OBAMA: "Iraq shows us that democracy cannot simply be imposed by force" --- Take that neo-cons! [View all]

[kpete]

Barack Obama uses UN speech to extend olive branch to Iran
President says secretary of state John Kerry will lead nuclear negotiations and acknowledges US role in 1953 Iran coup

• Obama dismissed the notion of a chess match between the US and Russia playing out over Syria. "We're no longer in a Cold War. There's no great game to be won," he says.


• Obama delivered an apologia for the US role in the Middle East. "The US is chastised for meddling... at the same time blamed for failing to do enough to address the region's problems," he said. He said the US had won a "hard-earned humility" in Iraq, which "shows us that democracy cannot simply be imposed by force." But "we reject the notion that these principles are western exports incompatible with Islam or the Arab world."

THE REST:
http://www.theguardian.com/world/2013/sep/24/obama-iran-un-general-assembly-speech
FULL TRANSCRIPT:
http://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/transcript-president-obamas-speech-at-the-un-general-assembly/2013/09/24/64d5b386-2522-11e3-ad0d-b7c8d2a594b9_story_4.html