Barack Obama Supports the War in Iraq

Sort of. From Obama calls for reducing gas usage by LINDA N. WELLER:

Concerning the Iraq war, he said he believed "it was a bad idea" nearly three years ago.

"I knew full well what a bad man Saddam Hussein was, but there has not been a case of weapons of mass destruction," Obama said. "We still were in Afghanistan, and we still hadn’t caught bin Laden."

However, with troops now in Iraq, Obama said he does not think the United States should suddenly withdraw its armed forces.

"Once we were there, we couldn’t simply up and take off. We have some responsibility to the Iraqi people and the young men and women who sacrificed their lives, even if it wasn’t a good decision to begin with. We owe it to them to make the best of it."

Obama said the United States needs to pressure the three major Iraqi ethnic groups to come to a "political settlement" so they can form "one cohesive government."

"We also need to train Iraqi troops more quickly than we’ve been doing to replace our troops," he said. "I do think that we can start winding down our troops early next year and stop putting this tremendous strain on our troops and the National Guard and making them serve extended tours.

"I’m not wildly optimistic about the outcome in Iraq, but we can stabilize the situation," Obama said.

I agree in part. We have a responsibility to the Iraqi people and we owe it to them to make the best of it.