If you run a tally, Obama's record over the last year shows a remarkable degree of foresight, even-tempered judgment, and a real willingness to make hard calls that aren't the politically popular flavor of the week. Indeed, almost every one of Obama's foreign policy positions has been vindicated....read more | digg story
Robert Scheer, Truthdig, reports: Just great! Nuclear-armed Pakistan is falling apart, Iran’s nuclear program is unchecked and congressional legislation on cooperation with the Russians on controlling nuclear proliferation is now dead in the water. Horrid news except for Sen. John McCain, who thrills to a repeat of the danger lines of the Cold War...read more | digg story
"What just happened? Evidence. A secret that has been judiciously kept for five years just spilled out. All of what follows is new, never reported in any way..."
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CitizenSugar reports: "Thanks to rising oil prices, Iraq will enjoy a $79 billion surplus by the end of the year, according to a report requested by a bipartisan group of senators. While the US has spent $48 billion in American taxpayer money on Iraq's reconstruction since 2005, Iraq has spent only a fraction of its oil revenue on reconstruction projects. And, Iraq spent only 1 percent of its 2005-2007 budget to maintain existing projects already funded by Americans or Iraqis. Thus, preinvasion promises that Iraqi oil money would finance the rebuilding of Iraq have gone unfulfilled...."
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"John McCain made a mistake this evening, which as far as I'm concerned, disqualifies him from being president.� It is so appalling and so factually wrong that I'm actually sitting here wondering who McCain's advisers are.� This isn't some gaffe where he talks about the Iraq-Pakistan border.� It's a real misunderstanding of what has happened in Iraq over the past year.� It is even more disturbing because according to John McCain, Iraq is the central front in the 'war on terror.'� If we are going to have an Iraq-centric policy, he should at least understand what he is talking about.� But anyway, what happened...."
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"In a meeting between US President George W. Bush and Iraqi President Jalal Talabani they discuss what Bush calls 'a strategic framework agreement that suits the Iraqi government.' The push for a deal on a US-Iraq security pact has been stepped up after Washington submitted new, unspecified proposals. The pact would allow permanent US bases in Iraq as well as immunity from prosecution for US citizens. Many Iraqis say this would violate the nation's sovereignty and fear this would leave Iraq under US domination for years. The Real News Network's Senior Analyst Aijaz Ahmad comments."
"The Bush administration will have a hard time extracting a Status of Forces Agreement (SOFA) from the government in Baghdad – indefinitely stationing US military troops in the country just as in Japan and South Korea. Muqtada al-Sadr wants any agreement to be submitted to a national referendum. Grand Ayatollah Sistani has recently been visited by Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki in Najaf. And he practically ordered Maliki to call a national referendum. Now Ayatollah Kazim al-Haeri – the 5th grand Ayatollah of Iraq - has issued a fatwa against the agreement."--The Real News Network
"Olbermann reacts to President Bush's recent interview with Politico.com and online users of Yahoo. Olbermann takes issue with Bush's claim he gave up golf to honor dead GIs ...."As usual, Olbermann shows how well the title "Idiot in Chief" describes the current occupant of the Whitehouse:
"I've seen a lot of sad things in American politics in my lifetime -- the resignation of a president who became a national disgrace after he oversaw a campaign of break-ins and cover-ups, another who circumvented the Constitution to trade arms for hostages, and yet is now hailed as national hero. And those paled to what we have seen in the last seven years -- flagrant disregard for the Constitution, the launching of a "pre-emptive" war on false pretenses, and discussions about torture and other shocking abuses inside the White House inner sanctum.
But now it's come to this: A new low that I never imagined was even possible...."
"The wars in Iraq and Afghanistan ended some years ago. In Iraq, the war ended with the fall of Saddam Hussein's government; in Afghanistan, with the fall of the Taliban government. What's been happening since is occupation and resistance to occupation.
