Obama: "I am trying to get to an endpoint." WaPo says that may be the "quote of the day."

[flpoljunkie]

Obama: What is Success with al-Qaeda and Iran?

Sen. Obama was much more focused in his questions than in last September's hearing, when he delivered a rambling statement. It made me wonder if the prospect of having to run this war in 10 months has concentrated his thinking.

He wanted to know two things: If we are never going to totally eliminate support for al-Qaeda in Iraq, and we are never going to totally eliminate Iranian influence, then what are we really trying to do with those two issues? (Both these problems, he noted, resulted from the decision to go to war, and create "the mess" that Petraeus and Crocker are trying to clean up.) Or are we going to try to stay there for two or three decades, until everything is really solved, he asked?

On al-Qaeda, Petraeus said that we will keep chipping away until the Iraqi government is capable of handling it.

On Iran, Crocker said we want Iraq to have a normal relationship with its neighbor, but doesn't want Iran to be a malign influence.

Obama wound up by saying that he would like to see a timetable for withdrawal, and "a diplomatic surge."

"I'm trying to get to an endpoint," Obama said. "That's what all of us are trying to get to." I think that may be the quote of the day.

http://blog.washingtonpost.com/iraq-debate/2008/04/obama_what_is_success_with_alq.html

[Muttocracy]

1. I simultaneously posted a depressing one the NYTimes chose:

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=389x3130954

[redqueen]

2. I think the two quotes go together fairly well.

[Muttocracy]

4. yeah - I'm not sure of the context of Petraeus'

(haven't had time to read the NYTimes article yet and missed most of the hearings yesterday so I have to catch up).

[redqueen]

7. Here's an excerpt from TPM...

http://tpmmuckraker.talkingpointsmemo.com/2008/04/petraeus_we_havent_seen_any_li.php

[flpoljunkie]

3. How about this quote from Petraeus to Chris Dodd yesterday...

Petraeus to Dodd yesterday:

"Every Iraqi is allowed an AK-47 in his house, by law."

http://andrewsullivan.theatlantic.com/the_daily_dish/2008/04/take-that-dc.html

[flor de jasmim]

5. Can we send the NRA to Iraq?

[islandmkl]

6. yeah...at least the RPG's are optional....

f***ing cowboys playing games....

[peoli]

8. Quote of the day from the man of the year!

[Muttocracy]

9. I think Obama did a great job of narrowing the questions - too bad they still wouldn't answer!

I loved it when Biden jumped in and said "that's not the question!" at one point.

[flpoljunkie]

11. Very Commander-in-Chief like! Photos from yesterday's Foreign Affairs hearing.

News photographers greet Democratic presidential candidate Senator Barack Obama as he arrives to hear US Commander in Iraq General David Petraeus and Ambassador to Iraq Ryan Crocker testify before the Senate Foreign Relations Committee on Capitol Hill April 8, 2008. (Jonathan Ernst/Reuters)


Democratic presidential candidate Sen. Barack Obama and Sen. Bob Casey (D-PA) arrive to hear US Commander in Iraq General David Petraeus and Ambassador to Iraq Ryan Crocker testify before the Senate Foreign Relations Committee on Capitol Hill April 8, 2008. (Jonathan Ernst/Reuters)

[goclark]

13. I didn't hear that - what happened?

[flpoljunkie]

14. There is a link to the transcript in the OP. The pertinent part is excerpted below...

OBAMA: And so my final -- and I'll even pose this as a question and I won't -- you don't necessarily have to answer it -- maybe it's a rhetorical question -- if we were able to have the status quo in Iraq right now without U.S. troops, would that be a sufficient definition of success?

It's obviously not perfect. There's still violence, there's still some traces of Al Qaida, Iran has influence more than we would like. But if we had the current status quo, and yet our troops had been drawn down to 30,000, would we consider that a success? Would that meet our criteria, or would that not be good enough and we'd have to devote even more resources to it?

CROCKER: Senator, I can't imagine the current status quo being sustainable with that kind of precipitous drawdown.

BIDEN: That wasn't the question.

OBAMA: No, no, that wasn't the question. I'm not suggesting that we yank all our troops out all the way. I'm trying to get to an endpoint. That's what all of us have been trying to get to.

[harun]

15. I think it was a great line of questions too

I tried to think what I would ask if I was Obama, he certainly did a lot better than what I could come up with.

He managed to highlight the false argument the Administration is making on the need to stay in Iraq at current levels without sounding like he is disrespectful to the troops.

I thought he effectively showed that setting the bar for withdrawal on: no extremists, no Iranian influence, no violence, functioning western style liberal democracy is not being honest. Anyone who sets the bar that high is doing so just to stay the course and not look foolish, not to actually achieve those objectives. Those objectives will never be achieved.

[knixphan]

23. yeah - I remember that!

Made me think of Obama/Biden as a debate team - unstoppable.

also Boxer.

[bridgit]

10. Yeah, he's "trying"...

[eracerx]

12. Excellent Questions

Too bad there were no real intelligent answers to those questions....

[harun]

16. I think he knew there would be no intelligent answers to them, sort of

a shot across their bow to warn them that those will be the kinds of questions coming once he is their boss.

[AtomicKitten]

17. 5th K&R because we're all trying to get to an endpoint.

[flpoljunkie]

18. Obama is now speaking on CNN LIVE online.

http://www.cnn.com/live

[AtomicKitten]

19. gracias!

[goclark]

24. It's going to be the new cool word ...

"Just get to the end point...."

"Stop going on and on,what's your endpoint?"

The man has such perfection with words. :bounce:

[Adelante]

20. What constitutes "success"?

He zeroed in on the missing piece of the war puzzle.

[ClayZ]

21. K and R

[Oilwellian]

22. Another key Obama question

U.S. AMBASSADOR TO IRAQ RYAN CROCKER: Senator, as I said in my statement, we have no problem with a good, constructive relationship between Iran and Iraq. The problem is with the Iranian strategy of backing extremist militia groups and sending in weapons and munitions that are used against Iraqis and against our own forces.

OBAMA: Do we feel confident that the Iraqi (I think he meant to say Iranian)government is directing these -- this aid to these special groups?

Do we feel confident about that, or do we think that they're just tacitly tolerating it? Do you have some sense of that?

CROCKER: There's no question in our minds that the Iranian government, and in particular the Quds Force, is -- this is a conscious, carefully worked-out policy.

OBAMA: If that's the case, can you respond a little more fully to Senator Boxer's point? If, in fact, it is known -- and I'm assuming you've shared that information with the Maliki government -- that Iran's government has assisted in arming special groups that are doing harm to Iraqi security forces and undermining the Iraqi government, why is it that they're being welcomed the way they were?

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/04/08/AR2008040802607.html

If indeed the Iranian leadership is warmly welcomed by Iraqi leaders while Bush has to be secret about his visits, what does that tell us?