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by Tom H Hastings
Barack Obama the candidate made a promise to America that President Barack Obama has broken. He reassured us that he would not come to Congress for special extra funds for war if the US were already in the war. He spoke scornfully of the underhanded tactics of the Bush regime in this regard, noting that they would present a Pentagon budget and then more supplemental war budgets, as though they could not plan on expenses for activities to which they were already committed.
Now comes the Obama supplemental request for yet another $75.8 billion, above and beyond the escalating—yes, escalating—Pentagon budget. The goal seems to be to have this passed and ready for an Obama signing on Memorial Day.
To an old peace activist who has offered as much opposition over the last eight years as I could to the Bush demands for more for war, I am aghast at this betrayal. Just when our nation needs to draw down our vast outlays for more wars, we find our new leader doing the same thing the old one did. How do the millions now out of work due to the disastrous Bush regime policies feel while watching Obama do precisely the same thing, with a far smoother approach but with the same result?
The world is weary of the US stomping around on the soil of so many other nations, killing some and precipitating civil wars. The US citizens are exhausted from paying for it with blood and treasure. Why would Obama shatter this clear campaign promise so blatantly?
War profiteers are a powerful elite. No matter how much suffering the American people endure, these people who own the corporations that profit from the vast contracts signed daily by the Pentagon will use their power and influence to circumvent the wishes of the people (if they cannot convince the media to help them shape those wishes in their favor). That is our sad history. As we dare to hope it’s changing, it remains the same. But remaining the same as Americans are out of work, out of savings, out of health insurance, even out on the street — this is a stab in the back we hoped wouldn’t happen.
Indeed, examining that supplemental bill shows how the profiteers siphon even more as Obama tries to save on incidentals that decrease due to our collapsing economy and ruined job market. One ‘savings’ is a reduction of $800 million in military recruitment funding—who needs recruiters when the branches hold the only sure employment for the millions seeking jobs? If those millions can overlook the inconvenient fact that they are training to go kill more people in other lands, they can get a steady paycheck and they know it.
As someone who voted for the man, as someone who is a budget hawk and who is a student of humankind in conflict, I can only express my vast disappointment in the ongoing militarization of our national economy and spirit. We all knew Bush lied and that the American people still basically opposed the invasion and occupation of Iraq. We held no illusions that Obama was the peace candidate—he promised a long, slow extrication from Iraq and an escalation in Afghanistan and he’s on track with most of that—but this latest Bush-like move is giving credence to the rightwing drumbeat that Obama is bankrupting the country. Most rational observers would say, “Too late—Bush already accomplished that.” But this kind of profligate war spending only prolongs the agony in Iraq, Afghanistan, and America. Obama should go down in defeat on this one.
Tom H. Hastings, core faculty of the Portland State University Conflict Resolution MA/MS program, is director of PeaceVoice and a founder of Whitefeather Peace Community in Portland, Oregon.
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