Obama's speech in Oct 2002 gave a pretty good overview of his position on going to war.
This was two years before he was in the US Senate... it was weeks before Congress voted on a war resolution.... and it was six months before Bush's invasion and occupation of Iraq began...and certainly before Obama had any realistic expectations to be the Democratic nominee six years later:
Quote:
I stand before you as someone who is not opposed to war in all circumstances. ....
After September 11th, after witnessing the carnage and destruction, the dust and the tears, I supported this administration's pledge to hunt down and root out those who would slaughter innocents in the name of intolerance, and I would willingly take up arms myself to prevent such tragedy from happening again. I don't oppose all wars...
What I am opposed to is a dumb war. What I am opposed to is a rash war. What I am opposed to is the cynical attempt by Richard Perle and Paul Wolfowitz and other armchair, weekend warriors in this administration to shove their own ideological agendas down our throats, irrespective of the costs in lives lost and in hardships borne.
That's what I'm opposed to. A dumb war. A rash war. A war based not on reason but on passion, not on principle but on politics....
I also know that Saddam poses no imminent and direct threat to the United States, or to his neighbors, that the Iraqi economy is in shambles, that the Iraqi military a fraction of its former strength...
I know that even a successful war against Iraq will require a US occupation of undetermined length, at undetermined cost, with undetermined consequences. (he got that right)
I know that an invasion of Iraq without a clear rationale and without strong international support will only fan the flames of the Middle East....and strengthen the recruitment arm of Al Qaeda. (he got that right as well)
I am not opposed to all wars. I'm opposed to dumb wars....
The consequences of war are dire, the sacrifices immeasurable. We may have occasion in our lifetime to once again rise up in defense of our freedom, and pay the wages of war. But we ought not -- we will not -- travel down that hellish path blindly. Nor should we allow those who would march off and pay the ultimate sacrifice, who would prove the full measure of devotion with their blood, to make such an awful sacrifice in vain.
http://www.barackobama.com/2002/10/0..._state_sen.php
|