[Peace-discuss] Bush-Obama terrorism in AfPak

[C. G. Estabrook]

Quite serious people are saying about Obama, "he's only saying that to get 
elected"; "he'll change once he's in office"; and "give him a chance to educate 
himself further and maybe pursue a more benign foreign policy"...

I'm frankly amazed at their ability to ignore what he's said, quite clearly and 
explicitly, about continuing (and expanding) the war on terrorism, backing the 
Israeli government to the hilt, etc.


John W. wrote:
> 
> On Mon, Oct 13, 2008 at 6:08 AM, Neil Parthun <lennybrucefan at gmail.com 
> <mailto:lennybrucefan at gmail.com>> wrote:
> 
>     Show where there is a difference between Bush and Obama on this
>     policy of Pakistan militarism.  If you can't show a difference in
>     the policy, then quit complaining about the equation.
> 
>     Bush has increased military presence in AfPak.  Obama has explicitly
>     stated multiple times that he wishes to do the exact same thing.
> 
>     Show a difference in this policy rather than whining about the
>     characterization and being an apologist for an Obama mass murder.
> 
> 
> This is the third time I've started this same e-mail.  I keep thinking 
> about the two guys whose wives left them and took their kids, then 
> divorced them and turned the kids against them, all while collecting 
> extortionate child support.  Both guys were extremely pissed at their 
> ex-wives, to the extent of wanting to kill them.
> 
> Guy number one actually kills his ex-wife.  He is arrested, indicted, 
> tried, convicted, and sentenced to prison.  (Of course Bush & Co. 
> haven't suffered any of these indignities, but that's immaterial to my 
> argument.)
> 
> Guy number two also wants to kill his ex, but never actually does.  He 
> even buys a gun for the purpose, and makes a few tentative plans, but 
> he's talked out of it by a friend.  Or else he talks himself out of it, 
> realizing that he'd be ruining a great many lives should he actually go 
> through with his emotionally-driven act.  He decides to behave in a more 
> measured and civilized manner.
> 
> Do you see any difference between these two men?
> 
> Perhaps you'd be kind enough to give instances of where Obama has 
> ALREADY committed unjustified murder, so that our fears of the 
> possibility would be more grounded in reality and less in rhetoric.  
> Bush, it will be recalled, actually ordered the executions of a number 
> of death-row inmates while governor of Texas, simultaneously making the 
> statement that "an innocent person has NEVER been put to death on my 
> watch."  So we as voters already had a track record for Bush.  We have 
> no such track record for Obama.  So why not give him a chance to educate 
> himself further and maybe pursue a more benign foreign policy?  Do you 
> have a better alternative, seeing as how either Obama or McCain is GOING 
> to be elected President?
> 
> I don't expect those of you who permanently occupy the moral high ground 
> to understand any of what I'm saying.  You plainly understand more about 
> the complexities of global foreign policy then anyone who has ever 
> actually held political office.
> 
> John Wason
> 
>  
> 
>     Its not the act of seeing with our own eyes alone; its correctly
>     comprehending what we see,
> 
> 
> How wonderfully reassuring it must be to be certain that you, and you 
> alone, always correctly comprehend what you see!
> 
>  
> 
>                         
>          Neil
> 
>      We absolutely have to refuse to attribute any kind of permanency to
>     that which is simply because it is.
>     [angela v. davis, 1944-]
> 
>     Finish each day and be done with it. You have done what you could.
>     Some blunders and absurdities have crept in; forget them as soon as
>     you can. Tomorrow is a new day. You shall begin it serenely and with
>     too high a spirit to be encumbered with your old nonsense.
>     [ralph waldo emerson, 1803-1882]
> 
>     On Oct 12, 2008, at 9:33 PM, Brussel Morton K. wrote:
> 
>     What is also vile is the subject title of this piece, as it equates
>     Bush with Obama.  The equation of Bush with Obama is characteristic
>     of Estabrook commentaries.
>     --mkb
> 
> 
> 
>     On Oct 12, 2008, at 6:13 PM, C. G. Estabrook wrote:
> 
>>     Missile strike reported in Pakistan
>>
>>     At least five people have been killed in a missile attack by
>>     suspected US drones in Pakistan's North Waziristan tribal region
>>     on the Afghan border, according to Pakistani intelligence sources.
>>
>>     The AFP news agency quoted Pakistani security officials as saying
>>     that the missiles hit a compound, belonging to a Taliban member,
>>     late on Saturday.
>>
>>     The US is suspected in at least 11 missile strikes on the Pakistan
>>     side of the Afghan border since mid-August, killing more than 100
>>     people, most of them alleged fighters, according to an Associated
>>     Press (AP) count based on figures provided by Pakistan
>>     intelligence officials.
>>
>>     "Two missiles struck a compound just outside Miranshah," a
>>     security official told AFP on condition of anonymity.
>>
>>     The targeted compound was the residence of Taliban member Omar
>>     Daraz, the official said.
>>
>>     There was no immediate confirmation of the strike from the
>>     Pakistani military or from US-led forces in Afghanistan.
>>
>>     A similar suspected US missile strike on a house in the same
>>     district on Thursday killed nine people including six Arab
>>     fighters, according to security officials.
>>
>>     Orakzai burials
>>
>>     Elsewhere in Pakistan, mourners on Saturday buried victims of a
>>     suicide bombing near the border that targeted anti-Taliban
>>     tribesmen moving to evict fighters from their region.
>>
>>     Asghar Khan, a government official, told AP that authorities had
>>     tallied at least 34 bodies, but that as many as 25 other bodies
>>     may have been taken away by relatives in Orakzai, one of
>>     Pakistan's seven semi-autonomous tribal regions.
>>
>>     Some media reports put the death tally from the Friday attack much
>>     higher.
>>
>>     One unconfirmed TV report late on Saturday said 113 people died in
>>     the bombing.
>>
>>     'Hideouts' destroyed
>>
>>     A security official said that Friday's attack occurred a day after
>>     tribesmen had targeted two hideouts belonging to pro-Taliban
>>     groups operating in the area.
>>
>>     It also came a day after four tribal elders in Bajaur, a tribal
>>     region north of Orakzai, were abducted and beheaded after
>>     attending another pro-government meeting, officials said.
>>
>>     "People will tell you that Pakistan is already in a state of war.
>>     Every day there are suicide bombings," Al Jazeera's Kamal Hyder,
>>     reporting from the North West Frontier province, said.
>>
>>     "The violence is escalating at a time that the national assembly
>>     is not able to come to grips with the situation."
>>
>>     ###
> 
>