Nader the Real Choice for Anti-War Voters
Friday, June 13, 2008 at 12:00:00 AM
For Release: Sat. June 14, 2008
Contact: Chris Driscoll, 202-360-3273, chris@votenader.org
OBAMA AND MCCAIN PROMISE MORE U.S. MILITARISM
NADER THE REAL CHOICE FOR ANTI-WAR VOTERS
Washington, June 14--Independent Presidential candidate Ralph Nader will be a keynote speaker tonight at 7:30 p.m. to the American-Arab Anti-Discrimination Committee Convention at the Grand Hyatt Washington. Mr. Nader will draw a sharp contrast between his Middle-East peace plan and recent speeches by Senators Obama and McCain to the right-wing Israeli lobby.
All know that McCain is not an anti-war candidate. Indeed, he is the most hawkish of the candidates, so he is not an option for anti-war voters, but some peace voters are considering Sen. Obama.
Obama is no anti-war candidate:
- Obama's Iraq redeployment plan would leave 175,000 to 220,000 soldiers and mercenaries in Iraq, threatens to expand the war to other nations by putting combat forces in Kuwait and keeping the bombing of Iran on the table.
- Obama has not said he will remove 140,000 U.S. mercenaries in Iraq.
- Obama will leave between 35,000 to 80,000 troops in Iraq to protect U.S. spheres of influence and train the Iraqi military.
- Obama will move combat troops to Kuwait to serve as a strike force to attack inside Iraq.
- Obama has pledged to the right-wing Israeli lobby that he will always keep the military option and ignores the 64 percent of Israelis who, according to a March 1 Haaretz-Dialog poll, want direct negotiations with Hamas.
- Obama wants to expand the U.S. military, already the biggest in the world, by 92,000 additional soldiers, and enlarge the already bloated, wasteful, scandal-ridden $700 billion budget.
Mr. Nader advocates:
- A complete, rapid, negotiated withdrawal of all U.S. military, mercenaries and corporate interests from Iraq.
- Cutting the wasteful and bloated U.S. military budget which makes up 50 percent of U.S. discretionary spending.
- Reversing U.S. Middle East policy, including a re-evaluation of the Palestinian-Israeli dispute, and supporting the Israeli and Palestinian peace movements.
- Increased emphasis on diplomacy, humanitarian aid and reducing the underlying causes of stateless violence.
Recently, both the Washington Post and LA Times editorialized about the similarities between McCain and Obama. They noted that in their speeches to AIPAC they both saw the Middle East through the same pro-Israel, use of military force lens. Indeed, both described the Middle East in ways with which President Bush would be comfortable. Moreover, two reporters in the Washington Post and New York Times reported that Obama's foreign and military policies would not be that much different than George W. Bush’s second term.
While there are slight differences between Senators Obama and McCain, they both come down on the side of an expanded military and a foreign policy based on militarism. There is a choice -- Ralph Nader has been consistent. He has opposed the bloated military budget for decades. He vigorously opposed the Iraq War before it began and continues to work to end the Iraq occupation-quagmire. He opposes the illegal, unconstitutional threatening of encircled Iran with military attack.
If you're a serious peace voter you have a clear knowledgeable peace candidate. At Princeton University Mr. Nader specialized in foreign area studies and studied Chinese, Russian and Arabic.
