Bush's "war on terror" continues under Obama, killing innocents

Scott Ritsema
CIVICS NEWS
January 27, 2009

Obama's Pentagon has already killed civilians in Afghanistan. Obama apparently won't hesitate to kill innocents ("collateral damage"), as he prosecutes Bush's war on terror. Lew Rockwell comments:

Obama seemed like a decent guy, but as president, he has no hesitation in killing a group of people in Pakistan, including three little children. But what is murder in the private sector is just public policy for the state, and Obama is head of state, so he wields his terrible, swift Predator on people he doesn't know, and of whom he knows nothing. During the campaign, he famously said that if missiles were endangering his daughters, he would "do anything" to stop them. Think anyone else feels the same way? (Via Antiwar.com)

Those who expected a peace president in Obama are going to be sorely disappointed. But, Obama-as-hawk comes as no surprise to the astute reader.

The London Guardian reports,

The Obama administration warned the US public yesterday to brace itself for an increase in American casualties as it prepares to step up the fight against al-Qaida and the Taliban in Afghanistan and the border regions of Pakistan.

Against a background of widespread protests in Pakistan and Afghanistan over US operations since Obama became president, the vice-president, Joe Biden, said yesterday that US forces would be engaged in many more operations as the US takes the fight to its enemies in the region.

One can't help but point out the irony of Robert Gates' statement that "civilian casualties are doing us enormous harm in Afghanistan" (emphasis mine). If the Pentagon is harmed by killing children in Afghanistan, then how much more are those families being harmed? But this is the logic of human governments: it's about "our" national interest. It's not about right and wrong.

Ron Paul continues to say what he has been saying since the campaign: Obama brings no change in foreign policy:



Michael Rozeff comments on the continuity of the Obama administration, rather than the change, arguing that Obama "reads off the same neo-con script" that the Bush administration had dutifully read:

Obama isn't changing anything. It's all more of the same. There is not even a hint of a fresh start or perspective. See, for example, his fifth press conference here.

I can't find even a shred of boldness here or any courage to confront the established interests that run America. There are not even small public signals of such an intention. It is remarkable that the party and election process is able to produce such homogeneous figureheads that parrot the same lines. It is remarkable that so many Americans become enthusiastic over these stooges.

All Obama brings in his remarks that are remotely new are his themes of (a) unity, and (b) globalism. These are signals of even more mischief.

The remarks of his associates are more of the same, which is to say, an incredibly paranoid portrayal of an embattled country beset by threats, forces, and enemies. Their agendas are lengthy.