Obama: War Vote Anniversary a ‘Dark Day’

ABC News’ Sunlen Miller Reports: Capitalizing on the five year anniversary of a vote he did not have to cast, Sen. Senator Obama, D-Ill., marks the day Congress voted to authorize the war with an online ad.

Entitled "Blank Check," the ad states that on this day in 2002 Congress "hands George Bush a blank check to wage war in Iraq, setting in motion events that have led to the greatest foreign policy disaster in a generation."

The Senator is seen giving anti-war speech in Chicago in 2002 speaking out against going to war, "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 strengthen the recruitment arm of Al Qaeda."

Connecting some of his Democratic rivals to their war authorization votes, the ad states, "While other Democrats fell in line behind George Bush, Barack Obama opposed the war from the start."

The Obama campingn marks the war vote anniversary this weekend  with a "Canvas for Change"  throughout central Iowa, as part of his nationwide "Turn the Page on Iraq" grassroots action day.