Bullet Point Election News: Iraq

Showing posts with label Iraq. Show all posts

Saturday, May 31, 2008

Barack Obama on Army Suicide Report

Barack Obama issued the following statement in response to the Army Suicide Report:

"Today's news is a tragic reminder of the staggering and ongoing costs of the Iraq war, particularly on our troops and their families. We are more than five years into this war, and the Pentagon and VA are still unprepared to treat the unseen wounds of battle. We know that incidence of psychological injury increase with each additional tour of duty in Iraq, and that our troops are not getting the support they need. Too many are falling through the cracks because they need help but feel they can't get it. When I am President, we'll hire more mental health professionals, increase training to recognize the signs and to reject the stigma of seeking care, and enhance mental health screening and treatment from enlistment, to deployment, to reentry into civilian life. It's time to serve our troops as well as they have served us."

Source: http://www.barackobama.com/2008/05/29/obama_statement_on_army_suicid.php

Thursday, May 22, 2008

Ron Paul: The Economy: Another Casualty of War

From Ron Paul's weekly column Texas Straight Talk:

This week, as the American economy continued to suffer the effects of big government, the House attempted to pass two multi billion dollar "emergency" spending bills, one for continued spending on the war in Iraq , and one increasing spending on domestic and international welfare programs. The plan was to pass these two bills and then send them to the president as one package. Even though the House failed to pass the war spending bill, opponents of the war should not be fooled into believing this vote signals a long term change in policy. At the end of the day, those favoring continued military occupation of Iraq will receive every penny they are requesting and more as long as they agree to dramatically increase domestic and international welfare spending as well.

The continued War in Iraq and the constant state of emergency has allowed Congress to use these so-called "emergency" bills as a vehicle to dramatically increase spending across the board--including spending that does not meet even the most generous definition of emergency. For example, the spending proposals currently being considered by Congress provide $210 million to the Census Bureau and $4 million for the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, and Firearms. $4.6 billion is requested for the closing of military bases, but not any of the more than 700 bases overseas – but bases here at home!

Click here for the rest of The Economy: Another Casualty of War.

Sunday, April 13, 2008

JohnMcCain.Com Posts Petraeus Petition

JohnMcCain.Com is asking supporters to sign a "Support Our Troops" petition.

After reading the text of the petition it is actually an anti-Iraq troop withdrawal petition.

In fact, even the file name for the petition graphic on the front page of the website is 040808_PetraeusPetition1.jpg (right click, save as to see for yourself).

The following is the full text of the petition:

The American people deserve the truth from their leaders. Doing the right thing in the heat of a political campaign is not always the easiest thing. But when 4,000 Americans have given their lives so that America does not suffer the worst consequences of our failure in Iraq, it is a necessary thing. In such a grave matter, we must put the nation’s interests before our own ambitions.
My opponents’ calls for an immediate withdrawal, regardless of the consequences, is a reckless and dangerous move that would threaten the long term security of our country. Leadership is not about bowing to the political pressures, it is about thinking through the consequences and having the experience and judgment to make the tough decisions.

Senators Clinton and Obama will surely echo the sentiments of their extreme liberal supporters and call for a pre-emptive withdrawal from Iraq. The American people deserve better. I encourage both candidates to move beyond empty and destructive rhetoric and elevate the debate to a level that the country deserves. There are tough decisions ahead and America deserves leaders that are up to the challenge.

As president, I will ensure that our troops come home victorious in this war that is part of the larger struggle against radical Islamic extremism and will continue to make keeping our nation secure my highest priority.
Source: http://www.johnmccain.com/
Related Post: Petition for Seating Michigan & Florida Delegates on HillaryClinton.Com

Saturday, April 5, 2008

Candidates Get Opportunity to Question Gen. Petraeus Next Week

Army General David Petraeus and Ambassador to Iraq Ryan Crocker are scheduled to deliver a report on the war in Iraq to a Senate panel next Tuesday and Wednesday, April 8th and 9th.
Barack Obama, John McCain and Hillary Clinton will all be part of the panel due to their respective involvements in the Foreign Relations Committee and the Armed Services Committee. As panel members they will have an oppotunity to question Gen. Petraeus during his testimony.

