I mean those pieces were just sitting there anyway I figured...
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New Hilarious counter-propaganda toons' from disgraced yet still gifted cartoonist Micah Wright.
car
I I think it's time to check in on Riverbend again.
She's still pissed off. I don't blame her. Here's what she has to say about the latest happenings in Iraq.
Chalabi has
only lately ventured out from under his rock (in the usual flashy tie) to
cry out that Lakhdhar Il Braheimi, the special UN representative sent by
Kofi to check out the possibility of elections, is completely and totally
biased against Shi'a. So now Chalabi seems to consider himself a champion of
Shi'a everywhere in Iraq. The amusing thing about this is the fact that,
apparently, no one has told Chalabi that he has become the joke of the Shi'a
community. We (Sunnis and Shi'a) tease each other with things like, "So… the
Shi'a man of the moment is Chalabi, ah?!" and the phrase is usually received
with an indignant outcry and a comparison of the man of the moment to…
Britney Spears, for example.
I stare at him when he gives his speeches on television and cringe with the
thought that someone out there could actually have thought he was
representative of any faction of Iraqi society. I can hardly believe that he
was supposed to be the one to target the Iraqi intellectuals and
secularists. He's the tasteless joke Bush and Co. sent along with the
soldiers and tanks to promote democracy- rather like one of those plastic
blowup dolls teenage boys practice dancing with before the prom.
I also heard today that the Puppets are changing the flag. It looks nothing
like the old one and at first I was angry and upset, but then I realized
that it wouldn't make a difference. The Puppets are illegitimate, hence
their constitution is null and void and their flag is theirs alone. It is as
representative of Iraq as they are- it might as well have "Made in America"
stitched along the inside seam. It can be their flag and every time we see
it, we'll see Chalabi et al. against its pale white background.
My email buddy and fellow Iraqi S.A. in America said it best in her email,
"I am sure we are all terribly excited about the extreme significance of the
adoption by the completely illegitimate Iraq Puppet Council of a new
national piece of garishly colored cloth. Of course the design of the new
national rag was approved by the always tastefully dressed self-declared
counter terrorism expert viceroy of Iraq, Paul Bremer, who is well known for
wearing expensive hand-stitched combat boots with thousand dollar custom
tailored suits and silk designer ties.
The next big piece of news will be the new pledge of allegiance to said
national rag, and the empire for which it stands. The American author of
said pledge has yet to be announced."
For the coming national anthem, may I suggest Chalabi, Allawi, Hakeem and
Talbani in a gaudy, Iraqi version of "Lady Marmalade"?
It's time for more fun with comics kids. The above picture is from a series I'm really enjoying
You can now get a Greg Palast spoken word CD. It's about time I say.
Speaking of Democrats who lie down with Republicans, I see that Kerry defeated my fave presidential pick Howard Dean, again. I hear that Dean fired Joe Trippi today. I'm amazed that Democrats think Kerry is the guy. He voted for the tax cuts and the war and now he's telling me that he's going to fight the special interests? Oh please. Don't get me wrong, I'd vote for a stick of wood over Bush, but why would you nominate a guy who can't attack Bush on the Big Issues of the day. Now, this is usually where I go over to Oliver Willis' blog and remind people why they vote for Ralph Nader. Sigh, again. Dean still has a chance.
Update:
HHere's a newer and better pic of the red planet. You know, to you, it just looks like a buncha rocks. But I see direct democracy, absolute civil liberties, and the nan driven economy. We don't even need a basic income guaranteed because we're self sufficient in terms of housing and food and air. Plus, the nan bots kiss our toes and massage our neural pleasure centers. I also see a place where I can get laid and take relatively harmless drugs in peace, although I do understand that you can get the really dangerous alcohols and cigs on the red planet's black market. I see cities named Metropolis and Gotham and Teen Town. I see them thriving 24 hours a day full of bazaars and festivals and mayhem. Everybody who works likes what they do. That's what I see. It's all a matter of perspective.
Then there's the Bush plan. I used to have these arguments with my right wing cousin Todd Jackson about how horrible American exploration would look if it was done under current "American" rules. An outer space where I wouldn't get health care and probably get tossed out of an airlock if I was found defective in any way or hated America. I wrote a story about it called "The Drear and Thoroughly Depressing Jackson Todd Continuum". In that story, I imagine an open sourced solution to gravity propulsion where the United States creates a Microsoft-only, slave labor space station and where the EU takes Mars and makes it a decent place to live.
Don't get me wrong. I think we should go to Mars, and I agree with my Better Humans editor Simon Smith that self-directed evolution would go a long way toward making the trip more beneficial. Does anyone recall the horror show that was Frederick Pohl's "Man Plus"?...That was just a bionic freakshow left alone on Mars. We could do all that stuff cleaner and smaller with an evolved form of biotech and nan. Another horror show disguised as Solar system exploration would have to be John Barnes' "Orbital Resonance" which I once described
But it's important that we get off the planet. Can't keep all of our eggs in one basket.
But, again, there's the Bush plan. By the time he's done it will look like a massive giveaway to the usual suspects. I guess space will be the fourth arm of this century's Iron Triangle. Dean has always had a plan to go to Mars by the way. I'm hoping that he does it the right way, which means turning the Pentagon's spending into space exploration. This is the opposite of using space exploration as a cover for the military dominion of space, which is probably the true meaning of the Bush plan for space.
Phil, Phil, Phil...How insightful you are. Don't worry about the "local draft board" here (I'm already defending you). Dean has about as much chance of winning ass McGovern did against Nixon (the reason most Conservatives are actually rooting for him).
I'm looking forward to your despair in '04 when Bush
is re-elected, that should be a sight to see
Here's the news Freeper scum who populate our comments sections. Dean is only five points back and the campaign hasn't even started yet. At this rate, Dean will lead by May and have a commanding margin of victory by September. You ask what Americans against the war will do. Americans will work to throw Bush out of office. Tell me again how it's Bush in a landslide? I guess everybody doesn't watch FOX news. Or as the Instapundit says, I think we know which way the wind is blowing.
Since they really don't care about American troops and they don't further the George Bush Jr. reelection campaign, expect never to see pictures of our war dead over at the Instapundits and Pejmanesques of this world.
Here's a reminder as to why we opposed this senseless, meaningless war.
