Friday, January 22, 2010

The redemption of America continues under Obama with the Haiti PR exercise, Guantanamo is now to be used to house refugees. Never will the United States be seen to exercise its power so directly as it did during the Bush era. That is unfortunate.

2 comments:

eatbees said...

I agree with the "unfortunate" part but not the "never" part. American drone flights and night raids continue in Afghanistan, Pakistan, and now Yemen, invariably killing far more innocents than militants — if any militants are killed at all. American bases in Iraq and Afghanistan are clearly there for the long haul. Guantanamo prisoners will eventually be moved within U.S. borders, but plans are to keep at least 50 indefinitely without charges or trial. As for Haiti itself, Chavez and Morales have accused the U.S. of using the humanitarian effort as cover for "occupying" the country militarily. That may be going a little far, but I can see their point. Aid workers from France and elsewhere have complained that the U.S. is blocking their efforts, by giving military security priority over the delivery of much-needed aid.

I don't see that the direct use of American power has diminished at all under Obama. He gives a slightly more clever intellecual justification for it than Bush — see his Nobel Prize "war is peace" speech — but the direct use of power under Obama may even be increasing.

Maysaloon said...

Oh I agree with you completely. The Obama administration's purpose is not to lessen the ferocity of it's so'called "War on Terror", it is just to be able to carry it on with people supporting it instead of against it. That would make their project a little bit easier.