Mahboob A. Khawaja, PhD.

The Obama’s presidency was seen a fantasy to the centuries old white legacy of the White House. The power and its glorification associated with the White House have not resulted in any ground breaking discoveries even after Obama’s entry to the Washington landscape. The crucial challenge Obama faces is how to cope with change and adaptability to a New Beginning that he envisaged but betrayed by conscientious compromise to ensure his own political survival. Paul Craig Roberts called him “The World’s Least Powerful Man – the Obama Puppet.” Obama did not pave the way to hell for the unwanted wars but found it already paved by George Bush to keep on solo walking to entrapment - the Madness of Unthinking. Politics is a game of new and creative ideas not a fixed entity or an end to itself. Those who perceive “points of no return” and scramble “red lines” indulge in self-geared acts of absurdity and can hardly relate to the contemporary informed global intellect and changing priorities of the mankind, open and flexible to change and futuristic developments. On all of his major policy statements and strategic intents from the immediate closing of the Guantanmobay Terrorism Headquarters, the end of two bogus wars, the lobbyists dominated politics, re-approaching diplomacy and outreach to normalization of relations with the Muslim world, President Obama got glued to the form and forgot the essence of meaning and purpose for which he won the election - “Yes We Can.”

Most politicians do read Machiavelli’s Prince to perform at the political theatre. On the election night 2008, Obama spoke of “remaking America” but while accepting the wishful Nobel Peace Prize in Oslo and argued not for much needed peacemaking to end the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, but he defended the Bushism of waging aggressive wars against the poor and destitute nations out of the scope of the US animosity radar. George Bush and his neo-conservatives warmongers invested heavily to make America morally, politically and financially bankrupt by waging the bogus wars on terrorism. There was a strategy in No Strategy after the 9/11 events to demonstrate to the fearful American masses that some forceful measures and foreign war engagements will be on the active Bush’s agenda to protect the US security interests. The ultimate aims of the wars on terrorism were to create more terrorism and to destabilize those nations having reservoirs of untapped oil and gas resources and to crop up new markets for the American corporations to sell more arms and weapons.

To spotlight the cruelty of the on-going wars of terrorism for fun and enjoyment, Gordon Duff (“The Baggage of America Extremism: No Enemy, No Negotiation, Only the Dead are Real”, ICH, December 16, 2009), outlines the dilemma: “We had become addicted to the "black and white" version of Bushitism to the extent that we, as a nation, have given up thought entirely. We know we can't win. Do we expect an army of angels to come down from heaven, the ones Cheney, Bush and Rumsfeld dreamed of, or are we going to start acting like a world leader again.”

Obama’s politics does not generate any creative enthusiasm as was perhaps anticipated during his first presidential election campaign. In times of crises and adversity, he appears confused to face the facts of life and global affairs but always willing to strike backdoor compromises if the Israeli lobbyists insist on his role-play. To a reputable international journalist, Robert Dreyfuss (“Obama: 'I Have Met Israel and It Is "Us"' ICH- the Nation 7/12/2010), Obama will even surrender the White House to entice the Israeli interest more so in a presidential election year:

-“Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu set up another illegal Jewish settlement, this time on the White House lawn. And, it appears, President Obama has agreed to serve as its armed guard. So complete was Obama’s identification with Israel yesterday that he actually referred to Israel as “us” before correcting himself: “We strongly believe that, given its size, its history, the region that it’s in, and the threats that are leveled against us—against it, that Israel has unique security requirements.”

It is not the Audacity of Hope but consequential dictate of history when nations and leaders violate the Laws of God, and challenge the limits of reason; they end-up in self defeat and destruction. If diplomacy was the foremost choice to search for feasible political accommodation, President Obama did not bother to use it; instead he continued the Bush dictum of insanity in Iraq and Afghanistan. “Negotiations cannot convince al-Qaida's leaders to lay down their arms,” In his Oslo Nobel Peace Prize speech, President Obama claimed: “to say that force is sometimes necessary is not a call to cynicism, it is recognition of history.” History offers a learning role that you could not comprehend it. History shall judge you Mr Obama by your actions, not claims. With escalating war efforts and additional troops to kill more innocent civilians and disturb the Afghan graveyards, you have kept the insane momentum to airlift more men and material to Afghanistan and that does not signal peacemaking at all. After the American failure in Iraq, You want to conquer Afghanistan and Pakistan to maintain the Bush contracted gas and oil pipelines that sound against the Nature of Things and it is not going to happen in the foreseeable future. The consequences are yet to come.

