Is this the best the world can deliver?
A hypocrite who unsuccessfully tries to justify war and aggression on the starved and brutalized people of Iraq and Afghanistan?
In a silent America, Obama is unchallenged and does all he can to strengthen U.S. ties with Israel (as the rest of the world contemplates boycotts of various kinds to deter Israel from committing more crimes). A year into his presidency, not only are the wars against the people of Iraq and Afghanistan going strong, but Obama is sending 30,000 more soldiers to Afghanistan.
The American brand of "peace" has surely made a mockery of the word. No one in the Middle East is foolish enough to believe, for a second, that America wants "peace" when all that America, and her handsome new president, does is to reinforce its devastating military presence in countries where they are not welcomed.
More troops for Afghanistan, by Carlos Latuff
An Iraqi mother who lost every child she had (4 boys) as a result of the U.S. invasion in 2003 said: "don't utter that word, it has brought us nothing but death and destruction".
She was referring to the word "peace".
No doubt Palestinian, Lebanese, and Afghan mothers have similar sentiments about this peculiar word that is on the lips of every invading army and colonialist power. But those who live under the brutal occupations of the U.S. and Israel, or those of us still unoccupied (Iranians, Pakistanis, etc) still suffer the political and economic brutality of this "world order" in the form of unemployment and political repression. For us, the word "peace", as spoken by Americans, is void of credibility.
In the Middle East, everyone knows that the U.S. has been involved in covert actions to destabilize the area and control the political arena for decades. In Iran, the 1953 CIA coup d'état has been well documented and disseminated, but still many in the U.S. do not know that the hated dictator of Iraq (Saddam Hussein) was in fact a trained U.S. puppet until he fell out of favor with the State Department.
Even fewer Americans know that the U.S. has been nurturing the most genocidal militias, people who destroyed the nation, from the 1970's until this decade. Colonialist campaigns to dominate the local population, and to install puppet governments to serve the interests of the West, is a familiar scenario for all who live the reality of life in the Middle East. Even in Iran, which has never been militarily occupied, thanks to the resistance of its neighbors to invasions and occupations, the society has continuously been suffering under U.S. covert actions to destabilize the civil society and to stifle democratic development (i.e., the U.S.-instigated war with Iraq and the fueling of this war for 8 years, and constant economic pressure in the form of sanctions).
Mainstream media constantly warns Americans about the wrath that may come to them from their victims. If you ask me, what really "threatens" American is its indifference, as it devastates humanity.
Think about it. Overall, 300,000 American soldiers and private security personnel (heavily subsidized by U.S. government) rampage through every street in Iraq, and no clear statistics are available on how many armed Americans roam the streets of Afghanistan. Life's necessities (electricity and clean water among other things) are often lacking, and deadly bombings kill the occupied population almost daily.
The common denominator to all this is the American military and private security presence.
With no serious "anti-war" movement in sight, in America, what most Americans contemplate is not the miserable reality they have created for people under U.S. occupation; Americans wonder why Iraqis and Afghans are so "ungrateful"!
"Before stabbing your neighbor with a knife, stick a needle in your OWN arm", says the old Iranian proverb. Would YOU be grateful to an invading force whose presence has meant massive violence and wholesale robbing of your resources?
If Obama is given ten more prizes for his "peace" efforts, it would make no difference to those who can clearly see he is just a more attractive invader than Bush Jr. ever was. Unfortunately, the liberal "peace-loving" America seems to be OK with that brand of world war. Obama is the commander-in-chief of invading armies in Afghanistan and Iraq, and his record shows that he has no intention of ending American colonial wars. Believe him when he says it, and shows it.
This being the case, local resistance to unjust wars and corrupt U.S.-installed governments, that only function to siphon oil and other resources to Western companies, will continue unless Americans see through the constant smokescreen and realize that complacency and disinterest, regarding the people they help to subjugate, is literally threatening survival of our species.
