By Kenneth J. Theisen

Barack Obama delivered a major speech
on “national security” on July 15th at the
Ronald Reagan International Trade Center in Washington, D.C.  In
his speech he attempted to demonstrate that he is fit to be the next
commander-in-chief of the largest war machine in history. He made clear
that he intends to expand the “war on terrorism”, especially in
Pakistan and Afghanistan.  He pledged to use both military might
and aggressive diplomacy to achieve the goals of U.S. imperialism. His
speech was timed to occur before
his expected “fact-finding” trip to Iraq, Afghanistan, Israel, Jordan,
Germany, France and Britain, where he undoubtedly will continue to advocate
for U.S. imperialism.

 Obama has been quite vocal in his ambition
as a future military leader.  He supports increasing the overall
size of the U.S. military by 92,000 troops and increasing the number
of U.S. and allied troops sent to Afghanistan.  He wrote that he
would send two additional combat brigades to Afghanistan. He has also
called for the use of U.S. military force in Pakistan even against the
will of Pakistani leaders. This would be both similar to and an escalation
of U.S. missile strikes on Pakistani sites regularly carried out by
the Bush regime.

Taking the War into Pakistan

A central theme of the foreign policy
Obama has expounded for years entails extending and expanding
the U.S. led wars. A foremost example is that he promises to expand
the war into Pakistan.  “The greatest threat to (the US’s)
security lies in the tribal regions of Pakistan, where terrorists train
and insurgents strike into Afghanistan. We cannot tolerate a terrorist
sanctuary, and as President, I won’t. We need a stronger and sustained
partnership between Afghanistan, Pakistan and NATO to secure the border,
to take out terrorist camps, and to crack down on cross-border insurgents.
We need more troops, more helicopters, more satellites, more Predator
drones in the Afghan border region. And we must make it clear that if
Pakistan cannot or will not act, we will take out high-level terrorist
targets like bin Laden if we have them in our sights.”  This
is a declaration of intent to attack sites in Pakistan regardless of
the violations of international law and the wishes of the Pakistani
people.

Obama also stated “The power to destroy
life on a catastrophic scale now risks falling into the hands of terrorists…From
the cave- spotted mountains of northwest Pakistan, to the centrifuges
spinning beneath Iranian soil, we know that the American people cannot
be protected by oceans or the sheer might of our military alone.” 
In other words, Obama wants people in this country to believe that the
mortal dangers to people in this country and throughout the world derive
primarily from Islamic militants in Pakistan and the Iranian regime
in Tehran, not the U.S. hyper power, which has a military, and especially
nuclear, force more than the rest of the planet combined.

The Commander in Chief in Waiting

Obama criticizes the Bush regime for
failing to adequately take advantage of the 9/11 attacks to increase
U.S. dominance of the world.  Obama states, “It was time — once
again — for America’s might and moral suasion to be harnessed; it was
time to once again shape a new security strategy for an ever-changing
world. Imagine, for a moment, what we could have done in those days,
and months, and years after 9/11″We could have strengthened old alliances,
formed new partnerships, and renewed international institutions to advance
peace and prosperity.” 

He points out one of his tactical differences
with the Bush regime by criticizing the war in Iraq. “We have lost
thousands of American lives, spent nearly a trillion dollars, alienated
allies and neglected emerging threats — all in the cause of fighting
a war for well over five years in a country that had absolutely nothing
to do with the 9/11 attacks.”  Notice how he fails to mention
the one million Iraqi dead, the 4 million refugees, or the other massive
suffering of the Iraqi people.  In plain English, Obama’s 
real criticism of the Bush regime in Iraq is that it has not made U.S.
imperialism stronger by allowing the U.S. to control the Middle East
in order to achieve hegemony in the world, and bringing in imperialist
“allies” to do more of the fighting and pay more of the cost.

Obama  argues that rather than making
the U.S. an unassailable force for world domination, the Bush/Cheney
strategy have opened up opportunities for others, including the Islamic
Republic of Iran and other Islamic fundamentalist forces who pose a threat
to American dominance in Central Asia. “This war distracts us from
every threat that we face and so many opportunities we could seize.
This war diminishes our security, our standing in the world, our military,
our economy, and the resources that we need to confront the challenges
of the 21st century. By any measure, our single-minded and open-ended
focus on Iraq is not a sound strategy for keeping America safe.”

He also makes his case for his role
as commander-in-chief.  “I am running for President of the United
States to lead this country in a new direction”I want to use all elements
of American power to keep us safe, and prosperous, and free. Instead
of alienating ourselves from the world, I want America — once again
— to lead.”

“As President, I will pursue a tough,
smart and principled national security strategy — one that recognizes
that we have interests not just in Baghdad, but in Kandahar and Karachi,
in Tokyo and London, in Beijing and Berlin. I will focus this strategy
on five goals essential to making America safer: ending the war in Iraq
responsibly; finishing the fight against Al Qaida and the Taliban; securing
all nuclear weapons and materials from terrorists and rogue states;
achieving true energy security; and rebuilding our alliances to meet
the challenges of the 21st century.”  He states that he can better
manage domination of the world for those he serves – the U.S. ruling
class.  While he may dress up his strategy as the “best to defend
the American people” he really is talking about defending U.S. hegemony. 
When he talks about ending the Iraq war “responsibly” he is still
talking about achieving victory in that war for the U.S.

Obama has criticized the way the Bush
Regime initiated and has been waging the war in Iraq as “dumb”.
In his foreign policy speech, he said “Let me be clear: we must be
as careful getting out of Iraq as we were careless getting in. We can
safely redeploy our combat brigades at a pace that would remove them
in 16 months”we’ll keep a residual force to perform specific missions
in Iraq: targeting any remnants of Al Qaida; protecting our service
members and diplomats; and training and supporting Iraq’s Security Forces”” 

For one thing, Obama is only talking
about redeploying “combat brigades.”  That would still allow
the presence of tens of thousands of U.S. troops in Iraq as a “residual
force.” He also talks about the need to “make tactical adjustments
as we implement this strategy.”  In others words don’t hold
to any timetables or promises. But the problem with the U.S. war in
Iraq isn’t that Bush is “dumb”, and the response to the problem
from the people can’t be overcoming “carelessness” with “care”.
The war, from its deceitful inception and through every blood drenched
day of the invasion and occupation has been and remains unjust, immoral,
and illegal.

Expanding the War Machine

As a future commander-in-chief, Obama
expresses concern for U.S. military might and calls for military expansion. 
“We cannot tolerate this strain on our forces to fight a war that
hasn’t made us safer. I will restore our strength by ending this war,
completing the increase of our ground forces by 65,000 soldiers and
27,000 marines, and investing in the capabilities we need to defeat
conventional foes and meet the unconventional challenges of our time.”
Anyone who supports Obama needs to ask themselves – what will this
war machine of his be used for?

Obama promises to expand the “war on
terrorism”, and by this he specifically means sending more U.S. troops
to Afghanistan. He says, “That’s why the second goal of my new strategy
will be taking the fight to Al Qaida in Afghanistan and Pakistan. Osama
bin Laden and Ayman al-Zawahari are recording messages to their followers
and plotting more terror. The Taliban controls parts of Afghanistan.
“I will send at least two additional combat brigades to Afghanistan,
and use this commitment to seek greater contributions — with fewer
restrictions — from NATO allies.”

He does not neglect Iran in his speech.
He states, “We cannot tolerate nuclear weapons in the hands of nations
that support terror. Preventing Iran from developing nuclear weapons
is a vital national security interest of the United States. No tool
of statecraft should be taken off the table…I will use all elements
of American power to pressure the Iranian regime, starting with aggressive,
principled and direct diplomacy — diplomacy backed with strong sanctions
and without preconditions.”  When he refers to “no tool of
statecraft” he is referring to the use of military force as one of
these tools. While he claims to put emphasis on diplomacy, we hear similar
words from the Bush regime. We can not forget the speech that Obama
made just last month to AIPAC where he told Israeli supporters that
he would do “everything” to prevent Iran from acquiring nuclear
weapons.

Obama emphasizes his goal of “rebuilding
our alliances to meet the common challenges of the 21st century. 
For all of our power, America is strongest when we act alongside strong
partners.” Obama is among those in the ruling class that believe the
so-called “unilateralism” of the Bush regime has weakened U.S. imperialism. 
He and they believe that the U.S. should utilize alliances whenever
possible to achieve U.S. hegemony in the world. 

He argues for strengthening NATO and
reforming the United Nations, “so that this imperfect institution
can become a more perfect forum to share burdens, strengthen our leverage,
and promote our values.” He believes the U.N. should help achieve
U.S. goals in the world, not act on the needs of the vast majority of
people. 

He also wants to create new tools for
U.S. imperialism.  He calls for the creation of “a Shared Security
Partnership Program — a new alliance of nations to strengthen cooperative
efforts to take down global terrorist networks”That’s why we’ll work
with the African Union to enhance its ability to keep the peace. That’s
why we’ll build a new partnership to roll back the trafficking of drugs,
and guns, and gangs in the Americas.”  This is a straight up
call to strengthen the U.S. ability to militarily interfere in Africa
and Central and South America.  In many countries on both of these
continents, the U.S. hold has receded somewhat over the last few years
and the U.S. ability to bring these nations into line has been diminished. 
Examples include Venezuela and Bolivia where U.S. domination has been
challenged at times.

Obama said he will “double our foreign
assistance to $50 billion by 2012, and use it to support a stable future
in failing states””  While on the surface this sounds like
he wishes to help other countries, anyone who has ever studied the role
of U.S. foreign aid knows that it is used as a tool to dominate other
nations. Such aid always comes with substantial strings. It is used
to prop up reactionary forces in these countries which are willing to
sell out their own people in order to serve U.S. imperialists. It also
ties these countries even closer to such imperialist financial agencies
such as the World Bank and the Export Import Bank.  These agencies
destroy local economies and make them ever more dependent on the U.S. 
And even though such institutions do not generally kill people directly,
they result in tens of millions of deaths each year as a result of their
actions.

Despite words in his speech that suggest
Obama is calling for major changes in the way the U.S. relates to the
world, it is really nothing more than a rehash of imperialist goals. 
If his policies are implemented, the war in Iraq will not end. 
But the war in Afghanistan will intensify.  There is also the real
possibility that war with Iran and Pakistan will also intensify. 
(The U.S. has already engaged in acts of war against both of these countries.)
The possibilities of conflict in the Americas and Africa will also increase.

Implementation of Obama’s plans will
not bring about “peace and prosperity” for the people of the world. 
It will only lead to further attempts by the U.S. to achieve world hegemony.
These attempts will cost the lives of millions.  While they may
differ tactically with those used by the Bush regime, they are part
of the same political trajectory that has been fashioned over the last
seven plus years and they must be opposed.

Ken Theisen is a veteran activist
of movements opposing U.S. imperialism, its wars and domination of countries
throughout the world, and an advocate against domestic violence in the
San Francisco Bay Area.