Progressive Leaders Pan Obama's Decision for More War in Afghanistan -- 10 Reactions

Thanks Alternet ...

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I am SOOO glad that you gullible sheep got Barry Oblahblah elected to the White House! He is the best thing to happen to the Right Wing since Roe V Wade! We're gonna storm Congress in 2010 and take back the White House in 2012! And the funniest thing is he isn't even a very good liberal. You racist morons supported him for one and only one reason: he's black. Yay! Diversity! Now you're stuck with a one-term loser who isn't even a good liberal (what happened to gay marriage, the public option, ending the war on drugs, or lifting the embargo on Cuba?), and we're marching on Washington. While your guy is busy writing his next limp-dick speech that tries to be all things to all people, future president Jim DeMint is picking out his Oval Office furniture.

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it isnt fair; Uncle Tom was a goodwilling man, he loved God and obeyd his master.

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I like to think of the msm as the 'mushroom media' because it feeds us horse shit and keeps us in the dark.
When Obama got elected I had an uneasy feeling of deja vu; this because here in Britain we saw exactly the same thing with Blair's arrival. An enormous feeling of relief that we'd got rid of the loonies. "Things can only get better" was the slogan. After a year Blair looked as though he'd been brainwashed. Now Obama's getting that same look about him. Blair turned out to be Imperialism's new poodle. Folk in the US had better get used to calling their new Pres "Barky".

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Enough is enough. IMPEACHMENT AND PROSECUTION NOW!!! Bush, Cheney, Obama and all perps linked to the atrocities committed in the name of justice since 9/11. Obama is an accessory and liable for the same accountability as Bush and Cheney. Do it now, this son-of-a-bitch is gutless. moreso than even the feckless and craven Bush, and our very survival is the battlefield where war must be waged!

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There's a big fat irony here:

Obama's supporters are furious at him because he finally kept one of his promises.

So much for the theory that progressives are smart. ;)


The Merchant Who Thought He Was God

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This war is about oil and enriching corporate masters. We should not be proponents of corporations, however, we must critically evaluate what the "less government" crowd's rhetoric actually means and couple that with reflection on what it means to be liberal or progressive.

For example, the military accounts for over 50% of our federal government. FOX continually rails that govt is bad, inefficient, too big, yada yada yada. But, to get to the real answers you have to delve into the budget and look at how the federal dollar is distributed. The afghan war chest pays at least 10% in bribes to warlords. In addition, the vast majority of those employed overseas in the private contractor ranks are foreigners. Of those, they are paid minimally according to US standards yet like princes according to their own country's standards of labor. What that means then, is that a vast amount of our war assessments are going to the very few who run the companies overseas. Many of those are also foreign companies.

So, while I agree the govt has grown too large, I believe it is because we have issued private contracts on virtually everything. Where we have laws to enforce, we do not have enforcers whether it be the Treasury, FDA, EPA, FAA, what have you.

I encourage you to take a look at these articles and websites to learn more of where our money is being spent. Then, I would encourage you to consider what is "the public good"? Is it education, transportation, healthcare, social and economic security? What is it and what are we all willing to assess ourselves to ensure that we have such things?

The military has already spent roughly $2.7 billion on construction over the past three fiscal years. Now, if its request is approved as part of the fiscal 2010 defense appropriations bill, it would spend another $1.3 billion on more than 100 projects at 40 sites across the country, according to a Senate report on the legislation.” Military Seeks $1.3 Billion For Projects in Afghanistan www.washingtonpost.com/
o Paying Peter to Kill Paul and How the US Funds the Taliban
By Aram Roston This article appeared in the November 30, 2009 edition of The Nation.
http://www.thenation.com/ note the following payments which are but a tip of the iceberg: “US military officials in Kabul estimate that a minimum of 10 percent of the Pentagon's logistics contracts--hundreds of millions of dollars--consists of payments to insurgents.”

o “"requires untangling two threads. The first is the insider dealing that determines who wins and who loses in Afghan business, and the second is the troubling mechanism by which "private security" ensures that the US supply convoys traveling these ancient trade routes aren't ambushed by insurgents.”
o “Each of the military's six trucking contracts was bumped up to $360 million, or a total of nearly $2.2 billion. Put it in this perspective: this single two-year effort to hire Afghan trucks and truckers was worth 10 percent of the annual Afghan gross domestic product.”
o IRAQ? Truckloads of money sent and eventually reported missing????