There is something fundamentally wrong with the American thought process on the War on Terrorism and the emerging conflict with Iran. David Perez (“Imagine”, Information Clearing House, 02/2009), attempts to set out the humanistic concerns:

“Imagine being in a room of maimed, deformed and tortured Iraqis, Afghans and Palestinians, accompanied by widows and orphans mourning because their entire family has been exterminated. I imagine this roomful of walking dead sitting around while my friends and I discuss how “realistic” we in the U.S. must be with our electoral politics, how our expectations need to “practical,” how peace is just so damn “complicated.” …. imagine these victims looking at us with blank, scarred faces as we congratulate ourselves for selecting a new President who talks about “our God-given right to lead,” about our duty to spread U.S.-style democracy throughout the globe, and how we are now just so “proud to be American.”

America could have learnt from the despotic Europeans who fought and killed millions during the two world wars before settling in at the EU tables to define their religious unity and common economic and political interests. Those who conspired animosity and conducted the warmongering against the mankind of which they were a part, are long buried in graveyards and not available for accountability. Surely, they knew how to escape the dictate of history and now the futuristic European generations are pretending to be civilized after having been in the dark ages for centuries. Recently, one 111 years old British soldier - the last remaining WW1 British veteran made it clear before dying (BBC, 10/2009), “we don’t know why we fought and killed other fellow human beings. Wars do not seem to solve any problem.” One wonders, why human beings fight with their fellow human beings. Edward Glover (War, Sadism and Pacifism) noted: “human beings fight because they are afraid, afraid that worse will happen to them if they do not… to pugnacity and hatred, we must add fear.”

Could we – the rational human beings, take notice of the continued insanity and help to stop its overwhelming convergence to safeguard the future generations from the scourge of wars? This was the role and responsibility of the creations of the UNO, the Security Council and other institutionalized systems to make the humanity safe and secure. Perhaps the human nature is at least part wicked and in part foolish, not realizing the consequences of actions of the few war lords of the world, C.E.M Joad wonders, “the pacifist’s question becomes, how can human beings be prevented from suffering from the results of their wickedness and folly?” C.E.M Joad (Guide to Modern Wickedness), makes the obvious facts abundantly clear that war diminishes happiness and lowers morality….and that men simply do not see that war is foolish and useless and wicked. Now as President Obama claimed that it is necessary and wise and honorable. The bigger question may be asked: how can we induce other leaders to perceive their error of perception and judgment and to make them realize the truth that wars are wrong, and those waging the wars are not peacemakers but wicked enemies of the humanity and certainly not suitable to be prized for wars but to be held accountable for the death and destruction of millions of the fellow human beings.

David Perez (“Imagine”, Information Clearing House, 02/2009), attempts to recall the forgotten consequences – the untold sufferings and agony of the civilian victim population of the War on Terrorism in Iraq and Afghanistan, and how do they reason the unreason in a language of silence:

“Imagine these charred visitors with missing limbs bowing their heads and wondering if they should somehow envy us for always finding a way to celebrate and party and bask in our entertainment-soaked culture – even when it comes to our “handsome” President being sworn in at the same time their homes were being incinerated, courtesy of our state-of-the-art weaponry. Perhaps these “unfortunate” sufferers will understand that we can’t prosecute our own war criminals, because, you see, we simply “have to move on.” And maybe they’ll understand that not one U.S. leader has ever – ever – called our bombings and invasions a terrorist act………May be they’ll understand us when we shake our heads and say, “Well, this is just how politics work here. Sure it’s corrupt but, hell, what can we do?”

"I face the world as it is," President Obama explained at the Oslo Nobel Peace Award ceremony (December 10, 2009), but refusing to renounce the war for his nation or under his leadership, saying that he is obliged to protect and defend the United States. But Obama misled the informed and conscientious global intellect as no nation is threatening the American people or their security. “No matter how justified, war promises human tragedy”, he said. Norman Soloman (Commondreams.Org) “Mr President War is not Peace”, Dec 10, 2009), questions the intent and eloquence of Obama’s speech and strikes a warning note:

“War is not peace. It never has been. It never will be…….in the name of pragmatism, Obama spoke of “the world as it is” and threw a cloak of justification over the grisly escalation in Afghanistan by insisting that “war is sometimes necessary” -- but generalities do nothing to mitigate the horrors of war being endured by others.”

America’s political elite so often remembers Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. to fill the moral and intellectual blanks but neglects his advice: “The chain reaction of evil... wars producing more wars... must be broken, or we shall be plunged into the dark abyss of annihilation.” In a war propelled economy of the few, and given the US history of wars for more than 220 battlefield engagements in its two centuries of evolutionary history and the perpetuated insanity of the warlords to make more wars, Mike Prysner (“Amazing speech by an Iraq war veteran”: 12/25/2009), an Iraqi War veteran has these daring observations to share with the informed and concerned humanity:

“Our real enemy is not the ones living in a distant land whose names or policies we don't understand; The real enemy is a system that wages war when it's profitable, the CEOs who lay us off our jobs when it's profitable, the Insurance Companies who deny us Health care when it's profitable, the Banks who take away our homes when it's profitable. Our enemies are not several hundred thousands away. They are right here in front of us.”

