Letters to the Editor
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Is this physique necessary?
Dr Cole: Your analyses of what is happening in the broader middle east are very helpful, but your physicalizations of the various leaders: -- "mustachio'd," "pudgy", "avuncular " -- are not only irrelevant, but offensive. Please omit. Thanks & shalom, salaam, peace -- Rabbi Arthiur Waskow
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Juan Cole's absurdity...
...reaches new heights. I didn't realize Bush was responsible for preventing fascist suicide bombings in Karachi.
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Maybe, maybe not
Juan Cole is possibly being too alarmist/optimistic. The fact remains that Turkey did NOT launch the expected invasion of northern Iraq, in spite of massive provocation from the PKK. Clearly, the Bush administration was able to use its influence to restrain it. Also, it is increasingly apparent that the war in Iraq may be petering out, with the Sunni tribes bought off and the Mahdi Army at least temporarily disengaged. If Bush resists the temptation to attack Iran, the situation might actually stabilize. If Iran is attacked, however, we can be sure the Iraqi Shias will go back on the warpath with open Iranian support, followed quickly by Saudi support for the Iraqi Sunnis, and then it will all go to hell. The irony, of course, is that Bush (or Hillary Clinton) will eventually be trapped between a nuclear Iran and the Israel lobby and forced to make a choice. Ah, the joy.
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I heard Dr. Cole last night on Pacifica radio
Claim that the Wealthy Real Estate Interests (aka Jews) are the one who sabotaged the President of Iran's visit to Columbia U last month.
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How Does Attacking Iran Fit In?
The one thing I find impossible to understand -- unless the administration has just gone completely bonkers -- is how anyone can think that an attack on Iran will do anything except make the Middle East utterly chaotic, with horrible worldwide political and economic consequences.
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Dorris Lessing says 9-11 no big deal
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20071022/ap_on_re_eu/spain_lessing
I have to agree but on the other hand the Nobel Committee seems rather transparent at this point awarding prizes solely on the basis of anti American foreign policy nose tweaking
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They may be winging it...
...but that doesn't mean they aren't getting what they want.
I think it is a mistake to assume anything about the stated motives of the administration. Destabilizing the world has clear benefits for those who are demonstrably favored by the administration. The obvious beneficiaries are arms contractors, oil companies (higher prices), and Israel (no US media is paying attention to some of the worst treatment of Palestine in decades). Less obvious benefits are a diminished amount of attention to domestic politics and the economy, the augmentation of Executive Branch power is unchecked, and the rollback of the Constitution is as easy as ever.
So things may be going to shit on the face of it, but the fascist army is advancing on many fronts in this context. By the time Bush is out of office not only will it be hard to reverse that advance, but even a Democratic president will likely accept the new context and hold the advance steady at best. So the Bush foreign policy must be deemed a working strategy in many respects.
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It is not just Bush's 'foreign policy.'
"Like a drunken millionaire gambling away a fortune at a Las Vegas casino, the Bush administration squandered all the assets it began with by invading Iraq and unleashing chaos in the Gulf."
Duh.
This outcome was a foregone conclusion on September 12, 2001 to anyone at all familiar with the ideological, ignorant, incompetent and criminal-minded Bush cabal - which all the politicos in Washington were. That, however, did not stop the Democrats from aiding and abetting Bush right to the present day every step of the way, nor will not stop the Democrats from maintaining continuity in the future regardless of whether Hillary or any other Democrat manages to step into the quagmire come 2009.
Better than Bush? Perhaps - or at least one would like to think. But that doesn't say much, if anything.
Only one thing can redeem the Democrats at this point - taking immediate concrete steps to take the criminal and incopetent Bush cabal out of office before they can make things even worse.
Fat chance, there, hey?
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Iraq violence down 70%??
This article reminded me that as I was flipping through the channels this morning I saw a blip that said Iraq's violence is down 70% since the surge started. After trying to find more evidence, all of which was on right-wing sites crowing about the fact that sites like Salon aren't even noting this 'victory'. I was wondering what others think of this development? Do most, like me, think once this surge ends that violence will go back up or are we, like the neocons said, seeing the light at the end of the tunnel in Iraq?
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Bush's foreign policy
There has been a growing thread of madness--and beach bully--in Bush's Foreign policy since 911. But from the first, there has been a lot of method in the madness. But the method has been in the people who sold the policy, and though they are out of the administration for the most part now, they are still in the media, The American Enterprise Institute, and various other influences positions out of the public eye but nevertheless promoting war--Iran, this time.
It doesn't really matter whether Bush's policy is wrong, unravelling, or seemingly failing. These are true believers, and Bush will not change his policy or his vigor in pushing it until he leaves office at noon, January whatever, 2009.
The american public's views do not matter, unless Congress acts on them. And I see no indication congress is prepared to do anything. There's not even much talk against the Bush policy right now, and the appropriations to fund it are on the way.
Reid, Pelosi, and the others are merely poseurs, and the French unfortunately electee Sarkovy, who is Bush's newest european lapdog.
I'm college educated, a conservative (but not a neoconservative), and spent a number of years elected to public office. I am extremely worried about what the Bush White house will do between now and its much deserved end.
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History judges George W. Bush
So let’s do what George W. Bush suggests, let’s go forward in time to after Mr. Bush’s burial so history can judge his White House administration.
The three Clinton presidents, Bill, Hilary, and Chelsea, offer some of the most insightful comments about the 43rd presidency.
An often quoted, and back handed compliment, from Bill Clinton, “We can say that George Bush senior was ten times the president that his son was. That says it all.”
One of Hilary’s memorable comments, “When we moved back into the White House in 2009, we found just a huge stash of empty liquor bottles hidden in the president’s bedroom closets and stuffed under our mattress. I think that explains his multiple bicycling accidents in 2008. I pray for his soul every day, …that he is not suffering too much.”
Chelsea added to the history. “I remember him winking at me during my inauguration from his wheelchair. He had some sort of bicycle accident. I don’t know how he got an invitation, considering he was just released from prison, and was a convicted felon. I guess money still buys him favors. Anyway, later he rolled up to me in the reception line at my main inauguration ball and said, ‘My daughters are a lot prettier than you.’ I guess that demonstrates the quality and depth of the man.”
Finally, a comment from former Lieutenant Pervis Jackson, who served time with George Bush during Bush’s controversial time with the Georgia National Guard, “Well good ol’ Georgie and me, I played him good. He had all the money, and I kept the time sheets, so we had a good ol’ time. Wine, women, song, and more whining from Georgie. I warned him about what he was doing, but he always said he could get away with anything ‘cause his daddy was afraid of getting embarrassed by him. His daddy was always coverin’ up for him. Sure, I took the money and stayed clammed up all these years, so what? Wouldn’t you?”