-- Luke
----- Original Message ----- From: "Joseph Wanzala" <jwanzala at hotmail.com> To: <lbo-talk at lbo-talk.org> Sent: Friday, October 01, 2004 5:47 PM Subject: Re: [lbo-talk] Barack Obama
> Well, looks like Barack Obama is shaping up to be a just another
neo-liberal
> hawk.
>
> Joe W.
> ____________
>
> http://www.wsws.org/articles/2004/oct2004/obam-o01.shtml
>
> Democratic keynote speaker Barack Obama calls for missile strikes on Iran
> By Tom Mackaman
> 1 October 2004
> Use this version to print | Send this link by email | Email the author
>
> In an interview with the editorial board of the Chicago Tribune published
> September 26, Democratic Senate candidate Barack Obama said he would favor
> the use of "surgical" missile strikes against Iran if it failed to bow to
> Washington's demand that it eliminate its nuclear energy program. Obama
also
> said that, in the event of a coup that removed the Musharraf regime in
> Pakistan, the US should attack that nation's nuclear arsenal.
>
> Obama, the keynote speaker at the Democratic National Convention, is being
> hailed as a "rising star" in the Democratic Party. In his Tribune
interview,
> he said explicitly what is implicit in repeated statements by Democratic
> presidential candidate John Kerry and other party leaders. They have
> frequently attacked the Bush administration's policy in Iraq on the
grounds
> that it is diverting attention from supposedly greater threats, in
> particular Iran and North Korea.
>
> Obama told the Tribune, "[T]he big question is going to be, if Iran is
> resistant to these pressures, including economic sanctions, which I hope
> will be imposed if they do not cooperate, at what point are we going to,
if
> any, are we going to take military action?"
>
> Answering his own question, Obama said, "I hope it doesn't get to that
> point. But realistically, as I watch how this thing has evolved, I'd be
> surprised if Iran blinked at this point."
>
> Obama advanced a racist argument for attacks on Iran and Pakistan. Making
a
> comparison between the "Islamic world" and the Soviet Union, he argued
that
> the religious outlook of Iranians and Pakistanis made them less prone to
> compromise and reason and more warlike.
>
> He said: "With the Soviet Union, you did get the sense that they were
> operating on a model that we could comprehend in terms of, they don't want
> to be blown up, we don't want to be blown up, so you do game theory and
> calculate ways to contain. I think there are certain elements within the
> Islamic world right now that don't make those same calculations."
>
> In the case of Pakistan, the Senate hopeful added, "I think there are
> elements within Pakistan right now-if Musharraf is overthrown and they
took
> over-I think we would have to consider going in and taking those bombs
out,
> because I don't think we can make the same assumptions about how they
> calculate risks."
>
> Due to scandal and political turmoil in the Illinois Republican Party,
Obama
> is virtually assured of victory on November 2. When Republican nominee
Jack
> Ryan dropped out of the race on June 25 due to a sex scandal, the state
> Republican Party scrambled to find a replacement.
>
> After several prominent conservatives, including former Chicago Bears
> football coach Mike Ditka, refused to run, the party finally recruited the
> fascistic radio talk show host, frequent presidential candidate, and
> resident of Maryland, Alan Keyes.
>
> Keyes, who has never lived in Illinois, quickly turned his campaign into
> something of a farce, issuing homophobic statements and attacking the
> so-called "moderate" wing of the state Republican Party. According to one
> poll, Obama has built more than a fifty-point lead on Keyes.
>
> Obama's statements underscore the Democratic Party's acceptance in
principle
> of the "Bush Doctrine" of preventive war-a doctrine that contravenes
> international law and provides a rationale for US military interventions
> against any country deemed an obstacle to US imperialist interests around
> the world.
>
> The African-American Democrat is being groomed for national leadership.
His
> speech at the Democratic convention, a homily on hard work, individual
> responsibility and the American dream, would have been well received at a
> Republican convention not so many years ago. But in 2004, Obama is passed
> off as a "progressive" politician.
>
>
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