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| Mon, 03-09-2009 - 6:05pm |
London aghast at President Obama over gifts given to Prime Minister Brown
BY David Saltonstall
Daily News Senior Correspondent
Updated Saturday, March 7th 2009, 2:03 AM
You'd think President Obama had booted the Brits out of America — again!
London newspapers are howling over a string of alleged snubs by Obama to British Prime Minister Gordon Brown during his visit to Washington last week — including a squabble over presidential gift-giving.
"President Obama has been rudeness personified towards Britain," sniffed The Daily Telegraph Friday. "His handling of the visit of the Prime Minister, Gordon Brown, to Washington was appalling."
The list of complaints is longer than the Magna Carta: Obama canceled a planned, podium-to-podium news conference with Brown (actually, none was ever scheduled); he recently removed a bust of former Prime Minister Winston Churchill from the Oval Office; and he gave gifts to the Brown family that were "about as exciting as a pair of socks," one Fleet Street wag whined.
That last bit might be true. After Brown presented Obama with a pen holder crafted from the timbers of the 19th century British warship HMS President (whose sister ship, HMS Resolute, provided the wood for the Oval Office's desk), Obama offered up ... 25 DVDs of American movie classics.
"Oh, give me strength," wrote one appalled Daily Telegraph staffer. "We do have television and DVD stores on this side of the Atlantic."
Never mind that Brown is blind in one eye and may have a hard time seeing the stars in "2001: A Space Odyssey," or that American DVDs are usually incompatible with British players.
Equally insulting, decided the Times of London, was Michelle Obama's "solipsistic" and "inherently dismissive" gifts to the Browns' two little boys, Fraser and John.
The offending souvenirs? Toy models of Marine One, the President's helicopter — gifts no doubt plucked from the White House gift shop at the last minute, The Times decided.
Brown's wife, Sarah, by contrast arrived with dresses for Sasha and Malia from the UK's trendy Top Shop (with matching necklaces) and a selection of books by British authors.
"A bit of thought had clearly gone into choosing them," crowed The Daily Mail. "Lovely."
The Brits have blown up the alleged snubs into new evidence that the "special relationship" between the two nations is no longer quite so special.
The hand-wringing began last month when Obama removed a bust of Churchill from the Oval Office and replaced it with his hero, Abraham Lincoln.
The Times of London immediately traced Obama's "disdain" for Churchill to Kenya, where Obama's grandfather was caught up in the Churchill-led suppression of the 1950s Mau Mau Rebellion that left thousands of Kenyans dead.
"It's not surprising that Mr. Obama didn't want Churchill looking over his shoulder," explained one correspondent.
At this point, the two sides seem to be in full repair mode. The White House let it be known that Obama and Brown shared a chummy phone call as the prime minister was headed home.
And Friday, it was revealed that Obama would be granted a private audience with Queen Elizabeth when he is in London next month.
Quipped one reader of The Sun, "I hope Her Majesty likes DVDs."

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ONE MAN'S BATTLE TO STOP IRAQ
Advocate for the Kurds
Few Americans know - or care - as much about the plight of the Kurds as Peter Galbraith.
A former ambassador to Croatia from 1993 to 1998 he documented the Iraqi authorities' attacks against the Kurds in the late 1980s when he served as senior advisor to the US Senate Foreign Relations Committee (1979-1993). He was one of the first to witness the genocide of the Kurds by the Iraqi government during a trip he made to the region in 1987.
Peter Galbraith: "As we traveled from the Iraqi area to the Kurdish area, we were stunned to see that the villages were gone. These were places that had been inhabited for millennia. The graveyards were removed, the mosques, all the wire had been taken down form the electric poles. It had become a desolate region. And we could see where the people had been moved. Iraq called them victory cities but in reality they were a kind of concentration camp."
Bob McKeown: "At that time had you had any inkling that this was going on?"
Peter Galbraith: "I had no idea."
Bob McKeown: "Would you have used the word genocide, looking at that then?"
Peter Galbraith: "At that time, no, because there had been no signs of killing people."
