Winding Down An Almost Forgotten War-Iraq

Click on the headline to link to a Sunday Boston Globe article, dated May 29, 2011, concerning the drawdown in Iraq.

Fritz John Taylor's comment:

Fritz, old battle-scarred and battle-weary purple-hearted Fritz Taylor, Vietnam, 1969-1971, Fritz John Taylor, RA048433691 to be exact, had to laugh as he made his way from Adamsville to the downtown Boston waterfront. To the green jut of land Christopher Columbus Park (and that name, causing further bemusement when he first heard the locale, could itself tell a big story about the old days European-centered military adventures to the Americas)for what he was not sure, exactly, was either the third or fourth annual Veterans For Peace counter-Memorial Day commemoration (really counter-traditional observance).

Fritz had not laughed a funny laugh as he was prone to do these days when something struck him as unusual, but laughed out loud at the thought of a no-go, not even boot camp as far as he knew, commander-in chief of all the American imperial armed forces , United States President Barack Obama, suddenly warming up to his post-Osama Bin Laden kill authorization (after having , vicariously, watched the SEAL action in “real time”) very consciously earlier this day placing himself at the center of the Memorial Day action in Arlington National Cemetery trying to draw succor from the ghost of Abraham Lincoln at Gettysburg. Talking aimlessly, or maybe better superficially, about valor, about the good of the cause, about the last full measure of devotion, and lastly, what war in the end is all about, saving your buddy’s ass, or he yours.

But see, to Fritz’s way of thinking, Lincoln at least had the advantage, the very distinct advantage, of not only having said those kinds of words and those kinds of sentiments first and therefore in a more free-lance, free-wheeling eloquent way but said them at humankind's hallowed Gettysburg in the wake of what turned out to the decisive great Northern victory (along with Grant’s Vicksburg victory) in a war, that by hook or by crook, turned chattel slavery times out the door.

What could one imperial chief, Barack Obama, today draw on for succor? Leading a 50,000 troop wind-down in Iraq, a thoughtlessly unjust war if there ever was one, with more than its fair share of collateral damage, read American troop-driven civilian killings, and to call it by its right name murder. Yes, yes, by all means Fritz Taylor knew, knew chapter and verse, that when it did not really count one non-president Barack Obama opposed George’s Follies but that was then, and this, this was desperately now with the latest headlines out of Baghdad announcing a 200,000 mass march calling for an American withdrawal post-haste. And Fritz Taylor, Fritz Taylor who had gotten “religion” on the subject of war, on collateral damage, on don’t give a damn about spent soldiers’ lives since those lost Vietnam days, lost in some drug addiction time, some newspaper-strewn park bench time, some lost family connection time, took a moment to reflect on that fact, and to murmur softly to himself- Obama, Mr. President, since Fritz is putting things in a more kindly fashion now- get the hell out of Iraq, completely out, and stay out.

*March 20th-Washington- Boston Anti-Imperialist Committee Slogans- Not One Penny, Not One Person For Obama's Wars

Click on the headline to link to the "National Assembly To End the Afghan and Iraq Wars" Website, one of callers of the National March on Washington on March 20, 2010.

Markin comment:

We will march under our own slogans of -"Not One Penny, Not One Person For Obama's Wars"-"Immediate, Unconditional Withdrawal Of All U.S./Allied Troops And Mercenaries From Iraq And Afghanistan"-"Defend The Palestinian People"-"Hands Off Iran And Pakistan"-"Build A Workers Party That Fights For A Workers Government"

*The Three Hands Of Barack Obama- The Cairo Speech

Click On Title To Link To Barack Obama's Speech At Egypt's Cairo University on June 4, 2009.

Commentary

What is this? Has Markin gone off the deep end and forgotten that humankind is only gifted, officially, with two hands (although even a child knows that every bourgeois politician has had a third grafted on- you know-on the one hand, and on the other and on the…., well, you know the rest)? Moreover, why is he spilling any ink on the subject of some lanky bourgeois politician’s, United State President or not, off-hand professorial speech on the hellish fate of the Muslim world to invited guests at Egypt’s Cairo University? Good questions.

In the normal course of events I would peruse such speeches and then move on, sometimes, as here, having felt that I had wasted precious time by even doing that much. Furthermore, being a newshound of sorts, I would have already had my fill of pundits, bloggers, and anyone with some half-baked opinion on the subject and been ready to go screaming into the night. This little Obama set speech, however, has set my teeth on edge. Frankly, I am irked (I am being polite, as this is a family-friendly site) at this bombastic little (okay, not so little) twerp going on and on about the problems of the Middle East, Islamic/Western tensions and the like without so much as raising one concrete proposition to “solve” the problems in that benighted region. Enough!

From some of the person-on- the- street interviews of Muslims in its aftermath I am not alone in seeing that “the emperor has no clothes”. You know, little things like getting the historically oppressed Palestinians out of the refugee camps of Gaza and the West Bank and into their own state, getting the United States the hell out of Iraq and Afghanistan (and as is becoming more apparent, Pakistan), stopping the drone attacks on civilians, Muslim civilians, everywhere in the region and stopping one, just one, concrete block headed toward building of yet another Israeli settlement in the Occupied Territories. I could go on and on, but you get my drift.

One thing about being the Commander-in-Chief of the American imperium is never having to really say you are sorry. Mr. Obama did his duty in Cairo and then to show his even-handedness (or rather three-handedness) he showed up at the Buchenwald concentration camps in order to shore up his Israeli/American Jewish flank. Get it. This is worth no more ink though, except this. U.S. Out Of Iraq And Afghanistan! Defend The Palestinian people!

An Anti-War Slogan Preview For January 20, 2009- U.S Hands Off The World!

Commentary

This is one of those short and sweet commentaries because frankly it has all been said before and merely bears repeating here:

Okay, now the “anti-war” Democratic presidential candidate has won and on January 20, 2009 will succeed to the office of American imperialist president-in-chief. That means, well-intentioned or not, Senator Barack Obama will be the new sheriff in town, and will act accordingly. So, I frankly want to steal a little of the Senator’s thunder, for surely the election of a black person to the highest office in historically racially tense America is significant, if for no other reason that to not forget what this struggle is all about. First and foremost- Immediate Unconditional Withdrawal From Iraq and Afghanistan. Hands Off Iran. Hands Off Pakistan, and just to be on the safe side- U.S. Hands Off The World! Sorry, Senator but there are no “100 day” honeymoons on this front. More importantly, anti-warriors are you listening? And are you ready to fight Obama under those slogans when he comes up short?