In 2014 or Bust, The Pentagon's Building Boom in Afghanistan Indicates a Long War Ahead By Nick Turse: http://www.tomdispatch.com/ “To handle the influx of troops already being dispatched by the Obama administration (with more expected once the president decides on his long-term war plans) "new dormitories" are going up at Bagram, according to David Axe of the Washington Times. The base's population will also increase ..the MILCON Bagram Theatre Internment Facility (TIF) currently being built at a cost of $60 million by a team of more than 1,000 Filipinos, Indians, Sri Lankans, and Afghans. When completed, it will consist of 19 buildings and 16 guard towers designed to hold more than 1,000 de tainees...

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"building up Bagram's facilities is Contrack Int ernational, an international engineering and construction firm which, according to U.S. government records, received more than $120 million in contracts in 2009



o In October, defense contractor AECOM Technology signed a $78 million, 6-month extension contract with the Army to "provide general-support maintenance as well as the operation of maintenance facilities, living quarters and offices at two U.S. military bases as well as forward operating bases and satellite locations"



o In July, under an existing LOGCAP IV contract, scandal-tainted defense contractor DynCorp International, along with partners CH2M Hill and Taos Industries, received a one year $643.5 million order to "provide existing bases within the Afghanistan South AOR [area of responsibility] with operations and maintenance support, including but not limited to: facilities management, electrical power, water, sewage and waste management, laundry operations, food services and transportation motor pool operations," as well as "construction services for additional sites." With an eye to the future, the Pentagon has included four one-year options in the contract which, if taken up, would be worth an estimated $5.8 billion.”



o New Baghdad Airport Security Contractor Has Major Bagagge — By Daniel Schulman | Tue November 17, 2009 5:00 AM PST http://www.motherjones.com/



THis topped the cake the other day: War Fraud Whistleblowers Under Wraps

Monday 30 November 2009

by: Dina Rasor,

http://www.truthout.org/1130094

"In fiscal year 2009, health care fraud recoveries reached $1.6 billion, two-thirds of the year's total. The Department of Health and Human Services reaped the biggest recoveries, largely attributable to its Medicare and Medicaid programs. Recoveries were also made by the Office of Personnel Management, which administers the Federal Employees Health Benefits Program, the Department of Defense for its TRICARE insurance program and the Department of Veterans Affairs, among others.

"The largest health care recoveries came from the pharmaceutical and medical device industries, which accounted for $866.7 million in settlements, including Aventis Pharmaceuticals Inc., Bayer HealthCare LLC, Eli Lilly & Company and Quest Diagnostics Inc. and its subsidiary, Nichols Institute Diagnostics Inc. In addition to federal recoveries, these pharmaceutical and medical device fraud cases returned $402 million to state Medicaid programs."

Note that corporations have 3/4 of the medicare fraud recovered, not the lazy, no good PEOPLE, ya know.

This was a bit better: 'If it is to be fought, it ought to be paid for'



By Walter Pincus December 1, 2009

http://www.washingtonpost.com/ "One irony of the debate that Obey hopes to encourage is that many opponents to increasing the Afghan commitment support the surcharge to pay for it, while many backers of the Afghan strategy -- if they mention costs -- propose domestic spending cuts rather than new taxes."



Check out BusinessWeek's article this week on Wall St vs America. Contracts that will suck the last drops out of cities, counties and education while wall st walks away with the money and no new legislation.



4 Videos: Congressman Kucinich In the News On Afghanistan http://kucinich.us/index.php?option=com

_content&task=view&id=2847&Itemid=2#MSNBC

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10s of billions more for Iraq,
trillions for Wall Street pirates,
and the headlines at the New York Times this morning:

"Obama Tackles Jobless Woes,
but Warns of Limited Funds."


Hmmn... Would that qualify as change?

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2009 has been a series of disappointments for me. Obama is still, clearly, better than McCain would have been, but not being as big of a failure is just not good enough.

And no, I didn't think Obama would be some flawless savior, but I had hoped for more than this.

I've unsubscribed from OFA newsletters (and MoveOn.org too for that matter) and I've de-friended Obama on Facebook. I took the bumper sticker off my car a while ago.

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prior to voting for him was his links to the University of Chicago and their idiotic Economic theories base on Ayn Rand's fiction. I was hoping that his oratorical skills and intelligence would give him a chance to motivate his party to clean house and straighten up. The first budget destroyed my illusions of change.

