[Marxism] Supporting Obama should not lead to expulsion

[Louis Proyect]

Greg Dunkel wrote:
> 
> What Walter was doing is defending this feeling of oppressed people in the U.S. by bringing up changes Obama had made which, in his opinion, were designed to improve their situation.

But we are internationalists. Since its inception, the Marxism list has 
become more and more representative globally--including subscribers from 
Pakistan. It is most unseemly to be posting puff pieces for Obama when 
Pakistanis are being slaughtered.


www.chicagotribune.com/news/nationworld/chi-pakistan-airstrikesjan25,0,364965.story

Pakistan and Afghanistan claim U.S. strikes killed civilians
Tribune news services
January 25, 2009


ISLAMABAD, Pakistan — Pakistan urged President Barack Obama to halt U.S. 
missile strikes on Al Qaeda strongholds near the Afghan border, saying 
Saturday that civilians were killed the previous day in the first 
attacks since Obama's inauguration.

Pakistani security officials said eight suspected foreign militants, 
including an Egyptian Al Qaeda operative, were among 22 people killed in 
Friday's twin strikes in the Waziristan region.

But the Foreign Ministry said the attacks by unmanned aircraft also 
killed an unspecified number of civilians and it had informed U.S. 
officials of its "great concern."

And in Afghanistan on Saturday, a fierce new dispute erupted over 
civilian deaths in that country, with village elders asserting that as 
many as 22 non-combatants were killed in an American-led raid and U.S. 
military officials insisting all 15 dead, including a woman, were 
Taliban fighters.

The U.S. military said it would carry out a joint investigation with 
Afghan authorities beginning Sunday.

Civilian casualties are one of the most serious points of friction 
between Western forces and the increasingly unpopular government of 
President Hamid Karzai.

The Afghan leader repeatedly has accused coalition troops of failing to 
adequately safeguard civilians during combat operations, while 
commanders accuse the Taliban of deliberately putting innocents in 
harm's way.

In Pakistan, leaders complain that stepped-up missile strikes — there 
have been more than 30 since August — fan anti-American sentiment and 
undermine the government's own efforts to counter Islamist militants.

But their protests have had few practical consequences, fueling 
speculation that Islamabad's government has given tacit approval in 
return for political and financial support from Washington.

Obama has not commented on the missile strike policy.