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Obama Gears Up for Hard Sell on Libya
US President Barack Obama prepared Monday to give a prime-time address to the nation aimed at winning the support of a war-weary American public for the military intervention in Libya.
A Libyan rebel smokes a cigarette on the outskirts of Bin Jawad. The Obama administration defended its intervention in Libya by suggesting that refugees fleeing Moamer Kadhafi would have destabilized neighboring Egypt and Tunisia. (AFP/Aris Messinis) After inheriting wars in Afghanistan and Iraq, the Nobel Peace Prize-winning president finds himself embroiled in yet another conflict, this time one of his own choosing and one that many at home are not convinced by.
In his address at 7:30 pm (2330 GMT) from the National Defense University in Washington, Obama must win over a largely skeptical public preoccupied by domestic economic concerns and unclear what the Libya endgame is.
Obama, who has been criticized since military action began nine days ago for not getting his message across, will also give interviews on Tuesday with the anchors of three US television networks, the White House said.
Lawmakers, including many from Obama's own Democratic Party, are angry that Congress was not consulted before troops were deployed and have raised concerns that the Libya mission is ill-defined and the exit strategy unclear.
On the eve of one of the president's most important foreign policy speeches to date, Defense Secretary Robert Gates and Secretary of State Hillary Clinton took to the Sunday news talkshows to answer his critics.
They argued that the United States had to intervene quickly in Libya for humanitarian reasons and also made a broader case that inaction would have had disastrous knock-on effects for the region.
"It was not a vital national interest to the United States, but it was an interest," Gates told ABC's "This Week" program, pointing to the possibility of a mass exodus of refugees that could have overwhelmed Tunisia and Egypt.
"So you had a potentially significantly destabilizing event taking place in Libya that put at risk potentially the revolutions in both Tunisia and Egypt.
"Egypt is central to the future of the Middle East," Gates added.
Speaking alongside him, Clinton urged critics to ask themselves where things would be now if the United States had not intervened.
"Imagine we were sitting here and Benghazi had been overrun, a city of 700,000 people, and tens of thousands of people had been slaughtered, hundreds of thousands had fled... either with nowhere to go or overwhelming Egypt while it's in its own difficult transition," she said.
"The cries would be, 'why did the United States not do anything? How could you stand by when, you know, France, and the United Kingdom, and other Europeans, and the Arab League, and your Arab partners were saying, 'You've got to do something?'"
The pair also sought to allay fears that the United States would get bogged down in a protracted conflict in Libya by highlighting the limited scope of the mission and, in particular, of the US role in that mission.
But in a separate interview with The Wall Street Journal, the defense secretary denied the Libyan mission was "about regime change."
"Certainly it was not one of the military objectives," he pointed out, citing UN Security Council resolutions calling for establishing a no-fly zone over the country and protecting civilians.
"I think we've come pretty close to accomplishing those objectives," Gates said.
Obama's position was made easier Sunday when NATO ambassadors agreed in Brussels to take command of all Libyan operations, but the United States was still clearly bearing the brunt of the military burden.
On the ground in Libya rebel forces were gaining momentum, as, aided by coalition air strikes, they wrested back control of key towns from Kadhafi's retreating ground forces and pressed on westwards towards Tripoli.
The United States and its allies are hopeful that Kadhafi's regime will eventually crack and dread a long drawn-out conflict that could test the political will of their patchwork coalition.
Clinton said the allies would be encouraging defections through a UN special envoy, former Jordanian foreign minister Abdul Ilah Khatib, who would visit Tripoli and ask Kadhafi: "'Do you really want to be a pariah? Do you really want to end up in the international criminal court?"
Clinton joins foreign ministers from 35 other countries Tuesday in London to discuss the Libya conflict before she and Gates can expect tough questioning behind closed-doors from congressional committees on Wednesday.
US public support for the conflict is lukewarm: a March 22 Gallup poll showed that 47 percent of Americans surveyed approve of action against Libya, less than for most US military campaigns over the past four decades.
