12.16.2009

Obama: The Imperialist's President By William Reed (Guest Blogger)


THE IMPERIALIST'S PRESIDENT
By William Reed

The rich ruleth over the poor, and the borrower is servant to the lender. – Palms 22:7

In a defining decision, Barack Obama has accepted responsibility for the War in Afghanistan, announcing deployment of 30,000 additional troops in the hopes of bringing the deteriorating war, in its ninth year there, to an acceptable conclusion.

Snookered by establishment powers, President Obama ignores the truth and has embarked on a fool’s errand. The U.S. cannot “win” in Afghanistan. It has a history of being “graveyard of empires.” America was already losing when Obama took office. President Obama backed into the realm of empire in March 2009 and ordered 30,000 troops there. But, rather than reverse outcomes, U.S. and NATO forces lost even more ground. The entrenched military/industrial complex is all around Obama and behind the beguiling that got him to order troop levels in Afghanistan to an all-time high. Obama’s obedience to policies extending American authority and economic and political hegemony follows a pattern of American Presidents’ acquiescence to a ruling class agenda for endless war and ongoing repression. No matter who, every President of the United States is committed to open-ended deployment in Afghanistan and unbending alliance with Israel.”

Obedient to established structures, Obama is in league with policies to allow America to carry out capitalist globalization at gunpoint. The imperial powers’ mindset Barack has bought into allows for policing to the ends of the earth. For the multi-trillion dollar American military/industrial/complex there is always another enemy, and threat. Obama’s agenda seems eerily similar to core elements of a doctrine articulated in the Bush National Security Strategy (2002) which declared American-defined “values of freedom are right and true for every person, in every society” … and that an overarching goal of U.S. policy is creating “a balance of power that favors freedom,” and the spread of “free markets, and free trade to every corner of the world.”

Obama is now on-board to make cases for America’s military superiority and right to wage preemptive war. Fifty-percent of Americans oppose escalating war in Afghanistan. But, the Generals, Admirals, armaments executives, and now the White House, are unwilling to accept responsibility for a military setback. Bush and Cheney ordered the invasion thinking it would be easy going. They were going to wipe out the governments in Iran, Syria and North Korea. Bush and Cheney’s colonial-like fantasy, now held by Obama, is nourished by “great nation” arrogance and a caste of corrupt politicians in Congress. Afghans perceive the occupation as a colonial-takeover of their country. After eight years of war, more Afghan armed insurgent groups now exist in response to America’s invasion and they control large parts of the country.

Under Obama, the institutions of militarism, war and empire remain intact. His new plan for empire calls for more bombing and drone attacks, and “Afghanization” – the building up of a puppet Afghan army trained and led by U.S. commanders. This follows his escalation of illegal bombings in Pakistan. This war has gone very badly. How many more will have to die for the U.S. to avoid the appearance of defeat? The American Empire is deep in a domestic economic crisis. As Americans suffer from unemployment, foreclosures and evictions; the current cost of the wars and occupations in Afghanistan and Iraq is running at over $225 billion per year or $1.2 billion every two days. The powerful chairman of the House Appropriations Committee, David Obey says sending more troops would be a mistake that could "wipe out every initiative we have to rebuild our own economy…There ain't going to be no money for nothing if we pour it all into Afghanistan."

The “Empire” continues, prolonging the plight of the African American population. At this stage, Blacks are no better off than they were under Bush. Blacks got nothing from “Stimulus” programs. The Congressional Black Caucus (CBC) is right in criticizing Obama for not doing enough to help African-Americans in the economy. Speaking for the CBC, Maxine Waters said “We can no longer afford for our public policy to be defined by the worldview of Wall Street.”

(More of William Reed's writings can be found at www.BlackPressInternational.com)

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