Dithered Dictation

When General Stanley McChrystal first asked fora second massive troop surge, this time to send 40,000 plus to Afghanistan, the shock of such an astoundingly serious announcement begged for a pause. And so President Obama deferred to respond ilico. And to everyone's relief, our commander-in-chief thoughtfully requested a wider review for American policy in Afghanistan and the greater region.

However, that review that continues today echoes its own presence in reports as largely that of a military nature that neglects the importance of diplomatic and cultural centered efforts.

At that time, in mid-September 2009, President Obama reassured the war-weary public a new plan would be afoot within "a matter of weeks." Yet, as more heated war cries came from the more bigoted tics in Congress, the semblance of strategy the executive desperately sought to hatch.

Upon reports in early October from a BBC journalist that the decision had already been made to send 45,000 more Americans, White House Press Secretary Robert Gibbs denied the assertion and placated that a decision would be reached "in weeks." The end of summer and apex of autumn has respectively passed and crested and still no decision has been made.

With the onset of the November 7 Afghan "election," and holiday times approaching rapidly in America, a decision now to send tens of thousands of Americans into a brutal and desperately murderous situation could effectively incite massive uproar among the general public. By going with no strategy at all for 9 plus months and kicking the horribly bloodied can farther down the road, the War in Afghanistan entering its ninth year is about to unravel and explode.

Simply, President Obama's general strategy in every field has been to have no real strategy at all. And by campaigning on the promise to widen the War in Afghanistan to the tune of thunderous applause, the American people have given him and all future executives the power to wage war indefinitely. Rolling with the political winds without any root in principle or practice proves a dangerous experiment.

So detestable is the unlimited power ceded to the "well-meaning" authorities whose blatant lies and empty promises quell the masses into silent destitution. It is no mystery imperial wars and occupations are repeatedly unsustainable and inherently flawed beyond correction. And after a near decade of such fatal folly, there is no question an end will at eventually come. But when?

For now, that question lies in the hands of the warring purveyor of "peace".

45,000 to Afghanistan

Yesterday, the BBC broke the story that United States President Barack Obama has already decided to send 45,000 more U.S. troops to Afghanistan according to an unidentified source of the British government. That would push U.S. presence in Afghanistan to well over 110,000 soldiers, an increase from the 10,000 who overthrew the Taliban in 2001, and an increase from the 40,000 who were stationed there in 2008.

While White House Press Secretary Robert Gibbs denied this claim, this potential decision would put the number of U.S. troops occupying both Iraq and Afghanistan in 2010 at an astounding 260,000. At the height of troop levels under former President George W. Bush, there was a maximum of 180,000 soldiers in the two nations.

The jury has spoken, but where is the judge?

President Obama Joins Henry Kissinger: Nobel Prize

President Barack H. Obama today joined an elite club with a suprisingly paradoxical paradigm. Yes, that's right, Barack Obama was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize admist the U.S. occupation of Iraq, which has continued for 6+ years unceased, the U.S. occupation of Afghanistan, which has continued for 8 years in utter chaos, and in an international atmosphere that is formally and aggressively provoking a confrontation with embattled Iran.

And the peace prize goes to...

the man leading a country consumed with two wars,
and perhaps in pursuit of another,
and without much public legitimacy,
with no end in sight.

It seems somewhat of a paradox, but then look at some of the former Nobel Peace Prize winners like Henry Kissinger, whose escalation of interventionist U.S. policy in southeast Asia garnered well-deserved hate for his actions across America. Nevertheless, the leaders who falter, know it, but will not change it or speak out against out are lauded as saviors to all of our grave misfortunes.

Over 1 million people have died in Iraq since the 2003 invasion. These include nearly 5,000 U.S. combat deaths, not including the equal proportion of casualties sustained by private military contractors. The total number of Afghans dead in the war in Afghanistan is untracked and unknown, although best estimates put it in the tens of thousands range. That occupation has continued unabated since October 2001. And not only did the recent U.S. occupation pose challenges, but Afghanistan has withstood the increasing pressure of the U.S. and Russian interests since the late 1970s. Meanwhile, international sanctions against Iran seem inevitable, and constant rumours portend an Israeli or American strike.

When asked the reason for these military interventions, these open-ended occupations and military industrial schemes based on the idea of "white man's burden", the exalted leaders categorically reply with little candor or courage to speak and act on the truth. Instead, tepidness and "bi-partisanship" in feeling out political waters simply mars the ability to make informed decisions and conscious choices about the right thing to do.

Instead of focusing on what's best for the American People, we all too often focus on who's up or down in the popularity contest of figures and cliques. If peace and freedom were easy to obtain, it'd be no problem to elect a new figurehead and the next day we'd be free and separated from the shock and horror that's surrounded us for the past decade. But that is not the case and rather freedom is something to be fought for, admired, and contested for on all grounds.

Maybe the Nobel Peace Prize will make President Obama a little more conscientious about his decisions on the battlefield, particularly when his Secretary of Defense Robert Gates told press that coming out of Afghanistan is not an option. But maybe, the good thing out of this contradictory occurrence is that the American people are really the ones being lauded and encouraged, perhaps so much so that this stark contradiction may move them to action to oppose the proclaimed hero's war policies which every day are becoming more obviously in defect and undesirable.

It is unclear where this odd gift of admiration will lead, but one thing's for sure, this strange fruit is nothing new.

Protestors, Sheehan Arrested Outside White House

Yesterday, dozens of protestors were arrested outside of the White House on Pennsylvania Avenue in Washington D.C. during a street action orchestrated to hand-deliver a letter to President Obama endorsing ending the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq. Among those arrested was famed "Peace Mom" Cindy Sheehan whose son Casey died in Iraq in 2004.

Protestors chanted peace slogans and shouted past the gates toward the White House lawn in order to try to get the White House's attention. Sheehan, who gained notoriety in 2005 in her peace efforts at "Camp Casey" outside of former President Bush's Crawford, Texas ranch, chained herself to the White House gates standing defiantly and recited from the Internatonal People's Declaration of Peace. She wore a black shirt that read, "Greed Kills."

Many of the protestors dressed as U.S. military Afghan terror captives in uniform orange jumpsuits and dark black hoods covering their heads. Reminiscent of pictures from Guantanamo Bay, Abu Ghraib and other hotspots of American detainee torture and abuse, several protestors opted to keep wearing their dark wool hoods as Capitol Police cuffed and led them away.

Before protestors were led away, Capitol Police appeared on horseback with a ground police unit as well which quickly surrounded the impromptu protestors peacefully gathering on Pennsylvania Avenue. Thronged by black shirted squadrons, arrest was an evidently imminent priority for District of Columbia Police although no violations or incitements were being made.

While the mainstream media has declared the anti-war movement dead and mocked it for its dereliction of duty, this high-profile protest is a dim light in a dark abyss. As neither of these accusations hold true, it is only all the more evident that the high-handed intimidation tactics used by local and federal officials to stymie and stifle free speech is the real mockery and danger the media should highlight. The erosion of civil rights has reached a point in America where any political speech is now considered suspect and reasonable cause for arrest and harrasment. Until public outlook on this basic and genuine human freedom changes in favor of those who wish to voice when given no voice, a dark road of suppression and denial awaits us.