Army Spc. Uday Singh
Army Spc. Uday Singh, 21, of Lake Forest, Ill.; assigned to C Company, 1st
Battalion, 34th Armored Regiment, 1st Infantry Division, based in Fort
Riley, Kan.; killed Dec. 1 when enemy forces attacked his patrol in
Habbaniyah, Iraq.
• • • • •
Killed: December 01, 2003
Here's an appropriate comment from Instapundit:
"Sounds like more evidence
of
which way the wind is blowing."
Army Pfc. Jason G. Wright, 19, of Luzerne, Mich.;
assigned to the 1st Battalion, 502nd Infantry Regiment, 101st Airborne
Division (Air Assault), based in Fort Campbell, Ky.; killed while on
security duty Dec. 8 when his vehicle came under fire from a passing vehicle
in Mosul, Iraq.
Killed: December 08, 2003
Don't worry. Pejman "Our man in cyberspace" Yousefzadeh is on the case. Here he is, just like Juan Cole, struggling with the difficulties of the occupation. Or, perhaps he's writing about why he thinks Queer Eye for the Straight Guy is a really really good show. Yep. This is the kind of intellectual we want watching Noam Chomsky.
A few weeks ago, I asked some of our brave anonymous fellows in the comments section to give their names so that I could submit them to these new fangled neoconned birthed draft boards. I would think they would just be wildly enthusiastic to have their number called, even though I often suspect they're not of draft age yet, which I guess would explain the immaturity and childishness of their posts.
So, consider this post a second chance for you allegedly pro war types. There's an excellent chance that if Bush is reelected there will be a draft. The current army is perfectly swell if you don't plan on invading everybody throughout the world. It's not so good if you have plans for North Korea and Syria, and possibly Pakistan.
I simply ask that you post your name, phone number (have to verify these things) and your physical address (email address as well) in the comments section and I will forward your name to as many selective service reps that I can find and email. I will make an effort, in fact, to contact your local draft board! Go Bush as they say. How's that for service. Here's your chance to put your money where your mouth is, so to speak. I shall wait patiently for your heroic declarations of patriotic love. I fully expect a record setting number of comments in the next few days or so. I really really do.
I might note, as I pointed out, that this is consistent behavior for your average frothy-mouthed pro-imperialism warblogger. For example, just to use myself as an illustration, I recently spent a year working for Americorps, where I taught poor kids and senior citizens basic elementary computer skills. I took home a whopping $200 bucks a week. But that's the kind of thing we bleeding heart liberals do. I'm being consistent. Likewise, if you truly believe in the war effort and that Iraq is a bastion of terrorism (that we've probably created but that's another post) I would think that even if you're not enthused enough to enlist, then you would certainly accept being drafted with enthusiasm and playful glee. I smiled too when I introduced a kid to the joys of Opera and the realization that our blocking software didn't affect it. Needless to say, I'm going to work hard for President Dean and thereby avoid a draft and your subsequent needless death for Halliburton no bid contracts and general graft. But that's just me.
Post away brave soldiers, post away.
PRESIDENT DUMBASS STRIKES AGAIN: It looks like our fearless president, through the dark bloody hand of his infamous advisor Paul Wolfowitz, ticked off potential allies and friends yet for another time. You know, and this is a wild thought, perhaps those countries like Russia, France and Canada (a stalwart ally in Afghanistan by the way that just didn' think this Iraq thing made sense...see Canadian right winger Flit's sarcastic post) because there were no promises of joint leadership and control. They would've been idiots to have joined our silly little imperialistic adventure without those assurances upfront. As per usual, Juan Cole has the best perspective on this subject:
"Since
Iraq owes on the order of $40 bn. to Russia, France and other European
countries, and since the reconstruction budget so far is under $20 bn., it
is obvious that vastly more was to be gained by letting the NATO countries
and Europe have a few contracts and then getting them to forgive or
refinance the loans.
Instead, Wolfowitz was intent on scoring petty points. He had promised to
"punish" France for defying him. The move was so gratuitous and immature
that one can only guess something else lay behind it. There are lots of
reasons for which the Likudniks would like to make bad blood between the US
and France and Russia in particular. France is no longer a knee-jerk
supporter of Israeli militarism and expansionism. In part this is because of
the growth of the Muslim electorate in France. About 7% of French residents
are Muslim, nearly 5 million persons, whereas French Jews amount to only
600,000 or perhaps a bit more. France has been alarmed at Israeli PM Ariel
Sharon's combination Iron Fist and Land Rustling, since it makes French
Muslims upset. Likewise, Russia has a more balanced view of the Arab-Israeli
conflict. So, it may be that the powerful Likudniks inside the US government
are deliberately engineering a diplomatic rift in NATO, so as to ensure that
Paris and Moscow cannot position themselves to influence Washington's
position (usually supine) toward Sharon's excesses.
I have concluded that the Bush team lacks Emotional Intelligence as defined
by psychologists such as Daniel Goleman. Emotional Intelligence consists
of the following.."
Go read the whole thing as they say.
Ted Rall cartoon
I
I too come from a military family - also one that lived under Nazi occupation and resisted - they were what you now call 'terrorists'. I am very angry that people resisting an illegal occupation should be called 'terrorists'. Or anyone fighting back they only way they can against immeasurably superior forces. Or that our soldiers don't know anything about Nuremberg, or the Geneva Conventions, or illegal orders, or the immorality of invading a poor country that never was our enemy. Americans don't seem to have learned much from history - WW II and Vietnam, for starters. Especially Nazi Germany.
I know more than I care to know about how the US treats its veterans - I've been in the trenches fighting for their healthcare - and I am sickened by the devastation from Vietnam, Gulf I, and other illegal brush wars initiated by lies and propaganda. It's hard to feel sorry for Americans who have never had their own homeland bombed into rubble - even your own brain-washed, testosterone-poisoned kids. They should be home in school, not killing other people's kids.
It was bound to escalate - especially when there's no draft and rich kids are exempt. Either everybody goes, or nobody goes - the only fair way to run a war. We're not supposed to even have a standing army - Eisenhower warned us about that - he knew about all the lies. (As did my father - he served under Bradley and was regular army before WW II.)
...Being a conservative, I really resent the dirty name they're giving my philosophy - and the way they've dragged the flag through the mud. Might as well have swastikas on it now instead of stars - symbol of the Fourth Reich. Hitler lasted 12 years - I don't think we'll have much of a country left by then.