Any money spent in Afghanistan is either going to War Profiteers or into the pockets of a few corrupt politicians. I heard yesterday on NPR that 70% of every dollar spent on aid and rebuilding will end up being squandered on bribes or stolen outright.

Democrat or Republican, by the time anyone arrives in DC they are owned and will "dance with the one what brung 'em". Big business saw that the public was sick of the GOP and spent their money buying Democrats. Just another reason why we need to restrict lobbying, stop corporate personhood, impose term limits and simplify Senate procedures to reflect democratic principles.

All politicians will talk about values and patriotism and they have the least amoung us. We currently live in a nation where we have spent 8-10 times more on war than education (see DOD spending vs Department of Education). Our family values include allowing human beings to be "cost centers" for Insurance companies and Big Pharma, letting Goldman Sachs keep the highest bonus pool in their 140 year history after helping to destroy the world's economy. Our government has bankrolled Wall Street gambling with my tax dollars while my elderly parents retirement account lost 40% (all AAA securities, too). Our family values include keeping us in a state of perpetual war while allowing those who profit from it to keep all their ill gotten gains. Wall Street in excited about the 8% increase in productivity and the jobless recovery.

According to the GAO, in 2006 72% of American households earned $58,000. per year or less - now that the economy has tanked - has anyone got a clue what the numbers are? Congress DID vote yesterday to keep the Bush's estate tax break for millionaires (3.5M per individual or .23% of the population) at 45%, it was due to go back to 55% on estates of $1Mill. It's nice that they can take care of themselves, at least. G-d, if you are listening - we need a Tsunami along the Potomac.

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That and a $1.25 will get me a small gas station coffee.
It's infuriating enough to listen to the same dumbass Mf'ers who got US into these mess spew their BS opinions, but listening to the Left continue their Whine fest is no less.
Ok all you big Talkers on the Left- lets see what you are really made of, prove the hypothesis that conflict can be resolved through peaceful means. Advocate, recruit, enlist and volunteer for the opportunity to Prove yourselves, and your ascertain, right in Afghanistan.
Military 'Hawks' and War Dogs Don't believe us because they haven't seen it for themselves. Forget reciting numerous examples throughout history- they don't read history, so they don't comtemplate it's wisedom. Or they disregard it as irrelevant.Or worse hope to replicate it even when blatantly disasterous, for short term gains.
The Surprise from the Right should not be about Obama granting more troops, it should be the reaction of the Left by stepping up to heed the Call for Civilian 'troops'. You want to prove not only that diplomacy works, but so does Humanitarism, Start helping build the Civilian Corp.
We are in the Majority lets show them how it's done. We've been screaming 'Stop the Wars' for 40 yrs, We have to prove the superior alternative.
Otherwise our credo, or claims are as hollow as those who claim they follow 'the Word of Christ'. Ethics and Morals are a tangible thing- evidenced by our deeds.
So you want to kill two 'hawks' with one stone (War dogs and the hell bent 'Holier than thou' crowd). Start Walking. Prove peaceful means give a Better 'return' than armed conflict and that Morality is not the sole property of any religious doctrine.
Progess requires work, not words. With bitching being the least effective because it serves no real use and solves absolutely nothing.If you are not willing to invest some blood, sweat and tears into making progress away from the Status quo, then the military means will always be held in higher regard.Heros will always be those who weild weaponry, not aid.
Is the Anti War Left so blind they can't see this huge opportunity to prove our point, thus redeeming the correctness of the Liberal ideology? Or is it the fear of having to actually put some skin in the game, that they too only focus on armed troop levels- up or down?
No one bothers to ask how many do we have over their building cultural bridges, not to mention actual ones? Why is there no outrage the US is only being represented by the Military? Gee I wonder why the US is considered an imperialistic invader, instead of the 'helping hand'- because they are more often greeted with a high powered weapon, not a handshake.
A True Progressive, a person who still dreams that one day War will be obsolete, would be pushing the Obama admin on how they intend to increase the civilian presence in Afgahnistan.
Other HUGE benefit- Jobs for Americans across professional and industrial lines.

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The truth is that Afghanistan is not the end. It is not about getting Al-Quada or the Taliban. The reason we are there is the natural gas line we are putting across Afghanistan and THEN it will continue into Pakistan on its way to Turkey. So the next country to invade (killing innocents when we do)will be Pakistan...wonder what LIES Obama will use on the American sheep to justify that?? I bet Bush is dancing all over his ranch right now because he is pretty much off the hook, as history goes, for what happens in this extended war and occupation of foreign countries that we want to rape and pillage for American gain. History will remember, more, the lies and treachery of Obama.

