When did everyone forget that 9-11 was perpetrated by SAUDIS???

I am writing this to say that with all the admiration and hope that I do have for President Obama's chance to help us create what we need, I also have to say...
Must be he finds it too difficult to stand up to pressure from the influences that have brought us to this point to begin with. I'm sure that if he could just muster up the courage to really do what's right he would. I can't imagine what they must be forcing him into this corner with. Oh, Pres Obama. You have such an opportunity. I know you see it. Why , why are you forsaking us...
It's just that,I know you want to do what's right, don't you? You know that the whole ruling the world through the military thing is just a game for boys who never grew up. Is it that you're just buying time? But But But... we don't have any time.
Are you really sending these troops in for a secret, diplomatic strategy. Once they are there, they work in a social, national building and good works mode? I could almost see that...
Really what is your objective?

"a colossal and fateful blunder, made by a very smart leader, arguably our best and brightest"

Norman, you are experiencing what they call a "jerking around". The elites are having FUN jerking you around, first dispensing you the DUMBEST chimp on the planet, then the SMARTEST chimp on the planet, both to serve THEM, the elites, at YOUR expense. The song remains the same. Let's just give up thinking about it and select our next SUVs from the 2011 lineup! Just kidding. Please consider voting AGAINST the elites and FOR THE PEOPLE in all of your individual exchange/association...

People keep saying Obama was chosen by his elite masters and that his foreign-policy decisions prove it. I'm pretty sure this is faulty logic.

The tendency of Democrats to act like Republicans in matters of foreign policy is no surprise to anoyne. It is in fact a constant cause for chagrin among Democrats. Someday we may better understand why the foreign policy establishment can remain so intransigently imperialistic even when Democrats are in office.

But it's bad logic to say this proves a secret elite is calling all the shots. You will notice that no historians, journalists, political scientists, sociologists, or journalists believe a secret elite is calling all the shots. Not even Carroll Quigley, who referred to conspiracy theories "radical-right fairy tale[s]."

You'll also notice that the people who make this argument tend to ignore Obama's domestic agenda, which is starkly different from any imaginable Republican agenda. Why would a secret elite switch its domestic policy all of a sudden, while keeping the foreign policy the same? Why are the records of the two parties so incredibly different? And why would this elite be allowing their puppet parties to steal elections from one another?

These are major scenario problems with the "secret elite" view of things. If you don't cherrypick, you can see that the "secret elite" argument fails to explain much of what's going on.

My assessment of the non-ex-President's non-legacy:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e_3wJzkxmBQ

I read the thread. I voted for Obama. The thread has a few like me that voted for BO, saw the choice a no brainer. Most on the thread vilify BO.

Most say they are pure because they voted for a 3rd party. One thing made clear in the last election cycle was that NO 3rd party candidate had a viable campaign, planned and orchestrated for the necessary 4 years prior to the election. Nader got less than a million votes. If he'd received 15 million-what a victory, McCain would be president. This Dynamic offers no hope. It did not in '00, '04, '08 nor will it in '012.

So I think unless you have been out on your feet organizing today, being active, working for change in a concrete physical manner your vilification of BO is near void because you offer no alternative.

Today I spent a couple of hours with KVMR, the Progressive Democrats of America, and working out the when where and how to get Karen Bernal, the Northern California PDA coordinater in front of 50 (my target) progressives from my county and have us become a Chapter of PDA. The PDA works to strengthen the progressive voice within the Democratic party. It's priorities include single payer health care, ending the Iraq war and fair elections.

It's members include John Conyers, Mimi Kennedy, Tom Hayden-Normon Solomon calls himself an ally-Cindy Sheehan is a member.

We move legislation in Sacramento to the left using grass-roots organizing in each congressional district. This collective voice has power.

Though not storming the palace-I'm no Che-I am working for change. Most humbly, but doing some small thing..if we all were to....pragmaticliberal pointed to the PDA. Thanks PL.

Does anyone know a better way? Joe.
Criticizing is easy-everyone does it-But knocking on doors, organizing, and physical activism fuels change.

This article is just sheer effrontery from Norman Solomon. Obama is simply executing the policies he promised he'd execute while on the campaign stump, including escalating the wars in Pakistan and Afghanistan.

