Even More SOTU – home stretch now!

 In Afghanistan, Congress, Economy, Iraq, military budget, North Korea, nuclear waste, Nuclear Weapons, Obama, Pakistan, Peace Action, troops, War

Obama referenced “new threats and challenges” to our national security? What are they? Do they justify spending as much on the military as the rest of the world combined?

Iraq – yes 100,000 troops have left the country, but about 50,000 remain, they must all leave by the end of the year, along with the mercenaries, and we must leave no bases behind! And we must repay the huge debt we owe the Iraqi people for the role we have played in devastating their country.

Al Qaeda – US intelligence says there are fewer than 100 of them in Afghanistan. Is the Pakistani military really helping go after them?

How many troops will begin to depart Afghanistan in July? Prez didn’t say, we will need to press on this issue.

Obama mentioned the New START agreement being ratified, but offered no plans for further reductions in nuclear weapons.

Frankly, there’s not a lot in the speech about national security/military policy/war and peace issues, really nothing new at all. (No mention of the peace process between Israel and Palestine I don’t believe.) Budgetary pressures will be the ally of the peace movement, as we cannot afford to continue our Empire any longer, if we want to remain a Republic.

Where’s Eisenhower when we need him with his “beware the military-industrial complex” speech?

It’s up to us to make peace possible (but we knew that already!). And the good news is, the organizing climate, especially for cutting Pentagon spending in order to re-invest in human and environmental needs, is the best we’ve seen since the end of the Cold War.

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