Message to Barack: "It's not a war, it's an occupation"

July 16, 2008
Dear Mr. Obama,

I have watched you closely over the last several years since your debut to the world at the Democratic National Convention in 2004. That was an amazing speech and poised you not only your first term as senator from Illinois, but as the presidential candidate you are today. Clearly you have a huge wave of momentum that so many of us hope will catapult you into the White House. Your vision, your ideology, your judgment, and your ability to communicate put you so far above John McCain (and any Republican) in my book.

I too want to see this debacle in Iraq come to closure, and I agree with you on everything you've said about Iraq, with one exception. Please don't refer to the current conflict in Iraq as a "war". This is not a war. We are not at war with Iraq. We were at war with Iraq until Presi-dunce Bush stood on the deck of the U.S.S. Abraham Lincoln and declared major military operations were over and we accomplished our mission. At that juncture, what started out as a war, turned into an occupation. A long, drawn-out, costly, grueling occupation of a foreign country. This is something you foresaw in your speech of 2002 while still in the Illinois Senate.

As long as people like yourself and the media continue to call this a "war", John McCain will continue to frame it as though it can be "won". He will continue to tout his experience & perseverance which will bring "success" and "victory".

You will not end this war. You will end the occupation of Iraq. You will rectify the worst foreign policy blunder in the history of our country.


One more thing...

And while you're at it, I sure hope you'll do something about the multi-national companies which have been raping the Iraqi people of their oil industry. Between the Production Sharing Agreements (PSA's), the looting (something like $12b missing), and the no-bid contracts to American corporations which largely hire contractors instead of Iraqi citizens, we've really screwed over these people - and they know it.

We should give Iraq back to the Iraqis and let them run their own country. We should give Iraq's oil industry back to the Iraqis and let them nationalize it and keep their profits to themselves. They will sub-contract to the multi-national companies if they need to, but there's no reason to have the multi-national companies 'own' the oil industry and take most of the profits out of the country.

When all is said and done, we can buy oil from Iraq at a reasonable price, like we should have been doing all along. At the same time, we can make great strides domestically to reduce our dependence on foreign oil by harvesting cleaner and environmentally friendly alternatives to oil. Fuel efficiency standards should not have been derailed by the Bush Administration. Every new vehicle manufactured or imported into this country should be a hybrid or have some semblance thereof. You certainly will have the power to institute tax advantages to those who make the investment to lower their carbon footprint by installing solar panels, windmills, insulated windows, etc. There are so many things we can do to both lower our demand for foreign oil AND address the global warming problem at the same time.


I believe in you, Mr. Obama. Good luck in this election in November. And if I can give you any advice whatsoever - please stop calling this a war. This conflict in Iraq is not a war, it's an occupation. If you can successfully re-frame it as such, then John McCain will no longer be able to frame it as winnable.


Scott Shuster
American Citizen