Barack Obama Visits Strategic Sites in The Iraq- Afghan War Zone and the Middle East

Everything I have been reading or seeing concerning our Democratic Presidential Candidate continuing travel abroad shows Barack Obama is doing exceedingly better than any expectations anyone might have had. McCain set himself up for this one by calling on Obama at one point to visit Iraq and the War zone because of his supposed lack of experience in foreign affairs especially in regard to Iraq which McCainites think is McCain's strong suit. Instead of just taking the bait and falling flat on his face, Obama is exceeding everyone's wildest dreams. Obama looks good towering over the soldiers he greets and making speeches that are succinct and that make sense as sound bites via the media.* Jewish Israelis greeted him with some skepticism but as he soon leaves for his European tour, the Israeli news media and politicans are saying nice things about him especially since he took a strong stand on Iran and the nuke question making the point that he will not allow them to have nukes but he will work energetically diplomatically-wise to keep this from happening keeping a military deterrent approach on the table. I am paraphrasing what he said.

In Israel, Obama laid a wreath at a site memorializing The Holocaust. He looked appropriately serious as all Presidents do on similar occasions; however, there was something special about it. Everything he says along the way makes good sense. He also expressed concern about the missile attacks and other violent incidents that have maimed or killed Israelis. I gather that the Palestinians do not like what he is saying so I doubt he gained any points from them. On the other hand, some on the Palestinian side might gain hope from the fact that Obama seems very serious about making peace and his peace noises sound convincing. In the Jordan Times, ( "Obama said "“I will not wait until a few years into my term or my second term if I am elected in order to get the process moving,” Obama said in the southern Israeli town of Sderot, which has been hard-hit by Palestinian rocket and mortar fire. “I think we have a window right now that needs to be taken advantage of.” )

I am struck by Obama's sense of self possession and confidence as he moves into the realm of foreign affairs. It is as if this
man has come from nowhere as others have mentioned and as if he is already our President in spite of the warning he better not act as if he is and yet I can suddenly see him clearly as if he is. I am not completely in his camp as I am left of Obama on many fronts; but given all that has come to pass, I am hopeful that this man will move us away from the Bush years and more and am already thinking that we may awake as if it all was a horrible dream that went on and on and kept getting worse all the way back since Ronald Reagan. I hate to be negative about Bill Clinton as he was surrounded by Republican power everywhere he moved but Obama does seem to be his own man not somebody's else. Perhaps, Obama senses the direction the country wants to go- up, out and away from a past filled with decisions based on arrogant power driven ambition driven types and just plain ignorance of the lowest common denominator. There is definitely something "Blowin in the Wind" and it appears he is Obama.

* i like the way Obama was strong with Gen. Petraeus saying his piece so well. The point Obama made or what I heard him saying though I am reading between the lines is that you (Petraeus) may be right we should have more troops staying longer, perhaps, if you are looking only at the needs of Iraq (even their own President is with Obama on this one) but as President I have to look at the needs of the whole nation and whole foreign national picture and basically he was saying we need the money we spend for these troops at home to help us get back on our feet in the USA. It was like You are doing a good job within your job capacity. When I am President I will do my job and your job will be over. Up to now, all we heard was "Generals know best" . Obama never donned a military outfit or put on a stupid looking helmet. It was as if he was saying I am a civilian and will be a Civilian Commander in Chief not one cowed by the military. I thought it was a profoundly reassuring message.

COUNTER

Radovan Karadzic Captured after 13 years: FINALLY

On the Capture of Radovan Karadzic from the Telegraph, UK

"Radovan Karadzic, the ultranationalist leader of the Bosnian Serbs in the 1992-1995 civil war in the former Yugoslavia, is widely regarded by diplomats as the chief architect of ethnic cleansing in Bosnia — crimes that were Europe’s worst atrocities since World War II. One of the world’s most wanted men, he was arrested on July 21, 2008.

Dr. Karadzic, a psychiatrist by profession and a published poet and writer, was twice indicted by the United Nations war crimes tribunal in The Hague on charges of genocide and crimes against humanity. The charges say he authorized the shooting of civilians during the siege of Sarajevo and for directing the slaughter of an estimated 8,000 Bosnian Muslim men in Srebenica, in eastern Bosnia.

Regarded as a war hero by many Serbs, he went into hiding in 1997 and escaped capture for years. Officials at the war crimes tribunal say a well-financed support network that included police officers and members of the intelligence services in Bosnia, Serbia and Montenegro, as well as members of the Serbian Orthodox Church, enabled Dr. Karadzic to remain on the run." (Telegraph, UK)

"Ratko Mladic,, the General who carried out war crimes against Bosnians is still on the loose although his arrest is reported to be imminent. Mladic carried out Milosevic (president of Serbia) Karadzic's genocidal policies against the Bosnians in Bosnia-Herzogovina and also against the Croatians in that territory." pieced from various news reports SRaphael."I don't plan on putting the horrible faces of either Mladic or Karadzic on my blog."

