Now that the final hours of the greatest American tragedy, known as the Bush administration, is just around the corner, the call for change is permeating the political winds from both the Democratic and Republican parties and voters have signed on to those calls lock, stock and barrel. The desire for change among the US citizens is evident in impressive showings at this year primaries in both Iowa and New Hampshire and south Carolina along with the influx of new voters. Also apparent is that the hunger for change is leading many to vote blindly for those candidates that speak of a major shake up in Washington.

 

But do any of the candidates really have the intention to bring real change to the White House? According to several reports and a list of each presidential hopeful’s advisors, the answer is an unequivocal no. Here is a list of each of Democratic presidential candidates and their advisors and how they could shape US politics over next four years.

At the head of the “change” chain is Barak Obama. As we have all heard so far from his camp is that he is the only one of the presidential candidates that can deliver change. So far this message is working very well for him but his cabinet choices tell a very different story. Two of Obama’s top advisors are pro-war Hawks .

Zbigniew Brzezinski

War hawk under former Presidents Jimmy Carter and Ronal Reagan, Brzezinski was notoriously instrumental in the creation of the Mujhadean of Afghanistan, something he brags about in his book “The Grand Chess Board.” During the late 1970s he worked with the CIA to help build up Gulbuddin Hekmatyar, one of the most powerful religious fanatics of Afghanistan at the time. Working through Heckmatyar, Brzezinski was able to overthrow the secular government of the PDPA, Peoples Democratic Part of Afghanistan and, in the process, lure the Soviet Union into invading the country to quell the unrest. What Lawrence Moesha called Operation “Bait The Bear” lead to the creation of Osama Bin Laden. When asked by the French media if the fact that Afghan and Pakistani fundamentalists had taken over the country was worth the resultant bloodshed Brzezinski replied it was “worth a few stirred up Muslims”.

Anthony Lake

Under Bill Clinton, Lake advised the then president to invade Haiti and bring back Aristide under what amounts to political chains. Under Lake’s plan, enacted President Clinton, the rate of malnutrition sky rocketed as did mass destabilization of Haiti. In his earlier days, he worked under Henry Kissinger only to resign in 1970 under the protest of Nixon’s expiation of the Vietnam war. Despite that, Lake is still no where near being a dove as staff of the USIA Paul Malamud, points out, “Lake joined the Foreign Service, and was posted to Vietnam, where became a special assistant to then-ambassador Henry Cabot Lodge.
Singled out early for his talent, Lake rose quickly to become an aide to
Secretary of State Kissinger in 1969, accompanying the secretary on his
first secret meeting with North Vietnamese negotiators in Paris.”

David Axelrod (media advisor to Obama)

If it seems somewhat odd that Barak Obama is not playing the race card, you have his main media advisor to thank for that. David Axelrod of the Chicago tribune, who brought in the tag line “yes we can”, has been often praised by the John McCain camp as one of the best in the media business. Massachusetts Governor Deval Patrick also used Axelrod in his media campaign to deliver the same uplifting message, as Christopher Hayes of the Nation magazine points out. Both men used roughly the same message when discussing the plight of the country’s problem (black population?) that it was not a deficit of the dollar but “the deficit of leadership.” Most importantly, it is Axelrod the largely keeps Barak Obama’s message away from the issue of race. In fact, one can assume that Obama’s “African Americans have made it 90% of the way” comment most likely came from Axelrod. Far from being considered a hawk, Axelrod has some political connections with Paul Simmon, and former Mayor Harold Washington. He has also praised Martin Luther King’s movement. But in keeping race “off the table” shows that the issues concerning African Americans have little problem of getting addressed.

And then there us Dennis Ross, another former Clinton advisor. He has come out with statements that suggest that the US would take the position that Israel’s needs should come before that of the Palestine’s. Interestingly enough, he has gone after Jimmy Carter on several occasions has been known to attack Jimmy Carter.

HILLARY

Hillary Clinton’s cabinet is not much better. In fact, she is looking to bring in some the most hawkish Bill Clinton’s inner circle. On top of her advisor list is Richard Holbrooke. In 1975 Holborroke spoke with the Indonesian government which was led by general Suharto   about the US’s backing of the plan to invade East Timor. The invasion equaled to nothing less than a genocidal attack on a helpless nation. In all, 200,000 people were killed, 1/3 of the pre-invasion population. He was later placed into the role of advisor to Asian affairs under Jimmy Carter administration. After the invasion, Halborroke led a fraudulent campaign that on the surface would have put a ban on weapons sent to Indonesia. As it turned out, there was no actual ban in place and the fraud was exposed Cornell University professor Benedict Anderson. To read more on him, you can check out the Z magazine link bellow.

