Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
Unless we negotiate a security agreement with the Iraqi government this may be a moot point. Our forces might we asked to leave and it is possible that Iran could be asked to fill part of the void.
Spot on! All these fed injections serve to do is provide undeserved financial relief to bad business banks and cripple our currency's buying power even more overseas.
The majority of this purported 'relief' is what's driving the cost of a barrel of oil through the roof. It's absurd to me that oil commodities trade with a 5 to 7% margin rate (stocks are 50%) when there is so much in reserve crude just sitting in the ground all the while these oligopolistic fat cats rake in record profits and talk only about 'global supply and demand' and free markets 'dems da breaks' cheeky kinda retorts. Buggers need to be put behind bars like Tom DeLay with a bar of soap and a friendly cell mate.
I'd rather pay $4 in gas and see 20% of that go toward tax, then to buy a millionaire/billionaire a new yacht. Oh, when will the *** be up and will the USD be worth anything by the time that it does.
You are exactly right. There are huge petro reserves here in the United States and on the continential shelf. Along the SE coast and in the Gulf of Mexico there are tremendous proven reserves. Coastal developers and tree huggers are preventing US oil companies from drilling off of the NC, SC, GA and FL coast. There are known reserves in the Midwest which cannot be drilled because of the same reasons. OIl shale reserves in the Rockies remain unmined because of enviornmentalist groups. Alaskan wetlands also hold known reserves but certain groups want those areas to remain undeveloped and oil undrilled.
Another reason you failed to mention is the simple fact that no new refinery has been built in the US in almost 30 years. With increased capascity crude could be refined quicker and brought to market faster and perhaps cheaper.
For 20+ years wI have heard every presidential candidate suggest, preach and warn that we have to decrease our use of fossil fuels. But NOT A SINGLE ONE OF THEM HAS EVER DONE A THING! Our dependency on oil is greater now than ever before and becoming stronger every day.
It's nice to talk about alternative fuels. It's nice to speak "green" but people aren't buying it. Even if an affordable alternative fuel were produced automobiles would have to have expensive conversions to use it.
The hybrid cars are selling well but they are expensive and reliability remains q1uestionable. If all cars went hybrid it would still take at least 10 years before the majority of US autos were hybrids.
Clearly Obama has no intention of a quick and total withdrawal from Iraq like so many mistakenly think. The only candidate who has stated that he would do that is Ron Paul.
Here are Obama's flip-flop statements on the subject from his speeches:
1. Nov. 12, 2004: "Once we go in, then we're committed, Once the decision was made, then we've got to do everything we can to stabilize the country, to make it successful, because well have too much at stake in the Middle East. And that's the position that I continue to take."
2. In "The Audacity of Hope" (2006), Obama wrote that "how quickly a complete withdrawal can be accomplished is a matter of imperfect judgment based on a series of best guesses."
3. June 9, 2006: "But having visited Iraq, I’m also acutely aware that a precipitous withdrawal of our troops, driven by Congressional edict rather than the realities on the ground, will not undo the mistakes made by this Administration. It could compound them. It could compound them by plunging Iraq into an even deeper and, perhaps, irreparable crisis. We must exit Iraq, but not in a way that leaves behind a security vacuum filled with terrorism, chaos, ethnic cleansing and genocide that could engulf large swaths of the Middle East and endanger America. We have both moral and national security reasons to manage our exit in a responsible way."
4. March 3, 2007: " That is why I advocate a phased redeployment of U.S. troops out of Iraq to begin no later than May first with the goal of removing all combat forces from Iraq by March 2008. . . .My plan also allows for a limited number of U.S. troops to remain and prevent Iraq from becoming a haven for international terrorism and reduce the risk of all-out chaos. In addition, we will redeploy our troops to other locations in the region, reassuring our allies that we will stay engaged in the Middle East
5. Sept 12, 2007 "The best way to protect our security and to pressure Iraq's leaders to resolve their civil war is to immediately begin to remove our combat troops. Not in six months or one year — now,"
6. Dec 17, 2007: "My position is still a staged withdrawal requiring 18 to 20 months"
7. Feb 19, 2008: "I will end the war in 2009, my first year as your president"
8. Feb 27, 2008: ". . .immediately begin withdrawing U.S. troops from Iraq at a rate of one to two brigades a month for sixteen months, taking soldiers out of "secure" areas first, and "volatile" areas last."
9. March 19, 2008: I will consult with the generals, the military experts on the ground to establish a timetable for withdrawal."
10. And the latest...made June 4 in his AIPAC speech: "I have proposed a responsible, phased redeployment of our troops from Iraq. We will get out as carefully as we were careless getting in. We will finally pressure Iraq's leaders to take meaningful responsibility for their own future." and"My plan also allows for a limited number of U.S. troops to remain and prevent Iraq from becoming a haven for international terrorism and reduce the risk of all-out chaos."
Obama>>>>> FLIP-FLOP ON IRAQ! With either Obama or McCain the US will be there years from now!
Clearly Obama has no intention of a quick and total withdrawal from Iraq like so many mistakenly think. The only candidate who has stated that he would do that is Ron Paul.
Here are Obama's flip-flop statements on the subject from his speeches:
1. Nov. 12, 2004: "Once we go in, then we're committed, Once the decision was made, then we've got to do everything we can to stabilize the country, to make it successful, because well have too much at stake in the Middle East. And that's the position that I continue to take."
