Feb 25 2009

Be patient with Obama on Iraq? While how many die?

(9 am. – promoted by ek hornbeck)

We were at an Iraq Moratorium vigil in downtown Milwaukee last week when a young man stopped to say, with a rueful smile, "Can't you give him a little time?"

He was referring to the sign a couple of students were holding, calling for an end to "Obama's occupations."

The vast majority of the people at that vigil voted for Barack Obama. There may have been a few Green votes. I'd bet my bottom dollar there weren't any McCain backers in the crowd.

So, should we be patient?

I pointed out to the young man that while it's true Obama's only been in office a month, that's been enough time for him to decide to send 17,000 more troops to Afghanistan.

Meanwhile, he's waffled on his campaign pledge to bring US troops home from Iraq in 16 months. And the report today is that he is leaning toward a 19-month withdrawal.

What's three more months when you've already been there for six years?

Not much in the grand scheme of things, right?

Unless, of course, you are one of the people who will lose their lives during those extra three months, or be wounded, or widowed, or have a loved one killed or maimed or permanently damaged psychologically.

Depending upon who's counting, more than a million Iraqis have died, several million have become refugees, and 740,000 or more women have been widowed — almost 10 per cent of the female population between the ages of 15 and 80.

We don't know for sure how many Iraqis have been killed, because we don't even care enough to count their dead.

This is not a time to ask the antiwar movement to be patient, to quietly wait an extra three months.

It's time to ask the question John Kerry asked about Vietnam: Who will be the last one to die for this mistake?

We might add: How many will die for this mistake after Obama had said it would be over?  

10 comments

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  1. Mobilize for March 19-20-21 actions.   Link

    • Viet71 on February 25, 2009 at 15:53
    • #

    Obama is headed down a well-worn path that leads to nothing good.

    When will American presidents learn that you can’t achieve your military objective if you don’t have one?

    • TomP on February 25, 2009 at 16:43
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    50,000 residual troops on progressive blogs such as Daily Kos and others (both on the front page and diaries) is sad.

    I knew I’d find antiwar folks here at docudharma.  

    This is so far from Kerry-Feingold in 2006, a bill that Obama voted against, but that the antiwar movement supported.  

    The residual troops will be withdrawn by December 2011, by the terms of the treaty with Iraq, so an end is in sight, if we comply with the treaty, which I hope/think we will.

    Nonetheless, this means 3 more years of the American occupation of Iraq.

    The direction is correct by Obama, but the pace is too slow.  This is very similar to the Hillary Clinton plan she revealed in an interview with the New York Times in 2007.

    Senator Hillary Rodham Clinton foresees a “remaining military as well as political mission” in Iraq, and says that if elected president, she would keep a reduced but significant military force there to fight Al Qaeda, deter Iranian aggression, protect the Kurds and possibly support the Iraqi military.

    http://www.nytimes.com/2007/03…

    During the primary, Obama ran as the antiwar candidate, but the on foreign policy there was little difference between Clinton and him.  Obama telegraphed this move repeatedly, but many chose not to listen or did not care.

    This is why we need an antiwar movement.    

    • TomP on February 25, 2009 at 16:54
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    Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki supports an accelerated pullout and Iraqi officials will work closely with American commanders under a possible timetable to remove U.S. soldiers from the battlefield by August 2010, said Sadiq al-Rikabi, one of al-Maliki’s top advisers.

    The comments come after reports that President Barack Obama was expected to order all U.S. combat troops to leave Iraq by August of next year. An announcement by Obama could come as early as this week, a senior White House official told The Associated Press on Tuesday.

    Al-Rikabi said al-Maliki expressed “no worry” about U.S. forces moving out quicker than the standing agreement for a withdrawal by the end of 2011.

    http://www.foxnews.com/story/0…

  5. REFUGEES INTERNATIONAL LAUNCHES CAMPAIGN URGING OBAMA TO HELP IRAQI REFUGEE

    Washington D.C. – As President Obama works to stabilize Iraq, he must be sure to comprehensively address the Iraqi refugee crisis. Five million Iraqis have been uprooted by conflict, forced to leave everything behind. They have sought refuge within Iraq, Syria, Jordan and other neighboring countries. They are running out of resources with little opportunity for employment; access to food, heath care, education and other essential services is extremely limited. The conditions for Iraqis to return home safely do not exist, and millions of Iraqi refugees are unlikely and unwilling to return to Iraq in the foreseeable future. The U.S. administration must lead international efforts to meet the long-term needs of displaced Iraqis. Failure to assist Iraqis will have dramatic impacts on security inside Iraq.

    The campaign features a petition urging the Obama administration to:

    1. Assist Iraqi refugees.

    2. Ensure a safe, voluntary return home when possible.

    3. Pressure Iraq to meet its responsibilities to its own people.

    4. Increase resettlement for those who can’t go home.

    Supporters can sign the petition here or when you click on the top link the petition, with intro video, loads to sign.

    Contact Information:

    Sara Fusco

    Refugees International Site

    Phone: 202-828-0110, ext.204

    Sara at Refugee International

    • TomP on February 25, 2009 at 20:10
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    so much better than on Daily Kos when you publihsed this post there.  It seems to have become a place for followers to promote whatever Presdient Obama decides, regardless of content.  

    Liek team sports.

    Off course, were there a draft, the comments would be different.  But so long as poor and working class folks die in Iraq, the “creative class” wanna-bes don’t mind.

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