Archives for posts with tag: iraq

“From his statements during his election campaign, we don’t think that his position is different from the Bush administration’s.  It is a continuation of the Bush foreign policy.  Obama’s first message to our country is that of war.  So we cannot be hopeful about [him].”

Sonali Kolhatkar’s radio program broadcast a must-listen interview yesterday with Eman, an Afghan woman and member of RAWA, who speaks out against Obama’s pledge to send more troops to Afghanistan and expand the war there.  She asks for the support of the peace movement in this country, which to my knowledge has been silent in the face of continual killings by airstrike of Afghan civilians in recent weeks.  From Uprising Radio.

On that note, the Iraqi Freedom Congress has penned a letter to Barack Obama reminding him of the carnage wrought on Iraq not only by Bush’s occupation, but by the last Democratic administration under Clinton.  They ask him to fully withdraw troops from Iraq as soon as possible.  Via Infoshop News.

Many expect president-elect Obama to initiate a pullout from Iraq, but independent journalist Jeremy Scahill said last week in Austin that Obama has pledged to maintain the Green Zone, a counter-terrorism force in the country, and the sprawling $700 million U.S. Embassy in Baghdad (which was built in part on slave labor).  Iraqi-American professor Adil E. Shamoo suggests turning the embassy into a university, from a symbol of colonialism into one of Iraqi advancement.  From Foreign Policy in Focus.