The Lesser Of Two Evils

The move I hear from Barack Obama, the more I think of him as the lesser of two evils. This morning on the television I heard him talking about wanting to move troops out of Iraq. However, instead of bringing them back to the United States where they belong, he wants to move them to Afghanistan. I am disappointed in Obama. He seems to be willing to abandon principle after principle in order to get elected as president.

Fear should not trump what is morally right. We do not belong in anyone else's country. If we have a right to be in Iraq and Afghanistan, then the French (or any other country’s) army has a right to be here in the United States.

From My Plan for Iraq by Barack Obama:

The call by Prime Minister Nuri Kamal al-Maliki for a timetable for the removal of American troops from Iraq presents an enormous opportunity. We should seize this moment to begin the phased redeployment of combat troops that I have long advocated, and that is needed for long-term success in Iraq and the security interests of the United States.

As president, I would pursue a new strategy, and begin by providing at least two additional combat brigades to support our effort in Afghanistan. We need more troops, more helicopters, better intelligence-gathering and more nonmilitary assistance to accomplish the mission there. I would not hold our military, our resources and our foreign policy hostage to a misguided desire to maintain permanent bases in Iraq.

Here is part of what Rob Payne says about this:

So for Obama the past is not remembered, all that exists is the here and now. We didn’t invade Iraq, lynch their leader, dismantle their government, and destroy their infrastructure. We didn’t murder them by the hundreds of thousands or send millions into exile. Quite clearly the problem all along has been that the people of Iraq have not been acting in a responsible manner. And now, at least according to Obama, we need more military, more helicopters, bombs, guns, bullets, and tanks in order to expand the war on terror into Pakistan and widen the war in Afghanistan.

So what this trip is really about is Obama needs to show us and the world that he is ready to take command of the imperial agenda and his little cock-a-doodle-do in the NYT assures the establishment that he is ready to pull the trigger. Ready, aim, fire, today Afghanistan tomorrow the world and not only will he not be afraid to slaughter and kill but he will be better and more efficient about it than his predecessor.

War is immoral. The occupation of another country is immoral. Think of all the talk you have heard about Iraq and Afghanistan for the last seven years. Rationalize this, rationalize that. Endless rationalization will never change the fact that war is immoral.

I’d like to see a president who recognized that fact, and believed it, and had the courage to act on it.