Comments on Informed Comment: Over 100 Killed in Iraq, 100 Wounded Mahdi Army C...

Richard Bruce Cheney, unfortunately, thinks we are...

2006-08-30T01:06:00.000-04:00

Richard Bruce Cheney, unfortunately, thinks we are very stupid and he is willing to demonize anyone with a brain.

"WASHINGTON/RENO, Nevada (Reuters) - Vice President Dick Cheney, seizing on Democratic calls to pull troops out of Iraq, on Monday linked early withdrawal to the possibility of terrorist attacks in the United States."

Uh, if you don 't vote for Katherine Harris, there might be terror attacks. Uh, if you don't vote for Joe Lieberman, there might be terror attacks. Grrrr grrr. Uh, if you insist on knowing who sat in on the energy meetings, there might be terror attacks. If you don't pass retroactive laws protecting us for our unlawful prisons, there might be terror attacks.

Yup, pretty damned stupid, he thinks we are.

The the White House and the State Department are i...

2006-08-30T00:26:00.000-04:00

The the White House and the State Department are ignoring BBC requests for clarification of the term "Islamofascist".

US Muslim leaders say the term "offends the vast majority of moderate Muslims", "casts a shadow upon Islam" and "bolsters the argument that there is a clash of civilisations between Islam and the West".

Daniel Benjamin of the Center for Strategic and International Studies says, "There is no sense in which jihadists embrace fascist ideology as it was developed by Mussolini or anyone else who was associated with the term. This is an epithet, a way of arousing strong emotion and tarnishing one's opponent, but it doesn't tell us anything about the content of their beliefs.".

Zeinab Chami, a Muslim community activist in Dearborn, Michigan, says the administration has seized upon a new term to frighten people.

"I think the word terrorism has lost its edge. They are looking for something with a little more oomph."

Via the BBC.

Boulder Colorado District Attorney Mary Lacy is co...

2006-08-29T22:30:00.000-04:00

Boulder Colorado District Attorney Mary Lacy is convinced John Mark Karr did not kill Jon Benet Ramsey. John Mark Karr sincerely believes he killed her. George W Bush, when asked if he still considers the Iraq War was the right thing to do, said sincerely, "the War came to us." He is convinced it was right to invade Iraq.

"Fascism" is a sorely abused word. When parents gr...

2006-08-29T20:59:00.000-04:00

"Fascism" is a sorely abused word. When parents ground their teenage kids, they are called Fascists. The shop-owner who won't sell cigarettes to minors is called a Fascist. Rumsfeld is taking the nonsense even further, talking about a “New Type Of Fascism”.

So what is "Fascism" really?

There is absolutely NO reasonable definition of the word "Fascism" - a right-wing authoritarian doctrine characterized by militant nationalism and control of government by business interests - that can logically be applied to Al Quaeda, the insurgents in Iraq, or any other Bush opponents.

As Franklin Delano Roosevelt said to Congress in 1938:

The first truth is that the liberty of a democracy is not safe if the people tolerate the growth of private power to a point where it becomes stronger than their democratic state itself. That, in essence, is fascism - ownership of government by an individual, by a group, or by any other controlling power. Among us today a concentration of private power without equal in history is growing.

Roosevelt fought the Nazis in WWII. He knew a thing or two about Fascism.

And let's not forget that Prescott Bush, W's grandfather, was on the Fascist side, along with a whole host of US millionaires who had invested heavily in post-WWI Germany and who strongly opposed US intervention in WWII because they placed profiteering ahead of morality (and still do).

The stark, screaming, totally unpalatable truth is that BUSH & CO ARE THE FASCISTS!!!

And as Brendan O'Neill at antiwar.com points out, Today's 'Islamic Fascists' Were Yesterday's Friends.

I have long maintained that the only realistic lon...

2006-08-29T20:36:00.000-04:00

I have long maintained that the only realistic long-term allies for the US in Iraq are the Kurds... The CIA has been working to rebuild ties with the Kurdish groups ever since the bloody letdown in 1991, when Bush Sr. refused to back up his promise of aiding a Kurdish revolt against Saddam... That, of course, is not the first time the Kurds have been let down by the US...

In the 1950s the Kurds were put in touch with Israel by the CIA and were encouraged to make trouble for Saddam in the post-1973 war era in order to weaken Iraq’s ability to aid an isolated Syrian regime… But the Kurds were stabbed in the back by Kissinger's Iran-Iraq initiative that allowed for an accord between the Shah and Saddam, freeing up Iraq to slaughter the Kurds in 1975...

Anyway, the only real threat to American ties with the Kurds is the question of Turkey's response to Kurdish militia activity... If the Turks continue to bomb Kurdish bases in Iraq, the US will soon be forced to determine which friend it wants to keep over the other.

Regarding Cheney, a well-intentioned politician, o...

2006-08-29T20:00:00.000-04:00

Regarding Cheney, a well-intentioned politician, of either US party, "Ok. But if he's wrong, please give me an alternative position I can defend to the voters and not bring even worse disgrace and violence."

In other words, if the only solution is to leave Iraq, please indicate how.

Explicating the Diwaniyah fighting as Badr on Sadr...

2006-08-29T19:42:00.000-04:00

Explicating the Diwaniyah fighting as Badr on Sadr was very enlightening.

One thing I realized from that Independent article is that "more than 10,000 people have died in the last four months" is a much more stunning summary stat that the one most of us have been using, that a 100 people have been dying a day on average.

Michael

Not related to this particular post but rather som...

2006-08-29T18:10:00.001-04:00

Not related to this particular post but rather something you might be interested in. this was taken from AFP article online by Siavosh Ghazi and Hiedeh Farmani. "Ahmadinejad, who last year caused outrage when he described Israel as a tumour that should be "wiped off the map," said he wanted the root of tensions in the Middle East to be "removed."". I have read your translations of what he said, I don't remember the "tumor" reference.
Regards

Juan,Bravo for citing the Reagan administration's ...

2006-08-29T16:14:00.000-04:00

Juan,

Bravo for citing the Reagan administration's role in creating today's Islamic fundamentalist terrorists.

But I am disappointed to see you adopting the term "fascists" to describe such people. This is an old Karl Rove talking point: anyone who criticizes or opposes Bush is a "Fascist". Once again, it's a case of turning your greatest weakness into an attack: the real Fascists are in Washington.