[Marxism] Gonzalez

[abu hartal <abuhartal@xxxxxxxxxxx>]

Eli,

Note first that you have conceded that your candidate lied about the study he 
used to assert that Obama wants a long lasting deployment of 60,000 troops. If 
Obama is indeed relying on that report, then he is committed to zero troops by  
two years. If he is not relying on that report, then Gonzalez has given no 
evidence or logic for his 60,000 number. So first things first, your candidate 
is a liar.

Second, note that Obama has said several times that we must distinguish 
counter-insurgency from anti-terrorism. The people in Iraq who are actually 
committed to Osama bin Laden's terrorist organization are very, very few, and 
they are probably mostly lumpen criminal elements. We can study Patrick 
Cockburn to confirm these assessments.  These are the people Obama has 
committed himself to attacking-- good for him. 

There is a massive Sunni insurgency of course which sometimes describes itself 
as al Qaeda. But Obama has been as clear as day that the US has no business 
fighting either the Sunni or Shia insurgencies. This is why Obama can say over 
and over again that he is committed only to a residual force. 

One could not defeat the Sunni insurgency with a residual force. The residual 
force--he has said over and over again--would be used to protect diplomats and 
civilians (something you and Gonzalez seem to think the US military should not 
do) and make strikes (not go to war or carry out counter-insurgency) against 
the Osama bin Laden led al Qaeda, the organization which carried out brutal 
attacks on American soil and against innocent American non combatants (so are 
you opposed to such strikes against Osama's al Qaeda, a group of murderous 
thugs). 

At any rate, there is no evidence at all that Obama plans to leave 60,000 
troops in Iraq to go to war with or against the Sunni insurgency. 

So you and Gonzalez should drop the charge of Obama calling for 60,000 
permanent troops. 

If you want to be the anti war party, then say that you will not defend Kosova 
from any Serbian attempt at re-annexation or focus on your opposition to 
Obama's Afghanistan strategy (which includes two brigades of 7000 troops for 
time delimited action, plus a lot of economic assistance). That is, let's not 
hear the charge that Obama is calling for 60,000 troops permanently deployed in 
Afghanistan. 

AH



AH writes:
"He [Obama] has called for a residual force (meaning less than a brigade, 
meaning at most a couple of thousand soldiers) to protect US civilians and 
diplomats (good for him) and a small force to go after the 200 or 300 al Qaeda 
operatives."

200 or 300 al Qaeda operatives? You must be kidding. The U.S. military reports 
killing that many members of al Qaeda practically every week! As I wrote about 
here most recently 
(http://lefti.blogspot.com/2008_02_01_archive.html#8600404296206342021) but 
also 
on many previous occasions, if you read the news, virtually EVERY attack on 
"insurgents" in the media is described as having been against "al Qaeda." 
Claiming you are opposed to having troops in Iraq except for fighting al Qaeda 
(oh, and except for protecting U.S. personnel including OTHER U.S. troops and 
training Iraqi troops) basically means you aren't for a pullout at all.

Furthermore, another subject I've written about many times is the air war 
question. Virtually ALL success of the U.S. against resistance forces has been 
entirely or substantially due to the use of air power. If that were to stop, 
because the U.S. isn't about the equip the Iraqis with fighter jets, helicopter 
gunships, and the like, the entire dynamic of what is happening on the ground 
will change. At which time any candidate committed to the fundamentals of 
imperialism will immediately renege on all previous promises and rush the 
troops 
back in (if indeed they ever left).
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