President Obama Calls for an End to War and Closure of Guantanamo

How long is it since a US president openly promoted peace instead of war? War has become part of the American psyche, almost. The right wing political machine, with its super-powerful media, has long stirred up paranoia and terror so that false premises would be overlooked when used as justification for war.  

The military industrial complex has achieved its object, and Eisenhower’s prediction has come to pass. The whole world is drunk on war and America has heavily contributed to feeding the addiction.

But on Thursday President Obama, speaking at the National Defense University, said the terrorist threat no longer requires America to be at war. He acknowledged that torture has been used on prisoners, that Guantanamo flouts international law, and expressed regret that civilians have been killed by drones.  

“This war, like all wars, must end. That’s what history advises. It’s what our democracy demands.” He spoke rationally, as he always does, about how the terror threat has been reduced so that it is now where it was pre 9/11. There’s no more rationale for war.

President Obama has worked so solidly and tirelessly to restore America to a country that has a chance of surviving and flourishing again, and to one that the world can respect. He's been trashed from every direction and on trumped up, irrational charges. Everything he does is cast in an evil light. Right wing politicians and media prey on paranoia in the electorate. Dust storms of irrational fear and mindless hostility are stirred up.  

He’s come up against obstacle after obstacle in a Congress whose only aim is to destroy him in the eyes of the electorate and unseat him and the Democratic Party. And maintain the current status quo that is strangling the middle class. 

But he's never let it thrust him off course. He’s kept his head even though he’s been in the eye of the storm that’s been driven to a large degree, I suspect, by racism, for 5 years. It’s nothing short of heroic. 

That he speaks out now about the need to stop war in the face of the military industrial complex's power is incredible. It shows what a courageous man he is. When America stops creating wars on false premises for the aggrandizement of that shadowy group, and leads the way with policies that promote a healthy middle class it affects the whole world. World peace becomes a possibility not a dumb dream.  

All the money spent on war can be used for furthering the prosperity of the American middle class, helping the poor out of the gutter, renovating infrastructure that's falling apart all over the place. Creating a renaissance. Instead of a war machine that justifies maiming, torturing and killing foreigners and Americans and puts fortunes in the pockets of those who profit from manufacturing weapons of destruction.  

Imagine if Obama had everybody working with him? This country could truly be a shining light in the world. All that beautiful creativity and entitlement could be put to good use. If any country could change the world on its own, it’s America. 

That Obama has continued along his path to this point and with such clear and rational purpose, is the greatest inspiration in my life and I’m sure of the lives of many. Whether he achieves his objective this time isn’t what makes him a hero. It’s that he works towards it unfailingly despite obstacles. He teaches all of us in the world how not to give up. How not to let those who try to bring you down get the better of you. How not to give in to despair. 

In a lot of ways, he remains an unsung hero. He ought to get the next Nobel Peace Prize. I can’t think of anybody else in the world who deserves it more than he does. He doesn't only lead America, he leads the world. Not because the US is a super-power but because he's a great man.

Gun Control In the US - Extremists are Losing Ground

Momentum continues to build against the culture of irrational thought and irresponsible behavior in American politics and against the power that commercial interest holds over politicians. It’s happening in economic policies and in the power the weapons industry has had over Americans.

President Obama is hell-bent on restoring health in society and the economy through balanced measures. Hardliner Republicans have put up a fight for four years and have been unable to break his back, or to stop him from making headway. Their efforts have only earned them disgust and ridicule, at a time when their power is waning in any case.

Obama also chose as his Secretary of Defense a Republican who can think for himself, has made mistakes of judgment in the past, admitted it and changed. Like Obama, Chuck Hagel doesn’t believe in war for its own sake. He said of Iraq and Afghanistan, “[They] are not America's to win or lose [and] we can help them buy time or develop, but we cannot control their fates.”

 

He said of the Bush Administration’s handling of conflict between Israel and Lebanon in 2006, "The sickening slaughter on both sides must end and it must end now” and at another time he stated that the US relationship with Israel, important as it is, can’t be promoted at the expense of healthy relationships with Muslims and the Middle East.