Sources:

http://blogs.reuters.com/trail08/2008/04/04/will-petraeus-hearings-favor-obama-and-clinton/

http://newsmax.com/politics/candidates_iraq/2008/04/05/85740.html

Tuesday, March 25, 2008

Hillary Clinton Admits She Misspoke About Bosnia Trip While Asking Philadelphia Daily News for Endorsement

Related Post: Was Hillary Clinton Under Sniper Fire? Statements in Iraq Speech Disputed by Many Sources

Hillary Clinton Admits She Misspoke While Asking Philadelphia Daily News for Endorsement

In her Iraq War speech last week Clinton said upon arrival in Bosnia in 1996 that "I remember landing under sniper fire. There was supposed to be some kind of a greeting ceremony at the airport, but instead we just ran with our heads down to get into the vehicles to get to our base."
CBS Nightly News said "Those of us on that trip recall it differently. Instead of running for cover, Clinton was greeted by a school girl, who read her a poem of welcome" and the Washington Post published a photo of the greeting.
The following is the CBS video of Hillary arriving in Bosnia on March 25, 1996:

On March 24, 2008 Clinton met with the editorial boards of the Philadelphia Daily News and Inquirer seeking an endorsement by the Daily News editorial board.
Will Bunch, a senior writer at the Philadelphia Daily News writes that in his blog that "This afternoon, in the session with Daily News editorial writers and reporters (and some Inquirer staffers as well) in a conference room at the Daily News and Inquirer Building, I asked the presidential candidate about these discrepancies and also showed her a copy of the photo -- at the top of this post -- of her on the tarmac that day.

She was quick to answer, jumping in before I was fully finished with the
question. Here's here response in its entirety:

"Now let me tell you what I can remember, OK -- because what I was told was that we had to land a certain way and move quickly because of the threat of sniper fire. So I misspoke -- I didn't say that in my book or other times but if I said something that made it seem as though there was actual fire -- that's not what I was told. I was
told we had to land a certain way, we had to have our bulletproof stuff on because of the threat of sniper fire. I was also told that the greeting ceremony had been moved away from the tarmac but that there was this 8-year-old girl and, I can't, I can't rush by her, I've got to at least greet her -- so I greeted her, I took her stuff and then I left, Now that's my memory of it.
I followed-up, noting that the episode has raised questions about her credibility on foreign policy. She responded:

"No, I went to 80 countries, you know. I gave contemporaneous accounts, I wrote about a lot of this in my book. you know, I think that, a minor blip, you know, if I said
something that, you know, I say a lot of things -- millions of words a day -- so if I misspoke, that was just a misstatement."

Sources:

http://www.philly.com/philly/hp/news_update/20080325_Hillarys_Bosnia_misstatement.html http://www.usnews.com/usnews/politics/bulletin/bulletin_080325.htm

Sunday, March 23, 2008

Video of MTV's "Choose or Lose Presents Clinton & Obama Answer Young Veterans"

The "Choose or Lose Presents Clinton & Obama Answer Young Veterans" was originally aired March 20, 2008.
The first of 7 videos covering the commercial free event is below:

Click here for the remaining videos.

Source: http://www.mtv.com/overdrive/?id=1583792&vid=217744

Wednesday, March 19, 2008

Excerpts From John McCain's Statement on Fifth Anniversary of Iraq Invasion

The following are excerpts from John McCain's "Statement On Fifth Anniversary Of Iraq Invasion"

"Today in Iraq, America and our allies stand on the precipice of winning a major victory against radical Islamic extremism. The security gains over the past year have been dramatic and undeniable. Al Qaeda and Shia extremists -- with support from external powers such as Iran -- are on the run but not defeated. Tough fighting remains ahead, especially in places like Mosul. Important political gains have also been made, but far more must be done in coming months to cement the gains made in huge cost in American blood and treasure."
"Americans should be proud that they led the way in removing a vicious, predatory dictator and opening the possibility of a free and stable Iraq. "

For John McCain's full statement on Iraq click here.

Source: http://johnmccain.com/Informing/News/PressReleases/b00406d1-3b31-48e9-8aa6-c0eb8f3b8097.htm

Excerpts From Ron Paul's Statement on the War With Iraq

The following are excerpts from Ron Paul's "Statement After
10 Years of War with Iraq "

“The occupation of Iraq began five years ago today, but few realize that the march to war began ten years ago under Bill Clinton, when regime change became official U.S. policy. In 1998, I took to the House floor in protest of the Iraqi Liberation Act to warn that, ‘I see this legislation as essentially being a declaration of virtual war. It is giving the President tremendous powers to pursue war efforts against a sovereign Nation.’ My warnings were largely dismissed at the time, but five years later, we were bombing Iraq."
“As I have repeatedly said when discussing United States policy in Iraq, when you find yourself going the wrong way down a one-way street, you need to look for the nearest off-ramp. The only solution to the mess in Iraq is to promptly bring our troops home. Our bad policy spans at least ten years and two presidents and has had severe costs in lives and economic consequences. Continuing down the same road will solve nothing and compound our already substantial problems.”

Click here for Ron Paul's full statement.

