Obama Visits Iraq

By Amy Hart in News on Jan 9, 2006 9:23PM

Senator Barack Obama and other Midwestern senators spent this past weekend in Iraq visiting troops and US and Iraqi officials. It’s not really Chicagoist’s idea of a weekend getaway—we’re more into relaxing on a beach or drinking in a ski lodge, or just plain drinking, which is probably why we will never be senator.

Obama has been against the war from the beginning, and he and Senator Dick Durbin have previously expressed their misgivings about the US’ ongoing role in Iraq. So what strategy did Obama and the rest of the Midwestern gang have for addressing the new Iraqi leadership? “Shape up, or America will ship out.” The tough love approach didn’t work when our parents used it against us when we were teenagers, and somehow this situation seems a bit more complicated than us staying out past curfew.

Obama said “there is not going to be a military solution here in Iraq,” and that protecting minority rights and taking “ownership” of its new government are two areas Iraq needs to work on if it wants to succeed.

It all sounds good, but exactly how will that be accomplished?

Photo courtesy of ABC 7