How else to describe the image of George W Bush lecturing "the Arab world Sunday about everything from political repression to the denial of women's rights."
Better still is one of his proscription for achieving peace in the Middle East, "to stand by Lebanese Prime Minister Fouad Siniora against Hezbollah and to shun Iran over its nuclear program."
Irony was invented with Bush in mind. How else can you process things like this:
"He called on Arab governments to free all "prisoners of conscience" and open up political debate, saying Washington was "deeply concerned" about repression of democracy activists and the closure of newspapers and civil society organizations.
[skip] Nour, who unsuccessfully challenged Mubarak in Egypt's first multi-candidate presidential elections in 2005, is serving a five-year jail term for fraud. He says authorities fabricated the case to block him from politics."
We will not fix the problems in the middle east until the war mongers who are prosecuting this ill begotten misadventure in Iraq to further the profiteering of the Global Warming Corporations and the fundamentally flawed world vision of Dick Cheney leave the stage. The problem is that the damage they have caused will make it profoundly difficult for who ever follows to make any progress, let alone undo the damage.
But they must, and they must by engaging all of the parties. Iraqi or Hamas suicide bombers don't grow up with suicide as their career path, it's thrust upon them by their situation and the miserable old men that "lead" them. Yet those old men are the ones who we have to deal with if we want to stop the insanity of suicide bombers.
Those old men, and the poverty and suspicion and betrayals and heavy handedness of the colonial powers still present today, the poverty and over population, an illegal occupation, the exploitation by the Oil Corporations, all of that has to be addressed by the next President. And you won't get that by ignoring the "terrorists," who exist not for the fun of it all, but because of their desparate situation. So long as we continue to ignore that reality, Senator Obama, the killing and dying will go on, this monumental waste of life and treasure will continue to stain the American character throughout the world.
Showing posts with label Terrorism. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Terrorism. Show all posts
Sunday, May 18, 2008
Monday, June 18, 2007
Rebrand This, or, How to Get Out of Iraq
[cross posted at Daily Kos]
In response to a Left Coaster post, I posted the following comment. It’s an improved version of that comment, edited for clarity, and with additional content. In short, we need the Democrats to do the savvy and politically brave thing.
Okay, that may be a problem. My comment follows:
Steve, I can't agree with that redeployment branding bit. Except for the Media, incapable of doing news, branding is all they know, so anything "branding" related, well, that's got to be IT!
And it isn't a refocused effort to catch bin Laden either, they never tried in the first place. I remember Tora Tora Bora.
We used a handful of Special Forces troops and let the Northern Lights Alliance do the hard work, some story about respecting their sovereignty and strengthening our alliance and tales of how hard it would be to get a large force of Americans into the region quickly enough to catch OBL.
And besides, how fast could the guy run hooked up to a dialysis machine?
No, the solution for the Democrats is simple.
Bush had no intention of catching bin Laden, he just wanted to turn the Middle East into a nightmare cauldron of death and destruction, of hate and fear, of nationalism and fundamentalism and vengeance, for in such chaos is great opportunity for the right man, the right man with the WILL to stride across the stage of history and prove his greatness.
At least that's what Karl "Edgar Bergen" Rove must be thinking.
The Dems need to pound the notion that there is no war on terror (which is as stupid as it gets anyway), and that if there must be a war, let it be a war on al Queda. They need to say out loud and repeatedly that Bush has failed us in dealing with their threat, as in all things, failed us (but not his corporate masters I point out yet again), and everything we stood for as Americans. Look, American Exceptionalism isn't per se a bad thing, certainly not a bad ideal to aim for in a proper form, clearly, and with horrible and tragic predictability, the great comic book thinkers of the Right have no conception of what the proper form might be.
The Dems need to pound the reality, that al Queda is not a threat to Democracy and America and our way of life, that they have no intention of "following us home" when the goal of the 9/11 attacks have already been realized, to manipulate us into uncorking this nightmare, currently NOT playing itself out on your teevee screens I add, in the Middle East by removing the largest military and secular force in the region, just so OBL can play out his own insane fantasies of overthrowing the Sauds and putting his name on the throne and the oil. Perhaps 1984 is the wrong Orwellian analogy here, maybe Animal Farm might be a more appropriate one for at least some of this madness.
