obama-news-5e
- "His
task, will be to
develop an overall strategy for America in this period, when really a
New World Order can be created. Its a great opportunity it
isn't t a crisis. He (Obama) has appointed an
extraordinarily capable group (of advisers and staff) in both foreign
and economic fields" ~ Henry Kissinger (YouTube)
- Obama
Wants Bush Pentagon Appointees to Stay (read).
- Cheney
lauds Obama's choice of national security team (read).
- Obama
choice of evangelical pastor to give invocation at his inauguration has
gay rights groups angry (read).
- Obama's Pro-Nuclear
Pick for Energy Secretary Steven Chu has a keen interest in energy
efficiency and solar power and other clean forms of renewable energy,
Chu is a staunch advocate of nuclear power (read).
- Obama's Dept. of Ag. choice Vilsac is pro-GMO.
- Campaign Promises on Ending the War in Iraq Now Muted by Reality
"I said that I would remove our combat troops from Iraq in 16 months,
with the understanding that it might be necessary - likely to be
necessary - to maintain a residual force to provide potential training,
logistical support, to protect our civilians in Iraq," Mr. Obama said
this week as he introduced his national security team (read).
- Barack
Obama's kettle of hawks
The absence of a solid anti-war voice on Obama's national security team
means that US foreign policy isn't going to change - "What does it say
that, with 130 members of the House and 23 in the Senate who voted
against the war, Obama chooses to hire Democrats who made the same
judgment as Bush and McCain?" Neoconservative
leader and
former McCain campaign staffer Max Boot summed it up best. "I am
gobsmacked by these appointments, most of which could just as easily
have come from a President McCain," (Jeremy
Scahill, 12/1/08).
- Karl Rove praises Obama's economic team - "Thanksgiving Cheer From
Obama - He's assembled a first-rate economic team" (read).
- "Hawks For Hillary"
The New Republic: Why Are Conservatives Praising Obama's Pick For
Secretary Of State? Newt Gingrich, Iraq war architect Richard Perle (read).
- Gov. Janet Napolitano
of Arizona is reportedly set to be offered the position of Homeland
Security secretary. She is a two-term governor, as well as a former US
attorney and state attorney general for Arizona. She was the first
governor to call for National Guard troops to secure the US-Mexico
border (read).
- President-elect Obama
is also expected to tap billionaire Penny Pritzker to serve as Commerce
secretary. Pritzker is a longtime friend of Obama's and served as his
national finance chair. Pritzker was involved in running and overseeing
the Illinois-based Superior Bank, which collapsed in 2001. The bank has
been described as being at the forefront of turning sub prime loans
into securities, the risky practice at the heart of the financial
crisis (read).
- Obama sends Madeleine Albright
to represent him at the G20 summit. Albright is the person
who,
when told that a half million Iraqi children had died due to sanctions,
said "I think this is a very hard choice, but the price--we think the
price is worth it." (read).
- Obama continued the
fear-mongering that pushes this country into multiple wars when he told
60 Minutes: "I think it's important to get a national security team in
place because transition periods are potentially times of vulnerability
to a terrorist attack," (read).
- Obama
reportedly to keep Robert Gates as Secretary of Defense (read).
- University
of Chicago economist Austan Goolsbee
will be U.S. President-elect Barack Obama's choice to lead the White
House economic team (read).
- Obama
wants embattled U.S. Sen. Joseph Lieberman to remain in the Senate
Democratic caucus (read)
,
and fellow democrats follow and allow Lieberman to keep a key
chairmanship (read).
- Obama
vowed to shut down Guantanamo
- this is good news, and maybe something a John McCain presidency
wouldn't have done. But what is Obama going to do with those
held
without charge at Guantanamo? And what about torture centers at Bagram
and Diego Garcia? And will he shut down the School of the
Americas torture training center in Ft. Benning, Georgia? And
what about the torture American prisoners face in US jails?
- Chomsky
on Obama appointments
"Obama's choices to [run his economic team] were Robert Rubin and Larry
Summers from the Clinton--Secretaries of Treasury under Clinton. They
are among the people who are substantially responsible for the crisis.
One leading economist, one of the few economists who has been right all
along in predicting whats happening, Dean Baker, pointed out that
selecting them is like selecting Osama Bin Laden to run the war on
terror." ( read
or listen
to the entire speech).
