Saturday, September 13, 2014

Yo, dudes. Guess the date of this brilliance-------Barack Obama - Op-Ed - My Plan for Iraq

Op-Ed Contributor - Barack Obama - Op-Ed - My Plan for Iraq - Op-Ed - NYTimes.com
......In carrying out this strategy, we would inevitably need to make tactical adjustments. 
As I have often said, I would consult with commanders on the ground and the Iraqi government to ensure that our troops were redeployed safely, and our interests protected. 
We would move them from secure areas first and volatile areas later. 
We would pursue a diplomatic offensive with every nation in the region on behalf of Iraq’s stability, and commit $2 billion to a new international effort to support Iraq’s refugees.
Ending the war is essential to meeting our broader strategic goals, starting in Afghanistan and Pakistan, where the Taliban is resurgent and Al Qaeda has a safe haven.
Iraq is not the central front in the war on terrorism, and it never has been.
As Adm. Mike Mullen, the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, recently pointed out, we won’t have sufficient resources to finish the job in Afghanistan until we reduce our commitment to Iraq.
As president, I would pursue a new strategy, and begin by providing at least two additional combat brigades to support our effort in Afghanistan. 
We need more troops, more helicopters, better intelligence-gathering and more nonmilitary assistance to accomplish the mission there.
I would not hold our military, our resources and our foreign policy hostage to a misguided desire to maintain permanent bases in Iraq.
In this campaign, there are honest differences over Iraq, and we should discuss them with the thoroughness they deserve. 
Unlike Senator McCain, I would make it absolutely clear that we seek no presence in Iraq similar to our permanent bases in South Korea, and would redeploy our troops out of Iraq and focus on the broader security challenges that we face. 
But for far too long, those responsible for the greatest strategic blunder in the recent history of American foreign policy have ignored useful debate in favor of making false charges about flip-flops and surrender.
It’s not going to work this time.
It’s time to end this war.

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