Sioux Rose

MEDEA: Thank you for your creative and courageous, tireless efforts. You speak for me! With this new administration, hopefully our letters to elected representatives will mean something!

I applaud the use of the term 'occupation' in this article. The Iraq quagmire should not be mis-termed as a 'war'. Good for you, CODEPINK!

Now, if only our leaders will start talking about withdrawing troops from Iraq and BRINGING THEM HOME, rather than 're-deploying' them.

And while I'm wishing, let's have some talk, some discussion, about the '(global) war on terror', that insane and unwinnable military effort to 'prevent future terrorism'.

This GWOT contributes to the difficulties in ending the occupation of Iraq.
Remember, that cross-border attack into Syria was aimed at 'foreign fighters linked to al-Qaeda', our announced terrorist enemy.
And so far, plans for Iraq include leaving troops there - for 'counter-terrorism' efforts.

End the war on terror and we can make some real progress.

Why does the MSM let Israel get away with saying they need to occupy Palenstine to defend themselves! I guess the Palenstinians are not allowed to occupy Israel to defend themselves from what the whore media euphemistically calls " incursions "!

the war on terror, in this case, unmanned drones over pakistan goes on unimpeded.

Code Pink is on the ball. I sent them $. Keep it up!

Meanwhile, another occupation has been going on for 60 years. Iraq is the "safe" one for people like Medea Benjamin to fight. Not that I don't appreciate her efforts.

Ray Berthiaume

Can anyone tell me why it is to take so long to withdraw our troops? The coalition forces have done it in days!

Medea,

Thank you for your dedication and your efforts towards peace. The U.S. could use a few more who "did", instead of just "said". You represent my viewpoint as well.

I still cannot believe Medea endorsed pro-war Kerry and Obama over Nader in 2004 and 2008. The only reason Obama's doing a slow withdrawal is oil and Afghanistan/Pakistan possible troop redirecting.

It was so disheartening to hear Obama talk about the Israelis and Palestinians today and not once mention the illegal occupation of Palestinian land that is the basis of that conflict.

"Give me liberty or at least two shoes to hurl"

I too am depressed that Obama is tiptoe'n around the israeli aggression/occupation, I'm hopeful he's just putting all his ducks in a row.
I saw a photo today of a litte Palestinian child in a hospital, she could have been
Obama's daughter, the resemblence was that remarkable. Why didn't I send it to him?
Maybe I can relocate it.

Paul Siemering

Medea- you know I love you and Code Pink, and how much I appreciate all you've done.

however I must remind you that Afghanistan also "posed no threat to the u.s." or anyone else. I admit that it's not as easy to leave as is Iraq, mostly because of the way the u.s. has empowered the northern alliance thugs- those bums Malalai Joya denounced in the parliament as "rapists and murderers" for which they booted her out. So that's the problem- how to protect the women. RAWA has said from the beginning they did not need our help. that Afghan women can do the job themselves. so i hope they are right. but in any case Code Pink needs to tell Obama lots of things he does not know about Afghanistan

Even if Obama does (slowly, cautiously, unconvincingly) begin removing troops from Iraq, they're destined for Afghanistan. He's a surge man all the way. And even if we do VERY slowly begin to release our death grip on Iraq, where do we invade next? It's America's cottage industry, invading and occupying countries on any "national security" pretext our interchangeable leaders dream up.

There is simply no way in hell or on earth Obama is going to change this paradigm. Hillary will see to it that he can't, even if he's mildly inclined toward pursuing a more peaceful path. We have almost nothing to export to other countries now but death and armaments. We call it freedom and democracy, but what we really mean is Death, servitude to US corporations, and loaning us money we have no intention or ability to ever pay back, so we can continue forever our gluttonous, greedy, world-devouring lifestyle. If Obama actually tries to break apart that model of destructive addiction, he'll be cut down like a rank weed. Wall Street and Hillary will see to it.

Medea, you're the best and I miss your office here on Solano. Where do you think the Clinton 'don't ask, don't tell' fiasco fits into the way Obama is handling these issues? Many of us have not underestimated the unilateral procession of Pentagon decisions for the last fifty years at least. Just what does Obama believe he can get done, vs what would we like to see him get done. I've never heard a convincing explanation of what happened to Clinton and his gross capitulation left him stung. I have to think Obama has some serious obstacles. Course, he also has to appease Likkud and their agents in the Senate.

I have no idea what pipe Medea Benjamin is smoking out of but she needs to put it down.

"Now that President Obama inherits George W. Bush's legacy, he must make it perfectly clear to the Iraqis, the Americans and the world that he intends to keep his campaign promise to oversee a complete, orderly withdrawal of U.S. troops from Iraq no later than May 2010."

