http://firstread.msnbc.msn.com/archive/2007/01/30/45227.aspxFrom NBC's Ken StricklandSenator and presidential candidate Barack Obama today introduced legislation calling for a phased redeployment of US troops in Iraq to be concluded by March 31, 2008. "The time for waiting in Iraq is over," he said this eveningen-USCommunityServer 2.0 (Build: 60608.1)http://firstread.msnbc.msn.com/archive/2007/01/30/45227.aspx#45609Wed, 31 Jan 2007 02:35:53 GMT8a5d2dbc-a0e4-4c7a-979f-3188051f228e:45609Bernie ShirknessHillory made the statement that President Bush should return troops home before leaving office. Obama's withdrawal of troops literally the same thing. Let's see the next president send our troops home. Guaranteed it won't happen.http://firstread.msnbc.msn.com/archive/2007/01/30/45227.aspx#45693Wed, 31 Jan 2007 04:05:31 GMT8a5d2dbc-a0e4-4c7a-979f-3188051f228e:45693Steve Turner Cedar Falls Iowa"...it is time to give the Iraqi's their country back." -Obama. I agree.http://firstread.msnbc.msn.com/archive/2007/01/30/45227.aspx#45737Wed, 31 Jan 2007 04:44:18 GMT8a5d2dbc-a0e4-4c7a-979f-3188051f228e:45737Earl Stanfield, Santa Barbara, CAObama is on the right track and has a good idea. Now if we could just get him to go live in Iraq, he would be doing some great good!http://firstread.msnbc.msn.com/archive/2007/01/30/45227.aspx#45807Wed, 31 Jan 2007 05:44:07 GMT8a5d2dbc-a0e4-4c7a-979f-3188051f228e:45807Robert CampbellSign the petition www.ImpeachBush.orghttp://firstread.msnbc.msn.com/archive/2007/01/30/45227.aspx#45880Wed, 31 Jan 2007 13:08:21 GMT8a5d2dbc-a0e4-4c7a-979f-3188051f228e:45880Lynette, NYCSounds like a plan, unfortunately it will be tinkered with and won't remain in it's present form, as we all know. Those troops should have never been there so the sooner they come home, the better! http://firstread.msnbc.msn.com/archive/2007/01/30/45227.aspx#45950Wed, 31 Jan 2007 14:28:04 GMT8a5d2dbc-a0e4-4c7a-979f-3188051f228e:45950mikeeg,abdn,waearl stanford i suggest you follow your own advice.http://firstread.msnbc.msn.com/archive/2007/01/30/45227.aspx#45982Wed, 31 Jan 2007 14:52:26 GMT8a5d2dbc-a0e4-4c7a-979f-3188051f228e:45982Olivia, Peoria, Ill.Obama's Iraq resolution is all well and good, but I'm seriously disappointed. Obama's appearance at Monday's Katrina recovery hearing in New Orleans and his touring that beleaguered city had provided hope that New Orleans would after all not be forgotten--that national attention would be renewed to the need to support her recovery. This after a week in which we had witnessed Bush's omission of Katrina from his State of Denial speech and many Democrats acting as "milquetoasts" on this issue which really demands strong leadership. Not to mention new talk that partisan politics had entered into the allocation of aid, which is why Louisiana has gotten less than 50% of the aid although she sustained 80% of the damage including the loss of 80% of New Orleans. Why couldn't Obama have "stepped up to the plate" and offered concrete proposals to cut the red tape holding up aid already allocated and to provide additional aid. About the red tape--Louisiana has a program called the "Road Home" which is supposed to provide funds to homeowners and the owners of rental properties who had been flooded out of house and home to help them rebuild. It's been a monumental bureaucratic screw-up from Day 1. Congress allocated money for this program 6 or 7 months after it had approved funding for a similar program in Mississippi, so Mississippi has a leg up on rebuilding. The Virginia corporation charged with disbursing the "Road Home" funds has been frustrating Louisiana homeowners at every turn. They'd send out letters notifying them they could expect "X" amount of money which the homeowners would anxiously await--only to receive months later new letters informing them that they either would receive less than they'd been expecting, or nothing. To date, very few Louisiana homeowners out of approximately 200,000 have actually received funds from "Road Home." It's time the Louisiana and New Orleans governments, or, failing that, the federal government, found a way to cut through this bureaucracy to make sure the funds get to those who've been waiting for them. Back to Obama--I hope his visit to New Orleans doesn't, as did Bush's several trips there after Katrina, turn out to be a photo-op. But I'm afraid it will--because now that Obama is back inside the beltway, he seems to have put New Orleans on the back burner the way everybody else has. There have been way