[Peace-discuss] Making his bones

[John W.]

On Sat, Jan 24, 2009 at 8:23 PM, C. G. Estabrook <galliher at uiuc.edu> wrote:

The thoughtful man of integrity and compassion has killed dozens of men,
> women
> and children this week.  He will kill more next week, and the week after.
>  It
> can be little comfort to them or those who feel for them to know that you
> and
> others are confident that Obama "will not pursue a failed policy as long
> and as
> tenaciously as Bush did."
>
> Especially since the evidence is all the other way. Obama has said,
> clearly,
> that he will pursue Bush's war policy even more vigorously, because the
> "war on
> terrorism" (the lie that Obama has adopted) must be won in Afghanistan.
>  --CGE


Well, I'm hoping that he'll be convinced to change his mind.  That's all I
got, man.  Which is as much as you seem to have.



> John W. wrote:


>  On Sat, Jan 24, 2009 at 5:55 PM, C. G. Estabrook <galliher at uiuc.edu<mailto:
>> galliher at uiuc.edu>> wrote:
>>
>> [Obama killed people this week, as he said he would.  With the acts
>> described
>> below he begins to fulfill his campaign promise and make the Bush
>> administration's killings -- in countries with which we're not as war --
>> look
>> like "baby steps."  I don't know why people don't listen to this guy and
>> believe what he says.  (We got out of the habit with Bush, perhaps.)
>>  Obama
>> seems to trust his rhetorical skills enough to tell the truth -- e.g.,
>> he's
>> going to widen the war -- in such a way that people believe something
>> else.
>> And he, like Clinton, can avoid giving any but the most puerile
>> explanation
>> for the killings -- the "war on terror"! --CGE]
>>
>>
>> That's not what it is, Carl.  Most of the Obama supporters I hear express
>> their opinions - and that includes African-Americans I know personally,
>> and
>> it includes Professors Patricia Smith and Melissa Harris-Lacewell, both of
>> whom were on Bill Moyers last night - aren't terribly enamored of Obama's
>> foreign policy, particularly his view of the "war on terror" and his
>> relatively unqualified support of Israel. But they see signs, as do I,
>> that
>> Obama is a thoughtful man of integrity and compassion who will not pursue
>> a
>> failed policy as long and as tenaciously as Bush did.  As evidence they
>> point
>> to his announcement of the closing of Guantanamo, of the end of torture,
>> of
>> greater transparency and accountability in the executive branch, etc.
>>  Obama
>> DOES seem to still adhere to the notion of Islamic extremists threatening
>> our safety and security, and that of Israel.  And for all I know he does
>> not
>> question our need to control the "terms of engagement", if you will, in
>> the
>> Middle East.  Those of us who have SOME faith in Obama hope that he will
>> begin to employ other methods of engagement with the middle east in
>> addition
>> to military ones, and we hope that as he does so, his more peaceful and
>> conciliatory efforts will bear some fruit.
>>
>> In other words, Obama still has some evolving and maturing to do.  He
>> isn't
>> as old as you, he hasn't gorged himself on the ruminations of Noam Chomsky
>> for years and years as you have, and therefore he can't be expected to
>> have
>> your degree of wisdom right out of the starting gate. It shall be your
>> opportunity and privilege to play a small but vital role in Obama's
>> seasoning, by holding his feet to the fire as you and the journalists
>> whose
>> works you read so faithfully do.
>>
>> John
>>
>>
>>
>> Two US Airstrikes Offer a Concrete Sign of Obama's Pakistan Policy
>> Saturday
>> 24 January 2009 by: R. Jeffrey Smith, Candace Rondeaux and Joby Warrick,
>> Washington Post Staff Writers ...
>>
>
>
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