Barack Obama, the Democratic contender for the US presidency, has said his main priority as president would be to end US involvement in Iraq.

Speaking before an international tour, Mr. Obama said "our single-minded and open-ended focus on Iraq is not a sound strategy for keeping America safe".

In his speech at the International Trade Center in Washington, Mr. Obama said: "This war diminishes our security, our standing in the world, our military, our economy, and the resources that we need to confront the challenges of the 21st Century."

He said the conflict in Iraq must be brought to an end as "the central front in the war on terror is not Iraq, and it never was".

Mr. Obama said that as president he would take the US in a new direction, and a priority would be to finish the fight against the Taleban and al-Qaeda, which has an expanding base in Pakistan.

BBC News: Obama vows to end US role in Iraq

Good for him for saying it. Everything he said was just as obvious four years ago as it is now, so it's too bad John Kerry wasn't willing to make a speech like this during the 2004 campaign.
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Bush signs spy bill and draws lawsuit.

Fortunately, for those of us who don't like the government listening to our phone calls without a warrant, there's software like Zfone. Unfortunately, it's still in beta.
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Yesterday, Congress passed the FISA Amendments Act of 2008, which gives telecommunications companies retroactive immunity from civil lawsuits for their participation in Bush's illegal wiretapping program. The bill also legalizes warrantless wiretapping in many cases.

Needless to say, every representative or senator who voted for this bill betrayed their constitutents and the constitution when they did so. There's nothing new about Congress ignoring the constitution and trampling on the rights of US citizens, but what's especially disappointing about this is that Senator Obama, the presumptive Democratic presidential nominee, voted for it.

Glenn Greenwald at Salon did an excellent job taking apart the ridiculous excuses Obama and his supporters have given for this betrayal.

Meanwhile, the ACLU is suing to stop the government from engaging in the surveillance allowed by this law. I urge you to give them your support.

My "Obama '08" bumper sticker hasn't showed up in the mail yet, and now I'm glad. I can just throw it in the trash instead of having to scrape it off my car.
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Two days ago, the Prime Minister of Iraq (USA Today) said he wants to set a timetable for the withdrawal of US troops. Yesterday, the foreign minister (Washington Post) has said any agreement governing the future role of U.S. troops in Iraq must include a timetable for their withdrawal.

I am sure the United States will respect the wishes of the elected government of this sovereign nation, just like we always do. Right?