Saddam's Master Plan
Peter Galbraith saw the countryside but was not yet aware of Saddam's master plan to bring the Kurds to their knees.
Some time later Galbraith read a small news clipping about gassing and concluded he had earlier witnessed the signs of a mass genocide.
"It was a moment of recognition. And I put together the use of chemical weapons against villages far from the Iranian border in places that could have nothing to do with the Iran/Iraq war and put that together with the systemic destruction of villages that I’d seen before. The conclusion was that this regime was committing genocide. And I felt that we had to do something about it."
Within days, he travelled to the Turkish side of the Turkey-Iraq border and interviewed 100s of survivors who had come into Turkey as refugees.
But on March 16, 1988 Saddam's horrific plan became clear to the entire world. Saddam's helicopters swept over the Kurdish city of Halabja leaving clouds of chemical gas behind. Five thousand innocent civilians died in the first few hours. The images of bodies piled on the streets were broadcast around the world. (read more)
Galbraith went to northern Iraq to document the terrible toll.
This was not the first time the Iraqi had used chemical weapons against its own people. It's estimated that 30,000 Kurds lost their lives to Saddam Hussein's chemical weapons.
A Response to the Chemical Attack
Galbraith rushed to Capital Hill to set in motion a blistering response to the atrocity. One that he hoped would alter the course of world events.
"I sat down and dictated, in about an hour, a bill to my secretary. I imposed every sanction on Iraq that I could think of. The legislation banned oil sales, required U.S. to oppose loans, cut off $700 million in agricultural and export credits and banned any export requiring a licence. I drafted this, and said what should we call it?
The Bill was called the Prevention of Genocide Act (download the Act). It would have imposed the harshest American economic sanctions against any country in twenty years. But Galbraith had to move quickly because Congress was about to adjourn and if he didn't get Senate and House Approval the Bill would die.
The sanctions bill won Senate approval in just 24 hours.
"For a major piece of legislation to pass the Senate in a day is virtually without precedent. I think the Senators who looked at this, responded from their hearts."
Barham Salih, the Prime Minister of the Kurdistan Regional Government--Sulaymania was thrilled with the response.
"It meant a lot. I remember actually doing the translation from English to Kurdish myself . We were all excited. The United States Senate speaking with one voice calling for sanctions against tyranny."
American Capitalism
Peter Galbraith couldn't believe his luck and hoped the Bill would soon become law. Instead he found himself up against American capitalism.
Bill Frenzell, then a Congressman from
Minnesota took a public stand against the Prevention of Genocide Act.
"It’s very hard to be FOR genocide, or against people who are against genocide, but I couldn’t see anything in that resolution that could prevent any single drop of blood being shed. All I could see was that it was doing harm to the U.S., rather than to the perpetrators of the alleged genocide."
Lobbyists took this message into the corridors of congress and warned that the Bill would only punish Americans who were doing business with Iraq. Galbraith found himself facing farmers, bankers, exporters and oil men.
"They included the agriculture lobbyists – the Rice Millers Association. Being from New England, I thought rice came from South East Asia and I was surprised to learn that ¼ of rice grown in Arkansas was being exported to Iraq. In fact in all these messages, and the people I spoke with, there was no interest in what was happening to the Kurds. It was purely about their economical interests and the problems this legislation would cause for them."
Economic Sanctions 'Premature'
In the end, the Prevention of Genocide Act ran into its stiffest opposition at the White House. The Reagan administration believed that the sanctions were 'premature'. Galbraith was stunned.
"What would have made it ripe for action? The killing of all the Kurds? It was an absurd statement."
The Prevention of Genocide Act was never passed.
President Ronald Reagan thought that Saddam would respond better to a carrot than a stick. He was prepared to use his presidential veto to kill the Bill. The House and the Senate haggled over it until Congress adjourned and the Prevention of Genocide Act disappeared.
The Kurds were disappointed; Saddam Hussein would go unpunished. In fact, within the next year business with Iraq increased. Barham Salih the Prime Minister of the Kurdistan Regional Government--Sulaymania feels that at the time Saddam thought he could get away with just about anything.
