Obama Launches Day Of Meetings In Israel

JERUSALEM - Democratic presidential contender Barack Obama held a breakfast meeting Wednesday with Israeli Defense Minister Ehud Barak, the first event in a day packed with meetings and travel across Israel and the Palestinian territories.

Neither man spoke to reporters as they posed for news cameras at the plush downtown King David Hotel before sitting down to a breakfast of smoked salmon and local cheeses.

After the Barak meeting, Obama met opposition leader Benjamin Netanyahu. He was also scheduled to visit the Yad Vashem Holocaust memorial and call on President Shimon Peres.

Later Wednesday he will make the short drive from Jerusalem to Ramallah on the West Bank for talks with Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas and Prime Minister Salam Fayyad. After returning to Jerusalem to meet Israeli Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni, he will fly by helicopter to the southern Israeli town of Sderot -- the target of many Palestinian rocket attacks -- then chopper back to Jerusalem to meet Prime Minister Ehud Olmert.

Obama arrived in Israel Tuesday night from neighboring Jordan and is due to leave for Germany early Thursday.

Read the whole story here.

Comments

[JerryTheAngel]

And McCain and Bush would rather lose thousands of lives and see over 25,000 wounded then to admit they were wrong to invade Iraq. Both of them would rather sacrifice lives and limbs then to concede that the invasion and occupation of Iraq was a terrible plan.

As soon as the Iraqi's made it clear that they were not going to come together and take advantage of Saddam's ouster, we should have been out of there and let them fight it out. Instead both Bush and McCain lied to the American People for months and years about the light at the end of the tunnel that was just around the corner. How dare you question Senator Obama's intentions to get our country out of the biggest military nightmare since Vietnam. HOW DARE YOU .

[marleysghost]

Barak Obama speaks about peace in the Middle Eat and McCain confines himself to touting winning the war in Iraq. These are not the same goals and shows that Republicans, especially those at the top o ftheir own food chain are only vaguely interested in Peace in the Middle East since diplomacy is not in sight - no, Condi is not a diplomat - and would rather feed KBR and Haliburton American soldiers and the Iraqi people to the War Machine as long as they contiue to make a profit on other people's suffering.

[naluca]

Obama "speaks" alot, but has accomplished very little. And saying "I want peace" is a lot different than achieving it. So far, Obama has succeeded only in splitting the Democratic party even worse than it was before he descended from heaven. And as far as "peace" goes, he talks about Afghanistan in eactly the same terms as Bush speaks about Iraq. Another man who listens to his gut and his god, and wants to play soldier. I don't think much of McCain, but at least he has been there.

[karela]

McCain has certainly "been there". He was "there" for 18 years when he was escorting Chalabi around Washington giving him warm introductions to the highest levels of American government. He was "there" when he fought to get U.S. money for Chalabi ($349,000 per month). He was there when he fought with all the power that he's gained to go to war with Iraq based on Chalabi's testimony that Saddam had weapons of mass destruction (and while Chalabi passed top security information to Iran) AND based on "information" gained by torture that also proved to not be true. McCain was fighting for the Iraq war three years before 9/11 and he used the deaths of 3,000 Americans at the World Trade Centers to further his own ideas for war. Iraq never had anythiing to do with 9/11. Apparently, you don't care about women's bodies, their rights to equal pay for equal work and now their right to birth control, but it would be hoped that you feel some compassion for the millions of Iraqis and thousands of Americans whose lives have been lost or harmed beyond measure. McCain is running on war. It's the history he claims and the future he bases his bid for the presidency on. Shame on you for using Hillary's loss as an excuse to cause so much harm. With the critical issues that face America and the world, do you ever examine yourself to see if you have lost your moral bearings?

[Erdgeist]

I had no idea we were in a war. I thought it was an occupation so that as long as we occupy Iraq it is a victory.

[SouthpawSass]

Hey, good point... An "occupation" factors us as being the dominant force, rather than jthe "war" which factors us as an equal accomplice...

[notepad2]

I see the media is still sucking up to Der Fuehrer. (also known by the name Barry)

[DC]

Der Fuehrer means The Leader in German. Nothng more.

