How War-Monger-in-Chief Will Again Get the “Peace” Vote
Politicians constantly utter what they know to be falsehoods in order to garner votes and high esteem from an ignorant electorate. The latest and greatest of such sideshows is – and will be – Obama’s war in Afghanistan.
Military and administration officials have repeatedly explained that the Afghan war will continue long past Obama’s fabled December 2014 deadline for withdrawal. Top British commander, Lieutenant General James Bucknall, said the other day that ”December, 2014, is not the end of the campaign. It’s a long-term commitment,” and that “we will reduce numbers – but we will not go away.”
NATO Secretary General Anders Fogh Rasmussen said just last week that “We will not take our leave” in 2014 and that it’s too early to tell how large the occupation would be after the deadline and for how long it would last. US Defense Secretary Leon Panetta, too, has said “It is clear that no one is rushing to the exit.”
US General John Allen, the new commander of the occupation of Afghanistan, last week disavowed the 2014 date, saying ”we’re actually going to be here for a long time.”
The Daily Telegraph confirmed that Obama administration officials were working on a deal with the Afghan government to have a large scale occupation – at least 25,000 troops and many more contractors – through 2024. And people thought ten years in Afghanistan was a lot.
The Obama administration’s so-called shift in war strategy – from country-wide military occupation to targeted special operations and training missions – is Orwellian claptrap for more of the same. National Security Advisor Tom Donilon, in remarks in Washington in mid-September, said that by 2014 “the US remaining force will be basically an enduring presence force focused on counterterrorism.” The technocratic pedantry obscures the reality that the war will continue.
Yet, watch and see in the upcoming 2012 campaign how much Obama will use this 2014 date as a stump speech to coddle gullible Obama voters into casting their ballots – again – for a reincarnation of their supposed nemesis, George W. Bush. See if Obama gets reelected on a promise that the war in Afghanistan has nearly ended (that is, if recession-conscious Americans can conceive of going to the ballot box with any intention other than voting themselves other peoples’ money).
As a matter of fact, watch how much Obama’s similarly broken promises vis-à-vis ending the Iraq war will be completely stricken from the presidential debates. The Obama administration has spent years badgering the Iraqis into accepting a large contingency of US troops and contractors to remain in Iraq beyond the December 2011 deadline for a full withdrawal. To push this through, Maliki circumvented the Iraqi Parliament to make the decision dictatorially. Now that Obama has succeeded in strong-arming the continuation of the US occupation of Iraq, they are demanding US soldiers maintain immunity from Iraqi law.
Unfortunately for Obama, the Bush administration failed to secure a deal for a full scale contingency of tens of thousands of troops in Iraq indefinitely. Back in 2007 Bush administration had drafted the first Status of Forces Agreement (SOFA) which detailed a prolonged and continued US troop presence in Iraq with no specified limits and called for “facilitating and encouraging the flow of foreign investments to Iraq, especially American investments” and for US forces to work indefinitely to “deter foreign aggression against Iraq.” This was overly egregious for Iraqis and couldn’t pass muster in Iraqi politics. Thus the 2008 SOFA demanding full pullout in December 2011. Too bad for Obama, since he almost certainly would have signed on to that plan and is now trying to resurrect it.
These realities about Obama’s Iraq policies are unlikely to receive more than 60 seconds of air time in the presidential debates or in the uncritical after-debate punditry. Afghanistan will get some focus, but Obama will insist – beyond all the evidence and repeated admissions by top military and administration officials – that the end is right around the corner, after all the “progress” he’s made in Afghanistan. And Americans will simply nod, acquiesce, and then vote.
Herman Cain Is An Idiot « Antiwar.com Blog
October 10th, 2011 at 1:27 pm
[...] cozying back up to the dictator in his execution of the Afghan war, which is yet another sign that the Afghan war is very far from over. This map from the Washington Post illustrates how badly the US imperialists need obedient [...]
John V. Walsh
October 10th, 2011 at 6:11 pm
Obama is one of the all time great liars. A jive-ass politician without peer. Let us always remember he is and was the candidate of the MOST "progressive" wing of the Dem Party. For anyone who is paying attention, he has exposed the complete failure of the Dem Party and identity politics.
He betrayed his followers on everything of significance – but many do not want to think about it.
So the article is partly correct. Many will vote for him but a substantial number will stay home – and those who are thinking will work for Ron Paul.
Bob
October 10th, 2011 at 8:59 pm
And Rachel Madcow will forever pretend Barack Hussein Obomba is her lord and savior.
DROSE
October 10th, 2011 at 9:21 pm
This is why I dis like the Republicans but hate the Democrats.
VietnamWarVet1966
October 11th, 2011 at 6:07 am
NO bigger or smoother LIAR in America than is Barack Hussein Obama, a trained Marxist-Communist whose agenda is to destroy America.
NO dumber people on planet Earth than the America people who will vote for Obama in 2012.
