Barack Obama changed the mindset of war. He took a nation opposed to the Iraq War and silenced objection. Turned the peace movement into groupies and whores. He certainly changed the mindset.
The Iraq War didn't end. The only things that stopped were (a) the network media coverage and (b) our peace 'leaders.' (Real leaders like Cindy Sheehan never stopped working for peace.)
He took war into Pakistan, via his murders by drones, and he 'beefed' up the war on Afghanistan.
Change the mindset of war? Oh, you better believe Princess Tiny Meat managed to do that. He waved that magic, albeit, small cock and Carl Davidson and Tom Hayden and Leslie Cagan and Alice Walker and Medea I-Need-Attention Benjamin and Raed Jarrar and all the others whores who pretended to give a damn, who pretended to want to end war, said, "F**k me over and f**k me over hard, I want some killing in my name and in the name of every other American!"
And the world heard and the world watched as Carl, Tom, Leslie, Alice, Medea, Raed and the rest had their first clitoral orgams as Iraqis died, as Afghans died, as Pakistanis died, as US service members died.
And the world heard and the world watched and saw little to no objection.
Change the mindset of war?
Yes, he can!
End the wars?
No, he won't.
Bully Boy Bush went out of office after pushing the SOFA through in the US and Iraq. That document allegedly ends the Iraq War in 2012. Maybe it will mean all US military forces out of the country, maybe it won't. It doesn't really matter as America learned last week.
Senator Russ Feingold: Thank you, sir. The State Dept is planning to make up for the departure of US troops by doubling its security contractors. Even though such contractors often don't have the essential security capabilities that are provided by our troops. I'm concerned this will be dangerous and also lead to a situation where we don't have meaningful control over our own contractors. What alternatives have you considered?
Ambassador James Jeffrey: Senator, this is an extremely important point. Uh, if confirmed as chief of mission, my first responsibility will be for the safety and security of the personnel under my supervision and I've put a lot of time and effort into looking at this. Uhm. The -- after the incident in 2007 in Baghdad involving the Blackwater security people, the State Dept did a very thorough investigation called the Kennedy Report. I've read that report. It concluded -- and I think that this conclusion remains true today -- that the State Dept has done a very good job in an extremely lethal environment protecting its people and keeping them alive and safe; however, there needed to be certain steps, technical steps, rule of engagement steps, coordination steps -- coordination both with the US military and with the Iraq authorities, and more supervision. Now we put, uh, a direct hire State Dept officer or person with all movements So -- And we have more technical control through, uh, basically recordings, audio and video equipment and such so that we're able to determine what happened and review any incident and since then there has not been a serious incident. But I want to underscore, this is a very, very difficult mission. This is, uh, uh, a defensive mission, not an offensive one, but it involves thousands of people, many movements in a very lethal environment and it is something we have to remain very concerned about.
James Jeffrey, current US Ambassador to Turkey and nominated by Barack to be the US Ambassador to Iraq, was appearing before the Senate Foreign Affairs Committee. The Iraq War ends when?
Senator Richard Lugar: Plans submitted by the Administration suggest that U.S. involvement in Iraq will remain robust well beyond that, with more than 5,000 diplomats and civilian advisers working with civil society and the Iraqi government. The uncertain political situation creates risks for our transition plans. Our military has been involved in areas of governance far beyond security, and turning over those critical responsibilities will be challenging. The State Department has asked for more than $800 million in start-up costs for a police mentoring and training program. The program envisions having 350 advisors at three camps who will fan out to 50 sites in the country, about half of which would be reachable by ground and the rest requiring air support. With the military’s departure, we are told, the Department may hire as many as 7,000 contract security personnel. An AP article last month suggested the Iraq mission would need the equivalent of a squadron of Blackhawk helicopters, 50 ambush-protected vehicles, and equipment to protect against rockets and mortars. It is important that the Administration flesh out how all the pieces of this unprecedented operation will fit together in Iraq as American troops depart.
Lugar, the Ranking Member, had a lengthy exchange with Jeffrey who explained, "We [State Dept.] are taking on missions that the US military has done."
The war ends when?
Oh, that's right, it doesn't.
But Barack changed the mindset.
Praise be Barack, praise be the Cult of St. Barack.
[For more realities Raed and the other groupies won't tell you, read "Iraq snapshot," "Iraq snapshot," "Kerry, Lugar and Feingold," "Kaufman and Casey" and "Senate Foreign Relations Committee."]