Barack Obama In “Open Disagreement” With Military Commanders
By SusanUnPC on July 21, 2008 at 7:27 PM in ABC News, Barack Obama, Commander in Chief, Iraq, Pentagon, Petraeus
ABC News correspondent Terry Moran interviewed Barack Obama who got a bit testy during the exchange.
“And then we sat down with [Barack Obama] to talk about what has become an open disagreement between military commanders here and Obama, over his plan to withdraw all U.S. combat troops from Iraq on a 16-month timetable.” — Terry Moran
Transcript . Barack Obama ABC Interview . July 21, 2008
ABC’s Terry Moran: “And then we sat down with [Barack Obama] to talk about what has become an open disagreement between military commanders here and Obama, over his plan to withdraw all U.S. combat troops from Iraq on a 16-month timetable. Did General Petraeus talk about military concerns about your timetable?”
Barack Obama: “You know, I would characterize the concerns differently. I don’t think that they’re deep concerns about the notion of a pullout per se. There are deep concerns about, from their perspective, a timetable that doesn’t take into account what they anticipate might be some sort of changing conditions. And this is what I mean when I say we play different roles. My job is to think about the national security interests as a whole, and to have to weigh and balance risks, in Afghanistan, in Iraq. Their job is just to get the job done here. And I completely understand that.”
Moran: “But the difference is real. Commanders here want withdrawals to be based on conditions on the ground. Obama emphasizes his timetable, but he insists he would remain flexible. I’m going to try to pin you down on this.” (continued below)
Obama: “Here let me say this, though, Terry, because, you know, what I will refuse to do, and I think that, you know “
Moran: “How do you know what I’m going to ask?”
Obama: “Well, then if I don’t get it right, then you can ask it again.”
Moran: “All right.”
Obama: “Is to get boxed in into what I consider two false choices, which is either I have a rigid timeline of such and such a date, come hell or high water, we’ve gotten our combat troops out, and I am blind to anything that happens in the intervening six months or 16 months. Or, alternatively, I am completely deferring to whatever the commanders on the ground says, which is what George Bush says he’s doing, in which case I’m not doing my job as commander-in-chief.”
Another Obama mistake:
Obama probably relied on one of his college professor advisers who has never lived overseas for this stupid advice:
http://www.politico.com/news/stories/0708/11935.html
Our cartoonist PatRacimora will post a great cartoon mocking this — check tomorrow morning.
Hmmm-already starting the dress code for women to appease his Muslim friends. Perfect.
Obama is showing his true color.
so let me see if i got this straight.
he has over 300 foreign policy advisors telling him what to think and what to say.
and the best they can do is tell him and his cult NOT to wear any GREEN clothing for fear it may be misunderstood by some rascal of a blogger that might say “he’s showing his true colors”?
HELLO! WTF is that all about.
btw, green colors, at least in the good ole U.S.A. could be related to environmentalism.
good grief. this trip simply gets stranger by the minute.
Obama is running a new ad about how he reached across the aisle to Sen. Lugar(R) to push a bill through, Nunn-Lugar Cooperative Threat Reduction Act 2007. Sen. Lugar made a statement about the ad to day:
http://www.indystar.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20080716/NEWS0502/807160406
This is worth reading if you want another head scratcher. Sen. Lugar is a Republican from In., but some have suggested him as a running mate for Obama.
If you want to check out this bill Obama supposedly worked with him on you can go to senate.gov, go to Thomas and look for S.198.IS. I don’t see Obama’s name anywhere listed as sponsor, co-sponsor or arthur. I am just getting so frustrated. I know there is something wrong here and the last few days I have been feeling “the urgency of now”, if you know what I mean. Things are slipping away from the American people and there isn’t much time left to find out what it is.
I have a strong conviction we are no longer a two party system or, at least, we are close to that point. A one party system? Anyone? What is that called?
I think that the “urgency of now” is an onset of “la tourista.” Get thee to a ‘facility.’
How about three party system? It looks like that to me anyway. The Dem. Party is split in the middle. It has a slight chance to become permanent.
