Obama Launches Day Of Meetings In Israel

AP:

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: AP

Comments

[DrittesReich]

It is better to win the election as to win "Bush/McCain personal war"- which should NEVER have been waged, anyways! However if conventional wisdon indicates the rational to wage this war was to take-over the OIL resources of the Iraqis, then every clear minded person should accept, this is a CRIME !

[anons]

O has shown some very un "change" and "hope" colors since gaining the nomination­..the first came with FISA and now his hardline position regarding I s r a el...statu­s quo anyone? 'm a supporter and will be voting for him, but his glow is dimming and hopes for a revolutionary presidency are now in question as far as i'm concerned.

[BarackstarObama]

It looks like a full slate for Barack... looking forward to the reports from all of the meetings.

[Gitmo]

You know it's kind of ironic that McSame would say that Obama want's to "lose' in Iraq when McSame still can't even define what "winning in Iraq" means

[mamacat]

What war? When did Congress declare a war?

[keclxivq]

It would be so nice to know my Country is leading the way to a new and better future or the entire world rather than more death and destruction so that US defense contractors can get rich. Most Americans now realize these wars and conflicts have been and continue to be caused in order for the United States Military/Industrial complex to rule this world. Maybe if we offered hope to these poor countries instead of bombing them our standing in the world would be a tiny bit better.
I tried to imagine what it would be like to have my door kicked open in the middle of the night by men in uniform. Of course they would be pointing automatic weapons at my wife and children as they dragged me away for so called questioning. I would probably be questioned due to some other person's accusations that were brought about by torture which I think we've forgotten is illegal in a civilized world.
I know war is hell. I also know if there is real need for war innocent people will die. That's why we have oversight in this country and put people in jail for false testimony. All except the Bush Administration.

[Pupadup4oBama]

Boggles the mind that nothing has been done to these conmen (and I use the term men loosely).

Your comment is very thought-provoking and sad to think that "there but for the grace of god go i."
I hope we never have to live through that scenario - but if this admin had their way - it probably would be a reality.

[BhunduBoy]

Read the words carefully, and you will realize the Palestinians will not get their rights back. No rights for Palestinians means no peace is possible.

[karela]

The Iraq war is estimated to have cost three trillion dollars when you consider rebuilding the armed forces and caring for our veterans. Imagine how many hearts and minds might have been won if Americans had gone as volunteers with funding from that same amount of money and used our spirit and treasure to dig wells, bring medicine, construct schools, foster jobs creation, build the capacity of poor countries to feed themselves, start irrigation and water conservation projects and a thousand other projects that innovative regular Americans might have thought of if the funding was available. I grew up in and married into farming families. There would be nothing more satisfying to a regular American family farmer then to be able to spend a year somewhere helping people learn how to produce more food on their own land. If we had spent the same amount of money helping people build better lives within their own cultures we would be living in a far different world today. We have spent a vast fortune tearing down just one country when we might have spread better lives for millions of people across continents. In a world where a $3.00 mosquito net can vastly decrease infant mortality and a goat or a cow can mean the difference between wealth and poverty, we spend trillions of dollars on cluster bombs and devastation. Our current government seems to believe that we can kill people into loving us. Obama has a different plan.

[StillAmused]

Any "war" exists only in the addled minds of McSame and the encrusted right wing. To the rest of the world, Iraq is a criminal occupation following on the heels of an illegal, immoral and unprovoked invasion.

Must be a continuing drag on wingnuts, attempting to rationalize and 'win' a war that doesn't exist. There's certain disappointment in their future...

[desthmoneses]

On a completely unrelated side note the British were in Iraq for I beleve 23 years amidst constant uprising and rebellion before they were finally expelled from the country. A long term presence in Iraq like the kind in Germany, Japan, or South Korea is impossible.

[BhunduBoy]

Why do you say "presence" when you mean foreign military occupation?

[Bettysdad]

So Obama would rather do something supported by the overwhelming majority of Americans, than prolong a war only Flyboy and a few friends are excited about>

Yeah, that Obama guy is a traitor.

