Sacramento, Calif. - The nation’s largest Pro-Troop group admonished President Obama today for shameless political posturing from a president who refuses to acknowledge his faulty foreign policy pronouncements during his campaign for President, but now finds himself following the plan set forth by President George W. Bush
“This is shameless politicking with American foreign policy, “said Danny Gonzalez, Director of Communications for MAF. “Obama is taking credit for something his predecessor set in motion, and using it to bolster his re-election campaign. Yet during his campaign for President, Obama criticized every aspect of Bush’s Iraq plan. He now pretends that the framework already set down is in actuality his own changed policies - which have brought the war to an end in Iraq.”
Today, in an official statement personally delivered by the President, Obama said, “As a candidate for president, I pledged to bring the war in Iraq to a responsible end, for the sake of our national security, and to strengthen American leadership around the world. After taking office, I announced a new strategy that would end our combat mission in Iraq and remove all of our troops by the end of 2011.”
Gonzalez responded to the President’s comments, “Obama opposed the surge in Iraq, which turned the corner for victory against Islamic extremists. When Bush signed the status of forces agreement to withdraw troops at the end of this year, Obama opposed it. When Bush wanted to keep prisoners, Obama opposed it. When Obama became President, he recognized that he was wrong and Bush was right. Obama should be big enough to admit it rather than shamelessly trying to take credit for ending a war that was done due to the Bush policies.
“We give credit where credit is due. When our troops killed Osama Bin Laden, we gave President Obama credit for approving the mission, but now he’s turning around and claiming that he’s delivering on his campaign promises. It’s a lie. He is following the successful Bush game plan, and he should admit it instead of politicizing it and taking credit for himself.
He’s taking credit for the Status of Forces agreement negotiated by the Bush Administration and signed November 17, 2008. That agreement plainly stated that the plan was for all US troops to be out by December 31, 2011, so for Obama to take credit for this is just an absolute lie.”
Gonzalez went on to point out that besides the SOFA set forth by Bush, there was a plan to negotiate having a small US force left behind to curb the threat of Iran against the new Iraqi government, and that it was left for Obama to negotiate with the Iraqis.
“Today’s announcement really shows a failure of President Obama to negotiate the residual force that we need to stay behind in Iraq in order to keep Iranian adventurism in check. We’ve already seen numerous incursions by Iranian forces over the Iraqi border, and if all US troops are sent home by 2011 the weak Iraqi army will not have anyone to support them. What if al-Sadr’s supporters make an Iranian-backed bid for power, or worse, if the Iranians simply roll across the border with tanks? There would be a new war just as costly as the first and Obama will have failed to protect the peace that our troops gave so much for.”
