[Marxism] Obama joins O'Relly in salute to "the surge"

[Dbachmozart@xxxxxxx]

Surge Protectors: Obama Embraces Bush-McCain Spin on  Iraq
 
     
Friday, 05 September 2008
 
clip --
 
Barack Obama_ has now declared_ 
(http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601087&sid=aSPSq3q1shRI&refer=home)  
-- on Fox News, no less -- that George  W. 
Bush's escalation of _the flagrant war crime_ 
(http://powerofnarrative.blogspot.com/2008/08/choice-of-war-criminals.html)  in 
Iraq has "succeeded beyond our  
wildest dreams." He also proclaimed his "absolute" belief in the "_War  on 
Terror_ (http://www.chris-floyd.com/content/view/1597/135/) ," and pledged, 
once 
again, "never to take a military option  off the table" (not even the nuclear 
option) against the "major threat" of  Iran.

In short,  he continued his relentless campaign to purge himself of any of 
that  weak-sister "anti-war" taint that got attached to him in the early days 
of 
 his campaign -- which was, of course, responsible for his phenomenal rise  
in the first place. He rode that wave to national prominence -- trading on  the 
desperate hopes of millions of Americans that the ungodly criminal  nightmare 
in Iraq might finally end -- but it was obvious long ago that he  was never 
going to dance with the ones that brung him. Once it was clear  that he might 
really make it all the way to the top of the greasy pole, he  began a dogged 
campaign to prove to our ruling elite that he would be a  "safe pair of hands" 
for the imperial enterprise. 

We've seen this in, among other things, _the  shameful FISA vote_ 
(http://www.chris-floyd.com/content/view/1561/135/) , the bellicose threats to 
launch 
incursions into  Pakistan (a policy which the Bush Administration is already  
implementing,_ with the usual deadly results for civilians)_ 
(http://news.antiwar.com/2008/09/04/as-pakistan-election-looms-fresh-waziristan-strike-kills-six-ci
vilians/) , the  ritual and repeated assertions of his willingness to attack 
Iran, and the  foolhardy promise to shepherd Georgia's entry into NATO -- a 
mirror-image  of Dick Cheney's stance, and a policy guaranteed to ratchet up 
tensions  with Russia and quite possibly spark not only a new Cold War but a 
hot 
war  of horrendous proportions if Georgia pulls its future NATO treaty 
partners  into another conflict with Moscow.

But it is Obama's surrender on the Iraq War  front -- or rather, the 
anti-Iraq  War front -- that is most striking, and most disheartening. On the 
very  
night that John McCain was putting the "success" of the surge at the  center of 
his campaign, Obama was openly, cravenly laying down one of his  chief weapons 
at the feet of Bill O'Reilly. Obama's cheerleading for the  surge -- "beyond 
our wildest dreams!" -- surpassed anything that McCain  himself has claimed 
for the escalation.

Obama also emphasized the obscene and morally  depraved position that has 
become the Democrat's standard line on Iraq:  that the lazy, no-good Iraqis 
"still haven't taken responsibility" for  running "their own country." The 
arrogance and inhumanity of this position  is staggering, almost indescribable. 
The 
United States of America invaded  Iraq, destroyed its society, slaughtered its 
citizens, drove millions from  their homes, occupied the country and made 
itself the ultimate master and  arbiter of the conquered land -- but still the 
Iraqis are condemned for  "not taking responsibility for their own country." 

Not a single Iraqi attacked America. Not one.  America's action has killed 
more than a million Iraqis. But it is the  Iraqis who are now "responsible." 

Not only has Obama validated McCain's  position on the surge, but his and the 
Democrats' stance on the Iraqis'  "responsibility" also completely buys into 
the Bush Faction's lie that the  "government" of Iraq -- installed at the 
point of foreign guns, with a  "constitution" based upon the arbitrary 
directives 
of an occupying power  -- is somehow legitimate. This stance too validates the 
"success" of the  entire war: "Hey, they've got a legitimate government there 
now, so they  need to take responsibility for their own country." 

This bears repeating: the Democrats' position on Iraq fully accepts  -- and 
even celebrates -- the Bush Administration's fundamental claims for  the war. 
The war has established a legitimate, democratic  government in Iraq, Bush and 
the Democrats both say. The "surge" has  succeeded "beyond our wildest dreams" 
in "securing" Iraq, Bush and the  Democrats both say. When "conditions on the 
ground" are right, America  should withdraw its "combat troops" from Iraq, 
leaving behind an  unspecified number of troops for training Iraqi security 
forces,  conducting counterterrorism operations and providing security for 
other  
American personnel and reconstruction projects, Bush and the Democrats  both 
say.

Where then  is the actual difference -- the evidence for genuine "change" -- 
between  these two positions? While the Democrats will occasionally assert 
that  instigating the war was a "mistake" -- because we should have been  
fighting more wars elsewhere -- they steadfastly refuse to denounce it as  an 
illegitimate and criminal action. And, as we have seen, they agree  almost 
entirely 
with Bush on the results  that the war has produced. The rhetoric is different, 
of course,  and each side denounces the other in the usual partisan bickering 
-- but  the fundamental agreement is undeniable.

And now Obama has made it explicit: a success  "beyond our wildest dreams." 

full article --
 


<_http://www.chris-floyd.com/content/view/1599/135/_ 
(http://www.chris-floyd.com/content/view/1599/135/) >  



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