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Show All"After inheriting wars in Afghanistan and Iraq, the Nobel Peace Prize-winning president finds himself embroiled in yet another conflict, this time one of his own choosing and one that many at home are not convinced by."
Response: 1) Obama expanded the war in Afghanistan, expanded our war on Pakistan (not mentioned), and attacked Yemen. 2) Over a week ago, I thought Obama said we'd be handing over the reigns in Libya in a few days. What is he making an address for now if we should be out of Libya? Either way, Obama should have gotten Congressional approval prior to attacking Libya.
Progressive101,
Correction, "After inheriting wars in Afghanistan..." I remember Obama said often Afghanistan" is "HIS" war. While Dubya fighting ONE war aggressively in Iraq. Obama is fighting in Iraq, Afghanistan, Pakistan and now Libya. Where is the money to pay for it?
I am not sure if you have heard both UK and France are broke and have no resources to enforce the “no fly zone” in Libya. For each Tomahawk missile the UK fire, they don't even know where to find the money to replace it and they have only 50 Tomahawk missiles.
Let's also not forget the war on drugs. The cartels love it. Obama promised to end raids on medical marijuana clinics. Yet every time we turn around, DEA is raiding another. Montel Williams was arrested simply for having the pipe.
End the stupid wars here and there.
NATO forces should take out the despot leaders; ALL of them no matter what country they rule!
Leave the people alone!
We are just killing people.
I hope you realize what an incredibly stupid thing that was to say, just from a personal standpoint. If you get a visit from the Secret Service, you'll know why (and believe me, they can track you down very easily, even when you think you're hiding behind an anonymous handle).
You've already been flagged (not by me), so your post has been noticed. I'd remove it ASAP if I were you and hope the damage is minor.
If people took this seriously, the way it's done is you give an ultimatum that the behavior must stop. When someone turns the military against it's own people!!!
We haven't had that yet!!!
I blame the "American" people as a whole; shoot all of us? That sounds like the policy the United States and NATO has; shoot everybody but the official criminal!
I blame us because we are arrogant as a country. We don't bother looking for the truth. We would end up electing another despot leader because there is an endless supply. Your suggestion does reek.
I really want the killing to stop!
This was that original idea for NATO and the UN, stop another Hitler. Many countries come together to stop runaway dictators. However; we are up to our necks in crocodiles!
Where to start? Didn't Bush II, say that no matter where, we will seek out terrorists where ever they exist? Well the swam is drained.
Terrorism: The use of violence in pursuit of political aims.
That's a wide swath! Isn't bombing people who don't agree with U.S. goals terrorism?
Well, let's terrorize the one person who controls all the other pawns. We have the technology! Give them the ultimatum to stop using military weapons against their own people. If they don't, let them know they are now a target, and at anytime they could be vaporized. LET THEM THINK ABOUT THAT FOR A FEW DAYS!
Diplomatic Terrorism, instead of directed at little people should be directed at leaders!
The reason we DON'T use this technique is, nobody would want to be a puppet leader anymore! Recruitment would be very tough to find someone willing to serve the corporate masters!
You see the U.S. needs these regimes; we need a nemesis we can manipulate reliably.
The other reason we will not agree to "diplomatic terrorism" is, what comes around goes around. We won't join the World Court either!
I dont quite understand why those born in the usa always equate themselves to the actions of their government even when being against those actions and the policies from wich they stem. You are not killing people, NMBill the government of your country is, even if you voted for them you are not your government or its military... to them you are not part of their "we" but juts another irrelevant expendable minion, they dont represent you (again even if you voted for them) or care about what you care.
The sooner you gringos learn this the better off the world be, I imagine erasing or deprogramming yourselfs from years and years of indoctrination will be difficult but its not impossible I believe it can be done. Leaving that mass mentality of the "we" when considering yourself to being parts of a amoral imperial ecocide killing machine should be the first small step towards a revolution of consciousness. Its weird that in a society that has always placed such importance on individuality the sheep mentality runs so strong, even amongst those informed enough about the very negative impact their ruling class has on the rest of the world.