Okay Democrats, keep it simple. Yes, there is that wee little problem the Democrats need to overcome, and it's a problem that they keep repeating. Please. STOP DIGGING!! Put the shovel down and back away. Now. Acknowledge that you were wrong about supporting Bush and his illegal invasion and occupation of Iraq, admit that all of your votes to "support the troops" were politically done and horribly misguided, well intended as they were, and that the only prescription for the region is a withdrawal of all of our forces from Iraq and a redeployment to Afghanistan where we would rebuild the country as we should have to begin with; an end to our blind and foolhardy support of the Likudniks in Israel; and massive support of Syria, Lebanon, Palestine, Hamas included, and Jordan; and finally, real diplomacy conducted by people of character, people like Jimmy Carter and Bill Richardson and Bono, Nelson Mandela, Queen Elizabeth perhaps, I'm trying to think of a Republican of true character but I'm sorry, none come to mind, but that's what the Dems need to do.
They've so undermined themselves with their stupid support of Roves Rhetoric that they lack credibility without full recantation, but, there we are, we've gotten into a pretty huge hole, it's going to take some serious changes in the way we operate to get out, or a razing to the ground of the established house and rebuilding from the ground up.
Listen up now, this is important.
We have got to stop buying Roves rhetoric, that's all there is to it. Bush can no longer be allowed to describe what the situation is. The Democrats need to start making the narrative, no more copying notes from the stupidest kid in the class, and however they can do that, all the albatross carcasses hanging around their neck notwithstanding, that's how we're going to stop Bush and Cheney and the Corporations, by essentially ignoring Bush and his heralding strumpets, er, trumpets, and just telling our own story. Not in response to Bush and Limbaugh and Drudge and Couric and Blitzer, but on our own merits, like Frankie says, "My Way."
This countries foundation is okay; it's all the binding lies and cathedral monuments to glory and the rotten incestuous organization charts piled up on top of it that's causing the problem. Adding to it won't help.
Whichever American starts telling their own story and never mind the harpies right left and center, who truly rejects the stupidity and fear and cowardice that erupted after that day, when the black smoke of death still stained that incongruously beautiful blue of that fall morning, and does it with a serious plan for fixing things that really addresses our problems, is the one who takes home the prize. Or else we get whoever can buy the most shit.
In response to a Left Coaster post, I posted the following comment. It’s an improved version of that comment, edited for clarity, and with additional content. In short, we need the Democrats to do the savvy and politically brave thing.
Okay, that may be a problem. My comment follows:
Steve, I can't agree with that redeployment branding bit. Except for the Media, incapable of doing news, branding is all they know, so anything "branding" related, well, that's got to be IT!
And it isn't a refocused effort to catch bin Laden either, they never tried in the first place. I remember Tora Tora Bora.
We used a handful of Special Forces troops and let the Northern Lights Alliance do the hard work, some story about respecting their sovereignty and strengthening our alliance and tales of how hard it would be to get a large force of Americans into the region quickly enough to catch OBL.
And besides, how fast could the guy run hooked up to a dialysis machine?
No, the solution for the Democrats is simple.
Bush had no intention of catching bin Laden, he just wanted to turn the Middle East into a nightmare cauldron of death and destruction, of hate and fear, of nationalism and fundamentalism and vengeance, for in such chaos is great opportunity for the right man, the right man with the WILL to stride across the stage of history and prove his greatness.
At least that's what Karl "Edgar Bergen" Rove must be thinking.
The Dems need to pound the notion that there is no war on terror (which is as stupid as it gets anyway), and that if there must be a war, let it be a war on al Queda. They need to say out loud and repeatedly that Bush has failed us in dealing with their threat, as in all things, failed us (but not his corporate masters I point out yet again), and everything we stood for as Americans. Look, American Exceptionalism isn't per se a bad thing, certainly not a bad ideal to aim for in a proper form, clearly, and with horrible and tragic predictability, the great comic book thinkers of the Right have no conception of what the proper form might be.
The Dems need to pound the reality, that al Queda is not a threat to Democracy and America and our way of life, that they have no intention of "following us home" when the goal of the 9/11 attacks have already been realized, to manipulate us into uncorking this nightmare, currently NOT playing itself out on your teevee screens I add, in the Middle East by removing the largest military and secular force in the region, just so OBL can play out his own insane fantasies of overthrowing the Sauds and putting his name on the throne and the oil. Perhaps 1984 is the wrong Orwellian analogy here, maybe Animal Farm might be a more appropriate one for at least some of this madness.
