“This war the militiasdiminishes our security,are stunningour standing in the world, our military, our economy and the resources that we need to confront the challenges of the 21^st century. By any measure, our single minded and open ended focus on Iraq is not a sound strategy for keeping America safe. I’m running for President of the United States to lead this country in a new direction.”

Obama is preparing for a trip to Iraq and Afghanistan later this month. He says said he intends to shift some combat brigades from Iraq to Afghanistan if he’s elected in November.

“The central front in the war on terror is not Iraq, and it never was. And that’s why the second goal of my new strategy will be taking the fight to al-Qaeda in Afghanistan and Pakistan.

Obama also pledged to lead an international effort to keep nuclear weapons out of the hands of terrorists and / rogue states to move the US towards energy independence and to rebuild international alliances.