[Peace-discuss] Street on Obama on the war

[Robert Naiman]

Glen Ford of Black Agenda Report on Barack Obama on Counterspin:
"what media mean when they say Barack Obama 'transcends race' "
http://www.fair.org/index.php?page=3001
(goes after Obama on the war too)

 On 11/21/06, C. G. Estabrook <galliher at uiuc.edu> wrote:
> 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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-- 
Robert Naiman
Just Foreign Policy
www.justforeignpolicy.org