This might be the link you are looking for.
http://thomas.loc.gov/cgi-bin/bdquery/z?d109:s.02566:
Couldn’t find anything about bo being involved in the Lugar-Nunn bill, but this one came later and was supposed to be along the same lines. Lugar is a nice guy with loads of experience. Personally, I think he was just showing the ropes to the new kid on the block, and bo’s thesis (which they don’t want to release) was on the Solviet Union, as I understand it, so this would have been of interest to him (theoretically). bo did apparently work with Lugar on S. 02566, but it is hard to tell just how much. The bill had 26 co-sponsors and bo was one of the 26.
You are right to check out the legislative claims, since many are totally false.
Nobomma does not know how to tell the truth. He was brought up in South Side Chicago politics. Truth is a MAJOR inconvenience. Three parties, yes, NObama dems, Hillary Dems, and Republican. If not Hillary, vote for McCain.
It only took 300 foreign policy advisers to come up with this latest amateur display.
Gosh darn it, is the 300 advisers a light bulb joke? It sure sounds like one.
What a stupid asshole…did he outlaw black and red, too? And white?
Has this jerk had a gander at most of the FLAGS of the Middle East?
I can’t believe how stuuuuupid he is!! Did he outlaw “Israeli Blue” too, so people wouldn’t think he had a bias?
It sorta kinda looked like Obama was wearing green eye shadow. Is that his special code speak for his secret support? Meanwhile that ban of green for others is like him, lunatic and all about is control, control, control….
Does he think he’s already been elected? Sure sounds like he thinks so.
That was my thought exactly … in his mind, I think he just think’s it’s a matter of waiting until Jan … he said, “i’m not doing my job as commander in chief” …
it’s more of the audacity of ego driven personality disorder.
Just like he told some reporter in the Green Room at CBS that “You know I’m going to be the nominee.”
I won’t be surprised if the fix is in to put him the WH. The corporate media sure seem to be pushing him.
OHNO … NOT A GREEN ROOM?
He also said that Hillary would not get the support of his supporters, but he would be able to get hers. Ego Maniac…. him
what an arrogant piece of crap hussein is!!!!
Boy do I agree- and his “I I I ah ah ah, if if ah ah ah” he is an absolute embarrassment…….when are people going to wake UP?!?!?
See if that was Hillary, she would be clear and concise in talking to the reporter.
Honestly, when I hear Obama talk, it always reminds me of a dog sliding its butt across the floor, as if it has worms or something.
TeaMug,
they are called “Butt Scrapers”
yes, hillary would be in command of the conversation. she would be the one directing it.
this yahoo on the other hand, is a complete boob.
omg, he is so embarassing!!!
i pray condi is pulling the plug on funding as a poster downstairs stated.
I just read that passage to my wife. She looked at me kind of funny and said: “It isn’t his f*(king job. I thought Bush was still president.” In any case, Obama is the most arrogant SOB ever. He has real mental issues. The democratic party has made the most egregious mistake ever. To let a SOB like Obama get this close to the presidency makes me believe that the whole party needs to be disbanded and a new one constructed from the ground up.
I think Obama needs a reminder that it is President Bush who is in the White House and is the commander-in-chief.
Jesus you people are silly. He was obviously speaking about — having been asked about — what he would do as president. Don’t be moronic.
I notice that nobody here is talking about the day’s real gaffe, which was McCain the Clueless talking about conditions on the “Iraq/Pakistan border,” which of course doesn’t exist. This follows his comments last week about Czechoslovakia, which doesn’t exist either, and hasn’t since the early Nineties. It is McCain who is a doddering fool who doesn’t know his ass from his elbow, and Obama who is quickly showing himself to be the usual quick study that he is and appearing very sure-footed on his foreign trip.
Sorry, but any CIC wannabee who telegraphs a withdrawal timeline to the enemy is a pure idiot. Uneducated in nationality security, inexperienced in national security, and just plain stupid when it comes to common sense. He’s spending his “non-campaign” time over there incessantly seeking photo-ops and making a bigger fool of himself.
You want to put up a couple of gaffes that McCain made against pure stupidity?
Please, go back to your basement bedroom.
Quick study? ummmm ahhhh ummm the notion ahhh ummm “of a pull out per se”
Frakking brilliant I say.
Jake Tapper noted that people make these simple verbal mistakes all the time.
Anyone with kids here? Ever call one of your kids by the wrong name? Yep. Dozens of times.
