"A Way Forward in Iraq"?
By David Peterson at Nov 21, 2006 |
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Among the questions worth asking would be where this particular speaker really truly comes down on questions concerning war, concerning peace, and concerning American Power, above all else?
Is Barack Obama pro-peace? Is he a strict constitutionalist and advocate for international law? Is he anti-war? Or maybe (like roughly 99 percent of the rest of them) just unhappy with the course of the Americans' war over Iraq?
For example, does Obama believe the war has grown "too costly"? And to whom, exactly? To the Americans? To the Treasury? To those who want only to regroup and to fight another war one day again? Or to the Iraqis? To the international order? To the world as a whole?
Or does Obama believe the war to be "unwinable" (let us say) in Henry Kissinger's sense of complete military and political domination of the whole of Iraqi national territory? Or that maybe the current regime in the White House devoted "insufficient" resources to doing the job right? Was the war in Obama's judgment a "mistake"? Indeed. A "tragic mistake"?
Above all: Does the Junior Democratic Senator from the State of Illinois strike you as a bait-and-switcher? (Woodrow Wilson and the 1917 entry into Europe's war perhaps having been the classic example of the bait-and-switch in American history. (Always see "The War and the Intellectuals," Randolph Bourne, 1917.) Though we might also recall the Democrats ahead of the national elections of November, 1964. And what they did to Vietnam as soon as Lyndon Johnson won re-election.)
"A Way Forward in Iraq," Barack Obama, Chicago Council on Global Affairs, November 20, 2006
Barack Obama at the Chicago Council on Global Affairs (CCGA Webpage with videolinks)
Barack Obama On The Issues - Defense (Obama's website)"Obama Urges Gradual Withdrawal from Iraq," Deanna Bellandi, Associated Press, November 20, 2006
"'No good options left': Obama unveils plan to cut U.S troops in Iraq," Scott Fornek, Chicago Sun-Times, November 21, 2006
"Obama helps U.S. focus on constructive Iraq policy," Editorial, Chicago Sun-Times, November 21, 2006
"Obama: Time to stop `coddling' Iraq," Christi Parsons and David Mendell, Chicago Tribune, November 21, 2006
"Obama calls for pullout in Iraq," P.J. Huffstutter, Los Angeles Times, November 21, 2006
"Obama calls for phased pullout," Philip Dine, St. Louis Post-Dispatch, November 21, 2006"Great White Hope," ZNet. August 16, 2004
"Barack Obama and the Clash of Civilizations," ZNet, September 27, 2004



A Dime-a-Dozen
By Kissenger, Clark at Nov 24, 2006 12:55 PM
Friends:
Politicans like this come a dime-a-dozen.
You can keep 'em.
I'm not buying.
David Peterson
Chicago, USA
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Barack Obama, October 2, 2002
By Kissenger, Clark at Nov 24, 2006 11:24 AM
-- Illinois State Senator Barack Obama, speaking at a downtown Chicago rally, October 2, 2002 (as reported in the October 3, 2002 Daily Herald, "300 attend rally against Iraq war," Greg Bryant and Jane B. Vaughn). This is the oldest public record of Obama's position specifically about the looming U.S. aggression over Iraq that I've been able to find reported in the U.S. media.
One interesting question for the gentleman might be: Under which conditions would you support war against the United States?
Presumably his answer would be: Under no conditions.
The follow-up question would be: But then how could you not oppose all war?
It would be a real hooter to listen to the gentleman explain the finer differences between "smart" wars (cakewalks for the Americans) and "dumb" wars (those where the otherwise smart warriors from the States can't kill their targets with relative ease and impunity).
David Peterson
Chicago, USA
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socialist or capitalist ideology apart..
By Kissenger, Clark at Nov 22, 2006 17:08 PM
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Craig
By Kissenger, Clark at Nov 22, 2006 12:16 PM
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democracy to the people
By Kissenger, Clark at Nov 21, 2006 19:18 PM
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You are correct, Barak Obama is a politican
By Kissenger, Clark at Nov 21, 2006 17:26 PM
But is that so bad? If nothing else isn't he an inspiration to African Americans in the United States and by comparsion reasonably good at representing the interests of the Left?
I think this is probably the third time I've seen a znet blog attacking Barak Obama, and I don't think he's what the Left's intellectual energies should be focused against. How far do we have to look to find someone much worse than him, or an issue that's much more pressing?
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