Casting yet another shadow on the “Change” campaign, Sen. Barack Obama is reportedly considering Robert Gates as his future Secretary of Defense should he win the November elections. That is—just to be clear—the same Robert Gates who is currently serving as Defense Secretary under Bush.
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Although Gates called the rumors of Obama appointing him “inconceivable,” the fact he has been considered is telling. Despite the occasional anti-war rhetoric, it is clear the Obama campaign agrees that occupation forces must remain in Iraq as long as it takes to achieves the fundamental objectives of the war: control over oil and strategic dominance over the region.
The Obama campaign represents the section of the ruling class that disapproves of the Bush administration’s tactical approach to the Middle East but shares its overall goals. The Obama campaign’s flirtation with Gates is a reassurance that his administration would provide continuity from the Bush administration and not radically alter the U.S. troop presence in Iraq.
Gates has taken notice. In early June, he said: “We can’t get the endgame wrong. The next president would suffer the greatest consequences if we do get the endgame wrong, so I think whoever’s elected is likely to take a fairly sensible approach to it.” For Gates, the wrong “endgame” would be for the U.S. ruling class to “lose” Iraq entirely, for the occupation troops to be removed and the Iraqi people to reclaim their country. Faced with this possibility, Obama will do the “sensible” thing: Allow the war to carry on.
In fact, Gates would be perfectly at home among Obama’s other foreign policy advisors. There’s Henry Kissinger’s protégé Anthony Lake, who designed the U.S. strategy in the Balkans under Clinton—including the murderous bombing of Serbia. Lake recently called for unilateral U.S. intervention in the Sudan.
There’s Madeleine Albright, former Secretary of State, a leading proponent of the genocidal sanctions against Iraq in the mid-90s. When asked about the sanctions’ death toll, which included half a million Iraqi children, Albright said, “We think the price is worth it.” Lake and Albright are only two among a whole host of former Clinton administration officials and advisors now in Obama’s camp.
Zbignew Brzezinski, former National Security Advisor under Jimmy Carter, has also been a key adviser to Obama. Brzezinski was a fierce anti-Communist crusader who orchestrated U.S. backing to the Shah, the former dictator of Iran, and to the mujahideen in Afghanistan. Despite his impressive imperialist credentials, Brzezinski was recently dropped from the Obama campaign largely because he has failed to give unconditional backing to the Israeli state.
Another notable name in the Obama foreign policy team is Lee Hamilton. Hamilton co-chaired the Iraq Study Group, a bipartisan panel appointed by Congress to come up with a better plan to win in Iraq. The ISG included both Gates and former Secretary of Defense William Perry—also an Obama advisor.
The main recommendation of the ISG was to gradually replace U.S. personnel with Iraqi forces loyal to Washington. In short, they recommended that the occupation change its appearance, not its content. In addition, the panel recommended more direct diplomacy with Iran and Syria as a way to strengthen the U.S. position in Iraq.
This is simply the pragmatic school of imperialist foreign policy. The major difference this school has with Bush is that they consider it more effective to use a combination of economic strangulation, military assault and negotiation than to use military assault alone.
The pragmatic imperialists cannot be confused as anti-war. As Obama said before the influential Israeli lobby, the American Israel Public Affairs Committee: “We will also use all elements of American power to pressure Iran. I will do everything in my power to prevent Iran from obtaining a nuclear weapon.” He repeated the last sentence, and then, just to make it clear that he meant war, punctuated it with a single word: “Everything.”
Regardless of whether Gates remains Secretary of Defense, regardless of whether McCain or Obama win the November election, the ruling class can be assured that there will be continuity to believe in.