I keep on top of things, write letters to my congressmen, and talk to anyone who'll listen. Thank you ever so much for speaking out - it's what true patriots have to do, no matter how bad it gets. The Nazis called German dissenters 'traitors' too - and persecuted anyone who spoke out against fascism or their plan for world domination. They do hate the truth - it's of no benefit to them. Lies make money.
--from S. Lambrecht, from the Bring Them Home website.
II see that we have been attacked by the Den Bestians, a wordy and pretentious lot if ever there was one. But two quick points here that should be addressed: the reports about military unhappiness about our bloody occupation are deep and vast and wide. You might note that the reports are from various newspapers: The Christian Science Monitor, the Los Angeles Times, AP, even Pat Buchanan's conservative journal. If that's not enough for you then you should visit the websites (yes websites) of Military Families Speak Out and Bring Them Home Now, or you could even tool around the Army Times message board and find a housewife or two decrying the lies of the "chain of command". I read the chain as starting from the President, but that's just me: I hate America, or at least I hate an America that kills 7 to 10 thousand Iraqi civilians, that creates some sort of cheap labor conservative "democracy" that's top down and corrupt from the start, and then sticks me with a $100 billion bill for this exercise in delusion and death. Frell, feel free to call me unpatriotic.
I might also note that I've been called an inflexible Bush Hater. Please. I hate Bush because of his horrific policies on almost every single conceivable issue. I hate Bush because of his Christian Right biotech policy, which has stymied stem cell research here and threatens American preeminence in this field. I hate Bush because of his civil liberty policy stance which brought us Patriot I and in all likelihood will bring us Patriot Act II. I hate him because he acts as a proxy for the oil industry, and subsequently we can't move toward alt fuels. I hate Bush and the GOP that only represent the wishes of "stasist" industries like big oil and big media because it's kind of, well, evil. I hate Bush because of those tax cuts that not only will I not get but will not allow us to rebuild American infrastructure such as roads, schools, and bridges. And last but certainly not least I hate Bush for driving us toward this insane war which will result in the meaningless deaths of thousands, and a large number of those people will be American by the time this is over, unless there's a pullout before 2004 which I doubt.
Now, on top of that, and there are many many many more reasons to hate this guy, I tend to hate him personally because he's the worst politician I've ever seen. I would never allow myself to be led by a man who can't talk, and in all probability can't write or think coherently as well, into anything. I wouldn't take water on a hot sunny day from this guy. Reagan could at least read his lines...
Let me leave you with one final note: stop fooling yourselves. Body bags don't lie. Or as I stated in the comments section: Your perpetual ability to fool yourselves is killing American kids, not to mention Iraqis.
Friends don't let friends have this guy drive their politics...
(Cartoon by Jeff Danziger)
Here's what the Warbloggers aren't writing about. And I mean, they really aren't writing about it. Who could blame them. Instapundit isn't explaining how Iraqi city councils that weren't elected have anything to do with Democracy. I guess the Daily Kos has the courage to tell me about that. Isn't Glenn an alleged expert on constitutional law? Where is that Iraqi constitution by the way? I'm sure you want that second amendment included in order to fight tyranny, even if it's Red, White and Blue. No outrage there Glenn? A pack, not a herd and so on. I'm just shocked, shocked by their silence. And on a side point how does this show our strength when we're being killed daily? You might notice that both the Liberian and Turkish armies are standing up to our bullying. It might be because they know we're stretched thin or because everyone realizes that you have to fight the bully. It's the only way the stupid patriots ever learn.
What a disappointment these self-styled New Blog Intellectuals are. I guess this is what you get when you combine intellect with dishonorable motives: mediocrity. I'm almost tempted to call it intellectual cowardice. Have you shut down your faculties completely? Are you like that arrogant kid in the movie "Searching for Bobby Fischer" who doesn't know he's lost yet? Even the corporate press is showing its teeth. I guess management has finally figured out that the Idiot Bastard Son Resident in Chief of ours isn't really good for Capital, in either the short or long run. (And yes I stole that Fischer line but I forgot from whom...email me and I'll post the attribution..) Let's give Tacitus some credit: at least he's come close to saying he was wrong. (see Warblogger Watch)
Philip Shropshire
Marginal Allied Defeat:
Short
term: Saddam out of power, but not dead or captured. Casualties over 5,000,
with significant tactical victories for Iraqis before their forces are
destroyed. Oil fields seriously damaged. Weapons of mass destruction
suspected to be smuggled into Western countries for later terrorist use.
Long term: Weakened Ba’athist-style government remains in power,
under nominal but ineffectual disarmament agreement (think 1991). Sub rosa
support for terrorism. U.S. credibility in region suffers. (Think 1991
again). French troops placed in Iraq to make future military action by the
United States difficult.
--Definitions courtesy of Glenn "Instapundit" Reynolds, the only lawyer in the land who just sees one side of the case...
Some months back, Glenn wrote that he would consider casualties over 5000 (scroll down) to be evidence of either a marginal or substantial allied loss in Iraq. I promised that we would hold Glenn to that and over the past several days the Iraq civilian counter's meter went over 5000 dead at the max and 4000 dead at the minimum. I estimated 10000 dead myself and there's a good chance that we'll reach that number within the year. I'm sure it will be helped along by our cluster bomb ordinance, nuclear tipped munitions and our penchant for letting Iraqis loot known sites of nuclear materials. Way to go Glenn. I'm sure your pride in the war could be called, what, "Glowing?"
And yes, I do count the murder of unarmed protesters in the mix. Now, dishonorably enough, Glenn, thinking that the military's no count would save his day, has attacked the numbers at the Iraq counter from day one. Figures. But they all come from mostly non New York Times newspapers so they seem fine to me. I'm sure Glenn will offer some counter numbers. Instead of 1200 dead in Baghdad, Glenn will tell me that it was 1 or 2. That's good. Whatever.
About four seconds after our tanks rolled into Baghdad, Glenn had declared our colonialist efforts as as a victory. (scroll up and look for the phrase "This seems about right to me") This is not unlike Germans who thought they ruled the world after they invaded France. I'm sure Glenn would state the same thing if and when the new Allied Forces invade France. What was most humorous though, before all the bodies and radiation poisoning had been accounted for, were his screeds calling for the left to apologize.
