Obama's Cowardly Betrayal
November 29, 2009 by Michael Leon · 9 Comments
Some forty-five years after the passage of the first civil rights legislation guided into law by JFK and LBJ, the civil rights and peace movements tower as monuments to American progress.
Yet on foreign policy, President Obama’s address to the nation Tuesday will apparently demonstrate anew that not much has changed in the national security state as Obama is insistent that America remain as the world’s worst purveyor of violence. Sending more troops to Afghanistan is not what America needs or wants and one man’s decision on this matter will mark history.
So what explains Obama’s military escalation? A foolish political calculation? Human cowardice in the face of the military-industrial complex? A perceived irresistible array of war lobbyists? An insensitivity to the new generation of wounded veterans he will create?
The answers to these questions are not clear.
What is clear is that this former supporter of Barack Obama has lost some respect for the man and the administration that deserves the strongest condemnation and militant challenge from the American people for his cowardly betrayal.
The military industrial complex remains in charge and the Obama administration lacks the cojones to stand up to it.
We have to be reasonable here. We have to admit that the President and his war council know more than we do about what is going on in western and central Asia. Having said that, I would like him to withdraw our troops out of there, based on what I know of the situation with my limited view.
Lets wander around in this issue for a minute.
What if he has been threatened ever so subtly by the military industrial complex? What if he is in fear of his life? What if he actually believes that Afghanistan is a situation that he cannot leave because in his mind it has direct and immediate national defense bearing on the U.S.?
What if he believes in some way that a limited, quick strike will take out the "Taliban" whoever they actually are because apparently that term is used very loosely throughout the Af-Pak region for anyone with a gun who resists the central government.
What if he has had a mental breakdown that is only now becoming apparent?
What if a NATO ally has threatened extreme measures of some kind if he does not send troops?
What if…what if…what if….
We just do not know his thinking until Tuesday night. Lets wait and hear what he has to say and then wade in with our feelings and opinions. We owe him at least that much.
CWO3 Tom Barnes, USCG (Ret.)
My own opinion is we leave as soon as we can, with out escalating the situation any further.
My other thought is unless Obama is willing to send his girls (when they are of age) to die in Afghanistan for his cause, the don’t send any other mothers child.
Because if he sends in more troops my fear is we will be there for many years.
RMH
I agree with Tom, although I feel it is a mixture of politics and real national interest. There is alot of money in war and military is the one area Republican dont seem to mind spending money on. Right now spending on defense is propping up the economy.
My opinion is that Obama has to do what the MICC tells him, or else… look what happened to Kennedy when he wanted to pull the troops out of Vietnam. And Bob, what happens if Obama’s dau (if he’s Prez and if she’s of age) says “Hell no, I won’t go!”?
One way to get this war over with is remove all Military Troops from Afghanistan and then set Nuclear Bombs in the Tunnel’s and Caves in the Mountains and along the borders and then set them off. ( war over.) No more worry about the middle east.
And where will all that radiation and fallout go? Nuclear winter or ON THE BEACH here we come!
Typical better than the rest, American response. A nuke is the answer to everything. Vinnie boy, you ever been in a war ? If so, have you ever been in a firefight? Have you gone past the ninth grade?
I personally do not think any of these apply to you. Stick to your comics and cartoons.
People like Vinnie are more dangerous than any terrorist. NUCLEAR BOMBS?!? Whatever drugs you’re self-medicating with, Vinnie, GET HELP NOW.
Nuclear weapons. Shudder. Does the phrase “Mutually Assured Destruction” mean nothing to you?
As for the military-industrial complex’s control, they don’t have to threaten or blackmail President Obama, though from watching a number of factors, including the stock market, and the difference in Obama’s appearances, I’m convinced that they’re doing both. It’s only the nutcases who are doing the threatening in public.
The regulatory agencies, and the politicians, and the money that owns them both, are still controlled by the long-term plans for world domination of the Bush “Family.” Remember that the STATED AGENDA of the “family” that sold American weapons to Hitler remains nothing less than global dictatorship. Their sole goal in the middle-east is control of the oil fields.
Also, don’t forget the control of the Zionist / Dominionist expansionists. The money-laundering that goes on through Israel is terrifying.
But yes, President Obama does his legacy no favors when he listens to bushdick’s holdover generals and “business” partners.
THERE IS NO POSSIBLE WAY TO WIN AGAINST THE AFGHANIS. The terrain is too vicious, and they have too much experience in fighting each other.
Get the hell out of Afghanistan. Leave food stores and rebuilding materials. Let the warlords go back to dividing up the spoils amongst themselves and fighting each other.
“Taliban” and “al Qaeda” were inventions of the bushdick regime. They were just another minor sect of malcontents until Chicken George unified them against the USA, and gave them a recruiting tool no amount of advertising could match: the illiterate nose-picker gave them nothing left to lose.
It wasn’t “Taliban” or “al Qaeda” that hijacked a handful of planes. It was a combined and coordinated conspiracy, in which the Bush family, the Likud, and the Saudis were most definitely involved in planning and aiding.
It wasn’t “terrorism” that caused the WTCs to collapse. It was shoddy construction, bad design, and the physically idiotic egotism of two unstable vibration-reflecting surfaces.
No doubt the plan was just the spectacle of the plane crashes themselves. They had no way of knowing how badly those buildings were built and placed.
The video of the crashes was supposed to give the bushdick war machine an excuse to go into high gear, and to distract from the fact that people were already realizing that Chicken George belonged in prison, not in power. It wasn’t intended to cause a “forever war.” The unplanned greater disaster gave them their wildest dreams, and they were quick to seize the opportunity.
Before we start calling President Obama a coward — he clearly is anything but — or accusing him of betrayal, we should make it clear that the big money and bushdick holdovers are not the only ones with a stake in this issue.
If we write letters to the editor, local and national, if we call into talk shows, local and national, if we demonstrate that we have his back, and money doesn’t buy OUR votes — that may give him the solidarity of support to stand up against the “experts,” and say, “Look, *I* didn’t get us into this mess. YOU did. *I* am trying to fix it. YOU keep talking about winning. Well, get over it. There is no ‘win.’ There is only ending the disaster YOU caused, bringing our own people back to their families, and not making any more enemies in the rest of the world.”
Anybody can criticize. We have to be the ones to offer solutions.