I think we need to know what a real enemy is of the USA? Do you mean people in some nation which have animosity for the policies of the USA? Sure we have that sort of enemies. What can THEY do> Scream, protest... mischief at American property in THEIR country.

Do we have state level "enemies"? Well if you mean governments which have made statements which indicate that they don't like the USA's policies and actions in various places around the world? We've heard rants from Castro, Chavez and others.

But what is the threat from these nations to the PEOPLE of the USA?

Are they going to attack America? Will there me an invasion on the shores of Cape Cod? Hell no. Never gonna happen.

These "anti USA" government might seize USA corporate owned assets.. oil rigs and so forth located in THEIR countries. They might prevent USA corporations from doing business in their country like Kin Jong Il. Who cares? Who suffers? Americans don't. Koreans might.

The fact is that the USA has an aggressive foreign policy which essentially is about making the world safe for trans national corporate business... involving resource exploitation, labor exploitation and access to offshore markets. I don't think that these are interests of the American people.

Well we need oil, as it's the life blood of our economy. FIne. We can purchase it.

When Buish came into power Oil was $23 a barrel, now it's $80+. We spent half a trillion "securing american (security - read oil) interests" in Iraq and Iran is the next target as are the Caucuses.

We need to defend out shores, not our corporations.

While I hate to see oppressive regimes, the USA has hardly used its military might for humanitarian purposes, especially if there is no strategic interest associated with it.

The ISA government now serves the corporations first and the people's needs second. This is why we are told we have enemies and inset ourselves into the affairs of other nations where we have no business doing so.

Further, We need to step aware from pre emptive war... and renounce the first use of nuclear weapons including DU.

Until the Congress starts passing binding resolutions and forcing the president to exceed to the people's will, then our representatives in Congress are just playing nonbinding political games with our mandate.

The Democrats should start tacking on things like S-chip and everything else America is crying out for to every Iraq war funding bill that comes along, but they won't do that, because they just don't have the guts, they're too damn afraid of losing the ground they've gained.  

Our Democratic representatives in Congress are willing to let George W. Bush go on running this country into the ground, thinking they'll repair the damage once there's a Democratic president. Perhaps this is a prudent tactic, but it also means that the American people, the US economy, and our nation will continue to deteriorate while we wait out this administration.  This also supposes that George Bush won't choose to act unilaterally with our military at some point, since the Congress has done nothing to try and hamstring this renegade president's power.

The world has changed in ways thet have yet to comprehend.  They still don't get that the peace movement was RIGHT and the Clintons were wrong.
You would think they would ponder on that, but no.

Hillary Clinton and Joseph Wilson represent US imperialism. That is why they agree with George Walker Bush to "designate the Iranian Revolutionary Guard as a terrorist organization" and support the occupation regimes in Iraq and Afghanistan.

As the WSWS wrote in August:

In a move with ominous implications, the Bush administration, according to articles in yesterday's New York Times and Washington Post, has resolved to brand the entire Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) as a "specially designated global terrorist" organization. In doing so, Bush will use powers provided under a presidential order signed shortly after the September 11, 2001 attacks.

The highly provocative step not only sets the stage for intensified economic pressure on Tehran, but also formalises a potential casus belli for US military action against Iran.

The decision to unilaterally criminalise a major branch of the military of a sovereign nation is unprecedented. The IRGC, which was formed after the 1979 Iranian revolution, has an estimated 125,000 soldiers and other personnel in its land, sea and air forces.

The designation will place the IRGC in the same category as Al Qaeda, Lebanon's Shiite militia Hezbollah and the Palestinian Hamas and Islamic Jihad groups, all of which have been attacked either by the US military or its Israeli allies, and their members detained and tortured as "terrorist" suspects.

The pretext for the move is the unsubstantiated US claim that the IRGC is "interfering" in Iraq and Afghanistan and supporting "terrorist" groups such as Hezbollah and Hamas. Bush administration and Pentagon officials have been engaged in an escalating propaganda offensive in recent weeks claiming that the IRGC, in particular its elite Quds Force, has been arming, training and directing Shiite militias engaged in attacking US troops in Iraq. ...

The US propaganda against Iran bears an eerie resemblance to the lies used to justify the illegal 2003 invasion of Iraq.

New provocation against Tehran - Bush to brand Iranian force as "terrorist"
By Peter Symonds, 16 August 2007

I also wonder if this type of amendment is necessary binding or not. Perhaps it is since congress has abrogated over the years it constitutional power (Korea Viet Nam Iraq etc..) to declare war. What a pickle we are in and this vague bill is not appropriate with almost no discussion or debate, imo.

And I cannot shake many disturbing things about Hillary who I have followed all of my life.. especially her statement in the last debate where she allows for Iraqi occupation through what may very well be her first term and beyond.

Hillary may be leading but she is not demonstrating leadership by just voting correctly against war in the morning and declaring more endless war in prime time. Lets see her be consistent on both sides, perhaps write and submit her own bills. Lets see her lead where she should be now.

We don't need her to coddle the current fascists and we don't need her to be ready to be a war criminal on day one who doesn't mind staying that way for years. We will never see the truth or accountability even after Jan '09 with her attitude.

Joe, you stole the thread with the raw truth during firedoglake's McNearny visit, rightfully so, and I want to thank you again...but please be careful here... HC is not what many/you? want her to be.