Thursday, December 04, 2008

Cluster bombs

I urge you to read this important piece in Allegre about the blatant hypocrisy of Barack Obama and his Cheeto Cheerleaders on the issue of cluster bombs. These vicious weapons are the gift that keeps giving, since unexploded "bomblets" continue to main and kill non-combatants long after hostilites cease. There's an international movement afoot to ban the use of cluster bombs. But Israel loves the things and America sells the things. Which means that America will always oppose this movement.

During the primaries, the Cheeto brigade damned Hillary as a Cluster bomb suppoter, as opposed to the virtuous Barack, who -- in their fantasies -- would soon rid the world of this plague. Long story short: It ain't happening. Obama's opposition was just theater.
So why the silence from Obama and the cheetos now? Hypocrisy, that's why. They don't give a shit about cluster bomb victims - never did. They just used the issue for political advantage. Go find me one - ONE - diary on this in cheetoland, or one "progressive" innocently inquiring about how now would be a good time for the incoming Obama administration to send a message to the world, etc. You won't, because it was all just hoakum. Their only interest was in getting Obama elected by any means necessary. Their concern for the victims of cluster bombs went away, just like their concerns about FISA immunity for telecoms once Obama rolled over on THAT issue.

Follow me for the long story about how Obama the senator wrote checks Obama the president-elect can't cash.

8 comments:

Anonymous said...

Hmmm... me thinks that Cheetos and Obama r 1 n da same. Weren't they paid to write wat they wrote? It's easy to write stuff when ya live where da unicorns and fairies live.

campskunk said...

glad you found this - i wrote this diary after enduring months of whining from the obamazoids, and knowing that neither they nor obama had any sincere interest in opposing the use of cluster bombs. there are a lot of sincere people out there who do oppose the use of these weapons on moral grounds, but obama ain't one of them. neither are his supporters.

Shainzona said...

Camp did great job on this diary - it reminds me of all of the BO BS that we had to listen to for months.

Remember: BO is BS - SSDD

Anonymous said...

Reading the linked writing doesn't lead me to the conclusion it states.

Clearly enough, US policy on cluster bombs is currently determined by partisan supporters of Israel. On a vote the article describes as a kind of 'free' vote, in a sense, HRC decided to 'pander to Israel' in the article's own description of her vote. BHO is said to have pandered to the anti-CB crowd. But that is a characterization that goes beyond the facts, IMO. Fact is, at least in that relatively meaningless 'show' vote, BHO took the 'right' position, and HRC took the 'wrong' position, in the eyes of those who oppose CB.

Now, BHO's SILENCE on an international effort is said to be hypocritically contrary to his prior vote. Not that he's changed his position publicly, but that, evidently through a dead certain mind-reading process, we KNOW he didn't mean it then, and we KNOW he won't be consistent in his policies with that vote.

That may or may not be true in the end, but these claims of certain knowledge as to why he voted that way then, and that he won't hold to that as policy once he's the president, are not accurate.

Another construction could be put on these bare facts, and even that same end result.

Perhaps BHO does indeed sincerely hold the anti-CB position. Perhaps he has or will come under great pressure from the Israeli lobby and its acolytes, and will change the position represented by his past vote because of this great pressure.

Or, just maybe, BHO is keeping his powder dry on this issue because he isn't the president yet, and has nothing but moral suasion at this time, which probably wouldn't work if this decision will be made between now and his inauguration, given the hold of Israel's partisans on the US Senate.

XIslander

Anonymous said...

Thanks for this link. Very interesting article.

I haven't been to Buzzflash in ages but I wonder how Hillary-basher Mark-gotinonObamaspayrollearly-Karlin is spinning this one?

Anonymous said...

Slightly off-topic: If Afghanistan has agreed to the ban, does it follow from the treaty that cluster bombs are prohibited in Afghanistan?

Anonymous said...

Thanks for the article .... lots of good background and information.

BTW Zee - Buzzflash/Mark Karlin have ignored it, as usual. They had an article up praising the Oslo treaty which (somewhat surprisingly) failed to mention Obama or Clinton. Of course, a couple of Obots trashed her in the comments, but BF has eased up somewhat on the CDS as they're pleas for funds are frequently falling short these days.

campskunk said...

afghanistan doesn't even have an air force, much less cluster bombs. all the cluster bombs used there were dropped by us. the treaty says signatoriies won't USE them - it doesn't say anything about other countries using them within its borders.