President Obama, let's talk

I am taking excerpts from President Obama's speech tonight and adding my "conversation" with him.
My comments have this symbol  >>>> in front of them.

So tonight, I am announcing that the American combat mission in Iraq has ended. Operation Iraqi Freedom is over, and the Iraqi people now have lead responsibility for the security of their country.

This was my pledge to the American people as a candidate for this office. Last February, I announced a plan that would bring our combat brigades out of Iraq, while redoubling our efforts to strengthen Iraq’s Security Forces and support its government and people. That is what we have done. We have removed nearly 100,000 U.S. troops from Iraq.  We have closed or transferred hundreds of bases to the Iraqis. And we have moved millions of pieces of equipment out of Iraq.

>>>> Please excuse me if I don't break into rousing applause. You may have removed nearly 100,000 troops from Iran, but you have also added about 100,000 troops in Afghanistan. Pardon me for stating the obvious, but moving about the same # of troops from A to B is not exactly ending wars- let's call it what it is- Shifting wars from one country to another. Also leaving 50,000 troops means 50,000 people are still in harms way, and still costing the US taxpayer a lot of coin. 

Furthermore, that Executive Order to shut down Gitmo prison within 1 year. Still did not happen. To quote something you said: 

"You can put lipstick on a pig, but it's still a pig".

I am mindful that the Iraq War has been a contentious issue at home. Here, too, it is time to turn the page. This afternoon, I spoke to former President George W. Bush. It’s well known that he and I disagreed about the war from its outset. Yet no one could doubt President Bush’s support for our troops, or his love of country and commitment to our security.

>>>> Seriously? For the record I absolutely doubt G. W. Bush's intent. He railroaded us into a fabricated war of choice based on lies. He put every one of those soldiers in harm's way. He himself never served in active combat. The troops were nothing but pawns for big oil, & money for war profiteers. It was a risk he was willing for them to take. 

If you love your country, you do not trash it's Constitution, and break scores of laws, both domestic & International. 

If there was any handholding going on, it appeared to be with the Saudi Prince Abdullah. Let's be clear- Bush supported big oil for the wealthy. While refusing to allow filming of the returning caskets of soldiers to U. S. soil, Bush claimed to have made this ruling out of respect, but clearly it was just another strategy to whitewash any negative publicity of this war of choice. 

We were told lie after lie. We're winning. The insurgents are in their last throes. We are just going to free the country of the brutal dictator. MIssion Accomplished. Just going to install democracy by gunpoint. We will be greeted with open arms as liberators...

But it was worse than that....

Here we were all riled up about Weapons of Mass destruction & chemical weapons, mushroom clouds... while WE were firing Depleted Uranium chemicals in Iraq-exposing both the Iraqis & the U.S. Soldiers present. 

For the record I have a long list of doubts-- and nothing but doubts. The only thing I have doubts about is why the man is not currently in prison. 

"Americans across the political spectrum supported the use of force against those who attacked us on 9/11."

>>>> I am not one of those Americans. Besides, Iraq did not attack the US on 9/11. These wars are not in my name. 

In closing I am quoting Juan Cole:

" We cannot undo what has been done. We cannot pretend that the United States did not violate the United Nations charter and the Geneva Conventions. But we can make amends. We can seek redemption as a nation. And our salvation lies in forswearing permanent war, aggressive war, undeclared war, and police actions as a way of life. A new century beckons. Some sought to make it a new American century. It will inevitably, however, be an Asian century, a century marking the emergence on the world stage of China and India. The United States will be among the smaller of the powers in this new geopolitical framework and it may not have the biggest or the most dynamic economy. The best guarantee of the peace and security of Americans is not international anarchy and aggressive warfare, but world order and the international rule of law. We shall seek our redemption by redoubling our support of the United Nations and our commitment to collective security and human rights. We shall return to the ideals enunciated by Dwight D. Eisenhower in 1957, to the ideals of the man who actually led the defeat of fascism and who knew right from wrong, unlike our latter-day politicians.

We shall inscribe in our hearts and exemplify in our lives these words of his:

“If the United Nations once admits that international dispute can be settled by using force, then we will have destroyed the very foundation of the organization, and our best hope of establishing a real world order. That would be a disaster for us all . . ."

Click here to read the entire article. 

In closing, Mr. President, I don't want to be one of those people who will always think everything you do is wrong. Getting troops out of Iraq is a good step, it is. But moving them do a different country, in a place historically unwinnable, as well as drifting over to yet another country w weaponry & death- in Pakistan, is not going unnoticed. 

This is a step in the right direction-- but you are nowhere near having earned that Nobel Peace Prize just yet. I hope you hurry up and get this country out of the Afghanistan War, get all the troops out of Iraq,  and your legacy is that you were the President who ended both wars George Bush, the reckless, and ruthless crimes against humanity President started.
Because the moment you took Presidency & continued to perpetuate & escalate any war anywhere, they became YOUR wars. They are yours to stop- entirely.