OLOC Gathering Coming to Hacienda Hotel (Los Angeles) (near LAX) July 30- Aug. 3

TIME IS TICKING
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Old Lesbians Organizing for Change

contact info@OLOC.org. or 888-706-7506 go to www.oloc.org

The Play: Of Equal Measure: Highlights

Michole Briana White depicted above playing Jade the stenographer in the Wilson White House

"Of Equal Measure, Tanya Barfield's new civil rights-minded play set in Woodrow Wilson's White House," Center Theater Group

I just came back from seeing the new play titled Of Equal Measure written by Tanya Barfield*. The play focuses on a fictional stenographer named Jade who works for a Presidential Advisor of President Woodrow Wilson and specifically covers Wilson's second term in office when he prepares the country for WWI despite his earlier reservations. Although Wilson runs a progressive campaign while seeking office and promises to make the country a democracy for all including "Negroes". The play shows his hypocrisy as he supposedly becomes enamored with DW Griffith's technologically groundbreaking movie Birth of a Nation. . He also buys the message on some level and becomes convinced, according to the playwright, to support its allies by going to war enlisting both white and Black troops, the latter of which he neglects to the point, some of these soldiers freeze to death for lack of blankets and boots.(I need to check authenticity of this account as I suspect both white and Black froze to death in that awful War, although I am sure the Black soldiers were more neglected.) Going to war is also premised on the spectacular accusation that Germany plans to arm Mexican troops who will suppposedly enlist Negro men into its ranks to fight their own countrymen. This is a time when lynchings are occuring at an increasing rate which Wilson says he deplores but ends up doing nothing about it.

The historical accuracy and "facts" of some of these pronouncements are obvously made up but the basic ideas (& historical context) and parallels to G.W. Bush's reason for going into Iraq are clearly evident. Early on Wilson claims he likes Pancho Villa, becaue he want to free Mexico; however, by the end he is saying "he is a terrorist" Kill him". When confronted with the news that hundreds of wounded veterans with arms, legs, and eyes missing are camped outside the White House, he "freezes up" and can hardly get himself together until an aid says meeting with these men will do him some good. They will spin the story in Wilson's favor, make him look good by the fact he will greet the men. He wants to call the name of each one but is told there are just too many.

Jade, the stenographer, with much agonizing and remorse, "allows" her white boss, the one who works for Wilson, to seduce her in return for a job at the White House for her brother who is in danger of being hurt or killed at his other job. She also is forced to type a list of "Negroes" who work for the White House who the administration plans to force into "segregated" sections in the White House and later to be laid off. It is not clear she knows what she is doing. It all becomes clear in the end. There is also a white Catholic Irish man in The Play's White House who turns out to be an important character. I guess he represents "white conscience" and paralells in some ways Jade's experience.

I enjoyed Michole Briana White who played the stenographer. She is a naturally good actor and you don't notice she is acting. The actor, Lawrence Pressman plays Woodrow Wilson. Pressman is a familiar face who conveys Wilson as a person with strength, an effete nature, and much egomania. He would also make a great Franklin Rooselvelt as he looks like him. It wouldn't take much to extend the personality to FDR though FDR was a much more effective President but not necessarily brighter than Wilson. It all goes to show, brains don't alway make much difference, the heart matters too.

Kirk Douglas Theatre 
downtown Culver City
9820 Washington Blvd. 
Culver City, CA 90232 
Directions and Parking
description below taken from Center Theater Group Ad

With the nation on the brink of World War I, one woman's personal battle begins. A riveting new play from one of the theatre's rising stars. Europe is close to social and political crisis. Woodrow Wilson’s cabinet debates going to war and which side to take. At home, the administration’s segregationist policies contrast American democratic values—a fact not lost on Jade Kingston, an ambitious African-American stenographer employed in the White House, and her brother, Eugene, an aspiring artist with big dreams. As World War I rapidly approaches, Jade faces difficult choices that could compromise her career, challenge her spirit and threaten her own ideals of America’s duty to its citizens and its place as a world power.

*Tanya Barfield, playwright, go to http://www.playscripts.com/author.php3?authorid=196

CREDITS
Written By
 Tanya Barfield

Directed by Leigh Silverman

JD Cullum
Dennis Cockrum
Scott Dawson
Michael Hyland
Joseph C. Phillips
Lawrence Pressman
T. Ryder Smith
Christopher O'neal Warren
Michael T. Weiss
Michole Briana White

The New Republic article on Betancourt marrige: makes sense

Updated : 7/16/08 Go to article noted below on Clara Rojas partly answers my question: What was relationship between Rojas and Betancourt? According to article I read from Le Monde news service, Rojas and Betancourt had had no contact with each other for the past 3 years. When they were together in the jungle, Betancourt made baby cothes for Rojas newborn. I was wrong to assume something was wrong there or so I believe.

go to http://209.85.141.104/search?q=cache:8XwtmU-JRa8J:www.educweb.org/webnews/ColNews-Jan08/English/Articles/ClaraRojasestsansnouvelle.html+clara+rojas+and+ingrid+betancourt&hl=en&ct=clnk&cd=6&gl=us

:

7/15/2008

Update above by pic. Betancourt receives Legion Medal of Honor from France's President Sarkozy. She deserves it but the one who gives it to her is a right wing conservative-strange" bedfellows". Should we trust where all this is going? Or will it just be a good book and blockbuster movie and who knows what else.

