Today, President Obama will make remarks to the Disabled American Veterans in Atlanta regarding planned U.S. drawdown of forces from Iraq, which effectively ends American combat operation in Iraq as of August 31, 2010. Over the next few weeks the president plans to make similar events drawing attention of the transition in Iraq.
The war in Iraq has been extremely controversial when it was launched in 2003, by then President Bush, and it's status has not changed since. History will be the guide on how the U.S. became involved in this controversial war. Opinions have been heated and contentious, but as the public makes up their minds on whether this was in the interest of our national security, or just a misguided adventure by the Bush Administration.
President Obama stated he has been critical of the war from the beginning, but his national security team all voted for the war. Vice President Joseph Biden, who has been in the Senate since 1972 and touted as a foreign policy expert, voted against the first Gulf War, voted for the Iraq war, and now has been a vocal critic ever since. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton also voted for the war as well as other prominent Democrats, including 2004 Democratic presidential nominee Senator John Kerry.
Both sides have played, and continue to play partisan politics as it comes to the war in Iraq, and we are seeing the same situation repeat itself in Afghanistan. One only needs to go back in time and read the statements and remarks by many in Congress leading up to the authorization to use force in Iraq. The same situation continues to repeat itself in Afghanistan! As we continue towards this election, can we possibly expect to see some consistency, and possibly patriotic moral conviction in the political arena, or will we continue to see the same wishie-washie pattern of partisan political lip service?
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