Barack Obama says we should withdraw from Iraq so we can --you are sitting down, right? -- invade Pakistan:
In a strikingly bold speech about terrorism scheduled for this morning, Democratic presidential candidate Illinois Sen. Barack Obama will call not only for a withdrawal of U.S. troops from Iraq, but a redeployment of troops into Afghanistan and even Pakistan with or without the permission of Pakistan President Pervez Musharraf.
"I understand that President Musharraf has his own challenges," Obama will say, according to speech excerpts provided to ABC News by his campaign, "but let me make this clear. There are terrorists holed up in those mountains who murdered 3,000 Americans. They are plotting to strike again. It was a terrible mistake to fail to act when we had a chance to take out an al Qaeda leadership meeting in 2005. If we have actionable intelligence about high-value terrorist targets and President Musharraf won't act, we will."
Obama's mention of an "al Qaeda leadership meeting" refers to a classified military operation planned in early 2005 to kill al Qaeda leaders including Osama bin Laden's top deputy Ayman al-Zawahri in Pakistan's tribal regions. First reported in The New York Times earlier this month, the mission was "aborted at the last minute after top Bush administration officials decided it was too risky and could jeopardize relations with Pakistan, according to intelligence and military officials."
In many ways, the speech is counterintuitive; Obama, one of the more liberal candidates in the race, is proposing a geopolitical posture that is more aggressive than that of President Bush. It comes at a time in Obama's campaign when the freshman senator is drawing more financial support from more voters than any other candidate, though he has yet to vault from his second-place position in the polls. One of the reasons for that is that the Democratic front-runner, New York Sen. Hillary Clinton, is seen as more experienced and in some ways stronger, a perspective Obama wishes to change.
Right, Senator. So you'd have us abandon Iraq to almost certain chaos just when we're making real progress, and then you'd invade a sovereign country that's been an ally since 9-11, that has nuclear weapons, that has far more people than Iraq, that serves as our supply line into Afghanistan? And you call Bush's foreign policy incompetent?
Saying something this dumb should sink Obama's candidacy, but there are too many true believers out there for that. Still, Public Secrets feels obligated to give Senator Obama the coveted Lt. General Russel L. Honore commemorative Stuck on Stupid award for the month of August.
Heck, he's now a contender for overall prize for 2007.
LINKS: More at Captain's Quarters, Michelle Malkin, Sister Toldjah,Blue Crab Boulevard, Vodka Pundit, and QandO.
UPDATE: Welcome readers of Stuck On Stupid. (Love that blog name!)
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