-This comment is sheer lunacy. Obama NEVER promised a complete withdrawal of troops. It was posted on his website for anyone to read that he intended to leave a residual force in Iraq. The stated mission of that force was sufficiently large enough to require the presence of many, many tens of thousands of troops.

Obama as the "anti-war" candidate was intended to be a magnet for unsophisticated saps who thought a vote for Obama was a vote against war. How'd that work out?

Ric Abreu, we're on the same page. I saw your comment just as I was adding mine.

"We Americans are the ultimate innocents. We are forever desparate to believe that this time the government is telling us the truth." Sydney Schanberg, former New York Times reporter.

"No one has ever lost money by underestimating the intelligence of the American people." P.T. Barnum

"(Obama) must make it perfectly clear to the Iraqis, the Americans and the world that he intends to keep his campaign promise to oversee a complete, orderly withdrawal of U.S. troops from Iraq no later than May 2010." Medea Benjamin

Dear Medea, President B.O. has NO INTENTION of overseeing "a complete, orderly withdrawal." He and his handlers NEVER HAD any intention of withdrawing the Empire's troops from the Middle East. He will shuffle these pawns around a bit, sacrifice a few, but never will he voluntarily withdraw them.

First and foremost, delusionaries, like Medea Benjamin, will need to come to the realization, as Gabriele Zamparini puts it, "Empires don't elect presidents, they select emperors. The Empire's Establishment picked up an unknown politician and made of him a star to save itself and control the masses with the American Democracy Show."

The American Empire is NOT LEAVING the Middle East.

(1) The newspaper of record for the United States Armed Forces overseas is the "Stars and Stripes." In its Mideast edition of February 19th 2008, Lt. Gen. James J. Lovelace says U.S. Army Central is establishing a permanent platform for "full spectrum operations" in 27 countries around southwest Asia and the Middle East. "These commands now have a permanent responsibility to this theater. They'll have a permanent presence here. The personnel will change; the commands will remain." We now have a new emperor. But Obama has no plans to withdraw the Empire's troops from the Middle East. And are you unaware of the multi-billion $ embassy?

(2) America's previously strong technology and manufacturing bases have been decimated by corporate outsourcing to other countries. Much of this outsourcing began with the approval of NAFTA during the Clinton administration.
American consumers, manipulated by corporate advertisers, demand myriad cheap products in order to maintain their disguised comfort levels.
Our military defense budget has been increasing by leaps and bounds every year, regardless of which political party controls the White House or Congress.
Permanent military bases are being constructed in the Middle East and elsewhere, ostensibly to fight terrorism, but in reality to secure the world's dwindling oil supplies and to protect low-cost labor markets for the voracious appetites of American consumers.
The dots that I've connected so far show me two things: corporations cannot afford to allow the Empire's troops to come home, and unless there are fundamental changes in our consumptive habits, the American people cannot afford to allow those troops to come home either!

(3) Israel.

(4) Now that you all are beginning to understand, what are we going to do about it?

I respect Medea Benjamin very much. She is very articulate and outspoken, not to mention an accomplished anti war activist.

The fact that she as a veteran antiwar activist has had her article published in USA Today shows that the antiwar left is making its mark in the mainstream media slowly but surely after years of being ignored. A very very tangible sign of progress.

Let's look at Medea's reasoning, rather than past endorsements. If you find fault with her position, then explain why. I look forward to her comments on Afghanistan where, as noted, Obama appears to want to practice the surge - but his talk of "forging" a peace in Afghanistan in his inauguration gives hope that he won't follow the same disasterous route as so many before him (since the time of Alexander the Great) in their attempts to "tame" Afghanistan. He should listen to people like Tarik Ali and Rory Stewart as to what should be done in there.

Does anyone here know where code pink's funding comes from? Who funds these professional anti-war activists?
The reason I ask these questions is, my suspicion is, in some cases, these organizations are nothing more then part of a controlled opposition, a pressure valve to allow the people to express their opposition to elite policy, without any real threat to the power structure.

The more things appear to change, the more they remain the same. The people are happy that they have seemingly have made a difference,and the status-quo is maintained.

We need to call for an end to occupation as a practice and policy. Period.

One more thing. Code Pink never takes on the growing number of military contractors replacing the troops in Iraq. In fact, there are more US contractors in Iraq than there are US troops. And contractors wear no uniforms and are often not subjected to the laws the troops are subjected to. The difference between Vietnam and Iraq is there are now more contractors than there are US soldiers and because the war turned occupation has been privatized, the public is rendered unaware that the situation in Iraq is actually worse than Vietnam. Let's see Code Pink take on the military contractors and the mercenaries in the next 4 years otherwise they've lost my support for good.

Sounds to me like Medea Benjamin could run for a political office she might find a real instructive position.

What happens when snowflakes stick together?...............friends come together and have snow ball fights. :)

Leea