Mr. Obama, who's in charge in the United States?
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- United States
- Politics and Government
- 07 / 16 / 2010
Recently, President Barack Obama showed signs of strength obviously intended to disguise his weakness as ruler of the imperialist monster.
Actually, specific events in the last few days reveal his lack of authority and recognition as top leader of his nation and Commander-in-Chief of its armed forces.
After all, a President who is in control and spirited enough to do his job would have seen to it that a prompt solution was found to the sinking of the Deepwater Horizon's oil rig run by British Petroleum (BP).
His first mistake was to put all his trust in advisors who had little command of a field where oil companies invest millions of dollars to buy many members of his team.
In his April 2 speech in North Carolina, Obama said that oil rigs today generally don't cause spills, as they are technologically very advanced. A few days later, the oil slick caused by the Deepwater accident was already drifting, uncontrollable, toward U.S. seashores around the Gulf of Mexico.
Under such circumstances and given the media comments about the U.S.government's powerlessness to cope with the situation, he tried to appear to be totally on top of things.
However, nothing happened after his words to put a stop to the spill, and new details are coming out almost on a daily basis about mistakes and carelessness. Most are ascribable to lack of supervision by the authorities who are supposed to guarantee
the safety of the whole operation.
Now the oil slick has reached the U.S. seashore, and regardless of what BP could pay in compensation to the people affected "from a total of 20 billion dollars allocated to that end" it will never be able to pay for the damages to the environment and life on the planet.
It's an extremely serious problem brought about by failure to act with sufficient energy that is now affecting the U.S. and posing a danger to other nearby nations.
Furthermore, recent developments concerning General Stanley McChrystal point to disrespect for the authority vested in the Commander-in-Chief of the armed forces and the advisors who often represent him in the analysis of any armed conflict.
Among the targets of McChrystal's second-guessing were Vice President Joseph Biden, the U.S. ambassador to Afghanistan, and members of the White House staff.
The general also hinted that the U.S. President himself was not sufficiently experienced.
McChrystal's mistake was that he made his comments public and thus gave the government almost no choice but to replace him.
Yet, all indications are that his views are shared by other brass hats in the armed forces who think the President is being misadvised by civilians.
Obama's disagreement with the Pentagon, where everyone has each other's back as in a sort of "secret sect" and the enemy of one is the enemy of all, may have grave consequences for him in the future.
Meanwhile, war goes on as planned "by Bush and his team" in Iraq and Afghanistan and civilians, as well as U.S. and NATO troops, are still dying. Obama granted a retroactive amnesty to those who have murdered people in Pakistan.
Another tell-tale sign of the President's weakness and inexperience is the Iran issue and the even more shrill beat of war drums in the U.S. According to analysts, McChrystal's dismissal called for concessions to "war hawks" in the Pentagon who cry
out for actions against Iran now that they have put together at least three alternative plans to attack the Persian nation.
Since the excuse of intercepting the Iranian fleet carrying aid for the Palestinians went down the drain when Iran decided to put it off, what they have left is the U.N. resolution to inspect in international waters Iranian or Iran-bound ships and other arguments now in the making to orchestrate a provocation likely to culminate in war.
The most popular alternative suggested so far would be a surgical strike against prioritized targets in Iran to destroy uranium-processing facilities and, as "collateral damage", communication systems and power plants in the main Iranian ities.
If the Iranian government responds to the attacks, the plans to send in American and Israeli troops will have come to fruition. Secretary of Defense Robert Gates and White House chief of staff Rahm Emanuel, who is also a close friend of Obama's, and who are the President's advisors on these matters.
The changes promised by Obama are yet to be implemented. And what's dangerous about this situation is that Obama is not the one who calls the shots, but the representatives of the great economic interests appointed to his cabinet and government.
By Dr. Néstor García Iturbe
July 7, 2010
http://www.walterlippmann.com/docs3046.html
A CubaNews translation. Edited by Walter Lippmann.
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