A Call for Action from Team Obama

...the campaign marks fourth anniversary of Iraq war by taking the opportunity to remind voters again that Senator BO was against military action from the get go.
Read release here.

Obama, Snow...'Something Doesn't Add Up'

From AP via WREX-TV

"Critics charge the military is obscuring the actual number of troops wounded in both Iraq and Afghanistan by leaving out soldiers and Marines who suffer non-combat injuries. The most frequently circulated number of those who've been wounded is about 23,000. But when troops hurt in other ways, including accidents, is added in, the number more than doubles to about 53,000. Senators Barack Obama and Olympia Snowe are introducing legislation to require what they call "honest numbers" about the wars' toll. Presidential hopeful Obama says the effects on soldiers and their families is the same whether the soldier is hit by enemy fire, injured in a crash or made sick by service in a war zone."

Now if they could also get pictures to the public of all those flag-draped coffins that are coming back...

The Nation: Obama's Strong Iraq Stance...

positions him as major anti-war candidate instead of John Edwards.

From (The Nation) :

"Obama's move could be devastating to John Edwards. Edwards has enjoyed greater netroots and (arguably) overall grassroots left support than Obama due to his economic populism and call for 40,000 to 50,000 troops to come home. But now Obama has become the first top-tier candidate to set a definite timeline for the withdrawal of the troops. And let's not forget this not-so-small fact-- he's also the only major candidate who opposed the war from the get-go.

Kos is impressed:

This isn't a wussy "stop the escalation" measure, nor some half-measure like "withdraw some troops but not all" (which appears to be the Edwards position).

Even Sirota is pleased, and that's saying something:

The fact that he's doing this is a big deal, and he should be congratulated.

Some pundits will call Obama's move a "gamble," but it seems like common sense to me. After all, American voters made it clear in 2006 that they wanted a real change in Iraq, not Stay-the-Course Lite and certainly not Stay-the-Course On Steroids."

Barack: I was first on Iraq!

The junior senator from Illinois takes the opportunity do a little delineating between himself and the competition. Obama sent out a little e-reminder that he NEVER wanted war in Iraq....unlike a certain other potential presidential candidate- who also happens to be a former first lady.

From: barackobama.com

"As the New Year approaches, we are told that the President is considering the deployment of tens of thousands of additional troops to Iraq in the desperate hope of subduing the burgeoning civil war there.

This is a chilling prospect that threatens to compound the tragic mistakes he has already made over the last four years."

"In 2002, I strongly opposed the invasion of Iraq (Unlike unsaid senator who voted to send troops into Iraq) because I felt it was an ill-conceived venture which I warned would "require a U.S. occupation of undetermined length, at undermined cost, with undetermined consequences." I said then that an invasion without strong international support could drain our military, distract us from the war with al-Qaeda in Afghanistan and further destabilize the Middle East."

And there's more...

"As I said more than a month ago, while some have proposed escalating this war by adding thousands of more troops, there is little reason to believe that this will achieve these results either. It's not clear that these troop levels are sustainable for a significant period of time, and according to our commanders on the ground, adding American forces will only relieve the Iraqis from doing more on their own. Moreover, without a coherent strategy or better cooperation from the Iraqis, we would only be putting more of our soldiers in the crossfire of a civil war."

This missive also comes after former North Carolina senator John Edwards - who has just officially announced he's running for president- staked his position on the Iraq issue.

Getting more interesting.