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All three quickly responded that they would do so. None discussed whether this was an over intrusive federal government telling schools how to structure their classes or forcing a program onto a campus that students do not want. None discussed whether the U.S. spending as much as the whole world combined on military activities making up more than half of the discretionary spending of the federal government was disproportionate to other spending priorities. Indeed, Obama, who is often described in the corporate media as the anti-war candidate, went further and said: “I would call for an increase in our force structure, particularly around the Army and the Marines.” In fact, he wants the largest, most expensive military in the world expanded by 100,000 troops. Another opportunity to look behind the veil of rhetoric came when they were asked about the politics of fear. Senators Clinton and Obama, the only two that were given a chance to respond, talked about “the real enemies” we have and the urgent need to protect the homeland. No one tried to put Al Qaeda in perspective, as a criminal gang almost destroyed in Afghanistan war and given new life by U.S. foreign policy especially the occupation of Iraq. The Democratic leadership is being helped by some anti-war leaning Democrats who are part of a coalition primarily made up of unions and Move-On along with smaller groups like Council for a Livable World and Win Without War. This coalition focused its anti-war pressure primarily on Republicans – spending advertising money in Republican districts – and consistently moved with the leadership of the Democratic Party and broke from most anti-war groups when the Democrats put forward withdrawal plans that left more troops than it withdrew. Now it plans to parrot Clinton’s challenge to Obama and “push for legislation to prevent President Bush from entering into a long-term agreement with the Iraqi government that could keep significant numbers of troops in Iraq for years to come.” Sound familiar? It is remarkable that groups which are legally required to be independent of the Democratic Party walk in lock stop with them. As one of the questioners from the audience noted in the Nevada debate: “The policy differences among the remaining candidates is so slight that we appear to be choosing on the basis of personality and life story.” On Iraq, the candidates have put forward a veil of peace rhetoric to hide the reality that they will support a long-term military presence by the United States in Iraq and the region. Peace voters – don’t be fooled! Below are excerpts from the Nevada debate and Dennis Kucinich’s comments on Democracy Now! Excerpts from Democratic Primary Debate Speakers: Senator Hillary Rodhan Clinton (D-N.Y.) CLINTON: Well, I want to ask Senator Obama to join me in doing something.You know, we both very much want to convince President Bush, which is not easy to do, in the remaining year to end the war in Iraq, to change direction.It appears that not only is he refusing to do that, but that he has continued to say he can enter into an agreement with the Iraqi government, without bringing it for approval to the United States Congress, that would continue America’s presence in Iraq, long after President Bush leaves office. I find that absolutely unacceptable. And I think we have to do everything we can to prevent President Bush from binding the hands of the next president.So I’ve introduced legislation that clearly requires President Bush to come to the United States Congress. It is not enough, as he claims, to go to the Iraqi parliament, but to come to the United States Congress to get anything that he’s trying to do, including permanent bases, numbers of troops, all the other commitments he’s talking about as he’s traveling in that region.And I want to ask Senator Obama if you will co-sponsor my legislation to try to rein in President Bush so that he doesn’t commit this country to his policy in Iraq, which both of us are committed to end. OBAMA: Well, I think we can work on this, Hillary. Because I don’t think — you know, we’ve got unity in the Democratic Party, I hope, on this. The notion that President Bush could somehow tie the hands of the next president, I think, is contrary to how our democracy’s supposed to work and the voices of the American people who spoke out in 2006 and I expect will speak out again in 2008.I have opposed this war consistently. I have put forward a plan that will get our troops out by the end of 2009. And we already saw today reports that the Iraqi minister suggests that we’re going to be in there at least until 2018 — 2018, 10 years, a decade-long commitment. Currently, we are spending $9 billion to $10 billion a month. And the notion is that we’re going to sustain that at the same time as we’re neglecting what we see happening in Afghanistan right now, where you have a luxury hotel in Kabul that was blown up by militants and the situation continues to worsen. My first job as president of the United States is going to be to call in the Joint Chiefs of Staff and say, “You’ve got a new mission,” and that is to responsibly, carefully, but deliberately start to phase out our involvement there and to make sure that we are putting the onus on the Iraqi government to come together and do what they need to do to arrive at peace. WILLIAMS: If I could just interrupt, here, before I give you your question — would the other two of you join in the 2009 pledge that Senator Obama has made, concerning the withdrawal of American troops? CLINTON: Oh, yes, I’m on record as saying exactly that, as soon as I become president, we will start withdrawing within 60 days. We will move as carefully and responsibly as we can, one to two brigades a month, I believe, and we’ll have nearly all the troops out by the end of the year, I hope.
Kevin Zeese is Executive Director of the Campaign for Fresh Air and Clean Politics (www.FreshAirCleanPolitics.net) whose projects include Voters for Peace (www.VotersForPeace.US., True Vote (www.TrueVote.US and www.TrueVoteMD.org) and Climate Security (www.GlobalClimateSecurity.org). He is also president of Common Sense for Drug Policy (www.csdp.org).
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