Well, what's good for the Goose...
Glenn, it's about time that you admit that the situation in Iraq has evolved into what you yourself have defined as a marginal and/or substantial loss by Allied forces in Iraq. And you should apologize, preferably in public, your head bowed in shame, your face full of wet mucousy tears. It's time for the pro war side, whose hideous jingoism you ably represent, to admit that the rebuilding of Iraq would be a tough job for people who are competent, not bought off or are wholly owned subsidiaries of the fossil fuel industry, and understand the complexities and mechanics of the Iraqi society...let alone the Bush Administration. It's time for the pro war side to admit that the war has done nothing to disable terrorist groups and in fact has strengthened their recruitment and fundraising, just as Osama had wanted. And finally, it's time for the pro war side to admit that stealing a country's oil in broad daylight is a tough, if not impossible job, and that Iraq would be better served by 100,000 United Nation troops (armed with nonlethals) and headed by a multilateral coalition that's actually interested in creating a real democracy in Iraq and not some puppet regime, as the Iraqi people themselves have called for. By the way, if you're looking for a way to do that then please reread the works of Lani Guinier and take a good long look at the South African constitution, which was inspired by her work. (It's why the white minority hasn't been slaughtered.)
Sincerely,
Philip Shropshire
PS: On perhaps an unrelated note, I notice that Glenn mentioned that there's a first SARS case in Tennessee. I noticed in horror how right wing bloggers wanted to blame the Canadian health care system for this problem, as opposed to modern air travel. This was rebutted even by Medpundit, who also writes for the right leaning Tech Central Station and can easily be defined as "not a liberal". If SARS ever comes to the United States and explodes--and we can count on the Bush Administration to lie to us initially until all lies are revealed by no doubt private casualty counts--you might want to thank the fact that many of our people don't have adequate health insurance. I don't go to a doctor or emergency services unless I think prized internal and/or external organs are about to fall off. I still owe a hospital in Evansville $600 bucks for a visit back in 1992. You might want to ask yourself when you're reading your daughter to sleep asleep or giving her your unbiased view of the political scene ("Yes, dear, it's quite all right for the United States to kill as many people as we want for admittedly spurious reasons...you see, those evil Iraqi kids don't bleed when blown up by Cluster bomb munitions and won't suffer because of stolen radioactive loot. Besides, they deserve it...now don't let the bed bugs bite...!") whether your family is safer because your neighbors don't have access to health care and subsequently won't be in a hurry to report their flu like symptoms. You see, it does matter if you don't take care of your neighbor, whether it's in Iraq or across the street.
(Remixed propaganda from the Great Micah Wright)
As people know, I was one of the first people to call this government "fascist", long before the Germans for example. Now, of course, a person that would call the Bush Administration "fascist" could be accused of being redundant or even obvious. However, there's a nice list of 14 rules that outline the fascist condition. I've linked to some of our favorite war pundits for background illumination. I think I just need Pejman and Glenn, and a special appearance by Dr. Weevil...(I'll be adding more links when I have the time. My goal is to put a link on every word...) Actually, Little Green Footballs makes this just way to easy. And you know what's sad? I'm a huge jazz rock fan and I've probably seen and heard Charles play, on "School Days" no less...Sad.
1.
Powerful and Continuing
Nationalism
- Fascist regimes tend to make constant use of patriotic mottos,
slogans, symbols, songs, and other paraphernalia.
Flags are seen everywhere, as are
flag symbols on clothing and in public
displays.
2. Disdain for the Recognition of Human Rights - Because of fear of enemies
and the need for security,
the people in fascist regimes are persuaded that
human rights can be ignored in certain cases because of "need." The people
tend to look the other way or even approve of torture, summary executions,
assassinations, long incarcerations of prisoners, etc.
3. Identification of Enemies/Scapegoats as a Unifying Cause - The people are
rallied into a unifying patriotic frenzy over the need to eliminate a
perceived common threat or foe: racial ,
ethnic or religious minorities;
liberals; communists; socialists, terrorists,
etc.
I'm starting a new feature here at Warblogger Watch. I'm calling it Celebrity Warblogger Watch, where we pick the best anti-war criticism from the net and share it with the world. First up, Max Sawicky, who I've found to be must reading these days:
"IMPEACH
BUSH. [YAWN] The fraud underlying the war seems to get more obvious every
day. This past weekend we had reports in the Post and elsewhere that the WMD
search team was being rotated home, finding nothing, and that U.S. troops
were ordered to march on to Baghdad, rather than guard a raft of nuclear
sites that subsequently were looted. The evidence on Saddamist links to
terrorism is equally thin. If Iraq was no threat to the U.S., why the
invasion? To liberate their people? O.K. Who are we going to invade this
week? There's a lot more work to do. How about Uzbekistan. There's a sucky
government for you. I hereby condemn the wimpy, blame-America-First,
anti-internationalist soft-on-Uzbekistan party. The people of Uzbekistan cry
out for liberation. Where are you, how can you live with yourself. Sheesh.
Then there's the de-Ba'athification campaign. We learn it was completed the
other day. Ba'ath Party members were compelled to sign a statement affirming
their renunciation of the party. Then they could be put back to staffing the
lower administrative echelons of the pre-owned Iraqi state. Once the game of
52-pickup is over, the old gang can get back to work under the American
viceroy-du-jour. It's as if George Steinbrunner is in charge.
So all things considered, the case for impeachment against G. Bush seems to
have a pile of evidence considerably higher than Clinton's erection. The
difference I suppose is that nobody is putting up ten million dollars to pay
a bunch of monkeys to push daily demands for Bush's head."
But you're saying, Shropshire Slasher, Max Sawicky is on your detestable depraved and debauched side of the aisle. I mean, that's like the right quoting an opinion about the war from some guy who writes for the Weekly Standard. What a biased source. And of course, decent right wing fascists like Pejman "I'll never let that bigot Rick Santorum frell me in the ass again....I mean (smiles demurely), I save my favors for the rest of the RNC, giggle..." Yousefzadeh and Pro Idiotarian the First would never do that. (One more point here, the fact that the current Iraqi leadership was just sacked shows that the Weekly Standard guy was wrong and all those Shrill Hate America first journalists were right.)