Wait until the Middle East press gets a hold of Mr. Foreign Policy’s directive.
You must be dumber than dirt to do that or senile. My 90 year old grandfather on occasion does that but corrects himself very quickly. The only reason he does that is because he can’t see very well. As for me, I used to be a public school teacher and can honestly say that I have NEVER called a kid the wrong name. And I suck at names. What you are saying is that if I called my wife Penny instead of Joann then it would be perfectly alright. You are a nitwit.
Kind of like 57 states?
Kind of like calling a reporter sweetie because you can’t remember her name?
Kind of like not remembering Reverend Wright’s anti-American, anti-white sermons?
Kind of like not remembering who the real anybody was?
Take your dumber than dirt and say it 50 times while looking into the mirror. Maybe then, and only then, will you get the meaning of rote.
Kind of like saying “8-10 years” as Obama did about his presidency.
It was such a big gaffe HuffyPost started and opinion control game to define the “first gaffe” as coming from McCain.
I have three kids, and I call my older two boys by the wrong name all of the time. I get my daughter’s name right most of the time, though - but she’s 8 years younger and always wearing pink.
Just a data point…
plz , get help.
If she wears pink, America’s sheriff may pick her up. This site always makes me feel better. You guys and gals are FUNNY. Keep it up. You give me my daily fix. The news is so grim (usually about Nobomma) that I have to log on for a reality check.
Does Gramps put the Great Lakes in Oregon? Did he teach you about the fifty seven states? Does he think a US President serves, “Oh, about ten years?”
Gee, if Gramps does better on those questions than your pal BO, Gramps should be the “Presumptuous Nominee” there, ya NIKE.
Maybe I misread something but the guys post seemed like an apology for Obama who I think there is no excuse for. If not then I screwed up and apologize. I’ve just never heard of calling your own kids by the wrong name. Never. My mother never did that and there was 5 of us and two of my sisters look identical. It really seems like something Obama would do and not sane, rational people.
Hey, I am sorry for the comment katmandu. These damned nesting comments are difficult to read and I didn’t read the previous post correctly. I thought you were defending Obama on this. I am particularly annoyed at Obama’s narcissism and his blatant disregard f
Having problems with my computer tonight. I was trying to say that I was very annoyed by Obama’s lack of patriotism and his me, me, me attitude that I kind of went off at the hip. Sorry.
Not me. My mother always mixed up her daughters’ names. She had me at 19 (and graduated college and supported her parents who helped raise me while she worked in an ER. My father skipped out on her.) Anyway, she was a strong, young woman with a sharp mind and screwed our names up all the time.
You must be the greatest gift to the classroom since, uh, ah, Burlap Obambi.
The sign of a bad day for me is when I call myself the wrong name in my mental pep talks. e.g., Keep going, RKK, you can do it. or Well, RGG, that really is not an example of your best work, now, is it?
So there.
Just wait until Asians get a hold of this none funny cartoon, or PUMA or RNC. Read on and follow the links if you will.
Rolling Stone is one of many left-leaning entertainment-oriented publications to have gone totally into the tank for Barack Obama, editorially and “journalistically.”
Here is most of the opening two paragraphs of the screed by Matt Taibbi that the cartoon above accompanied:
http://www.bizzyblog.com/wp-images/McCainTortureRollingStone0708.jpg
Full Metal McCain
Haunted by the ghosts of Vietnam, the one-time maverick has transformed himself into just another liberal-bashing fearmonger
http://newsbusters.org/blogs/tom-blumer/2008/07/20/no-media-outrage-over-offensive-rolling-stone-mccain-cartoon
From the GMA site:
http://abcnews.go.com/GMA/
Yes, McCain misspoke but he and Diane were clearly talking about Afghanistan.
You can jump on this if you want, we certainly jump on the numerous Obama gaffes.
The clip does not show a clueless, doddering fool
John McCain was speaking out of respect in acknowleging PEOPLE who (believe it or not) still exist regardless of THE CHANGE in the name of their homeland and country.
That would be something like the Name of the Country that appears on their Birth Cerificates. A land, a Nation that they are proud of being born in and unto. Not everbody else in the world was born on the alleged day Barry Dunham was born. The world did not begin with his nativity nor the day he abandoned the US Senate to blow his wad.
