NYCLAW -- New York City Labor Against the War

November 8, 2008

Our Obama Problem
The only hope is that people will take him, not at his word, because he has not promised anything, but at what they think his word is, and will react furiously when he betrays their (unfounded) hopes.
http://counterpunch.org/bricmont11072008.html

Obama's Limits Are Key
Barack Obama will be the catalyst for a new movement, away from false hope and false promises, not because he will deliver to the people of this country anything worthwhile, but because he won't. . . .
http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article21167.htm

Rising Popular Expectations
The people by the tens of millions have awakened and they have desperate expectations.
http://www.workers.org/2008/us/presidential_election_1113/

What People Want
Tens of millions of people want a new direction. The question is whether they can be organized to fight for it.
http://socialistworker.org/2008/11/07/new-shape-of-US-politic



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AFGHANISTAN & PAKISTAN

U.S. Missile Kills 10+ More Pakistanis
Scores of people have been killed in missile strikes and a Sept. 3 cross-border commando raid, but no top al Qaeda or Taliban leaders have been reported to have died. . . . The United States has shrugged off Pakistani protests.
http://www.nytimes.com/reuters/world/international-pakistan-violence-missile.html?ref=world

A Certain Path to Self-Destruction
War has destroyed five presidencies in the last 90 years, those of Woodrow Wilson, Harry Truman, Lyndon Johnson, Richard Nixon and George W. Bush. History says it will destroy Obama's too if he really meant it when he said he will fight in Afghanistan, that graveyard for empires.
http://counterpunch.org/velvel11072008.html



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PALESTINE

Obama and Gaza
[P]rogressive people across this country, you know, instead of basking in the euphoria, need to pick themselves up today and start demanding that the Obama administration immediately end the siege of Gaza.
http://www.alternet.org/columnists/story/106196/why_iraqis%2C_afghans%2C_palestinians%2C_and_others_might_be_nervous_about_president_obama/

Emanuel's Proud, Racist Father
"Obviously he will influence the president to be pro-Israel. Why wouldn't he be? What is he, an Arab? He's not going to clean the floors of the White House."
http://www.jpost.com/servlet/Satellite?pagename=JPost/JPArticle/ShowFull&cid=1225910047157

New "Tolerance" Museum on Stolen Palestinian Land
The Nazi-hunting Simon Wiesenthal Centre is the main promoter of the museum, designed by renowned US architect Frank Gehry.
http://afp.google.com/article/ALeqM5gWXdcL0vC644PKsedJ83z6us8XpQ



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IRAN

Obama's New Threats
"Iran's development of a nuclear weapon, I believe, is unacceptable. And we have to mount an international effort to prevent that from happening."
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/11/08/AR2008110801154.html



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IRAQ

Obama's Real Plans
The campaign was very vague about describing troops' withdrawal, all the troops, within 16 months. Now, the fine print of the campaign suggests the opposite, actually.
http://www.alternet.org/columnists/story/106196/why_iraqis%2C_afghans%2C_palestinians%2C_and_others_might_be_nervous_about_president_obama/

About That Timetable
Michael O'Hanlon, a national security expert at the Brookings Institution in Washington, said that Obama has enough political capital to free him from "pleasing the left" of the Democratic Party as he presses forward with his strategy for Iraq and Afghanistan.
http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/chi-iraq-troops_madhani_07nov07,0,1270759.story

Emanuel Defends War
"I still believe that getting rid of Saddam Hussein was the right thing to do, OK?"
http://www.worldnetdaily.com/index.php?fa=PAGE.view&pageId=80411

Following U.S. Election, Puppet Regime More Openly Tolerant of Occupation
The Iraqi government, made up of exiles who were able to rise to power only as a result of the American invasion, has been looking for a way to support the pact without appearing to be kowtowing to Americans.
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/11/07/world/middleeast/07iraq.html?hp

But Iraqis Are Still Opposed
"We will continue to condemn the Iraqi-American pact because it will legislate the American presence in Iraq."
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/11/08/world/middleeast/08iraq.html?_r=1&ref=world&oref=slogin



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SAUDI ARABIA

Hunger Strike for Real Democracy
Saudi Arabia is an absolute monarchy that does not tolerate dissent, political parties or nongovernmental civil and human rights groups. The strike's organizers could face arrest.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/11/06/AR2008110603243.html



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GEORGIA

Georgia Waged Indiscriminate War
Georgia's inexperienced military attacked the isolated separatist capital of Tskhinvali on Aug. 7 with indiscriminate artillery and rocket fire, exposing civilians, Russian peacekeepers and unarmed monitors to harm.
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/11/07/world/europe/07georgia.html?hp

And Killed Civilians With Israeli Cluster Bombs
[R]esearchers from Human Rights Watch found wreckage from Israeli-supplied rockets with bomblets that had been used by Georgia, suggesting a "massive technical failure."
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/11/06/world/europe/06cluster.html?ref=world



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ISLAMOPHOBIA

Young Muslims' Mixed Emotions on Obama
"In my community, people were saying to me, 'Who do we support?' The person who is making the stereotype? Or the person who is not defending us?"
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/11/07/nyregion/07muslims.html?ref=nyregion



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LABOR AND ECONOMY

Emanuel -- Free Trade Champion
[H]e was a point man in the White House in the fight to pass the North American Free Trade Agreement and similar deals that have been passionately opposed by the very labor, environmental and farm groups that were essential players in electing Obama.
http://www.thenation.com/doc/20081117/nichols2?rel=rightsideaccordian

Emanuel Was Director of Freddie Mac During Scandal
The oversight report said the board had been apprised of the suspect accounting tactics but "failed to make reasonable inquiries of management."
http://www.abcnews.go.com/Blotter/story?id=6201900&page=1



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ANTIWAR MOVEMENT

IVAW Challenges Obama
Our message remains the same: it is time to immediately withdraw all occupying forces from Iraq; it is time to end the death and destruction facing the people of Iraq and address the needs of the Iraqi people; and it is time to provide our veterans with the care and benefits that they need and have earned through their service to our country.
http://ivaw.org/node/4524

But UFPJ Remains Enthralled
In his speech on Tuesday night, Barack Obama said, "This victory alone is not the change we seek. It is only the chance for us to make that change." Obama has put forth the challenge and United For Peace and Justice is ready to meet that challenge as we work to change our nation's path from militarism and greed to peace and justice.
http://www.unitedforpeace.org/article.php?id=3974

Nader Speaks Truth to Power . . .
[W]e're really talking about just more of the same, in terms of the corporate domination of Washington.
http://i3.democracynow.org/2008/11/5/melissa_harris_lacewell_on_president_elect

And Smeared For It, Left and Right
[T]he fatuously hypocritical liberal left, after eight years of railing against Fox News for its Bush worship, is now applauding Fox News for its smears against Nader because Nader had the temerity not to immediately bow down and worship the new messiah.
http://www.uruknet.info/?p=m48569&hd=&size=1&l=e


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