THE
ROVING EYE Hillary, the war chick
By Pepe Escobar
PHILADELPHIA - When that phone rings at 3am at the White House, what does a
true red-blooded Madam President do? She calls her generals and orders them to
"obliterate" Iran. In other words: she orders the killing of 70 million people.
It's 10pm right outside Democratic Senator Hillary Clinton's victory rally at
the Hyatt in downtown Philadelphia, and Mei-ling Wang is very, very angry.
Fervent Hillary and Senator Barack Obama supporters in the streets try to
out-shout and out-perform each other after Clinton beat Obama in the
Philadelphia presidential primary, but that's not what's bothering Wang.
She embodies the quintessence of the Asian-American dream. A
master's from Harvard, a PhD at the University of Maryland, an associate
professor at the University of the Sciences in Philadelphia. But she chose not
to simply follow the "get rich is glorious" way as extolled by the late Chinese
"Helmsman" Deng Xiaoping. As a co-director of the Social Exclusion Knowledge
Network, she's been all over the developing world working with the
poor, the homeless, the downtrodden, the excluded. And she has a few rash words
to say to the Clintons.
"I've stumbled on Clinton supporters and asked them why she has lied about so
many important issues. They told me everybody lies. I am a teacher. I told them
'look me in the eye. Would you say to your children that it is OK to lie'?"
Wang defends Obama as a "true American hero", stressing "in the beginning, he
had nothing. The kind of people we Americans admire is the little guy, not
somebody who has used her husband's [Bill's] resources, or someone who has a
rich wife like [Republican Senator John] McCain."
Hillary won in Pennsylvania propped up essentially by old (second only to
Florida) Catholic (40% of the vote) women (almost 60% of the vote). Blue-collar
white men - "bitter" or not - also helped. Pennsylvania - even more rural than
Ohio - is a state where the majority of voters (55%) have not even finished
high school.
What the throng outside Hillary's victory rally made clear is what's being
confirmed by most polls. At least one in four Hillary voters are that stubborn;
they will never vote for Obama if he clinches the nomination. Not only happy to
use all the tricks in the Karl Rove slash and burn political playbook, thus
committing a potential disaster inside the Democratic Party, Hillary had to
extend her slash and burn approach to the Middle East.
The (nuclear) postman never rings twice
On ABC's Good Morning America, Hillary was asked what she would
do as president if Iran attacked Israel with nuclear weapons. The premise of
the question in itself is preposterous. Iran does not possess a single nuclear
weapon; it is not trying to assemble a nuclear weapon (even US intelligence
admits it); and Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei has already stressed,
echoing the leader of the Islamic Revolution, Ayatollah Khomeini, that a
nuclear weapon - which implies the genocide of civilians - is "against Islamic
rules". Khamenei has stressed "our nuclear bomb and our explosive powers are
our faith, our youth and our people who have been present on the most difficult
scenes with utmost power and faith and will continue to do so".
Hillary, anyway, was undeterred. She said: "In the next 10 years, during which
they might foolishly consider launching an attack on Israel, we would be able
to totally obliterate them." She admits this is "a terrible thing to say", but
doesn't question the much-hyped Iranian threat for the hype it truly is, adding
that "those people who run Iran" need to understand her tough talk. Thus she
positions herself as the sender of a wise message that "perhaps will deter them
from doing something that would be reckless, foolish and tragic".
Not a world from Hillary about Israeli neo-colonization and collective
punishment in the West Bank and Gaza. Not a word about Israel's several hundred
nuclear warheads - the only country in the Middle East to actually possess
nuclear weapons, and to have announced not so subtly it would have no problems
using them.
Mei-ling Wang has every reason to be angry with what she characterizes as
Hillary's "lies". This is further evidence that as the acrimony inside the
Democratic Party spreads like a poisonous virus, Hillary by now has become
virtually indistinguishable from the presumptive Republican nominee, McCain.
McCain, not happy to just contemplate a hundred-year war in Iraq, has already
sung his now famous "Bomb, bomb, Iran" Beach Boys rip-off. Hillary lip-synchs
she wants to finish the war in Iraq, but then goes for the "obliteration" of
Iran.
Both candidates are obviously pandering towards the Zio-cons and the powerful
American Israel Public Affairs Committee lobby in the US. But most of all,
Hillary is hedging her bets in terms of the buildup towards a possible attack
on Iran, now that Vice President Dick Cheney is free to pursue his ultimate
goal with pliable, opportunistic, counterinsurgency ace General David Petraeus
promoted to head US Central Command.
Hillary's positioning spells Imperial Washington in all its glory - and hubris.
Not only McCain; a president Hillary will mean more wars in the Middle East. So
much for Hillary's rhetoric about "peace in the Middle East". But the real
tragedy is that none of the vociferous street supporters outside the victory
party rally in downtown Philadelphia, or her voters at large, are aware of the
true colors of Hillary, the war chick.
Head
Office: Unit B, 16/F, Li Dong Building, No. 9 Li Yuen Street East,
Central, Hong Kong Thailand Bureau:
11/13 Petchkasem Road, Hua Hin, Prachuab Kirikhan, Thailand 77110