When the name of America is changed to something inspiring, will that be OK with you?
Believe it or not - now this is a shocker - there are still people living and breathing over the age of 39…46 …pick a number.
Some people can be hypnotized in two seconds and some people can’t. It was a message. Listen again.
BWT: Barry, your Grandmother plans on baking ya a birthday cake. Try to stop by. Bring the Folks!
Yo! Ed Rendell, what do you think a good new for American would be? Pennsylvania needs a change to. Obama’s Woods? I’ll come up with something nifty. Houndsville?
I’d better go before a dead bunny is strung up on my door.
Hell they would sting ME on my door.
But not before I empty my clip and my dog has a snack.
Yeah, I cannot believe my head telling me to get one of those things. But I can’t believe I’d ever be clinging to my numerous ‘bibles’ and beloved texts. I didn’t even know that I could be antipathetic to persons differnt than me, either.
Bring on the bunnies. We care for the dead in my home. Shame on anybody that would kill a bunny to string up. Yep, they need a good shot to the alls, they do.
I was moved by your Quote tonight. It’s nice to honor our elders, even if they could only speak Greek 2000-3000 years ago.
Hey, where is Rendell anyway? Haven’t seen him lately. Howard Dean sure is hiding. Wuss. He sends Pelosi out to do all his dirty work! I wish she’d hide, too! I hate looking at any of them!
sfhillary,
You are completely clueless. No wonder you support Obama.
I listened to Obama on ABC NEWS tonight, the reporter asked Obama if he knew the Surge would work so well would you support it, he said no, he wouldn’t support the surge. Obama doesn’t want to admit the surge did work, I didn’t think it would but it did, I was wrong. Too bad Obama can’t say that.
Wasn’t it a riot watching him try to weasel out of that?
I agree with you. I didn’t think it would and I was wrong. Obama is the same as Bush. Bush still thinks there are WMD. He can’t admit he was wrong. Remember a question from the report asking about any mistakes he made and he couldn’t think of any.
Obama truly is Bush 3.
Not only that, to us older folks it was Czechoslovakia and now that region has all new names. I look at all those new names on a map and think to myself “since when has it been called that?” Some of those places I’ve never even heard of and I’m in my late 50s.
Shillary, Obama is showing himself to be the fool that he is.
Sorta like his 58 states?
Follow the links for your messiah speak which in others would be considered gaffes or LIES.
http://www.politico.com/news/stories/0408/9570.html
http://www.suntimes.com/news/sweet/316024,CST-NWS-sweet28.article
http://newsbusters.org/blogs/noel-sheppard/2008/05/25/will-media-report-obamas-gaffe-about-when-hugo-chavez-came-power
http://michellemalkin.com/2008/05/27/the-obama-gaffe-machine-rolls-on/
You are so right. The Democratic Party as it stands now needs to get dismantled. I have been a Democrat for 18 years and I am 39. Never have I been so disgusted or so mad!
Absolutely! I am so sick of him acting as though he has already been inaugurated! He hasn’t even WON the nomination YET!
He kills me! No Obama - Not ever!
puppy dog mom — Obama has already said — When I was a Senator. This is bizaro. But then believing that Barack Obama was the best person out their to be president because he had Community Organizing experience — is an insane concept.
He makes absolutely no sense what-so-ever. Stutering and stammering and acting like he’s president is offensive.
His run on sentences with nonsensical interjections imply he is downright stupid. He is such a bullshit artist he makes zero sense. What the hell did he say? I hate the imbecile.
Coming next: Obama bans the colors blue and white because the Israeli flag is made up of these two colors.
The only exception made will be for the Obama Campaign Logo on Air Force–errr, I mean, the Obama Campaign Jet.
After all, it’s not like there are any important American symbols which use the colors blue and white, right?
It’s called:
Air Faux One.
Or:
Obama One. <- actually it really is called that.
obama is working toward the color BROWN — everyone can wear brown — natural brown — the politically correct color brown — we did not know WHICH shade of brown will be the Precious’ choice.
And of course the idiot obama is having disagreement with the military — he had absolutely no idea how the military operates or what it takes to move the military INTO a region or OUT of a region.
