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Subscribe to RSS“Saying it is ‘time to turn the page’ on one of the most divisive chapters in American history, President Obama declared the U.S. war in Iraq over Tuesday night, telling the nation that he was fulfilling his campaign pledge to stop a war he had opposed from the start,” the Washington Post writes.
USA Today: “President George W. Bush announced the beginning of combat operations in Iraq in an unyielding four-minute speech to the nation in March 2003, declaring, ‘We will accept no outcome but victory,’ and promising that the U.S.-led invasion would ‘bring freedom to others.’ Seven years later, sitting behind the same historic desk, President Obama announced the end of combat operations by U.S. forces with a restrained 19-minute address that didn't claim the war had been ‘won’ and offered only measured predictions of what lies ahead in Iraq.”
The Los Angeles Times adds, “Addressing the nation for only the second time from the Oval Office, the president appealed for support from a country impatient for progress on unemployment and other economic woes and increasingly weary of wars, including the one in Afghanistan, which Obama has chosen to escalate.”
The Wall Street Journal: “The Oval Office address and a quick trip to the Army's Fort Bliss, outside El Paso, Texas, culminated a two-day commemoration of the end of combat operations in Iraq. Vice President Joe Biden touched down in Baghdad on Monday and declared Tuesday morning that "not withstanding what the national press says," the nation of Iraq is "much safer" than understood.”
Per NBC’s Savannah Guthrie, senior officials say "it was a slip" when the president said "next August, we will begin a transition to Afghan responsibility." The officials emphasize it is NOT a change in the Afghanistan withdrawal policy, which states the conditions-based drawdown will begin in July 2011. The prepared remarks the White House distributed just prior to the speech read: "next July, we will begin a transition to Afghan responsibility. The pace of our troop reductions will be determined by conditions on the ground, and our support for Afghanistan will endure." So the president changed the month on the fly.
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It's time to turn the page to the economy kudos to the Prez for tackling it. Boos to the morans who want a perputal war and bring up the boogey man Iran.
2 years in, he's fianlly turning the page to the econmy.... WTF was he waiting for?
I guess he should have just abandoned Iraq and upped and walked out to satisfy Brutus. Then we spend even more money going back in to restore the damage at greater cost. Because no matter whether we like it or not serious chaos will affect us sooner or later. Brutus will criticize the man no matter what he did obviously.
You see that you're dead wrong.
I'm glad that he stuck to the Bush admistrations plan for withdrawl. I'm glad he let the officers in command get the job done to the best of their ability. My point (which through you blinding need to be right and condemn me) you missed, is that he wasn't on the ground giving direction to the troops, so why couldn't he tackle the econmy at the same time. Why is just now time to focus on the economy? I'm reminded that during the election this President was touted as being this brilliant man, who could multitask, and do things directly and clear mindedly, but so far, it seems like he can't handle more than one thing at a time, and it aggrivates the hell ou of me. We need a President, not a first line supervisor.
With the midterm elections only two months away, many that will vote have likely come to the conclusion that Republicans and TEA party reps are hate mongers and will vote for the candidate that will represent the interest of liberty, instead of the interest of capitalism.
I watch my President last night announce the end of the combat mission in Iraq. Personally, I thought he was way to kind to previous administration that got us into this war to begin with. The right was to claim credit for this. Bull Sh!t. President Bush could have pulled our troops out anytime while he was in charge. He did not and continued his mismanagement that ultimately lead to 4,403 dead soldiers and tens of thousands wounded.
The Iraq war was built on a pillar of lies by the Bush Administration, not only to the American people, but to our Armed Forces and his own administration. As far as this old sailor is concerned, I lay the deaths of our most precious blood at the feet of the Bush and Chenney.
Bush lied about the connection between Saddam and Al Qaeda
Bush lied about the connection of Saddam to 9/11
Bush lied about Weapons of Mass Destruction – Iraq had none
Bush lied about Saddam being a threat, he was defeated by Desert Storm and was bottled up where we could watch him. He was no immediate threat at all.
Bush lied about the development of Nuclear Weapons in Iraq and the purchase of Yellow Cake and other material needed to develop Nuclear weapons
Bush lied about Mobile Biological Weapons – No Biological Weapons ever found in Iraq
Bush lied in 2003 when he declared Mission Accomplished
Sorry GW, you get NO kudos from me.
A large chunk of Bush's Admin, from Cheney, Rummy, Rice, his lawyers, the heads of the CIA etc need to seriously be brought up on war crime charges. Somehow I think that Pres. Obama will wait until his second term, where reelection is no longer an issue, to do so....One can only hope!
