Everybody's Cryin Mercy

[bigtree]

Well you know the people running round in circles
Don't know what they're headed for
Everybody's crying peace on earth
Just as soon as we win this war -Bonnie Raiit


I didn't really expect President Obama to be overtly critical of the American military effort in the Middle East and Asia, but I don't believe he accurately portrayed the problems created by the continuing U.S. military presence and action in Iraq, and consequences of the escalation of force in Afghanistan and Pakistan.

In his Cairo address, the president immediately pointed to the threats he sees from ''violent extremists" who he says have 'exploited' tensions among Muslims in the region and elsewhere. Yet, despite the fleeting reference to the 'war of choice' in Iraq, the consequences and effects of the opportunistic military assault on the sovereign nation were ignored and unmentioned by Mr. Obama as he sought to rally his Muslim audience against what he described as common threats from attacks by al-Qaeda and their supporters on civilians.

Citing the numbers of innocent civilians killed in the original 9-11 attacks on our nation, the president sought to portray every violent offensive by combatants against American troops, our allies, and on the population in the way of our military advance on their territory, as a mere extension of that original crime.

"Violent extremists have exploited these tensions in a small but potent minority of Muslims," President Obama explained in his address. "The attacks of September 11, 2001 and the continued efforts of these extremists to engage in violence against civilians has led some in my country to view Islam as inevitably hostile not only to America and Western countries, but also to human rights. All this has bred more fear and more mistrust," he said.

"So long as our relationship is defined by our differences, we will empower those who sow hatred rather than peace, those who promote conflict rather than the cooperation that can help all of our people achieve justice and prosperity. And this cycle of suspicion and discord must end."

However, it's clear that many of the violent attacks on the populations have been from the predictable and inevitable resistance against the nation-building efforts of the U.S. in their homeland, and against our allies who have aided in the overthrow and replacement of the sovereign governments in Iraq and Afghanistan. In Pakistan, as well, there is a similar resistance to the efforts of the government there to support the U.S. military effort to keep the hundreds of thousands of individuals routed from Afghanistan from spilling back over the border from Pakistan and assuming their former role of dominance in the affairs of their exile nation.

Also involved in that resistance are warring elements who are continuing violent struggles for power and dominance which have, in many instances, been reignited and exacerbated by the removal of the controlling influence of the admittedly brutal dictatorships which our military knocked out of power.

As the president so eloquently expressed in his speech, there is a rich and complex Muslim history and legacy in the U.S. which is in stark contrast to the perceptions created around the region and the world that our opportunistic and grudging militarism is an American crusade against the Muslim community. That perception of an America bent on expanding empire across sovereign borders is going to take more than the president's demonstration of an understanding and appreciation of Islam in his address.

Any rapprochement between America and the communities and population which resides in these nations he's insisting need our military intervention will have to come from a reduction of that military presence and action, not the escalation and persistence of those assaults which Mr. Obama insists is necessary in the effort to 'defeat' the al-Qaeda nemesis.

While President Obama did acknowledge the limits of 'military power alone' in 'solving the problems in Afghanistan and Pakistan', it's clear that his address was intended to enlist the support of Muslims for the ongoing military effort. The president's requisite homage in his speech to providing humanitarian aid and redevelopment assistance to Afghanistan and Pakistan is transparently overshadowed by the primacy and long-term prospects of the open-ended military mission he's chosen to pursue in the region which he describes as a battle against 'extremists.' But, it's not clear that citizens of these Muslim-dominated nations he wants to rollover and accept the military assaults on their territory actually share the U.S. interest in killing every individual who identifies their cause with al-Qaeda.

What these Muslim nations needed to hear from the American president is some indication of when our country is going to take our boots off the necks of those in the way of whatever ambition the White House decides to pursue behind the shock-and-awe of our military forces. It's not just a failure of those in the region to understand or appreciate the impetus behind the American assault on their homeland which is an obstacle to repairing the animosity among Muslims to the U.S. and our ambitions - it's the devastating reality of the ongoing, seemingly arbitrary exercise of our military forces which has dominated the landscape and made any humanitarian or diplomatic initiatives appear to be mere self-serving attempts to consolidate whatever power has been achieved behind those assaults and seizing of territory. It's difficult (if not impossible) to 'promote peace' in the face of an escalating grudge match.