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Couldn’t it be that this troop surge is an earnest attempt by Obama to stabilize Afghanistan to prevent the spread Islamic extremism? Isn’t it possible that a progressive Democrat can decide that it’s an appropriate role of the U.S. military to thwart evil? Wasn’t that the noble purpose of America’s decision to fight the Nazis?

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Read her article, She defends Obama's decision on Afghanistan! Her position is more less that what Obama did is necessary for the US to control Pakistan but he couldn't really say that because its not diplomatic. As I have said before, Stan is an obsequious Obama follower, best described these days as a reborn neo-conservative. Shame on Alternet for giving her job; shame an Alternet for trying to pass her off as a Progressive.

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They gave him the Nobel as a symbol of all the good he was going to do....well, I think George Bush should get one, too. What is the difference, they both make war and so he deserves one and maybe Cheney and Rumsfeld as well.

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ANDREW LAM says it best.

"That only through a view that’s rooted in people, rooted in human kindness,...would a country open itself up.. That not until human basic needs are addressed and human dignity upheld...bring about human liberty".

Only when the anger, the blind hatred of others not like us, ends, and the sickness of hollow greed is contained, will we find peace.

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We've been invading or at war with someone throughout the 20th & now 21st centuries! It's how our insatiable military/industrial/banking complex gets fed, & how we force its imperialism on the rest of the world. Obama is just more of the same!

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Listening to Obama's speech Tuesday night confused me. I thought there was something wrong with my TV. I thought, maybe, I was getting some cross-talk from another channel. But, no, I was hearing it right, it's just that, his speech didn't make very much sense. There was so much double talk.

How many more disappointments can his supporters take? The ranks are thinning, and pretty soon he my be the last man standing - except for all the advisors he has surrounded himself with.

I think the job is getting to him. He is in way over his head in spite of his presumed intellect and sterling education. After taking what seemed to be a never ending string of delays on how many more troops he was going to send to Afghanistan, he finally settled on just about what McCrystal wanted in the first place, with perhaps, more troops to be deployed later.

I hear that Obama is smoking a lot more and hitting the bottle quite a bit. Oh great, now we have a chain smoking, alcoholic in the White House who knows how to pronounce "nuclear".

Aaaa, Mr. President, do you remember us, the American people? We don't have to "defeat" a rag tag, illiterate, dope dealing, "army" that trains on monkey bars, to make America safe from another 9-11, do we?

McCrystal tells us that we have to train the Afghan army and teach them how to shoot a rifle and march in a straight line before we can leave. Why is such training necessary? The Taliban and Al Qaeda have managed to train themselves without the U.S. and, they have been doing a pretty good job of kicking our ass over the last eight years. So, what is our mission? Are we supposed to clean up the corrupt and dysfunctional government of President Karzia? Are we there to stop the flow of heroin out if the country? If so, then, we would have to arrest the president's brother, because he is the biggest drug dealer in all of Afghanistan and perhaps the world.

Afghanistan is nearly the poorest country in the world. They don't have an infrastructure of any kind. The government doesn't provide any services to its' people. They don't trust Karzai or the U.S. installed government. And, you can be sure, that, after we leave, it will be over thrown.

Mr. President, you are making the biggest mistake of your life and you and George W. Bush will go down in history as our worst presidents. And to think, they gave you the Nobel Peace Prize.

What a pity, because we had such high hopes for you and you were supposed to be the one man who could undo all the damage that George W. Bush had done to this country. Yes, you are our first black President, but you are acting more like white trash; something that we, in America, all hate.

It isn't too late. You could reverse course and save us the heartbreak of watching the long lines of dead soldiers that will surely be returning home; not to mention the waste of hundreds of billions of our hard earned tax dollars that could have been used for a more noble cause. It is truly up to you.

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God knows what "change" they believe in but it certainly ain't pulling out of the Middle East.