B Honest,
Are you out of your damn mind? Obama and no other POTUS will attempt to bring a former POTUS up on charges because he is most likely doing some undercover BS too.
navy,
How many times are you going to post that BS? We all know how much of Obama's ...K you are willing to ...K....
Man up and get off of your knees...
Louis, good point, it just obvious that have to no matter how small their brain matter is.
Republican Party v Democratic Party, there simply is no doubt that neither is perfect. Both exaggerate, embellish and ‘puff there wares’; like in advertising it is just part of the game. Then by necessity, because huge amounts of money are regrettably required just to survive in politics, they all solicit and give considerations for the support gained. There are major differences though and to ignore them is a mistake that can be the result of being conned, of having creative appeals to biases, prejudices and self-interests successfully manipulate emotions and block rational and objective discernment. Then decisions may seem satisfying but they are very likely to be against people’s own best interests.
Both parties have their ideology and subjective goals that need to be measured for value in conscience, in who they actually benefit and in honesty. Is what they say a con, just a corruption of the truth to favor them, or is it actually conscientiously true with real value for the people and does their history support their promises, both stated and inferred? To get caught up in their words, which is their intention for us, is likely to then be blinded to reality and to be emotionally swayed – to be conned.
Under Bush-Cheney the Republicans clearly demonstrated a history and a philosophy of concentration on benefit for Special Interests and the powerful, influential and very wealthy few who strongly supported them, while they gave only apathy, the costs and an abundance of subterfuge to the majority; that literally cost this country and most of us greatly. Today, with their faulting, obstructing and lack of any responsible effort, with the Tea Party Movement (like ‘Swiftboat’, being a fully supported 3rd party effort to manipulate public opinion), with the unconscionable antics of the likes of Palin, Beck and Limbaugh and the arrogant irresponsibility of the likes of Boehner, McConnell, Kyl and McCain, they make it clear nothing has changed – they have put their political ambitions above all else, at any cost, are still firmly focused on being ‘puppets’ for the few and remain arrogant in expecting to manipulate public opinion. When we have our emotions checked, their consistency and gross dishonesty become totally apparent and actually insulting. Their whole intent is to return to ‘more of the same’ that cost us so much and they will just say/do whatever to accomplish that, with the totally aggressive support of those they benefit.
As already stated, the Democrats are not perfect, not even close, but with a rational, objective and unemotional evaluation differences do stand out. Their solutions really need (bipartisan) fine tuning yet they are conscience driven and not just favoring their strong supporters while offering only deception to the people. Democratic representatives are not intimidated and coerced to maintain unity as the Republicans are, they instead can and do differ according to their individual consciences. While the Democrats are motivated to achieve their goals, which some may see as socialistic, those goals are aimed to benefit the many and not just the few who provide active overt and covert support, contributions and even promises for after office compensation. The scare of Socialism is what the Republicans are trying to sell, yet, as the pendulum swings both ways, we really need to come back from not enough government and not enough (responsible) spending that has caused so many problems while greatly benefiting only the select few. If government now fails to intervene or stops spending before things are stabilized, then we will return to ‘more of the same’ and even worse.
Some may not be able to rationally see all of this but then maybe they really need to focus their own conscience and check their motivation – understanding that con artists depend on being able to appeal to people’s greed/self-interests to sell the con and to gain benefit. It usually isn’t hard to see the truth but often it can be hard to check emotions and to be objective; that is when the con is easy.
I skipped watching Obama's speech last night because he just didn't have anything to say worth listening to. As long as almost 50,000 US troops are in Iraq Obama has not kept his campaign pormise to get US troops out of Iraq. He's trying to nuance an incomplete withdrawal as some kind of campaign promise fulfilled, just like War Criminal Bush declaring Mission Accomplished long before it ever was. Obama can't even tell us the truth about Afghanistan, he's going to listen to the deadbeat generals and keep massive amounts of troops in Afghanistan so he can make Afghanistan safe for Red Commie Chinese mining companies to bribe their way to the best mining sites. After voting for Obama twice in 2008 I think it's time to turn the page on Obama's presidency!
All right Eric, you are entitiled to your opinikon, but tell me - if you want to 'turn the page on President Obama's presidency', what is your alternative?
Are you going to start supporting Republicans?
Are you going to start supporting the Tea Party and become a teabagger?
So exactly what are you saying?
If you are NOT going to support President Obama, and that is your right and choice, what ARE you going to support?
