Questions for the Obama Administration

Now that we've managed to elect the better of the two candidates for the office of the presidency I, like many Americans, am beginning to ask the hard questions. Questions that I believe President-elect Obama should be accountable to when he takes office. I don't think anyone expects immediate solutions to every problem we face as a nation and as a planet but I hope that the new president and his cabinet make good on their promises to communicate with the American people and act in our best interest. That includes reaching out to the world community non-violently and restoring our tarnished image overseas. This too is in the best interest of Americans as members of a global society.




The following are a set of questions that I intend to put in letter form and send to Barack Obama and Joe Biden:

Dear President-elect Obama:

With all due respect, I'd like to put forth to you some questions regarding issues that I have been grappling with since your election. I would like to say that I voted for you and have, like so many Americans, put my faith and hope in you to finally provide for our country the leadership it's lacked for the eight years of the Bush/Cheney administration.


If you intend to implement an exit strategy out of Iraq, will you be able to honor the promise you made that such a plan would be done over a sixteen month period? If not, how long do you foresee it taking and what are the specifics of your plan? Further, you made comments during your campaign stating that in terms of Pakistan, you would not rule out attacks to "get" Osama Bin Laden. Is this something that you assume you must do or have you sought the counsel of experts on this issue that include non-militarily aligned and government individuals? Will you use every tool and make every effort you can to avoid military strikes against Pakistan? In regard to Afghanistan you've stated that more troops are needed there.


I don't know enough about the minutia of the many problems of the region but I'm concerned that while we think about potentially pulling our troops out of Iraq, we will send as many troops to Afghanistan. If we are unable to stabilize Afghanistan without more military force, how will we do it? And if we do it, will there be a rational, realistic plan to do the work and leave as soon as possible?


Regarding health care. I was rather disappointed to hear very little of substance about healthcare during your campaign. As you know, we as a nation are experiencing a health care crisis unparalleled by any other major power.



This from your website:


Barack Obama will make health insurance affordable and accessible to all:

The Obama-Biden plan provides affordable, accessible health care for all Americans, builds on the existing healthcare system, and uses existing providers, doctors and plans to implement the plan.


Hmmm. The term "builds on the existing healthcare system" sounds not only vague, but somewhat suspicious. Since from my estimation, the so-called healthcare system is a powerful, moneymaking industry with powerful lobbyists in Congress, I don't put much trust in "building on it". This type of talk makes me worried that you will cave in to the healthcare industry; one of the reasons, I believe, we have not been successful at getting a proposal for national health care on the table as even a beginning step. Isn't it about time we challenge that industry by confronting the healthcare issue on a national level for the good of all Americans? I'm not satisfied with your plan. I'm hoping, as you've dared to encourage us to hope, that when the pressing issues of the economy are under control, that you will revisit your concept of what healthcare should look like in the U.S. and begin to draw up a plan that will satisfy the needs of the people instead of the needs of the healthcare industry and the pharmaceutical giants.

And speaking of the economy. I'm currently appalled by how half of the 700 billion dollar bailout money is gone and the economy continues to worsen. Where has the money gone, to whom has it gone and for what reasons, exactly? I know you supported this plan, Mr. Obama, and I hope that when you officially take office on January 20, you will begin to take action to make the financial institutions who received money accountable for their part in the economic demise of our country. And what about Main Street, which was ubiquitously discussed through the part of the presidential campaign when our economy hit rock-bottom? When are the folks on Main Street going to see some relief and how?

And the auto industry is now pandering for money as well. It's a failed industry due to mismanagement, poor planning and short-sightedness. Do we now go and bail an industry that has for decades made a mess of itself and sold countless gas-guzzling SUVs to equally short-sighted, gas-glutton Americans? With the track record the auto industry has, it seems like throwing the people's money at it isn't the solution. In fairness, I realize that you are not yet officially our president and that these issues are needing attention right now. What I'm alluding to is my hope (there's that word again) that once you do become president you will ask the hard questions and take the tough stances that are needed to keep the corporations in check.