The planning and work involved in the deployment of a small squadron of airplanes is massive — multiply that times several thousand and that’s what it will take to get troops out.
Clinton said that she would consult with the military commanders on a safe exit or drawn down strategy. Obama is incapable of consulting or LISTENING. Apparently he wants the information to be distilled and then me make a royal command. Who the hell made him god?
When is this nightmare going to be over — I keep hoping that I will wake up.
PUMA!
How many o supporters does it take to screw in a light bulb?
None. They just declare the sudden darkness to be The Change We’ve Been Waiting For.
Funny, Katmoon. Thanks for the laugh.
geez, so do i.
i pray everyday that this craziness will end and soon.
co-workers are always coming up to me saying - “is the nightmare over yet”?
and i have to be the one that says, nyet. but keep the faith, REALLY, keep the faith!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_HX6vbhAYaU
The above nghtmare may light your fire. Go to http://www.thedenvergroup.blogspot.com and donate for tv ads to stop this guy from taking dowm America.
Finally Obama has managed to insult the military too.
It is their duty to ‘get the job done here’, but he didn’t have to put it in such an insulting, dismissing manner.
If I wasn’t insulted by him many times over, I woud be now. I have a deep respect for our military and our generals. If they offer a different opinion on something, it sure as hell, they have a very good reason.
My mother is so upset about all this…she worries all the time that O will win. I try to assuage her fears by telling her the GOP is holding their fire for now, but she keeps on fussing about McCain…why doesnt he DO something?
Sigh…I worry about it, too…Almost praying that the GOP has ads ready that will make people forget about the media’s enabling efforts.
I can’t believe I just said that! But that’s how bad things have become…
Check out the primary colors planned for the delectable goodies for the convention.
also, i guess the turban he was wearing long ago was that of the Great Carnak … Obama thinks he can read reporters minds now
what next?
Obama will repeatedly interrupt the questions during his debate with John McCain, attempting to guess what the reporter is going to ask:
Reporter: “Senator Obama, what is your position on..”
Obama: “Poverty. I have a very strong anti-poverty program…”
Reporter: “Actually, I was going to ask you about Iraq– but that’s ok, I love to hear you talk about anything, so go ahead and talk about poverty.”
he just guess’s at the question based on what one of his 300 advisers listed as possible questions/answers. (ops guess i should’ve been better advised on that button).
Smaller government, larger advisory staff?
Good piece. When you don’t isolate a sentence or two and let the reader see a bit more context, it is clear what Obama means. And it is exactly right as far as I am concerned.
And the fact that he is willing to forcefully point out that under him we will have a civilian-led military (one of the principles that this country was founded on) is a good thing. Even though he will take heat on it from the right.
What the hell are you babbling about? The president has always and will always be the commander in chief. Obama isn’t going to change one damned thing. He is even more incompetent than Bush. At least Bush’s down home ignorant country boy image that he cultivated is partially fake. Obama didn’t even bother to pretend to be anything more than an arrogant ass. Bush reigned his ego and BS in until after being elected. You know, Obama is probably on his best behavior as well. If that doesn’t scare the hell out of you then you have absolutely no fondness for American values.
BTW - isn’t “I set the goal, the service people get my job done” the same pompous and ruinous attitude that Bush has adopted and DK and Friends (if he has any left!) have been screaming about.
Obama doesn’t have the skill or experience to set policy - so whatever he says, our poor troops have to make happen.
Ye gods!!
There is a blonde hair line between the creeps in office. Stop looking at the initial bearing their State/Commonwealth. Red and Blue are distractions. History.
The Republican and Democratic parties have long passed on. RIP.
The civilian control is designed to prevent a military coup.
It is not designed to override the judgment of ground commanders whose job is to fulfill their objectives and keep their troops alive.
Obama said he would rely on the the conditions on the ground and the opinion of commanders. I guess that no longer applies.
He’s done a 180 again.
There’s a surprise
If that is not a warning. Inever heard sirens blasting to close the drapes hide and bury my head.
What is that and why isn it being ignored?
What more do any of us need to know.
I’ll save my snide remarks for a troll.
This is the CRAZIEST (most subversive promise) BS so far and his message to the world with the new American symbol for Change is all the proof any true blue American needs to see. He is a war unto itself all by his lonesome.