This is not to be taken as "all right so it aint me then im free of blame", but more like "damn this #$%$#& I will fight for change because I know this aint right!".
This is an interesting way of looking at the situation, and I appreciate it. Turning how we think about our role in national actions on its head is a good first step to seeing our capabilities in a new light.
I have often equated what the government does with "we," and to a certain point, it is. The government and politicians may not care what we want, but they certainly get their money from we, the people. They need our sweat and energy and labor and money or they have nothing. They know this, so they create an illusion of democracy, and when that doesn't work, they create propaganda, and when that doesn't work, they create fear.
Having said this, I understand your point: We must deprogram ourselves and stop seeing the government and politicians as the only ones with power. As long as we cede our power to them, we will be powerless, no matter our indignation and anger.
So, yeah, damn this #$%$#&, I will fight for change. Of course, first, I must BE change. I can't expect the nation to change if I haven't started change in myself. They BOTH need to be done.
We only have pretend elections, just like Mexico.
You don't really think the elections in the USA are free and fair do you?
And even in countries with real elections there's no real choice. Look at Canada.
With the Nuclear crisis in Japan still in the news and given the election will be held early May this appears to be the best chance to get substantial Green Party support.
Whether this leads to a split in the vote and thus a Conservative Majority remains to be seen but given the Liberal message is not substantially different then that of the Conservatives, I see no reason to support the Liberals.
I know exactly where my place is according to our rulers!
They are killing people in MINE and everybody else who votes, name.
If I listen to the media, it's a WE analogy. Like we all agree...
Nope, I got off that train wreck.
we agree.
Thank you Jill, Bill, and Pro101.
Hello Jill,
We always have money for war. It comes from our borrowing until we can-t borrow any more and then we will attack the countries that we borrowed from. By that time the Earth should be able to support one million or less people comfortably so be prepared like I am to be sacrificed for the greater good.
Once upon a time there was a man
He was a half black man with the word
Hope
On his lips.
He turned 180 and faced a war
He said he'd end, and then,
he turned again...and again
he said he'd help those people
Out of a prison because of their
rights, right to change,
And turn again and turn.
This man now bombs
indiscriminate, change again.
Just change and turn.
Look down black man.
Your feet are in the mud of death
Your shoes are filled with blood
Your knees are mine blown
and your change?
2 cents...that's all you got left
of the left.
We don't love you anymore.
Of course this isn't "about regime change."
That is because the same "regime" is behind NATO, the U.S. government, and Kadafi, Gadaffi, or whatever sadistic predatory name you might want to put on it.
These are all people who devoutly support "austerity" for the majority while enthusiastically funneling more money and power to a minority. If they can poison the environment at the same time, that is like frosting on their cake.
Where do we send money to continue our support for the status quo? They don't seem to be getting mine fast enough through the normal channels of paying interest, paying to have their infotainment wired into my house, buying unneccessary "goods", donating to campaigns and churches, wasting a lot of energy and gambling in their wall street casino. Does anyone know where I can send cash directly?
You can send your money to the Democratic Party. They need the money for Bush's Forth Term next year.
Wiretap,
"Money" that's interesting. I heard from BBC radio yesterday, Both UK and France are broke. The presenter said, even without boots on the ground the cost in enforcing the "No fly zone" is expensive. BBC was wondering where do UK find the money to pay for the no fly zone but also to replace the Tomahawk missiles they fired. They have only 50 tomahawk missiles. US and the NATO is basically broke!
They should implement a 20% war surcharge on everyone's income tax bill, just as should be done in the US in order to avoid having to pay interest on funds borrowed for warfare.
to me - any time
Wouldn't we get to our objective faster if we just started shootin' each other, with our own bullets?
Wiretap, I certainly hope no one is tapping your phone.
The NRA is already doing a pretty good job insuring that the US does what you suggest and "we just started shootin' each other, with our own bullets."
But remember, Wiretap, when you get tapped or capped or whatever those guys say who love to acquire dozens of those sporty assault weapons for deer hunting and such, "guns don't kill, people do".