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To quote the late Aaron Russo (America, Freedom to Fascism): "Until America understands the real truth behind the events of 9/11, we can never move forward." The 9/11 Commission Report was a fraud and until such time that we can have a new transparent investigation and get to the truth, we will never return to being the great nation we once were. The neocons stated before 9/11 that they needed another Pearl Harbor type of event to rapidly transform America. 9/11 was an inside job. If the powers that be actually believe that report, then they should not fear another investigation. The number of unanswered questions could fill this page, so I'll just mention a few. The most glaring being building #7 of the complex which fell into a pile of dust in 10 seconds due to a few small fires(impossible). Number two: Traces of nanothermate found in the dust of the rubble at the scene (weapn grade, highly militarized, only available to high tech military, not muslims hiding in caves. Three: Six of the Commissioners admitted that they were stymied by the government from getting all the information they needed. Like the JFK assasination we have been lied to about 9/11 and the needless wars will continue and America will continue down the road to moral and fiscal bankruptcy. It's past time for the truth.

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Okay progressive leaders, you've all realized that Obama was bought and paid for by the time he got into the White House. Right? Right. Now it's time to leave a party that left you a long, long time ago.

The Green Party is the only national party committed to ending the permanent war state. Greens don't accept corporate money, so they can be accountable only to voters. Green Parties worldwide are based on the principles of peace, social justice, grassroots democracy and sustainability. Sound like something you can get behind? Then get active with the Green Party today.

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and PLEASE no family distractions. Barry kick the devils off your shoulder, they are whispering lies in your ears and you are not HEARING the PEOPLE.

For Ages Strong Leaders went on Retreats. The Pomp and Circumstance of the Presidential Office is awesome BUT....

Barry has chosen Policies that the majority did not vote for. Now the voices of those that elected him are blocked. Many USA Presidents have gone down in history as failures. It is time for him to stop being a Senator and become a Strong Independent Leader... A President !!!!!

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face it blacks your guy is a kiss ass black ass traitor' And he wants to please us all umm you cannot be black and white or good and bad. Satan's all bad OK" Your guy is a script reader and ass sniffer' And a neoconservative con artist' That's duped us all. He had his chance to fix things and he chose his fate' You cannot be both bad and good even Santa and Satan taught you that. He listens to the worst and does the bidding of the richest because his head is so far up there ass you cannot even tell he is black because he is full of shit like them and the American people don't see color they see the crap thrown in there face.

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...The bells were ringing, the crossing gates were down and the lights were flashing...but like a coven of senile grandmothers in an old Skylark, progressives ignored the lights, drove around the crossing guards and got hit by the train...Now they want to bitch about it and claim that Obama changed...HE DID NOT CHANGE! Part of the problem can be found in what Progressives read and watch. If you took Obama seriously as a peace candidate and progressive...and, if you are as smart as some of you insist that you are...then, perhaps you should reassess the value of the information sources that you are exposing yourselves to... and which are shaping your view of the world.

Sure, there are a lot of morons in the world watching FOX...but what were the rest watching--and reading?

http://original.antiwar.com/justin/2009/12/03/o bamas-war-the-reaction/

Did you know that the Obamanoids and the Neo-Scum sat down together to celebrate the Obama policies?

Now the entire pseudo-Left from the NATION on is busy trying to restore its credibility for leading you down the garden path to support Goldman Sachs' Washington office manager at the White House?

Did you know that in Australia, a Goldman-Sachs leader in the LIBERAL!! Party lost a vote on supporting the Climate Change BS? Do you beleive that the words "Goldman Sachs" and "Liberal" should even go together? If so, you are probably the kind of Liberal that Mussolini had in mind when he quipped that 'a Fascist is just a scared Liberal.'

If you go to Rense.com you'll find the Bloomberg article...loading too slow for me to wait to post a link, sorry.

Its time for real change!

TROOPS HOME NOW! DOWN WITH THE DEMOPUBLICAN REGIME!

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"It's time to strip the Obama sticker off my car."

Man, you're pathetic. I used to really admire you. One of the few people I can think of that would disappoint me more for supporting obomber would have been David Dellinger. I doubt Dave would have bought into obomber's bullshit. Matt Gonzalez laid it out pretty clear several months before the election who obomber might be and what he had done or hadn't done in the past. Mike Gravel showed what war mongering scum most of the democratic candidates were including obomber in the first "debate". After they all did their best bush jr. impersonations Gravel screamed, "these people frighten me!" I understood his sentiment. My thoughts were ,"these people are begging to the incinerate the entire world."

Damn Tom, Humphrey deserved your support more than obomber! What happened to you Tom? Do you have Alzheimer's? Did you take too much of the brown acid? I could never imagine you would have supported obomber. I sometimes wish mcabre would have "won" the s election. At least then the right wingers couldn't blame a "socialist" or a "progressive" for all the problems we now face without looking even more dishonest than they already do . Mcabre's selection would have done more to discredit right wing ideology and propaganda than obomber will ever do. Obomber's accused of being a centrist or a liberal but he's a bigger right winger than clitton was. He might end up making Nixon look like a good liberal in comparison.

