[Peace-discuss] Obama shifting?

[Morton K. Brussel]

By PHILIP ELLIOTT, Associated Press Writer
1 hour, 18 minutes ago

Democratic presidential hopeful Barack Obama said Thursday the United  
States cannot use its military to solve humanitarian problems and  
that preventing a potential genocide in Iraq isn't a good enough  
reason to keep U.S. forces there.

"Well, look, if that's the criteria by which we are making decisions  
on the deployment of U.S. forces, then by that argument you would  
have 300,000 troops in the Congo right now — where millions have been  
slaughtered as a consequence of ethnic strife — which we haven't  
done," Obama said in an interview with The Associated Press.

"We would be deploying unilaterally and occupying the Sudan, which we  
haven't done. Those of us who care about Darfur don't think it would  
be a good idea," he said.

Obama, a first-term senator from Illinois, said it's likely there  
would be increased bloodshed if U.S. forces left Iraq.

"Nobody is proposing we leave precipitously. There are still going to  
be U.S. forces in the region that could intercede, with an  
international force, on an emergency basis," Obama said between stops  
on the first of two days scheduled on the New Hampshire campaign  
trail. "There's no doubt there are risks of increased bloodshed in  
Iraq without a continuing U.S. presence there."

The greater risk is staying in Iraq, Obama said.

"It is my assessment that those risks are even greater if we continue  
to occupy Iraq and serve as a magnate for not only terrorist activity  
but also irresponsible behavior by Iraqi factions," he said.

The senator has been a fierce critic of the war in Iraq, speaking out  
against it even before he was elected to his post in 2004. He was  
among the senators who tried unsuccessfully earlier this week to  
force President Bush's hand and begin to limit the role of U.S.  
forces there.

"We have not lost a military battle in Iraq. So when people say if we  
leave, we will lose, they're asking the wrong question," he said. "We  
cannot achieve a stable Iraq with a military. We could be fighting  
there for the next decade."

Obama said the answer to Iraq — and other civil conflicts — lies in  
diplomacy.

"When you have civil conflict like this, military efforts and  
protective forces can play an important role, especially if they're  
under an international mandate as opposed to simply a U.S. mandate.  
But you can't solve the underlying problem at the end of a barrel of  
a gun," he said. "There's got to be a deliberate and constant  
diplomatic effort to get the various factions to recognize that they  
are better off arriving at a peaceful resolution of their conflicts."

The Republican National Committee accused Obama of changing his  
position on the war.

"Barack Obama can't seem to make up his mind," said Amber Wilkerson,  
an RNC spokeswoman. "First he says that a quick withdrawal from Iraq  
would be 'a slap in the face' to the troops, and then he votes to cut  
funding for our soldiers who are still in harm's way. Americans are  
looking for principled leadership — not a rookie politician who is  
pandering to the left wing of his party in an attempt to win an  
election."

An opponent of the death penalty, Obama said he would make an  
exception for Osama bin Laden, the mastermind of the Sept. 11 attacks.

"The first thing I'd support is his capture, which is something this  
administration has proved incapable of achieving," Obama said. "I  
would then, as president, order a trial that observed international  
standards of due process. At that point, do I think that somebody who  
killed 3,000 Americans qualifies as someone who has perpetrated  
heinous crimes, and would qualify for the death penalty. Then yes."

In response to criticism from Republican Mitt Romney, Obama said the  
former Massachusetts governor was only trying to "score cheap  
political points" when he told a Colorado audience that Obama wanted  
sex education for kindergartners.

"All I said was that I support the same laws that exist in  
Massachusetts and New Hampshire, in which local communities and  
parents can make decisions to provide children with the information  
they need to deal with sexual predators," Obama said.

Romney on Wednesday targeted Obama for supporting a bill during his  
term in the Illinois state Senate that would have, among other  
things, provided age-appropriate sex education for all students.

"How much sex education is age appropriate for a 5-year-old? In my  
mind, zero is the right number," Romney said.

Obama said Romney was wrong to take the shot and incorrect on its basis.

"We have to deal with a coarsening of the culture and the over- 
sexualization of our young people. Look, I've got two daughters, 9  
and 6 years old," Obama told the AP. "Of course, part of the  
coarsening of that culture is when politicians try to demagogue  
issues to score cheap political points."

"What we shouldn't do is to try to play a political football with  
these issues and express them in ways that are honest and truthful,"  
Obama said. "Certainly, what we shouldn't do is engage in hypocrisy."

Romney himself once indicated support for similar programs that Obama  
supports.

In 2002, Romney told Planned Parenthood in a questionnaire that he  
also supported age-appropriate sex education. He checked yes to a  
question that asked: "Do you support the teaching of responsible, age- 
appropriate, factually accurate health and sexuality education,  
including information about both abstinence and contraception, in  
public schools?"




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