So, why is Solomon pretending like it's a big surprise? When Solomon became a delegate for Obama, he essentially signed on to a continuation of these senseless wars, just as Obama promised.

Solomon should now be directing his calls to action to the Obama loyalist base. He has no cause to point to activists not doing anything about this abhorrent policy. We've already opposed it by voting third party.

Blood is already on the hands of loyalists Dems, as Obama has ordered at least two Predator drone strikes in Pakistan. These wars are a Dem loyalist wars. The base already rejected a more peaceful alternative proposed by Democratic Presidential candidate Dennis Kucinich. Instead, they went with Obama and his Bush-like policies.

Solomon writes: "Those who are fond of talking and writing about President Obama's admirable progressive values will, sooner or later, need to come to terms with the particulars of his actual policies."

I have to ask: Why didn't you take your own advice above, Norm? And how could you have been a delegate for such a transparently warmongering candidate?

"Out, out damned spot," Norm. You've got a lot of scrubbing and activist organizing work to do. Get moving - it's your responsibility.

-TIA

Public policy regarding military spending has to change comprehensively. We need to counter military spending and actions broadly, demanding sane and beneficial foreign policy from our government.

Americans spoke clearly during their protests of the occupation in Iraq- we do not want our government to pursue empire, we want needs met here at home.

People must pressure Congress and Obama to change military policies fundamentally. Military actions as economic policy must not be accepted.

Without demanding fundamental change re how our military is used, it's not a matter of if we will have "wars" but where and when.

It was clear from the outset of the primary campaign that Obama was largely an "establishment" candidate. As the election process progressed it became very very clear that those who control the sources of our information had chosen Obama as their golden boy. A candidate who spoke ringingly with nearly the power of Martin Luther King (sorry MLK), who was distinctly and visually different.. Handsome a powerful speaker, and speaking ringlingly of "change". He was in fact "selected" to be our next president. Three pathetic Republican candidates, and Hillary who much of the nation despises..... It was a shoe in. The men of real vision..... not vague promises of "change" were silenced by a conspiracy of the press..... Edwards and Dennis Kucinich. These men saw the real nature of the problems we face and were ready and willing to address the REAL problems in logical ways.... but we barely heard what they had to say.... The substance of what they had to offer and the vision they largely shared was "hidden beneath a bushel basket". it became clear early in the election cycle that Obama was "blessed". The two previous elections were "won" by fraud..... you know that and I know that... as do most Americans. Election fraud and conspiracy are crimes..... serious crimes which are punishable..... if there is the will to punish. But the right has learned an important lesson.. that fraud and conspiracy are NOT required to accomplish their ends. Is a Republican better than Democrat for their purposes..... Actually it doesn't matter at all.... Clinton served the same masters for 8 years. All that matters is that the candidate is "establishment" and recognizes his "masters". Control of information is not regarded as "election fraud", and in fact it is often defended as "freedom of the press". A democratic process is non-democratic when the people are deprived of good information.... garbage in / garbage out. George Bush was the "compassionate conservative".... a phrase hammered again and again...... Obama was the candidate for unspecified change... both serve or served their masters..... the same masters largely. The American people dutifully turned out to "do their patriotic duty",and by voting they again lent their sanction to a corrupt parody of "democratic process". I did NOT.... and have not for years participated in this parody of democratic process. My vote is my acknowledgment that the process is legitimate.....and I refuse to grant the process that sanction. My fondest democratic dream is the election where NOBODY came. Obama will not bring significant change........ he will instead ride this sinking ship of state as the "Great American Empire" slips beneath the waves of history after dashing itself on the rocks of the inevitable wars that are the foundation of empire and ultimately the undoing of it. Iraq, Iran, Afghanistan...... it matters little. Democracy (true democracy) and empire are mutually exclusive!

H.W.

Perpetual war is America's goal. It is an inefficient stimulus with strong political backing from the MIC. With the failing banks America needs an employment engine to enrich the elites. America is becoming a military zoo.

