Obama's refusal of facts

[jreeves]

Our view on Iraq: Why can't Obama admit the obvious? The surge worked
Obama was right about war, wrong about surge; McCain vice versa.
In January 2007, America's adventure in Iraq seemed like a chaotic failure. The country was riven with sectarian violence, and al-Qaeda in Iraq had gained a foothold in western Anbar province. Attacks on U.S. troops were running well over 1,000 a week, and Iraqi civilians were dying at a rate of more than 3,000 a month.

In that context, President Bush's announcement that month that he planned to "surge" more than 20,000 extra U.S. troops into Iraq felt to many critics, including Sen. Barack Obama, like doubling down on failure.

A year and a half later, though, violence is down dramatically and there's a cautious hope that both the U.S. and Iraq could achieve an outcome once seemed out of reach.

The surge didn't do all of that; a cease-fire by Shiite militias and the switch by Sunni insurgents from attacking Americans to fighting al-Qaeda helped enormously. But the extra U.S. troops, brilliantly deployed by Gen. David Petraeus, have made a huge difference in calming the chaos. In doing so, it also contributed to the other developments.

Why then can't Obama bring himself to acknowledge the surge worked better than he and other skeptics, including this page, thought it would? What does that stubbornness say about the kind of president he'd be?

and more at..
Our view on Iraq: Why can't Obama admit the obvious? The surge worked - Opinion - USATODAY.com

At this point I am confused as to what Obama believes about Iraq, he has switched positions on the Surge and on withdrawals....
What the heck does he want to do now or has that changed already?

 

[Charles_Main]

Our view on Iraq: Why can't Obama admit the obvious? The surge worked
Obama was right about war, wrong about surge; McCain vice versa.
In January 2007, America's adventure in Iraq seemed like a chaotic failure. The country was riven with sectarian violence, and al-Qaeda in Iraq had gained a foothold in western Anbar province. Attacks on U.S. troops were running well over 1,000 a week, and Iraqi civilians were dying at a rate of more than 3,000 a month.

In that context, President Bush's announcement that month that he planned to "surge" more than 20,000 extra U.S. troops into Iraq felt to many critics, including Sen. Barack Obama, like doubling down on failure.

A year and a half later, though, violence is down dramatically and there's a cautious hope that both the U.S. and Iraq could achieve an outcome once seemed out of reach.

The surge didn't do all of that; a cease-fire by Shiite militias and the switch by Sunni insurgents from attacking Americans to fighting al-Qaeda helped enormously. But the extra U.S. troops, brilliantly deployed by Gen. David Petraeus, have made a huge difference in calming the chaos. In doing so, it also contributed to the other developments.

Why then can't Obama bring himself to acknowledge the surge worked better than he and other skeptics, including this page, thought it would? What does that stubbornness say about the kind of president he'd be?

and more at..
Our view on Iraq: Why can't Obama admit the obvious? The surge worked - Opinion - USATODAY.com

At this point I am confused as to what Obama believes about Iraq, he has switched positions on the Surge and on withdrawals....
What the heck does he want to do now or has that changed already?

Hell of a good post. I myself was also against Invading Iraq, in 2003 that is, I favored it in 1991 . However I was for the surge because I felt once you are in you have to win, and I always thought we needed more troops.

I have to say I didn't think another 30k would be enough, and have been surprised by the success of the surge.

I would personally respect Obama much more if he just said "you know what I was wrong" just like I would have respected Clinton more if he had just said "yeah I tapped that, with a cigar", but I digress.

It seems that Obama is half willing to admit the surge has helped, but not willing to say he would have supported it if he knew what he knows now, which to me is even more screwed up.

To me the ability to admit when you are, or have been wrong about something, is one of the strongest measures of character. Obama's unwillingness to admit he was wrong about the surge has lowered my opinion of him even more.

I actually do agree with Obama on one key issue. He wants to send more troops to Afghan, and I have wanted us to do that for a long time. From day one actually. Seems to me OBL got away because we never had enough troops, and relied on untrustworthy war lords who we paid to get him. Turned out OBL paid better.

I hold Bush accountable for both never sending enough troops to Afghan, and for turning what was a stunning military success in the initial invasion phase of Iraq, into the near failure. IMO he is damn lucky the surge worked.