"I’m sure that Saddam Hussein would have been very concerned about that document. Because sanctions at that time would have meant considerable uneasiness and a considerable setback to his policies. But when the resolution was vetoed I’m sure that he felt vindicated. He felt that he could get away with murder, which he did."
After the First Gulf War
But it wasn't the first or last time the Kurds would be let down by the American government.
After the first Gulf War, George Bush - the father - called on them to stand up against Saddam. They answered his call and on March 6, 1991 there was a major uprising in the north of Iraq.
Peter Galbraith was invited to witness their triumphant rebellion against the Iraqi dictator. Instead he found himself trapped in a desperate Kurdish convoy escaping northern Iraq. They were pursued by Iraq's troops flying in helicopters Saddam had purchased from the West.
"Bush then did nothing to help. He allowed Iraq tanks and Republican Guard units to move, to put down the rebels, IN SPITE of ceasefire conditions in which he was not allowed to move those units. In the north, he allowed Iraq to use helicopter gun ships, even though there was a ban on flights. These were not accidental decisions of the Bush administration. This was a conscious decision that it was better for Saddam Hussein to remain in power than for the Shiites in the south to succeed or for Kurds in north to succeed because they might be separatists and annoy Turkey."
A Second Gulf War
He says the experience affected him profoundly and set the stage for events today.
"That’s why we’re in the situation which we are in today.This rebellion could have succeeded. Saddam could have been gone in March 1991 and we could have had a very different history. We would not be having 300,000 coalition forces in the Gulf, we would not be seeing the loss of life that we’re going to see, and we wouldn’t be seeing the huge cost."
Twelve years later the Kurds now find themselves in the unlikely position of being cast as one of the reasons for the second war with Iraq. But history has shown the Prime Minister of the Kurdistan Regional Government--Sulaymania that promises can be broken.
"Don’t ask a Kurd about morality. We have been a victim of duplicity. By double standards in international politics. More often than not the plight of the Kurdish people was subordinated to the interests of others and the world was indifferent to the plight of my people when we were gassed."
Even as the U.S. opens up a northern front in Iraq, Salih says his people won't be lured into a false sense of security again.
"I am a freedom fighter. We have been fighting for our freedom for decades. We have fought this terror at the time when the United States was supporting this tyranny. That’s important to understand. We’re fighting for our liberation on our own terms and on our own turf in a way in our own country."
NOTE: Peter Galbraith is now a professor at the National Defense University in Fort McNair, near Washington.
http://www.cbc.ca/fifth/kurds/battle.html
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A sitting President of the United States is organizing a political organization loyal to him, bound by a pledge, outside the government and existing party apparatus.
>>> But you're ignoring the fact that I'm right - the majority of the UN security council did not support the invasion
The evidence please?
>>> and neither did several of our allies.
Yes...the "several" who were "coincidentally" doing illegal business with Hussein. Kind of tarnishes their position a bit, now doesn't it?
>>> The information you have given does not back up your earlier incorrect claims.
And yet it does. Hmmm...
The evidence has been posted several times in this thread - perhaps you missed it?
I initially wrote the following in response to your request for evidence:
Ha, yeah right! I know how this game is played now. In the past I have been more than happy to provide sources and links to back up my claims but considering that I'm still waiting for some to back up their own claims, I think I'm going to have to go with the excuse "It's just no worth the effort".
The evidence has been posted before though and as another poster pointed out, it's not that difficult to google.
But prior to posting it I realized that I don't want to stoop to the same level of those others
Heck no...who expects liberals to back up their arguments...LOL!...
to provide a link when asked? If someone asks you for a link to your sources then give it up! Saying things like, "It's not worth my time" or "It's too much effort" is a complete cop-out. If you can't back up your claims when you're asked to do so then don't bother posting in the first place. Why should I believe you or consider your information to be credible when you can't or won't back it up? - hot4mysoldier 19029.1
Yes, I have read hot4mysoldier's post - first when she posted it and then the numerous times you have reposted it.
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