Iraq snapshot (C.I.) | thecommonillsbackup
October 11th, 2011 at 4:21 pm
[...] issues continue to swirl, Jalal Talabani runs off at the mouth, and more. John Glaser (Antiwar.com) offers his take on how the upcoming 2012 election season will play out: The Obama administration’s [...]
Opium Production, Profits Rise Drastically in Afghanistan -- News from Antiwar.com
October 11th, 2011 at 6:11 pm
[...] This is just one aspect of the Afghan war gone terribly wrong, as the decade-long war has produced greater suffering and greater instability, and little else. The security situation in Afghanistan has deteriorated every consecutive year under Obama, and there is no end in sight. [...]
Mirror, Mirror (Cedric) | thecommonillsbackup
October 12th, 2011 at 3:27 am
[...] THE TCI WIRE: John Glaser (Antiwar.com) offers his take on how the upcoming 2012 election season will play out: The Obama [...]
assassination (Rebecca) | thecommonillsbackup
October 12th, 2011 at 3:28 am
[...] ‘withdrawal’ issues continue to swirl, Jalal Talabani runs off at the mouth, and more. John Glaser (Antiwar.com) offers his take on how the upcoming 2012 election season will play out: The Obama [...]
A. G. Phillbin
October 12th, 2011 at 11:34 am
Even stupider than the people who will vote for Obama in 2012 are those people who continue to call him "a trained Marxist-Communist." I'll bet you're one of those tinfoil hat wearing birthers.
Obama Invades Uganda, Only the Latest Intervention Against LRA « Antiwar.com Blog
October 14th, 2011 at 2:19 pm
[...] wars are piling up for the Nobel Prize winner, war-monger-in-chief. By arbitrary presidential decree, Obama has involved America in another war without asking for [...]
Feds invade another Third World country that poses no danger to us | Southern Nationalist Network
October 15th, 2011 at 2:26 pm
[...] Glaser has the story for Antiwar.com: The wars are piling up for the Nobel Prize winner, war-monger-in-chief. By arbitrary presidential decree, Obama has involved America in another war without asking for [...]
Antiwar.com’s Week in Review | October 16, 2011 « Antiwar.com Blog
October 16th, 2011 at 1:41 pm
[...] Glaser explained how the incumbent warmonger-in-chief will again get the "peace" vote, how the national security state is making criminals out of activists, why Herman Cain is an idiot, [...]
Killing Children in Afghanistan « Antiwar.com Blog
October 16th, 2011 at 1:55 pm
[...] service of American soldiers, lies about Afghan security, and arbitrary dates which we are misleadingly told will see an American withdrawal. The useless, aimless, lie of a war continues unabated, without any [...]
Ignorance Plays in the Politics of the Imperial Plebiscite « Antiwar.com Blog
October 17th, 2011 at 12:26 pm
[...] zero attention for four years straight and then popping up at their local elementary school to vote in another imperial psychopath. A Pew poll released at the beginning of the month found that almost [...]
US Escalates Assault on Haqqanis & Insurgents, To No Avail -- News from Antiwar.com
October 18th, 2011 at 5:10 pm
[...] The offensive has so far borne little results for the US, and indeed, the war in Afghanistan is growing more fruitless by the day. Violence is up, the insurgency is as strong as ever, Afghan security forces are untrained and dependent on the US occupation, and it is an extremely expensive waste of time for everyone involved, in both blood and treasure. Yet, Obama administration officials and Pentagon officials insist it must go on indefinitely. [...]
Official Claims of a Transition to Afghan-Controlled Security Are Unlikely -- News from Antiwar.com
October 26th, 2011 at 5:32 pm
[...] likely to be for public consumption in an upcoming election season. Serious US and NATO officials have repeatedly disputed the 2014 date for withdrawal, promising an enduring military presence, perhaps well into the [...]
The Overt Withdrawal and the Covert Surge « Antiwar.com Blog
October 27th, 2011 at 8:42 am
[...] Afghanistan, there is still almost 150,000 troops there, and US and NATO military officials have repeatedly confirmed a remaining occupation of that country for at least the foreseeable future, and perhaps into the [...]
Suicide Truck Bomb, Insurgent Gun Fight Kills 5 -- News from Antiwar.com
October 31st, 2011 at 5:17 pm
[...] the beginning of the drawdown leading to the full withdrawal in 2014. But analysts and officials repeatedly contradict the plan to withdraw completely by 2014, promising US and NATO presence in Afghanistan to continue well into the [...]
New Kyrgyzstan President Wants US Military Base Closed -- News from Antiwar.com
November 1st, 2011 at 7:23 am
[...] military officials and NATO statements have repeatedly contradicted the 2014 withdrawal date and the war is as much a failure now as ever, so many have been expecting an extension of the war [...]
Afghan Security Forces Unprepared to Take Over for US, NATO -- News from Antiwar.com
November 1st, 2011 at 6:31 pm
[...] and NATO military figures have repeatedly contradicted the Obama administration’s stated withdrawal date of 2014, and the regressive realities on [...]