Thoughts on American Presidential Election - 2016
American politics, as
expected, has heated up since the Labor Day. In less than two months the
American voters will choose between former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton
and casino- and real estate mogul Donald Trump for the highest political post
in the land.
After
five years of questioning President Barack Obama’s citizenship, Trump said last
Friday morning, “President Barack Obama was born in the United States, period.”
As usual, he offered no apology. Instead, he shifted the blame on his rival. “Hillary
Clinton and her campaign of 2008 started the birther controversy,” he said,
which is a lie. “I finished it. I finished it, you know what I mean.” He added,
“Now, we all want to get back to making America strong and great again.”
Trump’s
announcement comes as the polls are narrowing; his campaign advisers have advised
that he act more diplomatically and that he can’t win unless he can reach out
to Afro-American voters. But a few words on the subject can’t erase years of
just asking questions to the delight of white American racists. His incendiary
remarks about immigrants have already resulted in deaths of some Muslims and
arson of mosques.
Hours later, Black lawmakers said
that Trump's years-long campaign challenging Obama's birthplace was rooted in
racism, bigotry and the centuries-old effort by certain white voices to
suppress the success of blacks. "Donald Trump is nothing more than a
two-bit racial arsonist, who for decades has done nothing but fan the flames of
bigotry and hatred," Rep. Hakeem Jeffries (D-N.Y.) said during a press
briefing outside the Walter E. Washington Convention Center in Washington
D.C. "He owes an apology to President Barack Obama, [and] he owes an apology
to the African-American community." Rep. G.K. Butterfield (D-NC), head of
the Congressional Black Caucus, similarly said, “By any definition, Donald
Trump is a disgusting fraud.”
Rep. Jim Clyburn
(S.C.), the third-ranking House Democratic, said Trump's long-standing effort
to question Obama's citizenship transcends the 2016 presidential race. Rather,
it's part of a much broader campaign to "delegitimize" the
accomplishments of the country's first black president –– and African Americans
more generally. "This man on a mission to heap as much insult on this
president to do as much as he possibly can to delegitimize his presidency and
to play into a narrative that has been floated in this country for over 200
years," Clyburn said. "This is not just about the
contest for the presidency."
The same day the First Lady
Michelle Obama
used her debut appearance on the campaign trail to cast Trump as unprepared to
succeed her husband in the White House, saying: “Being president isn’t anything
like reality TV.” Speaking at George Mason University in Virginia, Mrs.
Obama described the election as a choice between “one of the most qualified
people who has ever endeavored to become president” and someone who did not “take
the job seriously”. She also reminded her audience, “A candidate is not going
to suddenly change when they get into office – it’s the opposite. Because the
minute that individual takes that oath, they are under the hottest, harshest
light there is.” She pleaded for voting for Ms. Clinton, “Listen to this: right
now we have an opportunity to elect one of the most qualified people who has
ever endeavored to become president.”
Hillary Clinton may be the
most qualified person contesting to become president of the USA (the first ever
for a woman), however, she remains the least trusted politician. Even her
explanation for the recent bout with pneumonia was rejected
by most voters. Trump has branded her ‘crooked
Hillary’ following a series of scandals from her time as US Secretary of State
under President Barack Obama.
Americans deserve real
solutions for the plethora of economic, social and environmental crises they
face. But the broken political system is only making things worse. The neocons
and the drum-beaters of the Armageddon are still alive and kicking. They prefer
perennial wars over genuine peace, regional stability and global security.
Rather than sobering the
U.S. politicians, the longest-running wars in the post-9/11 era seemingly have only
emboldened many. Many of the lawmakers of the major political parties are in
the payroll of ‘military industrial complex’. The pro-Israeli ‘Amen Corner’
continues to control the Capitol Hill who want to open a new war front opened against
Iran.
Last week, the Obama
administration authorized military aid of $38 billion to Israel - the largest aid
package ever by the USA to any state. When millions of American jobs are
getting outsourced, one wonders why the Jewish state, with its booming
economy, would need such an American charity! This aid is criminal given
the fact that a newly leaked Colin
Powell email, dated from 2015, offers new insight into Israel’s always
nebulous nuclear weapons arsenal, referring to the
nation as having 200 nuclear weapons, “all targeted on Tehran.” [Even then, Israel-firsters like
Senator Lindsey
Graham (R – SC) says he intends to introduce a $1.5 billion additional
aid deal for Israel just for this year, suggesting that Congress would be free
to keep throwing similar “emergency supplementals” at Israel every year if they
want to, and saying he believes there’s a lot of support for it.]
With such friends in the
Capitol Hill, Israel can continue to murder anyone it deems endangering its
people! This gargantuan aid package once again underscores the fact that the
US foreign policy is dictated by the 'Amen Corner', and essentially it is the
Israeli leaders who are holding the leash of control.
It is no surprise that the
same Israel-firsters have tried to block a $1.15 billion arms sale to Saudi
Arabia, which the kingdom would be paying in cash. Four senators — two from
each party — have offered a resolution that would force a Senate vote on the
deal. Sixty-four members of the House of Representatives have signed a letter
warning that the deal would have “a deeply troubling effect on civilians” in
Yemen, where Saudi Arabia is conducting a fierce military campaign. The United
Nations has estimated that the Saudi-led coalition bombing Yemen is responsible
for “twice as many civilian casualties as all other forces put together.” Yet
the Obama administration wants to sell the Saudis 153 battle tanks made by
General Dynamics, some of which are to be used in Yemen, as well as machine
guns, grenade launchers, and other weapons. “There is an American imprint
on every civilian life lost in Yemen,” said Senator Chris Murphy, a Connecticut
Democrat who is a cosponsor of the resolution to block the deal. Another
cosponsor, Republican Senator Rand Paul of Kentucky, called the deal “a recipe
for disaster and an escalation of an ongoing arms race in the region.”
