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Letters from BAR Readers
Jahan Choudhry BAR Comments Editor
22 Sep 2018
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CIA Democrats, the brown misleadership class, and the McCain funeral

Articles exposing the hypocrisy of supposedly honorable figures who push for, or enable, war and regime change resonated with readers over the past few weeks. BAR readers were eager to respond to “Two Thirds of Progressive Democratic Congressional Candidates Completely Silent on Foreign Policy,” “The Manufactured McCain,” and “It’s Time to Talk About the Brown Misleadership Class.” Responses ranged from research on CIA-linked Democratic mid-term candidates to literary reflections on the McCain funeral and recounting the destructive role of Hillary Clinton in Latin America.

“The Manufactured McCain: Lifting Up a Bloodstained, Lying, Venal Servant of Capitalist Empire,” by Bruce Dixon tackled the sanitized image of McCain manufactured by the capitalist empire and its media. Dixon exposed the falsehoods in McCain’s supposedly honorable background and his supposedly decent years in Washington.

McCain funeralReader Tom Graf waxes poetic about the scene that unfolded as the National Cathedral played host to imperial spectacle during McCain’s funeral:

The grand Cathedral

hosts the final stage play as another war-monger

is finally embalmed and buried.

Canonized by the faithful as a

great American

true patriot.

The fountain of praise bubbling over for days.

Here's the problem.

If Jesus loves the little children

red and yellow, black and white

how is it our great patriots never do?

Their boiling cauldron of destruction our gift

to all the little children of the world.

If only they could die out once and for all.

How long will our clergy, deans and bishops

sanctify the evil?

'Ego te absolvo' - no confession required.

On FaceBook, Van Furlough shares a quote from 19th century writer Mark Twain:

“I’ve never wished a man dead, but I have read some obituaries with great pleasure.”

In “It’s Time to Start Talking About the Brown Misleadership Class” writer Quetzal Caceres took one-time farmworker organizer and long-time Democratic Party stalwart Dolores Huerta to task as an example of a brown activist using her movement credentials to push for warmongers like Hillary Clinton.

Garrett Connelly wrote in recounting Hillary Clinton’s effects on brown people in Latin America:

Presidents Kirchner and Zelaya are not perfect and neither are they very brown. Of the two and their countries, Manuel Zelaya became president and then fell in love with the people of Honduras, who happen to be mostly brown. President Kirchner is possibly less clearly motivated yet did seat president Zelaya next to herself at the 200th national celebration. She related Argentinian history with great insights and national pride and President Zelaya was at her side. Her husband had recently died and his wife was trapped inside a US supported Honduran dictator’s coup.hillary and manuel z

These are small details, yet, remember when masked military gunmen tried to kidnap Señora Zelaya along with her husband; She made the masked soldiers leave her alone was thus able to remain home and guard her daughter, who was hiding under the bed. Hilary caused this mayhem and destruction in a family, a healing culture and a healthy democracy. President Zelaya was kidnaped and taken to a US airbase in Honduras. He was awakened by masked soldiers who shot open his door at 3am and then flown out of the country wearing pajamas. Honduras was the first of at least four democracies destroyed during Obama & #39’s time in office, which also included quench of the Arab Spring and destruction of Libya. Implosion of Greece, Erlin and Puerto Rico were among clandestine legal financial war casualties. South Korea evaded with aplomb.

On FaceBook, Youri Smouter commented on others in the Western Left who share Huerta’s ideology:

Great piece Black Agenda Report, we all must confront controlled opposition and

sheepdoggers and those like the DSA and the Delores of the world who are socialist reformers at home but imperialist abroad, they are very much American Firsters on the left, Canada, the UK, France and elsewhere have this same problem with those who claim to be on the left as they support NATO, see the EU is infallible, and support corrupt NGOS doing the bidding for imperialism be it Syria, Venezuela, Ukraine, Anti-Russia hysteria, Nicaragua, and destroying Wikileaks.

