It appears that most liberal opponents of the wars in the Middle East/ Central Asia have ceased their opposition with the Obama presidency. The liberal Democrats who abhorred Bush’s war policy (and most grass roots liberal Democrats did vehemently oppose the Bush war policy although this was not always the case with liberal politicians and media figures) apparently were simply opposed to wars led by Republicans.  As Byron York, a conservative,  writes in the first article below: “For many liberal activists, opposing the war was really about opposing George W. Bush. When Bush disappeared, so did their anti-war passion.” Anti-war protest leader, Cindy Sheehan, agrees completely, stating: “The ‘anti-war’ ‘left’ was used by the Democratic Party. I like to call it the ‘anti-Republican War’ movement.”

Obama is perceived as a liberal, a man of peace, and a charismatic figure, which enables him to get away with things that had been impossible for Bush the Younger.

Thus Obama can say such things as the war in Afghanistan is “fundamental to the defense of our people” and not be savaged by the former critics of the war.  This is not to say that the former anti-war people have become cheerleaders for war.  Rather, they have become largely indifferent to it.  Their attention has been largely diverted to the health care issue, the economy, the environment, or some other liberal cause. This political indifference has given Obama a virtual freehand in military policy.   The most dangerous possible development is war with Iran, which is sought by Israel and its Lobby.   Escalating American involvement in Afghanistan along with the continued American occupation of  Iraq allows for incidents with Iran (or incidents blamed on Iran) that could lead to war.  If Obama keeps sagging in the polls–due to the health care reform issue, a continuing problematic economy, and other domestic difficulties– an aggressive foreign policy might likely be seen as a necessary political ploy.   Even if war is not the deliberate goal, an aggressive policy, such as a naval blockade of Iran to enforce an embargo of various supplies (proposed in Congress in 2008), certainly brings a high risk of all-out war.

The liberal Obama would seem to better able to expand the wars than the conservative Bush. As Justin Raimondo has written: “it occurs to me that only Barack Obama, who won the White House in large part due to his opposition to the Iraq war, could take us to war with Iran, and rally liberals and much of the left behind it.” http://original.antiwar.com/justin/2009/07/16/obamas-war-signals/

This represents the  Nixon-goes-to-China analogy.  Just as Nixon with his anti-Communist bona fides had more political leeway to negotiate with Communist China than a liberal Democrat, the liberal man of peace Obama is better positioned politically to expand the wars in the Middle East/Central Asia than Bush the Younger, who was perceived as a warmonger.  (To counter this argument, it might be pointed out that liberal Democrats did attack Lyndon Johnson over Vietnam.  However, despite Johnson’s success in pushing through liberal domestic legislation, he was never the darling of American liberals and certainly did not have the charismatic appeal of Obama.)

This scenario will not fully come to pass until Obama actually involves the US in war with Iran.  But while a war with Iran is certainly politically feasible, the question is whether Obama would actually take such an option since the national security and foreign policy elites outside the orbit of the Israel Lobby are against such a risky venture.

Sat, 02 Aug 2008 21:43:56

US Vice President Dick Cheney

Prominent journalist Seymour Hersh exposes details of a plan considered by US Vice President Dick Cheney on how to provoke war with Iran.

"There was a dozen ideas proffered about how to trigger a war [with Iran]," Hersh said recently in reference to the subject of discussion at a meeting held at Cheney’s office.

In a July article published in the New Yorker, the Pulitzer Prize winning journalist revealed information about covert US operations carried out in Iran. He did not disclose the content of the talks with Cheney in his article.

In a recent interview with Think Progress, however, Hersh exposed that the meeting witnessed Cheney mulling over a proposal to dress up Navy SEALs as Iranians and shoot them in order to trigger a war with Iran.

"The one (plan) that interested me the most was why don’t we build – we in our shipyard – build four or five boats that look like Iranian PT boats. Put Navy SEALs on them with a lot of arms. And next time one of our boats goes to the Strait of Hormuz, start a shoot-up," he revealed in his recent interview.

"Might cost some lives. And it was rejected because you can’t have Americans killing Americans. That’s the kind of – that’s the level of stuff we’re talking about. Provocation."

The well-known journalist added that the proposal was ultimately rejected.

"Look, is it high school? Yeah. Are we playing high school with you know 5,000 nuclear warheads in our arsenal? Yeah we are. We’re playing, you know, who’s the first guy to run off the highway with us and Iran," he continued.

Hersh argues that should Washington engineer ‘the right incident’, Americans will ‘support’ going to war with Iran.

Pulitzer Prize winner Seymour Myron Hersh first gained worldwide recognition in 1969 for exposing the My Lai massacre and its cover-up during the Vietnam War.

MD/HGH/AA

While we’re being bombarded by violence, plague and death in movies, TV and film, we are expected to disregard predictive programming.  The article quotes the sick man Bettison mentioning the chils as a "fair haired angelic boy" designed to frighten you – "He is not a Muslim. He is not driven by ideology – he is too young to spell the word.  But he is being influenced and intoxicated by the imagery and appeal of Jihadist and other internet violence.”  

Of course this is more garbage to put fear and distrust in our natures. 

VIOLENCE IS EVERYWHERE IN CURRENT CULTURE.  THIS IS TRANSPARENT & WE ARE SICK OF IT.  Does this boy even exist?   This is preperation for all of us to fear the NEW TERRORIST WITHIN.  Do not believe the hype of the blonde haired al qu’eda recruits – this is the next phase of the rulers’ plans and they most assuredly will produce drugged mk-ultra’d pawns who fit this bill. 

