Obama's "War of Necessity"

As everyone waits to see what spews forth from the Changeling regarding Afghanistan later today, let's be clear people - THIS is the site of Obama's "Necessary War"...

When I got these pictures from the husband in April (I think you can click on them to enlarge), all I could do was shake my damn head. I couldn't even begin to write everything I was feeling, particularly since "Hearts and Minds" (like so many other issues, hotly debated and often not agreed-upon during this 29-years-last-Saturday union) had also become another one of those double-edged swords, slicing my emotions into two distinctly different, yet equally important parts between which I ultimately find my idea of "right."

I read Eric Margolis's, Chasing Mirages in Afghanistan, a little while before the U.S. presidential "selection" redux  Afghan elections.  It was an interesting take on the no-win, win for which Obama & Co. keep constantly aiming. He makes the very good point:

Ravaged Afghanistan needs genuine, honest elections, and patient national reconciliation, free of foreign manipulation. That's the only true road to peace and stability.

And I was right there with him, but then, he had to go and say this:

America has a great deal to teach Afghanistan about how to run clean elections and build the essential institutions of democracy.

and this...democracy and good government are what America should be exporting to the Muslim World, not dictators, B-1 bombers, and Predators.

and this...Running phony elections is unworthy of the United States and demeans its values and traditions.

Really now. You know, just as well as I do, that America's already taught/exported enough of "US" to Afghanistan to nearly choke the life out of an entire people - especially if we were to really unpack those good ole American "values and traditions."  But I do get where he was trying to go with the whole "makes a mockery of everything we preach around the globe" thing.  And so do they:

Starting at the 6:18 click, the men say, "We're hoping that Obama would be much better than Bush." Then they go on - wearily it seems - to the ending 7:08 click, explaining what should be painfully clear, even to the most empathetically-challenged of us.

I tell you, if watching just that little snippet (never mind the other parts - to include that brand, spanking new SuperMax-looking prison they just built on Afghan soil - among other things) does not convince you of the absolute wrongness of this thing that the Changeling, et al are doing in our names, I don't know what will.  And, either this is some serious Undercover Brother maneuvering, or these fellas need not hold out any hope of him being better:

And he had the nerve to say, "This will not be quick nor easy." Well, all I have to say to that is, what Queen Gorgo from the movie, "300" said to the crooked, rapist-politician Theron, after she rammed that sword deep into his belly in the council chamber:  Mr. President - "This will not go quickly, YOU will not enjoy it!" 

Based on his consistent-from-the-beginning rhetoric and continued hawkish behavior on Afghanistan, coupled with his general's conveniently leaked report and "Karzai's tattered victory," nobody should have any questions about whether or not he's "better than Bush."  But of course, that's wishful thinking.   

Scott Ritter illustrates some historically inconvenient truths about Afghanistan in his, McChrystal Doesn’t Get It—Does Obama? - truths Obama & Co. don't seem to even care to get as they continue their feeble march toward imperialist nation-building.  I'm sure Hill wouldn't have been overseas a couple of weeks ago (looking for some reason to me - eerily Nixonesque), telling Der Spiegel - 'Our Goal Is to Defeat Al-Qaida and Its Extremist Allies' - if they did care.  Now, nearly deafened by his administration's increasingly louder drumbeats for more war, I felt that "quiet riot" beginning to rumble.  And with her Oscar-worthy performance in the "Patriarchy Category" - parroting the lies, and posturing, just like the man who'd brushed her off his lapel Jay-Z style during the campaign - the words that had eluded me since April finally came.  But not for the warmongers.  The words are for the Afghan brothers and sisters suffering the same foot-on-neck behavior upon which this country was founded:

"My enemy's enemy is my man remember?  I ain't tryin' to be endin' up in this Man's dilemma...'til we get there, I am on your side."

Obama's Nobel Peace Prize: Seems A Bit Premature, No? (from a HuffPo comment)

I got an Earl Ofari Hutchinson post notification and sauntered over to see what he had to say.  It was refreshingly and surprisingly palatable - for Earl.  Since I was there, I read Jason Linkins' post and decided to read the comments.  Shouldn't have.

