[Peace-discuss] The War Party Embraces Obama

[C. G. Estabrook]

	Antiwar.com 	
	October 22, 2008
	The War Party Embraces Obama
	Just remember: you've been warned…
	by Justin Raimondo

In the midst of a softball interview with Georgian President Mikheil
Saakashvili, New York Times reporter Deborah Solomon hurls this zinger:

"For all your lofty talk about democracy, last November you shut down the
opposition television station in Tbilisi."

To the oily Saakashvili, however, this is water off a duck's back:

"The interference with Imedi TV was an exception, not a rule. This action was
taken during mass riots when Imedi TV started to incite overthrow of the
democratically elected government. It should be noted that the government did
pay damages."

Do you suppose it would be okay if the FBI barged into the offices of, say,
MSNBC, wrecked the place, hauled Keith Olbermann and Rachel Maddow out of the
studio bodily, and shut down the station – as long as "damages" were paid?

The station, by the way, which was the only televised platform for the Georgian
opposition, has since been handed over to a regime-friendly front man, who just
happens to be an American citizen. Damages were paid, indeed…

This is the regime defended by Barack Obama, as Solomon points out, as well as
(unsurprisingly) John McCain, and that's hardly the only case of bipartisan
fealty to a U.S.-supported dictatorship.

There's Afghanistan, for example, where a young aspiring journalist has just
been spared the death penalty for circulating an article about women's rights,
and given 20 years in prison instead. This is the government Obama wants to
strengthen and sacrifice more American lives for. From the Los Angeles
Timespiece on the trial and conviction by Laura King:

"In a case that has illustrated this country's drift toward a more radically
conservative brand of Islam as well as the fragility of its legal system, an
appeals court today overturned a death sentence for a student convicted of
blasphemy but sentenced him instead to 20 years in prison."

So at a time when the U.S.-supported government is moving rapidly toward a
Taliban-type theocracy – even as that government moves toward some type of
accommodation with the radical Islamic former rulers of the country – Obama is
telling us we must pour more troops, more money, and more of our hopes into the
Afghan front, which has supposedly been "neglected" by the Bushies.

No wonder he's been endorsed by none other than Ken "Cakewalk" Adelman, and
given support (albeit indirectly) by any number of neocons, such as Charles
Krauthammer – who, after pummeling Obama for weeks, has suddenly discovered the
Democratic candidate is possessed of a "first-class intellect and a first-class
temperament," which "will likely be enough to make him president." And what more
proof does anyone need that Obama is a disaster in the making other than that
Andrew Sullivan, the former warlord of the blogosphere, has not only endorsed
him, but fallen head over heels?

Ken Silverstein – Harper's columnist and author of a new book that looks to be
hilariously informative – is scared:

"McCain's foreign policy crew has quite a few cranks (William Kristol, to state
the most obvious) and his policies are generally scarier than Obama's. Agreed.
But having Powell and Adelman sign up with the Obama movement is about as
uplifting as when Obama endorsed ballistic missile defense (the scaled down
version of Star Wars) during the second debate. It's conservatives who should be
cheering."

To which Sullivan adds: "Yes. And we are."

(((Shudder)))

These "conservatives," you'll note, are all of the neo- variety, including
Christopher Hitchens, who has also jumped on the Obama bandwagon, because, as he
quite accurately writes:

"On 'the issues' in these closing weeks, there really isn't a very sharp or
highly noticeable distinction to be made between the two nominees, and their
'debates' have been cramped and boring affairs as a result."

Hitchens happily notes, also, that "the Obama-Biden ticket is not a
capitulationist one," by which he means our foreign policy of trigger-happy
aggression will carry on, as before, albeit fronted by someone with a more
pleasing personality than the Great Decider.

And if you're wondering what motivated a good many of these dyed-in-the-wool
warmongers to suddenly turn on a dime and come out for the supposed "antiwar"
candidate, you'll be on the right track if you consider who else is rooting for him:

"Defendants in the classified-information case involving two former pro-Israel
lobbyists are hoping a change in administrations next year will bring a fresh
review of their prosecution, according to sources on the defense team. The next
attorney general, who will be nominated by Barack Obama or John McCain, is
expected to reconsider the case of former American Israel Public Affairs
Committee staffers Steve Rosen and Keith Weissman, as part of general review of
high-profile legal issues decided by the Bush administration.

"Sources on the defense team have speculated that a possible Obama nominee to
head the justice system could be more receptive to pleas to dismiss the case."

Obama wants to invade Pakistan and flood Afghanistan with yet more U.S. troops,
and he will likely let two spies who funneled top secret intelligence to Israel
off scot-free. Why wouldn't the War Party be perfectly satisfied with the
election? After all, they're done with Iraq, anyway. We're about to be invited
to leave. And he's good – from their perspective – on the Russian question,
which promises to be the key area of future neocon mischief-making.

Our war-birds are naturally migratory creatures, effortlessly moving from branch
to branch, and party to party, with no compunction whatsoever about changing
either their nesting habits or the color of their feathers, so long as their
ultimate goal – promoting conflict, in whatever form – is achieved. Republicans,
Democrats, independents, or whatever: it's the same program, with the same
result – an America perpetually at war, defending and extending the frontiers of
its empire, without regard for the costs, either financial or purely human.

Preoccupied as we are with the spectacle of "democracy" unfolding on the
American stage, we fail to notice the contours of a new world conflict taking
shape far from the media spotlight. From the steppes of Central Asia to the
jungles of South America, the American colossus is being challenged by rising
forces of nationalism, religious zeal, and sheer resentment of the heedless
exercise of hegemonic power that is often mistranslated as "anti-Americanism."
It will take more than the calm reassurances of Barack Obama to still these
tides of discontent and rancor. If he defies the odds and actually makes it to
the White House, Obama will merely put another face on the same old policies,
albeit more friendly and less offensive to our own elites, who would rather not
be so rudely confronted with the ruthlessness of their rulers.

As some of my readers may know, I recently moved to a small town in northern
California, where antiwar feeling is high – and so is support for Obama.
Everywhere I go I see Obama posters, bumper-stickers, etc. Why, just the other
day, a gaggle of peace demonstrators gathered in the middle of the town's main
street, holding up banners proclaiming their opposition to our government's
foreign policy and their support for Obama. "Honk if you're for peace and
Obama!" – and the resulting cacophony was audible for miles. I live next door to
a couple that has festooned their home with peace signs, and their backyard is a
veritable "peace garden," with peace signs sprouting up all over – and, yes,
their car sports an Obama-Biden bumper-sticker. A house sign supporting the
Democratic ticket has sprung up in their front yard, alongside the
rhododendrons. I wonder how long it will take these well-meaning folks to become
thoroughly disillusioned with their messiah. In the case of the more honest and
intelligent, I give it a few weeks, a month or so at the outside. The rest, I'm
afraid, will follow the Dear Leader to perdition…

~ Justin Raimondo

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