[Peace-discuss] Will Americans be chumped by Obama's blackness?

[Randall Cotton]

: [This follows on the point Randall made at Sunday's meeting.  But
Obama's
: probably just saying it to get elected, eh? He'll change in
office... --CGE]

I would like to elaborate on that point I made.

The question, during Obama's very first news conference, came from Jake
Tapper of ABC News. I've clipped below from the transcript. The full
transcript is at
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/11/07/us/politics/07obama-text.html?_r=1&pagewanted=1&oref=slogin

If you would prefer to see the video of this portion of the press
conference (and don't mind sitting through an auto commercial first), see
http://blogs.abcnews.com/politicalpunch/2008/11/obamas-presser.html .

***
Q Senator, for the first time since the Iranian Revolution, a president of
Iran sent a congratulations note to a new U.S. president.
I'm wondering, first of all, if you responded to President Ahmadinejad's
note of congratulations. And second of all and more importantly, how soon
do you plan on sending low-level envoys to countries such as Iran, Syria,
Venezuela, Cuba, to see if a presidential-level talk would be productive?

PRESIDENT-ELECT OBAMA: I am aware that the letter was sent. Let me
state -- repeat what I stated during the course of the campaign.
Iran's development of a nuclear weapon, I believe, is unacceptable. And we
have to mount a international effort to prevent that from happening.
Iran's support of terrorist organizations, I think, is something that has
to cease.
***

Now, first understand there is no hidden prior context here - this was the
first foreign policy question of his first press conference. Everything up
to that point in the press conference was about the economy. That is,
there was no prior mention of Iran or terrorism or nuclear anything. Yet
when Tapper asked about a letter from Iran's president congratulating him
and another about the possibility of envoys to various countries, Obama
brushed these questions aside and went COMPLETELY OUT OF HIS WAY to accuse
Iran of developing a nuclear weapon.

"Iran's development of a nuclear weapon, I believe, is unacceptable."

Obama spoke as if it was well-understood common knowledge that Iran is
developing a nuclear weapon. (compare: "Obama's beating of his wife, I
believe, is unacceptable"). Of course, anyone who's been keeping up knows
that:

1.  The UN's nuclear watchdog arm, the IAEA (International Atomic Energy
Agency), despite extensive inspections, has been unable to detect any
nuclear weapons program in Iran.

2. The whole of the US intelligence community has declared that Iran has
no nuclear weapons program currently and hasn't had one for at least 5
years (as per the last National Intelligence Estimate on Iran). Iran
insists it never had a nuclear weapons program and it has yet to be proven
that it ever did.

Obama's accusation is just as strong, if not stronger, than anything that
ever came out of the mouth of Bush, Cheney or McCain.

ON TOP OF THAT, practically in the same breath, in a pattern we're all too
familiar with, Obama accused Iran of supporting terrorism. Nuclear weapons
and terrorism. The same terrorist mushroom-cloud nexus specter word
association crap the Bush administration used to gin up the Iraq War.

The election is over. He didn't have to say that to get elected. He didn't
have to say that for any reason. No one even asked him about it. He
deliberately went out of his way, prompted only by the mention of
Ahmadinejad's letter, to engage in what is absolutely indistinguishable
from an effort to sell war with Iran in exactly the same way Bush/Cheney
sold war with Iraq.

And he was only elected 3 days earlier. He doesn't even take office for
more than 2 months. Is he just getting started?

And we're giving this guy a break why? Because he's black? Seems to me we
would be railing to the skies if those words came out of the mouth of
McCain (or Hillary) three days after being elected.

Will we let ourselves be chumped into a war with Iran because Obama is
black?

We should call it what it is, complaining loudly to both him and the
public at every opportunity.

R

PS: Iran insists, unwaveringly, that their nuclear work is for power
generation only. Iran, a Muslim theocracy, has also repeatedly declared
(through their supreme leader, Khameini) that for Iran to pursue nuclear
weapons would be contrary to Islam. Their own population also agrees that
it would be contrary to Islam (polling has been done on this). Wouldn't
the religious leadership be setting themselves up for enduring discredit
and condemnation, within their own country and worldwide if they were, in
fact, secretly developing nuclear weapons?

PPS What if Iran isn't, in fact, developing nuclear weapons, and the US
(or Israel or some combination) were to preemptively attack Iran based on
the nuclear terrorism smokescreen that Obama and others are peddling? It
seems to me that could easily be the trigger that causes Iran to embark on
a secret, accelerated nuclear weapons program, plausibly justifying it to
the Muslim world under some interpretation of Islam's provision for Jihad
warfare. The irony would be hilarious if it wasn't so tragic.

----- Original Message ----- 
From: "C. G. Estabrook" <galliher at uiuc.edu>
To: "peace-discuss" <peace-discuss at anti-war.net>
Sent: Monday, November 10, 2008 8:44 PM
Subject: [Peace-discuss] Obama Stifles Hope...


: [This follows on the point Randall made at Sunday's meeting.  But
Obama's
: probably just saying it to get elected, eh? He'll change in
office... --CGE]
:
: Obama Stifles Hope for Change on Iran Relations
: Posted November 9, 2008
:
: After Tuesday’s election, Iranian citizens and officials hoped that
: President-elect Barack Obama’s victory was the beginning of a radical
shift in
: US foreign policy with respect to Iran. Iranian President Mahmoud
Ahmadinejad
: offered a congratulatory statement to Obama, while Iranian MPs displayed
an
: openness to the first significant improvement in relations between the
two
: nations since the 1979 Iranian Revolution.
:
: And there was some cause for hope: Obama spent much of the presidential
: primaries chiding the Bush Administration for avoiding direct talks with
Iran,
: and cautioned against talking about launching attacks on Iran.
:
: But any hopes for major changes in the American stance toward Iran died
pretty
: quickly when Obama publicly condemned the Iranian government, accusing
them of
: developing a nuclear weapon and vowing an international effort against
them,
: which he would not elaborate on until he takes over the White House in
January.
:
: The condemnation has sown pessimism in Iran, and has cost President
Ahmadinejad
: politically as he has come under public attack, oddly from the same
reformist
: faction that has long called for reconciliation with the US, for
overstepping
: his station in offering a hand to the incoming US administration. It's a
limb on
: which the Iranian President is unlikely to go out again.
:
:
http://news.antiwar.com/2008/11/09/obama-stifles-hope-of-change-on-iran-relations/
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