Well, what about people that Glenn links to, like Futurepundit and Phil Carter? These guys are not liberals. Trust me. But here's Futurepundit on the chaos factor in Iraq:
News flash for
you Donny: It would have been a lot less untidy if you had put as much
effort into planning for the aftermath of the invasion as you did into the
invasion itself. You could have sent over enough soldiers to be able to
stomp down on the looting as soon as it started. If order had been
established initially it would have been much easier to maintain it. Anyone
familiar with the "Broken Windows" theory of policing could explain it to
you. Go ask James Q. Wilson what you are doing wrong.
The excuse that the war has been over for such a short period of time misses
the point: Just as the US is able to prosecute wars much more quickly it
also ought to be able to restore order very quickly. But to restore order
requires more boots on the ground than a war does and Rumsfeld did not want
to send over that many troops. The problem is that the Bush Administration
did not want to commit a large ground force for peacekeeping. When Army
Chief of Staff Gen. Eric K. Shinseki told Congress a larger peacekeeping
force would be needed Rumsfeld slapped down Shinseki for suggesting such an
idea.
And he adds this:
Had it been done right with a larger ground
force then once order had been established and a new police force was
developed the larger ground force could have been scaled back. There would
not have been this period of such lawlessness. But the Bush Administration
chose a force size that is allowing the criminals to prey on the innocent in
Iraq.
Phil Carter. a military man, chimes in and agrees:
"Analysis:
This has to stop, and fast. Letting the Iraqis loot their National Museum
and other buildings was bad; this is much worse. It's a safe bet that
nascent pockets of organized crime have begun to form in Iraq, in the
absence of any public force to maintain law and order. Organized crime
elements will focus first on establishing order themselves -- by means of
violence and extortion -- then they will start to fight one another for turf
and control over various criminal syndicates. If the United States does not
stop this crime with brute force and establish order, we will almost surely
have to contend with larger, more complex, more organized crime problems in
the future.
This is not the time to redeploy forces from Baghdad (as we're currently
doing), nor is it the time to let the Iraqis try to police themselves. We
must establish order with a firm hand, first, before disorder and chaos
become the norm. Once people feel secure in their homes, and trust the
U.S.-Iraqi authority to maintain the peace, then we can cede authority to
the newly reconstituted Iraqi police. It's clear that the Iraqi police force
is incapable (for now) of doing this job. American soldiers may not be
police, and they may not be perfectly trained for this job. But they can
certainly establish security by force and stop this criminal activity for as
long as it takes to get the Iraqi civilian police up and running.
posted by Phillip at 3:10 PM"
Now, here's something that both Phil and Mr. Parker haven't caught on to yet: The current American government doesn't give a fuck about the Iraqi people. It's all about the oil. In fact, as Ted Rall put it, they would like a number of spread out fiefdoms and Bantustans across Iraq. It makes it easier to control the oil. Remember: the main purpose of the war, hinted at by Glenn and his Four Riders Crew, is that force works and is in fact good. And the ruins of Afghanistan and Iraq will be the stark warning to all those who dare defy the Empire...
Look, I'm a huge Ralph Nader fan. I think
he's the greatest journalist who has ever lived. But I voted for Gore and
yeah Ralph probably cost him the election. And yes, we would be better off
with Gore in office, or at least that's what you'll be saying when the
Office of Homeland finally takes you to Guantanomo (sp?)
over your seditious anti-american web postings at One Good Move...
But you know what? I'm not that concerned about that. That's past...Please,
just please, tell me that you won't vote for a third party candidate in
2004. Please tell me that. (Okay, unless the Dems nominate Leiberman, we
can't be insane...did you catch Evil Glenn's endorsement today? The mark of
Satan, indeed...)We don't have propotional representation yet or approval
voting, and it would take a miracle to get those things by 2004. Tell me
that you'll suck it up and give Dean or Edwards a shot, please, please tell
me that...
Posted by: Philip Shropshire on March 24, 2003 09:28 PM
I'll vote for any candidate you like if you'll steal the approval voting
graphic on my sidebar and link to them on your site. Do it for future
generations. Lest I be accused of being disingenuous. I do live in Utah so
my vote in a presidential election is almost always a just a protest.
Posted by: Norm on March 24, 2003 10:53 PM
Okay, Norm Jenson, I match you your Citizens for Approval Voting logo and raise you a Center for Voting And Democracy logo, which includes not just information about approval voting but proportional representation, PR history and even voting machines. The Center didn't have a logo so I made a cheap yet serviceable one in Paint. I have placed both of these logos on my homepage at Three River as you have requested. I think we can be reasonably sure that we won't be seeing any of these progressive measures in our country or Iraq anytime soon but we can all dream now can't we.
I simply ask that you give Howard Dean or John Edwards a reasonable shot or maybe you could vote swap. That's legal now. Yes, Edwards supports the war, but he can run on actually building a real democracy in Iraq. How about a suspension of those Haliburton and Bechtel contracts? That would be a nice start. It would be swell, just once, if the dems showed the same contempt for the Republican base as the Republican's show the Dem working class base. There is a way to ensure minority rights in Iraq by the way: You write a strong constitution ensuring civil liberties and you use a variant of Lani Guinier's proportional representation. It was good enough for South Africa. It might also help if you had an International Peacekeeping force to run the law and order, as opposed to the imperialist crusaders.
Real Democracy in Iraq
From noted Ted Rall groupie/fawning sycophant Jim Treacher
This is edition 45 of the very popular WBW series: accidental and/or ironic political commentary from comics.
JLA #83
Written by Joe Kelly; art by ChrisCross and Tom Nguyen; cover by Doug Mahnke
and Nguyen
In stores July 30. President Luthor has Qurac on his hit list, and heaven
help any hero who stands in the way! Now Superman finds himself in a living
nightmare as his fellow Leaguers fall one by one to Lex's executive order:
support the war or be "neutralized!"
Gosh, well let me play the ever so ineffectual pro-war warblogger (Any war apparently. Syria. Iran. Afghanistan...have war, will travel.)
"First of all, Lex Luthor is a successful businessman. Why do comic book writers hate fictional Americas? I'm sure the war is just and wise and true even if I don't understand this particular war or even DC's continuity issues. I'm also offended that anyone would even allude to the idea that President George Bush is a "You're either with us or against us kinda guy." How silly. George Bush isn't the kind of guy who would kill you if you disagreed with him or take away your citizenship if he didn't like what you said. Afterall, what's good for Haliburton and Bechtel is good for America. I strongly support Instapundit's ideas--in line with depriving the British people of a legitimate and independent press--to give the Comics Code authority some teeth again. I think summary executions of the "bad" cartoonists will go a long way toward...well, whatever fascist eventuality that we're heading for and that I enthusiastically support..."
