Obama is trying to sell himself as the next best thing to Dennis Kucinich. Kucinch would probably like you to know that it's one thing to oppose the war quietly when nobody is paying attention to you and another to oppose it from the House of Representatives - the Belly of the Beast, as it were. Still Barack has
a point when he notes that of the top tier candidates he's the one who didn't vote for the Iraq War Resolution.
Barack Obama opposed the war in Iraq from the beginning. In 2002, as the conventional thinking in Washington lined up for war, Obama had the judgment and courage to speak out against the war. He said the war would lead to "an occupation of undetermined length, with undetermined costs and undetermined consequences." In January 2007, Obama introduced legislation to responsibly end the war in Iraq, with a phased withdrawal of troops engaged in combat operations.
Obama has a plan to immediately begin withdrawing our troops engaged in combat operations at a pace of one or two brigades every month, to be completed by the end of next year. He would call for a new constitutional convention in Iraq, convened with the United Nations, which would not adjourn until Iraq's leaders reach a new accord on reconciliation. He would use presidential leadership to surge our diplomacy with all of the nations of the region on behalf of a new regional security compact. And he would take immediate steps to confront the ongoing humanitarian disaster in Iraq.
Not bad stuff, all told. And I like the quote he leads off his page with.
I don't oppose all wars. And I know that in this crowd today, there is no shortage of patriots, or of patriotism. What I am opposed to is a dumb war. What I am opposed to is a rash war.
Not a bad statement, presumably designed to comfort people who don't want the Democrat party to be the party of wusses.
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