SEP 2002: Obama Said The President Had Not Made The Case To Go To War. Obama said, "The president has not made his case for going into Iraq." [Chicago Defender, 9/26/02]
OCT 2002: Obama Said He Was Opposed To "Dumb" And "Rash" Iraq War. In 2002, Obama said, "I don't oppose all wars. What I am opposed to is a dumb war. What I am opposed to is a rash war. What I am opposed to is the cynical attempt by Richard Perle and Paul Wolfowitz and other armchair, weekend warriors in this administration to shove their own ideological agendas down our throats, irrespective of the costs in lives lost and in hardships borne." [Obama Speech, 10/26/02]
OCT 2002: Obama Said That Iraq War Would Require an Occupation of "Undetermined" Length, Cost and Consequences. In 2002, Obama said, "I know that even a successful war against Iraq will require a U.S. occupation of undetermined length, at undetermined cost, with undetermined consequences. I know that an invasion of Iraq without a clear rationale and without strong international support will only fan the flames of the Middle East, and encourage the worst, rather than best, impulses of the Arab world, and strengthen the recruitment arm of al-Qaeda." [Obama Speech, 10/26/02]
FEB 2003: Obama Said Bad Choices Were Made. Obama said, "We've been making some bad choices at the federal level, and we've also been making some bad choices internationally." [Chicago Tribune, 2/17/03]
MAR 2003: Obama Challenged Other Candidates To Take A Position On Iraq War. The AP wrote, "Barack Obama is criticizing the idea of war against Iraq and challenging his Democratic opponents in the U.S. Senate race to take a stand on the question...Issuing the challenge at a weekend speech in Champaign, Obama said he does not oppose war if it's necessary. But he believes Iraqi leader Saddam Hussein poses no immediate threat and that, with Iraq's economy in shambles, he can be "contained" until internal pressures force him out...Obama said candidates wishing to unseat Republican Sen. Peter Fitzgerald in 2004 should speak up now as the Bush administration moves closer to using military force against Iraq. `What's tempting is to take the path of least resistance and keep quiet on the issue, knowing that maybe in two or three or six months, at least the fighting will be over and you can see how it plays itself out,' said Obama, a state senator from Chicago." [AP, 3/3/2003]
MAR 2003: Obama Said It's Not Too Late To Stop The War. "State Sen. Barack Obama (D-Chicago) told the crowd, `It's not too late' to stop the war." [Chicago Sun- Times, 3/17/03]
MAR 2003: Obama Said That While He Questioned Bush War, Supported Troops. "As some of you may know, I've certainly had questions with respect to the administration's foreign policy, but I absolutely agree that the minute that the President makes a decision and that we have our Armed Service men and women in harm's way, that we all have to unify immediately and make sure that they come back as safely and as quickly as possible." [Obama Floor Statement, 93rd GA, 3/20/03, p 219]
MAY 2003: Obama Said Winning The Peace Going To Be A Major Issue. Obama said, "The initial fighting, however, is the least of our challenges with President Bush having embarked on this military action without broadbased international support. Winning the peace is going to be the major issue." [Chicago Defender, 5/3/03]
JULY 2003: Obama Said He Was The Only Candidate To Publicly Oppose The War From The Beginning. State Sen. Barack Obama (D-Chicago), trying to set himself apart from the crowded March 2004 Democratic primary field, said he was the only person in the race to publicly question the war before it started. `I'm the only candidate in this race who stood up and opposed it vigorously and vehemently.' [Chicago Tribune, 7/14/03]
OCT 2003: Obama Continued To Set The Foreign Policy Agenda In Senate Campaign. The Chicago Sun-Times wrote, "Obama, the earliest critic of the Iraq War among those vying for Sen. Peter Fitzgerald's seat, has set the agenda for the foreign policy debate throughout this contest and did so again the other night. He lamented that the Bush administration is spending too much money on the reconstruction of Iraq and not enough in `rebuilding here at home.'" [Chicago Sun-Times, 10/17/03]
OCT 2003: Obama Said That Decision To Vote To Go To War Should Not Be Driven By Question: How's This Going To Play. The State Journal Register wrote, "Obama also said he was one of the few candidates in the Democratic primary to stand up against American involvement in Iraq when it first was discussed. He called the war `dumb (and) political-driven...You need a U.S. senator who's not going to be thinking, 'How's this going to play?' but one who leads,' Obama said." [State Journal-Register, 10/26/03]
DEC 2003: Obama Said Iraq Distracted From The War On Terror. The Rockford Register Star wrote, "On the Iraq war, Obama is strongly critical of President Bush, saying, `We have an administration whose arrogance internationally seems to have no bounds.' The Iraq war `is distracting us from what should be our No. 1 priority, the war on terrorism. There is no connection between Saddam Hussein and al-Qaida.' Obama wants to bring other nations into the terrorism fight." [Rockford Register Star, 12/2/03]