Bruce Dixon’s article entitled “Two Thirds of Progressive Democratic Congressional Candidates Completely Silent on Foreign Policy” highlighted the high prevalence of CIA and State Department officials among Democratic candidates for the House of Representatives and the refusal of Democratic candidates endorsed by progressive organizations to take positions on issues of war and peace.

Alvin Hofer made a point about Bernie Sanders relationship to the “CIA Democrats”:

I searched for Sen Bernie Sanders on your list of CIA Democrats, but could not find him.

You will recall that Sanders aligned himself with the late Sen John McCain and the former CA Director, John Brennan, in reproaching Pres Trump for his comments during the press conference on July 18th with Pres Putin. Sanders was outraged that Trump would have cast into doubt the allegations of the "intelligence community" regarding Russian meddling in the US elections of 2016. Sanders mentioned explicitly McCain and Brennan as fellows in his condemnation of Trump for Trump's declaration that the US was responsible for the bad relations between Russia and the US.

n my view, Sen Sanders belongs on your list of CIA Democrats. He may or may not be a Democrat officially -- I don't know -- but he is associated with the Democrats and votes with them especially in their imperial and military policies.

Sanders cannot be a progressive and at the same time be a warrior. He must be exposed as a warrior!

To Alvin I say that Bruce Dixon was listing congressional candidates from a list originally presented in a piece authored by Patrick Martin of WSWS.org that focused on candidates for the House of Representatives. As such Bernie Sanders was disqualified.

Speaking of Patrick Martin, he sent in updated information on the list:

There are 12 others to be added. Here's my final list, after all the primaries (these are only for districts classified as competitive by the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee -- there are a few others in heavily Republican districts):

The 18 you've listed (after removing Sullivan).

Plus 12 more:

Florida-12th District

Christopher Hunter, joined FBI after 9/11, focused on counterintelligence and counterterrorism, then federal prosecutor.

Illinois-12th District

Brendan Kelly, Navy surface warfare officer, served in Middle East, then elected as a local prosecutor; an "observer" at Guantanamo.

Maine-2nd District

Jason Golden, Marines in Afghanistan 2004, Iraq 2005-2006, then returned to Maine and began a political career.

Michigan-1st DistrictCIA Democrats

Matthew Morgan, Marine officer with 20-year career, including the Iraq War.

New Jersey-4th District

Josh Welle, US Naval Academy, 13-year career, including Iraq 2003, Afghanistan 2009.

New York-11th District

Andy Rose, Army infantry commander in Afghanistan, 2012-2013.

Ohio-7th District

Ken Harbaugh, Navy pilot, served in Middle East, reconnaissance over Korea.

Pennsylvania-10th District

George Scott, retired career military intelligence officer, now a pastor.

Pennsylvania 14th District

Conor Lamb, elected to Congress in 17th District earlier this year, former Marine Corps JAG and federal prosecutor.

Texas-21st District

Joseph Kopser, West Point graduate, Army Ranger, Iraq veteran, Pentagon consultant.

West Virginia-3rd District

Richard Ojeda, career Army Airborne combat engineer, deployed to Iraq, Afghanistan and Haiti, retired as major and became military recruiter before election as state senator.

Wisconsin-7th District

Margaret Engebretson, 24-year veteran of US Navy, National Guard, also

deputy sheriff.

There is also, under the "curiouser and curiouser" tab:

New York-23rd District

Tracy Mitrano, Cornell IT professor, cybersecurity expert and consultant, with ex-CIA agent as campaign spokeswoman. [Perhaps astretch, perhaps not.] Take a look at this:

https://www.ithaca.com/opinion/letter-why-i-quit-the-cia-to-join-the-mitrano/article_7a6b1f22-e5c3-11e7-bdd0-2750376af01f.html

I'm excluding her from the list for now.

I thank our readers for many good letters connected to war and peace. We hope to read many more letters on crucial issues for the next edition of this column. Your letters add to making BAR a site of substantive debate and discussion on the Black Left.

Jahan Choudhry is Comments Editor for Black Agenda Report. He is an organizer with the Saturday Free School based in Philadelphia, PA.

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