tacosndew
31 Aug 2010, 08:37pm
http://www.politico.com/news/stories/0810/41645_Page2.html
A shattering war initiated seven years ago by President George W. Bush lurched toward its stuttering conclusion Tuesday night as his successor, a subdued President Barack Obama, fulfilled his campaign promise to end combat operations in Iraq.
Speaking from the Oval Office in prime time – a move intended to attract the attention of Americans weary of war and focused on their own economic woes – Obama declared the responsibility for Iraq’s future had shifted to that nation’s divided and untested leadership.
“Operation Iraqi Freedom is over, and the Iraqi people now have lead responsibility for the security of their country,” said Obama. “Ending this war is not only in Iraq’s interest – it is in our own… [W]e have met our responsibility. Now, it is time to turn the page.”
Obama then pivoted from guns to butter, a somewhat awkward shift to address growing public anxiety about the economy compared with the war’s diminishing importance on the national agenda. The president urged the country to approach the job of rebuilding the economy with the same determination American forces displayed on the battlefields of Iraq.
“Today, our most urgent task is to restore our economy, and put the millions of Americans who have lost their jobs back to work,” Obama said. “This will be difficult. But in the days to come, it must be our central mission as a people, and my central responsibility as President.”
Obama’s aides had suggested that the address wouldn’t be an argument for the ongoing war in Afghanistan, which has grown more deadly and more unpopular since the president took office. Indeed, Obama sent a strong signal to pro-war hawks – including some serving under him in the Pentagon – that the July 2011 date to begin withdrawing American forces from Afghanistan is firm, regardless of conditions in the combat zone.
“[M]ake no mistake: this transition will begin – because open-ended war serves neither our interests nor the Afghan people’s,” he said, reiterating the sluggish economy as his top priority.
Obama began the day with an emotional trip from the White House to Fort Bliss, Texas, where he told a group of soldiers that the milestone he would speak about from the Oval Office wasn’t a “victory lap.” He thanked them for their service, pledged to take care of wounded and disabled veterans and spoke of difficult days to come in Afghanistan.
Later, he phoned Bush from Air Force One, and said he hoped the end of the Iraq combat mission would mark a new beginning for his relationship with his predecessor, whom he has bitterly criticized.
“Here, too, it is time to turn the page,” the president said. “This afternoon, I spoke to former President George W. Bush. It’s well known that he and I disagreed about the war from its outset. Yet no one could doubt President Bush’s support for our troops, or his love of country and commitment to our security. As I have said, there were patriots who supported this war, and patriots who opposed it. And all of us are united in appreciation for our servicemen and women, and our hope for Iraq’s future.”
While acknowledging the possibility that Iraq could descend from fragile stability back into violence, Obama said the U.S. troop drawdown will allow a shift of troops and materiel to the fight in Afghanistan, “as a message to the world that the United States of America intends to sustain and strengthen our leadership in this young century.”
Obama, whose opposition to the war propelled his rise from an obscure Illinois state senator to the Democrats’ presidential nominee in 2008, avoided anything that resembled George W. Bush’s ill-conceived “Mission Accomplished” pronouncement, which came back to haunt the former president as Iraq violence raged on.
Instead, Obama highlighted the sacrifices of the nearly one million American service members who served in Iraq and, his voice straining with emotion, the 4,400 Americans who died there.
But the president’s address – delivered from the same desk where Bush told the nation the invasion of Iraq had begun, justified by faulty intelligence that Saddam Hussein held weapons of mass destruction – was clearly meant to portray Obama as a leader true to his word and a competent Commander-in-Chief.
“This was my pledge to the American people as a candidate for this office,” he said. “Last February, I announced a plan that would bring our combat brigades out of Iraq, while redoubling our efforts to strengthen Iraq’s Security Forces and support its government and people. That is what we have done. We have removed nearly 100,000 U.S. troops from Iraq. We have closed or transferred hundreds of bases to the Iraqis. And we have moved millions of pieces of equipment out of Iraq.”
Still, Obama said he had no intention of completely abandoning Iraqi security forces – and pressured the country’s leaders to use the milestone as a spur to action. Iraq still has no national government, its leaders still balking five months after elections intended to showcase democracy and erase the legacy of a ruthless despot.
Administration officials also made it clear that more American blood may yet be shed in Iraq. Some 50,000 U.S. troops will be stationed there for the next year to advise Iraqi security forces, and those men and women are still in harm’s way.
Although Obama’s speech was subdued, Republicans spent much of Tuesday portraying the president as a hypocrite, arguing that he was assuming credit despite opposing the war and voting against the Bush troop surge – a controversial strategy many credit with stemming an appalling wave of insurgent-led violence from 2004 to 2006.
House Minority Leader John Boehner (R-Ohio), hoping to burnish credentials ahead of an election cycle that could make him House speaker, blasted Obama for an accomplishment that rightfully belongs to Gen. David Petraeus, the top U.S. commander in Iraq who oversaw the American troop surge.
"It sure makes things easier when you reject your own campaign rhetoric about how the surge — the Petraeus plan — shouldn't happen and wouldn't work,” said Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Kent.), speaking at an event in Lexington Tuesday. “[And] it makes it easier to talk about fulfilling a campaign promise to wind down our operations in Iraq when the previous administration signs the security agreement with Iraq to end our overall presence there."
"You might recall that the surge wasn't very popular when it was announced,” McConnell said. “You might also recall that one of its biggest critics was the current president."
Watch the video on the link, kinda helps when you read the article. I'm glad the troops are getting out of Iraq for various reasons, one being I'd like to see how it will do. Also i feel like the troops would be put to better use in Afghanistan.
