The media-manufactured meme of a supposed Obama flip-flop on Iraq has distracted us from the real problem with Obama's Iraq policy: its consistent ambiguity.

In a sensible, strongly-worded, but practical commentary in The Nation today, Tom Hayden, who has supported Obama since endorsing him back in January, lays out the problems that have always existed with Barack Obama's Iraq policy.  And he provides useful suggestions for progressive supporters of Obama to keep the pressure on him on this, and presumably other, issues.

Read the whole thing, but the highlights are below...

I was strongly opposed to the decision to invade Iraq in the first place, but since the war began I've been conflicted about what should be done next and need guidance.  On the one hand the cost of the war will only increase the longer it continues so America should pull out, but on the other hand if America pulls out now, all the expense of the war (both in money and lives) would have been for nothing, so perhaps America should stay until it leaves Iraq better off than it was before the invasion.  One can be opposed to making a mess without being opposed to cleaning it up.  Starting the war was a huge mistake, but some would argue America should turn lemons into lemonade, or as Dr. Phil might say "if you can't make the right decision, at least make the decision right."

More below:

Read this entry and weep-then organize like crazy.

Cross-posted from Huffington Post

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/...

These are some thoughts, after being at the hearings for the last three days, about the event, those that criticize it and our responsibility as progressives.  The men and women who are here, testifying about what they are doing are quite remarkable. Most of them are younger than our children and they have seen and done more in their brief lives than any of us will or want to do. Up until today, I was largely inured to the emotional consequences of what they have discussed because I have been working on a computer the whole time I have ben here. Today, I watched them muster for a group photograph and I could not watch, instead I found myself crying and decided I had to write something about the event. I hope this diary is not too preachy, but it must be said this event should not have had to take place and it is up to us t make sure that it never happens again.

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In the midst of all the cheerleading for the democrats, Rolling Stone magazine is a lone voice, exposing manipulations that have helped to silence the anti-war movement in the Democratic party.

Last week, an official Israeli inquiry committee into the 2006 Lebanon war issued its final report (NPR link). As is often the case with such committees (not just in Israel), the inquiry's scope and focus were woefully narrow (heathlander explained it well here). As a result, the committee largely acquitted PM Olmert et al. - holding IDF's staff as more culpable. By "lucky coincidence", the war's IDF chief, Halutz had already resigned a year ago. The MSM interpretation to the much-awaited report is: "nothing to see here, folks, just move along!..."

Well, some Israelis who'd gotten it right about the war (as well as the first, 1982 Lebanon war), see it differently. Yesh Gvul, a consicence-objector support group set up during that first war, and an important component of the much-villified Israeli anti-war, anti-Occupation voice ever since, has just released an ad in response.

My translation below the fold.

There's a "populist" consensus builiding in the U.S. that doesn't really seem to be represented by either of the major parties. If the right candidate emerged to articulate and advance this consensus, that person could have an advantage going into 2008. I get hints of this consensus from a perhaps unlikely source, The American Conservative magazine. Reading that biweekly publication often leaves me wondering whether progressives should try to reach the same audience and try to steer it away from the Conservative's less palatable positions, or whether there's room for collaboration with the body of opinion the Conservative represents.

After reading an account of Saturday's anti-war protest in Washington, I found myself asking, "Is Cindy Sheehan stupid?" Normally, I would say Cindy Sheehan is pretty far from stupid, but like a lot of us, she says pretty stupid things sometimes, and she said one of them this time.

The first answers to my Diary of 09-11-07 have convinced me that I should have put a good example to clarify my point. The fact that I have not endorsed failures on the anti-war and pro-immigrant movements was taken as if I were against the anti-war and pro-immigrant movement. Actually, if I were pro-war and anti-immigrant I could not be more pleased with the Lamont results and the low approval of the Democratic Congress on one side and with the defiant marches of the Mexican flags, the defeat of the attempt of comprehensive immigration reform and the new anti-immigrant legislation on the other side.

The Convention of Chicago of 1968 was the beginning of the long Right wing night that has covered America for about 40 years. The result of such a conservative revolution has been a pro-campaign contributor policy disguised as pro-business, a less competitive America among developed countries and a wider disparity between rich and poor, where social mobility is each time harder. Carter's weak administration just consolidated and validated that trend. Reagan raised taxes after promising the opposite, backed crooks in Latin America, left us a painful recession, a record fiscal deficit and just benefited from the inherent contradictions of the Soviet economy and policies followed by previous presidents since Truman. Nevertheless, Reagan is the iconic symbol of the Right wing and no fact seems to affect such positioning. Positioning, one of the many tools of political marketing, focus on the minds of its target market...

"This is a woman who basically was trying to raise four kids and honor her deceased husband...I don't know how that was a threat to anybody's national security."

--Isaac Ferris, Jr., Coretta Scott King's nephew and spokesman for The King Center in Atlanta ( http://ap.google.com/... )

Today's news of the FBI conducting surveillance on Coretta Scott King for years after Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.'s assassination sent my mind reeling. To think of anonymous, small armies of government bureaucrats, sitting in cubicles lit by dim, flourscent lights searching through Mrs. King's personal letters, reading logs of field agents meticulously recording the schedule of her comings and goings, and even having the audacity to critique her autobiography is like something out of a Terry Gilliam movie.

It's bizarre.

Unthinkable.

Yet, it happened.

1623 days into a war that need not have been fought, I’m nauseated by the passivity and obliviousness: the shopping, the driving, the stultifying banality. I’m not above it: as I sit here typing in air conditioned comfort, people are dying.

I’m tired of polls, of elections, of invertebrate "leaders," of vacillation, of surrender.

Living in the U.S. bestows unparalleled privilege and immense responsibility. Though George Bush would have it, we are not yet a dictatorship; to the extent we can influence government action, tolerance for its criminality reflects on us. What does 60, 70, 80% "opposition" to the war even mean if it doesn’t interrupt normality? Our inaction fully warrants the world’s harshest judgment and contempt.

Opposition is RESISTANCE. Friction. Sand clogging vile gears.

NOT bumper stickers and biannual voting.

Today the Senate voted against setting a deadline for withdrawing U.S. troops from Iraq. The bill garnered 48 yes and 50 no votes with two Senators not voting. In the past two days the Pentagon finally referred to the violence in Iraq as a  civil war and CNN reported that 9 U.S. solidiers were reported killed in Iraq on Wednesday and Thursday. The situation in Iraq is grim and getting worse. The vote today is by no means the end of the push to end this illegal war and occupation.

I just heard it today and it is probably the most moving anti-war song I've ever heard.   it is on Itunes and I've contacted The Duhks to see about getting permission to use an audio clip but have not heard anything yet.

If anyone knows The Duhks and could get an audio clip of the song, I'd be in your debt.   For now here are the lyrics.  

Walk down Marva road a stranger.
Threw my stone far across the bay
Sent my son to a foreign ocean
And dreamed of my home so far away
The darkness split to see a soldier
Struck by the spinning of the beacon's light
Take your tune he said treat it tender
And make good use of it tonight
Sing a love song for the first to fall
And keep singing until they fight no more
Tell my love I'll be waiting there in Dover Delaware.
In Dover Delaware.

The negative example of Pat Dollard's disturbing pro-war documentary "Young Americans" has a lot to teach liberals about opposing the war in Iraq. They need to study this movie and learn from its appeal.

dem come for de rasta and you say nothing
dem come from the Muslims you say nothing
dem come for the anti-globalist you say nothing
dem even come for the liberals and you say nothing
dem come for you and will speak for you? who will speak for you, who ?

Asian Dub Foundation "Round Up"