Well, all such concerns
about Yemen are right and appear genuine on the surface. But my question to US
lawmakers is: why do you have a different standard for Israel, which has been
committing no less serious crimes in Lebanon and against the Palestinians
living inside Gaza? Can they deny: “There was an American imprint on every
civilian life lost in Lebanon and Gaza?” So, whom are the US lawmakers trying to
fool with their shedding of crocodile tears for the people of Yemen? What about the civilian victims of Obama’s
drone attacks there?
Thus, no one should be
fooled by such moves by the US lawmakers to block the Saudi sale of arms. It is
worth noting here that since taking office in 2009, Obama has made 42 arms
deals with Saudi Arabia, worth a staggering $115 billion. It is logical to
think that the latest $1.15 billion sales ban won’t have made a big dent in that
civil war. While I am against arms race and war, I am not amused with the clear
case of double standard I see in matters relating to the Middle East! I wish
the Congress was mindful of stopping all those previous sales and military aid packages
to Israel. What the region needs is peace and not arms package – sold or
gifted.
Chaos, war and confusion
gives the military industrial complex the opportunity to sell their deadly
weapons. The US government and the Congress have become willing partners
to these merchants and profiteers of war. As I have noted elsewhere, Washington
think tanks are only part of the matrix that promotes the American weapons
industry.
Stephen Kinzer (a senior fellow at the Watson Institute for
International and Public Affairs at Brown University) noted in a recent
article in the Boston Globe that the roughly 50 companies that make up
the industry shower members of Congress with millions of dollars in campaign
contributions. They also parcel out contracts across the country, in order to
employ people in as many congressional districts as possible. Components for
the F-35, for example, are being made in 46 states. “This practice is
fiendishly effective in assuring that members of Congress continue to support
new weapons projects, no matter how ill conceived.”
The United States
Institute for Peace gives a bad name to the word ‘peace’, and has been guilty
of promoting wars since at least the time of George W. Bush. It is run by
Stephen Hadley, a former national security adviser who also earns hundreds of
thousands of dollars each year for his service on the board of Raytheon, a
leading arms maker. Another arms maker, Lockheed Martin, which has just sold
Poland an air-to-surface missile system and wants to sell more, has given the
institute $1 million. “It’s been a good investment. The Institute of Peace
wants European countries to double their military spending and also favors
sending more weapons into the Ukraine powder keg,” Kinzer writes. “The US
Committee on NATO was founded by a former Lockheed executive and pushed
successfully to expand the NATO alliance onto Russia’s doorstep. That sharply
increased tension in Europe, which produces a handsome profit for the arms
industry. Another influential think tank, the Atlantic Council, is funded by
Raytheon and Lockheed. It faithfully produces articles with headlines like ‘Why
Peace is Impossible With Putin’, and urges the United States and European
countries to ‘commit to greater defense spending’ and confront ‘a revanchist
Russia’.”
As both Trump and Clinton talk
tough against Iran, it is important for voters to reflect that the total U.S. budgetary cost
of war
since 2001 is $4.79 trillion, according to a report released this week
from Brown University’s Watson Institute. Neta Crawford of Boston University,
the author of the report, included interest on borrowing, future veteran-needs,
and the cost of homeland security in her calculations. The amount of $4.79
trillion, “so large as to be almost incomprehensible,” she writes, adds up like
this:
- The wars in Iraq, Afghanistan, Pakistan, Syria, and other overseas operations already cost $1.7 trillion between 2001 and August 2016 with $103 billion more requested for 2017
- Homeland Security terrorism prevention costs from 2001 to 2016 were $548 billion.
- The estimated DOD base budget was $733 billion and veterans spending was $213 billion.
- Interest incurred on borrowing for wars was $453 billion.
- Estimated future costs for veterans’ medical needs until the year 2053 is $1 trillion.
- And the amounts the DOD, State Department, and Homeland Security have requested for 2017 ($103 billion).[Note: Crawford carried out a similar study in June 2014 that estimated the cost of war at $4.4 trillion. Her methodology mirrors that of the 2008 book The Three Trillion Dollar War: The True Costs of the Iraq Conflict by Linda Bilmes and Joseph Stiglitz. There are even more costs of war that Crawford does not include, for instance, state and local government expenses related to medical care of veterans and homeland security, the macro-economic costs of war for the U.S. economy. She also notes that she does not add the cost of war for other countries, nor try to put a dollar figures on the cost in human lives.]The USA can ill-afford another major war. It is high time to build a people's movement against war, and to end unemployment and poverty; avert climate catastrophe; build a sustainable, just economy; and recognize the dignity and human rights of every person everywhere. Towards creating lasting peace in a highly connected globe that we live in the U.S. president must –establish a foreign policy based on diplomacy, international law, and human rights; end the wars and drone attacks, cut military spending by at least 50% and close the 700+ foreign military bases that are turning the USA into a bankrupt empire; stop U.S. support and arms sales to human rights abusers; and lead on global nuclear disarmament.As recent terrorist acts by non-state criminals have repeatedly shown it would be foolish to localize or compartmentalize this global menace. What’s needed, instead, is a comprehensive solution that addresses the root causes to defeat terrorism. The US president and lawmakers ought to know that their Global War on Terror and prisons like the Abu Ghraib and Guantanamo Bay (with indefinite detentions without any charges) have only helped to breed more terrorists and not less. Only a fool can afford to ignore the writings on the walls!It is high time for Americans to wake up and make a difference for better. But the sad reality is that they have to choose between two hawks; the Libertarian and Green Party candidates have not been able to excite the American voters to make any difference in this upcoming election. So while the coming presidential election is one of the most crucial ones in America’s history, the voters are left with no good choices!
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