Signed,
Strawman Warpundit
New stuff from Micah Wright. By the way, he's referring to this:
(pic from Kurt Nimmo, must readin' these days)
Oooh. I can feel my patriotic pride swellin'. Of course, Glenn tells me it's only 500 people dead. It's not like they're real people or anything. And of course, we've picked a real winner to replace Saddam, quite in line with our Pinochet, Somoza and heavily guarded Karzai oil fella legacy...More on this blatant puppetry by Molly Ivins. Some Frellin' democracy we got planned here. Meet the new boss...Remember Pro Idiotarian masses: Even us leftie pinkos never thought we'd lose the war. We're arguing that we're going to lose the occupation, thereby making the sacrifices of the war meaningless...
And yes: I believe, like Robert Fisk (who's probably in danger) those Arab journalists were targeted, disinfo from Fox News notwithstanding. You might have noticed that the usual pro warbloggin' suspects are now reduced to criticizing the BBC and Al Jazeera. God knows there's nothing threatening about the American press for sure. Call me crazy but I always thought that the job of the media was to question the state, not be its stenographer.
Judge Dredd: The New Face of America. Here's yet another installment of inadvertently political comics or how the world views the United States. Please note the Fox/CNN news anchor on the left hand side. The artist is Simon Bisley. Note to Mike Medved: Comic creators have always been wildly left of center and iconoclast. The absence of significant ad revenue allows that. Comics are probably the least censored mass medium in the United States. And if you're mad about what Captain America is doing now, then you probably wouldn't like him much during Watergate either, when he resigned the costume and became The Nomad...!
This is obviously a reflection on the attempt not only to make Patriot 1 permanent, but to enact the completely horrific Patriot 2 bill. The little guy on the right in this classic Steve Ditko cover is clearly Mike Hawash. I know when you became a US citizen you probably thought that this couldn't happen in America. We're surprised too. Our sincerest apologies. Perhaps warbloggers who support the war and are shocked, just shocked by your treatment could add: "And I'll never believe anything the Bush Administration says! Ever! Perhaps this war is about getting Haliburton a big fat no bid contract and the US controlling Iraqi oil resources indefinitely! How could I have been, sniff, so wrooooong?"
Here's more good stuff from Micah Wright.
What? You have a life and yet you yearn to be seduced by the Glenn Reynolds Dark Side? Well fear no more for here is the shortened version of the March 22 Instapundit (Where we use the very popular Reynolds Rules(!).
FIRST, AN OVERVIEW OF THE MARCH 22ND DISTORTIONS: I guess the primary theme that gets repeated over and over today is how well the war is going. Of course, the war has just started and praising its wonderful progress is probably not unlike declaring "Our marriage works" after the first hour of the first date. It's a little early. You should take Virginia Postrel's tack and just watch for awhile. My Ministry of Truth award for his most vile and deceptive post would have to be this one, or: Dynamic Duo: 12. I'm Proud To Be An American Where At Least I Know I'm Free (New!) and probably: 16. Pish Posh! Only My Version of Reality Can Be True!. This is where he takes Salam Pax's very wise quote about the preponderant use of American force to get its way. The quote is this:
"The West won the world not by the superiority of its ideas or values or religion but rather by its superiority in applying organized violence. Westerners often forget this fact, non-Westerners never do."
Glenn then comments and says:
"But having officers who don't abscond with their troops' pay is, in fact, one example of the superiority of Western ideas, and it's one that translates rather directly into superiority where organized violence is concerned. And that's just the tip of the iceberg. Dictatorships like Saddam's -- which based on history and prevalence might be regarded as the "natural" form of human governance -- turn out to be lousy at war. Democracies embodying Western ideas turn out to be a lot better. That's not a coincidence, however much non-Westerners might wish to believe that it is."
I mean, does Glenn know how silly this statement is? Remember, the United States upends democracies in countries all the time. Some of us remember Chile, and Iran, or even to make it more recent, Venezuela. In point of fact, we installed Saddam probably at the expense of some struggling democratic process that we didn't like much. He makes it sound like the dictatorships sprung out of thin air, magically. I mean, it's like Glenn shoots you with one of his many guns and faults you for bleeding so much. "That's not how I'd do it," Glenn would say as he struts over your blood deprived bod. "It's your non Western values or something, affects how you bleed..." Bizarre.
Clearly, the US doesn't like democracies. That whole Turkey vote is the kind of thing that just gnaws at the oil-drenched Western establishment. I would go further to say that we don't like democracy here. And now, because of the war on the terror and the horrific Federalist society nature of the new courts the Power Elite may see their dreams for America fully realized. A place where, finally, you have a decent pretext for killing your enemies. That is, afterall, how things are handled in our client states. That's what Coke does. They would love to kill union organizers here. You just have to tar the left as being Anti-American and pro terrorist. I guess we can thank Glenn and his ilk for setting the mood. Anyway, there's more innuendo and subterfuge but they'll be other days. Here's the short list.
7. The Patented Glenn
Reynolds "My Forces of Dark Evil Are Winning...Indeed!" Post
11. Oddball Humor (New!)
7. The Patented Glenn Reynolds "My
Forces of Dark Evil Are Winning...Indeed!" Post
12. I'm Proud To Be An
American Where At Least I Know I'm Free (etc...)(New!)
13. Why Do You Hate America
or: Here's Who We Should Hate (New!) and/or Overlook When They're Sent Away to the
Internment Camps (New!)
7. The Patented Glenn Reynolds "My
Forces of Dark Evil Are Winning...Indeed!" Post
14. Why I Hate France (And
The EU Too!) ("Only General Zod May Rule ...Kneel Before Zod!) (New!)
14. Why I Hate France (And
The EU Too!) ("Only General Zod May Rule Rule!...Kneel Before Zod!) (New!) Not a
typo, two French bashing posts in a row...
15. International Media
Doesn't Love America! (New!)
We Have Trifecta! This link
manages:
12. I'm Proud To Be An
American (New!)