And the man who shouted the odds about government spending but earmarked ‘just in case’ extra funds for military spending and openly supported war against Iran, didn’t make President. Without a doubt, the era of war is under siege. And so is that of an out-of-control gun industry and the NRA. The horror of the Connecticut massacre and the lunatic NRA response triggered a reaction that’s spreading like wildfire.

Barack Obama announced that Joe Biden would head a task force to present a blueprint for reducing gun violence, and he pledged to submit new gun control proposals to Congress by the end of January. On Wednesday Biden announced that the President would use a combination of legislation and executive orders to achieve the goal. 

Obama can’t just outlaw high capacity ammo magazines and re-introduce a ban on assault weapons, but he can support legislation for it. Obviously hardliners in Congress will be a problem again, but they’re a weakened body. And Obama can issue executive orders to ensure that a national data base that runs background checks on gun owners is fed updated and accurate information.

He can also improve federal mental health programs – which will tie Congress in a bit of a knot, since the NRA’s big argument is that the problem is mental health and not guns, but Congress wants Obama to cut on spending. Once again they’ll make fools of themselves. But that’s by the bye.

Obama can also order the Justice Department to effectively prosecute people who lie on their application forms for a gun license. He is obviously committed to doing whatever he can. He can’t go it alone, but he doesn’t have to. New York State is about to pass what will be some of America’s toughest gun-control laws. The only potential resistance to Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo’s proposal is from Senate Republicans, but they have indicated they won’t block it.

Gabrielle Gifford, still recovering from being shot, and her husband Mark Kelly have launched a political action committee, Americans for Responsible Solutions. They are also calling for contributions to help politicians stay independent of funding from the gun industry and the NRA  who politically exterminate politicians resisting them.

In Connecticut, measures were introduced by State Rep. Stephen Dargan (Democrat) to make the addresses of 170,000 gun owners public information, and by State Sen. Martin Looney (Democrat) to prohibit anybody from buying bullets if they have a restraining or protective order against them, or have been convicted of a misdemeanour or a felony.

Extremists are losing ground in America. The gun industry and gun lobbyists love to use threat, but the more noise they make, the more they expose themselves for what they are, and the more resistance to their brand of lunacy grows. Not just amongst level-headed and courageous politicians, but amongst everybody.  

Collage of images from public domain: Centre, Barack Obama and Joe Biden. Clockwise from top left: Gov. Andrew Cuomo, Chuck Hagel, Gabrielle Giffords, Joe Biden

Barack Obama Leads the American Revolution of the 21st Century

Nowhere has the divide between the kind of rational thinking that results from a deep-rooted emotional fluency and the thinking that is muscle bound with fear and prejudice been more apparent in any western society than in America in the time leading up to the 2012 Presidential elections. The country was and still is almost split down the middle between the two. Almost.  But, miraculously, there was enough of an imbalance to create a momentum towards health.

Dealing with somebody over-run by their fear is intensely frustrating because of the denial. They’re always unable to acknowledge their fear, which means they can’t see how neurotic their behavior is. They have a kind of logic to their thinking, but its premise is hopelessly limited and their hallmark is that they shift with the wind and are constantly looking for opportunities to manipulate. 

It’s the profile of a bully, whose only desire is for power, and who will do whatever they can to get it, regardless of the impact on anyone else. Regardless even of the long-term impact on them. In the US, Conservative Republicans have illustrated this so beautifully in the past four years. Congress doggedly set out to resist anything President Obama put before them, regardless of whether it was ultimately good for America or not.

In fact a good yardstick for what was good for the country was if Congress blocked it. Their blind spot was their inability to recognize that Third World elements have become a part of the US in a way they never have before. The US civilization was disintegrating at the core, and as with the decline of any civilization, those causing it wouldn’t acknowledge that it was happening or that they were instrumental in it.

For a long time globally the First World didn’t want to have much to do with the massive poverty and disempowerment that characterizes the Third World. But gradually the more enlightened have accepted that if you don’t deal with poverty it deals with you. Countries with huge disparity of wealth have had to recognize it. But I think conservative America hasn’t wanted want to acknowledge that it’s a US problem too. America isn’t supposed to be Third World. It’s supposed to be a world leader. 