"It's easier to start wars than to end them." President Obama said near the conclusion of his address. It's that ultimate end to the Americans' vengeful assaults on their homeland which the Muslim community was mostly looking to find in his speech.

What they got instead, was an invitation to either adopt that self-perpetuating grudge or stand down while the U.S. does it's dirty, nation-building work (albeit bearing gifts to help mitigate the damage done in the process). 'Assalaamu alaykum' was the greeting which the president graciously offered at the beginning of his address. Wishing his Muslim audience peace must now be followed by concrete efforts to move toward that enlightened state, to make his words of reconciliation more than patronizing and hollow in his insistence on continuing to adhere to the militarism which has divided us.

[leftstreet]

1. Obama has become a Global President

It's kinda eerie in a way. I'm not knocking him, he's a brilliant speaker and the world was completely ready for him after BushInc. But I see how his international speeches take on an inclusive rhetoric that I've never seen from a US prez before, and I think....wow...weird.

Again, not knocking him. It's just so different. It's almost like he's still campaigning, but on a global scale.

Anyway...
Good points bigtree!

K&R

[bigtree]

2. I was thinking something similar when I was watching

. . . how different it was to see an American president leading with such a progressive appeal. It's bound to have a positive impact. Hope his actions in the region compliment his eloquence.

[bridgit]

3. Obama hit that so far out of the park they'll be weeks looking for the ball...

I thought Obama was spot-on about a range of very sticky issues and the way he encapsulated at each fence post i.e. and I paraphrase:

'America is not at war with Islam.' Then after the applause subsided, 'However...' Where he lays out the shared structure on which common futures are affixed and presumably maintained. I suppose some will say that was hubris, or the voice of hegemonic American Empire, I'm already surprised the RW hasn't bayed at the moon over his being in Cairo as TutAnkBarHamunRakRah - no longer messiah but The New American Pharaoh. His summation *of* al-Qaeda was imfo refreshing again I parapharase...

'These al-Qaeda guys killed all these innocent people and Americans, they are proud of it, and they claim they intend to kill more in the future. Now...that's not going to work is it? Then it's time to reconcile or understand that my job is to protect America'

...agreed, others will consider prosecutorial on Obama's part; but al-Qaeda aren't daisy farmers either. I liked what Obama had to say he was reasoned, inclusive, resolute, tough and fair and on stages like the one he stood today that works for me

[bigtree]

4. I think it's easy for Americans (who are inclined to support him) to embrace his words

. . . much harder for those in the way of his ongoing and escalated military offensive. We're all very aware of the military efforts. It's fair to say, though, that most of the humanitarian assistance offered right now is absorbed in cushioning and mitigating the devastating and unsettling effects of that militarism. Accordingly, the military assaults are now mostly in response to the resistance to the U.S. military presence and action. The militarism overshadows everything.

It's going to be beneficial, in the long term, to have the president's conciliatory and inclusive views on the table - but they'll only be meaningful when there is some clear divide between the grudging military mission and the era of cooperation with the U.S. he so eloquently appealed to the Muslim community to move toward. The grudge match against al-Qaeda (and any and all who dare to identify their resistance to the U.S. advance across sovereign borders with the terrorist group) makes most of these measures and appeals to the Muslim community self-serving to our own interests. It's fine and good to let them know where America stands and how determined we are to defend ourselves, but it's less clear (in this address) that the president is as concerned with hearing and accommodating what the folks in the region we've invaded and occupied want and need for their own interests in their own nations.

[bridgit]

5. I do think it's easy for people to find solace in words they agree with how could it be otherwise...

And I am as well disheartened you're unable to find solace in the words Obama spoke before a gathering of vital, regional interests and regional participants; a noteworthy grouping of words I'll take this opportunity to submit; that are at least at this point in time rippling through the capitals of the ME atop applause, positivity, and well wishes that seem to be fashioning a preliminary "hearing and accommodating" before our eyes. But, you know, as we all know..."hearing and accommodating" are two-way streets

Understandings, contracts, and agreements often include multiple parties. And it is important every signatory understand not only why they are there; but their long term interests (the real ones), and *and* the long term interests of the others sitting round the table. The ME has been cutting deals for 1,000's of years, they already know this stuff. I also think they appreciate it when American presidents (Obama's the only one to have done so under such circumstances) stand before them at the center of a truly mystical, ancient, quintessential symbol of the region - Cairo, and say it plain up & down while referring to their Holy Book in the similar ways they do so no this ain't g.w. bush no way possible, naw...

