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December 5, 2008
A Loud Silence
That's the response from the "antiwar" wing of the Democratic party to Obama's Iraq sellout
A Loud Silence
That's the response from the "antiwar" wing of the Democratic party to Obama's Iraq sellout
A Loud Silence
That's the response from the "antiwar" wing of the Democratic party to Obama's Iraq sellout
by Justin Raimondo
Is it really possible that President-elect Barack Obama intends to break his campaign promise to "end the war" in Iraq, and keep US troops in that country well beyond the sixteen month timetable for withdrawal he advocated during the campaign?
The answer, according to the New York Times, is a fairly certain yes:
"On the campaign trail, Senator Barack Obama offered a pledge that electrified and motivated his liberal base, vowing to "end the war" in Iraq.
"But as he moves closer to the White House, President-elect Obama is making clearer than ever that tens of thousands of American troops will be left behind in Iraq, even if he can make good on his campaign promise to pull all combat forces out within 16 months.
"'I said that I would remove our combat troops from Iraq in 16 months, with the understanding that it might be necessary — likely to be necessary — to maintain a residual force to provide potential training, logistical support, to protect our civilians in Iraq,' Mr. Obama said this week as he introduced his national security team."
Tens of thousands – a prime target for terrorists, a "residual force" that, in any other context, would be seen as an army of occupation, and a reminder to the Iraqis that they still aren't free of us, nor we of them. That "residual" force, we are told, could number as high as 70,000 troops "for a substantial time even beyond 2011." At a cost of billions, to be sure.
So where is the left, anyway?
Glenn Greenwald, among the best of the liberals, is AWOL on Obama's foreign policy sellout. Sure, torture is bad, and it's very noble to be against it, I'm sure, but what about the endless war that gives it a conceptual framework and legitimizes it in the name of "national security"?
Where are the "antiwar" liberals? They're on their way to the Inauguration, and you'll have to pardon them if they slam the door of the limousine in our faces.
Okay, so what about the commies? As obnoxious and outright crazy as they can be, surely they are sufficiently sincere and consistent in their opposition to US imperialism to resist the lure of Obama-mania.
Well, not exactly … because, you see, unfortunately, they don't make commies like they used to. Take, for example, the softcore Communist party types who lord it over the main antiwar "coalition," United for Peace and Justice. These are old-style CPUSA types, whose subservience to the Democratic party is a matter of longstanding doctrine, and whose hopes for "Popular Front" with the incoming administration fit in quite well with the Obama-as-Roosevelt narrative the left is playing in their heads.