7/10/08 This Just In: Six Years of Torture Take Toll on Marriage
Ingrid Betancourt's release from FARC rebels on July 2 marked the end of a six-year nightmare. In addition to the constant feeling of bugs crawling all over her body, the mental torture of being screamed at incessantly, and the near starvation she faced every day, there are still some horrors she can't yet discuss. According to CNN.com, in an interview with Larry King, "Betancourt also would not detail the punishment she endured after a failed escape attempt. 'Oh, that was horrible,' she said before telling King that she was 'not ready for that.'" Nor would she talk about the circumstances of a child born to another hostage in captivity. What Betancourt is doing is shining more of a global light than we've seen in many years on a intolerably sadistic rebel group. Which is why it is galling to see the following headline accompanying a CNN story about Betancourt: "Betancourt's Husband Admits Icy Reunion." Apparently, she wasn't as warm to husband Juan Carlos Lecompte as, well, as what? As a survivor of six years of torture should be? It seems that before leaving for France without him--no!--she "greeted him coldly." Well, I guess he is the real victim here after all. Thanks CNN, for bringing us all angles of the story.

--Sacha Zimmerman

U.S. Media Coverage of Betancourt & Other Hostages: A Critique

Read blog entry below the pics of Betancourt.


"Former hostage Ingrid Betancourt touches her husband, Juan Carlos Lecompte, as she arrives at a military base in Bogota, Colombia, July 2 after being rescued from years in captivity. Many said she greeted him coldly. Lecompte said their marriage may be over." (Below) Dressed in black jacket with hands clasped looking very well but also very tired (exhausted) Betancourt is interviewed in a Paris hotel a week after her release. updates since 7/7/08go to http://babble.com/CS/blogs/strollerderby/archive/2008/07/10/would-your-marriage-survive-a-six-year-separation.aspx



(PIC) Re: Betancourt is pictured at the time she was running on her third party ticket Oxygen in Columbia back in 2002

U.S. Media Coverage of Betancourt & Other Hostages: A Critique 7/7/08

"When Ingrid Betancourt was released a few days ago from her jungle "prison" in Columbia along with 3 american hostages, I was surprised to learn Betancourt had been a Columbian Senator and was abducted by the militant revolutionary group known as FARC 6 years ago while running for the Presidency of Columbia for a third party she had created called Oxygen Green Party. This was news to me. What a story people around the world have been following closely especially in France where she grew up and married her first husband, a French diplomat, and of course, in Columbia but in many other countries in the world except for the U.S. which only focused on hostage releases but not the background story on political parties in Columbia and Betancourt's fight against corruption and her quest for democracy in that country. According to Betancourt and her supporters, the main parties, Conservative and Liberal are corrupt and totally bought off by the drug cartels that rule Columbia. Perhaps, if I read Spanish newspapers I would have known about these events but that doesn't excuse the mediiocrity and lack of depth or lack of background information on the mainstream U.S. news reports both in print and on the air. I suppose public radio news covered the politics behind these events which I am embarassed to say I do not listen to often enough. I need to make it a point to tune in to Amy Goodman and others on Democracy Now on KPFK every morning. Also should have tuned in to public stations focusing on Latin American stories.

Finally, after CNN Anderson Cooper started dropping bits and pieces of her fascinating life story, a detailed documentary was released about the events leading up to Betencourt and her Vice-Presidential nominee's Clara Rojas's abduction in 2002. Rojas story also seems remarkable and the pieces have not come together via U.S. media on Rojas's viccitudes in the jungle though it appears she was released from captivity in January of 2008 ahead of Betancourt. The only piece of information I could glean on Rojas came from Wikipedia stating that she had a baby in the jungle ( the father was a Farc member) that she cared for until the baby was taken away and raised by a peasant family and then very recently returned to Rojas through the wonders of the DNA process, another remarkable story. Well now we have part of the story but from my point of view it comes too late. I wonder if the fact that Betancourt and her supporters are left of liberal has anything to do with the lack of coverage in the U.S.?

interesting additional comments at http://phoenixwoman.wordpress.com/ under The Hostages Speak

also go to http://www.democracynow.org/2008/7/8/as_freed_us_contractors_speak_out

P.S. I researched past reports on situation in Columbia by Democracy Now and it appeared there was not much coverage of the Betancourt story there as I expected. Two articles but none really gave background at least not in the last 2 years same as mainstream media.

P.S. I do agree with some reports that there is something fishy about the mainstream reports that the Columbian military with the help of the American intelligence pulled this whole episode and rescue off without some kind of infiltation of the Farc or some kind of payment of ransom for the hostages. We may never know how this really happened. Betanacourt version of events sounds genuine but she also seems very guarded about much of the details, part of which is understandable. I am very curious about Betancourt's refusal to talk about Clara Rojas. I get the feeling Rojas did something to hurt the other hostages or to undermine their safety or else she is being protected from media curiosity by Betancourt, not clear which.