Best,
Alan
Obama should have won the Nobel Prize for Literature, not Peace, because his campaign was a brilliant work of fiction. He told America, and the rest of the world, exactly what opinion polls said they wanted to hear, and as soon as he was elected he started staffing his administration with the very people who created the ungodly messes he promised to fix.
As Einstein said, a propos of politics, 'Problems cannot be solved at the same level of thinking that created them." Obama ran against "George Bush's failed policies" and in almost every case he has embraced and continued those policies.
He's a slow learner; our efforts at regime change in Iraq and Afghanistan aren't going very well, and he just can't understand that in a region where most people hate us--for perfectly valid reasons--it's unlikely that newly democratic nations will elect American puppets. Oppression produces extremism, and in that part of the world it's likely to be Islamism. There is evidence that at least some of the rebellion leaders in Libya are aligned with al Qaeda (Gaddhafi, like a stopped clock, is occasionally right), which puts us in the odd position of bombing troops of what until recently was an ally to protect our sworn enemies.
Friend,
This is part of the "resource wars." We don't care who controls, as long as we get first "dibs" on the oil.
Gadafi has been trouble for the ruling elite and oil companies for decades, now they want him out.
What should be pointed out is that during every presidential election the mainstream media chooses to cover only those candidates who are either Republican or Democrat. A perfect example is what happened in 2000 when independent candidate Ralph Nader was forbidden to enter a building in Boston which housed a debate between Bush and Gore despite the fact that Nader had a valid ticket in his hand which should have enabled him to gain entrance into that building.
Americans, unlike so many other democratic countries, will feel obligated to choose either between a Republican or a Democrat as long as the corporate media makes them think that the only choices that they have are between the GOP and the Savage Mules. And when the Democratic Convention comes along in 2012 it will be a foregone conclusion that Obama will not be challenged by any Democrat who will dare to run from Obama's left. If Kucinich decides to once again run for President, one can also bet the mortgage that after he drops out of the race he will once again give his support to another warmongering Democratic candidate.
the US Constitution must be amended so that the President can declare war only after a public vote approving a war.
The only exception would be an unprovoked attack on the USA or territories.
The US Navy just moved a Carrier from out of striking distance of Libya to reinforce another Carrier task force in the Strait of Hormuz. To what purpose?
President Sarkozy of France has stated that the "No fly Zone Model" used in Libya will be a template to use against other nations that the Western Nations deem oppress their people.
Senator Lieberman indicated that the US and NATO should impose a no fly zone against Syria.
Israel announced it was activating its "Iron Dome" missile defense system. They indicated this to be used against rockets launched from Gaza but it simply useless against such attacks as the flight time of said rockets far too short.
It was designed to be used to intercept missile attacks from Iran and Syria.
In return for the release of Davis the USA agreed to pull some 200+ agents from inside Pakistan , the Government of which claimed were being used to spy on Pakistan and recruit terrorists. Pakistan has recently entered into deals with China to buy weapons technology. It very likely they feel their supply of US hardware will stop and it also likely that they feel The USA looks to groom India over Pakistan as a check on China.
The war machine just goes on and on and on. There will be the Pentagon sponsored "spread the gospel" of America shills showing up again declaring how this all about Obama's love for the Libyan people and freedom and the sanctity of innocent life even as he orders another 200 drone attacks against the same and pollutes their lands with DU Munitions.
Liebermann Israel Obomba Pentagon killingkillingkillingkillingkillingkillingkillingkilling
Likeit...
I agree with regards to who is running the show....Of course it is the United States....Now about your other comment...."Obama is a one term President" That I would not be too sure of....I recall a time when I was commenting on this site regularly, I made the same prediction regarding the possibility of President Bush achieving a second term in office ..Well, as it turned out...I was wrong.....
Thomas Gilbert
So the "protecting civilians" excuse is non-operative?
Or is it operative only for civilians who oppose the government of Libya?
That's exactly what the puppet-emperor is supposed to do. He is the chief public relations manager for the Bankster/Corporate Oligarchy who pulls the strings behind the curtain.