Source:http://www.ronpaul2008.com/press-releases/267/ron-paul-statement-after-10-years-of-war-with-iraq/

Tuesday, March 18, 2008

Was Hillary Clinton Under Sniper Fire? Statements in Iraq Speech Disputed by Many Sources

Related Post: Hillary Clinton Speech on War in Iraq

In Hillary Clinton's March 18, 2008 speech on the War in Iraq delivered at George Washington University and at other campaign stops and interviews Hillary Clinton has cited her 1996 trip to Bosnia among her foreign policy credentials.
Her description of the trip from her March 18 speech is as follows:

"I certainly do remember that trip to Bosnia, and as Togo said, there was a saying around the White House that if a place was too small, too poor, or too dangerous, the president couldn't go, so send the First Lady. That’s where we went.
"I remember landing under sniper fire. There was supposed to be some kind of a greeting ceremony at the airport, but instead we just ran with our heads down to get into the vehicles to get to our base."

Hillary Clinton was accompanied on the 1996 Bosnia trip by her then 16 year old daughter Chelsea, comedian Sinbad and singer Sheryl Crow.
Sinbad and other news agencies are disputing Clinton's description of the trip, specifically the statement above. With regard to Clinton's statement that she went on the trip because Bosnia was "too small, too poor, or too dangerous" for the President, comedian Sinbad responded: “What kind of president would say ‘Hey man, I can’t go ’cause I might get shot so I’m going to send my wife. Oh, and take a guitar player and a comedian with you.”
FactCheck.Org looked into the statement and four other foreign policy related statements Clinton made during a March 6, 2008 interview on CNN and pointed out that "Clinton has repeatedly referenced her "dangerous" trip to Bosnia. She fails to mention, however, that the Bosnian war had officially ended three months before her visit – or that she made the trip with her 16-year-old daughter and two entertainers."
The Associated Press (AP) reports that "according to accounts at the time, she was placed under no extraordinary risks on that trip. And one of her companions on it said he has no recollection either of the threat or reality of gunfire."
During later questioning "Clinton said she was moved into the cockpit of the C-17 cargo plane as they were flying into Tuzla Air Base, Bosnia-Herzegovina. "Everyone else was told to sit on their bulletproof vests," she said. "And we came in, in an evasive maneuver. ... There was no greeting ceremony, and we basically were told to run to our cars. Now, that is what happened.""
The AP then references Hillary's description of the trip in her book "Living History". The following is the text from the book as reported in the AP article:

""Due to reports of snipers in the hills around the airstrip, we were forced to cut short an event on the tarmac with local children, though we did have time to meet them and their teachers and to learn how hard they had worked during the war to continue classes in any safe spot they could find," she wrote. "She also described in the book how the plane was kept high, "above the reach of surface-to-air missiles and sniper fire." She wrote, "Above the airstrip, the captain dipped a wing and made a near-perpendicular landing to evade possible ground fire.""

In 1996, the AP reported that: "Security was tight — fighter jets accompanied her C-17 cargo plane to Tuzla — but officials said the first lady took no extraordinary risks on the trip."
"The first lady spent quite a bit of time in the cockpit, with pilot Cheryl Beineke, one of just four female C-17 pilots in the U.S. Air Force."
The Wall Street Journal reported that "last week, the comedian Sinbad, who accompanied Clinton on the trip along with singer Sheryl Crow and then-first daughter Chelsea, said he remembers the landing differently. “I think the only ‘red-phone’ moment was: ‘Do we eat here or at the next place?’”

Sources:

http://www.factcheck.org/elections-2008/hillarys_adventures_abroad.html

http://ap.google.com/article/ALeqM5hOOyd7DUPKM4G2Pd019mg-KEr6NQD8VFEKRG0

http://blogs.wsj.com/washwire/2008/03/17/he-said-she-said-hillary-and-sinbad/

Monday, March 17, 2008

AP Video of McCain's Trip to Iraq

Hillary Clinton Speech on War in Iraq

Today, March 17, 2008, Hillary Clinton delivered a speech on the War in Iraq at George Washington University.
The following are excerpts from her speech:

"I certainly do remember that trip to Bosnia, and as Togo said, there was a saying around the White House that if a place was too small, too poor, or too dangerous, the president couldn't go, so send the First Lady. That’s where we went.
"I remember landing under sniper fire. There was supposed to be some kind of a greeting ceremony at the airport, but instead we just ran with our heads down to get into the vehicles to get to our base.
"The mistakes in Iraq are not the responsibility of our men and women in uniform but of their Commander-in-Chief.
"There is no magic wand to wave. Bringing our troops home safely will take a president who is ready to be Commander-in-Chief on day one, a president who knows our military and has earned their respect.
"I would further seek to stabilize Iraq by insisting that the country's oil revenues, instead of U.S. taxpayer dollars, increasingly be used to fund Iraq’s reconstruction."

Click here for the full transcript of Clinton's speech.

Source:http://www.hillaryclinton.com/news/release/view/?id=6567