ABC News' Jennifer Parker reports: Democratic presidential candidate Sen. Barack Obama, D-Ill., said during a Senate hearing on the future of Iraq with Army Gen. David Petraeus and U.S. Ambassador to Iraq Ryan Crocker, that holding the hearing on the anniversary of the September 11th attacks "perpertuates the notion" that Iraq and 9/11 are linked.
"I think we should not have had this discussion on 9/11 or 9/10 or 9/12," Obama said during his opening statement. "It perpetuates this notion that the original attacks had something to do with going into Iraq."
Obama went on to criticize what he called a failed Iraq strategy.
"This continues to be a disastrous foreign policy mistake," he said. "There are bad options and worse options."
"This is not a criticism of you gentlemen but a criticism of the President," Obama said.
However, the Illinois Senator accused Petraeus of dodging questions about the overarching Iraq war strategy. "You've punted a little bit," Obama said. " We don't have limitless resources … the question is one of strategy not tactics."
...Obama argued President Bush has made it impossible to have a bi-partisan discussion about the way forward in Iraq because he refuses to admit the war strategy was flawed. "There has been no acknowledgement of that on the part of this administration," he said.
"We have the president in Australia suggesting somehow that we are, as was stated before, kicking A-S-S.," Obama said. "How can we have a president making that assessment?"
Obama told Petraeus the President's assertions, "It makes it very difficult then for those of us who would like to join with you in a bipartisan way to figure out how to best move forward to extricate this from the day-to-day politics that infects Washington."
That is so stupid!
Obama believes that holding a hearing on Iraq around 9/11 confuses people. It makes them think that "the original attacks had something to do with going into Iraq."
The people who are that clueless probably have no idea that Crocker and Petraeus are giving testimony in a congressional hearing. They probably have no idea who Crocker and Petraeus are.
Obama, obviously playing to the cameras, had to get in that he wasn't criticizing the ambassador or the general. (Was that supposed to be a subtle attempt to condemn the MoveOn "Betray Us" ad?)
Obama's criticism was aimed at President Bush.
It was a mistake to say that he wasn't criticizing Crocker or Petraeus about "options," since he went on to accuse Petraeus of dodging questions and towing Bush's Iraq line.
I still say that Obama is not ready for prime time.
He's awkward. And he spouts the same crap that the other Dems do.
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