Obama is doin a helluva job as an apologist for War Crimes, Kleptocracy and other sundry injustices; he is serving his masters well. One has to at least give him credit for being the best bullshitter since Ray-Gun. As for the rest of the 99% of us, his performance leaves just a bit of something to be desired.
Operation Odyssey Dawn = The beginning of a long journey. The Pentagon claims it's just a random name. However, if the shoe fits.
How sick is that? Operation Oppressive Death more like
The gate keeper Gates: "This is about protecting civilians ". PLEA$$$$E ! Just like the government used the mendacious story of WMD'S to attack Iraq and Al- Qaida to attack Afghanistan this is the latest red herring and canard to steal Libya's resources. Coincidence? Gaddafi just recently wanted to nationalize Libya's oil and change the oil bourse from American petrol $ to gold Dinars. Interesting, that Saddam proposed the same thing shortly before he was attacked. Gaddafi was good thug, but now he is all of the sudden a bad thug killing his own people. The U.S. Government has killed thousands of its own citizens in illegal wars fought for $$$$$$$$ while lying about the real reasons, so I guess that makes the U.S. Government the # 1 thug in the world! To quote MLK: " my own government is the greatest purveyor of violence in the world ". Obama is a an abomination to our nation; who has conned his naive but well meaning constituency and has sold out his own people. What Malcolm X would call a house Negro. Obama gets to play President and live in the White House as long as he remains a war mongering puppet of the MIC!
great post, I could've written it.
Gates recently made the claim that the Government of Libya is "planting" dead bodies in neighborhoods struck by us NATO air strikes in order to make NATO look bad.
Gates and Hillary said "it's going to take some time". Maybe that Gaddafi bastard was right when he called it an invasion.
The "address" will be live from "National Defense University", huh?
Love living in the world's bestest democracy!
>>"Obama Gears Up for Hard Sell on Libya"<<
But why bother? The shock and awe operation on the US public on this matter is a fait accompli. There was just too much going on, and before anyone even knew that another war was about to be launched, it was on. The UN Security Council resolution was pushed through (with Russia and China conveniently not using their veto, but reserving their right to whine and express regret and all that, once the missiles and bombs started falling), a "coalition" put in place, all necessary logistics readied with almost unprecedented alacrity (unless such a plan was already on the books waiting for just the right opportunity - which, the recent events in the Middle East, the "distraction" due the Japanese tragedy and other domestic issues in the various countries provided, and predatory animals never miss an opportunity to go for the kill), an ever-so-pliable media ready to do the PR work, with experts and pundits mouthing off talking points, and so on.
The masterstroke was that the Obama administration actually appeared "hesitant" to go to war, with Robert Gates chiding others that a no-fly zone was no child's play, and thus letting others push the administration to take action. Imagine that! Instead of the US administration trying to sell a war, they were being blamed for being slow to take action! A truly masterful script! Similar scenes were enacted in the other "western democracies", no doubt. France, Britain and Italy taking the lead in pushing for war, with the US appearing to ponder - that was in the beginning. Now, within days, the command is handed over to NATO, to be led by a Canadian general. How convenient! It's almost as if there is a separate division within the war department that came up with this model of the optics while the actual logistics and deployment must have followed a more conventional pattern.
The Mediterranean is a convenient theater for deployment by the western warmongers, with no one to challenge them in the vicinity. With Libya having no friends among the ruling class in the Arab countries and removing Gaddafi would suit Israel just fine (unlike removing Mubarak's regime), Libya, with its oil, and a military that was not much to write about, must be absolutely the lowest hanging fruit for the predatory nations - like a young prey separated from its herd. All they needed was the pretext to go in. Like the earthquake in Haiti, this "rebellion" in Libya was just the perfect opportunity, and, like I said, predatory animals on the lookout for prey never miss an opportunity to go for the kill. And the fact that Libya sits smack between Tunisia and Egypt - two countries that threaten to slip out of western control, Libya had it coming, all right.
If Obama is gearing up for a "hard sell", it could only mean that the ground is being laid for an invasion and occupation, since the war itself is a fait accompli, with not much protest on the streets anyway.