- Obama supports $700
billion bailout of toxic financial institutions. (Sep
'08)
- Barack Obama has now
declared -- to Bill O'Reilly on Fox News, no less -- that Bush's
"surge" in Iraq
has "succeeded beyond our wildest dreams." He also proclaimed his
"absolute" belief in the "War on Terror," and said "we have to go after
them" (in Pakistan and Afghanistan). (WATCH
or READ
)
- As riot police were
assaulting and arresting innocent activists outside the Democratic
convention, Joe Biden was inside saying "Barack will put more cops on
the street" (Aug
'08)
- Georgia/Russia: Obama sides
with Georgia - position similar to Bush and McCain. (Aug
'08)
- Would keep a residual force
(possibly
60,000-80,000) in Iraq after 2010 to train military personnel, provide
security for U.S. interests and thwart terrorist threats. (Jul
'08)
- "A nuclear Iran
would pose a grave threat and the world must prevent Iran from
obtaining a nuclear weapon," "Iranians need to understand that whether
it's the Bush administration or the Obama administration, this is a
paramount concern to the United States," (Jul
'08)
- Wants 10,000 more troops for
Afghanistan. (Jul
'08)
- Making sure Iran
does not have the capability to build a nuclear weapon would be "a
number one priority" in an Obama presidency.... Iran policy must
"combine much tougher threats of economic sanctions with direct
diplomacy," (Jul
'08)
- Supports legislation
granting legal immunity to
telecommunications companies that cooperated with the Bush
administration's program of wiretapping without warrants. (Jul
'08)
- Wants to expand faith-based
programs. (Jul
'08)
9/28/08 St. Pete for Peace
statement on Obama following the first Presidential debate
Dear friends of peace,
The presidential debate on Friday night
confirmed our previous
statements about Barack Obama - he is not an antiwar
candidate.
St. Pete for Peace, in the strongest terms, condemns Obama's positions
on Afghanistan, Pakistan, Iran, Russia, Venezuela, and Iraq, among
others. Like John McCain, Obama is pro-military and
pro-empire. And just like the Republican Party, the Democrats
are
not representing the people, as further evidenced by the Democrats who
pushed at least as hard as the Republicans for the $700 billion Wall
Street bailout.
Some people believe Obama is just making
pro-war statements to get
elected, but if that were true, how do you know he's not also being
deceitful about the things he says in which you agree? And if
he's saying things now just to get elected, how do you know he wouldn't
say those things to get re-elected? Some say that an Obama
presidency would mean that their antiwar voice has a chance of being
heard. How can this be true if he's not listening to your
voice
now when he's trying to get your vote?
"But he's better than McCain" is the
reason many give for their support
of Obama. Yes, that's true. But, if somebody
knocked on
your door and said, "You can either give me your children, or you can
give me every dollar you earn for the rest of your life" what would you
say? You would say "neither" and shut the door.
It's time
to shut the door on the Republicans and Democrats until they start
representing the people. Of course, John McCain and the
Republicans are dangerous and should not be in power, but acceptance of
the "lesser of two evils" philosophy is one reason we continue to be
stuck with two evils.
So, what do we do? Well, if you
support the Democrats and Obama,
then at least demand they start representing you, or abandon the
party. This is not a call to join some other party - election
politics should be just one small part of participating in your
country's affairs. This is a call to consciousness.
What
you do once every four years pales in comparison to what you do every
day.
- Voted in favor of $162
billion more for Iraq & Afghanistan wars. (Jun
'08)
- At his first stop after
winning the primaries, Obama wore a U.S/Israeli flag lapel pin
at AIPAC. (Jun
'08)
- Neoconservative leader
William Kristol
said: "Obama's not for pulling troops back from our forward positions
around the world, with the exception of Iraq. Obama and McCain don't
actually differ, at least on paper, even on Iran" (Jun
'08)
- Reverses his pledge and opts
out of public financing. (Jun
'08)
- "But as president of the
United States, I would
be willing to lead tough and principled diplomacy with the appropriate
Iranian leader at a time and place of my choosing if and only if it can
advance the interests of the United States." (Jun
'08)
- "I have said repeatedly that
I think that the
death penalty should be applied in very narrow circumstances for the
most egregious of crimes," (Jun
'08)
- Supports a military 'surge'
in Afghanistan. (May
'08)
- "I will maintain the embargo
(on Cuba).