Paul Siemering

it really does no good to be "smart" if you are dumb enough to believe you can prevent anyone from plotting violence against the u.s. "We will not allow it" he says. oh really?
also he thinks he can destroy al-Qaeda. wow. didn't the ex-pres do that? and why not? Finally, about those "safe havens". Neither Afghanistan nor Pakistan is especially safe for anyone. But no terrorists, real or imagined, needs any safe havens. People who wish harm to the u.s. are all over the world. bush was delusional, we all concluded that early on. That's why he thought he could have a war on a certain method of waging war. what is Obama then?

The president's speech had little to say about the plans for escalation, but the few words will come back to haunt: "With our friends and allies, we will forge a new and comprehensive strategy for Afghanistan and Pakistan to defeat Al Qaida and combat extremism, because I will not allow terrorists to plot against the American people from safe havens halfway around the world. We will not allow it."

Good luck, amigo. Better bring back the draft and prepare to borrow every cent left in the world. Even that won't be enough.

Wise up folks, see Obama for what he is: a cold war/hot war centrist "liberal." Last night he made a pitch for a new American century. (i.e. we must rule the world)! This does not bode well. See below:

What? the American Century Part II? Yes, Obama said it last night, ("The only way this century will be another American century is if we confront at last the price of our dependence on oil and the high cost of healthcare; the schools that aren't preparing our children and the mountain of debt they stand to inherit.") Here he was following up on Henry Luce's claim that the 20th century was the American one. Add to that Secretary of State Madeleine Albright's notion of America as “the indispensable nation.” Then go back in time to the Puritan idea that we are chosen people that will bring light unto the world and that we are a city upon a hill for all to see, a beacon of goodness. And don’t forget the Project for the New American Century which promoted American global leadership. Fundamental to the PNAC were the view that "American leadership is both good for America and good for the world" and support for "a Reaganite policy of military strength and moral clarity.

Can this be? Is numero uno in our future?

No doubt, we were a can-do country during the 20th century –climbing out of the depression, winning the war, helping our friends with the Marshall Plan and surpassing Great Britain as the major economic and military powerhouse. But we suffered during the Bush years, with the Iraq war debacle, Guantanamo, the Katrina Debacle, the Wall Street melt-down.

Are there still customers for Brand America? Probably not and God seems to be looking at us with a jaundiced eye, and so maybe now’s the time to became a caring, peaceful country like Sweden, or Norway. Mixed economies with great social services. And perhaps a new UN , minus the likes of John Bolton, can become the new city upon the hill.

If you only have time to read one post in this string, stop reading this one and go to Ephraim, who, on the subject of President Obama's benighted policy for Afghanistan, asks, "How can someone be so 'smart' and unutterably stupid at the same time?"

I thought the president's speech was pretty good last night until he started talking about using huge military might to destroy "secret enclaves who are plotting against us."

How do Military kids with officers who change the rules of engagement every day decide whether an enclave is 1) secret and plotting against us; 2) a wedding party; 3) an engagement party?

Hasn't it been the experience of world leaders that when they invade some country, the enclaves plot against them even more? How about French and Danish undergrounds et al. in WWII?

Any prominent person or nation will always have people plotting against them. To try and expunge each one will-- quite simply-- destroy the world.

Some politicians lie some of the time, others lie all of the time.

Mr. Obama's contention that he has to protect me by denying terrorists "safe havens" in Afghanistan/Pakistan flies in the face of what happened at 9/11. Those terrorists had "safe havens" for training to learn to fly their deadly planes here in our USA.

Mr. President, stop trying to sell me your bullshit. Your tactic/strategy if it may be called that will eventually shift those "safe havens" from the caves and mountains of Afghanistan/Pakistan into the big cities where they are much "safer".
That is how "Mumbai" was planned.

Emperor, you have no clothes. You are "nekkid".

change=chump change. the tell, should have been when we found out that zbig and albright were his foreign advisers. now with holbrooke there, the escalation will ramp up. leave and leave now. that is the only answer.

This is just illustrates that those who "make a killing on war" are those who are still calling the shots.

Its tragic comedy to watch those democrats and so called progressives yuck it up with pats on the back all around, totally ignorant of the fact that the same SYSTEM is still in effect... the system that pays for candidates to get into office with private money... regardless of Obama's grass roots effort, he's been paid for by the same interests that controlled Bush.

