An Exceptional Nation Deserves An Exceptional Liar

The most exceptional country on Earth surely needs the most exceptional liar, and Barack Obama is the best con-man in the history of the United States. He is so good that even the international community believed his lies. He even got a Nobel Peace Prize! This con-artist’s war-mongering came wrapped around a rhetoric of peace and his words helped push the most aggressive policies directed to destroying human and constitutional rights in order to advance his particular taint of the war on terror.

One of the greatest successes of the so-called war on terror — for those who wage it — is that it is an open end war with no end in sight. Governments that wage war against non-aligned countries simply base their arguments on phrases as vague as ‘until we end with al-Qaeda’, ‘until the job is done’ and many others. These open-ended rhetoric is used for two reasons: First, because they do not intend to end the war anytime soon. Second, because it allows the aggressors to not have to compromise on a date. Why is this so? Because of western aggressors’ bad habit of encouraging war for profit.

Despite promising to end wars and close the Guantanamo torture site, Barack Obama has failed to do exactly that. The most recent example is his failure to withdraw American troops from Afghanistan.

Obama has now said that at least 10,000 troops will remain on Afghan territory until the end of his term in office to “finish the job”. However, while supposedly attempting to get rid of terrorists in Afghanistan, the United States has been funding and working with those same terrorists in that country and some close neighbors. The U.S. has been funding and arming groups loyal to al-Qaeda in Syria.

Previous to Obama’s announcement about leaving 10,000 troops on Afghan soil, Hamid Karzai refused to approve an agreement that would have allowed the U.S. to keep tens of thousands of troops and military equipment on Afghan territory. Again, despite promising he would bring the troops home, Obama was actually seeking a bilateral agreement to continue occupying Afghanistan for many years beyond his presidency.

The White House has said that the troops left in Afghanistan will work along Afghan soldiers in counter-terror operations to destroy the remaining al-Qaeda operatives in the country. In reality, the United States wants to have another foreign base where it can train terrorists and launch attacks against non-aligned countries such as Syria, and continue destabilizing nations on the brink of complete collapse, as it is the case in Libya.

After participating in the bloodiest wars in history, is the United States in a continuous state of war? The answer to this questions is probably YES, as the U.S. is the country with more military bases around the world in what analysts call “peaceful time”, the period that goes from the end of WWII until present. Despite the common pacifist American speech, with every new localized armed conflict in which the U.S. gets involved, a new base of operation is born.

“It’s time to move on after more than a decade in which our foreign policy was too dominated by the wars in Iraq and Afgansitán,” Obama said in the Rose Garden of the White House. The President recalled that when he came to power in 2009, the U.S. had nearly 180,000 members of the armed forces in combat; and that in a few months there would be less than 10,000. Another lie from Obama. Today, more than 190 countries are under the control of the United States either because the American forces have invaded and destroyed them, or because they are occupying their territories as “peace forces”. Overall, more than 1000 U.S. bases or military installations are functioning around the planet.

The U.S. allegedly withdrew from Iraq in 2011 after the failed U.S. attempt to agree on a long-term presence of U.S. troops in the country. The combat mission in Afghanistan, the longest war in United States “officially” ends in 2014. However, we all know that the “official” version of events is not really what we should all pay attention to. Despite speaking about withdrawal and the end of the war, Obama has presented a plan that will be negotiated with the Afghan president that emerges in the June 14 elections. This plan will provide for the presence of U.S. troops for two more years with a dual mission: to train local forces and to participate in counterterrorism operations.

The U.S. government has said that next December 2015, the number of troops will be halved and concentrate in the capital, Kabul, and nearby Bagram base. A year later, weeks before Obama leaves office at the end of his second and final term, there will be no more than the usual military personnel at the U.S. Embassy.

There was no military reason to set an end date in particular, but there is a political reason, a strategy. While Obama supporters favor his decisions, the president’s foes condemn his ‘weak actions’ abroad. “Obviously the work is not done ,” said Robert Kagan from the neocon Brookings Institution. “His successor will have to bear the consequences. When Al Qaeda sets itself in Afghanistan again, someone else will be president of the United States.”

Obama made ​​the decision to stagger the final withdrawal after a fleeting visit to Bagram on Sunday on the eve of a speech Wednesday in which he wanted to present his vision of foreign policy. The end of the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan and the decision to prioritize the fight against terrorism at home and abroad with special commandos and remotely piloted aircraft has been one of the pillars of his presidency. Obama is not ‘ending the wars’ because he is listening to the calls of unsatisfied Americans or people from around the world. He is allegedly withdrawing forces because it is more practical and less costly to murder American opponents with a drone strike.

The final timetable for withdrawal from Afghanistan is subject to approval by the winner of the second round of the presidential clash Abdullah Abdullah or Ashraf Ghani. The White House hopes the winner will sign the agreement allowing the presence of troops two years beyond the end of fighting in December 2014. Incumbent President Hamid Karzai, is opposed.

The main obstacle is the request by the U.S., to ensure that American troops in Afghanistan will be immune from prosecution. Without agreement, the Americans must leave the country in late 2014, two and a half years after they allegedly left Iraq.

The questions as to what could Afghanistan look like without an American presence may come from what Iraq is experiencing today: Violence, sectarianism and corruption continue to dominate the Arab country. “Americans have learned that it is harder to end wars than to start them,” Obama said. Like Iraq, Afghanistan is finished without glory, without the surrender of the enemy and without victory parades, flags and confetti. In two words, without victory.

Luis R. Miranda is the Founder and Editor of The Real Agenda. His 16 years of experience in Journalism include television, radio, print and Internet news. Luis obtained his Journalism degree from Universidad Latina de Costa Rica, where he graduated in Mass Media Communication in 1998. He also holds a Bachelor’s Degree in Broadcasting from Montclair State University in New Jersey. Among his most distinguished interviews are: Costa Rican President Jose Maria Figueres and James Hansen from NASA Space Goddard Institute. Read more about Luis.