I came across this one from LALAW and immediately bristled at the blatant attempt to manipulate Dr. King's Nobel acceptance speech, in order to somehow justify Obama's getting the gold:

In 1964, when southern schools were still segregated, Martin Luther King, Jr. won the Nobel Prize. He died in 1968 and schools in the south were still segregated until a year after his death. When he won the award, he said, in part:

"I accept the Nobel Prize for Peace at a moment when twenty-two million Negroes of the United States of America are engaged in a creative battle to end the long night of racial injustice. I accept this award in behalf of a civil rights movement which is moving with determination and a majestic scorn for risk and danger to establish a reign of freedom and a rule of justice.

I am mindful that only yesterday in Birmingham, Alabama, our children, crying out for brotherhood, were answered with fire hoses, snarling dogs and even death. I am mindful that only yesterday in Philadelphia, Mississippi, young people seeing to secure the right to vote were brutalized and murdered. And only yesterday more than 40 houses of worship in the State of Mississippi alone were bombed or burned because they offered a sanctuary to those who would not accept segregation...

Therefore, I must ask why this prize is awarded to a movement which is beleaguered and committed to unrelenting struggle; to a movement which has not won the very peace and brotherhood which is the essence of the Nobel Prize."

Congratulations, Mr. President, on another great accomplishment.

Before I even knew it, my fingers were typing this:

LALAW...You conveniently ended your excerpt to seemingly conflate Dr. King with Obama. The very next sentence of the speech, along with others that follow, describe precisely why Obama can - in no way - be compared to the prescient MLK:

"After contemplation, I conclude that this award which I receive on behalf of that movement is profound recognition that nonviolence is the answer to the crucial political and moral question of our time -- the need for man to overcome oppression and violence without resorting to violence and oppression...If this is to be achieved, man must evolve for all human conflict a method which rejects revenge, aggression and retaliation. The foundation of such a method is love.

...The tortuous road which has led from Montgomery, Alabama, to Oslo bears witness to this truth. This is a road over which millions of Negroes are travelling to find a new sense of dignity."

Since Obama's not familiar with that "tortuous road," I'm not surprised he's twisted that "new sense of dignity" into continuing aggression and "loving" the poor into destitution.

And the beat goes on...

Can't seem to stop letting revisionist get under my skin.  (Decided to see if their "Post to Blogger" thingy worked.  It did, but I had to edit it, adding a few words of explanation as well as a couple links.)

I went over to Cinie's earlier and "You Go Away For One Minute..." was definitely worth it!  We are more often than not on the same wavelength me and Cin (I busted out laughing when I saw the same Urkelbama that she'd let me have gracing her post!).  Succinct and dead-on as ever - she's ba-a-a-ck!!!

I'd dedicated this in my comment to my Sister-Friend over at her place, but I think all of us who truly believe in a better world - in spite of, not because of, the Changeling, could use it:

Okay, now I'm done with this whole Nobel Prize thing - except to say that with all this international, political "capital," - UNIVERSAL health care, a living wage, disparity in sentencing Blacks and Browns, reigning in the "stupidly" acting police, saying no to McChrystal, telling AIPAC and Israel to get their shit together regarding Gaza and the Palestinians, getting out of Gitmo - for real, stopping torture and renditions - for real, brushin' off:  the Federal Reserve, those banks "too big to fail" and insurance companies Jay-Z style, getting AFRICOM to really be 'bout it and for Chrissakes, stopping the state/federal-sanctioned foot-on-neck policies at our borders - all should be a piece of damn cake!

P.S.S.  What about Morgan Tsvangirai of Zimbabwe?  And Dr. Sima Samar of Afghanistan?  Hey, wonder if Ms. Magazine feels stupid as hell - writing about her and then doing THIS craziness!  -------> Obviously they weren't  even listening during the interview they, themselves conducted when the good doctor said:

"We need solidarity to free women—solidarity with women everywhere.  Women must support each other; we are our own class."

Just sayin'