Obama Peddles The Same "War On Terror" Lie As The Rest Of Them

[Orwellian_Ghost]

In a strikingly bold speech about terrorism Wednesday, Democratic presidential candidate Illinois Sen. Barack Obama called not only for a withdrawal of U.S. troops from Iraq, but a redeployment of troops into Afghanistan and even Pakistan — with or without the permission of Pakistan President Pervez Musharraf.

"I understand that President Musharraf has his own challenges," Obama said, "but let me make this clear. There are terrorists holed up in those mountains who murdered 3,000 Americans. They are plotting to strike again. It was a terrible mistake to fail to act when we had a chance to take out an al Qaeda leadership meeting in 2005. If we have actionable intelligence about high-value terrorist targets and President Musharraf won't act, we will."



In many ways, the speech is counterintuitive; Obama, one of the more liberal candidates in the race, is proposing a geopolitical posture that is more aggressive than that of President Bush. It comes at a time in Obama's campaign when the freshman senator is drawing more financial support from more voters than any other candidate, though he has yet to vault from his second-place position in the polls. One of the reasons for that is that the Democratic front-runner, New York Sen. Hillary Clinton, is seen as more experienced and in some ways stronger, a perspective Obama wishes to change.

...

The shift from Iraq to Afghanistan and possibly even Pakistan is one of five elements he called for in his speech. The other four are improving diplomacy for the purpose of counterterrorism and counterproliferation; creating a $5 billion Shared Security Partnership Program that he will say will "forge an international intelligence and law enforcement infrastructure to take down terrorist networks around the globe; restoring our values; and securing a more resilient homeland."

...

http://abcnews.go.com/Politics/Story?id=3434573&page=1

[Orwellian_Ghost]

1. Bumping

for a little reality check.

[Danger Mouse]

2. Pakistan is likely where osama is actually hiding...

and afghanistan is falling apart.
I don't support an invasion of Pakistan, however.

[Orwellian_Ghost]

5. I'd say

Osama's not hiding or breathing any more.

More to the point the enemy is within. The threat is here in the shape of a penta. The manufactured bogeyman keeps us looking outward and serves as rationale for more military spending which steals from social well-being. All else is The Big Lie. Obama perpetuates that Lie.

[Danger Mouse]

7. And Hillary won't continue the War on Terrror?

I think that ship sailed with the departure of Kucinich.

[ClericJohnPreston]

42. WHY

does every allegation that STICKS to Obama get met with a REFLEXIVE, "well, what about Hillary"????

Can't you defend, OR NOT, your own candidate Obamites? Huh????

[elixir]

21. Nicely put, OG. Very prosaic.

[anamandujano]

35. I think he's in Crawford TX.

[Auntie Bush]

43. The enemy is definately in Crawford. nt

[u2spirit]

3. You tell me how fast food nation

is going to vote for any candidate who says the war on terra is phony. Most of us at DU understand this, but that won't win a general election.

[Orwellian_Ghost]

8. What about the truth?

There are people out there that tell it.

Obama is perpetuating The Big Lie.

Unacceptable.

[u2spirit]

9. Write in Kucinich then

There is a reason that great men like Kucinich get 2 percent of the vote. He is a man of principle but he isn't serious about winning the White House. It's unfortunate, but those are the rules.

[ProgressIn2008]

23. I agree with you -- he'd be a fool not to mouth the phony storyline

Any candidate would be a fool not to mouth the phony storyline. All candidates will lip-synch to the jukebox tune on this, or else they wouldn't get near the White House.

I hate that this is true, but me hating it doesn't make it false. It's all a game.

[Johnny__Motown]

4. General Election Stance? Is he trying to defend against McCain and the Repugs?

[whosinpower]

6. I disagree with your subject line

Because, I actually agree with Obama on this one and I'll tell you why. Afghanistan is the forgotten war - that was fought on the cheap, and Bush pulled out far too soon and trusts Musharreff far too much. Iraq should be withdrawn from and Afghanistan should be finished what was started....remember Osama? Yeah - well he is either A. dead - or B. holed up in Pakistan and Musharreff has no intention of using resources to go after him. He could care less -

That is trully where the danger lies - not in Iraq. Pakistan has happily sold nuclear technology to any who wanted to pay the price, and there are militants who would dearly love to gain that. And yet, all we hear about is Iran, Iran, Iran. Pakistan gets a pass even though they have been caught red handed - and Musharreff did not inherit this stain - he was in power then.

Of course - actually getting Bin Laden and effectively breaking Al quaeda poses a risk that the pentagon would rather not have....an end to the war on terror.

[Orwellian_Ghost]

10. Nope

It's a lie, all of it.