Shame on you Tom! I hope you recover soon.

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If you would have told me that sometime in the past,before the election that Barry would have cowtowed to healthcare industry, cowtowed to the Goldman Sachs of the world,basically give more ground to the Neocons and far right, I wouldn't have believed you. Who, in 2008, thought Barack"hope" Obama would have sent 30,000 more murderers to increase the pain and suffering of the Afghani people. I was so fucking naive, it was the first time I voted in a major election, but now I know better. I watched some of his speech, it was disgusting, the man is spineless. I have lost faith in any politician to do the right thing. A politician is the worst thing a person could be, worser than child serial killer. I'm changing to the green party, I can't take this bullshit anymore.

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I just don't understand the shock some progressives are displaying. He's been pretty clear that he was going to escalate in Afghanistan. Obama said over and over that he wanted to shift the priority from Iraq to Afghanistan. What did people think that meant?

I oppose the policy but I can't pretend to be surprised- I actually listened to the words he was saying during the campaign instead of projecting my hopes and dreams onto him.

This is why Democrats can be worse than Republicans- they pursue extremely similar policies in regards to empire but a lot of activists let their guards down when a Democrat is in power.

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If you didn't listen, that's your own fault.

Aug 1, 2007 Remarks of Senator Obama: "The War We Need To Win"
"I did not oppose all wars, I said. I was a strong supporter of the war in Afghanistan... It is time to turn the page. When I am President, we will wage the war that has to be won, with a comprehensive strategy with five elements: getting out of Iraq and on to the right battlefield in Afghanistan and Pakistan... Ending the war (in Iraq) will help isolate al Qaeda and give Iraqis the incentive and opportunity to take them out. It will also allow us to direct badly needed resources to Afghanistan. Our troops have fought valiantly there, but Iraq has deprived them of the support they need and deserve. As a result, parts of Afghanistan are falling into the hands of the Taliban, and a mix of terrorism, drugs, and corruption threatens to overwhelm the country. As President, I would deploy at least two additional brigades to Afghanistan to re-enforce our counter-terrorism operations and support NATO's efforts against the Taliban. As we step up our commitment, our European friends must do the same, and without the burdensome restrictions that have hampered NATO's efforts. We must also put more of an Afghan face on security by improving the training and equipping of the Afghan Army and Police, and including Afghan soldiers in U.S. and NATO operations. "

Barack Obama's Acceptance Speech:
"When John McCain said we could just muddle through in Afghanistan, I argued for more resources and more troops to finish the fight against the terrorists who actually attacked us on 9/11, and made clear that we must take out Osama bin Laden and his lieutenants if we have them in our sights. You know, John McCain likes to say that he'll follow bin Laden to the gates of Hell, but he won't even follow him to the cave where he lives."

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If you didn't listen, that's your own fault.

Aug 1, 2007 Remarks of Senator Obama: "The War We Need To Win"
"I did not oppose all wars, I said. I was a strong supporter of the war in Afghanistan... It is time to turn the page. When I am President, we will wage the war that has to be won, with a comprehensive strategy with five elements: getting out of Iraq and on to the right battlefield in Afghanistan and Pakistan... Ending the war (in Iraq) will help isolate al Qaeda and give Iraqis the incentive and opportunity to take them out. It will also allow us to direct badly needed resources to Afghanistan. Our troops have fought valiantly there, but Iraq has deprived them of the support they need and deserve. As a result, parts of Afghanistan are falling into the hands of the Taliban, and a mix of terrorism, drugs, and corruption threatens to overwhelm the country. As President, I would deploy at least two additional brigades to Afghanistan to re-enforce our counter-terrorism operations and support NATO's efforts against the Taliban. As we step up our commitment, our European friends must do the same, and without the burdensome restrictions that have hampered NATO's efforts. We must also put more of an Afghan face on security by improving the training and equipping of the Afghan Army and Police, and including Afghan soldiers in U.S. and NATO operations. "

Barack Obama's Acceptance Speech:
"When John McCain said we could just muddle through in Afghanistan, I argued for more resources and more troops to finish the fight against the terrorists who actually attacked us on 9/11, and made clear that we must take out Osama bin Laden and his lieutenants if we have them in our sights. You know, John McCain likes to say that he'll follow bin Laden to the gates of Hell, but he won't even follow him to the cave where he lives."