[JLee]

Ahhh... your bitterness is like candy. More, please.

[leftLibertarian]

You can't lose a war based on lies.

McCain should be grateful that his friends Bush and Cheney are not in prison for their many crimes thanks to the gutless Democrats.

[BhunduBoy]

Does O. owes something to AI PAC?

[rollingdivision]

So what's more important making sure Bush fails or winning the war in Iraq?

[BrockSampson]

Bush has already failed.
He has failed the troops,the American people and the people of the world.
He has even failed to teach most people what a war is.
The only people he hasn't failed are the terrorists fighting the battle of the economy.

[Torus34]

We have an old saying in my family:

'What Peter says about Paul tells far more about Peter than about Paul."

[Witchitalineman]

This was a horrible thing for McCain to say. It will come back to bite him believe me.

[SouthpawSass]

What is it that McCain feels qualifies him to win wars? Is it his academic record with having graduated 894 in a class of 899? Is it his own failed attempt to bomb the enemy back in '67? Is it his being held captive for 5 years? Is it his political career? Is it his vote to invade Iraq? Is it his wealthy lifestyle that allows him to view the real world from a distance?

What, what is it that qualifies McCain to win wars? I really want to know.

[buzzygirl]

TWO BEAUTIFUL QUOTES OF THE DAY:

"I am always taken back to sort of the core question of humanity that the Holocaust raises. That is, on the one hand, man's great capacity for evil, and on the other hand, our ability to come together to stop evil....... "So despite this record of monumental tragedy this ultimately is a place of hope because it reminds us of our obligations and responsibilities hopefully to raise a better future for our children and our grandchildren."

"May we remember those who perished, not only as victims but also as individuals who hoped and loved and dreamed like us, and who have become symbols of the human spirit."

--Barack Obama on the Holocaust

[BhunduBoy]

"May we remember those who perished" What about the Palestinians who perished. The Palestinians who are still in concentration camps since 1948 waiting to return to their homes?

[markusmarkus]

Amen. Gaza is the new Warsaw Ghetto. Refute that.

[BhunduBoy]

Why the Palestinian plight is not remembered as a "monumental tragedy"?

[SadButWiser]

Because the Palestinians are not human as far as any America politician is concerned. The occupation of their land is no excuse for them to fight the Israelis. After all, the Jewish are the victims of the holocaust, so any injustice they inflict on other people, especially Muslims, cannot be compared to the injustice that the West had inflicted on the Jews.

And America wants peace in the Middle East. Forget it. No justice no peace. Anything else is called surrender.

[DC]

Because Palestinians do not count.

[memphispaul]

So now the McCain campaign is reduced to calling a nominee for POTUS 'Seditious".

Put up or shut up McCain. Push for indictment or surrender yourself to federal authorities for false criminal accusations.

[LiberTLover]

With an economy in shambles, 7000 families a day having their homes foreclosed, 400,000 jobs lost so far this year, crumbling national infrastructure, and skyrocketing gas prices as indirect costs, and $10 billion a month in direct costs, what exactly is being won in Iraq?

[creekside]

The citizens of Iraq and the taxpayers of the US have already lost. if we stop now there is a slim chance that it might be repairable. That would require talking with all factions and all border countries to build a consensus solution. We also would have to convince all the big military hardware and engineering firms that there is profit in peace. I said it was a slim chance.

[imsosure]

McCain is behaving like a loser again. This new MSM catch phrase "gafffe" I guess is a half-hearted attempt to show some respect for the Senator's age. While that's just dandy the fact remains that Obama is at least twice as smart, doesn't make these "gaffe's" and can understand and recall geography, history and speak in a clear and intelligent voice. McCain on the other hand is a pathetic wannabe Bushite who seems to be trying his heart out to make sense of why he's losing and being treated like a rented mule by his so called GOP supporters. Go figure, brains and articulate reason versus the Rudy like GOP opponent who doesn't rant on about 9/11 but instead his WAR experience as if that ought to be all it takes. Not the sharpest pencil in the box there Johnny, keep up the good work of showing your self as the warmonger you truly are, it's working wonders for the Obama camp.