[Peace-discuss] Iraq/Afghanistan: A Promise Kept, A Promise Deferred

[C. G. Estabrook]

  The only promise kept by Obama is his promise to continue to commit what 
Nuremberg called the supreme international crime, aggressive war.

The only credit he should get for it is the rights of a defendant before an 
international court, where he answers to charges of war crimes.

For a cogent analysis of his speech, see

<http://meldungen-aus-dem-exil.noblogs.org/post/2010/09/01/the-audacity-of-cynicism-barack-obamas-iraq-speech/>.


On 9/1/10 12:56 PM, Robert Naiman wrote:
> President Obama wants credit for keeping his promise to end the war in
> Iraq. Some credit is due: the President reaffirmed his commitment to
> withdraw all U.S. troops from Iraq by the end of 2011, as required by
> the agreement between the U.S. and Iraq. But only partial credit is
> due, because the war-ending task is very far from complete.
>
> As a candidate, President Obama said that he didn't just want to end
> the war; he wanted to end the mindset that leads to war. While he is
> drawing down from Iraq, he has done little to keep the promise of
> ending the mindset that leads to war. A major component of the mindset
> that leads to war is the belief that Washington can and should
> determine who may participate in the governments of the broader Middle
> East. In both Iraq and Afghanistan, U.S. officials are still working
> to exclude from power people who are opposed to U.S. control over
> their governments or a long-term U.S. military presence. This policy
> is a recipe for permanent war. The example of Lebanon, where the U.S.
> acquiesces to the participation in power of people who are opposed to
> U.S. control, shows that it is not an immutable fact of nature that
> the U.S. must continue to pursue this permanent war policy.
>
> The fact that President Obama has only half-kept his promise indicates
> that while he deserves partial credit, he also needs continued
> pressure. On October 2nd, people from across America will be going to
> Washington as part of the peace contingent of "One Nation Working
> Together" to press the demands that the wars end and that the troops
> come home. Everyone who can go should be there; everyone else should
> help someone else get there.
>
> http://www.huffingtonpost.com/robert-naiman/iraqafghanistan-a-promise_b_702172.html
>
> http://www.dailykos.com/story/2010/9/1/131848/4164
>
> http://www.justforeignpolicy.org/node/696
>
> --
> Robert Naiman
> Policy Director
> Just Foreign Policy
> www.justforeignpolicy.org
> naiman at justforeignpolicy.org
>
> Urge Congress to Support a Timetable for Military Withdrawal from Afghanistan
> http://www.justforeignpolicy.org/act/feingold-mcgovern
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