The Sham Debate Over Obama's Af-Pak War | Black Agenda Report

The Sham Debate Over Obama's Af-Pak War

Glen Ford, BAR executive editor

08 Sep 2009

🖨️ Print Article

A Black Agenda Radio commentary by Glen Ford

Click the flash player below to listen to or the mic to download an mp3 copy of this BA Radio commentary.

If the Afghanistan-Pakistan war is a necessity, then it certainly must be escalated. President Obama's framing of the conflict leaves no room for peace, yet purported peace activists refuse to confront him. Such a movement is not simply shallow: “it is a fraud.”

The Sham Debate Over Obama's Af-Pak War

A Black Agenda Radio commentary by Glen Ford

“Obama has not altered the Bush war on terror paradigm, he has reinforced it.”

With the help of cooperative corporate media, President Obama attempts to create the impression of a vigorous internal debate within his administration over how much bigger the so-called Af-Pak theater of war is going to get. The charade is designed to demonstrate that, unlike the “dumb wars” that Obama opposes, this one is being transformed into a smart war, intelligently escalated. That U.S. troop levels will increase, even as reluctant European allies move towards downsizing their commitments, is a foregone conclusion, since the president has already characterized the conflict as a “war of necessity.” If a war is necessary, then by definition, the national commitment must be open-ended and beyond question.

So what is there to debate? The president has framed the issue as one of inevitability. Last month Obama told a veterans group that, “If left unchecked, the Taliban insurgency will mean an even larger safe haven from which Al Qaeda would plot to kill more Americans." That's the same rationale that George Bush deployed to justify not only the Afghanistan invasion, eight years ago, but the Iraq invasion, the war against Somalia and, indeed, the whole concept of global American wars without end. Barack Obama has not altered the Bush war on terror paradigm, he has reinforced it.

Once one accepts the Bush-Cheney – and now Obama-Biden – logic of necessary war, peace becomes impossible. To the extent that those who claim to be part of the U.S. peace movement remain ambivalent on Obama's war in Afghanistan and Pakistan, they become accomplices in the aggression.

“Much of what passes for a U.S. peace movement has no more respect for international law than the administrations they protest against.”

The U.S. anti-war movement fails to institutionalize itself, acting only in fits and starts when it acts at all, because much of its leadership refuses to recognize the United States as an imperial power. They allow themselves to become enmeshed in phony debates about how U.S. forces should comport themselves in other people's countries, rather than question America's right to inflict itself on other peoples. They agonize over levels of U.S. military force deployed and monies spent; whether the frequency of U.S. atrocities is up or down; and embroil themselves in discussions of the relative merits of American-imposed puppet regimes. Shamefully, much of what passes for a U.S. peace movement has no more respect for international law than the administrations they protest against. They seek only a more benign imperialism, in which they can see themselves as the good guys.

To the extent that a purported peace movement accepts that the United States has any rights that smaller nations do not possess, it is not simply a shallow movement: it is a fraud – just as fraudulent as Barack Obama was as a “peace” candidate. Such a movement is helpless against the logic of imperial war, because it accepts the underlying premise, that the United States has a right to intervene in the affairs of others. If that is true, then U.S. General Stanley McChrystal should be commended and supported when he claims that all he wants to do is “protect” the Afghan people, whether they like it or not. At any rate, it's necessary. Obama says so.

For Black Agenda Radio, I'm Glen Ford. On the web, go to www.BlackAgendaReport.com.

BAR executive editor Glen Ford can be contacted at Glen.Ford@BlackAgendaReport.com.

Do you need and appreciate Black Agenda Report articles? Please click on the DONATE icon, and help us out, if you can.

More Stories

Black Agenda Radio with Margaret Kimberley
Black Agenda Radio February 16, 2024
16 Feb 2024
This week we discuss the bipartisan consensus on punitive immigration policies and a community organizing solidarity event in the Bronx and call for freedom of a political prisoner. But first we talk…
Black Agenda Radio with Margaret Kimberley
Black and Brown Coalition for Palestine
16 Feb 2024
Frank Chapman and Hatem Abudayyeh join us from Chicago to discuss the city council vote calling for a ceasefire in Gaza and update us on events in Palestine and in Chicago.
Black Agenda Radio with Margaret Kimberley
Bipartisan Consensus for Punitive Immigration Policies Continues - Part 1
16 Feb 2024
Aly Wane is on the advisory board of the Immigrant Justice Network. He joins us from Syracuse, New York to discuss the failure of the recent immigration bill and the bipartisan consensus on punitive…
Black Agenda Radio with Margaret Kimberley
Peoples' Senate Organizes the Community and Fights for Kamau Sadiki's Freedom
16 Feb 2024
We're joined by Kevin Steele and Raven, two organizers of the Spirit of Mandela Coalition and About the People. We discuss their work and the "People's Senate Giveback & Genocide Convention…
Margaret Kimberley, BAR Executive Editor and Senior Columnist
"Democracies" Deny the Popular Will While Suppressing Protest and Dissent
14 Feb 2024
The nations that brag the most about "democracy" routinely ignore the will of their people. Support for Israel's war crimes in Gaza is but one example of this phenomenon.