Obama’s “Turn the Page in Iraq” planFive years ago, Barack Obama stood up in Chicago and spoke out against invading Iraq.
"What I am opposed to is a dumb war,” said Obama on October 2, 2002. “ What I am opposed to is a rash war. What I am opposed to is the cynical attempt by Richard Perle and Paul Wolfowitz and other armchair, weekend warriors in this administration to shove their own ideological agendas down our throats, irrespective of the costs in lives lost and in hardships borne.”
“What I am opposed to is the attempt by political hacks like Karl Rove to distract us from a rise in the uninsured, a rise in the poverty rate, a drop in the median income - to distract us from corporate scandals and a stock market that has just gone through the worst month since the Great Depression. That's what I'm opposed to. A dumb war. A rash war. A war based not on reason but on passion, not on principle but on politics."
Today, Obama supporters gathered in 18 cities across the United States to rally against the “conventional thinking in Washington, D.C” that led us into that war.
San Francisco D.A. Kamala Harris noted that when Obama spoke out against the war in October 2002, he took any extra courageous stance since he was running for the US Senate at the time.
“He told people that what this country should really be focusing on was the real threat in Afghanistan as presented by Al Qaeda, “ Harris recalled.
Sup. Maxwell described Obama as having" his finger on the pulse of America." “I’m supporting him because he supports what my constituents feel, which is that we need to be out of Iraq immediately,” Maxwell said.
“Once in a generation there comes a leader like Obama who can bring all people together,” former State Controller Steve Westly said. “He may not have the expertise that Washington wants, but he has the experience and common sense that America needs. That’s why a recent Newsweek poll showed Senator Obama in first place. “That’s why he is going to win the primary and restore America to the greatness we should enjoy again.”
Eva Jefferson Paterson, President and a founder of the Equal Justice Society, commented that “here we are standing on the bluest spot in the bluest state, while men and women are dying in Iraq,” as she reminded the crowd that, "Barack Obama was one of the few leaders who didn’t compromise. With Bush beating the drum for a strike on Iran, it's time for a new leader to stand up. It’s an issue of life and death.”
Pointing out that five years ago decisions were made that have led to “19, 20 and 21-year-olds being killed who have just graduated," SFUSD School Board Member Hydra Mendoza said, ”Barack Obama is looking at the bigger picture. How much are we spending in Iraq in a day? How many kids could we educate with that money? It’s sickening. We don’t invest in public education, but we have no problem writing a big check to a place where kids won’’t get educated but are going to get killed.”
Steve Westly and Sup. Sophie Maxwell compare talking points
Emphasizing that Obama supports, “people’s rights to participate in the things they want, including making decisions about their priorities and how their tax dollars are distributed,” D.A. Harris summed things up thus: “The day we elect Barack Obama, we send a loud message to the rest of the world about who we are, and Americans will undo years and years of failed Bush adminstration policies.
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Comments (2)
We have already seen Obama on a backtrack towards "conventional thinking" about the war and our security needs. "Conventional Thinking" should be re-termed "Propaganda", and the job of Obama or Richardson or Edwards or Gravel or Kucinich or Dodd - or even Biden, but forget Hillary* - should be to attack the whole OUTLOOK on world affairs that has been established for us by the pols and the media since the end of World War II.
Attack the abuse of the phrase "national interest" used to stand for "transnational corporate interest" and "our security" meaning being able to launch wars when a neocon feels like it, with no accountability.
The world is at PEACE much more than it is "at war". There will be no large-scale conflicts any further, unless they are PROVOKED by the United States. The "war on terrorism" and the "war on drugs" are two FALSE 'wars' abused to suck money out of our economy to pay for the destruction of democracy here and abroad. Obama (or whoever) need not say so before he** is elected, but once elected they MUST broach a broadside attack on rightwing propaganda to the public and ask people to start paying attention to who says what and who wants what, why.
When people can see "who and the motives behind" issues such as, "Iran sucks and we need to attack them", and see also that this is a media cycle they have learned to "do well" by now, they can learn to tune out the original message and do some metawork of getting rid of the jokers who plague their airwaves with jingoism and BS.
The Democrats are afraid of this meta-discussion, partly for warranted fear that the public has been stupefied too much to understand it. But - it is a NECESSARY thing to confront - expose - and DEFEAT.
* Hillary Clinton shows ALL signs of becoming just another Bill Clinton - who will run with the rightwing lies about "national security" and do hideous things at home and abroad, while being given a pass as "a popular president". See Christopher Hitchens' "No One Left To Lie To". Nothing but "triangulation" from Hillary and her smarm/smile campaign.
** With Hillary unexpected to do any good thing, the rest of the candidates are male.
Posted by eric dynamic | October 8, 2007 02:57 PM
To understand just one huge thing that Clinton did (nearly completing the destruction of Socialist Yugoslavia to make it "pliable" for western economic interests), see "To Kill A Nation" by Michael Parenti. The media showed Clinton as stepping in to fix a "problem", falsely given to the media as Milosevich's intransigence and Serbian atrocities. Clinton deserved a seat in the defendant's chair at the Hague more than Milosevich did. Clinton is no doubt satisfied that Milosevich died before he could present his full defense, which would have embarrassed western leaders greatly.
That's just one incident. Then bombing an aspirin factory for show, pulling out weapons inspectors and bombing Iraq again in 1998 ... people should insist on presidents who don't go around bombing things for "feeling like it". We should subscribe to the ICJ and turn over our war criminals freely, then perhaps we won't create so many more of them.
Posted by eric dynamic | October 8, 2007 03:06 PM