He is a Danger. He is toxic. He is not a American.
“Obama’s the Decider… heh-heh-heh”
Ted,
You sound like another clueless Obama supporter.
The Second Amendment to the Constitution allows for a civilians force for defense and securing of the laws, which has been interpreted to be the NATIONAL GUARD.
It’s interesting how WORMS always have to interpret what Obama means. Did Obama really go to law school?
All the other comments are not even worthy of a response, but I think you are trying to make a legitimate point, so I’ll respond.
My point is the military is to be headed up by a civilian - the president. Control of the military resides with the president.
A moron president, like the one we have now, will politicize the military to advance his agenda. A smart president will set strategy and rely on the military commanders to implement the tactics to achieve that strategy.
Obama’s stated strategy is to get the combat troops out of Iraq. Everybody is spinning around about the exact details of how/when this will happen - which of course is impossible t determine at this point. But our political situation is such that a candidate can not speak that obvious truth, because he/she will be sound bited and called hesitant or noncommittal or whatever.
Obama wants the troops out. Some of the military folks will disagree with him. That’s fine. As long as they do their jobs in good faith, it will all work out.
Oh fuck off. Like I want barky commanding the military. He’ll get more of them killed. He’s an idiot and everyone in the military knows it. I’m so friggin’ glad we’re out now. First Bush and now you want to push Obama on us. Fuck that noise.
Thank you–I was going to suggest that Ted pull that document out and have a gander at it.
He probably wiped his ass with his copy though, like his hero has apparently done.
Oh, well.
And BO called himself a Constitutional Scholar!!!
Then again, he “believes” we have fifty seven states and the Great Lakes are in Oregon. He “hopes” to do ten years as President. When the fur really starts flying, he’ll probably need a diaper “change.”
I think he should demand his money back from all those high-end schools he attended. That shit didn’t stick too well, apparently.
If bullshit were electricity, BO would be a powerhouse. But if knowledge is power, he’s sitting in the dark.
I wouldn’t depend on Obama’s judgement on any issue. He is so stupid, he sought out the help of Tony Rezko to help him buy his Mansion after reading about 100 articles in the Chicago papers about the FEDERAL INVESTIGATION of TONY REZKO for Political corruption. I would think a 12 yo street kid would know to stay away from Rezko. I’m just waiting for Rezko to turn RAT and take Barry and the Guv down.
If he has his way, we’ll have a CIVILIAN military over there AND here–a “national security force.”
Won’t that make those unvetted tobacco chewing nuts at Blackwater happy? And they don’t give a fuck about ROI, either.
Gotta keep those donors at General Dynamics happy. He’s into them for over a half a million, and that’s just the TOP dogs over there. It’s millions more if you go down the line to the company middle management and working stiffs, and add up all those “individual” (cough, choke) donations.
You Obamabots are nuts if you think he’s going to get us out of the region. He’s going to move the MILITARY to the Stan, and substitute Blackwater-type bastards–with their own “shoot ALL those muthafuckas and gun it” ideas about ROI– in Iraq. You watch.
He’ll then claim he kept his word, because he’ll have moved the military from the Iraqi frying pan to the Afghan line of fire…what he’ll have done is put more kids in harm’s way, only in a different location. Wheee!! Pity they won’t be able to use the Arabic commands they’ve learned in Baghdad for things like “Shut the fuck up! Hands up! On your knees or I’ll shoot, Pig!” over in Afghanistan, because, contrary to BO’s belief, it’s an INDO-EUROPEAN/SOUTHWEST ASIAN society, and they DON’T SPEAK ARABIC THERE.
That bastard knows full well that all his pals in the coal industry, and all his friends at Exelon in the Nuke Industry, can’t make up for the world shortfall in petroleum production. He’s GOT to keep those bastards pumping and keep all those key customers supplied and China happy.
That’s the shitty reality of this world, and while he’s playing you fools like a fiddle, he knows he’s got to keep China off our backs AND pay back his coal/nuke buddies…and his war production pals at GD.
General Dynamics doesn’t MAKE refrigerators, they’re in the shoot-em-up line. And he OWES them.
We’re staying in Iraq. It won’t be kids making twenty grand a y