Obama Suggests Clinton Cannot Be Trusted to End Iraq War
Barack Obama speaks about ending the Iraq war Wednesday at a community college in Fayetteville, N.C. (AP Photo)
FAYETTEVILLE, N.C. — Barack Obama suggested Wednesday that Hillary Clinton could not be trusted to end the Iraq war because she only started opposing it when she began her bid for president.
In a speech not far from North Carolina’s Fort Bragg military base, the Democratic presidential hopeful told military families and local officials that the war has emboldened Al Qaeda, the Taliban, Iran and North Korea.
“Ask yourself,” Obama told the crowd, “Who do you trust to end a war: someone who opposed the war from the beginning, or someone who started opposing it when they started preparing a run for president?”
Obama used the five-year anniversary of the Iraq invasion to again cast himself as the only true anti-war candidate, one who openly opposed the invasion as a state lawmaker. He renewed criticism of Clinton for voting to authorize the use of force against Iraq.
Clinton campaign spokesman Phil Singer responded: “The reality is that Senator Obama took practically no action to end the war until he started his White House run while Senator Clinton has been a consistent critic of Iraq for many years.”
Obama also teased likely Republican nominee John McCain for a foreign policy gaffe Tuesday in which McCain, touring the Middle East, said several times that Iran was training Al Qaeda in Iraq. Iran is a predominantly Shiite Muslim country and has been at pains to close its borders to Al Qaeda fighters of the rival Sunni sect. After another senator on the trip, Joe Lieberman, I-Conn., whispered into his ear, McCain finally corrected himself to say Iran was training Shiite militants.
“Maybe that is why he voted to go to war with a country that had no Al Qaeda ties,” Obama said to laughter and applause. “Maybe that is why he completely fails to understand that the war in Iraq has done more to embolden America’s enemies than any strategic choice that we have made in decades.”
In the days before she won primaries in Texas and Ohio, Clinton argued that she was better prepared to be commander in chief and broadcast a television ad that asked who could handle a middle-of-the-night crisis. Obama countered that Clinton had bungled her crisis moment when she voted to authorize military force to oust Saddam Hussein.
Obama alluded to that ad in his speech.
“What we need in our next commander in chief is not a stubborn refusal to acknowledge reality or empty rhetoric about 3 a.m. phone calls,” he said. “What we need is a pragmatic strategy that focuses on fighting our real enemies, rebuilding alliances and renewing our engagement with the world’s people.”
He said Clinton and likely Republican McCain talk tough on national security yet they make decisions that leave the country less secure.
“This is why the judgment that matters most on Iraq — and on any decision to deploy military force — is the judgment made first,” Obama said.
Special forces from Fort Bragg were among the first soldiers in Iraq during the 2003 invasion and its paratroopers led last year’s troop increase. President Bush visited the base to deliver his 2005 Independence Day speech, where he warned that setting a timetable to withdraw from Iraq would only embolden terrorists.
McCain has issued similar remarks and Obama squarely rejected them.
“These are the mistaken and misleading arguments we hear from those who have failed to demonstrate how the war in Iraq has made us safer,” Obama said.
Mark Salter, a senior adviser to McCain, responded: “John McCain wants American forces to come home when our clear and serious interests at stake in Iraq, which nearly 4,000 Americans have given their lives to secure, are truly safe, when al-Qaida is defeated; Iran’s influence is contained, and the potential for a truly cataclysmic civil war in Iraq is remote. That, I think, is what is called ‘making us safer.”‘
Obama also defended his contention that the United States should act on intelligence about top terrorist targets in Pakistan even if President Pervez Musharraf refuses — a statement last year that drew criticism from Republicans.
“We have a security gap when candidates say they will follow Osama bin Laden to the gates of hell, but refuse to follow him where he actually goes,” Obama said, referring to McCain’s vow to chase down bin Laden.
North Carolina holds its primary May 6. Obama was scheduled to travel to Charlotte on Wednesday evening for a town hall meeting and a fundraiser.
Obama wouldn’t know the truth if it sloapped him upside the head. I did not ever hear any his contraversial remarks. Yes I did hear some of his hateful statemerns.
Hillary has no more expereince than Obama, All she did was do what first lady normally do… pick flowers, schedule dinner, make plans for her husband. Sad thing she was home the nite Bill and Monica were having their affair…WOW, i sure dont trust Hillary to answer the phone at 3am! She mite not hear the phone ring..
