Through his own statements, Barack Obama relentlessly destroys his former anti-war credentials. In an effort to establish himself as a "statesman" in the eyes of the power structure, Obama now advocates a much larger Army and Marine Corps to allow the U.S. to "lead the world in battling immediate evils and promoting the ultimate good." Do not expect a "peace dividend" under a President Barack Obama. The only genuine peace candidate is Rep. Dennis Kucinich, of Ohio - which is why the corporate media pretend Kucinich doesn't exist.

"Obama strongly supports the expansion of American ground forces by adding 65,000 new soldiers to the Army and 27,000 Marines."


Barack Obama has delivered the third of his long national security speeches, and has once again revealed that he is an imperialist at heart. Speaking at the Chicago Council on Global Affairs, Obama envisioned a century in which the U.S. would "lead the world in battling immediate evils and promoting the ultimate good." Battling "evil"..."promoting the ultimate good" - sounds very much like George Bush's rationale for doing whatever the United States pleases in the world, under the assumption that the Americans know what the "ultimate good" is.

Of course, Obama also called for more respect for the United Nations and other international institutions, and for increased efforts to forge alliances whenever the U.S. finds it necessary to go to war. But that's all empty talk, a cover for his real intention to increase U.S. capacity to meddle in other people's affairs. The U.S., he says, "must maintain the strongest, best-equipped military in the world in order to defeat and deter conventional threats." The United States already spends more on war-fighting capacity than all the other nations on the planet, combined! The U.S. maintains 730 military installations in 50 countries around the globe!. But that's not enough for Barack Obama, who calls for an enhanced "ability to put boots on the ground." He told the Chicago foreign policy crowd he strongly supports the expansion of American ground forces by adding 65,000 new soldiers to the Army and 27,000 Marines. In other words, while Obama gives lip service to disentangling most - although by no means all - U.S. troops from Iraq, as president he would send them elsewhere and add nearly one hundred thousand more to the mix.

"All Obama really promises is to be a better, smarter imperialist."

This is not a man of peace: this is an imperialist bent on further U.S. expansionism. Obama pratters on about the need to avoid "bullying" other countries - but bullying is precisely what armies, navies and air forces are all about. Obama talks sweetly but wants to carry an even bigger stick than George Bush. All he promises is that he will be more judicious and thoughtful in using that bigger stick. History shows such promises are never sincerely made, and are never, ever kept.

There is only one peace candidate in the Democratic primary race: Ohio Congressman Dennis Kucinich. He's the only one that actually voted against giving Bush War Powers in 2002, the only one to vote against providing another nearly $100 billion for the war, this year, and the only one who categorically rejects going to war with Iran. Only Kucinich would withdraw all U.S. troops from Iraq and withdraw the more than 100,000 U.S. "contractors" - a euphemism for American mercenaries paid for with U.S. tax dollars. Obama and the other candidates say nothing about these soldiers of fortune, although they are an integral part of the U.S. war machine.

Barack Obama is busy trying to prove that he is a statesman. There is no reason to doubt that he wants to run the American state, and for the Americans to run the world. All Obama really promises is to be a better, smarter imperialist - one with a much bigger military, if anybody decides to disagree. That's the definition of an imperial statesman.

For Black Agenda Radio, I'm Glen Ford.

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