Blond, white schoolboy is al-Qa’eda extremist, say police

The news that Rep. Dennis J. Kucinich (D-Ohio) introduced articles of impeachment against President Bush sparked a spirited debate here yesterday. It’s pretty clear that history will judge George W. Bush as one of the worst presidents ever—if not the worst. But how will history remember Kucinich?

The full impeachment articles and their supporting documentation can be read here:

Dennis J. Kucinich of Ohio
In the United States House of Representatives
Monday, June 9th, 2008
A Resolution

Article I
Creating a Secret Propaganda Campaign to Manufacture a False Case for War Against Iraq.

Article II
Falsely, Systematically, and with Criminal Intent Conflating the Attacks of September 11, 2001, With Misrepresentation of Iraq as a Security Threat as Part of Fraudulent Justification for a War of Aggression.

Article III
Misleading the American People and Members of Congress to Believe Iraq Possessed Weapons of Mass Destruction, to Manufacture a False Case for War.

Article IV
Misleading the American People and Members of Congress to Believe Iraq Posed an Imminent Threat to the United States.

Article V
Illegally Misspending Funds to Secretly Begin a War of Aggression.

Article VI
Invading Iraq in Violation of the Requirements of HJRes114.

Article VII
Invading Iraq Absent a Declaration of War.

Article VIII
Invading Iraq, A Sovereign Nation, in Violation of the UN Charter.

Article IX
Failing to Provide Troops With Body Armor and Vehicle Armor

Article X
Falsifying Accounts of US Troop Deaths and Injuries for Political Purposes

Article XI
Establishment of Permanent U.S. Military Bases in Iraq

Article XII
Initiating a War Against Iraq for Control of That Nation’s Natural Resources

Article XIIII
Creating a Secret Task Force to Develop Energy and Military Policies With Respect to Iraq and Other
Countries

Article XIV
Misprision of a Felony, Misuse and Exposure of Classified Information And Obstruction of Justice in the Matter of Valerie Plame Wilson, Clandestine Agent of the Central Intelligence Agency

Article XV
Providing Immunity from Prosecution for Criminal Contractors in Iraq

Article XVI
Reckless Misspending and Waste of U.S. Tax Dollars in Connection With Iraq and US Contractors

Article XVII
Illegal Detention: Detaining Indefinitely And Without Charge Persons Both U.S. Citizens and Foreign Captives

Article XVIII
Torture: Secretly Authorizing, and Encouraging the Use of Torture Against Captives in Afghanistan, Iraq, and Other Places, as a Matter of Official Policy

Article XIX
Rendition: Kidnapping People and Taking Them Against Their Will to "Black Sites" Located in Other Nations, Including Nations Known to Practice Torture

Article XX
Imprisoning Children

Article XXI
Misleading Congress and the American People About Threats from Iran, and Supporting Terrorist Organizations Within Iran, With the Goal of Overthrowing the Iranian Government

Article XXII
Creating Secret Laws

Article XXIII
Violation of the Posse Comitatus Act

Article XXIV
Spying on American Citizens, Without a Court-Ordered Warrant, in Violation of the Law and the Fourth Amendment

Article XXV
Directing Telecommunications Companies to Create an Illegal and Unconstitutional Database of the Private Telephone Numbers and Emails of American Citizens

Article XXVI
Announcing the Intent to Violate Laws with Signing Statements

Article XXVII
Failing to Comply with Congressional Subpoenas and Instructing Former Employees Not to Comply

Article XXVIII
Tampering with Free and Fair Elections, Corruption of the Administration of Justice

Article XXIX
Conspiracy to Violate the Voting Rights Act of 1965

Article XXX
Misleading Congress and the American People in an Attempt to Destroy Medicare

Article XXXI
Katrina: Failure to Plan for the Predicted Disaster of Hurricane Katrina, Failure to Respond to a Civil Emergency

Article XXXII
Misleading Congress and the American People, Systematically Undermining Efforts to Address Global Climate Change

Article XXXIII
Repeatedly Ignored and Failed to Respond to High Level Intelligence Warnings of Planned Terrorist Attacks in the US, Prior to 911.

Article XXXIV
Obstruction of the Investigation into the Attacks of September 11, 2001

Article XXXV
Endangering the Health of 911 First Responders

A just released fully searchable database of Iraq War lies from the Bush administration contains 935 false statements from all the team players you’ve come to love and respect over the years.  You can search by phrase, subject, person and date range.  This is invaluable for the upcoming series of impeachments and trials that no doubt will be coming to Washington very soon.  Well, in a world where up is up that might be true.  We shall see.  Gentlemen and Ladies  of  the jury I present exhibit A…

Here’s a great example of truth spoken if you just swap "Saddam" with "Bush".

And that’s why I’ve asked our country to think seriously about Saddam Hussein in Iraq. Saddam Hussein is a man who said he wouldn’t have weapons of mass destruction—he made that promise to the world. He’s hiding, he’s deceiving, he’s lying about whether he has them or not. Not only does he have them, he used them. He used them against people in his neighborhood. He used them against his own people. This is a man who has lied about whether or not he possesses weapons of mass destruction, a man who uses them, a man who hates America, a man who hates our friends. He’s a threat to peace.’

SOURCE: Office of the White House Press Secretary, remarks by George W. Bush in Columbia, South Carolina, October 24, 2002.