To reconstruct a different and more sustainable future for the besieged humanity, it is incumbent upon the intellectuals, academics, visionaries, poets, philosophers and the thinking people of the Universe to perceive and articulate new and creative ideas, new political imagination for the 21st century organizations to be functional for the people, by the people and accountable to the supremacy of the people’s will.

Time and encompassing opportunities warrant New Thinking, New Leaders and New Visions for change and the future-making. But change and creativity and new visions will not emerge out of the obsolete, redundant and failed authoritarianism of the few insane leaders. A reflection on the on-going wars and resulting destructions in Iraq, Afghanistan, Pakistan, Arab Peninsula, Israel and Palestine clearly demonstrate leadership madness, insanity and aggression to the principles and norms of the UNO charter and human rights values guaranteed for peace, security and co-existence. The consequences of Man’s cruelty to Man confirm how closely the Western leaders collaborate with the oil-pumping Arab dictatorial regimes and others so called democracies to betray the interest of the global community. The discovery of oil appears to be a conspiracy to undermine the Arab culture and civilization. The Arab world without oil were people of vision, knowledge and civilization but the oil transitory illusion of prosperity has spoiled and dehumanized the modern Arab minds and souls. They are glued to a treacherous sense of materialism that lacks rational support. The Arab rulers uplifted by the US led militarization in return for oil supplies are fast becoming victims of their own greed and tragedies, and soon they will be gone with the wind as did Ghaddafi, Hosni Mubarak, Saleh Abdullah and very soon Basahr al-Assad too, currently the entrenched Syrian authoritarian bug, making rooms for the US-Britain to assume direct control of the oil and sovereignty gimmick across the Arabian landscape. To challenge the deafening silence of the global warlords for sustainable global peace and security, the mankind must find ways and means to look beyond the obvious and dreadful horizons dominated by the few warlords and continued to be plagued with massacres, barbarity against human culture and civilizations, destruction of the habitats and natural environment as if there were no rational being and people of Reason populating the God-given splendid and evolving Universe. The informed and mature global community looks towards those thinkers, educated and honest proactive leaders enriched with coherent unity of moral, spiritual and intellectual visions and abilities to be instrumental to rescue it from the planned encroachment of the few Western warlords.

For the sole purpose of winning another term of office, Obama appears blindfolded by the political strategists to view the interests of the masters of military-industrial complex in Washington. As Robert Dreyfusss observed how Obama is self-delusional in all of his political imagination: : “If you look at every public statement that I’ve made over the last year and a half, it has been a constant reaffirmation of the special relationship between the United States and Israel, that our commitment to Israel’s security has been unwavering. And in fact, there aren’t any concrete policies that you could point to that would contradict that.”

President Obama, you desperately NEED a self- analysis, self reflection and an inner connection to your conscience, if you do not feel disturbed by some of the latest atrocities of your soldiers under your command. The essence of time and intelligent leadership calls for RETHINKING to be a President of Conscious and President of Change, if facts on the ground warrant a change, you should go for the facts to make a Navigational Change, not fantasies craved by defeated strategists and warmongers. You continued to be encircled by the wrong advisors - warmongers, not by realist thinkers and intellectuals who can help you to understand the pain and anguish of the larger mankind. In global imagery, you are fast becoming a hopeless person lacking moral and intellectual credibility. You are the Commander-in-Chief of the USA armed forces, and if you see the mirror, it is becoming obvious, America by siding with the warmongers, it has lost moral identity, intellectual and political strength, it is exhaustive and broken in all major domains and moving directions – a candidate to be replaced by the course of history by another nation or group of new emerging nations. You are killing people all over the globe - the large scale massacres of the innocent civilians in Afghanistan, daily drone strikes and killing of innocent civilians in Waziristan-Pakistan, US planned militarized and sectarian divided Iraq, insanity overtaking rationality, and a war without rational meaning and purpose, you are a war president, not a peace president. Time and opportunities lost are never regained. History will judge you by your actions, not by your claims.

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(Dr. Mahboob A. Khawaja specializes in global security, peace and conflict resolution with keen interests in Islamic-Western comparative cultures and civilizations, and author of several publications including the latest: Global Peace and Conflict Management: Man and Humanity in Search of New Thinking. Lambert Publishing Germany-May,2012)