Then there is Madeleine Albright, a former close advisor to Bill Clinton and former ambassador to the UN and than later, US Secretary of State. Ms. Albright has a long history in what she calls humanitarian missions in foreign affairs but is in fact, acts humanitarian crisis. She has Oked several horrific acts of violence such as the Somalia where Albright, as well as Wesley Clark supported the use of sulfur shells which rained down on several towns in this poverty torn nation with, to quote a great film “with extreme prejudice.” She was also a main player in the bombing massacre of Kosovo where the Clinton administration supported the KLA, the countries answer to the drug running mob.

Sandy Berger was one of the main architects of some of Clintons most conversion policies which including plans to Yugoslavia and opening trade with China which have lead to the loss of tens of thousands of jobs. But Berger will be most remembered for his theft of terrorist records from the US archives shortly before the 9/11 commission was formed. This scandal created such a fire storm, it lead to his firing from the John Kerry campaign in his presidential of 2004. Clinton’s decision to bring him on board has even raised a few eyebrows of some of her staff.

Despite his message of populism, the funding of John Edwards is well with in the inner circle of murder inc. Expect for a few exceptions, John Edwards is heavily funded my the military industrial complex and as you can see on his own campaign website, he is gearing up to take the advice about our current wars from the same brass that has stood among the rank and file in two wars that could only be described as weapons against US Democracy. For the list, you can check out the link below. Others on his advisory boards are David “Mud Cat” Saunders and Washington insider, former advisor to Howard Dean and fat cat, Joe Trippi.

Next up will be the list of Republican candidates and their band of corporate criminals .

Until Next time.

http://www.johnedwards.com/news/headlines/20070523-military-advisory-group/

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sandy_Berger

http://www.examiner.com/a-977346~He_s_back__Sandy_Berger_now_advising_Hillary_Clinton.html

http://www.zmag.org/CrisesCurEvts/sunil.htm

http://www.rense.com/general31/cyc.htm

http://www.mtholyoke.edu/acad/intrel/lake1.htm

http://www.thenation.com/doc/20070219/hayes

http://jpundit.typepad.com/jci/2006/12/carters_maps_wo.html

While Scott Spradling did a better than expected job in asking the candidates some of the tougher questions about issues that ranged from military intervention in Pakistan to the Iraq war. But his series of questions, as to be expected, fell far short of reaching the full spectrum of problems that is being faced both here at home and the world at large. So, here are just some of the questions I wish were asked.

 

1.                  With so much controversy surrounding Abu Ghraib prison, both as a well known center of torture, based on the pictures taken from the center, and as a danger to American civil liberties, which of you support closing the prison down?

2.                  We have seen George Bush add more signing statements to each bill he as passed than every president before him combined, do any of you believe that these statements have any real legal value or is this away to circumvent the law?

3.                  Do you believe that Government should have right to spy on Americans and others without a warrant?

4.                  Should telecommunications companies be immune from legal actions when they allow spying on their customers?

5.                    With all of the outrages committed by the Bush administration, for example questionable reasons for going into Iraq, faulty handling of the New Orleans disaster and even illegal wiretapping, do you believe that he or any other sitting president should be impeached or face some other legal actions?

6.                  With all problems surrounding Blackwater and other paramilitary groups being used by the US government both on the domestic security front and in Iraq, should these companies be dismantled? Remember there are many reports of unjustified shootings in Iraq and there is no legal dynamic to govern them.

7.                  What is your stance on the attack on affordable housing in New Orleans?

8.                  According to several reports, the grand majority of jobs that have already been outsourced to other countries are being replaced with jobs that offer much smaller salaries which are often non-livable in terms of wage, how do you propose fixing this problem. In a related question, how do you recommend creating livable wage careers?

 

Those are just a few questions that were sorely lacking in a debate that attracted the US population as a whole. Further, it would shine some light on where each Democrat stands on some of the most pressing issues that are affecting us today. But,

With the media being what it is, it is not surprising that they were not asked.

Until next time.