DENVER—Rhode Island Sen. Jack Reed used his moment in the Democratic National Convention spotlight to take sharp aim at John McCain’s support for the Iraq war.
In remarks prepared for delivery Wednesday night, Reed branded McCain, the soon-to-be Republican presidential nominee, as one of President Bush’s biggest Iraq war boosters. Meanwhile, he praised McCain’s rival Barack Obama for his early opposition to the war and said he would make a strong commander-in-chief.
“While Senator McCain was a cheerleader-in-chief for the Bush Administration’s rush to a war against a nation that posed no imminent threat, Barack Obama and I opposed the war in Iraq from day one,” Reed said in his prepared remarks.
Reed said that putting McCain in the White House would be like opening the door to four more years of Bush’s policies.
“There is a clear choice in this election,” Reed said. “For eight years, John McCain has fallen in line with every one of George Bush’s national security decisions, and now he offers up four more years of the same failed policies. Barack Obama has proven he has the judgment to deliver the change we need.”
America is spending $10 billion each month in Iraq while Iraqi officials sit atop a $79 billion surplus, Reed said.
“It’s time to responsibly end the war in Iraq, and that’s what Barack Obama will do,” Reed said.
“We cannot keep sending our troops to fight in Iraq, on tour after tour, without a clear mission and a strategy for success,” added Reed. “Our military is overstretched, our military families are overburdened and other pressing security threats go unchecked.”
Reed is a former Army Ranger and member of the Senate Armed Services Committee who had been mentioned as a possible running mate for Obama. He served in the 82nd Airborne Division and taught at the U.S. Military Academy at West Point.