If you want to see kool aid drinkers and delusional two-party dupes, check out the comment string on Crooks and Liar's visions of grandeur post...

President Obama was electrifying!

These people don't want change, simply their labeled side in power... pathetic.

Norm,

You were a delegate for Mr. Obama at the Dem National Convention. Did not you see this coming, sense his stand has always been escalation and more war in Pakistan?

Now you are surprised? Hah.

There are alot of totally heartless, ingnorant posts. Some people act as if Iraq never happened. Others are so cruel they do not mind killing people to stimulate the economy.

Hello? Mr. Obama? We worked our tails of to get you elected to...

END ALL THE WARS

we are in.

The war on terror is fictitious because you can't have a war on a noun. Its right out of 1984, and there was Obama up there with the platitudes last night as the people kept rising to their feet to applaud the same way they did when bush was up there spewing the cr*p. He's just doing it without an earpiece telling him what to say and he's doing it without a snarky smirk. He's doing it with a face that looks friendly and caring and intelligent.

He talked about better education, jobs, loans, etc. --- but that all will fall in a heap because he is a giving the call for unending war. We are already bankrupt, and more war will bring us further into the toilet no matter what 'good' things Obama tries to do to fix things in the homeland.

He said it all at the speech right after he won the election. After campaigning on "change" --and never really saying exactly what that would entail (and no one asked)-- he revealed it to everyone. He said something like (I will have to find the exact quote), "This is the first time a man of color has won the presidency. THAT'S the change I'm talking about." My mouth hung open. "THAT'S the change"??? I imagined him mentally giving a wink and a click of the tongue, and pointing at everyone with a laugh and exclaiming "GOTCHA!"

As I stated previously several times, if we were to pull out today from Afghanistan, the new ELECTED government would fall within a couple of months. The Taliban would take over and we would be hearing about mass executions. They would establish the same type of brutal control of the locals. Then they would go back to business as usual in giving terrorists safe havens and training camps. The next step most likely would be increased terrorism in the America, Europe, and India.

Our fundamental position should be building up the new government and its military inorder that they take over as soon as possible. I think many people assume Afghanistan is like Iraq. The people of Afghanistan do not want a return of Taliban rule. They are essentially invaders from Pakistan. In terms of brutality, that would be the equivalent of another regime taking over in Iraq and ruling it like Saddam.

While I'm not happy to see more troops being thrown into Afghanistan, I realize that maybe the president has unfinished business to take care that we the people do not know about so let us just relax and wait another year and see how it turns out. If it's worse by then, you win. For now, let's not jump the gun, ok?

Terrance Mitchell
Redfield, South Dakota

Some good thoughts here, especially those which lead to ACTION. No, we didn't vote for Barack to change useless detrimental war efforts. ACTION.

Post this article wherever you can share, Facebook, etc.

Call the White House comment line: 202-456-1111.

Write comments at WhiteHouse.gov

Write letters to the editor.

Blog this article AND your thoughts wherever you can.

Come to New York City on April 4th for peace -- see http://unitedforpeace.org -- the focus will be Martin Luther King Jr. and his opposition to racism, poverty, and militarism.

Don't give up. MAKE OBAMA DO THE RIGHT THING.

Yes, we can -- and we MUST.

Peace hugs,
Kate Anne

There is a reason that Afghanistan is called the graveyard of empires.
Just ask Russia, or Britain.

the end of the fight
is a tombstone white
with the name of the late deceased
the epitaph drear
a fool lies here
who tried to hustle the east

-Rudyard Kipliing

Pity poor Pakistan. While the rest of the subcontinent was unaligned in the Cold War (and so despised by the US), Pakistan was the Americans' chosen bulwark against the Soviets. And so it was militarized, and more militarized and better militarized. Not surprisingly it became and remained (with one or two short-lived interludes) a military dictatorship whose main purpose was providing a launching pad for American nuclear missiles aimed at the SU.

