From the Pro Publica website comes news that Obama has changed our policy towards Iraq in more ways than militarily. Pro Publica describes itself as “an independent, non-profit newsroom that produces investigative journalism in the public interest.” “Public interest” is usually a code word for leftist, and this group is funded by the Sandler Foundation, which also funds the Center for American Progress, the leftist think tank that provides ideas to Barack Obama, and other leftist causes.
Nevertheless, Pro Publica is providing a good service by tracking changes on the White House website, and this piece on changes on the Iraq page reports a change that may or may not be significant:
Previous to the change, the agenda page was more or less a shortened version of its predecessor [3] at the Obama campaign Web site.
Some differences we found interesting:
- Nearly one-fifth of the original version was devoted to “Preventing Humanitarian Crisis,” promising “at least $2 billion to expand services to Iraqi refugees and ensure Iraqis inside their own country can find sanctuary.” The word “humanitarian” is absent from the new version.
- The new version flatly states: “Iraq’s future is now its own responsibility.”
- And in the new version, the administration states outright their interest in “preventing Iran from developing a nuclear weapon” and for “actively seeking a lasting peace between Israel and the Arab world.”
Looking at their page that shows a direct comparison, I see that the Iraqi refugees have not actually been left out. The old site says this:
President Obama and Vice President Biden believe that America has both a moral obligation and a responsibility for security that demands we confront Iraq’s humanitarian crisis — more than five million Iraqis are refugees or are displaced inside their own country. Obama and Biden will form an international working group to address this crisis. They will provide at least $2 billion to expand services to Iraqi refugees in neighboring countries, and ensure that Iraqis inside their own country can find sanctuary.
In the new version, the refugee policy is buried inside one sentence:
We will work to support Iraqi national elections in 2010, help improve local government, serve as an honest broker for Iraqi leaders as they resolve difficult political issues, increase support for the resettlement of Iraqi refugees, and help strengthen Iraqi institutions and their capacity to protect rule of law, confront corruption, and deliver services.
I present this just as a possibly interesting development, and to show you the cool capability this website has for comparing before-and-after on the White House website. I never believe anything Obama says anyway, so I don’t think it makes any difference what is on his website. He will say and do whatever suits his agenda. So the answer to my question in the headline is, “Who knows?”