Lastly, while I understand this is a very unpopular issue nationally, I'm quite disappointed that both you and Senator Biden are apposed to same-sex marriage. If you hold such a belief because your respective religions dictate that you should, I can respect that. But if what you mean is that you will not lend your support to the legalization of gay marriage, then you are as guilty as the last administration of failing to separate your religious beliefs from what is constitutionally reasonable and sane.

Civil unions, which you say you support, are not the same as marriage; not legally nor symbolically. I urge you to rethink your position and why you take the anti gay marriage stance that you do. It wasn't all that long ago that the idea of black Americans being married was socially unpopular as well. That has changed as should the ban on marriage for GLBT people be changed. It has to begin somewhere and I think the time is now. It should begin with your administration. You represent many things to us and one of them is that you, an African-American have been elected to the highest office of our nation. As an African-American, you should be able to understand the struggle for equal constitutional rights and social acceptance. Your administration has a chance to make history. I hope you take advantage of it.

Sincerely,
The Pagan Sphinx

Peace Child Israel: The Peace-Child Anthem

Saturday Sonata III, with LT.

I'm working today so I've had to be a bit quick putting this one together, but it is at least a wonderful song and purpose.

"Volunteers for Peace" is exactly what it says: individuals and corporations volunteering for peace, at a time when a majority of the populations, inside the Green Line and beyond, were committed to attack and revenge. 20 Arab and Jewish professional vocal and instrumental artists, together with Arab and Jewish teenagers from the Peace Child Israel workshops and elementary school children from Qalansua and Tel Aviv, set personal agendas aside and answered the call at a moment's notice, to share their talents in an effort to make a small contribution to healing in the community. The anthem was heard on radio and seen on television screens throughout the country.

The song has that quality that music from that part of the world so often has: when all of a sudden the vocals rise and fill with such painful yearning and do something akin to jumping up a few quantum levels and your hair almost stands on end - just beautiful moments. I've listened to the song four times in a row now and I think I'm getting a bit wasted, to tell you the truth. I may never get this post up.

[From the text at YouTube] The song, commissioned by the organization Peace Child Israel, was arranged by Israeli composer and singer Shlomo Gronich (the one with the goatee). Ehud Manor and Magid Abu-Rokun composed the lyrics. Sung in both Hebrew and Arabic, this beautiful, Middle-Eastern song the power to heal and transform Arab and Jewish communities. It's high time to tell our leaders: End the siege on Gaza, negotiate in good faith with all Palestinian parties, and demand that both people teach coexistence, mutual respect and human dignity - as this song does!

Jewish singers (in order of appearance):
Leah Shabat
Shlomo Gronich
Zehavah Ben
Eli Luzon

Palestinian singers (in order of appearance):
Sahmir Shukri
Nivine Jaabri
Elias Julianos
Lubna Salame

Much more to read and look at at Peace Child Israel. And if you click on the image in the upper left you can view a large version with the lyrics to the song in Hebrew, Arabic, and English.

Peace, dang it.

P.S. A postscript I had no intention of adding must be. I've just received word that the great American folksinger U. Utah Phillips has passed away. Good journeys, sir. You will be missed.

Where's the Pro-Israel Group?

My first post here, and it's a short one:

This bothers me. Why is it that although the people of Israel voted for the peace process and although peace between Israel and the Palestinians will make life better for both nations it's still common wisdom to call a fringe group of fascists a pro-Israel group? Doesn't the Baltimore Sun read the news? Don't they know the only pro-Israel group in Annapolis is the one negotiating for peace?

Lessons from Past Western Incursions in the Middle East~Juan Cole~

History and Hezbollah: A Podcast Interview With Augustus Richard Norton

The topic below was originally posted in my blog, the Intrepid Liberal Journal as well as the Independent Bloggers Alliance and Worldwide Sawdust.

Trying to make sense of tribal politics in the Middle East can’t be done with simple bumper sticker slogans. The history, entangling relationships, religious dimension, shifting alliances, geography and multiple cultures are a Byzantine maze of complexity. Specifically, the Muslim world is often regarded by people in the west, especially Americans, as a large bowl of alphabet soup. As a result, policy makers who look for quick and easy fixes by force in the region overreach and miscalculate.