And this time "we" will be invading on the side of al Qaeda which really shouldn't surprise anyone because Americans are in Pakistan organizing and funding them, and in Afghanistan paying them to keep "our" supply routes open. This has been going on for years and its treated as just another "ho hum". Al Qaeda was organized and founded by the US during the Russian invasion of Afghanistan. Now, in Libya, apparently Al Qaeda is the "least evil" group so that's who "we" will be backing. Just blunder into civil wars anywhere they occur. No problem. No cost. No nothing. No nothing. Know Nothing. Learn nothing. Stupidity and arrogance, what a combo.
"I think we've come pretty close to accomplishing those objectives," Gates said.
Then why is he saying its going to "take some time" to leave?
"Clinton urged critics to ask themselves where things would be now if the United States had not intervened."
Which time?
"Listen up. Just trust me. I'm the peace prize guy."
Obama has proven over and over again that he's a liar and warmonger--no better than Bush or Hillary Clinton. Like Iraq, the war in Libya is all about oil and corporate profits. Join the military? If you're brain dead and really want to die or be maimed for the rich! Obama must go in 2012!
"Obama Gears Up for Hard Sell on Libya", but, of course, Obomba is a very good hard seller.
Although I think that this hard-selling con-artist may have met his match in the guileful corporate/financial/militarist Empire that is selling him down the river.
The 'man with the plan' for the CIA, the "Secret Team", the MIC, and the Empire is Thomas Barnett, and the Oman, the Zero-man now has the hook in his mouth --- they've got him to kick-off their next war all across the 5000 mile swath of "Gap" countries, and the 'blowback' will make Obama expendable.
This is like watching a slow-motion train wreck, or a slow-motion fictionalized version of the Cuban missile crisis, where JFK is stupid enough to take Gen Curtis LeMay's fishy lure and "just bomb Cuba enough to show the 'big red dog' who's boss". Yea, how would that have worked out, Oman?
Assuming Chuck Todd gets called on tonight, he could show he has cohones as well as brains by asking president Obama something along these lines:
"Mister President, you already intervened in Libya militarily.
Now are you concerned that your actions could unexpectedly light the fuse to what Thomas Barnett calls in his 2004 Naval War College strategic plan and book, "The Pentagon's New Map", a conflagration across 5000 miles of the "Gap" countries from Mauritania to Afghanistan's boarder with Pakistan/India, --- this seems to relate to what Bob Woodward was hinting about as an intelligence risk on our Sunday "Meet the Press" interview when he said":
MR. WOODWARD: "I'm not sure whether it's unrest, an upheaval, whether these are revolutions. But in a 5,000 mile area from Mauritania to Afghanistan, you have to kind of put all this together. The president has a mammoth management problem. There is deep unhappiness, as there should be, about do we know what's going on in these countries? And the intelligence agencies are scrambling because they cover the leaders and not the people who are the revolutionaries or the rebels or the people involved in this upheaval."
It certainly appears to me that Obama better be "geared up" to take the hard high one! --- and he won't be doing the selling.
Alan MacDonald
Liberty over violent empire -- People's Party 2012
Obama doesn't have to win over anyone. Like always, deed is already done. If he was serious, he'd have consulted the congress and they would have voted on it based on what the citizenry wanted. But no. He/they didn't abide by the laws of the constitution and broke (once again) the basic laws of this nation.
They should all be arrested, jailed until trial, and then hanged for treason if found guilty. Start on capital hill, move across to the pentagon and on the department of justice and the treasury.
Sorry if I left anyone out and have a nice day in out in the "Homeland".
The current Murderer-in-Chief should read or re-read Malcolm X's seminal work on the House Negro...
"There was two kind of slaves. There was the house negro and the field
negro. The house negro, they lived in the house, with master. They
dressed pretty good. They ate good, cause they ate his food, what he left.
They lived in the attic or the basement, but still they lived near their
master, and they loved their master, more than their master loved
himself. They would give their life to save their masters house quicker
than their master would. The house negro, if the master said "we got a
good house here" the house negro say "yeah, we got a good house here".
