Educational Conference

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“defend” the country. massive military force accompanied by brokering Meanwhile, President Obama paid a surprise visit to deals, sometimes with its worst enemies, to cool the Afghanistan on March 28, where he publicly reprimand­ majority opposition to the U.S. war and occupation. ed President Hamid Karzai and his “government” while It is clear that this occupation is far from ending and insisting that progress be made “on the civilian process” that the war against Afghanistan also has no end in with regard to “corruption and the rule of law.” As with sight. Further, U.S. drone plane bombing attacks in Iraq, U.S. officials are pressing Karzai, whose election Pakistan, as well as U.S. death-squad killings, remain to the presidency last year was universally condemned the order of the day and threaten to destabilize that as a fraud, to form alliances with elements of the very country too.

Taliban resistance forces that the U.S. drove from power Imperialist war in the modern era has taken on new eight years ago and are currently fighting. forms that daily undermine the declining proposition Meanwhile, Karzai, while utterly dependent on U.S. that we live in a civilized world that operates on a support to remain in power, has expressed discomfort at rational, if not humane, basis. The U.S. war in Iraq being portrayed as merely an American proxy. The New includes the largest percentage of privatized forces York Times, on March 29, cited Afghani sources concern­ (mercenaries) ever. These include paid assassins who ing a speech that Karzai gave at the Presidential Palace operate outside the parameters of military authority. in Kabul in January. One person who heard the speech It includes depleted uranium weapons (with a dose told the newspaper that Karzai “believes that America of even more lethal plutonium included) capable of is trying to dominate the region, and that he is the only mass destruction on a scale unknown in past wars, one who can stand up to them.” as well as drone planes operated with precision from The Times continued: “Mr. Karzai said that, left alone, halfway around the world that deliver bombs on un­ he could strike a deal with the Taliban, but that the Unit­ suspecting targets. ed States refuses to allow him. The American goal, he Central to the perverse mentality that permeates said, was to keep the Afghan conflict going, and thereby U.S. imperial policy and its military commanders allow American troops to stay in the country.” in the field is the notion that America has the moral, It was clear to the thousands present in Washington, D.C., political, and economic right to control the world and on the West Coast on March 20 that the U.S. has no and bend it to its will regardless of the cost in hu­ intention of winding down or withdrawing from Iraq or man lives, not to mention environmental destruction. Afghanistan. Indeed, a week after the protests and the an­ The U.S. is embroiled in two wars that cannot be nouncement of the results of the U.S.-conducted Iraqi elec­ won without murdering vast portions of the occupied tions, The New York Times reported, “The secular party of populations. Saturday, April 17 11:30 a.m. — The Young Karl Marx: Origins of the “Communist Manifesto.” 12:30 p.m. — Eco-Socialism: The Revolutionary Approach to Combat Climate Change. 2 p.m. — Street Art of the Revolution. 4 p.m. — Working-Class and Political Movements in Pakistan. 6 p.m. — Is Socialism Possible in the United States Today? (A $7 delicious buffet dinner is available!) Sunday, April 18 10:30 a.m. — Black History: Rediscovering Hubert Harrison — The Voice of Harlem Radicalism. 12:30 p.m. — Update on Mumia Abu-Jamal. 1 p.m. — Black Liberation in the 1960s: Lessons for Today. 3 p.m. — “Building a United Antiwar Movement: The Fight Against War in the Middle East and Victimization of Muslims in the U.S. 5 p.m. — After Fidel: Which Direction for the Cuban Revolution? Will Venezuela Take the Cuban Road?

HOSTED BY SOCIALIST ACTION $5 EACH SESSION, $25 ENTIRE WEEKEND [email protected] WWW.SOCIALISTACTION.COM SOCIALIST ACTION APRIL 2010 3

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Tara Todras-Whitehill / AP sibility (AOR)… Arab anger over the Palestinian question limits the strength and depth of U.S. partnerships with governments and peoples in the AOR and weakens the legitimacy of moderate regimes in the Arab world. Meanwhile, al-Qaeda and other militant groups exploit that anger to mobilize support. The conflict also gives Iran influence in the Arab world through its clients, Lebanese Hizballah and Hamas.”

Two of CNN’s leading talking heads gave exten­ sive coverage to Petraeus’s statements, focusing on the perceived threat to “America’s national interests.”

Lieutenant Gen. Keith Dayton, the U.S. officer responsible for creating and training the Pales­ tinian Authority security force that has cracked down on West Bank militants and restrained them from attacking Israel over the past few years, echoed Petraeus in a speech last year. De­ scribing the belief of PA security forces that they were in training to serve an eventual indepen­ dent Palestine, he said, “There is perhaps a two-year shelf life on being told that you’re creating a state, when you’re not.”

Biden was quoted as having berated Netanya­ hu—behind closed doors—over his plans for set­ tlement expansion, warning it would put at risk the lives of American personnel in Iraq, Afghani­ stan, and Pakistan. Biden later denied the quote, and in public said, “there is no space between the U.S. and Israel when it comes to security, none.”

Israel, and its U.S. lobby, deride this supposed

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