One tragic example of miscalculation and overreach is Lebanon. Once regarded as the “jewel” of the Middle East, Lebanon endured a brutal civil from 1975 to 1990. Surrounded by the Mediterranean Sea, Syria and Israel, this small country the size of Connecticut has flummoxed leaders in Jerusalem and Washington for two decades.

In 1982, Israel attempted to drive out the PLO from Lebanon and establish a government friendly to their interests. At the time, Yassir Arafat’s PLO had established a “state within a state” in southern Lebanon and exploited the territory as base of operations against Israel. President Ronald Reagan deployed the U.S. Marines to provide “stability” as part of a Multinational Force. A suicide bomber killed 220 marines in October 1983 and they were “redeployed’ in early 1984. Meanwhile, Israel’s occupation of Lebanon resembled America’s failure in Vietnam as well as the Soviet Union’s experience in Afghanistan and they finally withdrew in the spring of 2000.

Prior to Lebanon’s civil war ending in 1990 the country was a magnet for terrorism and kidnappings by militant Islamic groups coordinating with Iran. These activities helped contribute to the Iran-Contra scandal that plagued the final years of the Reagan Administration. Since then Lebanon has been a hotbed for proxy fights and political intrigue among Syria, Iran, Israel and the United States.

In the early eighties, a resistance movement of Shiite Muslims called Hezbollah, meaning “Party of God” was formed. With the backing of Iran as well as Syria in later years, Hezbollah helped make the price of Israel’s occupation of southern Lebanon too costly and forced their withdrawal seven years ago.

Last summer, Hezbollah infiltrated Israeli territory and kidnapped two of their soldiers - provoking a brutal war resulting in heavy civilian casualties. The kidnapping was an escalation of the tit for tat engagement that had been taking place between Israel and Hezbollah since Israel’s withdraw from southern Lebanon in 2000 otherwise known as "the rules of the game." Israel however opted to use the kidnapping as a pre-text to wipe out Hezbollah and in the process deliver a strategic blow to Iran. Afterwards, Hezbollah’s prestige was enhanced from going toe to toe with Israel.

Yet most policy makers in the United States and Israel simply regard Hezbollah as a terrorist entity and nothing more. However, Augustus Richard Norton writes in his new book, Hezbollah: A Short History (Princeton University Press) that Hezbollah is a sophisticated organization combining the functions of a militia, a social services and public works provider and a political party. He postulates that as Hezbollah’s war with Israel last summer illustrates, they’re far too entrenched in Lebanese society to disappear through the use of force.

Norton, is a Boston University professor of international relations and anthropology, as well as a member of the Council on Foreign Relations. An expert on Shiite political movements, including Hezbollah, Norton was also a military observer for the United Nations in southern Lebanon when Hezbollah and rival Shiite parties were forming there in the early 1980s. A former U.S. Army officer and West Point professor, Norton has conducted research in Lebanon for nearly thirty years. His previous book, Amal and the Shi'a: Struggle for the Soul of Lebanon is widely considered to be a classic account of the political mobilization of Lebanon’s Shiite Muslims.

Lee Hamilton, Vice Chair of the 9/11 Commission and Co-Chair of the Iraq Study Group said,

“Hezbollah is a timely and landmark work. Richard Norton draws on his extensive expertise to offer a comprehensive history that will be of interest to anyone who seeks a better understanding of Hezbollah, Lebanon, or current developments in the Middle East.”

Norton agreed to a podcast interview with me about his book, Lebanon and Hezbollah. Among the topics covered during our conversation was Lebanon’s civil war, Israel’s invasion of Lebanon in 1982, Hezbollah’s origins, their relationship with Syria and Iran, the aftermath of the 2006 war with Israel, how the Hamas takeover of Gaza will impact Hezbollah and Lebanon and the current situation with the militant group Fatah al Islam. Please refer to the media player below.



This interview can also be accessed via the Itunes store by searching for Intrepid Liberal Journal.