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[EarthNSky <erthnsky AT bellsouth.net>]

I thought this was interesting and makes me wonder how much of the
anti-war protest was political vs. philosophical.  I like the admission
that "Sometimes it is quite amazing how well each of the war parties can
spot the other’s hypocrisy"  This is the first time I've seen them
called "Obama's Wars".


http://www.counterpunch.com/walsh08262009.html

Cindy Sheehan's Lonely Vigil in Obamaland

By JOHN V. WALSH

Cindy Sheehan will be at Martha’s Vineyard beginning August 25 a short
way from Obama’s vacation paradise of the celebrity elite but very far
from the Afghanistan and Pakistan and Iraq where the body bags and
cemeteries fill up each day as Obama’s wars rage on.    She will remain
there from August 25 through August 29 and has issued a call for all
peace activists to join her there.  For those of us close by in the New
England states and in New York City, there would seem to be a special
obligation to get to Martha’s Vineyard as soon as we can.

A funny thing has happened on Cindy Sheehan’s long road from Crawford,
Texas, to Martha’s Vineyard.   Many of those who claim to lead the peace
movement and who so volubly praised her actions in Crawford, TX, are not
to be seen.    Nor heard.  The silence in fact is deafening, or as Cindy
put it in an email to this writer, “crashingly deafening.”  Where are
the email appeals to join Cindy from The Nation or from AFSC or Peace
Action or “Progressive” Democrats of America (PDA) or even Code Pink?
Or United for Peace and Justice. (No wonder UFPJ is essentially closing
shop, bereft of most of their contributions and shriveling up following
the thinly veiled protest behind the “retirement” of Leslie Cagan.)
And what about MoveOn although it was long ago thoroughly discredited as
principled opponents of war or principled in any way shape or form
except slavish loyalty to the “other” War Party.  And of course sundry
“socialist” organizations are also missing in action since their
particular dogma will not be front and center.  These worthies and many
others have vanished into the fog of Obama’s wars.

Just to be sure, this writer contacted several of the “leaders” of the
“official” peace movement in the Boston area – AFSC, Peace Action, Green
Party of MA (aka Green Rainbow Party) and some others.  Not so much as
the courtesy of a reply resulted from this effort - although the GRP at
least posted a notice of the action.  (It is entirely possible that some
of these organizations might mention Cindy’s action late enough and
quickly enough so as to cover their derrieres while ensuring that  Obama
will not be embarrassed by protesting crowds.)   We here in the vicinity
of Beantown are but a hop, skip and cheap ferry ride from Martha’s
Vineyard.   Same for NYC.  So we have a special obligation to respond to
Cindy’s call.

However, not everyone has failed to publicize the event.  The
Libertarians at Antiwar.com are on the job, and its editor in chief
Justin Raimondo wrote a superb column Monday on the  hypocritical
treatment of Sheehan by the “liberal” establishment.  (1)  As Raimondo
pointed out, Rush Limbaugh captured the hypocrisy of the liberal left in
his commentary, thus:

    “Now that she’s headed to Martha’s Vineyard, the State-Controlled
Media, Charlie Gibson, State-Controlled Anchor, ABC: ‘Enough already.’
Cindy, leave it alone, get out, we’re not interested, we’re not going to
cover you going to Martha’s Vineyard because our guy is president now
and you’re just a hassle. You’re just a problem. To these people, they
never had any true, genuine emotional interest in her. She was just a
pawn. She was just a woman to be used and then thrown overboard once
they’re through with her and they’re through with her. They don’t want
any part of Cindy Sheehan protesting against any war when Obama happens
to be president."

Limbaugh has their number, just as they have his.  Sometimes it is quite
amazing how well each of the war parties can spot the other’s hypocrisy.
But Cindy Sheehan is no one’s dupe; she is a very smart and very
determined woman who no doubt is giving a lot of White House operatives
some very sleepless nights out there on the Vineyard.  Good for her.

Obama is an enormous gift to the Empire.  Just as he has silenced most
of the single-payer movement, an effort characterized by its superb
scholarship exceeded only by its timidity,  Obama has shut down the
antiwar movement, completely in thrall as it is to the Democrat Party
and Identity  Politics.   Why exactly the peace movement has caved to
Obama is not entirely clear.  Like the single-payer movement, it is
wracked by spinelessness, brimming with reverence for authority and a
near insatiable appetite to be “part of the crowd.”  Those taken in by
Obama’s arguments that the increasingly bloody and brutal AfPak war is
actually a “war of necessity,” should read Steven Walt’s easy demolition
of that “argument.” (2) Basically Obama’s logic is the same as Bush’s
moronic rationale that “We are fighting them over there so we do not
have to fight them over here.”  There is a potential for “safe havens
for terrorists,” as the Obamalogues and neocons like to call them, all
over the world; and no one can possibly believe the US can invade them
all.  However, the ones which Israel detests or which allow control of
oil pipelines or permit encirclement of China and Russia will see US
troops sooner or later.

The bottom line is that everyone in New England and NYC who is a genuine
antiwarrior should join the imaginative effort of Cindy Sheehan in
Obamaland this week and weekend.  We owe it to the many who will
otherwise perish at the hands of the war parties of Bush and Obama.

1.See:
http://original.antiwar.com/justin/2009/08/23/war-coverage-and-the-obama-cult/



Or go to Antiwar.com and make a contribution while you are there.  It’s
almost as good as CounterPunch.com.

2.See:http://walt.foreignpolicy.com/posts/2009/08/18/the_safe_haven_myth

John V. Walsh can be reached at John.Endwar AT gmail.com  He welcomes
comments, and he looks forward to seeing crowds of CounterPunchers at
Martha’s Vineyard this week and weekend.
--
Sleep well tonight, for somewhere in the ocean's depths, MY son is
protecting your freedom on the USS Key West, currently deployed
somewhere in the Pacific and/or Indian Ocean.  Go Navy!
EarthNSky Farm, NW Georgia, USA