I'm wondering... . Why is President-elect Barack Obama suddenly so silent? He spoke out and acted swiftly regarding the financial crisis, then later the automakers' crisis. Is it that this great humanitarian crisis, the genocide of Palestinians, does not qualify in his mind (and heart) as a great crisis? Is bailing out the Wall Street financiers and car manufacturers more important than aiding the collective suffering of innocent men, women, and children? Is speaking out against crimes that are committed against humanity less important? I'm wondering. His silence makes him complicit with the execution of this vicious military campaign and the massacre of defenseless civilians in Gaza using US taxpayers' dollars. Obama has surrounded himself with Israeli loyalists and has pledged his support for Israel. His chosen vice president, Joe Biden, has openly claimed, "I am a Zionist (smiling). You don't have to be a Jew to be a Zionist." Unfortunately, he has surrounded himself with others like Biden who are pro-war and pro-Israel loyalists (Rahm, Clinton, Axelrod, etc...the list is long). They have unrelenting support for Israeli causes, including and most likely the massacre in Gaza. Obama has not picked one moderate or someone who is against war from amongst his fellow Congressmen/ women yet. This article, Barack Obama: “America’s First Jewish President”, by Professor James Petras addresses these facts. I'm also wondering... Thinking back, I now reflect on what Biden said (and what he meant) when he made comments on the campaign trial. Did he already know something back in October? Could his comments be related to having prior knowledge of the current war in Gaza, which according to Ha'aertz was planned six months ago? Here are Biden's words: "Mark my words: It will not be six months before the world tests Barack Obama," "The world is looking. We're going to have an international crisis to test the mettle of this guy. I guarantee you it's gonna happen." These are comments from a talk Biden gave to campaign contributors at Seattle's Sheraton Hotel on Oct. 19, 2008. Here is more of what he said: "Barack is the right guy at the right moment for this job," ...... "Barack gets it...And I'll tell you why I'm telling you this: because we're going to find ourselves in real trouble when we get elected...We' re gonna have the largest systemic deficit in modern – not modern – in the history of the world...So there are going to be a lot of tough decisions Barack's gonna have to make, a lot of very tough decisions, including on foreign policy. And here's the point I want to make: mark my words. Mark my words. It will not be six months before the world tests Barack Obama like they did John Kennedy. The world is looking. We're about to elect a brilliant 47-year-old president of the United States of America. Remember I said it standing here if you don't remember anything else I said. Watch, we're gonna have an international crisis, a generated crisis, to test the mettle of this guy...we're gonna need you to use your influence, your influence in the community, to stand with him. Because it's not gonna be apparent initially, it's not gonna be apparent that we're right. Because all these decisions, all these decisions, once they're made if they work, then they weren't viewed as a crisis. If they don't work, it's viewed as you didn't make the right decision, a little bit like how we hesitated so long dealing with Bosnia and with Kosovo, and as a consequence 200,000 people lost their lives that maybe didn't have to lose lives. It's how we made a mistake in Iraq. We made a mistake in Somalia. So there's gonna be some tough decisions.". .. Considered a major gaffe on the campaign trail, Obama later called Biden's comments "rhetorical flourishes". After watching the video, reading Obama's body language, and listening to his comments, I wonder if he was being sincere then, and is only now being blindsided and speechless, or was he just being glibberish at the time? Perhaps the culmination of this terrible war against the Palestinian civilians, who have been imprisoned and systematically assaulted within closed borders, is the international crisis that Biden and others knew about, but kept away from the presidential hopeful. I wonder. Regardless, one of the worst things is that the American government has supplied the Israeli military with the bombs that are be used to kill our Palestinian brothers and sisters. These bombs are paid for using US taxpayer dollars, while most taxpaying folk are unaware, and our President-elect, who surely knows, has nothing to say publicly about it. OK, perhaps for the sake of rhetorical flourishing, Obama is waiting until he's inaugurated to speak out against Israeli crimes. You know, once in office he will rise up and speak out against them, right? Is this the politics of change he inspired millions to chant during the campaign? Is it feasible for him to be "the change we need" while at the same pledging his allegiance to Israel? But, I can't even wrap my brain around this rhetorical paradox. I just can't. Only ALLAH knows best and soon we will all know. I maintain my faith in ALLAH, Most High, to bring about true justice, and will do what is in my power to advocate for it and fight against oppression. I pray for peace and purification of our hearts and submission to His will. I pray for the end of oppression and the killing of innocent people. I pray for an end to lies and disinformation. I pray that the masses will wake up at accelerated rates. I pray for the end of evil, misguided governments in the Western and Arab worlds and anywhere they may exist. I pray for an end to US/Israeli imperialism, expansionism, occupation, genocide and brutality waged and sponsored around the world. I'm sad, furious, and sometimes feel helpless. But, with the help of ALLAH, I will pray, work, boycott, and fight as best I can using the gifts I have been given guided by my love for ALLAH, truth, freedom, justice and understanding. What reason could you have for not fighting in the Way of Allah - for those men, women and children who are oppressed and say, 'Our Lord, take us out of this city whose inhabitants are wrongdoers! Give us a protector from You! Give us a helper from You!'? (Holy Qur'an, Surat an-NisAa': 75) Sisterly regards, Akanke
