[Peace-discuss] Street on Obama on the war

[C. G. Estabrook]

Look what Obama actually says, not how his charm gets the media to spin 
it.  People look at the headlines and say, "Oh, Obama has changed his 
mind and is now for getting out of Iraq, as 61% of Americans are."  But 
in fact his position hasn't changed from what he said when he last held 
a PR-style town meeting in C-U.  Far from getting out of Iraq -- lock, 
stock and mercenaries -- he thinks that the US must retain control of 
the region with its forces and those of others, e.g., an Iraqi 
government that will do what we want.

That's what he calls a "realistic" strategy.  We have to find Iraqis 
"to form a viable government that can effectively run and secure Iraq" 
-- primarily, secure control of the oil for the US. US Middle east 
policy will continue to be what it's been for generations -- control ME 
energy resources, now under the cover of the "war on terror."  He says 
that the US army in Iraq should be redeployed to Afghanistan!

Like his odious views on Vietnam, which Street describes, Obama's 
concern about current US policy in Iraq is that it's draining popular 
support for us imperial actions -- what he calls "hurting American 
[popular] support for international engagement" and "damaging public 
trust in the government"!  So his solution is, not surprisingly, a 
matter of PR.

"Obama said the withdrawal of American combat troops could be coupled 
with a stepped-up effort to train Iraqi troops, with more 
special-operations units working as advisers with Iraqi forces."  That 
was both Kennedy's and Nixon's (and Kissinger's) policy in Vietnam.

"We know [Iran and Syria] countries want us to fail, and we should 
remain steadfast in our opposition to their support of terrorism and 
Iran's nuclear ambitions," Obama said.  He has not retracted his 
position on Iran, which allies him with the right wing of the Bush 
administration: "surgical missile strikes" on Iran may become necessary, 
because "having a radical Muslim theocracy in possession of nuclear 
weapons is worse" than "launching some missile strikes into Iran," as he 
told the Chicago Tribune during his campaign.

"Out now," seems to me to remains the appropriate demand to the Bush 
administration and their Democratic enablers.  Obama clearly doesn't 
support that. But more and more Americans do.  --CGE


Chas. 'Mark' Bee wrote:
> 
> ----- Original Message ----- From: "C. G. Estabrook" <galliher at uiuc.edu>
> To: "Peace Discuss" <peace-discuss at lists.chambana.net>
> Sent: Monday, November 20, 2006 8:34 PM
> Subject: [Peace-discuss] Street on Obama on the war
> 
> 
>> [The strenuous self-promoter Barack Obama offered his wisdom on Iraq 
>> to the Chicago Council on Global Affairs today.  Not surprisingly, his 
>> wisdom differed little from that of the Bush administration, although 
>> he wanted to pretend it did.  Paul Street, recently AWARE's guest, has 
>> a good take on the real war views of this awful fraud. --CGE]
> 
> 
>  Uh oh!
> 
> http://www.cnn.com/2006/POLITICS/11/20/obama.iraq/index.html
> 
> 
> CHICAGO, Illinois (CNN) -- Sen. Barack Obama called Monday for U.S. 
> troops to start leaving Iraq in 2007, arguing that the threat of an 
> American pullout is the best leverage Washington has left in the conflict.
> 
> "The time for waiting in Iraq is over. It is time to change our policy," 
> said Obama, a freshman Democrat from Illinois touted as a possible 
> national candidate in 2008.
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