Reply #13: Found it here is the full article from my archives. [View All]

[Didereaux]

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Wednesday, Jan 9, 2008Sunday, Oct 7, 2007
Posted on Sun, Oct. 07, 2007
Obama in S.C.; toughens security stance
TAYLOR BRIGHT
Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama said Saturday he would increase troops in Afghanistan and leave a strike force in Iraq to pursue terrorist organizations if he is elected.

"There has to be a time you have to deploy force," Obama told an energetic crowd of more than 1,500 people at Northwestern High School in Rock Hill.

The Illinois senator has relied on his early and ardent opposition to the Iraq war to separate himself from rivals Hillary Clinton and John Edwards.

In an AP-Ipsos poll, Obama trails Clinton by 20 percentage points nationally. In South Carolina, according to a Clemson University poll done last month, he trails Clinton by 10 percentage points.

But he sounded stronger on security Saturday night.

"There's no doubt we would have to go after al-Qaida," Obama said. "And if you start seeing a strengthening of terrorist camps or bases inside Iraq, then we would treat those the same way we should be treating terrorist camps in Afghanistan or along the borders of Afghanistan and Pakistan ... and disarm them."

Obama said he would withdraw troops from Iraq "tomorrow" if he could, leaving an American Embassy and a strike force, while increasing troops in Afghanistan by two brigades.

"I think we can do an orderly phased withdrawal of one to two brigades a month. At that pace, we would have our combat troops out in about 16 months, and what I would maintain is a very limited presence to protect our embassies, to protect our civilian personnel ... and to have a strike force to go after al-Qaida in Iraq or to engage in other counterterrorist activities."

There are currently some 160,000 troops in Iraq and about 25,000 troops in Afghanistan. Obama said he would not keep American troops in Iraq at the levels they are in South Korea and Germany.

During his speech, he also declared the surge has failed in Iraq and he would close the Guantanamo Bay prison in Cuba where enemy combatants are being held.

But, Obama said, he would not use the Department of Justice to investigate the administration if elected. "I don't want to waste time as president spending all our time looking backwards. I want to look forward," Obama said, adding the caveat that if evidence of criminal activity arose, he would expect it to be pursued by the Justice Department.

Obama spoke in front of a boisterous crowd in Rock Hill, receiving loud applause at points in his speech.

"The reason you're here -- let's face it -- is you're sick and tired of George Bush," he said.

He received an equally raucous response when he proposed increasing the minimum wage every year and criticized the No Child Left Behind education program.

"We should be increasing the minimum wage every year, make it a liveable wage," Obama said.

Fashioning himself as a Washington outsider, the first-term senator walked the balance between Washington neophyte and public policy veteran.

The mix easily won over the crowd, who lined up an hour and a half early to see him, as he ended his speech, "Let's go change the world."

"It was wonderful, a life-changing experience," said Karon Page, 31, of Rock Hill.