2. In "The Audacity of Hope" (2006), Obama wrote that "how quickly a complete withdrawal can be accomplished is a matter of imperfect judgment based on a series of best guesses."
3. June 9, 2006: "But having visited Iraq, I’m also acutely aware that a precipitous withdrawal of our troops, driven by Congressional edict rather than the realities on the ground, will not undo the mistakes made by this Administration. It could compound them. It could compound them by plunging Iraq into an even deeper and, perhaps, irreparable crisis. We must exit Iraq, but not in a way that leaves behind a security vacuum filled with terrorism, chaos, ethnic cleansing and genocide that could engulf large swaths of the Middle East and endanger America. We have both moral and national security reasons to manage our exit in a responsible way."
4. March 3, 2007: " That is why I advocate a phased redeployment of U.S. troops out of Iraq to begin no later than May first with the goal of removing all combat forces from Iraq by March 2008. . . .My plan also allows for a limited number of U.S. troops to remain and prevent Iraq from becoming a haven for international terrorism and reduce the risk of all-out chaos. In addition, we will redeploy our troops to other locations in the region, reassuring our allies that we will stay engaged in the Middle East
5. Sept 12, 2007 "The best way to protect our security and to pressure Iraq's leaders to resolve their civil war is to immediately begin to remove our combat troops. Not in six months or one year — now,"
6. Dec 17, 2007: "My position is still a staged withdrawal requiring 18 to 20 months"
7. Feb 19, 2008: "I will end the war in 2009, my first year as your president"
8. Feb 27, 2008: ". . .immediately begin withdrawing U.S. troops from Iraq at a rate of one to two brigades a month for sixteen months, taking soldiers out of "secure" areas first, and "volatile" areas last."
9. March 19, 2008: I will consult with the generals, the military experts on the ground to establish a timetable for withdrawal."
10. And the latest...made June 4 in his AIPAC speech: "I have proposed a responsible, phased redeployment of our troops from Iraq. We will get out as carefully as we were careless getting in. We will finally pressure Iraq's leaders to take meaningful responsibility for their own future." and"My plan also allows for a limited number of U.S. troops to remain and prevent Iraq from becoming a haven for international terrorism and reduce the risk of all-out chaos."
Obama>>>>> FLIP-FLOP ON IRAQ! With either Obama or McCain the US will be there years from now!
Too bad he is so inexperienced he probably wont be able to do any of that.
Obama is an AIPAC and LIKUD lovin so and so.
He's TOTALLY sold all us progressive's out.
I will tell you what Obama ment by his words. He will be more than willing to lob bombs or missles at Iran rather than troops because thats the democratic way. Send in the missles like Clinton did, never the troops...unless it is a last resort. Ultimately that will lend for a much longer war if started. Because it takes troops to take land not missles or bombs. So if your worried about american lives dont be, he wont be sending troops as his first action, but "everything" to a dem means missles. Dems think that an enemy will just run scared and start waving white flags. Dont count on it. Your more likely just to tick em off more.
If your going to start a fight...better be willing to commit troops, or prepare for a really long war.
Obama has waffled his position on Iraq so many times that he doesn't know what his own position is. Herre is another quote from his Raleigh speech which left supporters scratching their heads.
". . . that is to say, er, it isn't going to be a complete withdrawal. At least not at first. Rapid withdrawal takes time I'm told by our Generals (laughter). That is to say my position hasn't changed. I have called for a staged withdrawal since 2004. Look at the record."
oops Obama's changed again. On CNN he just said he wanted an "immediate withdrawal". He must be slipping in the polls and is trying to rally the peacenicks.
oops Obama's changed again. On CNN he just said he wanted an "immediate withdrawal". He must be slipping in the polls and is trying to rally the peacenicks.
LOL, full time pandering and posturing. Funny how it's always Iraq that is mentioned. What about the OEF mission in Afghanistan, or is it just Iraq used generically to represent the entire theater? Wonder what Sen Obama's feelings are today that the mission is escalating in OEF and that the Britsih have committed to sending more boots on the ground. Quite a few of us really want to know what he really intends to do, especially those of us with scheduled and impending deployments. Of course most of his sound bite are geared to an audience who will never have to wonder about deploying personally.
jesus, dude! two weeks ago, your problem with Obama was that he wasn't hawkish enough. now youre calling Obama a war monster.
Obama makes sweeping promises to end the war in Iraq, either in 16-20 months or 2 to 3 years with a continued presence depending on which version he is preaching.
He never mentions the consequences of extricating our troops.
Radical Islam is waging a holy war against us. They have no intention of ending their war against the West.
Withdrawal will be perceived by them as surrender. The election of a Obama whom they see as a sympathetic "Muslim by birth" will drive them into a bloody religious war among the factions of Islam. Iraq will recede into bloody, sectarian retaliatory violence."
We can no doubt expect more violence against US citizens. Both those traveling abroad and even here again within the borders of our country.
Please register to post and access all features of our very popular forum. It is free and quick. Over $68,000 in prizes has already been given out to active posters on our forum. Additional giveaways are planned.
Detailed information about all U.S. cities, counties, and zip codes on our site: City-data.com.
Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
