Barack Obama and Larry King Live

The Swamp

Chicago Tribune


Obama: 'Bad options, worse' in Iraq

Posted by Mark Silva at 6:30 am CDT

"I don't think there are any good options left in Iraq,'' said Sen. Barack Obama, the Illinois Democrat running for president. "There are bad options and worse options.''

The senator made his assessment of the situation in an interview on CNN's Larry King Live last night. ''At some point, you have to acknowledge that the approach we're taking is not working and we have to try a different approach,'' he said. "The president's attitude has been more of the same. ''

See the rest of the interview, here in the Swamp:


From a transcript courtesy of CNN, Obama's appearance on Larry King Live on Monday night:

KING: "Good evening and welcome to another edition of LARRY KING LIVE.

A very special guest, but first, let me thank all my friends, colleagues and others who have written me and sent flowers and the like over the fact that we had very successful carotid artery surgery on Friday, in the hospital, was out on Saturday and back today.

It's that little thing you see here, that's the whole scar from that surgery. I want to, again, thank you so much for your contact to me and for your so kind and generous feelings.

And now let's get to the business at hand. Senator Barack Obama joins us. He's in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma, Democratic presidential candidate, U.S.
Senator from Illinois, and "New York Times" best-selling author.

In fairness, we did invite Senator Clinton and Senator McCain to join us on this, the fourth anniversary of the start of the Iraq War, and they declined.

What does that anniversary say to you, Senator?

OBAMA: Well, it says that we have expended an enormous amount of blood and treasure on what I think has been misguided enterprise and that it's time to bring our involvement there to a close.

As you know, Larry, I've opposed this war from the start. In 2002 and the run-up to the war, I gave a speech saying that this is going to be an open- ended commitment, without any clear strategy for success, and that ultimately it would distract us from the war on terrorism and the need to pin down Al Qaeda and finish the job in Afghanistan.

Unfortunately, that's been the case and now, whether you were for or against it then, I think we all have to recognize that we're not going to achieve a military solution in Iraq, that stability in Iraq is going to depend on political accommodations between the various parties, the Shia, the Sunni, the Kurds.

We've got to redouble our diplomatic efforts internally, as well as externally, and that's why I put forward a bill in the Senate that would start bringing our combat troops home beginning on May 1st of this year, with a target date of getting all combat troops out of Iraq by March 31st of next year.

Continued