Obama the War Candidate

I recently saw an ad for a tee-shirt with the word "Obama" on it. The O in Obama was a peace symbol. This is sad, because it means that either the maker or the buyer of this garment somehow see Obama as a man of peace. He is not. If it wasn't clear before his Iraq trip that he is not the peace candidate, it ought to be clear now.

Yes, Obama wants to reduce troop commitments to Iraq. He doesn't want to get them all out of the country: that is, practically speaking, he still favours occupation of Iraq. He want to reduce troop levels in Iraq so that he can increase troop levels in Afghanistan. It's not enough for Obama for the US to be deep in the quagmire of Iraq. He wants to get into a place that's been bad news for invaders (and yes, the "Coalition" or NATO are invaders) for centuries.

The Afghan War and Occupation is no more righteous a conflict than the Iraq Occupation. Indeed, the heavy hand of the US military has been involved in several atrocities, the latest of which is the bombing of a wedding party (or shall I say, another wedding party). This sort of thing is the makes Uncle Sam the best recruiting sergeant any anti-American organisation could ever want. Boondoggles like the Iraq and Afghanistan Occupations are often touted as "hearts and minds" efforts, trying to win people to our way of thinking (though how invading a country and putting in a puppet government does this is a source of wonder) though they are straight occupations by people who think that they are superior to the people in the occupied country and can kill those "lesser people" at will. The fact is, if the idea is to win against the Taliban or whoever by winning "hearts and minds" or militarily by killing them off, bombing weddings and other ruthless military exercises only ensure that there will be dozens of people to take each Taliban casualty's place.

If Obama had any courage, or if he really were "for a change," he'd end both of these fiascoes, and would state categorically that he has no plans, desires, or other sort of inclination to attack Iran.

So, in terms of foreign policy, Obama is one more business as usual candidate, willing to let imperial ambitions be the destruction of his country.