Cynical Optimist

It’s ironic that Barack Obama would seek to benefit politically from his colossal misjudgment.

In January of 2007 he said:

“I Don’t Think The President’s Strategy Is Going To Work.”

“But right now what we have is, I think by all accounts, a disaster unfolding in Iraq. We all have a responsibility, Democrats and Republicans, Congress and the White House, to make sure that we can come up with the best strategy. I don’t think the president’s strategy is going to work. We went through two weeks of hearings on the Senate Foreign Relations Committee; experts from across the spectrum — military and civilian, conservative and liberal — expressed great skepticism about it.”

Senator Obama declared that The Surge would actually worsen sectarian violence In Iraq:

“I am not persuaded that 20,000 additional troops in Iraq is going to solve the sectarian violence there. In fact, I think it will do the reverse.”

We’ve all seen what’s happened since he made those statements.

Now he says:

“As I have said many times, our troops have performed brilliantly in lowering the level of violence. General Petraeus has used new tactics to protect the Iraqi population. We have talked directly to Sunni tribes that used to be hostile to America, and supported their fight against al Qaeda. Shiite militias have generally respected a cease-fire. Those are the facts, and all Americans welcome them.”

Any time Obama says “As I have said many times” you can bet he’s about to backpedal on something he’s said before.

Just this May he said:

“We don’t need more spin about how the surge is succeeding in doing what it was supposed to do which is to get the Iraqi’s to stand up and take responsibility for their own future, so we can start sending our troops home.”

Meanwhile, General Petraeus, a man who DOES know a little something about war, says:

“In Iraq, Iraqi and coalition forces continue to build on the security gains of the past 15 months as we also continue to reduce U.S. forces and transition responsibility to Iraqi security forces, strive to maintain the conditions necessary for political progress, help build governmental capacity and seek to foster economic development.”

“I should note here that the number of security incidents in Iraq last week was the lowest in over four years, and it appears that the week that ends tomorrow will see an even lower number of incidents. This has been achieved despite having now withdrawn three of the five brigade combat teams scheduled to redeploy without replacement by the end of July and also with the reduction of the two Marine battalions and Marine expeditionary unit.”

“Recent operations in Basra, Mosul and now Sadr City have contributed significantly to the reduction in violence, and Prime Minister Maliki, his government, the Iraqi security forces and the Iraqi people, in addition to our troopers, deserve considerable credit for the positive developments since Ambassador Crocker and I testified a month and a half ago.”

Senator Obama was wrong about The Surge. Not that he’ll admit it, despite his call for “less spin.”

Meanwhile, John McCain was one of the strongest proponents of the change in strategy.

“We have a long way to go, but for the first time in four years, we have a strategy that deals with how things really are in Iraq and not how we wish them to be.”

If Obama’s judgment on this issue was so far off the mark, and John McCain’s was dead on, it’s probable the same holds true for the idea of a rapid withdrawal of forces on an artifical timeline.

Read about the War in Iraq

Tags: Politics, War //