It provides us with ... leverage..." "Never, in my lifetime,
have
the people of Cuba known freedom. Never, in the lives of two
generations of Cubans, have the people of Cuba known
democracy." (May
'08; also, read Fidel Castro's response)
- Obama Exposed: Facts about Obama
from the African
People's Solidarity Committee
- "I think that when you look
back at George H.W. Bush's
foreign policy, it was a wise foreign policy. In how we executed the
Gulf War, how we managed the transition out of the Cold War, I think
it's an example of how we can get bipartisan agreement." (Apr
'08)
- Would "take no options off
the table when it comes to preventing [Iran]
from using nuclear weapons or obtaining nuclear weapons, and that would
include any threats directed at Israel or any of our allies in the
region." (Apr
'08)
- "The truth is that my
foreign policy
is actually a return to the traditional bipartisan realistic policy of
George Bush's father, of John F. Kennedy, of, in someways, Ronald
Reagan." (Mar
'08)
- Said the 2008 violence in
Gaza was the result of Hamas decision to launch rocket
attacks on Israeli civilians (Mar
'08)
- Said the US should not meet
with (the democratically elected) Hamas leadership (Mar
'08)
- Would not rule out
using mercenaries (private military companies) like Blackwater in Iraq. (Feb
'08)
- Said that US troops should
be "relieved of
the burden of policing someone else's civil war," and that Iraqis need
"to take responsibility for their own future. (Jan
'08)
- He skipped the vote on
Attorney General Michael Mukasey. (Nov
'07)
- "It is important to have
tough sanctions on
Iran, particularly on the Iranian Revolutionary Guard, which supports
terrorism," (Oct
'07)
- Voted to expand NAFTA to
Peru. (Oct
'07)
- Would not pledge to have
all troops out of Iraq by the end of his first-term. (Sep
'07)
- Was "a strong supporter of
the war in Afghanistan". (Aug
'07)
- I strongly
support the expansion of our ground forces by adding 65,000 soldiers to
the Army and 27,000 Marines." (Apr
'07)
- We lead the world
in battling immediate evils and promoting the ultimate
good,
said Obama. We must lead by building a 21st-century
military... to advance the security of all
people. (Apr
'07)
- "No President should ever
hesitate to use force
unilaterally if necessary to protect ourselves and our vital interests
when we are attacked or imminently threatened." (Apr
'07)
- Said the United States must
be willing to strike al Qaeda targets inside Pakistan. (Apr
'07)
- "[W]e must preserve our
total commitment to our unique defense relationship with Israel
by fully funding military assistance and ... related missile defense
programs, he said. This would help Israel maintain its military edge
and deter and repel attacks from as far as Tehran and as close as
Gaza." (Mar
'07)
- Voted for Robert Gates (of
the Iran-Contra scandal) to be Defense Secretary. (Dec '06)
- "[L]aunching some missile
strikes into Iran
is not the optimal position for us to be in given the ongoing war in
Iraq. On the other hand, having a radical Muslim theocracy in
possession of nuclear weapons is worse. So I guess my instinct would be
to err on not having those weapons in the possession of the ruling
clerics of Iran." (Oct
'06)
- Voted for building a fence
along the U.S./Mexican border. (Sep
'06)
- Said the
government must crack down on employers who hire 'illegal
immigrants'. (Sep
'06)
- Supported Israel's war
against Lebanon. (Aug
'06)
- Voted for Patriot Act
II. (Mar
'06)
- Voted for Bush s
2005 energy bill which sent billions of dollars in subsidies to oil
companies. (Jun
'05)
- Voted to allow credit card
companies to raise interest rates to over 30%. (Mar
'05)
- "Military strikes on
Pakistan should not be ruled out if violent Islamic extremists were to
take over" (Sep
'04)
- "[T]he big question is going
to be, if Iran
is resistant to these pressures [to stop its nuclear program],
including economic sanctions, which I hope will be imposed if they do
not cooperate, at what point . . . if any, are we going to take
military action?" (Sep
'04)
- "There s not much
of a difference between my position and George Bush s
position" on Iraq. (Jul
'04)
- Said it was time "to end the
embargo with Cuba" because it had "utterly failed in the effort to
overthrow Castro." (Jan
'04)
- Two weeks after the Iraq war
started he said, we
"absolutely want to make sure that the troops have sufficient support
to be able to win." (Mar
'03)
- "I am not opposed to all
wars, I'm opposed to dumb wars." (Oct
'02)