Okay Eric The Great--Get your boots on, grab a rifle and join the fight. Let's put your machismo s**t into action! Since you are so knowledgeable about the logistics of war I am perplexed as to why you are not being consulted on a regular basis. Oh great seer that you are, you are better able to decipher the truth in Afghanistan than the president or his generals on the ground. Go figure. Hell, you can spot the impending bribery miles away even without being there! Wow! And, you were smart enough to vote for Obama twice in 2008 when the rest of us voted once! You are either incredibly smart, an incredibly good liar or just a plain dumbass whether you are Republican or Democrat. I think its time you turn over and wake from the nightmare created by your limited imagination!
That's too bad you didn't watch the speech last night, Eric, I thought it was excellent. As Mr. Engel, the journalist on NBC said, after the speech, there was no talk of "isn't it great, we brought democracy to Iraq." Rather, the President was very honest about the situation in Iraq as it remains and very clear we are not returning, even if all hell breaks loose. He was very clear we are not staying in Afghanistan beyond August 2011, either. It was a down to earth speech, very honest and pragmatic. I think you would have been molified. I say that as one who was against the invasion in the first place.
Wow! And, you were smart enough to vote for Obama twice in 2008 when the rest of us voted once!
He's probably talking about primary and general election voting. I actually voted for Obama three times. Once in the Texas primary once in the Texas Caucus and once on election day.
Pietro, I also feel some of Eric's concerns about Obama. I would rather vote for a yellow dog than any republican, but really, our leaders are not standing up for our democratic ideas. They allowed themselves to be plowed over from the beginning. Now they would rather shift to the center and the right instead of hold to their core beliefs. Soon to appease the media and the howling masses our left leaning politicians will become centrists, the moderates will shift right of center, republicans will become tea partiers. Gridlock will ensue in Congress and Republicans will implore for the good of the country that the democrats compromise away more of their ideals. Like a beaten dog the Democratic politicians will run back to the Republicans to take more thrashing. What we democrats can do is nominate real democrats who are ready and willing to not compromise and fight for what is right by using the filibuster.
If anyone didn't catch the speech yesterday they didn't miss much, I didn't like it at all.
What I did enjoy yesterday was Michael Thompson's posts. Read them this morning, Michael. Kudos.
Yellodog - Mark D - OK. I can see some of the frustration with the Democrats we have in Congress now. We need to be vigilant and use our voices to vote in those who will stand up for Democratic ideals.
As far as dealing with Republicans is concerned, we all want the Democrats to be stand up to the Republicans more. However, Democrats don't do confrontation well. It SEEMS that the Republicans are winning with this tact, but I submit that they are not. As we can see with our wars, the American people have no heart or stomach for long protracted fights, so is that tact REALLY that effective?
Eric wants to 'turn the page' on the Obama Presidency. I say it is too early to 'throw in the towel' like that. I say Democrats need to 'man up' and FINISH this fight, and not decide in the 4th inning that we are going to lose.
If the Democrats DON'T 'man up', then we ALL lose, including any Republicans out there. I say we ALL lose because the lunatic right wing fringe is trying to call the shots, and they are in NO WAY the voice of America.
If the Democrats don't 'man up', the fringe will control the agenda and then what? Whining? Complaining? Gnashing of teeth? All of that could have been avoided if Democrats would have stopped being like Gov. Palin and QUIT in the middle of the fight.
I too enjoyed Michael's posts. THAT is the type of Democrat we SHOULD be.
Pietro - Agreed. I think alot of us have been suiting up for the last year and a half. We shouldn't throw in the towel. We do need to keep going, its like the middle rounds of a boxing match and we need to start landing punches again.
My fear is that the majority of people, non political junkies who don't follow the issues will go to the polls and vote for the GOP. Unfortunately democrats and the electorate who voted for Obama in 2008 thought they had done their part to move the country forward. Instead as others pointed out by Feb of 2009 the right struck back, wanting no part in a pragmatic compromising partnership. The reasoned people either wilted or faded away into the woodwork. The people who carried the day for Obama may be too embittered, depressed, apathetic to vote. Hopefully enough of them will show up to lessen the further tilt to the right.
