If we felt some solidarity with other victims of al Qaeda, we wouldn’t hate Muslims so much. However others don’t annually cry out about the pain in public memorials so concerned Americans need to dig to get them to talk about it for us to understand.

Peace Leaders Killed:
Afghan President Karzai has been promoting a peace conference, but in areas where the Taliban is strong, several Tribal leaders including Abdul Rahm and Rahman Gul have been assassinated by the Taliban for praising Karzai’s plans for an all encompassing peace jirga. Recently the Talban has usually urged people personally to make amends before attacking them. If so since these leaders are in areas where the US is having a surge and hands on approach in dealing with the locals, the intense new pressure on these leaders from the US, and what the Taliban ordered left them no room to maneuver. The drone war gets worse every time Hamid Karzai talks of peace. And maybe there are other explanations but the US population needs to realize that there was a real bloodbath from warlords fighting with each other when the Russians left, and there is a generation of men who never had another job but soldier and will seek similar work if they are unemployed especially if the mass influx of funds both given and stolen from the US dries up. I and others would still like the war to end for our own sake and the sake of the world’s shaky economic situation, but images of Afghans cheering in the street or village, and hugging each other because the war is over, can only be in the US imagination.

There has been several incidents where it is perceived that President Obama let supporters down. However after Specter was blacklisted by the Republican Party, Obama did everything he could to support Specter. The fact that the Republican Party changed it’s mind about also booting out Elizabeth Snow who also voted for the stimulus should be interpreted as Obama saving Snow’s job. Obama has made a number of other quiet successes, but quiet successes doesn’t lesson the perception that the way to get something out of Obama is to kick him real hard. Note Obama’s desire to at first have others like Afghan President Karzai govern in Obama’s style, until they too became a squeaky wheel in response.

Events in Greece may lead to Americans taking a new look at our unhappiness over Obama’s bailout efforts and compromises. The idea is becoming popular, that the people whether one considers oneself progressive or conservative should unite against those in charge. I believe this is bad news. In this essay I systematically examine and try to refute the idea that Obama is betraying what he first claimed to stand for.

The Peace movement thinks that Obama could announce a speedy withdrawal date and Afghanistan will be at peace again. This, instead of women in Kabal crying about the possibility of being whipped again if they don’t put on burkas, the men whose only job they even knew was fighter, not try to find more work.

Mullah Omar has a strict Taliban code of ethics, Afghan President Karzai instead of having secret prisons like in Iraq, complains of civilian deaths and General McChrystal prides himself on how few civilians get killed, anyone of them could be replaced by a hothead. So we should get out, but that won’t happen unless the peace movement stops painting a rosy picture of what might happen if we do get out soon.

Afghan President Hamid Karzai pursued peace many times in his life way starting long before he was Afghan President when fighting broke out between rebels as soon as the Soviets left. He isn’t seen as a peace leader do to the assumption that non-Westerners can’t be peace activists and the awkward circumstances in each situation.

The Afghan War may be like a roach glue trap where there is no way to win anything and no way to get out. However, Karzai comes from an intellectual background. He married his wife a fellow intellectual not a slave. He has a lot of political skill. I trust he is more likely to know what’s best in relation to what is possible than anyone else.

Afghan President Karzai is very excited about peace negotiations with the top al Qaeda supporting war lord Gulbuddin Hekmatyar. Karzai was a noted Northern Alliance official, and tries not to just be a puppet, constantly urging the US to be more careful to avoid civilian casualties, and constantly calling for peace negotiations with all of the Taliban trying to get others like the Saudis to mediate, with the Taliban’s usual response being he is a traitor not worth negotiating with. Now that he finally got his breakthrough, when Hekmatyar decided to negotiate with Karzai, Obama went to Afghanistan and lectured the Afghan government about corruption when Hekmatyar is about as corrupt as a warlord could be. I wish we had an intelligent peace movement coming to Karzai’s defense.

With all the vague mush going around the NY Times March 30 wrote an article shilling condemning Karzai for going out of his way to have good relations with Ahmadinejad and Iran. Perhaps this will wake the Kucinichs and Cindy Sheehans to the fact that Karzai is no US puppet.

The bottom of NY Times article on the arrest of Muller Baradar suggests he may have been trying to contact the US for peace talks but was arrested by Pakistan instead.

As the Greek Trajudy unfold Johnson was replaced by Nixon who had a so-called secret plan to end the war which end up including exteding the war to Laos and Cambodia. We seem all but destined to have a goon who brags the no rights for terrorsits keeps us safe, replace Obama and extend the war to Iran and other Muslim lands.

Must Greek Trajudey be the law for the future or is there any way out

When Obama was elected we were full of hope. Now everyone thinks warning of bad news is the way to prevent it from happening. But there is still a lot of good news. Far less black and white hatred than last year. Back a few years some communities were trying to zone imigrants away, back further here in Philadelphia the Mayor was trying to get people to stop handing out sandwiches on the street by having License and Inspection harrass church soup kitchens.

Maybe Obama is right. Dwelling on the good news might help it to happen.