[abigail1]

exactly. how do they think they are going to get people to vote for McCain by saying that what vast majority of Americans want is bad?

[Pupadup4oBama]

C'mon BD....acco­rding to Cheney - who cares what the majority of American's think - just because polls say it - so what.

[Mort]

The way to "lose" in Iraq is to stay there. This is a centuries old civil war. They will still be killing each other long after we're gone. If they really wanted to improve their situation they'd have done it after we got rid of Sad dam. It's long past time to fish or cut bait.

The honorable thing to do, Mr Mc Cane, would be to respect their wish for us to leave, and do it before any more of our young people are needlessly killed.

[lisakaz2]

And they want us out. Apparently they want their own oil. The nerve!

[NoblesseOblige]

Yes, the nerve of them wanting their own resources. How ungrateful of them!

I reckon they didn't even read the memo from Cheney and Halliburton.

Shame on them!

[Mort]

Just who do they think they are!!!!!

[mcole]

and you know the truly funny/weir­d/terrible thing?

saddam actually had a hold on the violence. he was the only one that actually made them all behave.

where is he now, and who put him there, i wonder

[Triangle1]

Remember when a real WAR meant something? Unless you're one of the unlucky souls over there fighting this mess, it seems like there is no war going on. In every war from Vietnam on back in time, the entire country's conscience was fixated on that one thing. Supplies and food were rationed, TV news played the stories almost nonstop, and men were drafted to fight. Most people are busy chatting online or watching cable tv or shopping or working and pretty much ignoring the whole thing. If you're going to call it a war, the entire country needs to be absolutely galvanized behind the effort. This feels more like a scuffle than a war. I'm going to have to agree with Obama on this one. You're either ALL in the effort, or you're not. Clearly, we're not.

[iswideopen]

John McBush, you have crossed the line with your attacks. Obama wants to loose the war? A traitor? Even you do not believe that. Hopefully, anyone with half a brain will see through you like a pane of glass. You are coming "unglued", and it is showing in more ways than one. Ask for a video copy of the AC/360 show, that would be CNN, of 7/22/08 and watch someone of your own party basically denounce you. I watched, when you were with Chris Matthews at Villanouva University in Pennsylvania with those college students. One of them asked you if you would be running a fair and clean campaign without the usual "republican" nastiness, (words to that effect), and you promised that young man "yes". They all clapped so loudly at your response. So, I guess you have lied again, or perhaps with your recent memory problems, you have "forgotten".

[mari2JJ]

Obama's ideas about the Middle East are new, striking and make a lot of sense. US has always needed to be even-handed in their support of both sides of this issue. We need to recognize the right of Israel to have it's homeland and to be secure while also realizing the sooner that is accomplished for the Palestinians also, the sooner peace will be achieved in the region. it is great to see Obama take this sort of even handed approach. He will also keep his word. All of McCain's attempt to wound Barack fall on the wayside because we all can see the earnest work and thought Obama puts into his assessment of the problem. I can hardly wait for Obama's inauguration!!!

[JoeBlough]

There is no winning or losing in a military occupation. No one will sit across from us at a table and sign the articles of surrender. We will stay there and kill and be killed until we run out of money. Then come home. And that will be that.

[NTO08]

Finally, someone who sees through the BS spouted by both McCain and Obama.

[CaptainHowdy]

What war? I thought that we were involved in a "police action" in Iraq. When did Congress officially declare it a war?

And what exactly does "winning" and "losing" mean?

Inquiring minds need to know...

[toadicux]

Questions like that will win you no friends!

Congresses most important powers were the powers to declare war, issue money, run the post office and build roads. I think they still might build roads. The rest I guess just weren't that important.

Winning is staying forever in our conquered province. Losing is if the adults catch on.

[pfc1369]

Police action?

You are quite a few wars behind times. That was Korea.
Who has ever referred to Iraq as a "police action"?

This "war" has been over since 2003.

Since then it has remained an occupation, the reason for which is either to control the region, or else for no reason whatsoever.

[CindyM2008]

Questions questions. Just sit back, go shopping and don't worry about it.