First we have this, President Obama speaking in Cairo:
And then we have this reality from David Swanson:
A New Beginning: If Only
By David Swanson
President Barack Obama’s speech in Cairo probably did a world of good. It was packed with truth telling and noble sentiments. But imagine how much more good would be done if all the best parts of it corresponded to reality.
If we treated people around the world with “respect,” would we continue occupying their nations against their adamant desires? If we truly “seek no military bases” in Afghanistan, why are we building them on such massive scale? And why are we locking up hundreds of people there whom Obama hopes to keep outside the rule of law and never bring to trial (or at least he’s fighting for that power in court and recently declared that he possessed it), people who will not all die any time soon?
If we respect the Iraqi people, why must our president tell them they are better off now. Why not ask them whether they think they are better off? If we have a “dual reponsibility” to help Iraq and to leave Iraq, is it relevant that the people of Iraq reject that idea, and that we would reject it if imposed on our own nation by another? If we “pursue no bases” in Iraq and will remove “combat brigades by next August” and will “remove combat troops from Iraqi cities by July” and “remove all our troops from Iraq by 2012,” why are we renaming troops “non-combat troops”, why are we redrawing city boundaries to avoid withdrawing, why are we in fact creating exceptions in order to remain in cities? And why do the Commander in Chief’s immediate subordinates keep telling reporters that the United States will never leave Iraq?
If we were “respectful of the sovereignty of nations and the rule of law” would we occupy other nations, would we use preventive detention, would we decline to prosecute torturers, assassins, and war criminals, would we object to Iran’s possible future nuclear power while refusing to acknowledge that of Israel? If we do not “accept the legitimacy of continued Israeli settlements,” why do we fund them, and why do we accept every existing one? If we respected the people of Gaza, wouldn’t our president accept an invitation to visit there and acknowledge the responsibility of having paid for the weapons that caused the destruction?
Read the rest of David Swanson’s article here.
Iraq enjoys a young population. Children living next to Daurra Oil Refinery in Iraq.
The disconnect between what our President says he stands for and reality is getting bigger and bigger. David Swanson knows it, I know it and you know it too unless you are in denial. It is easy for the President to remain popular among the populace because it takes so little to outshine his predecessor. President Obama’s change he talks so much about will require standing up to the militarists and the CIA, standing up to Congress, standing up to the corporate media, standing up to the “to big to fail” banks, standing up to the private health insurance companies and standing up to the war criminals. And that is just for starters. So far President Obama is “no Jack Kennedy”. Hope I am wrong.
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