Joe Conason: The Truths About Iraq Obama Couldn't Utter

[flpoljunkie]

WEDNESDAY, SEP 1, 2010 08:30 ET

The truths about Iraq that Obama couldn't utter
As troops withdraw from Iraq, the president gave a dutiful speech. But there was so much he could not say

BY JOE CONASON

Barack Obama, who once seemed the most fortunate of candidates, now looks like the least lucky of presidents. His speech announcing the conclusion of American combat operations in Iraq starkly illustrated the adversity he endures every day as the heir of George W. Bush, its desultory tone and flat delivery almost inevitable in speaking of a war whose human, economic and diplomatic costs have so far outstripped its benefits. The president obviously felt that he had no choice but to deliver this address, to mark this occasion, and even to praise the patriotic intentions of his predecessor, author of this grave mistake.

Somber as he sounded, the president was nevertheless trying to reassure us. His proffer of hope is that the fulfillment of his campaign promise to withdraw troops from Iraq will permit him to devote greater force to Afghanistan – and to reinvest in pressing domestic needs. Having squandered a trillion dollars and probably much more over the past seven years, in other words, the government will eventually stanch our bleeding. In Iraq, anyway.

Today that is what passes for good news.

There was little in the Iraq speech that was exceptional with respect to language or policy, and not much that was exceptionable either. In his description of the current situation in Iraq, however, the president predictably indulged in optimism that is almost certainly unwarranted. He wants to bring American troops home, after all, so he insists that the Iraqis are moving beyond sectarian destruction toward a brighter democratic future. And he preferred not to dwell on the absence of an operational government and functioning services, let alone the dim prospects for ethnic and religious comity.

What the president could not utter, under any circumstances, is an accurate description of the war, the occupation, and the ruinous reasoning that led to them.

more...

http://www.salon.com/news/politics/barack_obama/index.html?story=/opinion/conason/2010/09/01/iraq

[Radical Activist]

1. Do you get the feeling he wrote this before hearing the speech?

[flpoljunkie]

2. No.

[Enrique]

3. Conason's column makes references to things Obama said

your post, however, makes no reference to anything Conason writes.

[flpoljunkie]

4. My post is Conason's column.

[frylock]

5. it gety the feeling he posted before reading the article

[flpoljunkie]

6. Parts of the speech were released early and parts of this would obviously written beforehand.

However, it was not posted until after the president's speech. This is not unusual.

[frylock]

7. i was referring to post #1

[flpoljunkie]

8. So sorry, frylock!

[frylock]

9. no prob!