The President To Give National Address on Iraq Next Week

For only the second time since taking office, the president will give a nationally televised address from the Oval Office on Tuesday night. President Obama will inform the American people that the deadline he set forth, once becoming president, will be accomplished when the last combat troops leave Iraq. The U.S. will leave about 50,000 U.S. forces in Iraq to train Iraqi security forces, and they will leave in the summer of 2011.

The president has pretty much been silent on Iraq since taking office, only commenting periodically, and when he did consistently blamed the previous administration for the war. History will judge President Bush for his actions, but history will also judge President Obama in how he handled the diplomatic aspects of the war.

Too often we blame President Bush for the war in Iraq, but everyone seems to forget that both parties voted for the war, which includes the current Vice President, and Secretary of State, while both were senators from New York and Delaware. One needs to stop looking at this war through partisan lens and go back to what members of both parties were saying before the vote that authorized the use of force in Iraq. You may be surprised about who said what!

At the risk of sounding like a broken record, it's time we stop the partisan foreign policy that has engulfed Washington, and start having a foreign policy that reflects what is best for this nation!