Surrendering the Honor of Being Human: A Vote for Obama or McCain Is a Vote for Criminal Chaos, Devastation and Murder

I don't feel well enough to tackle these issues on my own today, so I am deeply pleased to turn the microphone over to Chris Floyd.

Floyd has a lot to say -- and you should read it all. Here are selected highlights:

Barack Obama has now declared -- on Fox News, no less -- that George W. Bush's escalation of the flagrant war crime in Iraq has "succeeded beyond our wildest dreams." He also proclaimed his "absolute" belief in the "War on Terror," and pledged, once again, "never to take a military option off the table" (not even the nuclear option) against the "major threat" of Iran.

In short, he continued his relentless campaign to purge himself of any of that weak-sister "anti-war" taint that got attached to him in the early days of his campaign -- which was, of course, responsible for his phenomenal rise in the first place. He rode that wave to national prominence -- trading on the desperate hopes of millions of Americans that the ungodly criminal nightmare in Iraq might finally end -- but it was obvious long ago that he was never going to dance with the ones that brung him. Once it was clear that he might really make it all the way to the top of the greasy pole, he began a dogged campaign to prove to our ruling elite that he would be a "safe pair of hands" for the imperial enterprise.

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Obama's cheerleading for the surge -- "beyond our wildest dreams!" -- surpassed anything that McCain himself has claimed for the escalation.

Obama also emphasized the obscene and morally depraved position that has become the Democrat's standard line on Iraq: that the lazy, no-good Iraqis "still haven't taken responsibility" for running "their own country." The arrogance and inhumanity of this position is staggering, almost indescribable. The United States of America invaded Iraq, destroyed its society, slaughtered its citizens, drove millions from their homes, occupied the country and made itself the ultimate master and arbiter of the conquered land -- but still the Iraqis are condemned for "not taking responsibility for their own country."

Not a single Iraqi attacked America. Not one. America's action has killed more than a million Iraqis. But it is the Iraqis who are now "responsible."

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This bears repeating: the Democrats' position on Iraq fully accepts -- and even celebrates -- the Bush Administration's fundamental claims for the war.

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This is the "success" that exceeds all dreams, according to the Democratic candidate for President of the United States -- the voice, you'll recall, of hope and change.

But there is no hope in Obama's stance on Iraq today, which does not differ in any fundamental way from that of George W. Bush or John McCain. And given the Democrats' agreement on every front with Republican positions -- on Iraq, Iran, Russia, the War on Terror, authoritarianism, offshore drilling, etc., etc., etc. -- there will be no change come November either.

I expect to have further observations on other aspects of these issues in the near future. In the meantime, read Chris Floyd.

With more to come on this point, I would suggest that one of the crucial questions you need to ask yourself is, not what you are voting for compared to the alternatives, but, very simply: What are you voting for?

Do you choose to vote for unjustified murder and aggression, criminal foreign interventions and occupations, and more devastation without end? If you vote for Obama or McCain, that is what you are voting for. Is that what you choose to support? As that earlier essay argues (and as indicated in the Hannah Arendt excerpt included there), you should consider how cheaply you are prepared to surrender "the honor of being human."

Is that truly your choice?