too many resolutions and other attention paid in Congress to Iraq lately--why doesn't Obama or anyone else there stand up for Louisiana and her urgent need for help?http://firstread.msnbc.msn.com/archive/2007/01/30/45227.aspx#45998Wed, 31 Jan 2007 14:56:28 GMT8a5d2dbc-a0e4-4c7a-979f-3188051f228e:45998CindyYEAH! Someone finally has a plan to get us out of this mess. I really hope Congress listens to him.http://firstread.msnbc.msn.com/archive/2007/01/30/45227.aspx#46050Wed, 31 Jan 2007 15:29:35 GMT8a5d2dbc-a0e4-4c7a-979f-3188051f228e:46050mikeeg,abdn,waOlivea keep hammering away and tell it like it is.http://firstread.msnbc.msn.com/archive/2007/01/30/45227.aspx#46053Wed, 31 Jan 2007 15:30:56 GMT8a5d2dbc-a0e4-4c7a-979f-3188051f228e:46053Michelle, TR, NJUnfortunately, Olivia, the war is a little more important. In my perspective and perhaps it may sound stupid, I think that once we get our men and women out of Iraq we can then ship them to Louisana so they can help rebuild. But first we must get those troops out. They aren't helping any in Iraq but they can definitely help out our own country. I support your cause yet, I support getting our troops out of an unneccessary war. Yes it is unfair that they are spending more and more on Iraq and less and less on Louisana but I guess that's just the way it is when we are in a war. I say we get our men and women back from Iraq and then rebuild the lost lives of Hurrican Katrina!http://firstread.msnbc.msn.com/archive/2007/01/30/45227.aspx#46121Wed, 31 Jan 2007 16:08:11 GMT8a5d2dbc-a0e4-4c7a-979f-3188051f228e:46121kenruss feingold made way very quickly for obama; quickly enough not to get drowned in the instantaneous obama mega-hype. why would nobody back anti-war russ and everybody back obama? what's actually happening is that obama is the stalking horse who is assigned the task of leading the recalcitrant peace left back to the pro-war, imperialist democratic center. we all know obama will fail to get the nom and endorse the real talk-peace-vote-war candidate, whoever it is. so peace as an operant value in democratic party politics is the usual nonstarter. the best strategy is to get national health car in exchange for accepting their neutering on the war. if you believe in peace and they nominate even to the right of national health care- vote socialist or libertarian. it's time.http://firstread.msnbc.msn.com/archive/2007/01/30/45227.aspx#46166Wed, 31 Jan 2007 16:44:26 GMT8a5d2dbc-a0e4-4c7a-979f-3188051f228e:46166Larry LObama's right I can't wait til '08 so I can vote for him and he can turn this economy around. Stupid George had messed everything up we have to be careful that he doesn't try to fix the election again and get re-elected. We have to impeach him it's our only hope if we don't you know he's going to try and be a dictator. His lies have caused so much death and destruction only Hitler was worse. http://firstread.msnbc.msn.com/archive/2007/01/30/45227.aspx#46203Wed, 31 Jan 2007 17:02:11 GMT8a5d2dbc-a0e4-4c7a-979f-3188051f228e:46203Larry LI totally forgot about Katrina that's Bush's fault he's got everyone sooo worked up over the war that we forget about what's happening in our own country Stupid George I hate him! Everything Bush does is to take us away from his real focus to be the dictator of America. Because he makes everyone worry about the war we don't notice that he's taking steps to rule us and then probably the world we need to impeach this monster before any of this happens! Why can't we get Bush out and replace him with Obama it's what 70% of us really want anyway we should do an emergency election after we impeach Stupid George and elect Obama he can get us out of that mess in Iraq. http://firstread.msnbc.msn.com/archive/2007/01/30/45227.aspx#46250Wed, 31 Jan 2007 17:24:38 GMT8a5d2dbc-a0e4-4c7a-979f-3188051f228e:46250OliviaMichelle, TR, NJ--Like you, I'm all for getting our troops home from Iraq. But it will not happen in the immediate future, so the effort on Capitol Hill is wasting time and attention that would better be spent on the urgent domestic matter of rebuilding Louisiana. Reason being, as long as Bush is Idiot-in-Chief and the Democratic majority in the Senate is one (even that's open to question because of Dem. Sen. Tim Johnson's incapacitation), the doofus can use his veto power to block any legislation by Obama or anybody else on Capitol Hill to bring the troops home. So unless a miracle like the impeachment of Bush and Cheney at the same time happens, there's no hope until Jan. 20, 2009, about 