Why are Left Wingers NOT Up in Arms About the War Escalation?

[Bonobo]

I am penning this as a companion piece to this thread:

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_mesg&forum=389&topic_id=9601194&mesg_id=9601194


It bears repeating that hypocrisy and political expediency is not something that can be layed only at the feet of the opposing party.

We have all been played by the 2-party system.

Unless we stay true to our values IRRESPECTIVE of the "party label", we are all guilty of falling prey to manipulation.

It is still a war of haves vs. have-nots. It always was. And nobody here is in the side that is holding the cards.

We fight mindlessly against the other side to our own disadvantage. We have more in common with THEM than we do with the 1% of America that owns the show.

[RandomThoughts]

1. Yep, fight for the ideas.

And they do not own the show, that is what they want you to think. And what some of them think, by thinking that they don't have to rationalize what they do, since they do it under a claim of ownership instead of what is correct.

If you make the claim something is yours, what you are aloud to do to retrieve it is much easier to rationalize, that is why they can't let the fact that much of what they have is not earned by them, be thought of or known by many people.


If you say all the money you get is earned and yours, then you can defend against taxes. In the same way the worker can make the claim to much of the wealth skimmed off of their work. Really it is a matter of perspective that is used to make a claim. That perspective, not what is real, is their argument.

[readmoreoften]

2. Duh. Because Obama is handling it.

You wouldn't want to be an "Obama Hater", would you? :sarcasm:

But in all seriousness. Most liberals did think "Chill Out. Obama's Got This." Most people on the Left, on the other hand, knew this was absurd, that we're going on building our embassies and bases in Iraq, Afghanistan, and Pakistan and that we have no intention of ever leaving. Moreover, Obama wouldn't even have that kind of decision-making power.

[Skittles]

5. CORRECT

[Ted_White]

3. I am only anti-Republican war. Its cool when Dems escalate war with no timelines.

[Life Long Dem]

4. After 10 years you try to end it?

Isn't that what helped end Iraq?

[Hannah Bell]

7. iraq is over?

[Life Long Dem]

9. The American combat mission in Iraq has ended.

[Hannah Bell]

10. is it? why are americans still dying there, then>?

[Life Long Dem]

11. The same reason they die here?

Barack Obama formally brought an end to US combat operations in Iraq last night, seven years and 165 days after the invasion began, and declared it was time for America "to turn the page".

In a televised address to the nation from the Oval Office, the president said America had paid a huge price for the war begun by George W Bush to topple Saddam Hussein.

"Tonight, I am announcing that the American combat mission in Iraq has ended. Operation Iraqi Freedom is over, and the Iraqi people now have lead responsibility for the security of their country," he said.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2010/sep/01/obama-formally-ends-iraq-war

[Hannah Bell]

12. of old age, you mean? of cancer & heart disease?

i don't know of too many soldiers stationed in the us who die from being attacked by guerillas, or being blown up in their jeeps.

[Scuba]

6. There's no draft, so my son isn't affected. Who cares?

[Uben]

8. We all hate war....

...but Obama has to rely on his generals strategies because he is not a military man.

Bush wasn't either, and he didn't listen to his generals, and look what happened.

I have faith that they know what's best for us, because that's their job. I don't believe there is a soul here with the experience to match theirs, so I will default to the generals. HAd Bush done this, we would have concentrated on Afghanistan in the first place and left Iraq the way it was because there was no immediate threat coming from it.

[eridani]

15. The only thing that generals can be trusted with is the details of waging war

The ones we have are promoting war and undermining civilian authority.

[Enthusiast]

13. I'm mad about the war, period.

This escalation is just more of the same poor judgment. Actually it isn't poor judgment, TPTB simply want to amass more treasure by conducting the wars and they're going to get it because they are ALL POWERFUL. That's the facts, Jack!

[Scruffy1]

14. Because Obama didn't start it

But believe me there is a large and vocal anti-war community in this country. They just don't get the press the teabaggers do. I don't even think most people know that over 500,000 showed up to protest in Washington on the eve of the gulf war. But 20 paid teabaggers make headlines. This is definitely a media distortion. Even the recent FBI raids on the Anti-War committee don't seem to bother the party faithful too much. I suspect that the conditioning of the Americans by the media has a lot to do with this. None of the major candidates ran on an anti-war platform.

I made the decision to ignore the mainstream media years ago and don't even have a television.I advise everyone to do the same. It's just a propaganda machine giving the public phony news and ready made made opinions.

[TBF]

16. The far left is against it. The moderates are celebrating

Obama's wars. No he didn't start them, but he hasn't ended them either. Yemen and Pakistan are likely next.

[timo]

20. nahhhhh

those two can be handled without troops, just kill the shit out of the people with drones, doesnt count if its a drone kill, drones ONLY kill terrorists!!!

[TBF]

22. I know, and it's not a "real war" if it's called a "conflict". nt

[Vinca]

17. It's all useless. We can yell, we can scream, we can march in the streets.

Whether Republican or Democratic, the people in charge will do whatever they damn well please.

[cornermouse]

18. Because it doesn't do us any good to get angry.

We saw that back when Obama announced way back at the beginning of his term that he was going to escalate in Afghanistan. You can look at that as no change or you can look at it as change for the worse. It doesn't matter at this point.

[somone]

19. The war is being waged by the Nobel Peace Prize winner as a just war

so it's all good. :sarcasm:

[stray cat]

21. Because left wingers are not a single organism linked by a single brain

[Liberal_Stalwart71]

23. Honestly? Because I believe that Obama has the right intentions and sound judgment.

"Dumbya" Bush and Republicans love war. They profit from war, and they don't give a shit who gets killed.

I'm a liberal. I hate war. And I hate what we're doing in Afghanistan. But I do trust that the president is trying to correct the wrongs of the previous administration, regardless of what I think. And if we're starting to draw down troops next year, then that's fine by me.