It's used to keep the populace in fear and continue the rationale for increased military spending in a country that is far and away looked upon by the rest of the world as THE rogue nation.

Musharaff is a US puppet and the US Intel and the ISI work hand in glove.

You might also look into the history of the region as well as the current dynamics which would tell you that the US is not welcome and is currently looked at with such vehemence that even the US backed parties in both Pakistan and Afghanistan demand that no "visible" US increase in military operations be forthcoming.

We also know that US foreign policy over the last forty years (and more) has proven to be calamitous and Obama is only softening the language and not substantially veering from US exceptionalism.

[Cant trust em]

22. Do you believe that 9/11 was a one time incident?

Certainly much of the way the "war of terror" has been botched, but we can't talk about the threat like it doesn't exist. After Bali, Madrid and London bombings we can't pretend that if we just close our eyes to this it will just go away.

[Orwellian_Ghost]

41. Who's "we?"

Please don't compare any of those incidents to the mass slaughter that is in the millions- and the cause of those incidents- which has occurred at the hands of the US-UK forces for the last century and more.

The "War On Terror" is every bit as phony as, "The Cold War", and "The Commie Threat", which are reactionary tools of propaganda concocted by right-wing forces in America. I'm surprised to see them echoed here. You should know better by now.

[balantz]

11. Words to pander to the right?

We don't need that kind of simple, tough warrior talk. It is a stronger and wiser posture to take a more delicate and complex approach with such an important and volatile region, one that we are responsible for being so. Moving in agressively to hunt "the terrorists" is not a simple solution.

Mr. Obama misses speaking about the truth of terrorism and plays to our fears, like the current administration has done for so long.

Mr. Obama says the things that he feels will get him the most support only to win. What will he do about Pakistan if he does win? Will he be another war president?

[Orwellian_Ghost]

12. Have you seen this speech?

Pretty much what you said. I find it more than a little discomfiting.

Remarks of Senator Obama: The War We Need to Win:

http://www.barackobama.com/2007/08/01/the_war_we_need_to_win.php

[balantz]

13. No I hadn't seen that speech.

It looks like more of the same to me, with a little sugar-coating to make it palatable to many Democrats.

Perhaps he will be a war president, not much different than Clinton, or Bush.

We need to remanufacture our world approach, not continue to perpetuate the lies of terrorism that Bushco created to enrich the warmongers.

Defense yes. More lies? NO!

[Blue State Bandit]

14. Are you kidding me? Are you not listening to the rest of the world?

Anyone diluted enough to think that just electing a democrat, and pulling out of Iraq, will end the War of Terror or what ever you chose to claim it to be, must live in Narnia or something.

No matter who it was that attacked us on 9/11, or which administration is at fault, the palpable hatred of America actually exists in the Muslim world. And it was how Bush and his administration reacted it it's aftermath that has stoked this hatred into an inferno that truly threatens us today.

When Bush said today that "right now, terrorists are plotting attacks on our homeland", he's not exactly lying. The problem is, he is not telling us that it's mostly his fault.

I believe that Obama can conduct our defense in the tradition of Sun-Tzu as opposed to Clausewitz: military conflict as a tool in the chest of war as opposed to military conflict as the exclusive means of war. And I have been convince by the reaction across the world to the possiability of an Obama Presidency, that we won't have to do it alone.

[Orwellian_Ghost]

16. The "War on Terror" is pure propaganda

"If you tell a lie big enough and keep repeating it, people will eventually come to believe it. The lie can be maintained only for such time as the state can shield the people from the political, economic and/or military consequences of the lie ... The truth is the mortal enemy of the lie, and thus by extension, the truth is the greatest enemy of the state." --Joseph Goebbels, minister of propaganda in Nazi Germany, 1933-1945

The Bush administration endlessly recites its mantra of deceit:

"The War on Terror was launched in response to the terrorist attacks of Sept. 11, 2001. It is intended to enhance our national security at home and to spread democracy in the Middle East.

This is the struggle of our lifetime; we are defending our way of life from an enemy intent on destroying our freedoms. We must fight the enemy in the Middle East, or we will fight him in our cities."

This is classic propaganda. In Goebbels' terms, it is the "state" speaking its lie, but the political, economic, and military consequences of the Bush administration lie are coming into view, and they are all catastrophic. If truth is the enemy of both the lie and George Bush's "state," then the American people need to know the truth.

Obama is perpetuating the lie.

[Blue State Bandit]

19. And so the hatered of America in the Muslim world

is a figment of our imagination?

Bush is a propagandist prick, but don't

let that blind you to the fact that

the enemies he created for us are just

figment of our imagination as well.

Don't let Bush blind you to the truth.

