Barack Obama – Flip-Flops on the Success of the Surge
In His Most Important Foreign Policy Decision… Barack Obama Was Wrong
Barack Obama’s continued ignorance of foreign policy is clear and evident in his editorial posted today at The New York Times. Obama continues to repeat his Far Left talking points that Iraq diverted us from fighting Al-Qaeda. The junior senator from Illinois is still unwilling to acknowledge the thousands of Al-Qaeda fighters that have been lost in Iraq. And, after saying the surge had worked last week, that we had seen “reductions in violence and stabilization”
— Today he’s back to saying it didn’t work.
Obama said the Bush surge worked last week- Now, he says it didn’t.
Today Obama rehashes his stale talking points:
THE call by Prime Minister Nuri Kamal al-Maliki for a timetable for the removal of American troops from Iraq presents an enormous opportunity. We should seize this moment to begin the phased redeployment of combat troops that I have long advocated, and that is needed for long-term success in Iraq and the security interests of the United States.
The differences on Iraq in this campaign are deep. Unlike Senator John McCain, I opposed the war in Iraq before it began, and would end it as president. I believed it was a grave mistake to allow ourselves to be distracted from the fight against Al Qaeda and the Taliban by invading a country that posed no imminent threat and had nothing to do with the 9/11 attacks. Since then, more than 4,000 Americans have died and we have spent nearly $1 trillion. Our military is overstretched. Nearly every threat we face — from Afghanistan to Al Qaeda to Iran — has grown.
In the 18 months since President Bush announced the surge, our troops have performed heroically in bringing down the level of violence. New tactics have protected the Iraqi population, and the Sunni tribes have rejected Al Qaeda — greatly weakening its effectiveness.
But the same factors that led me to oppose the surge still hold true. The strain on our military has grown, the situation in Afghanistan has deteriorated and we’ve spent nearly $200 billion more in Iraq than we had budgeted. Iraq’s leaders have failed to invest tens of billions of dollars in oil revenues in rebuilding their own country, and they have not reached the political accommodation that was the stated purpose of the surge.
Barack Obama is wrong today and was wrong back in 2007 when he opposed the surge.
Today violence in Iraq is down 90% from last year.
Today 15 of 18 benchmarks have been met in Iraq.
Today Al-Qaeda is Iraq is defeated.
The tremendous progress is undeniable.
The fact that there were more US fatalities in Afghanistan the last two months was not because the violence is surging there but because of the success of the Bush surge in Iraq:
The mainstream media continues to play with the facts from the War on Terror. (Iraq Coalition Casualties)
In Barack Obama’s most important foreign policy decision as a US Senator- He was wrong.
— Barack Obama voted against the surge.
Barack Obama said that genocide was not an excuse for keeping troops in Iraq.
Barack Obama said the surge would never work.
Barack Obama said more troops would not make a difference.
The world is a much better place because the Bush Surge worked.
Barack Obama was wrong.
The Strata-Sphere explains to Obama the difference between withdrawing troops in surrender and withdrawing troops in victory.
UPDATE: Power Line has more on Obama’s many stands against the surge.