MAR 2004: Obama Criticized Complacent Congress For Not Asking Hard Questions Of The Administration. The Chicago Defender wrote, "`One of the most important things that a senator can do in foreign policy is to hold the administration accountable and ask the tough questions.' He said the senate has a key role to play in advising the president and ensuring that he is answerable to the American people in all decisions. Obama voiced concern about the silence of many U.S. senators who failed to ask key questions such as `How imminent is this threat? What are the weapons of mass destruction? What's the connection between al-Queda and Hussein?'" [Chicago Defender, 3/24/04]
MAR 2004: Rahm Emanuel Praised Obama Position On Iraq. Congressman Rahm Emanuel wrote, "Roeser calls Obama "liberal" for opposing the war in Iraq. But as Obama made clear, he didn't oppose the war because he's soft on terrorism. In fact, Obama supported the attack on Afghanistan because its Taliban government clearly was complicit in the terror activities of al-Qaida. Rather, Obama opposed the invasion of Iraq because he viewed it as a costly and ill-advised diversion in our war against international terror, which would alienate our allies and advance the recruitment efforts of terrorist leaders like Osama bin Laden. Moreover, many leading military figures, including former Marine Corps Cmdr. Anthony Zinni, were against the Iraq War." [Chicago Sun-Times, Emanuel Column, 3/27/04]
JULY 2004: Obama Said He Pointed Out Problems With Iraq In 2002. The Daily Herald wrote, "Even as he issued what amounted to an `I told you so' about his longstanding opposition to the Iraq war, Democratic Senate candidate Barack Obama said Monday the United States needs to keep and increase the number of troops there to ensure a stable democracy...Obama also spent a significant portion of his speech criticizing Bush's go-it-alone strategy in Iraq. He said last week's Senate intelligence report showed the war in Iraq was based on false premises, some of which, he pointed out, he had raised back in fall 2002." [Chicago Daily Herald, 7/13/04]
JULY 2004: Obama Said `I Would Have Voted Not To Authorize The President. Russert asked, "But if you had been a senator at that time, you would have voted not to authorize President Bush to go to war?" Obama said, "I would have voted not to authorize the president given the facts as I saw them at that time." [Meet The Press, 7/25/04]
OCT 2004: Obama Said Leap Of Logic To Connect Faulty Intelligence And Invading Iraq. The Pantagraph wrote, "Obama said Keyes is the one who doesn't understand the problems associated with President Bush's decision to go to war in Iraq. `Ambassador Keyes may have better intelligence than I do,' Obama said. `But the CIA, Paul Bremer, Don Rumsfeld, Colin Powell have all indicated that they could not find a connection between Saddam Hussein and al-Qaida, that weapons of mass destruction are not found in Iraq and so it is absolutely true that we have a network of terrorists, but it takes a huge leap of logic to suddenly suggest that means that we invade Iraq.'" [Pantagraph, 10/17/04]
OCT 2004: Obama Would Have Voted Against The War. The Daily Herald wrote, "If Barack Obama had been in the U.S. Senate two years ago, he'd have voted against giving the president authority to invade Iraq." [Chicago Daily Herald, 10/18/04]
OCT 2004: Obama Still Thinks Iraq War Was A Terrible Idea. The Rockford Register Star wrote, "Obama has long been vocal about his opposition to the war in Iraq. `I still think it was a terrible idea.'" [Rockford Register Star, 10/24/04]
OCT 2004: Obama Said It Is Important To Take A Position And Stick To It. The Tribune wrote, "One of the things I think is important for Democrats to do is to take a position and stick to it as opposed to bending over and then whining about it afterwards...When we do that we look not only weak but also petty and I would rather lose some fights by standing up for something than give in on some issues and then afterwards try to give a hard time to the person who beat us." [Chicago Tribune, 10/26/04]
NOV 2004: Obama Said That He Has Consistently And From The Beginning Opposed The Iraq War. Charlie Rose Asked: On Iraq, you opposed, made no question about it. Would the Democratic Party have been better off if a candidate had from the beginning opposed the war? Obama replied: Right. Hindsight is 20/20. I know what worked for me was consistency in my message...You know, what I was able to say was, I've looked at the evidence. I'm a hawk when it comes to defeating terrorism. I was strongly supportive of Afghanistan. I would have picked up arms myself to prevent 9/11 again. I don't think the president has made the case on Iraq, because I don't see weapons of mass destruction...I said this in October of -- October of 2002, six months before the war was launched. I said, I don't see -- the evidence is paltry about the weapons of mass destruction. I don't see a connection between Saddam Hussein and al Qaeda." [Charlie Rose Show, 11/23/04]
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