Yellowdog and Pietro,
What I think is that the great majority of Dems/libs/progressives are staying silent and seeing this HUGE wave of lies, deceit, fear-mongering and wedge issues that they will come out in droves to vote for the Dems, especially after seeing so much good legislation stopped in the Senate by the NO NO NO screaming, obstructionist Repubs. Even though they are silent they are still a potent force and after watching what the Repubs did to our Nation during the Bush Years and what they are doing/not doing now, with all the expounding of hate from the right we may well see landslide voting from the left and the right being apathetic instead. The Old Guard Right is totally disillusioned with their party, it has left them and gone screaming into the lunatic fringe of far off la la right land and has no resemblance to what the Old Guard Repubs can understand as their party. The Left, on the other hand, sees their programs on the table and being stopped by a vocal minority using arcane Senate rules to obstruct those thigs which would get America moving FORWARD again and seeing the Repubs trying to drag us Backwards. The votes may well not go the way of the polls, especially since so many of the polls are being bought and paid for as well as written by the right to further their own ends and message.
Expect a surprise in November! I, for one, am expecting things to go badly for the Repubs, the Public is smarter than they seem to think!
US troops are in Germany at greater numbers, in South Korea, ini Saudi Arabia where we've had no wars, in Kuwait. There is a HUGE DIFFERENCE between combat troops and support, training military bases. Eric you just embarassed the liberal block with your slight ignorance and your stubborness to not even be open to learn.
It probably feels tempting and good (Stokholm syndrome) to find something in common with the moron block psychologically after what seems like a losing streak in polling of our ideaswhich are indeed better.
Sorry Amy
"He was very clear we are not staying in Afghanistan beyond August 2011, either.. He was very clear we are not staying in Afghanistan beyond August 2011, either."
That's not what was said. Instead, he said that the consideration of the rate of the pullout would begin at that time. We need to absolutely understand that.
Let's not get into a "the unemployment rate won't go above 8.5%" type misconstruction about this.
B. Honest - What you say makes sense. Hope you are right. The Dems and Reps will vote their party. Surely the independents will choose not to go backwards?
"It's time to turn the page". Absolutely Friggin' right.
It's about friggin' time.
If we study what was ACTUALLY accomplished in our little war in Iraq, we will see that we did not accomplish very much, other than spend a TRILLION DOLLARS so that President Bush could have Saddam's pistol in his Presidential Library.
Was the price we paid as Americans - ONE TRILLION Dollars, over 4000 killed, 50,000 maimed and wounded - REALLY worth the price we paid?
We CERTAINLY did not get anything out of Iraq from our time in the region. We did manage to LOSE a few BILLION DOLLARS in cash. We are STILL rebuilding the IRAQI infrastructure (while the American infrastructure is crumbling and no one seems to care). We have injected ourselves into Iraqi politics, and we can see that their politics are as toxic as ours.
All of this for a friggin' PISTOL.
Let's face facts - the Iraq war was STUPID. We were STUPID for going along with it. We destabilised a whole nation and region on a LIE.
The next time some neo-con wants to go to war with someone, let THEM go and wage war with THEIR families as troops. The fact that these idiots used YOUR families - able bodied men and women - for THEIR little experiment should cause MANY to take a SERIOUS look at what these people are about.
So YES, we need to turn the page on this.
It's about FRIGGIN' time.
I too love the democratic republic ideals but havn't seen them for a long time. Bush was wrong for staying over there and O was wrong for letting it take this long and leaving 50k more in harms way. Bush was an elitist, only helping his cronies, O is an elitist high-brow harvard type who thinks he is smarter than others and stumps for mainstreet Americans, but the results of his actions say otherwise. He could have stopped the bail-outs or restricted them, he did not. The banks and mega corps that were bailed out only employ about 12% of the American work force and they didn't spend any bail-out money loaning to small and midsized business who employ about 68% of the work force. The #s don't lie. Politicians do. Politicising the end of combat is just that, looking for brownie points with sheep-like voters. We need to change the entire motivation and focus of our leaders. 7 of the top 10 wealthiest congressmen are democrates and they have their claws in the very corps and banks that are moving jobs overseas, getting bailed out and laying off employees, that they vilify publicly but invest in privately. Very telling about the cut of their jib, isn't it?
US troops are in Germany at greater numbers, in South Korea, ini Saudi Arabia where we've had no wars, in Kuwait. There is a HUGE DIFFERENCE between combat troops and support, training military bases.
50,000 non combat troops in Iraq means nothing more than that Iraq is now an American allied country in the middle east with American bases in the same manner officially as Saudi and Egypt. No that was not the objective or excuse at the start and maybe its not worth it but there is no reason to reject this consolation prize that any of those whining about 50,000 troops left has presented.
There is little more argument for drawing down zero as there is for doing the same in Germany or South Korea. And that is a different debate (how many non combat military bases should we be maintaining and what would be our criteria for deciding them).