I'd like to hear your opinion's please :smile:
A shattering war initiated seven years ago by President George W. Bush lurched toward its stuttering conclusion Tuesday night as his successor, a subdued President Barack Obama, fulfilled his campaign promise to end combat operations in Iraq.
Speaking from the Oval Office in prime time – a move intended to attract the attention of Americans weary of war and focused on their own economic woes – Obama declared the responsibility for Iraq’s future had shifted to that nation’s divided and untested leadership.
“Operation Iraqi Freedom is over, and the Iraqi people now have lead responsibility for the security of their country,” said Obama. “Ending this war is not only in Iraq’s interest – it is in our own… [W]e have met our responsibility. Now, it is time to turn the page.”
Obama then pivoted from guns to butter, a somewhat awkward shift to address growing public anxiety about the economy compared with the war’s diminishing importance on the national agenda. The president urged the country to approach the job of rebuilding the economy with the same determination American forces displayed on the battlefields of Iraq.
“Today, our most urgent task is to restore our economy, and put the millions of Americans who have lost their jobs back to work,” Obama said. “This will be difficult. But in the days to come, it must be our central mission as a people, and my central responsibility as President.”
Obama’s aides had suggested that the address wouldn’t be an argument for the ongoing war in Afghanistan, which has grown more deadly and more unpopular since the president took office. Indeed, Obama sent a strong signal to pro-war hawks – including some serving under him in the Pentagon – that the July 2011 date to begin withdrawing American forces from Afghanistan is firm, regardless of conditions in the combat zone.
“[M]ake no mistake: this transition will begin – because open-ended war serves neither our interests nor the Afghan people’s,” he said, reiterating the sluggish economy as his top priority.
Obama began the day with an emotional trip from the White House to Fort Bliss, Texas, where he told a group of soldiers that the milestone he would speak about from the Oval Office wasn’t a “victory lap.” He thanked them for their service, pledged to take care of wounded and disabled veterans and spoke of difficult days to come in Afghanistan.
Later, he phoned Bush from Air Force One, and said he hoped the end of the Iraq combat mission would mark a new beginning for his relationship with his predecessor, whom he has bitterly criticized.
“Here, too, it is time to turn the page,” the president said. “This afternoon, I spoke to former President George W. Bush. It’s well known that he and I disagreed about the war from its outset. Yet no one could doubt President Bush’s support for our troops, or his love of country and commitment to our security. As I have said, there were patriots who supported this war, and patriots who opposed it. And all of us are united in appreciation for our servicemen and women, and our hope for Iraq’s future.”
While acknowledging the possibility that Iraq could descend from fragile stability back into violence, Obama said the U.S. troop drawdown will allow a shift of troops and materiel to the fight in Afghanistan, “as a message to the world that the United States of America intends to sustain and strengthen our leadership in this young century.”
Obama, whose opposition to the war propelled his rise from an obscure Illinois state senator to the Democrats’ presidential nominee in 2008, avoided anything that resembled George W. Bush’s ill-conceived “Mission Accomplished” pronouncement, which came back to haunt the former president as Iraq violence raged on.
Instead, Obama highlighted the sacrifices of the nearly one million American service members who served in Iraq and, his voice straining with emotion, the 4,400 Americans who died there.
But the president’s address – delivered from the same desk where Bush told the nation the invasion of Iraq had begun, justified by faulty intelligence that Saddam Hussein held weapons of mass destruction – was clearly meant to portray Obama as a leader true to his word and a competent Commander-in-Chief.
“This was my pledge to the American people as a candidate for this office,” he said. “Last February, I announced a plan that would bring our combat brigades out of Iraq, while redoubling our efforts to strengthen Iraq’s Security Forces and support its government and people. That is what we have done. We have removed nearly 100,000 U.S. troops from Iraq. We have closed or transferred hundreds of bases to the Iraqis. And we have moved millions of pieces of equipment out of Iraq.”
Still, Obama said he had no intention of completely abandoning Iraqi security forces – and pressured the country’s leaders to use the milestone as a spur to action. Iraq still has no national government, its leaders still balking five months after elections intended to showcase democracy and erase the legacy of a ruthless despot.
Administration officials also made it clear that more American blood may yet be shed in Iraq. Some 50,000 U.S. troops will be stationed there for the next year to advise Iraqi security forces, and those men and women are still in harm’s way.
Although Obama’s speech was subdued, Republicans spent much of Tuesday portraying the president as a hypocrite, arguing that he was assuming credit despite opposing the war and voting against the Bush troop surge – a controversial strategy many credit with stemming an appalling wave of insurgent-led violence from 2004 to 2006.
House Minority Leader John Boehner (R-Ohio), hoping to burnish credentials ahead of an election cycle that could make him House speaker, blasted Obama for an accomplishment that rightfully belongs to Gen. David Petraeus, the top U.S. commander in Iraq who oversaw the American troop surge.
"It sure makes things easier when you reject your own campaign rhetoric about how the surge — the Petraeus plan — shouldn't happen and wouldn't work,” said Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Kent.), speaking at an event in Lexington Tuesday. “[And] it makes it easier to talk about fulfilling a campaign promise to wind down our operations in Iraq when the previous administration signs the security agreement with Iraq to end our overall presence there."
"You might recall that the surge wasn't very popular when it was announced,” McConnell said. “You might also recall that one of its biggest critics was the current president."
Watch the video on the link, kinda helps when you read the article. I'm glad the troops are getting out of Iraq for various reasons, one being I'd like to see how it will do. Also i feel like the troops would be put to better use in Afghanistan.
I'd like to hear your opinion's please :smile: