The following piece is part of an ongoing series of OffTheBus reports by citizen policy experts critiquing different aspects of Campaign 08.
Barack Obama represents "the only hope for the US in the Muslim world," according to Pulitzer-prize winning investigative reporter Seymour Hersh. Because Obama's father was a Muslim, he "could lead a reconciliation between the Muslim countries and the US." With any of the other candidates as president, Hersh said, "we're facing two or three decades of problems in the Mideast, with 1.2 billion Muslims."
Hersh, who writes for The New Yorker about the Bush Administration in Iraq and Iran, spoke to my history class at UC Irvine on Tuesday. In Obama's 2006 book The Audacity of Hope he wrote that his Kenyan father was "raised a Muslim," but says he was a "confirmed atheist" by the time his parents met. His parents separated when he was two years old and later divorced.
Of course if Obama did win the nomination, one can only imagine what the Republicans would do with the fact that his father was a Muslim. We've already had Mitt Romney smiling next to a campaign sign in South Carolina that said "No to Obama Osama."
Hersh did not hold out much hope for improved relations between the US and the Muslim world. "The only good news I can bring you is that tomorrow morning there will be one less day of the Bush presidency," he told an overflow crowd in a public lecture at UC Irvine. Bush "doesn't care about" his low standing in the polls, and as a result "he's going to keep going until 11:59 a.m. on January 20, 2009."
Even after Bush's term ends, "much of the damage is yet to come," Hersh said. "The problems for the next president may be intractable."
"They say the surge has worked," Hersh said. "But do you think someday we will get an oil deal in Iraq? They'll burn the fields first. We're hated in Iraq."
As for Afghanistan, "we became more of a threat to the people than Taliban," Hersh said. We're "losing the war there," he said, and concluded that "Afghanistan is a doomed society."
Hersh said he had just returned from Syria, where he was working on his next New Yorker piece, on the mysterious bombing carried out by the US and the Israelis. "The Syrians have a much longer-term perspective than we do," he said. "They say 'we've been here for 10,000 years; we're not going away.'"
As for the short term, Hersh said, "Cheney thinks war with Islam is inevitable, so we might as well have it now." Administration plans for bombing Iran call for targeting the Revolutionary Guards. Iran's response, Hersh said, is likely to be "asymmetrical" - instead of striking back directly at the US, they will "hit the oil" in the Gulf. The result will be oil prices of "$200 or $300 a barrel," double or triple the current price.
But will Bush bomb Iran? Hersh's answer: "How the hell should I know?"
'fun' can we honestly afford?
No question we must muster all the credibility we have as an offering of good will to the Muslim world. Aren't we missing the fact that Joe Biden practically forced the Clinton administration to take action in the Balkans and in doing so helped save hundreds of thousands of Muslims? The Dutch army as part of the UN was paralyzed while Muslims were murdered until the US intervened. That's credibility. Why aren't we using it?
Let me point out too that when Musharraf took Pakistan off the rails a couple of weeks ago, both he and Bhutto called the head of the Foreign Relations Committee. Not Clinton, not Obama, not Bush, but Biden.
Oh, by the way. Lou Dobbs has said maybe a trillion times he is not and will not run for anything. But of course, you know better having read it, somewhere. He's just frankly not nuts enough or beholding to political parties or corporations to play dead and sell out the people he comes from as a poor farm kid who made it on his own.
And by the way, lots of people who speak on behalf of the middle class do have a brain, are honorable people and have the maturity to see a diverse picture with many sides.
This requires going far beyond the 'we alone OWN THE TRUTH zealots' of the left or right. It's amazing to learn as time passes what we thought we knew-was some shaded version of someone elses thinking and no where close to reality or fact.
So get a helmet. I read the pigs are airborne.
Remember when Osama said he conceived 9-11 decades ago when America, led by Republicans, invaded Beirut, downed the twin towers and killed thousands of Muslims---all over oil.
Maybe if we elect the Democrats to rule this nation, the Muslims will know that at the very least, we won't kill them for oil.
Yea, I'm a Hillary fan because I think she understands the Muslim world better than any other candidate. I've listened to her lecture for hours to ivy league schools on the subject. Hope she continues to lead the pac.
So Obama's father was raised a Muslim but became an athiest. That makes him an apostate in the eyes of Muslims. They kill you for that in many parts of the Muslim world. www.apostatesofislam.com
If Hersh likes Obama he should just say so instead of making up illogical reasons to vote for the man. I'm sure there's a great deal of legitimate reasons to support him.
Obama, like the majority of Americans, is an infidel in the eyes of Muslims. According to the Ayatollah Sistani in Iraq (the Ayatollah who's supposed to lead them and also be our best buddy) American indidels are 'Unclean' and are on the same list as pigs and dogs. According the fundementalist Muslims infidels are supposed to submit to Muslims and pay a special tax (Jizya), convert or die. Period. Now Obama could be the new posterboy for appeasement and probaly be loved by the Islamic world but otherwise Hersh's views are just a fantasy.
As for losing in Afghanistan, we're not. We may not have had the success we desired in Afghanistan but I doubt it's anyworse than under the Taliban. I wonder what the statistics are for stonings, honor killings and beheadings since we overthrew the Taliban.
Barack Obama does not guarantee a successful relationship with Muslims anymore than JFK could bring peace to Ireland.
We want a track record, specific negotiating experience, and maturity to be our guide in these matters. No doubt that FIVE time Nobel Peace Prize nominee, Bill Richardson, has these qualities.
12 members of Congress nominated Bill Richardson yesterday (11/15) the fifth time for his work in Sudan and North Korea.
http://ap.google.com/article/ALeqM5goq3QS5sfNYNH9AcGrphznpukaBQD8SU2MN80
He has already successfully negotiated the release of US servicemen and hostages in Iraq, Sudan, Cuba, and North Korea. This work goes back to 1994.
There was one person standing on the stage in Vegas last night with the qualifications to do the job that we need to have done - Bill Richardson. Take another look.
richardsonforpresident.com
After Hillary backed him off like a Border Collie herding a recalcitrant lamb last night, I'm not sure Obama has the balls to be president.
He seems like a very nice guy, but we need a real bitch (or bastard) in office right now-- someone who can undo the damage Bush and the neo-cons have done to us over the last eight years.
I think Hillary's the right bitch to get the job done. I don't nesessarily want to have a beer with her, but I'd love to have her as my attorney.
And remember, she comes equipped with Bill Clinton, and he's far more politically brilliant than Elizabeth Edwards or Michelle Obama.
Seymour Hersh may be a Pulitzer winning journalist, but I think his opinion is rather far-fetched this time.
Bill Clinton would be the best choice for healing America's abysmal relationship to the world right now, but he can't run...unless we can somehow slip him in by the side door.
Hey, I have an idea! Let's elect his wife!
Frankly, given the record of U.S. Government and Politicians in mucking up everything they work on, I hesitate to allow them even their purview within our United States borders. I mean, look at the disaster that is the American educational system, the American health care system, the American economy, American politics, American everything. That great America we enjoyed just a few generations ago, has been totally, utterly destroyed by our foolish leadership and their profligate, feminist, know-nothing sentiments. Americans have finally acquired the governance we deserve, for being so cavalier about the beautiful Country, Society, and Government we all had, just a few generations ago. I know of it, because I am old enough, at age 53, to remember.
What we need most is honesty and a renewed focus on justice. We need to re-establish our own credibility concerning the traditional American values that the Neocons have lured us away from.
Regarding Romney near the "Obama Osama" sign: I experience no end of amazement at how superficial the Republican attacks on Obama are. This guy speaks so gently and intelligently, with respect for all: he is nothing like Osama in any way except their names sound similar. Is that the best Republican warriors can do? Is that their only way of criticizing, by going down to the grade school level playground bully level?
Apparently it is.
Larry Nocella
http://www.LarryNocella.com/