtown simultaneously with the Texas GOP Straw Poll being held right next door. The rally is a non-partisan event and there will be no candidates speaking (whew ;~}) but these folks are our folks and its a great opportunity to have a whole bunch of Obama supporters in Obama T-Shirts helping carry the banner of peace and progress and recruiting these wonderful activists to our cause by showing them that we support theirs...
The other "experienced" candidates have attacked Obama's foreign policy proposals. Yet the only U.S. Congressman to actually serve in the Iraq war has now gone out on a limb to publicly support Obama. That's huge.
Obama demonstrated courage and judgment for opposing the Iraq war when it was politically popular, and Rep. Murphy obviously thinks Obama has what it takes to steer our foreign policy in a better direction.
Freshman US Representative Patrick Murphy of Pennsylvania, the only member of Congress to serve in the Iraq war, has endorsed Barack Obama for president. Murphy told reporters in a conference call this morning that his experience serving with the Army's 82nd Airborne Division in Baghdad showed him that America needed a new war strategy and foreign policy.
"He's absolutely our best chance to change the direction of our country," Murphy said.
Obama has the courage to stand up for his principles no matter the audience. Whereas Hillary Clinton tip-toed around the Iraq issue in front of this military audience, Obama addressed the issue directly.
Democratic Sen.Barack Obama did not try to hide his opposition to the Iraq war during his speech this morning to the National VFW Convention in Kansas City.
Unlike Sen. Hillary Clinton Monday, the Democratic presidential candidate dealt with Iraq first, and in strong terms.
"I will continue to push the president to change our policy," he told the audience of about 2,500 delegates and others. "One reason to stop fighting the wrong war is so we can fight the right war against terrorism and extremism."
Hank Johnson has plighted his troth to Barack Obama - the first Democratic congressman in Georgia to publicly align himself with that candidate's presidential campaign.
As we recall, U.S. Rep. Jim Marshall (D-Macon) sides with John Edwards. Otherwise, Democrats have tried to remain non-aligned.
Iraq is the issue for Johnson:
"Today more than ever, a fundamental change in the way we do our business in Washington is crucial," said the DeKalb County representative in the release from Chicago. "Barack Obama, who had the sound judgment to oppose the Iraq War early on, is the only candidate who will turn the page on this disastrous foreign policy and lead our nation to a new standing in the world."
Compare these two videos and see for yourself how Barack Obama has stayed consistent on Iraq. Best of all, he doesn't ever have to apologize for supporting Bush's Iraq War.
Barack Obama has been an outspoken critic of the war in Iraq since before the invasion. Monday night in South Carolina, he reminded the other Democratic candidates that the time to ask how we were going to get out of Iraq was before we went in.
Sen. Barack Obama, one day after taking part in a Iraq debate all-nighter, reiterated yesterday in Sunapee that American troops should start leaving Iraq.
"It is time to bring our troops home because it has made us less safe," said Obama, an Illinois Democrat running for president. "This has been a distraction from the real war on terrorists, and the fact of the matter is that al-Qaida, we know from the national intelligence reports, has gotten stronger."
In his 11th Granite State visit this year, Obama brought out his anti-Iraq war bona fides. During his campaign, the first-term U.S. senator has drawn distinctions from his Democratic rivals by noting that he opposed the invasion of Iraq in 2002, when he was in the Illinois state senate. Each of the 2008 Democratic presidential candidates in the U.S. Senate that year voted for a resolution giving President Bush the power to use military force against Saddam Hussein.
Obama told about 500 people beside Lake Sunapee yesterday that Americans want to know that their leaders can get things done together. He ran through a litany of challenges that the country faces - health care, an education system that is "leaving millions of children behind," energy policy and the economy - before turning to the Iraq war.
"We've got a war that never should have been authorized, a war that has cost us half a trillion dollars, a war that has cost us over 3,600 precious American lives, and a war that has not made us more safe," he said, drawing cheers. "A war that after all that sacrifice has made us less safe and diminished our standing in the world."
I like the slightly tougher Obama quotes. Still above the petty personal jabs, it does make clear that among the leading three candidates, only Obama has stayed consistent in his opposition to this ill-conceived, and ill-managed debacle.
Does this White House think that we don't know how to turn on our televisions? Don't tell us we're making progress in Iraq when the last three months have been some of the deadliest since this war began for our brave troops who have sacrificed so much. And don't tell us it's progress when the Iraqi leadership has done nothing - nothing - to take the political steps necessary to end their civil war. This war has only fueled the terrorist threat whose strength is now at pre-9/11 levels. It should never have been authorized, never have been waged, and it must end now.
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