by Carla Sutherland

Created on: March 23, 2009

I didn't exactly have high hopes when Obama won the election in November. I have already commented on some of his campaign promises that didn't quite fit the bill for change. And as always, once politicians gain office, they often break their campaign promises. President Obama, being the young and charismatic person that he is, sadly isn't any different from the men preceding him.

First off we have the so-called withdrawal of US troops in Iraq and escalation of US forces in Afghanistan. As I've stated a number of times, sure a number of US soldiers will be out of Iraq, but are they really being sent home? Or are they all just heading to Afghanistan to perform the same duties that they had done in Iraq? And what of the private contractors? President Obama stated in his campaign that he will not withdraw US forces without others to replace them. This means that the private contractors will continue to stay. There are currently over 100,000 of them in Iraq alone right now. The government of Iraq is in it's own way trying to lower the numbers of private contractors, one of which is banning Blackwater. Unfortunately the US has renewed Blackwater's contract in Iraq just days after their banning, so the most infamous company of private contractors will not be leaving Iraq anytime soon. And with such a strong force remaining, it is clear that the occupation of Iraq will continue despite President Obama's so-called withdrawal of US troops.

Now we come to the related issues of Guantanamo Bay, torture and kidnappings. President Obama stated that he plans on having Guantanamo Bay closed within a year. But what about the prisoners inside it? He has removed the status of 'enemy combatant' BUT continues the policy of imprisoning people indefinitely and without charge, even if those people had no direct connection with hostilities and weren't near any battlefield. So in other words they will be taken to other sites and prisons around the world, as opposed to Guantanamo Bay. In other words, they are kidnapped. How big of a change is this from Bush's policies?

Torture. Former Vice President Dick Cheney was recently on CNN defending the interrogation techniques and torture practices committed thus far in the War on Terror. And with President Obama presently moving to 'avoid' such practices, Cheney states that it "...will in fact raise the risk to the American people of another attack." Cheney further claims that it was due to these interrogation techniques that the US had enjoyed

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