Digby is blogging at Salon for a while, and she has unknowingly joined the honesty doctrine campaign. She has brought to our attention another hatchet job on Sen. Obama by the Associated Press. And it's as bad as the last one.
The AP says Obama thinks genocide is no biggie
Philip Elliott and the headline writers at the Associated Press have done a real job on Barack Obama with this story, headlined "Obama: Don't Stay in Iraq Over Genocide." The article claims that Obama says that genocide isn't a "good enough reason," when in fact he simply makes the observation that we don't make military decisions on that basis or we would currently be in the Congo, Sudan and Darfur. Not quite the same thing.
But the truly puzzling assertion in the article is this one: "Obama, a first-term senator from Illinois, said it's likely there would be increased bloodshed if U.S. forces left Iraq." That would not be a particularly shocking assessment unless it had been preceded by the inaccurate headline and lead that imply Obama doesn't give a damn about genocidal bloodshed. But it's just plain misleading when you see what Obama actually said:
"Nobody is proposing we leave precipitously. There are still going to be U.S. forces in the region that could intercede, with an international force, on an emergency basis," Obama said between stops on the first of two days scheduled on the New Hampshire campaign trail.
"There's no doubt there are risks of increased bloodshed in Iraq without a continuing U.S. presence there."
Listen for the echo on hate radio.
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Real History
During the second year of the Civil War (1861-1865)a letter to Horace Greely ( of "Go West young man! " fame) in 1862 President Lincoln wrote:
Iwould save the Union. I would save it the shortest way under the Constitution. The sooner the national authority can be restored; the nearer the Union will be "the Union as it was." ... My paramount object in this struggle is to save the Union, and is not either to save or to destroy slavery. If I could save the Union without freeing any slave I would do it, and if I could save it by freeing all the slaves I would do it; and if I could save it by freeing some and leaving others alone I would also do that.
Also, it is documented (I forgot author's name) that President Frankiln Roosevelt knowning that Jews and other many "non-Aryan" peoples dying in Hilter's "Death Camps" and the "genocide" of Chinese the Japanese in Manchuria did nothing (making not even a statement!), regarding these atorcities. In fact, in the decalration of war against Germany and Japan. United States Congress did not mention these genocides.
Other examples "non-wars" against genocide: Korea and Viet Nam!
It sems that Mr Obama's statements are consistant with past US policies. I think Mr. Ellilot (and various "Conserakooks"!) needs to either read a history a book or watch the HistoryChannel.
BTW: Somalia, Bosnia, and Darfur do not count because Presidents Clinton and Bush never called these miltary actions wars.