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Recent Posts by RichardKanePA

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• > Welcome Ron Paul (the new Ralph Nader) to the Liberty Bell today Sunday April 22
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• > Bring out beer & champagne, celebrate even if the ceasefire is just for a moment
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Just Foreign Policy wants a just US foreign policy. They pat themselves over the head for their role in stopping Bush from attacking Iran. They are excited that Arlen Specter, for over a year, has been more and more critical of the Afghanistan War. Specter contends that the war is only backfiring and helping al Qaeda to recruit, and lately is even talking about opposing supplemental war funding. While he is already in a tight primary race with Joe Sestak who supports the Afghan War surge.

But Philadelphians yawn or say what weird thing is going to happen next. Specter had enough of the Republican Party when its new ultra-conservative leaders vowed to use national Republican money to defeat him in the Republican primary. Then Specter, when he became a Democrat, wouldn't join fellow Democrats in supporting the Union Free Choice Act, which was the first test of Obama's clout. So progressive Philadelphians decided that the new freedom Specter now had to support progressive causes meant nothing. However, Specter has been moving forthrightedly on the subject of human rights and civil liberties.

Specter's comments on Afghanistan agree with Obama's assumption that al Qaeda is extremely dangerous, and that we must do what we can to challenged al Qaeda, which might help Specter lobby Obama in the future, and, to me, it is also important that they tend to negate some of the backlash against Afghan war opponents for being weak on terror, in the event that al Qaeda launches another US terror attack. Also certain organizations that used to talk for peace (mainly Move On .org), are very careful not to criticize Obama too much. Since Specter usually has high praise for Obama, and his anti-Afghan War position doesn't challenge Obama's integrity, it is possible that this might be a peace issue Move On might add to its petition to Congress for a binding exit strategy. See their petition, http://pol.moveon.org/afghan_timeline/?rc=homepage

The following are some of Specter's comments:

"I oppose sending 30,000 additional American troops to Afghanistan because I am not persuaded that it is indispensable in our fight against Al Qaeda. If it was, I would support an increase because we have to do whatever it takes to defeat Al Qaeda since they're out to annihilate us. But if Al Qaeda can operate out of Yemen or Somalia, why fight in Afghanistan where no one has succeeded?

"I disagree with the President's two key assumptions: that we can transfer responsibility to Afghanistan after 18 months and that our NATO allies will make a significant contribution. It is unrealistic to expect the United States to be out in 18 months so there is really no exit strategy. This venture is not worth so many American lives or the billions it will add to our deficit."

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Somehow Specter has the image of being wishy-washy. Some might even interpret the above statement that way, believing there is something wishy-washy about opposing both al Qaeda and the war. Right or wrong he firmly believed that Anita Hill was grossly exaggerating how future Supreme Court Judge Clarence Thomas treated her, and back before Anita Hill, the media once thought that personal gossip was none of the public's business. The only previous well-publicized exception was Adam Clayton Powell a decade earlier. Back when Specter was on the Warren Commission investigating the assassination of President Kennedy, the entire Warren Commission including Earl Warren himself, probably had a nagging fear that it was possible that somehow Kennedy's assassination involving racism and bigotry that extending very high up.

Why wasn't Earl Warren, who after all was a Supreme Court Judge, blamed for the failings of the Warren Commission? But they were numb to discover that the world they knew was different from the real world where the CIA was actually trying to assassinate Fidel Castro and do other bad things they thought only the bad guys did. And at the same time Cuban emigres in this country were screaming that Castro did it to get even, while the Cuban Air Force was on the highest alert, bracing for a US attack. Much of the US public was also numb to suddenly discover that the US wasn't always the good guys.

The entire Warren Commission and much of the American public felt President Johnson was making it all right again with his Civil Rights and Great Society programs, healing the sickness that might have had something to do with President Kennedy being shot. Earl Warren, Arlen Specter and indeed the entire Warren Commission had a burning desire to support civil liberties and human rights. Too bad they weren't better able to articulate why. Today since President Bush declassified the CIA'so called "Family of Jewels" on Oswald's extensive dealings with the CIA and FBI, no one believes Arlen Specter's theory that Lee Harvey Oswald assassinated President Kennedy without any help. The latest cover up is E. Howard Hunt's death bed accusations that Lyndon Johnson had Kennedy killed. Since that accusation came out, no new people have joined the crusade to uncover the truth. Senator Specter's book. Passion for Truth, on page 113, clearly states such things as that J. Edgar Hoover tried to hide Oswald's diary contacts with FBI agent James P. Hosty from the Warren Commission. And other fascinating details on the everyday activities of the Warren Commission are in that book. Specter's potential for coming up with new insights and especially for the American people to pay attention is much greater if he stays in office rather than getting defeated.