I want to hear the other side I'll turn to Fox

[bigtree]

6. FOX, lol

FOX news isn't just 'the other side', it's a promotion of outright lies.

I'll acknowledge that the 'ME has been cutting deals for 1,000's of years' and that our president's candor and respect shown is welcome. But, these parties which we are defending behind the force of our military are not going to regard the president's words as any more significant in their lives than they are able to tolerate the effects of our 'help' we've offered behind the force of our military. It's that 1000 or so years of shrugging off empires that makes our president's words less important than his actions where they live.

[bridgit]

11. hahaha = "FOX - a promotion of outright lies" Ya'think? Cause I do...

I understand. I had a fighter pilot brother that never came back from Vietnam and a Daddy driven into nightmares after marching through mud and blood, shattered lives and civilizations cross WWII Germany. And another brother unceremoniously discharged from the USMC due to exuberance in the face of duty so as to suggest; matters which all point to war being ultimately very unworkable as an option but for killing people and tearing things up...but that's what many in the armed forces will say when asked,

"We kill people and destroy things. It's what we do."

Enter Barack Obama after others killed people and tore up lots in the name of America. Enter Barack Obama after others killed us and tore up our stuff in the name of Islam. Which when one reviews the contiguous history of events had been going along for some time: the first tower bombing, dropping the embassies in Kenya, Kober Towers, the Cole, the multi-layered assault on 9/11, etc, the list is rather impressive and that's without mentioning matters in Europe: the assassination of filmmaker Theo van Gogh, other aggravated incursions to include bombings, murder, conspiracy to commit, and disrupting underground mass transit in attempts to bomb murder and poison, or blowing up centuries old statues of the Buddha, violent and occurring up to this very day incursions and disruptions for having little more than the pie-eyed audacity to be standing near the extremism of the region where but for innocent blood no one's hands are clean, so that yes...

I was able to hear Obama signal a scheduled end to a certain and specific kind of tolerance wrapped round a core of chastisement that included the west...and the ME. On all sides when you listen to it, not that all sides are, not in the ME where tolerance seems at a premium; but an end to, if you will the: *walk right in sit right down baby let your hair hang down* kind of childlike-tolerant. It's possible for that kind 'tolerant' to contribute to your being robbed in today's world if not yesterday's. And in some parts of the world being tolerant isn't even an option in fact it's frowned upon as a sign of weakness.

In the end I hear you suggesting that when you heard-not the words you cared better to hear from Obama; your perspective became solidified instead: that regardless of the 'how it was' we found ourselves here...Barack Obama has now more blood on his hands than the people, all of them on every side; have already on theirs...to include g.w. bush, Dick Cheney and Karl Rove,

And that is the component I disagree with

[Demeter]

7. NO Kidding No Accuracy

If he told the truth, he'd have to prosecute BushCo AND pull out of two wars.
I think this is a lightweight President we got here.

[bigtree]

8. I don't see where he's been 'lightweight'

I do think he's holding onto much too many of Bush's artificial constructions - to use himself? We'll have to see what Congress ultimately does on investigations and prosecutions, but it is becoming clear that this administration does intend to stand in the way of attempts to tear down some of Bush's 'extra-constitutional' initiatives and orders. That's as troubling as anything.

[NoSheep]

12. Would you like to suggest a suitable replacement? Someone electable, please.

I want them prosecuted too, but reality refuses to bend for me.

[Time for change]

15. I think that's the crux of the matter

And so is this comment by bigtree:

"However, it's clear that many of the violent attacks on the populations have been from the predictable and inevitable resistance against the nation-building efforts of the U.S. in their homeland".

I think that there were many good parts in Obama's speech. But it's not enough if he's going to continue so many of the actions from the Bush administration.

[paulk]

9. actually, that song was written by Allison Mose

it's one of my favorite all time tunes

great OP, btw....

[bigtree]

10. crap

I got that the last time I posted it (Mose Allison). Bonnie's fantastic with it tho . . . thanks for the correction (and the kick)

[musette_sf]

13. i just opened the thread and thought the same thing

and i just got tickets today to Mose w/ Bob Dorough.... !!!!

[Turborama]

14. K&R

Bookmarked & will respond later, just about to go out.