2 long years from now, (optimistically assuming the Democrats win--if the GOP somehow wins, forget it) that there will even be a change in Iraq policy. Until the troops can come home, the amount allocated to Iraq should be slashed to the bone so only enough will be sent to support and protect the troops--NOTHING for Iraq reconstruction. Iraq is in a civil war, anyway--anything we rebuild there will just be blown up or knocked down and need to be rebuilt again. Do you think a never-used camp for housing Iraqi police trainers, featuring an Olympic-sized swimming pool, would be more important than rebuilding Louisiana? That's an example of the waste and fraud from a 579-page report on how the $300 BILLION this country has blown on Iraq so far has been spent. Louisiana does not have until Jan. 20, 2009--New Orleans on her deathbed NOW. And Louisiana herself is fighting for her very survival. If Obama and other linguini-spined Democrats wave the white flag by keeping New Orleans on the back burner in her hour of need, the sacrifice of Louisiana will be on their conscience. They will, like Bush, have made the Faustian bargain of choosing Iraq over New Orleans. The other day Sen. Mary Landrieu made a controversial remark to the effect that she almost wished terrorists instead of Katrina had destroyed New Orleans' levees, because New Orleans and Louisiana would be getting more attention and help today. Her cry for help raised a few eyebrows (per The Dead Pelican, Louisiana's answer to the Drudge Report), but was right on the money. Have you ever noticed how the Bush Administration and the drive-by media will sit up and take notice every time someone cries "terrorism"? Maybe Louisiana officials should have claimed that terrorists had blasted the levees. Because of the impossibility of bringing the troops home in the near future, why not wait until closer to the 2008 election to work towards bringing about their return, and attend to what needs doing now--rebuilding Louisiana? http://firstread.msnbc.msn.com/archive/2007/01/30/45227.aspx#46466Wed, 31 Jan 2007 19:28:28 GMT8a5d2dbc-a0e4-4c7a-979f-3188051f228e:46466leslie houston Who ever said obama should go live in iraq is a racist idiot . And although i dont think it is likely ,but obama can win i believe . And there is poll evedince to show this ,and that shows how far this country has come in a short time . no thanks to idiots like earl.http://firstread.msnbc.msn.com/archive/2007/01/30/45227.aspx#46819Thu, 01 Feb 2007 00:25:17 GMT8a5d2dbc-a0e4-4c7a-979f-3188051f228e:46819Jim, Santa CruzWhat is our current plan for Iraq? Maybe I've been watching too much Sponge Bob and haven't tuned into Fox news enough, so could someone please give me a short synopsis of the official plan for Iraq?http://firstread.msnbc.msn.com/archive/2007/01/30/45227.aspx#53900Sat, 10 Feb 2007 23:33:57 GMT8a5d2dbc-a0e4-4c7a-979f-3188051f228e:53900John Doe, NJAnyone who is sympathetic towards Obama is having the wool pulled right over their eyes. Obama was schooled in fundamentalist Islam schools, is deeply connected to the Nation of Islam, and masquerades as a Christian in order to appeal to a different demographic. Not only that, but he did admit to smoking crack. He would pull the US out of the volatile Middle East in a moment to save his "muslim brothers," not to save US taxpayer dollars or US lives. I wouldn't be surprised to see him pull a Keith Ellison if elected to the position of President.. http://firstread.msnbc.msn.com/archive/2007/01/30/45227.aspx#53927Sun, 11 Feb 2007 01:55:28 GMT8a5d2dbc-a0e4-4c7a-979f-3188051f228e:53927Neal Stokes, American Fork UtahUnfortunately, like all of the other plans, he does not say how he is going to get the troops home. There should be a concrete plan with all of the details, not just their want to get the troops home, but how. And the issue is not just getting the troops home, it is finishing what we started AND getting the troops home as soon as possible.http://firstread.msnbc.msn.com/archive/2007/01/30/45227.aspx#218150Fri, 08 Jun 2007 14:17:26 GMT8a5d2dbc-a0e4-4c7a-979f-3188051f228e:218150Dawlee, lagos, Nigeriawhats wrong with a muslim becomin president of America. i dont know if he is a muslom, but i do hope he is. it is high time a muslim shows America how to run a proper government. you guys ignorantly believe that muslims are violent. everywhere you hear them say radical islam.dont u guys know better than condemning a religion simply because some few so called muslims are goin against its principles.