'Obama we're hopeful, but we're watching, marching, too'

Obama We’re Hopeful
(Nelson 2008, tune of “O Come All Ye Faithful”)

Obama we’re hopeful, cautiously believing
you meant when you told us that you’d end this war,
Sooner than later, let’s get our troops back state-side!
OBAMA WE’LL BE WATCHING,
OBAMA WE’LL BE MARCHING,
OBAMA WE’LL BE HOLDING YOUR FEET TO THE FIRE!

Ensconced in the White House, trying to get your bearings,
Oil men and gen’rals whisp’ring in those big ears,
Filling your head with doubts and grim scenarios,
OBAMA WE’LL BE WATCHING,
OBAMA WE’LL BE MARCHING,
OBAMA WE’LL BE HOLDING YOUR FEET TO THE FIRE!

That could be the theme song* for Camp Hope, which opens a 19-day presence in the president-elect's Hyde Park neighborhood on New Year's Day, also known as Emancipation Proclamation Day. Activities and actions are planned daily in Chicago, ending on Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Day, Jan. 19.

Organized by Voices for Creative Nonviolence, Camp Hope is designed to help build popular momentum behind the progressive goals of Obama’s campaign -- and to remind him of those commitments in eight specific areas.
Among them, what Camp Hope organizers call "a starter step" that Obama could immediately take:

... [I]ssue an order directing the U.S. military to reduce the overall levels of U.S. military personnel deployed in Iraq by no fewer than 6,000 military personnel per month and to immediately cease offensive combat operations, with the ultimate objective of removing all military personnel from Iraq ... and the complete cessation of hostilities within Iraq.

Six thousand troops is roughly equal to the one combat brigade per month Obama promised to withdraw, as well as the support troops for a brigade. Obama's response, Voices for Creative Nonviolence says,

would help clarify whether or not his administration is serious about promises that were made during the campaign. If the new administration won't commit to reductions of 6,000 troops per month, than we have much more work to do in clamoring for troop withdrawals.

Obama's election notwithstanding, nothing has yet changed about the war and occupation of Iraq. It has disappeared from the news. US troops aren't withdrawing, but the TV networks have pulled out, reducing what little coverage they had before.

Camp Hope represents what the antiwar movement should be doing -- as the lyrics say, holding Obama's feet to the fire.

The oil men and generals -- and people like Robert Gates and James Jones -- will indeed be whispering in those big ears. We need a loud, sustained roar from across the country to drown out those voices and remind the new president that we are, indeed, watching.

No honeymoon on ending the war.

As Juan Cole writes in The Nation this week:

Bush's costly and illegal war has been a drain on the economy to the tune of a trillion dollars if hidden costs are included, a sum likely to triple in coming decades as the public pays for the care of injured veterans. The war has left tens of thousands of military personnal wounded, suffering from brain trauma, or dead. The toll on Iraqis has been momumental. It cannot end too soon.

*More lyrics here.

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Is Maliki Part of an October Surprise?

One has to wonder if Iraq's Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki, and his aides, are staging a propaganda campaign in coordination with Bush and the Republican Party. Calls for troop withdrawals sound fishy to me.

Think of it. Al-Maliki and his aides leak the following message, "We want ALL US troops out by 2011." The Bush administration pretends to be somewhat dismayed. But what is the effect?

If the voting public is led to believe that ALL US troops will be out of Iraq by 2011, regardless of who is elected president, then the Iraq War is no longer a presidential campaign issue. Who benefits? McCain.

Of course, come 2011, with McCain as president, or even Obama, "facts on the ground" change and US troops remain in Iraq. Hello. Am I being too cynical?

Don't put it past Cheney and Rove to engineer this al-Maliki whisper campaign as part of an October Surprise.

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Bush Announces No Drawdown After July

The evil Bushman is not going to promise a draw down of troops from Iraq as expected. Besides the troops sent in the surge no other soldiers will be coming home on his watch. In fact the number of post surge soldiers on the ground will increase by 6000. 140,000 compared to 134,000 before the surge.From his vacation home in Crawford he announced uncertainty of the October elections in Iraq as the reason.
He is leaving it all up to the Generals recommendations whether more troops will come home after July. Saying that stability is needed in October to ensure the voting process is kept on the up and up he is willing to commit the lives of our citizens to ensure his puppet regime is safely put in place.

He said decisions about any further withdrawals of troops will be postponed until August or September, with no promise there will be a reduction until after the elections.
"I think our generals ought to be concerned about making sure there's enough of a presence so that the provincial elections can be carried off in such a way that democracy advances," Bush said. "But I'll wait and hear what they have to say. But, yes, I mean, that ought to be a factor in their recommendation to me."
With Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad visiting Baghdad today I wonder what political rhetoric the US Government will start slinging. Bush has already reminded the Iranians about the U.N.Security Council's proposed sanctions against Iran and urged Iraq's leaders to tell him "Quit sending in sophisticated equipment that's killing our citizens.". Iran has already denied arming Shi'ite militants.
With the decision to postpone troop withdrawals stated so firmly this writer wonders if the hollow cry of "Support Our Troops" will ever come from Bush again. I believe the only way to support our fighting men and women is to bring them home.
As we have seen there has been little support in reality.
Just empty words.

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