Just Foreign Policy also noted, something in Obama's Afghan surge speech that both hawks and doves tend to miss. Obama's statement as to what US goals were in Afghanistan were extremely limited. Something about preventing the Taliban from defeating the government. Just Foreign Policy and Shibil Siddiq at Foreign Policy in Focus, noticed that there are behind the scenes negations between the US and the Taliban toward a cease fire,
http://www.justforeignpolicy.org/node/429
http://www.justforeignpolicy.org/node/428
http://www.justforeignpolicy.org/node/427
http://www.fpif.org/fpiftxt/6626
http://www.ufppc.org/us-a-world-news-mainmenu-35/9167-background-us-involved-in-talks-with-afghan-taliban.html
http://seminal.firedoglake.com/diary/author/richardkanepa

Unfortunately the way Obama managed to get so many people worked up in war fever, it would be a big let down if there is a cease fire, that includes something like Sharia Law being imposed on Kabul, and denunciations by the Taliban against al Qaeda that doesn't seem to have any teeth in it, or any real ability for the Taliban to enforce their possible cease fire claim that they might arrest any returning al Qaeda from Pakistan, if a world court wants them for trial.

Again Arlen Specter's history as a go-between will be tremendously important, if hawks start shouting that Obama gave in to bad peace terms.

Somehow we all need to change the subject for a moment. Whether the war in Afghanistan continues or not may not be as important to some Muslim Militants such as Nidal Hasan who killed fellow recruits as Fort Hood, is that Iraq doesn't have US troops lounging around pushing US and Western culture around the way US troops are still doing in Korea 50 some years after the Korean War started. Militant Muslims and some who are not so militant look at Korea as a potential for the future of Iraq in a very disparaging way. The lack of and end date for the US pushing its culture on Arabs can make militants more angry than any specific action or atrocity happening on the ground. To stop the longing for a new terror attack on the US, please President Obama if necessary get French or even German or Canadian troops in Iraq for one year, or have individual GI's be able to leave for a one year stunt to be under UN command in Iraq. Or just get out and hope for the best.

Maybe as some Doves think because of Obama joining the hawks, the Afghan War won't end until during the next President there is a depression, caused by a dollar collapses from too much military spending. But there is no reason for peace activists to talk about Obama's betrayal, when Obama was hot against the Al Qaeda from the beginning for partly cross cultural reasons. The biggest thing that is likely to slow down the war is lack of fresh troops. Some in the peace movement are sitting in recruiting offices and are counteracting predatory army recruiting of false promises of specific jobs.

We are living a country where the homeless shelters have no place for late teens and those in their 20's, some soup kitchens and housing only for seniors or parents with children, with unemployment compensation and gas guzzler trade-ins being of no benefit for those without a job or a car.

Any of us for peace who are involved in any kind of helping program can lobby the program to include helping 18-year-olds, and young adults. Kids don't belong in college anymore. It's harder to get a job now, if you start off with bad credit, even if it's caused by debt incurred while in college. Peace activists instead of now trashing Obama need to struggle for a world where kids belong some place rather than the army.

Please fellow peace activists stop trashing Obama. If you want to do something radical deal with recruitment. I go so far as to be looking to create "Back Obama but not the War buttons" and by wearing them at Obama health care events.

AFTER THOUGHT 12/18
I am retired. I was around when I and others cheered President Johnson for backing Civil Right's and his Great Society programs. Then protested for peace, but didn't join those accusing him of being a baby killer.

The question is, Is their anything I or anyone else could have done to end the war when Johnson was still President? or, Can we do anything now to prevent history from repeating itself? All I know is that Johnson the ogre and Johnson the hero is the same person, not one image real and the other one fake.

My only very sightly educated guess is that Specter is the most likely to change Obama's direction. Anyone have any better guesses?

By Richard Kane

More comments are at,
http://seminal.firedoglake.com/diary/19396

I can be reached at,
http://RICHARDKANEpa.blogspot.com
or Google RichardKanePA