It's always helpful to call things by the right name. One of the ways using the wrong word can trip us is illustrated by John McCain's campaign theme. We have to win the war in Iraq, he keeps saying. Ending a war implies either winning or losing. No such baggage is attached to an occupation. You can end an occupation without either winning or losing. You just withdraw your troops...."
"By undercutting the widespread support for getting out of Iraq, Petraeus did indeed betray the American public, siding with an enormously unpopular president who wants to stay the course in Iraq for personal and political reasons that run contrary to genuine national security interests. Once again, the president is passing the buck to the uniformed military to justify continuing a ludicrous imperial adventure, and the good general has dutifully performed."
"U.S. lawmakers have a financial interest in military operations in Iraq and Afghanistan, a review of their accounts has revealed."
"Not that it should come as a surprise."
"The Bush administration is negotiating two accords with the government of Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki to replace the U.N. mandate for a multinational military presence there that expires at the end of this year." And, Paul Richter reports for The Los Angeles Times: "Senators warned Thursday that Congress would not allow the Bush administration to complete pending security agreements with Iraq without lawmakers' approval, because of concerns that the pacts would tie the hands of the next president."
"Former Secretary of State Colin Powell said Thursday that President Bush's successor will have to come to grips with the reality that the United States cannot continue to keep such large numbers of troops in Iraq and Afghanistan."
Gen. David Petraeus and Ambassador Ryan Crocker’s congressional check-in about Iraq this week didn’t offer much hope for America’s overseas entanglements, and as coverage of the overseas wars wanes, the media isn’t holding politicians’ feet to the fire—or telling the real story about the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan."
"...To these commanders the only real problem was the fact that they had a deeply honorable soldier in their command that was likely to rock the cash cow. Westhusing was so bereft at the realization of his part in this breakdown in the military's code of conduct, and the atrocities carried out in America's name, that he became despondent and finally in June, 2005, he shot himself. It was called a suicide, though there have been some questions raised about it...."
"Neither Clinton nor Obama has a real plan to end the occupation of Iraq, but they could be forced to change position.Art Credit: Print of Pablo Picasso's "Dove of Peace" (art.com)
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This is exactly where we want the candidates: outdoing each other to prove how serious they are about ending the war. That kind of battle has the power to energise voters and break the cynicism that is threatening both campaigns...."
My heart broke todayBy JoAnna Michaels
From the sounds of pounding ammunition and gun fire
In the form of raging words once weakened,
Muted by uniforms and camouflage,
Pinned to taut skin
Flooded by memories of crimson puddles,
Charred flesh ….
And I cried, my brothers, I cried
Pools of salty tears, evaporating
At the bases of magazine stands—
Colorful covers and elusive models,
All knowing, all-telling.
But where are you, brothers, where are you?
My sisters were silent,
Their chords severed by the unknown force
That drives the machine, peddle-less.
Automatic.
March in line!
Hear the voices bark commands!
Watch as the cities fall!
The whispers from your lips
Grip my bones and shake them violently.
Forever altered, forever dismembered—
Begging for attention, admission,
Forgiveness
All leading and weaving through paragraphs
And powerful pauses.
The absence a sure sign,
The shattered pieces of innocence
Sprinkled across tattered flags.
Direct from Project Censored:
- #1 No Habeas Corpus for “Any Person”
- #2 Bush Moves Toward Martial Law
- # 3 AFRICOM: US Military Control of Africa’s Resources
- # 4 Frenzy of Increasingly Destructive Trade Agreements
- #5 Human Traffic Builds US Embassy in Iraq
- #6 Operation FALCON Raids
- #7 Behind Blackwater Inc.