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Yes, we voted for him, because we'd have voted for Donald Duck if he'd been nominated at the Democratic convention. Since he's going to be there making us cringe or vomit or both for many months, I think we ought to start working openly against him. On OpEd today there's an important article in which the author points out that the war in Afghanistan is unlawful, because Congress had to agree to it within 60 days after the first invasion by US troops. Never happened! That fact is not going to be revealed and discussed in the mass media, is it? So everyone of us has got to spread the information as widely as we can. Read the article if you can open OpEd for Dec 4, and if you can't, just run with this: Congress has to declare war or get us out of there. Write your newspaper, alert every other progressive website you read, put it on your Facebook page, email or tell everyone you know.
One of the other comments here urges action: I wish he'd said how he thinks we can organize to do it.

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As I watched with interest the state of our economy and status throughout the world,
my impression of Barak Obama was one of hope, change, hopefully a little independence of
thought and deed. I was ready to extend time and patience for the transition of President. This is not working, as I concluded with the team of economic advisors, Summers, Giethner, Volker, keeping,but shuffling, the same military advisors, Gates, Patraeous, etc......., maintaining the same aggressive stance in the middle east, giving the future of succeeding generations to thieves and con men, letting corporations have their way with our society. I have not seen any hope or change from this administration, just the same corporate controlled domination of the populace,
keeping control of the masses.
Now we are moving our military presence into Afghanistan, soon Pakistan, I was hoping to see something other than an embracing of the status quo, but then I remembered that our country elected a corporate candidate. I would hope that by this time the population would
have awakened to the corporate shenanigans that have been so redundant throughout this country's history, but then I thought about the collective attention span of America.
The time is ripe for us to stop the political complicit behavior, to adopt the Ralph Nader suggestion of a 1/10 of one percent tax on all stock transactions, to stop the sacrificing of this country's future to the perpetraitors of economic collapse.

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i liked tom hayden back when he was mr SDS, though i was a teen then who preferred the splinter weather underground, as they got things done. weathermen's bombing of DOW and other weapons plants were later estimated to have spared some 25,000 vietnamese lives in that 2.1 million viet death war... my favorite line from hayden was, "when we failed to pull off our revolution in 1968; we became a generation of might-have-beens.' and look at the millions of death our failure has caused.

why anyone bought into this uncle tom corporatist hack, i don't know. he, like the vast majority of dems, voted in lockstep with the bush cabal on all war funding, patriot axe, military commissions act and corporate-communist bush tax cuts for the rich and the 'bailouts' and guarantees. when did we ever see obama at an antiwar rally or really speaking out on torture. obama neither wrote nor sponsored any significant bills in his 4 years in senate before starting his run for the white house. obama told us all on 60 Minutes right before his inauguration that "we don't stand for torture' then 2 days later authorized the continuation of CIA's rendition program ofoutsourced torture worldwide,with numbers far larger than just gitmo, which is still open, too. obama intends the indefinite occupation of resource-colony iraq with 50,000 troops and 100,000 merce goons and has expanded afpak into yemen and uzbek, as is now coming out.

i realized i couldn't vote for obama (not for mccain, either, of course), early on in his campaign when fox news bill oreiley cornered him about the obama family minister and friend, who said, "america has always been and remains based upon racist genocide." obama replied, quote, "no good american believes those things he says." well, since the extermination of 90% of the 18-20 million natives who in 1500 livedin what is now called america... and the killing of 8 million africans in the process of bringing 10 million slaves to america... are both historically undeniable facts... that makes obama a holocaust-denier. i saw that if he would turncoat like this in public under such as oreiley's tactics; he would turn on anyone, everyone in equally cowardly fashion.

folks should take of their rose-colored glasses and see what really is; not what they wish was there. obamabush, the obomber obummer is one more war criminal and corporatist dupe cut from the same cloth as bush-cheney/clinton/bush/reagan/nixon/LBJ in our government of, by and for oligarch garbage that urgently needs to be taken out, as it stinks.

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The war is about death squads. They worked in El Salvador. They worked in Iraq. Now we're giving our very highest death squad technology to the Afghans.

What's wrong with teaching Afghans how to be death squads?

1. It's immoral to have millions of people murdered or driven out of their home countries. By the way, they come to the United States.

2. Isn't that exactly how we always get into Mideast trouble in the first place? Jimmy Carter abandoned his human rights crusade to go stick up for the Shah of Iran. Didn't that one work out well?

