[Peace-discuss] Obama's anti-war leadership...

[C. G. Estabrook]

	Obama: Surge Succeeded Beyond ‘Wildest Dreams’
	by FOXNews.com
	Thursday, September 4, 2008

The troop surge in Iraq has been more successful than anyone could have 
imagined, Barack Obama conceded Thursday in his first-ever interview on FOX 
News’ “The O’Reilly Factor.”

As recently as July, the Democratic presidential candidate declined to rate the 
surge a success, but said it had helped reduce violence in the country. On 
Thursday, Obama acknowledged the 2007 increase in U.S. troops has benefited the 
Iraqi people.

“I think that the surge has succeeded in ways that nobody anticipated,” Obama 
said while refusing to retract his initial opposition to the surge. “I’ve 
already said it’s succeeded beyond our wildest dreams.”

However, he added, the country has not had enough “political reconciliation” and 
Iraqis still have not taken responsibility for their country.

Speaking on other national security matters, Obama said he would not take 
military action off the table in dealing with Iran, but diplomacy and sanctions 
can’t be overlooked.

The Islamic republic is a “major threat” and it would be “unacceptable” for the 
rogue nation to develop a nuclear weapon, he said.

“It is unacceptable for Iran to possess a nuclear weapon, it would be a game 
changer,” Obama said. “It’s sufficient to say I would not take military action 
off the table and that I will never hesitate to use our military force in order 
to protect the homeland and the United States’ interests.”

But Obama also warned against the current U.S. administration lumping radical 
Islamic groups together.

“They have fueled a whole host of terrorist organizations,” Obama said of Iran, 
but “we have to have the ability to distinguish between groups. … They may not 
all be part and parcel of the same ideology.”

Obama sat down with O’Reilly in York, Pa., after holding a discussion on the 
economy with voters nearby. The Illinois senator has been campaigning in 
battleground states since accepting the Democratic presidential nomination last 
Thursday at his party’s convention in Denver.

Obama said he “absolutely” believes the United States is fighting a War on 
Terror, with the enemy being, “Al Qaeda, the Taliban, a whole host of networks 
that are bent on attacking America, who have a distorted ideology, who have 
perverted the faith of Islam.”

He repeated his campaign’s foreign policy position that Afghanistan must become 
the “central front” in the War on Terror.

Obama was first asked to come on “The O’Reilly Factor” in early 2007. The 
interview will air in three more parts after Thursday, from Monday through 
Wednesday next week.

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