Obama, changing things

Obama, changing things
Written by KK
Sunday, February 08, 2009 7:54:10 PM

I WANT to believe that Barack Obama has come as a gift to all of us, members of this one human race. Barack Obama has already declared that the United States of America will withdraw its forces from Iraq. Indeed, I am seeing the success of provincial elections in Iraq, held only a few days ago, as a reaction of the angry people of Iraq to the announcement that President Obama made, that he would withdraw American troops from Iraq.

They have begun to see that there is no longer the American problem in Iraq. It will be recalled that I was one of those few African leaders who denounced, publicly, and very strongly, the 2003 invasion of Iraq. The invasion was headed by United States president Gorge W Bush and supported by Britain’s prime minister Tony Blair.

Readers might recall that when Tony Blair was elected, my reaction was that a star was born to us. Unfortunately, joining president George Bush in that invasion of Iraq made me publicly change my mind.In other words, I was saying that I had made a mistake by thinking Tony Blair was going to make a wonderful leader not only for Britain but for the rest of human kind.

Of course, even as I strongly condemn the invasion of Iraq by the two leaders, I am aware that both of them have done quite a bit of good work in supporting Africa’s fight against HIV and AIDS. But how can the condemnation of an invasion such as the two made on Iraq be shied away from because of something good that they had done in Africa?

Yes, in view of the strong stance took when the invasion of Iraq took place, I have felt my praise of Barack Obama is definitely called for because this is going to help bring to an end a war which was declared and meant to remove Saddam Hessin because he was developing “Weapons of Mass Destruction.”

It is good that, I understand, president George W Bush has said something to the effect that he had been misguided by some advisors in the field of security. It is good that he can at least point out he had been misled by officials in the field.

But I must point out that this is why leaders in key positions like that should be extremely careful, like those two should have been when taking decisions over issues of this type. How many hundreds of thousands of people have perished? How many are maimed, with no chance of ever walking straight again?

These are terrifying mistakes and indeed we must all join in prayer that Barack Obama will help put Iraq right, and this soonest rather than later.

Well, I must draw the attention of my reader to the fact that President Barack Obama has scored another first over the issue of Guantanamo Bay prison in Cuba. Barack Obama displayed his humanity by the way he treated President George W Bush and Mrs Laura Bush. He met the family on several occasions, before their departure. It was amazing how kindly he treated them. He even took them to the helicopter, which took them from Washington DC to their house.

They reminded me of how I tried to have a good handover for President Frederick Chiluba, in 1991. That time, in early November 1991, when I heard that the MMD party had won elections in Zambia, I called him and said, “Congratulations, I understand you have won these elections. I will be waiting for you, God Willling, at State House, tomorrow.” I gave him some time when to come. We agreed but they were three hours late, without even caring to let me know that they were coming late. Later in the day, I received them, and very well. When they came in, I said let your president and vice- president remain here, at the waiting room. I said I would take President-Elect Chiluba and show him around key areas at State House.

What followed many of my readers know. I said, “Mr President, the Zambians have given you a very difficult job. But I am a patriot, nationalist, and Pan Africanist. I stand ready to assist you in performing this difficult job. If you should need my help, may God bless and guide you and all your colleagues.”I then left State House. What followed is not for this article. But I bring it up to show that all good servants of nations behave like President Barack Obama and his wife behaved towards president George W Bush.

Back to Cuba and Guantanamo, a lot of terrifying activities have taken place at that prison. Laws of justice as they have been known in America have not been obeyed and followed by president George W Bush. It is therefore not surprising that young Barack Obama declared that he was going to remove the prison from Guantanamo because it was being used for very harsh activities.When you see what the entire world has been able to see, prisoners bound, in long chains and thrown down in chains and constrained by chains. Yes, this was happening.

America is supposed to be a God fearing country. Yes, many God fearing persons, from all races in that country, have been born and brought up there. From there, the gospel they have taken to other countries. The Commander-in-Chief was doing all that in the name of USA.It is therefore wonderful that is another president who has decided to undo what was happening. Just now, I am praying that President Obama will complete reversing the sad story that has been with Guantanamo. That is not American soil at all. It is a piece of land leased to America when America fought the Spanish in the area. The Guantanamo base was then established in 1898. In 1903 the Cuban-American Treaty led to the leasing of Guantanamo Bay to the United States.In 2002, it was used to keep persons the United States was detaining, without trial, on suspicion of being involved in terrorism and fighting against the USA.

Many people in the United States and worldwide have complained about the conditions and what is going on at Guantanamo detention centre. Just a few days ago, Cuba’s Fidel Castro called for the Americans to leave Guantanamo and let Cuba take it back.Leaders like Fidel Castro of Cuba, Hugo Chavez of Venezuela, and Moraes of Bolivia, Micelle Bachelet of Chile, and indeed many others, will definitely receive this news of it happening as happily as I am when thinking about it.

It is my hope and prayer that Barack Obama and his team in many fields will continue to put up wonders. I feel sorry that when he recently took the proposal for economic recovery to the legislators, the Republicans voted against it. Fortunately, all Democrats voted for it. This is a programme meant to lead in helping to recover the economy of the United States. In turn, this will affect others.

The Republicans knew very well that their young president had nothing to do with the destruction of the economy in the USA and other parts of the world. The problems happened during the recent rule of Mr George W Bush, a Republican. The amounts required have now gone from the initial $800 billion to around $900 billion.

I hope and pray that there will be more cooperation with the young president, whatever he takes before them meant to revive the economy. May the Good Lord God Almighty continue to guide President Barack Obama, his team, and those who support him. This is young President Obama. He can!