If we can forgive Bill Clinton for disgracing us in the white house with Monica, then we can allow Obama to finish what he started without judging him for something HE DID NOT SAY…
PA has your back Obama!
I agree, Obama feels that he is the expert on everything. I remember him saying that he will speak to leaders that America distrust.
This man has no confidence in a Secretary of State or an Ambassador.
He is such a disease.
You all keep saying that Obama flipped his statements about whether or not he was there when the former pastor of his church made those derogatory comments about the US….DID YOU ACTUALLY LISTEN TO HIS SPEECH OR ANY OF THE INTERVIEWS SINCE???
He said that he was not there when Rev Wright went on his tyrranical rant about the “chickens coming home to roost”…as a matter of fact, it was documented that he was in Miami that day attending an event.
Also, the only reason he did not stand up to denounce his pastors comments is because the man was already on his way out the door and out of respect to his congregation.
All he admitted to was being there during some sermons in which the pastor made other, less pointed, remarks.
PLEASE, PLEASE get informed before you make these rediculuous statements.
Making uninformed comments only makes you look like a fool.
It’s really something that Senator Obama thinks he’s the expert on everything including racial tension and foreign policy. Look at his record as a Senator and see how little he knows and how very little he has sponsored. If you really want a future example of his everyday leadership abilities then look at his latest failure in how he handled his racial pastor and his anti-American beliefs. The Senator took over a month to respond and only did so when Americans started to complain. I can not believe that Senator Obama supports a Church that doesn’t allow white membership and openly preaches for the destruction of both America and Israel. And, Senator Obama even calls his Church a Christian one. Is this the kind of leader that America can trust when he can’t even follow his own agenda of change? Is this the kind of leader we need that encourages racial hate and prejudice in a religious setting. Senator Obama doesn’t have alot of room to talk when he refused to serve his country in any capacity and now royally dogs our brave men and women in the military. Is that a leader we can trust?
OBAMA + REV WRIGHT = 666
“Beliefs of a Good Democrat (Liberals)”
1. You have to be against capital punishment, but support abortion on demand.
2. You have to believe that businesses create oppression and governments
create prosperity.
3. You have to believe that guns in the hands of law-abiding Americans are more of a threat than nuclear weapons technology in the hands of Chinese and Korean communists.
4. You have to believe that there was no art before Federal funding.
5. You have to believe that global temperatures are more affected by soccer moms driving SUVs than cyclical, documented changes in the earth’s climate.
6. You have to believe that gender roles are artificial but being homosexual is natural.
7. You have to believe that the AIDS virus is spread by a lack of federal funding.
8. You have to believe that the same teacher who can’t teach fourth graders how to read is somehow qualified to teach those same kids about sex.
9. You have to believe that hunters don’t care about nature but loony activists, who have never been outside of San Francisco, do.
10. You have to believe that self-esteem is more important than actually doing something to earn it.
11. You have to believe that Mel Gibson spent $25 million of his own money to make The Passion of the Christ’ for financial gain.
12. You have to believe the NRA is bad because it supports certain parts of the Constitution, while the ACLU is good because it supports certain parts of the Constitution.
13. You have to believe that taxes are too low, but ATM fees are too high.
14. You have to believe that Margaret Sanger and Gloria Steinem are more important to American history than Thomas Jefferson, Thomas Edison, and A.G. Bell.
15. You have to believe that standardized tests are racist but racial quotas and set-asides are not.
16. You have to believe that Hillary Clinton is normal and is a very nice person.
17. You have to believe that the only reason socialism hasn’t worked anywhere it has ever been tried is because the right people haven’t been in charge.
18. You have to believe conservatives telling the truth belong in jail, but a liar and sex offender belongs in the White House.
19. You have to believe that homosexual parades displaying drag, transvestites, and bestiality should be constitutionally protected, and manger scenes at Christmas should be illegal.
20. You have to believe that illegal, Democrat Party funding by the Chinese Government is somehow in the best interest to the United States.
21. You have to believe that this message is a part of a vast, right wing conspiracy.
22. You have to believe that it’s okay to give Federal workers Christmas Day, off but it’s offensive to say ‘Merry Christmas’.
Are You Ready To Vote???
In response to Clinton’s spokesman, Phil Singer”s comment that Barack Obama took no action to end the war in Iraw before his presidential bid:
“How was Barack Obama supposed to end the war single-handedly when all the senators in both the House and Senate could not reach a concensus to do so?”