I don’t oppose all wars. What I am opposed to is a dumb war. What I am opposed to is a rash war. ~ Barack Obama

In 2002 before Obama was an US Senator he gave a speech at an Anti-war rally. This speech one of the first glances at his brilliance was a prophetic vision of the war. A total understanding of what we were about to get into. After Sept 11th when anger was at an all time high, I too stood behind president Bush to take out Iraq.

I remember thinking of the first war in Iraq, I laid in my bed scared that a scud missile would fly through my window and kill me and I remember my mother and step father explaining that a war would never happen here. I remember when they tried to blow up the twin towers and I had just got off at that stop on the train a few days prior. I knew of the dangers of US policy yet I still was rash in my judgment and wanted Saddam’s head on a plate.

I remember laying in bed with my ex girlfriend in Bronx NY, and waking up to CNN’s report that they had found Saddam. But then things turned, the war didn’t stop, soldier, after soldier died. The turning point for me was Olbermann’s special comment on 9/11 5 years later and ground zero still being nothing more than a whole in the ground.

Yet only last night did it dawn on me to even or attempt to listen to Obama’s 2002 speech that has bee referenced so many times before and now I am even more in awe of the man. The actual footage of this speech has been lost except for a 13 second clip, but the words are still around for all to read. To view the clip scroll down

That’s what I’m opposed to. A dumb war. A rash war. A war based not on reason but on passion, not on principle but on politics.

On Saddam Hussein

Now let me be clear: I suffer no illusions about Saddam Hussein. He is a brutal man. A ruthless man. A man who butchers his own people to secure his own power…. The world, and the Iraqi people, would be better off without him.

I know that even a successful war against Iraq will require a U.S. occupation of undetermined length, at undetermined cost, with undetermined consequences.

I know that an invasion of Iraq without a clear rationale and without strong international support will only fan the flames of the Middle East, and encourage the worst, rather than best, impulses of the Arab world, and strengthen the recruitment arm of al-Qaeda.

You want a fight, President Bush? Let’s finish the fight with Bin Laden and al-Qaeda,

You want a fight, President Bush? Let’s fight to make sure our so-called allies in the Middle East, the Saudis and the Egyptians, stop oppressing their own people

You want a fight, President Bush? Let’s fight to wean ourselves off Middle East oil through an energy policy that doesn’t simply serve the interests of Exxon and Mobil.

And this was in 2002 the man is a visionary and I urge all who have not read the speech to read it here