Friday, February 3, 2012

Obama’s Progressive Credentials: A Hawk in a Dove's Feathers


     Okay ladies and gents! I know it’s a bit overdue, but here it is! The second installment of Obama’s Progressive Credentials! Don’t forget to join the conversation about Obama’s and other candidates Progressive credentials on Twitter by using the hashtag #ProgCred.
            So Obama campaigned in 2008 as The Dove. He wanted to contrast both George W. Bush and John McCain. He said he would close Guantanamo Bay and he would pull out of Afghanistan and out of Iraq.



(I guess Obama and Greg never did figure out exactly how to close gitmo and what to do with the prisoners. To this day, it is still open.)



And he did! We're out of Iraq... Well almost, we still have an Embassy there and war isn't over, not by a long shot.

     We'll be in Afghanistan until 2013 under his current trajectory. He moved 500 troops from Iraq to Kuwait, instead of bringing them home. Let us not forget Obama ordered the murder of Anwar Al-Aulaki, a U.S. citizen, without a trial. This from the candidate who stood against torture and campaigned on closing Gitmo? Not only is what he did unconstitutional, it's hypocritical!
     I also want to Mention JSOC, or Joint Special Operations Command, which is a President's way of waging war without drawing too much attention to it. A 'dove' president wouldn't want the public, especially the people that voted for him, to know that he was using special operations forces, would he? Especially when he uses them to kill American citizens.
     Granted, if Osama Bin Laden and Ghaddafi are dead – have any independent groups verified this? – These are good things. Even FDR went to war with Hitler. But my research suggests that no independent groups have verified this. Maybe I've been reading George Orwell too much lately, but I don't tend to believe something just because my government claims it to be true.
     And how many innocent people died in this presidents attempts to kill Ghaddafi? "According to the Libyan Health office, the airstrikes killed 1,108 civilians and wounded 4,500 by July 13." - How Many Innocent People? People who look just at numbers might say, well for war, that's not too bad! How desensitized we have become! Every person who dies, every innocent person, is someone's son, daughter, brother, sister, father, mother, cousin. These are real people with real lives who got caught between a tyrannical leader and the American who stopped him. But if we look at the tactical use of JSOC, which Obama has proved he isn't afraid to use, then why in the world would he need to bomb Libya to kill Ghaddafi and end the civil war? Will he justify his decision by saying the number of innocent lives taken would have been higher had he not bombed Libya? Was he afraid that a group he had twice used successfully before might fail him in Libya?
     I think I could tie it back to money. IBM and GE, two big parts of the Military Industrial Complex, both donated $500,000+ to the Obama for President 2008 campaign - OpenSecrets.Org - And if I were them, I wouldn't mind a return on my investment in the form of having the government purchase my expensive drone and bombing technology.
      Obama is nothing but a Corporatists, Opportunist, War-Mongering president. He is not a Progressive when it comes to war, and as long as he has the collar of the Big Corporations around his neck, we don't stand a chance.




And just for fun, I thought it might be nice to look at how well occupied the Middle East is by the United States Government:



Next time you see a homeless person, or someone who can't afford healthcare, or a warm meal. Next time you see a student drowning in Public and Private loans and yet they cannot find work, think about how much this costs the government (That would be some percentage of the $700 Billion the government spent for 'National Security' in 2009 - Institute For Policy Studies).




Always Questioning,

Alexander Fisher
J.Fisher2028@yahoo.com
@JAFThrasher

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2 comments:

  1. He really did order someone killed? I had heard it but didn't want to believe it. I'm not sure if Osama has been totally confirmed, but Ghadaffi was. He was killed by rebels not Americans and there are plenty of pictures of his bloody corpse.

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  2. After doing some more research, it seems there isn't necessarily enough empirical evidence to say that he did order for Anwar Al-Awlaki's murder, but there is enough to convince me. Maybe I should clarify that in the post.

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