Ilhan Omar: The Real Deal? Largely Looking Good with Flaws Needing Correction
by Stephen Lendman (stephenlendman.org – Home – Stephen Lendman)
Congressional profiles in courage are few and far between. Rarely ever do US lawmakers challenge the nation’s destructive domestic and geopolitical agendas with conviction.
Pretenders abound, longtime con man Bernie Sanders Exhibit A. His voting record exposes him, most always going along with other undemocratic Dems, notably when his vote counts most.
Based on her short tenure so far, Omar appears largely cut out of a different cloth, expressing views on the right side of major issues, mostly supported by her voting record so far.
A disturbing exception was voting for HR 676, the NATO Support Act, banning use of federal funds for withdrawal, requiring the US to remain a member in good standing, prohibiting withdrawal from the alliance, a killing machine used by Washington to rape and destroy nations.
Omar should have stood tall against the alliance. Hopefully she’ll come around to this view in public rhetoric and future votes on whatever relates to it – including annual National Defense Authorization Acts, authorizing hundreds of billions of dollars for militarism and warmaking.
On March 8, she voted for the For the People Act of 2019 – “to expand Americans’ access to the ballot box, reduce the influence of big money in politics, and strengthen ethics rules for public servants, and for other purposes.”
House members passed it by a 234 – 193 majority – a feel good measure doing nothing to change America’s money-controlled electoral process.
Omar voted for House Concurrent Resolution 24 – “expressing the sense of Congress that” special counsel Mueller’s Russiagate witch-hunt report to Congress be released publicly.
After nearly two years and millions of dollars spent, Mueller found no evidence of Russian US election meddling or any improper or illegal Trump team connection to Moscow.
From inception, House, Senate and Mueller probes were and remain unjustifiable, a colossal scam, likely the most shameful political chapter in America’ history, McCarthyism on steroids, continuing without justification.
Omar failed to denounce what’s going on. Hopefully she’ll do the right thing ahead. There’s plenty to hold Trump accountable for, his war crimes most of all, nothing connecting him to Russia improperly or illegally.
Dems and other dark forces in Washington want him ousted for the wrong reasons, ignoring the right ones they support. They want Russia vilified by one fabricated accusation after another.
Omar slammed Trump saying he’s “expanding the US empire…A US backed coup in Venezuela is not a solution to the dire issues they face. Trump’s efforts to install a far right opposition will only incite violence and further destabilize the region.”
She sharply criticized Israeli persecution of Palestinians, taking considerable flack for standing tall on this issue.
Not on Syria to her discredit, tweeting on March 15: “The people of Syria revolted against Assad’s repressive dictatorship 8 years ago today, demanding a more just and free government. Peace loving people around the world stand in solidarity with them in this struggle!”
Fact: No Assad “dictatorship” exists, no March 2011 revolt. The Obama regime launched naked aggression in Syria, using ISIS and other jihadists as imperial foot soldiers.
Trump regime hardliners escalated the conflict, wanting Assad toppled, Syrian sovereign eliminated, Iran isolated ahead of a similar scheme to oust its legitimate government, eliminating Israel’s main regional rival.
One critic of her view on Syria called her out, saying “you claim to oppose AIPAC but on Syria you’re in lockstep with them.”
Another said “(t)he CIA is very much in agreement with you” on Syria. Activist/analyst Patrick Henningsen aid Omar is “parroting CNN’s version of history…which is wrong. Do your homework. There was no ‘revolution’ in Syria.”
What’s going on in the country for the past eight years is all about regime change, part of the US imperial agenda against all sovereign independent states, wanting pro-Western puppet regimes replacing them.
No one’s perfect. Omar is dead wrong on NATO, Syria, and in part for opposing Trump for wrong reasons – along with justifiable ones.
In a March 17 op-ed, she expressed views largely on the right side of major issues – including “the crippling burden of student debt, tackling the existential threat of climate change…making sure no one in one of the richest countries in the world dies from lack of health care, (and) US foreign policy, (notably) militarism and our role in the world,” adding:
US wars are “deeply personal to me. I fled my home country of Somalia when I was 8 years old from a conflict that the United States later engaged in.”
“I spent the next four years in a refugee camp in Kenya, where I experienced and witnessed unspeakable suffering from those who, like me, had lost everything because of war.”
“I saw firsthand the devastating toll of war. And I dreamed of one day coming to the United States of America — a land that promised peace and opportunity regardless of one’s faith or ethnicity.”
“But I also saw how America’s image in the world is undermined when we don’t live up to those values. And I witnessed how our continuous involvement in foreign conflicts — even those undertaken with the best of intentions — can damage our own reputation abroad.”
Her comments about endless US wars are welcome and needed – despite a glaring, unacceptable error.
No US wars were waged “with the best intention,” including the falsely labelled “good war,” WW II. FDR forced the Japanese to attack the US. Hitler could have been stopped with US-led Western resolve before he annexed foreign territory and attacked Poland.
All US post-WW II wars were naked aggression against nations threatening no one, including against North Korea, Southeast Asian countries, the rape of Iraq and Yugoslavia in the 1990s, and all post-9/11 conflicts.
Omar needs greater understanding about America’s shameful dark record – what’s gone on throughout the republic’s history, nothing pretty about it.
To her credit, she supports “an inclusive foreign policy — one that centers on human rights, justice and peace as the pillars of America’s engagement in the world, one that brings our troops home and truly makes military action a last resort.”
She supports foreign engagement “foc(ing) on diplomacy and economic and cultural engagement.” At a time when Washington’s only enemies are invented ones, she said “we don’t need (hundreds of) military bases” globally.
They’re all about advancing America’s imperium, unrelated to preserving and protecting national security, an issue she touched on short of properly explaining it.
Nor does she understand Iran, unacceptably accusing the country of “oppression and regional instability,” sounding like she’s reading Trump regime scripted lines.
The Islamic Republic is the region’s leading proponent of peace and stability, strongly against US imperial wars and Israeli persecution of Palestinians.
As a congressional member, Omar should understand what countries are on the right and wrong side of major issues, mainly the US.
On Israel/Palestine, she “support(s) a two-state solution, with internationally recognized borders, which allows for both Israelis and Palestinians to have their own sanctuaries and self-determination.”
She failed to define her view. Palestinian statehood comprised of isolated cantons on worthless scrubland, how things are now, is a state in name only, not the real thing.
Nothing less that statehood based on pre-June 1967 borders is acceptable, 22% of historic Palestine, along with East Jerusalem as its exclusive capital.
Omar incorrectly called a two-state solution official US/Israeli policy for “two decades” – in name only, not in fact. The Trump and Netanyahu regimes notably reject Palestinian self-determination, while disingenuously claiming otherwise.
Reality speaks for itself. For most of the past half century, so-called peace talks went nowhere. They’ll clearly accomplish nothing with the most one-sided pro-Israel regime in Washington – hostile to fundamental Palestinian rights, proven by its actions.
Omar saying “both parties must come to the table for a final peace deal” shows little understanding of peace process reality.
It’s the greatest hoax in modern times – along with the so-called global war on terror – entirely OF, not on it, by the US.
Omar is young and inexperienced on the national stage, her views largely on the right side of major issues, standing tall to her credit.
Over time, her knowledge and understanding of issues mattering most will deepen. She’s a voice of courage on many issues, hopefully across the board in the years ahead.
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