- #8 KIA: The US Neoliberal Invasion of India
- #9 Privatization of America’s Infrastructure
- # 10 Vulture Funds Threaten Poor Nations’ Debt Relief
- # 11 The Scam of “Reconstruction” in Afghanistan
- # 12 Another Massacre in Haiti by UN Troops
- # 13 Immigrant Roundups to Gain Cheap Labor for US Corporate Giants
- # 14 Impunity for US War Criminals
- # 15 Toxic Exposure Can Be Transmitted to Future Generations on a “Second Genetic Code”
- #16 No Hard Evidence Connecting Bin Laden to 9/11
- # 17 Drinking Water Contaminated by Military and Corporations
- # 18 Mexico’s Stolen Election
- # 19 People’s Movement Challenges Neoliberal Agenda
- # 20 Terror Act Against Animal Activists
- # 21 US Seeks WTO Immunity for Illegal Farm Payments
- # 22 North Invades Mexico
- # 23 Feinstein’s Conflict of Interest in Iraq
- # 24 Media Misquotes Threat From Iran’s President
- # 25 Who Will Profit from Native Energy?
"Unlike plans offered by both Democratic presidential candidates, the congressional challengers' plan opposes any residual forces."
Perhaps this collection of writings will help educate and speed the process:"Have justifications for empire begun to lose their hold on our minds?"
"Presidents and prime ministers will lie their countries into war -- but why do We the People keep buying it?"
"Within the Bush administration, the 'military option' remains as popular as ever."
"...Obama offer[s] an alternative path. Ending the war is only the first step. After we're out of Iraq, a corrosive mind-set will still be infecting the foreign-policy establishment and the body politic. That rot must be eliminated.
Obama is offering the most sweeping liberal foreign-policy critique we've heard from a serious presidential contender in decades. It cuts to the heart of traditional Democratic timidity. 'It's time to reject the counsel that says the American people would rather have someone who is strong and wrong than someone who is weak and right,' Obama said in a January speech. 'It's time to say that we are the party that is going to be strong and right.' (The Democrat who counseled that Americans wanted someone strong and wrong, not weak and right? That was Bill Clinton in 2002.)
But to understand what Obama is proposing, it's important to ask: What, exactly, is the mind-set that led to the war? What will it mean to end it? And what will take its place?
To answer these questions, I spoke at length with Obama's foreign-policy brain trust, the advisers who will craft and implement a new global strategy if he wins the nomination and the general election. They envision a doctrine that first ends the politics of fear and then moves beyond a hollow, sloganeering "democracy promotion" agenda in favor of "dignity promotion," to fix the conditions of misery that breed anti-Americanism and prevent liberty, justice, and prosperity from taking root. An inextricable part of that doctrine is a relentless and thorough destruction of al-Qaeda. Is this hawkish? Is this dovish? It's both and neither -- an overhaul not just of our foreign policy but of how we think about foreign policy. And it might just be the future of American global leadership...."
"Donahue was literally the only person I remember on mainstream television who consistently challenged the rationale for war in '02-'03...."
"...In brief, the war has become a national tragedy, an economic catastrophe, a regional disaster and a global boomerang for the United States. Ending it is thus in the highest national interest...."
To Whom it May Concern:As I sit in my cushy apartment in the “war zone” fiddling through the endless bulletins of a fictitious world named “MySpace”, I open one entitled "4000 Service Member Dead" by my friend and testifier at Winter Soldier, Jason Washburn.--J. Michaels
Suddenly, the walls around me are papery thin and not so cushy. Something has come to remind me of the pseudo “bubble” of materialism, capitalism, imperialism, and apathy that the last eight years have so gallantly bread: “Stay indoors….isolate yourself…keep shopping….turn your head and support corporate media”.
When is it enough? When will all of us become so angered that we will demand answers, accountability, and an end to senseless violence? When will the apathy dissipate?
Perhaps we should just smile and give our superficial condolences, explaining to this young man’s family that his death is all in the name of….wait, what was it about?
I encourage all of you to turn off your televisions, put down your Newsweek, stumble blindly to your computers and type in www.ivaw.org. Watch the testimony. Maybe it will be enough to force all of you to take accountability and furthermore, action. After all, when will we grow tired of funerals and folded flags?