But like all civilizations that get too powerful and over-reach themselves, the country started eating itself up, creating a polarity that only the blind could ignore, until the middle class was in danger of disappearing altogether. It’s the mistake that the over-powerful always make – they want somebody else to pay for their wealth and/or power and don’t realize they’re killing the golden goose. For a while they can ignore the consequences of their behavior, which only makes them greedier and more reckless. 

Eventually the class they rely on to create wealth for them is bled dry. The stupidity of it is mind-boggling. And it’s not as if history hasn’t illustrated this process over and over. There is never another outcome. Humans aren’t built to be disempowered, so they will always rebel at some critical point and correct the imbalance. We do it as societies and in our private lives. In the latter we usually have to hit a severe crisis. 

America was going the same way. The middle class was becoming poorer and poorer and the poor were falling off the edge of the earth. But the country produced a leader who recognized that unless the middle class was nurtured back into its power and allowed opportunity again, unless the burden of carrying the wealthy was taken off its back, the US would disintegrate completely. 

Of course conservative Republicans resisted. Of course they did everything in their power to obstruct President Obama in his first term. They didn’t want him to succeed, even if it cost them and the whole country. Such is the power of fear of losing what you’ve amassed in unhealthy and manipulative ways. But the narrow-minded, self destructive, short-term thinking that drives conservative Republicans has had its day, because their supporters are outnumbered. Unless they change they will die out.

Survival of the fittest in the best, most humane sense. When the election results were announced, everyone was saying $6 billion was spent but nothing has changed. They were wrong. Everything has changed. America has had its revolution so quietly that half the country doesn’t even realize it’s happened. The kind of reasoning that is about the health of individuals and societies has triumphed over corrupted power. America remains a world leader, but a new era of that leadership is dawning.

Israel and Palestine have Gained No Ground

Has either Israel or Palestine/Hamas gained any ground in this latest conflict? It depends on your perspective. Israel has shown Hamas that it has massive military capacity to do a lot of damage and that it has no compunction about it, no matter who gets slaughtered. The message is, hurt us and we will hurt you back, and we’re better at it than you are.  

But Hamas, once seen as a terrorist organization, has gained legitimacy and support from countries in the Middle East and many people around the world, because Netanyahu’s position, while it can be understood, just is not supportable by reasonable people. And for the first time, the US isn’t playing an obviously pivotal role. Egypt, governed by the Muslim Brotherhood, is.

I don’t know how much Egypt is being influenced behind the scenes by the US but even if it is, that is still evidence of President Obama’s unwillingness to involve the US directly in war. And on the surface this is a Middle East problem being solved by Middle East nations where there’s more real democracy than ever before and they are solidly behind Palestine, represented by Hamas.

Still, none of this amount to anything of any value to humanity or to the people of Palestine and Israel who have the right to a life without violence, because it’s all about military power. Power can broker peace but it can’t sustain it. Hamas is not a peaceful organization; its modus operandum is violence. Netanyahu is a military bully. And both he and Khalid Mashaal have made it very clear that their commitment to the cease-fire is lip service. 

For Israel a dead Palestinian is an unfortunate casualty. For Hamas a dead Israeli is a victory. Neither side has any remorse; and neither is acknowledging that they are as responsible as each other for the casualties in their own countries. Both are saying very clearly that they will do it again. Both leaders have support within their own countries. 

Netanyahu is painting Israel into a corner in a room with nothing like the kind of backing he had before. He can try to fight his way out of it, but wait until Iran gets in on the deal. Is that ultimate scenario what he is relying on? Iran is already in on the deal, supplying arms to Hamas, an organization which, apart from its commitment to violence, has no real control over individual groups of angry men addicted to violence. Scary.

Amassing power is not a solution to lasting peace, any more than intimidation is in a world where egos run rampant. So nobody has gained from this latest conflict and the shifting power dynamics. As Robin McCann of the Human Potential Development Centre in Cape Town said, “if things aren’t getting better, they’re getting worse”. I wonder what it will take for the world to recognise that the power to annihilate is never going to change anything for the better?

It seems that we often learn the best lessons when we hit rock bottom as individuals and as societies. What’s the nadir for Israel and Palestine? That everybody’s dead or maimed?