13. Why Do You Hate America or: Here's Who We Should Hate (New!) and/or Overlook When
They're Sent Away to the Internment Camps (New!) and
15. International Media Doesn't Love America!
16. Pish Posh! Only My Version of Reality Can Be
True!
13. Why Do You Hate America
or: Here's Who We Should Hate (New!) and/or Overlook When They're Sent Away to the
Internment Camps (New!)
More Than Trifecta or: 2. Straight Anti-Dem Party Propaganda or I've Got Some Helpful Advice For
You Traitorous Left Wing Troublemakers
4. Some Things Are Better
Left Unsaid or My Personal False Counter Propaganda or "The
Glennuendo".
5. The Glenn Reynolds
Anti-Celebrity Hate Machine
7. The Patented Glenn
Reynolds "My Forces of Dark Evil Are Winning...Indeed!" Post
17. "Ya know, and I say
this offhandedly, but people who hate Israel probably hate the US, it's like we're the
same country with the same interests...offhandedly I say this.." (New!)
8. Rare Times That I Agree With Glenn or more probably: 6. The Glenn Reynolds School of Fear, Uncertainty and Doubt (FUD)
Trifecta!: 3. Pro Israel at any cost and Damn Arafat
Propaganda
and:
16. Pish Posh! Only My
Version of Reality Can Be True!
17. "Ya know, and I say this offhandedly, but people who hate Israel probably hate
the US, it's like we're the same country with the same interests...offhandedly I say
this.."
18. They Dare To Defy Us
19. War's Not So Bad! It's
not like it's my kid who got shot jeeez...You know, a real person...
4. Some Things Are Better Left Unsaid or
My Personal False Counter Propaganda or "The Glennuendo".
20. Gawd I Hate the Liberal
Media, which I sorta work for here at MSNBC and reflect by not ever writing critically
about my employers Who Rule the World
7. The Patented Glenn Reynolds "My
Forces of Dark Evil Are Winning...Indeed!" Post
Dynamic Duo: 12. I'm Proud To Be An American Where At
Least I Know I'm Free (New!) and probably: 16. Pish Posh! Only My Version of Reality Can Be True!
Ted Rall's Best Comic of Late (And yes: I believe Klendathu is taken from the film version of "Starship Troopers" or how fascism works in space...)
And now another great episode of:
Unintentionally Political Scenes From Comics
(From my longtime comics pusher pal Bill Boichel. It's criminal that Bill, who resembles the late Stiv Bators, doesn't blog. Someone should be charged and under Ashcroft someone no doubt will be.)
Or: "And so throughout the world, countries must Die... THAT THE FOSSIL FUEL INDUSTRY MAY LIVE!"
Should be "Beware of the Warbloggers! Their next victim (From Kurt Nimmo) may be you!" Also this is a crew that is described thus: "They Believe! They Judge! They Kill!"...Sounds vaguely familiar...Micah: Sounds like a job for...Or compare "Live by my rules or DIE" to our latest ultimatums to Iraq.
The Reynolds Rap: It's not just enough to dislike Glenn Reynolds personal blog style, one also has to take the time to deplore and condemn his corporate media work for Microsoft. For the record, when Glenn wasn't employed by Microsoft, he wrote more critical things about them. Who knew that Glenn would be such a living witness to the Chomsky propaganda model, the first and fourth filters. Who knew.
He wrote something quietly disturbing today over at Glenn Reynolds com about what he thinks winning and losing would be. It's interesting that he considers any casualties above 5000 to be somewhat on the losing side of things. (We're going to hold you to that Glenn.) Of course, going by his dubious past as a self appointed propagandist for the corporate theocratic state, he will only consider those 5000 who die quickly. Sanctions and occupation murders will barely appear on the man's radar. Or if they do they will be bracketed by the Reynolds Rules, most likely 1 More Nuanced Pro RNC Propaganda, 4 The Patented Glenn Reynolds "My Forces of Dark Evil Are Winning...Indeed!" Post and 7 Some Things Are Better Left Unsaid or My Personal False Counter Propaganda or "The Glennuendo".
I guess the most astonishing thing about this particular piece is how he talks about a democratic Iraq. Here's a guy who loses no sleep over our puppet government in Afghanistan, where we pay off our "allies" with record opium profits. He's also rooted openly for an insurrection against a democratically elected president in Venezuela, where if American protesters had used the same tactics Glenn would be calling for Ashcroft martial law, buttressed by an articulate supporting post by Volokh no doubt about how subsection 4 of article 2 makes summary execution look, you know, "legal"...
Glenn also thinks we should do our best to undermine France and the European Union. (Rule 6 for those of you playing at home.) You remember the European Union, right? They're the only hope not only for a more compassionate human capitalism, but the only thing that stands in the way of a Hegemonic Bullying U S of A. No wonder the EU and France gets so much of his FUD.
I have a more frightening proposition for Glenn, however. No way you can maintain a war for oil with a one term president. Perhaps the Bush crowd wants to stick around a bit longer. I've read optimistic reports of at least a 10 year occupation. And of course, you can't create a real democracy or you get these Venezuelan and Turkish tragedies where the will of the people is actually expressed. We wouldn't want that to happen. There is a more optimistic view: President Edwards or Dean is allowed to win the election, who knows, and we build a real democracy in Iraq (based on proportional representation like in Lani Guinier's influenced South Africa) and we move toward alt fuels. I'll take my fictional wet dreams over Glenn's any day of the week...
Reynolds Rap: The Rules
First, the Reynolds Shorthand looks a lot like the Pejman shorthand. Here are the classic Pejman rules:
1. Straight RNC Propaganda.
(And its subset: Rationalizing Republican Evil At Every Turn or that Bush he's a smart
fella despite overwhelming evidence to the contrary...)
2. Straight Anti-Dem Party Propaganda.
3. Pro Israel at any cost
Propaganda.
4. Damn Arafat Propaganda.
5. Wacky Personal Stuff no one cares about.
6. Attack Iraq and/or Foment Rebellion in Iran. (The latter is a relatively new meme.)
7. Anti warblogger watch spin. Here Pejman usually resorts to name calling and declaring
victory without evidence of such--in this respect he does resemble the resident in Chief.
8. Crazy Right Wing Stuff (Global Warming doesn't exist, no separation between church and
state, Scalia is soooo cool...etc.,)
9: Daily Smears Against Leftists like Rall, Chomsky and Mike Moore. Sometimes includes Dem
officials or Europeans on a slow day.
