Blogs For Victory

Woohoo! So good to have a President who is so Johnny-On-The-Spot!

He also told the troops that the next 18 months are “going to be a critical period.” He referred to an Aug. 31, 2010, deadline he has set for the withdrawal of U.S. combat brigades from Iraq as part of a plan to end the war there and pull all U.S. forces out by the end of 2011, meeting a timetable set by Iraq and the United States last year in a bilateral agreement.

“It is time for us to transition to the Iraqis,” Obama said to cheers and applause. “They need to take responsibility for their country and for their sovereignty.”

Uh, Barry, we reached this point back in 2007, remember?

I have made it clear to the Prime Minister and Iraq’s other leaders that America’s commitment is not open-ended. If the Iraqi government does not follow through on its promises, it will lose the support of the American people — and it will lose the support of the Iraqi people. Now is the time to act. The Prime Minister understands this. Here is what he told his people just last week: “The Baghdad security plan will not provide a safe haven for any outlaws, regardless of [their] sectarian or political affiliation.”

This new strategy will not yield an immediate end to suicide bombings, assassinations, or IED attacks. Our enemies in Iraq will make every effort to ensure that our television screens are filled with images of death and suffering. Yet over time, we can expect to see Iraqi troops chasing down murderers, fewer brazen acts of terror, and growing trust and cooperation from Baghdad’s residents. When this happens, daily life will improve, Iraqis will gain confidence in their leaders, and the government will have the breathing space it needs to make progress in other critical areas. Most of Iraq’s Sunni and Shia want to live together in peace — and reducing the violence in Baghdad will help make reconciliation possible.

A successful strategy for Iraq goes beyond military operations. Ordinary Iraqi citizens must see that military operations are accompanied by visible improvements in their neighborhoods and communities. So America will hold the Iraqi government to the benchmarks it has announced.

To establish its authority, the Iraqi government plans to take responsibility for security in all of Iraq’s provinces…

And what did you say to President Bush waaaay back when?

On January 17, 2007, Sen. Barack Obama (D-Ill.) announced plans to introduce a resolution calling for not only a cap in troop levels, but also a phased redeployment of U.S. forces in Iraq. He stated, “I cannot in good conscience support this plan (troop surge). As I first said two months ago, we should not be sending more U.S. troops to Iraq, we should begin redeploying them to let the Iraqis know that we will not be there forever and to pressure the Sunnis, Shiites, and Kurds to finally reach a political settlement…Escalation is a failed policy opposed by generals, Democrats and Republicans, and now even the Iraqis themselves, and the fact that the President is already moving ahead with this idea is a terrible consequence of the decision to give him the broad, open-ended authority to wage this war in 2002.”

On the night of January 30, 2007, Obama sent his bill, the Iraq War De-Escalation Act of 2007 (S.433), to the Senate floor calling for complete withdrawal of troops by March 31, 2008.

So, Mr. President, it is great that you visited the troops and we do back you in the pursuit of victory in Afghanistan…but the “critical period” in Iraq came quite a while ago and it was President Bush – in direct conflict with you and other liberals – who carried the matter through with grace and determination. The victory in Iraq has only one father – President Bush. Without him, the whole thing would have been lost – and had we listened to you in 2007, it would have been lost. You should be taking this as a lesson in humility, not trying to strut about like Iraq is your baby, now that it is a success.