DNC Day 4 - Guam and Iraq

Although he has not been posting recently, when he was Carbondate from the blog The Command Post was a very insightful writer. He is currently in the service and at least several months ago was stationed on Guam. At present its possible he's in the Middle East right now.

He was absolutely the type of Democrat and blogger that I have been hoping to find at the Democratic Convention this week, people who may come from different positions in the United States, different places, different political backgrounds, different social worlds, yet can still come together and discuss things through a common critical frame.

In Denver this week, there is sadly a scarcity of these sorts of things, except for those directed at Republicans and John McCain. In other ways, there are also the usual sorts of critiques that liberals and Democrats can share, about health care, environment, democracy, peace. But for me, as I wrote yesterday, the frames I am searching for are those dealing with American colonialism and militarization. I am hoping to have real conversations about American military power and presences. Last night, I had submitted to interview both Senator Jack Reed and Madeleine Albright to ask them about Obama's foreign policy plans and American military presence in the Asia-Pacific region. Sadly, once again I didn't get access.

A real conversation about US militarization and presence means to rid the conversation from the beginning of any innate morality of the United States or its military and also to rip forcefully from the discussion any idea that any current US presence anywhere in the world should be open ended and beyond question. This is not to say that the military of any other country is better or more moral, but simply to reduce the American military from its status as the blessed sword of the Archangel Michael, and see it as what it is, a military. And contrary to what most Pentagon analysts and everyday Americans think, everything it does is not liberation, and just because it occupies a space (especially in someone else's backyard), it does not mean it has the right to stay for 100, 1000 or 10,000 years.

Unfortunately, both of these points are what dominate most any discussion of American military, and this is what makes it so difficult for me to find any allies here at the Democratic National Convention.

I am hoping the Carbondate will again start blogging soon, because before he left, he posted something which I found to be very thought provoking, involving possible connections between Iraq and Guam. To read it, click this link, "Guam: An Object Lesson on US Designs for Iraq."