[Blue State Bandit]

15. Funny, you wrote a simular piece and said "this is not a pro-Clinton piece".

I suppose this one is the partisan version.

[K Gardner]

18. Yes, I noticed. I think there wasn't enough traction gained from the first one. When at first you

don't suceed, try try again.

[chascarrillo]

17. Aug. 1, 2007

[rodeodance]

20. not news---most of knew he is and will be a DC insider.

[earth mom]

24. I told you that Obama was just like *! Welcome to ENDLESS WAR folks!!!

:puke:

And they call Obama liberal?!!!! :wtf:

[AtomicKitten]

26. 1. Obama was deemed the #1 most liberal Senator in 2007.

link: http://nj.nationaljournal.com/voteratings/

2. Clinton gave Junior a blank check in the IWR which Junior promptly cashed, and from that came torture, rendition, warantless wiretaps, and suspension of habeas corpus. And Hillary by her absence on the FISA vote signaled she is more interested in covering up the crimes of this administration than sunlight.

3. Zogby on Washington Journal on 12-30-07 said his polling shows a strong preference of the rightwing ideologues, i.e., neocons, for Clinton. She refuses to be pinned down on withdrawal from Iraq, Obama promises us out in 16 months (a safe troop withdrawal rate as deemed by the Pentagon to bolster his plan).

On edit: I offer you your own advice:
http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_mesg&forum=132&topic_id=4603886&mesg_id=4604016

[earth mom]

27. ROFL! Lay off the Kool Aid will ya?!

How many times did Obama vote to fund the war?

He's just like the rest of the rethugs in DC!

You need to take the rose colored glasses off and see Obama for what he is-a DINO corporatist who will do what he's told and/or do what helps himself politically.

[AtomicKitten]

29. your critical analysis skills are lacking

seriously

[earth mom]

30. Same back at you and all the other Obama Cult Zombies.

:crazy:

[AtomicKitten]

33. name-calling is for chumps

[Pathwalker]

34. So, it's okay for YOU to call names, but not others?

Got it.

[AtomicKitten]

36. and the irony point sails right over your head ....

thar she blows:

[anamandujano]

37. Not irony, hypocrisy, which is obvious and did not sail. Got any more

pretty pictures?

[AtomicKitten]

39. Question: Who wrote "Obama Cult Zombies?" Anyone? Buehler?

Well, at least the wizards at critical analysis ((sarcasm)) here are amusing!

[Beam Me Up]

25. Why can't we have a WAR ON GREED? Or a WAR ON DECEPTION? Or

a WAR ON HEGEMONY? Or, indeed, A WAR ON WAR?

All of these things are FAR MORE DEVASTATING to human society than even authentic "terrorism" has ever been. Even false-flag and state sponsored terrorism pales.

And don't serve up 9/11 as a counter-example. There is PLENTY of evidence that 9/11 isn't what we've been led to believe. Not even close.

[Stephanie]

28. I wish he didn't say "homeland."

ugh

[anamandujano]

38. He's in lock step with the Bushies; the endless wars will go on.

Sad but true.

[earth mom]

46. Yup, Obama totally exposed himself with the use of the word "Homeland".

Wake Up Obamanuts!!!

[anamandujano]

31. Please keep these threads coming. We have endless inane horse race

prediction BIG MO threads.

The self proclaimed anti-war candidate is NOT anti war.

Hillary may have voted for IWR (and she should have been cynical enough to know that a President of the United States of America would blatantly practice treason), but Obama is saying one thing and planning another.

It's amazing that his follows will rationalize anything for him.

The best one is that he must take this stance to show strength or risk losing the p*ssing contest with McCain, while they continue to portray Hillary's vote as positioning for the run for president, i.e. it's okay if he does it; it's not okay if she does it.

[ClericJohnPreston]

44. You caught that, huh?

A very convenient memory or memory lapse. Why one can almost say Obamites twist reality like spaghetti, to fit into their stereotypes.

[Pathwalker]

32. BIG lie within: 3,000 "Americans". Sorry, not true.

3,000 people from MANY nations. It is wrong to strip people of their nationality after their deaths to score cheap political points - hardly new, but still wrong.

[Freida5]

40. BO feels that by meeting with all the Dictators of the world, they will listen to him and join his

cult

[LadyVT]

45. Obama said 2 debates back he is willing to pre-emptively INVADE Pakistan,

if "intelligence" says Osama is there!! Pakistan, as we all know, is a nuclear nation--they have nuclear bombs. Obama would like to just storm in there...

sounds like Bush, 'eh?

[kurth]

47. Sounds like he might outdo Bush

as a warmonger.

[Iceburg]

48. Gotta prove his manhood/nt

[UALRBSofL]

49. K/R