Whenever the master would said we, he'd say we. That's how you can
tell a house negro. If the master's house caught on fire, the house negro
would fight harder to put the blaze out than the master would. If the
master got sick, the house negro would say "What's the matter, boss, we
sick?" We sick! He identified himself with his master, more than the
master identified with himself. And if you came to the house negro and
said "Let's run away, Let's escape, Let's separate" the house negro would
look at you and say "Man, you crazy. What you mean separate? Where
is there a better house than this? Where can I wear better clothes than
this? Where can I eat better food than this?" There was that house
negro. In those days, he was called a house nigger. And that's what we
call him today, because we still got some house niggers runnin around
here. This modern house negro loves his master. He wants to live near
him. He'll pay three times as much as the house is worth just to live near
his master, and then brag about "I'm the only negro out here. I'm the
only one on my job. I'm the only one in this school." "You're nothing but
a house negro. And if someone come to you right now and say "Let's
separate.", you say the same thing that the house negro said on the
plantation. "What you mean separate? From America? This good white
land? Where you gonna get a better job than you get here? I mean, this
is what you say! "I di-I ain't left nothing in Africa" That's what you say.
"Why, you left your mind in Africa".
On that same plantation, there was the field negro. The field negro, those were the masses. There was always more negros in the field as there were negros in the house. There negro in the field caught hell. He ate leftovers. In the house, they ate high up on the hog. The negro in the field didn't get nothing but what
was left in the insides of the hog. They call them chit'lins nowaday. In
those days, they called them what they were, guts! That's what you
were, a guteater. And some of you are still guteaters. The field negro
was beaten, from morning til night. He lived in a shack, in a hut. He
wore cast-off clothes. He hated his master. I say, he hated his master.
He was intelligent. That house negro loved his master. But that field
negro, remember, they were in the majority, and they hated their
master. When the house caught on fire, he didn't try to put it out, that
field negro prayed for a wind. For a breeze. When the master got sick,
the field negro prayed that he died. If someone come to the field negro
and said "Let's separate, let's run." He didn't say "Where we going?" he
said "Any place is better than here".
We got field negros in America today. I'm a field negro. The masses are the field negros. When they see this mans house on fire, we don't hear these little negros talkin bout "Our Government is in trouble. They say thee Government is in trouble." Imagine a negro, "Our Government". I even heard one say "Our
astronauts." They won't even let him near the plant, and "Our
astronauts". "Our neighbors" That's a negro that's out of his mind. That's
a negro that's out of his mind! Just cause the slave master in that day,
used Tom, to keep the field negroes in check. The same ol slavemaster
today has negros who are nothing but modern Uncle Toms. 20th
century Uncle Toms to keep you and me in check. Keep us under
control. Keep us passive and peaceful. And nonviolent. That's Tom
making you nonviolent. It's like when you go to the dentist and the man
is going to take your tooth. You're going to fight him when he start
pulling. So they squirt some stuff in your jaw called novocane, to make
you think their not doing anything to you. So you sit there and because
you got all that novocane in your jaw, you suffer peacefully. Hahahaha.
There's nothing in our book, the Quran, as you call it, Koran, that
teaches us to suffer peacefully. Our religion teaches us to be intelligent.
Be peaceful. Be courteuos. Obey the law. Respect everyone. But if
someone puts his hand on you, send him to the cemetery! That's a good
religion. In fact, that's that old-time religion. That's the one that ma and
pa used to talk about. An eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth and a
head for a head and a life for a life. That's a good religion. And doesn't
anybody, no one resist that kind of religion being taught but a wolf who
intends to make you his meal. This is the way it is with the white man in
America. He's a wolf and you're his sheep. Anytime a shepherd, a pastor,
teach you and me not to run from the white man, and at the same time
teach us don't fight the white man, he's a traitor, to you and me. Don't
lay down our life all by itself, no, preserve your life. It's the best thing
you got. And if you got to give it up, let it be Even Steven."