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A.S.A.P.

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Rabbi Michael Lerner had some interesting thoughts about the speech too.

A healthy dose of cynicism back in the campaign might have actually produced a real shift (by electing a third party candidate instead of the Hope-Change scam-machine's candidate). But that bitter pill remains just that, bitter. Can we finally get busy to stop this latest madness and take an oath of disobedience in the next election: to this time finally vote Green/Indie instead of this guy, even if the Right wing puts up the neo-Nazi they're sure to put up?

I don't ever want to hear one "progressive" among the clan ever again giving us the business that if we don't vote x we'll get fascist y. Well, look what happened. Y'all voted for x to avoid y and you got who... a good lookin' Y! Basta!

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I Saw Her Doing Her Intro's To Her Husband - and The Events You Do Before You Get Elected...

I Thought What She Said Was Completely Wonderful And I Thought She Looked Lovely - A Real Firey Woman Telling AMERICA How Her Husband Was Going To End Fear...

She Was Far Better Than Him

What The Fuck Is Wrong With Him Since He Got Elected..

He Started Firing Blanks About Ending TORTURE, and Closing Down Guantanamo Bay...

And We all Saw Him at West Point

Some Bastard Has Stuck a Geat Big Knob Up His Arse...

Michelle it Is Now Up To You Girl

To Do The Right Thing

You Find Out Whoever This Arsehole Is Who Is Controlling Your Husband...

And I Really Don't Have To Explain It To You

You Just Be Yourself and Use Your Power as a Woman To Protect Your Husband and The World

I Know You Can Do It Girl

Sure It Takes Courage - But Neither of You Are Short In That Department

Love & Peace,

Tony

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The Taliban are trying to protect a tribal way of life just as Native Americans did during our country’s own period of colonial expansion and early America. I would have preferred to have heard President Obama say something like even though the Taliban are fundamentalist assholes and jerks, they are, nonetheless, Afghanis and no peace will come to the people of Afghanistan without making the Taliban a part of the solution. Something similar would be more befitting a Nobel Peace laureate. Instead, he talked about war, using the word war or wars twenty-five times in his Afghan strategy speech while saying the word peace only twice. The new War President clearly has waging war on his mind and the good folks in Oslo must be feeling chagrined. When they greet him next week, they should not pass up the opportunity to find a way to symbolically show it.

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that the Republicans have never been out of power at all. The Repig-dominated military/industrial complex still runs everything in this country, and that includes our Secret Service, CIA, NSA, and every branch of the military.(JFK tried to buck this bunch. We all know how THAT turned out.) There have been polls recently that note that the American people, regardless of political affiliation, are fed up with our government being involved in all these "foreign entanglements" (that George Washington once told us to avoid) and want a return to a basically isolationist foreign policy. While total isolationism isn't possible in these globally-interconnected times, they're just plain sick of the U. S. meddling in everyone else's affairs. We really aren't very good at such adventures and should just let everyone else alone to puzzle out their own solutions to their problems.

Today's Democrats, with a few notable exceptions, are simply Republican-lite. We really don't have much choice. The corporatocracy always gets its way....and it's destroying our nation for its own greedy purposes.

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It's going to be very amusing indeed to see just how many votes Black Hitler can get for his party and presidential run in 2010 and 2012. Who knows? Maybe by 2012 Black Hitler won't need any votes - he'll have long declared himself Dictator and King Shit of The Universe after another false-flag terrorist attack is carried out by the CIA and Mossad.

In fact, I'm not actually going to vote in any election, ever again, unless I'm forced to at gunpoint (and then the elections will obviously be invalid). I refuse to legitimize this regime that is called "The United States Government." It's not my government. Nobody has the right to rule me without my consent, end of story.

Fuck the CIA, fuck the NSA, fuck Homeland Security, fuck the IRS, fuck this government, and especially fuck the Federal Reserve. If everyone working in these insitutions... well, I don't want to get in anymore trouble than I probably already will for even thinking these thoughts in this era of Thought Police, so I'll just stop there.

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So we back the muhjadeen for 10 years, help create a chaotic condition, then leave the whole mess for another ten. And now we have been dithering in the country for eight years... that means the US owes Afghanistan about 28 years of concerted effort. Send more aid, build schools, build bridges, infrastructure, and only send more troops if necessary, but we owe it to Afghanistan to fund a 30 year economic surge. We helped Japan and Germany rebuild, and look where they are now.

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