Operation Desert Faux: in which we become war criminals
Tonight, as I watched a few minutes of that beady-eyed, bloodthirsty fool make a further embarrassment out of himself on TV, I felt a deep and abiding gratitude. It is with this feeling of gratitude that I can say thank you to everyone responsible. Thanks to Bill Clinton for being foolish enough to jeopardize what would otherwise be an incredible legacy with a stupid tryst. Thanks to Al Gore for not standing up for himself as his name was besmirched and his position was robbed. Thanks to the Democrats for acting like whipped dogs in the face of the election thieves. Thanks to Ralph Nader for specifically campaigning against Gore in important swing states. Thanks to James Baker for choking the life out of democracy in this country. Thanks to Katherine Harris for employing every dirty and illegal trick, including purging minorities from the voter rolls. Thanks to the domesticated press, working tirelessly on behalf of their corporate masters. Thanks to the Republicans for nominating this easily controlled puppet to the highest office in the land. Thanks to Dubya for adopting the worldview of Perle and Wolfowitz. Thanks to the people of America who stood by and watched as the ideals of democracy were flushed down the toilet by their own supreme court. Thanks to me for not knowing how to do more.
Our country is about to become a war criminal, a rogue nation, a menace. Conservative pundits will argue how good and right and moral and just Bush's war is, but do even they know what they have signed on for, what a Pandora's box they are opening? Why would Bush and his cabal stop at Iraq? Haven't we also denounced Iran as "evil"? They will have to go, too. Syria will have to go. Yemen is full of terrorists. The Saudis fund Bin Laden. Pakistan is harboring Al Qaeda. And China keeps looking at us funny.
September 11th was a horrible, criminal act by a group of people, not a government. It was not an act of war. And it was not unanticipated. I am still amused by my own reaction as I walked down the hallway at SmithKline Beecham and saw the pictures of the towers burning, with a group of stunned colleagues standing and watching the images. I didn't feel the horror or shock or fear that I would feel in the days and weeks to come. I felt disgust and anger - anger at the people who did it, and disgust at America for our surprise.
September 11th is what you get when you combine an antagonistic foreign policy with a neglectful administration and a free and open society. This administration's response to it has been to begin to crush our free and open society - great choice! Of course, our foreign policy has become hundreds of time more antagonistic. And our administration has not shown any interest in becoming more vigilant, except against its own citizens. The Clinton administration foiled many terrorist plots on US soil, including plots against LAX in January 2000 and bombings planned for tunnels around NYC. Sandy Berger, in handing materials over to Condi Rice, told her that she would probably spend nearly all of her time chasing Al Qaeda. The Clinton administration has been described as "obsessed" with terrorism. They asked for more funds to fight terrorism, and were denied by the Republican congress. Al Gore chaired a panel which came up with new security protocols for airports and airlines, which were not adopted. The Hart-Rudman report on the dangers of terrorism, finished at the beginning of 2001, was tucked neatly in Cheney's desk drawer, unread, when the airplanes hit. This administration dropped the ball, either deliberately or through incredible malfeasance of duty. Evil or incompetent is again the question that history will have to ask about them. We were attacked, and now that attack is being used as an excuse to scare us all into the most ill-advised quagmire we've ever faced.
It's enough to make someone turn to drink, if that would actually help.
Operation Desert Faux Watch
Paul Krugman wrote the definitive essay on having the wrong person lead us into Iraq (delightfully titled "George W. Queeg") last week.
MWO has written an amazing piece on the delusion of the populace. Scroll down to "Mass lobotomies key to selling war".
Molly Ivins on the terrible way our media have let the public stay misinformed.
Gene Lyons on the myths and lies used to justify Bush's war.
Top Ten Conservative Idiots Watch
Excellent new Idiots list this week.
Our country is about to become a war criminal, a rogue nation, a menace. Conservative pundits will argue how good and right and moral and just Bush's war is, but do even they know what they have signed on for, what a Pandora's box they are opening? Why would Bush and his cabal stop at Iraq? Haven't we also denounced Iran as "evil"? They will have to go, too. Syria will have to go. Yemen is full of terrorists. The Saudis fund Bin Laden. Pakistan is harboring Al Qaeda. And China keeps looking at us funny.
September 11th was a horrible, criminal act by a group of people, not a government. It was not an act of war. And it was not unanticipated. I am still amused by my own reaction as I walked down the hallway at SmithKline Beecham and saw the pictures of the towers burning, with a group of stunned colleagues standing and watching the images. I didn't feel the horror or shock or fear that I would feel in the days and weeks to come. I felt disgust and anger - anger at the people who did it, and disgust at America for our surprise.
September 11th is what you get when you combine an antagonistic foreign policy with a neglectful administration and a free and open society. This administration's response to it has been to begin to crush our free and open society - great choice! Of course, our foreign policy has become hundreds of time more antagonistic. And our administration has not shown any interest in becoming more vigilant, except against its own citizens. The Clinton administration foiled many terrorist plots on US soil, including plots against LAX in January 2000 and bombings planned for tunnels around NYC. Sandy Berger, in handing materials over to Condi Rice, told her that she would probably spend nearly all of her time chasing Al Qaeda. The Clinton administration has been described as "obsessed" with terrorism. They asked for more funds to fight terrorism, and were denied by the Republican congress. Al Gore chaired a panel which came up with new security protocols for airports and airlines, which were not adopted. The Hart-Rudman report on the dangers of terrorism, finished at the beginning of 2001, was tucked neatly in Cheney's desk drawer, unread, when the airplanes hit. This administration dropped the ball, either deliberately or through incredible malfeasance of duty. Evil or incompetent is again the question that history will have to ask about them. We were attacked, and now that attack is being used as an excuse to scare us all into the most ill-advised quagmire we've ever faced.
It's enough to make someone turn to drink, if that would actually help.
Operation Desert Faux Watch
Paul Krugman wrote the definitive essay on having the wrong person lead us into Iraq (delightfully titled "George W. Queeg") last week.
MWO has written an amazing piece on the delusion of the populace. Scroll down to "Mass lobotomies key to selling war".
Molly Ivins on the terrible way our media have let the public stay misinformed.
Gene Lyons on the myths and lies used to justify Bush's war.
Top Ten Conservative Idiots Watch
Excellent new Idiots list this week.
posted by ProfessorPlum | 10:00 AM
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