[Peace-discuss] Fw: Message from Senator Barack Obama

[Jenifer Cartwright]

They actually (kinda) answered one of my questions...
 --Jenifer

--- On Tue, 9/23/08, senator_obama at obama.senate.gov <senator_obama at obama.senate.gov> wrote:

From: senator_obama at obama.senate.gov <senator_obama at obama.senate.gov>
Subject: Message from Senator Barack Obama
To: jencart13 at yahoo.com
Date: Tuesday, September 23, 2008, 4:50 PM



Dear Jenifer:

Thank you for writing about the war in Iraq. It is good to hear from you again, and I respect your views.

As I have said, I disagree with the President's assessment of the best way to turn around the situation in Iraq. In escalating this war with a so-called "surge" of troops, the President overrode the expressed concerns of generals on the ground, former General and Secretary of State Colin Powell, the bipartisan Iraq Study Group and the American people. Since the surge began, more than 1,000 American troops have died, and despite the improved security situation, the Iraqi government has not stepped forward to lead the Iraqi people and to reach the genuine political accommodation that was the stated purpose of the surge. 

While I agree with the President and most Americans that a free and democratic Iraq would enhance America's security, there can be no military solution to what is inherently a political conflict between Iraq's warring factions. Our troops have heroically helped reduce civilian casualties in Iraq to early 2006 levels. This is a testament to our military's hard work, improved counterinsurgency tactics, and enormous sacrifice by our troops and military families. It is also a consequence of the decision of many Sunnis to fight 'Al Qaeda in Iraq' and a lull in Shia militia activity. But the absence of genuine political accommodation in Iraq is a direct result of President Bush's failure to hold the Iraq government accountable. 

I completely agree that the oil in Iraq belongs to Iraqis, not American contractors, and the Iraqi people must decide how to explore this resource and share revenues resulting from its sale. As you may know, H.R. 2206, which the President signed into law on May 25, 2007, included important benchmarks for measuring progress in Iraq. Among other provisions, the bill states the importance of the Iraqi Parliament passing and implementing an oil sharing law; H.R. 2206 does not include specific directives on how this revenue should be distributed with foreign contractors.

According to the March 2008 report by the Department of Defense on security and stability in Iraq, the Iraqi Parliament's progress on a package of hydrocarbon laws remains stalled. Negotiations over the content of a hydrocarbon law are increasingly acrimonious due to political differences between the Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG) and the Iraqi Government. The issue is exacerbated as the Kurds have signed separate energy development deals and passed their own oil law. The Iraqi Ministry of Oil has reported that it will stop cooperating with foreign oil companies that have signed separate deals with the KRG. As this matter develops, you may rest assured that I will keep your specific concerns for the equitable distribution of hydrocarbon resources in mind. 

More than five years have passed since the war in Iraq began, longer than World War I, World War II, or the Civil War. More than 1.75 million servicemen and women have served in Iraq or Afghanistan; more than 620,000 have completed multiple deployments. Our military has been strained to the limits, and the cost to American taxpayers has already reached hundreds of billions of dollars. It is time to put real pressure on the Iraqis to resolve their grievances and remove our troops from harm's way.

It is my hope that the President, the Congress and the American people come together in support of a bipartisan resolution of our Iraq dilemma. For my part, I will continue to push for a new course in Iraq that immediately begins a safe and orderly withdrawal of our combat troops, that changes our military mission to focus on training and counter-terrorism, that turns the management of this conflict over to the Iraqis, and that focuses our military efforts on the real threats facing our country. I hope you will stay in touch in the days ahead.

Thank you again for writing. 

Sincerely,

Barack Obama
United States Senator


P.S. Our system does not allow direct response to this email. However, if you would like to contact me again, please use the form on the website: http://obama.senate.gov/contact/



      
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