[Peace-discuss] Arianna, Obama, and the Hollywood ‘Left’

[C. G. Estabrook]

[Justin Raimondo is the quirky Editorial Director of Antiwar.com, a site 
that describes itself as follows: "This site is devoted to the cause of 
non-interventionism and is read by libertarians, pacifists, leftists, 
greens, and independents alike, as well as many on the Right who agree 
with our opposition to imperialism. Our initial project was to fight for 
the case of non-intervention in the Balkans under the Clinton presidency 
and continued with the case against the campaigns in Haiti, Kosovo and 
the bombings of Sudan and Afghanistan. Our politics are libertarian: our 
opposition to war is rooted in Randolph Bourne's concept that 'War is 
the health of the State.' With every war, America has made a 'great 
leap' into statism, and as Bourne emphasizes: '... it is during war that 
one best understands the nature of that institution [the State].'  At 
its core, that nature includes the ever-increasing threat to individual 
liberty and the centralization of political power." Raimondo, who has 
been consistently anti-war, seems to me here to get Obama's false 
anti-war position right. --CGE]

	Arianna, Obama, and the Hollywood ‘Left’
	Wednesday, February 14th in Politics by Justin Raimondo |

Is anybody else as sick of Arianna Huffington as I am? She was obnoxious 
as an ostensibly conservative Republican, predictably bizarre as a 
California cultist, and now that she’s the doyenne of the Hollywood 
trendy-wendy Left she’s even more galling than ever. Check out her most 
recent post on Barack Obama, whose candidacy she’s pushing, in the 
course of which she manages to indulge both her liberal myopia and her 
odd fixation on Tim Russert:

     "Picking up the rhetorical shank bone, and accepting Obama’s 
substance anorexia as a given, Russert asked, 'Is there now a second 
phase of the coverage of Barack Obama where reporters and voters will 
start demanding from him real specifics on the real challenges 
confronting our country and world?'

     "It makes me wonder: don’t these guys own a computer? If they took 
the time to surf the websites of any of the candidates, they’d see that 
the presidential campaign is already awash in real specifics on all 
kinds of real challenges. Indeed, they should go to barackobama.com 
right now and click on ‘Issues.' They’ll see something called 'Plan to 
End the War in Iraq,' which is… a plan to end the war in Iraq. But maybe 
the war isn’t a real enough challenge for Russert."

Really, dah-link, do click on that link promising a “plan to end the war 
in Iraq,” and what do you find? This:

     "The plan allows for a limited number of U.S. troops to remain in 
Iraq as basic force protection, to engage in counter-terrorism and to 
continue the training of Iraqi security forces. If the Iraqis are 
successful in meeting the 13 benchmarks for progress laid out by the 
Bush Administration, this plan also allows for the temporary suspension 
of the redeployment, provided Congress agrees that the benchmarks have 
been met."

So, according to Obama and his Hollywood friends, we have to “redeploy” 
— never withdraw — starting next year, but only if the Iraqis persist in 
failing to be “successful” in meeting 13 mysteriously unspecified 
“benchmarks.” The “redeployment” will end, however, if and when the 
Iraqis start acting like good colonial subjects and kiss our asses in 13 
different positions. And, in any case, we aren’t really leaving, you 
silly goose — that’s what “redeployment” is all about, don’tcha know. 
We’ll always have a “limited number” of troops garrisoning the Green 
Zone, just enough for the Democrats to claim that they’re not “cutting 
and running.” More than enough, in short, to keep the Iraqi government 
on the American leash — and, perhaps, give the insurgents enough of a 
target to emulate Beirut, 1983.

With an “antiwar” candidate like Obama, what do we need John McCain for? 
This “plan” is a recipe for a semi-permanent occupation.

I say send we send Arianna, and a “limited number” of the Hollywood 
Left, to “train” the Iraqis to jump through hoops and leap over 
“benchmarks.” That way we’ll be spared having to listen to her 
cocktail-party smalltalk elevated to the level of serious political 
discourse.

P.S. Oh, yes, and don’t forget Obama’s refusal to rule out going to war 
with Iran (and Pakistan!) …

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