DR S. M. RAHMAN T. S. Eliot had remarked that there was a shadow between 'idea and 'reality. That shadow has not shrunk rather widened when President Barack Obamas 'rhetorical statements are matched against the practical outcomes. Winston Churchill, despite his distasteful colonial mindset and obnoxious Empire-building disposition, was a shrewd politician, who snatched victory out of the jaws of defeat when the Nazis had overrun quite a number of European countries in World War II. His prime ministership, proved the nemesis of Adolf Hitler, due to superior strategies manoeuvred in eliciting the cooperation of USA as well as of former USSR. Fighting at two fronts, in Europe - Great Britain as well as Moscow - proved fatal for Germany. Churchill emerged as victor and Hitler as vanquished, who preferred committing suicide rather than face the humiliation of defeat. It was expected that the great hero of war would win the elections against his political rival of the Labor Party - Clement Attlee. But the nation did not oblige by re-electing him as prime minister. Attlees victory at the polls proved enigmatic. It was, however, not without reason. Psychologically, people were fed up with war. They wanted change. Attlee promised that change and delivered what he had campaigned for. Not President Obama. He promised change and a courageous departure from the senseless war that his predecessor, George W Bush, had waged against Iraq and Afghanistan. The lone superpower, equipped with state-of-the-art weapons, has caused death of millions of Muslims - men, women and children - euphemistically called collateral damages. The overly callous sensibility of the US president, overwhelmingly brutal, cannot be justified in any 'just war. Iraq was invaded on a contrived lie, that it had Weapons of Mass Destruction. Certainly a Nuremberg like trial of Eichmann, who was instrumental in the genocide of the Jews, should have been held against Bush and Blair, who blundered into using military power to control the oil wealth of Muslim countries, if the world were free from the menace of 'double standards and the power of the lord of the jungle. Unlike Bush, Obama promised a speedier exit strategy from Iraq and proved that a US president could well be sensibly principled. Facing ignominious defeat in Afghanistan as well, besides Iraq, he saw the futility of continuing war in a country which has had no peace since the last 30 years. Torn and totally ravaged by the successive wars by the two superpowers, and phenomenal civilian casualties, the 'will of the Afghan nation to fight and die for their 'freedom is indeed a remarkable feat in the annals of history. Obama started off with a correct perspective of the global disarray by identifying the roots that have spawned 'terrorism and violence. The gravity of the 9/11 Manhattan tragedy was in the failure to resolve the Palestinian issue and chronic indifference to their sufferings and the occupation of their land by Israel. When it crossed the tolerance threshold of the brothers-in-faith, a global culture of terrorism for the restoration of 'justice was a reactive concomitant. Similarly, the ruthless suppression of the freedom lovers of the Indian Held Kashmir was the determinant of Indo-Pak wars and in accelerating tension between the two nuclear rivals, which have very ominous bearings for the region as well as global peace and harmony. President Obama was quite right in mentioning the 'Kashmir problem as vital for peace in the region, but the moment, the Indian leaders at the seat of power, reacted adversely, Obama sheepishly dropped mentioning Kashmir as if it were a non-issue. The strongest power in the world behaving like a powerless nation. How ironical What made Obama make a U-turn from sublime goals to the ridiculous measures of sending 30,000 more US troops, was for extracting some semblance of victory in Afghanistan before making an exit. Accepting defeat gracefully is not in the bones and marrows of a superpower. But pushing President Obama towards further surge in Afghanistan is the hidden hand which controls the foreign policy of USA. There is a remarkable book by Jeff Gates titled Guilt by Association - How Deception and Self-Deceit took America to War. I recommend every one to read it who has a passion for sifting reality from barrage of words, which are instruments in creating false constructs, specially in this information age, with skilled peddlers of 'stereotypes and 'images like Radical Islam, Islamo-phobia, War on Terror, Islamic Terrorism, Islamic Bomb etc. Moreover, Lord Cromer (1849-1917) is reported to have made a very apt remark: We do not govern Egypt, we govern the governors of Egypt. This is what Israel (Zionist lobby in collusion with Christian Zionists) is doing with those who govern USA. The degree of their power to control USA is reflected in the former Prime Minister of Israel, Ariel Sharons statement, whom George Bush had labelled as an Apostle of Peace: I want to tell you something very clear, dont worry about American pressure on Israel. We, the Jewish people control America and the Americans know it (Quoted in Guilt by Association). Jeff Gates rightly laments: American post-war leadership embraced on alliance with a deficit and fundamentalist subculture, within Judaisms broader faith tradition. Sixty years of war experience have since confirmed the illusion of common interest between an inclusive secular democracy and exclusivist theocratic state. Though many Americans have long sensed that something fundamental was amiss in this alliance. The facts have not been available to support that intuition - uptil now. To this one may add that had John McCain, the Republican candidate won the elections, he would have been instrumental in making US commit its 'blood and 'treasure to expand the Iraq, Afghanistan war to Iran. Such are the morbid thoughts and 'beliefs being manipulated through the powerful media mostly being controlled by the Zionist lobby, which manipulates the minds of the gullible US citizens. The Christian Zionists (evangelists, to which George Bush belonged) naively believe that unless the Jews were supported, the second coming of Christ would not be possible. The criminal syndicate, comprising the neo-cons, the arms producing lobby and the oil barons are out to create a greater Israel. Obama, despite realising the vicious Israeli game feels helpless in towing the agenda being pursued by the powerful elites and extremists among the Jewish community. They exercise an octopus-like hold and the impact they wield on the American mind is indeed phenomenal. How can one see peace in the world, when the superpowers president is so perilously poised to follow the fixed intelligence and displaced facts to create false consciousness? The writer is secretary general, FRIENDS Email: friendsfoundation@live.co.uk