And when the SU invaded Afghanistan it was repelled with the help of fervently Muslim volunteers armed by Ronnie Reagan from hideouts on the Pakistan border. See, devout Muslims hated the SU because it was atheist, so they fell in well with the plans of the USA which hated the SU for pretty much the same reasons. And when the goal of freeing Afghanistan for fundamentalist Islam was attained, those imported volunteers turned their skills and arms against the other Great Godless World Power, the same GGWP which had supported them against the SU, because the GGWP had also been attacking and killing Muslims in the Middle East and planting its military bases on the hallowed ground of Arabia.

Surprise!

Rainborowe

Well, well, well. So the plantation slave has finally become the plantation's new owner. And what do we get?

To the world's chagrin, the new master's empire will not only continue expanding, but he's not going to retire the whip.

The wars are the economic crisis.

Your ancestors struggled to raise crops on farms. Your grandparents struggled to build products in factories. Now robots build your dishwashers and cars. Your society is not poor and can afford to buy you a house and give you a reasonable job.

However, the USA has an addiction. It needs to go kill people who raise subsistence crops on farms. OK, they always raise heroin. But that's not why we kill them. The heroin farmers are on our side. Oh, never mind!

Up side he did not name the Taliban as enemy leaving negotiating room.

Very, Very down side,( which I bet not many people heard), he said he was going to INCREASE the NUMBER of people in the MILITARY !!!!!!!!! To take the strain off the ones now in service.

If he is withdrawing from Iraq, he must be planning to esculate Afghanistan tremendously ------ ground invasion of Pakistan , after it just finally became a democracy again( as is our wont to destroy democracies we disagree with)

OR ------- A new War ------ Iran?

Why do so few people calculate the impact of Wars on climate change, the carbon and particular footprint must be huge ---- Think transport and explosions.

FOOL FOOL FOOL FOOL FOOL FOOL

MOBILIZE !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Geneva Peace Conference NOW !!!!!!!!!!!!!

So, what are the best groups in terms of activism for this. Where are the best places to plug in???

Though infinitely more intelligent than Bush, Obama was well vetted by the empire that chose him. The empire is extremely adept at manipulating those it chooses. Bush was a wooden puppet for them. Obama is a next generation high tech puppet. I believe that he means well. But then so did Bush. He has 'chosen' a cabinet that reflects all the empire's interests. He will continue to support and expand the military complex, as have so many predecessors. He will defer to the empire's clients in continuing bailouts. In relation to Afghanistan: As recently repeated by an ex-CIA analyst who was involved in the endeavor under bot Carter and Reagan: The CIA set the mouse trap to lure the USSR into that Vietnam quagmire in order to accelerate its demise. And it worked. The USA pumped money, arms and encouragement of religious fundamentalists for this purpose. And this began under Carter! Brzezinski, Gates, and others were and continue to be rabidly anti-communist; not because they fear Communism as a military threat, but because it threatens our capitalistic system of 'progressive Democracy' (i.e. the more you have, the freer you are). They should fear it because they and their cronies are at the top of this 'Democracy', and to fall from there can be really painful. Brzezinski, himself, said it best: the Afghan people are pawns, having no innate value other than their function as suits the Empire's goals. And that view is finally coming home to the good ole' US of A. Whatever one might point to as the source of the current economic meltdown, the fact is, it is an inevitable consequence of Capitalism. Many economists are decrying the fact that Americans are doing just the opposite of what is needed to end the crisis: they are not spending like there's no tomorrow. The guiding principle of Capitalism is "More is Better"; that is, one should never be satisfied with having enough. This philosophy of unlimited greed was proudly espoused by Reagan "If the rich become rich enough, it will trickle down to benefit the rest". The flaw in this logic is the word 'enough'. It is blatantly evident that even the richest- especially the richest- will go to any lengths to get more and more- to the point that we are now beginning to see just what lengths they have gone to. This economic meltdown will continue, and to dupe the masses into further acceptance, we will expand the military complex. Hope and Change? Indeed, people who have never had to experience real hope in the comfort of their middle class homes will now begin to hope. But too late. They will be absorbed into the third world pawn vat, while the Empire continues its growth. The empire well knows that Obama's Waterloo will happen. He is yet another puppet. What the Empire may not duly estimate, however, is the mass hatred that will ensue. For, Obama truly did inspire hope. And though he might not wreak nearly the havoc that Cheney et al. have done, he will be hated much more for inspiring such hope in so many- both at home and around the globe.