Okay Democrats, keep it simple. Yes, there is that wee little problem the Democrats need to overcome, and it's a problem that they keep repeating. Please. STOP DIGGING!! Put the shovel down and back away. Now. Acknowledge that you were wrong about supporting Bush and his illegal invasion and occupation of Iraq, admit that all of your votes to "support the troops" were politically done and horribly misguided, well intended as they were, and that the only prescription for the region is a withdrawal of all of our forces from Iraq and a redeployment to Afghanistan where we would rebuild the country as we should have to begin with; an end to our blind and foolhardy support of the Likudniks in Israel; and massive support of Syria, Lebanon, Palestine, Hamas included, and Jordan; and finally, real diplomacy conducted by people of character, people like Jimmy Carter and Bill Richardson and Bono, Nelson Mandela, Queen Elizabeth perhaps, I'm trying to think of a Republican of true character but I'm sorry, none come to mind, but that's what the Dems need to do.
They've so undermined themselves with their stupid support of Roves Rhetoric that they lack credibility without full recantation, but, there we are, we've gotten into a pretty huge hole, it's going to take some serious changes in the way we operate to get out, or a razing to the ground of the established house and rebuilding from the ground up.
Listen up now, this is important.
We have got to stop buying Roves rhetoric, that's all there is to it. Bush can no longer be allowed to describe what the situation is. The Democrats need to start making the narrative, no more copying notes from the stupidest kid in the class, and however they can do that, all the albatross carcasses hanging around their neck notwithstanding, that's how we're going to stop Bush and Cheney and the Corporations, by essentially ignoring Bush and his heralding strumpets, er, trumpets, and just telling our own story. Not in response to Bush and Limbaugh and Drudge and Couric and Blitzer, but on our own merits, like Frankie says, "My Way."
This countries foundation is okay; it's all the binding lies and cathedral monuments to glory and the rotten incestuous organization charts piled up on top of it that's causing the problem. Adding to it won't help.
Whichever American starts telling their own story and never mind the harpies right left and center, who truly rejects the stupidity and fear and cowardice that erupted after that day, when the black smoke of death still stained that incongruously beautiful blue of that fall morning, and does it with a serious plan for fixing things that really addresses our problems, is the one who takes home the prize. Or else we get whoever can buy the most shit.
Monday, February 12, 2007
Twisted Police Action Threads
Explain to me why the White House has to have a top double secret backgrounder without attribution to show all of their ginned up evidence on Iranian culpability in IED's in Iraq, why the reporters accept it as business as usual, and why nobody can put their name to the evidence.
I mean, other than being a bunch of lies like the last time, why the secrecy? It makes no sense in a reality world, what's the angle for Cheney? How does this serve the perceptions of the public who do need some swaying at the moment just for the PR campaign.
Okay, I heard CNN say something about Iran helping al Queda which the reporter should have stated outright is a contradiction, should have pointed out that the Iranians, if they're helping anybody it's the Shia of al Maliki, that would be the same party that we're supporting as they purge Baghdad of Sunni's, so, in effect, we, the United States of America, are helping the Iranians kill our own troops to aid the party with the least ties to the damn terrorists we're supposed to be fighting.
Did I get that right?
Oh, and since when have they started investigating the bombs and bombing sites? And, how much of the explosives were actually from the stockpiles that we failed to secure in the first part of the invasion of Iraq?
I mean, other than being a bunch of lies like the last time, why the secrecy? It makes no sense in a reality world, what's the angle for Cheney? How does this serve the perceptions of the public who do need some swaying at the moment just for the PR campaign.
Okay, I heard CNN say something about Iran helping al Queda which the reporter should have stated outright is a contradiction, should have pointed out that the Iranians, if they're helping anybody it's the Shia of al Maliki, that would be the same party that we're supporting as they purge Baghdad of Sunni's, so, in effect, we, the United States of America, are helping the Iranians kill our own troops to aid the party with the least ties to the damn terrorists we're supposed to be fighting.
Did I get that right?
Oh, and since when have they started investigating the bombs and bombing sites? And, how much of the explosives were actually from the stockpiles that we failed to secure in the first part of the invasion of Iraq?
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