I think I just need to ask a simple question to all Obama supporters: Where does Barack Obama stand now as opposed to where he stood five years back when the Iraq war started?
Here are some questions I have and I wish someone knowledgeable with Obama positions would answer me:
The questions are these:
- Does he still oppose the war? Why? Is it because it was an a)immoral, illegal war based upon lies or b)a basically good idea poorly executed?
- What infact are his positions regarding parmanent military bases in Iraq ?
- What is the number of troops he wants to keep in Iraq after the year of 2009? 2013? 2020?
- Where does he stand on Iraqi Oil Law which George Bush is insisting that Iraqi parliament should pass it at its earliest convenience? Does Obama believe it is a good law or a bad law? If good or bad, for whom and why?
- What roles, if any, Zbigniew Brzezinski and Dennis Ross who are among his chief advisors, will play in his administration? To what extent does he agree with their world views regarding foreign affairs?
So far, what I have understood is that Obama (his Iraq position at the current state is indistinguishable from Clinton's), if elected, will basically continue on with the Iraq occupation in the same fashion as Mr. Bush. Obama will reduce the number of troops but will not leave Iraq at the foreseeable future. He will not allow Iraq to be fully independent (the way British Empire left India/Pakistan to be fully independent). He hasn't been specific about Iraqi Oil Law. He hasn't been specific about Iraqi sovereignity sans American military presence.
I don't believe in hypes including Obama's, sorry folks. Especially given the fickle and faddish (obsession with youth, glamour, ambition which Obama personifies with no fault of his own) character of American people, it is doubly important that we dive deep into a person's character and see what he or she really believes in and to what extent he/she will sacrifice his own power/pleasure to serve the greater humanity.
Make no mistake, I want to believe in Obama. But I need reasons stronger than mere words of hope and change. The change that I need and demand is the alteration of not just George Bush's policy but of America's policy towards the world.