10. Pejman "I don't really understand modern humor or modern Art." Yousefzadeh
11. The Great and Glorious Capitalist System
12: The Saudi Conundrum: where an introspective Pej wonders why we support those Saudi
scoundrels, even as we work with those Chinese scoundrels, Pakistani coup leader
scoundels, work to unseat democratically elected leaders in Venezuela in order to install
scoundrels, create a puppet government of poorly guarded scoundrels in Afghanistan..etc.
Now the 10
20 rules for Glenn are similar, but they require some tweaking:
1. More Nuanced Pro RNC Propaganda
2. Straight Anti-Dem
Party Propaganda or I've Got Some Helpful Advice For You Traitorous Left Wing
Troublemakers
3. Pro Israel at any cost
and Damn Arafat Propaganda
4. Some Things Are Better
Left Unsaid or My Personal False Counter Propaganda or "The
Glennuendo".
5. The Glenn Reynolds
Anti-Celebrity Hate Machine
6. The Glenn Reynolds
School of Fear, Uncertainty and Doubt (FUD)
7. The Patented Glenn
Reynolds "My Forces of Dark Evil Are Winning...Indeed!" Post
8. Rare Times That I Agree With
Glenn
9. Glenn "I'm Just a Common
Man" Reynolds
10. Trifecta
11. Oddball Humor (New!)
12. I'm Proud To Be An American
Where At Least I Know I'm Free (New!)
13. Why Do You Hate America or:
Here's Who We Should Hate (New!) and/or Overlook When They're Sent Away to the Internment
Camps (New!)
14. Why I Hate France (And The
EU Too!) ("Only General Zod May Rule Rule!...Kneel Before Zod!) (New!)
15. International Media Doesn't
Love America!
16. Pish Posh Only My
Version of Reality Can Be True!
17. "Ya know, and I say
this offhandedly, but people who hate Israel probably hate the US, it's like we're the
same country with the same interests...offhandedly I say this.."
18. They Dare To Defy Us
19. War's Not So Bad! It's not
like it's my kid who got shot jeeez...You know, a real person...
20. Gawd I Hate the Liberal
Media, which I sorta work for here at MSNBC and reflect by not ever writing critically
about my employers Who Rule the World
(More Expansive Version)
1. More Nuanced Pro RNC Propaganda. (With a definitive line: You're always an alleged lawyer American Likudnik kind of GOP guy no matter even if Ashcroft has a burning red swastika tatooed upon his forehead and oh yeah that Bush is a genius he didn't drool or anything...)
2. Straight Anti-Dem Party Propaganda or I've Got Some Helpful Advice For You Traitorous Left Wing Troublemakers
3. Pro Israel at any cost and Damn Arafat Propaganda
4. Some Things Are Better Left Unsaid or My Personal False Counter Propaganda or "The Glennuendo". This is where Glenn clearly says something false or easily rebutted (If ever a guy needed a message board...now there's an idea...). The worst examples of this are his posts about those thriving Clear Channel sponsored "Pro Liberation" rallies. And yes, after that, he'll still will write something kinda weak about Eric Alterman's book. Sad, really.
5. The Glenn Reynolds Anti-Celebrity Hate Machine. Usually, Mike Moore, nationally known documentarian, (unlike Glenn's wife) is in for it. Today it's the Dixie Chicks. Whatever.
6. The Glenn Reynolds School of Fear, Uncertainty and Doubt (FUD). Now that he's a fully owned subsidiary of Microsoft, and his critiques of the company have slowed down accordingly (Go ahead: Compare searches for France and Microsoft. Self-censorship friend, look into it...Perhaps Le Monde should hire Glenn to get him to shut up...), he tries to say negative things about stuff he don't like. It could be the anti-war protest held in that hotbed of liberalism Knoxville, Tenn., or the Dixie Chicks. It's also related to this...
7. The Patented Glenn Reynolds "My Forces of Dark Evil Are Winning...Indeed!" Post:
This is where Glenn cheerily pronounces how we beat back the violent forces of peace or something. And or: "Yep, this war thing is a swell idea indeed." They'll be a lot of that now over the next several weeks.
8: Rare Times That I Agree With Glenn Usually it has to do with filesharing or Business of Hollywood (not the artists, which he confuses...), or when his posts are apolitical, a rarity unfortunately.
9. Glenn "I'm Just a
Common Man" Reynolds Where we see the special
glimpses into the Glenn Reynolds private life. Look, I'm a unionised
tenured professor who won't get fired by posting all damn day. Just like you. And here's
my beautiful wife and my gorgeous daughter, both of whom I love...but not enough to vote
Democrat and thereby ensure their reproductive rights but, hey, indirectly tarring
murdered protesters and defending my Idiot Prince of a Prez is much more important to me.
10. Trifecta: Where Glenn manages to combine three or more of his noxious memes in just one post. This happens a lot actually.
First Reports
From CNN and our Idiot Prince's Comments
Complete
Line by Line Demolition of the Idiot Prince's Last Speech
Two Completely Nightmarish Accounts of Why the War Won't Be Easy
("It's the Occupation, Stupid") here and here.
Words of Wisdom
From Max Sawicky
What
Iraqis Can Expect from American Style "Democracy"
Must Read. Here's a sample:
3. Under various decrees of the revolutionary command council, capital punishment can be handed out cruelly and whimsically in Iraq for a wide variety of offences. Guilt or innocence is irrelevant. This is reported only by a few outside human rights bodies. This would cease under an American-installed system. Instead, executions would be largely confined to black murderers, most of whom will probably be guilty, accused of murdering whites and too poor to afford a decent lawyer. This will be reported only by a few outside human-rights bodies.
5. Any Iraqi journalist thought likely to ask Saddam Hussein a difficult question is now subject to the dictates of paragraph 3. The American way (as seen during the presidential press conference two weeks ago) provides for such people to be stuck at the back of the room and simply not called.
![[Image]](capt.1047866217.jpg)
Not enough chatter about this: Israelis Murder Peace Activist. God help us if it was the French...
Righteous Anger
From Doc Menlo
3. |
After an attack, beware of giant terrorists roaming the streets. Seal up oversize doors in your building with plastic sheeting and duct tape. |
consequat. Duis te feugifacilisi.