McCain just declared Victory in Iraq. (he says the search for evil will last another 100 yrs, however.)

brain fart,

bah.

Ps. Please hire the overqualified and excessively diligent. Take Hitchens for example. Please.

Okay, so that's your theory (wrong by the way) on why the Arabs hate America.

What I want to know is... why do you hate Arabs?

Next time there is war planned, like the upcoming one in Iran, don't try to get "exposure" in the media. Take it to the streets. It's the only thing they listen to.

What makes you think people didn't?

The problem is that again, it was downplayed as much as possible. While they couldn't completely ignore them, they did two key things: 1) They consistently underreported the turnout (a tactic they continue to do). Where thousands become 'hundreds', and hundreds of thousands become 'thousands', in order to downplay the size, and thus the scope of such marches. 2) They characterized the marches by the most unsavory elements within the diverse crowd, usually focusing on anarchist or simply unruly idiots that clashed with police, and then using them as an example of the kind of people throughout the whole protest.

Blaming the media would be a cheap excuse, if they haven't consistently demonstrated that they were willing to do everything to muffle anti-war sentiment. Hell, they continue to do their best to to this day.

"Maybe the fall of this horrifying regime would serve as an example to all the other despotisms in the neighborhood" - Josef Joffe

This is one of the more despicable and frankly, racist rationalizations for going to war. When Libya forfeited its nuclear weapons program, this exact same rationalization was used, "see, invading Iraq caused a dictator to give up his wmd's"

But what this says is that it's okay to invade a sovereign nation, destroy its infrastructure and kill hundreds of thousands of its citizens because some other country poses a threat to you.

One can only accept this type of thinking if they fundamentally undervalue the lives of people other than themselves.

"the war they cheered on ended the lives of hundreds of thousands (at least) of innocent Iraqi citizens and caused the internal and external displacement of millions more. That just doesn't exist in the calculus."

But if they were to fall victim to a terrorist attack, they would be referred to as "innocent lives".

I think maybe it's time to really consider just who is innocent and who is NOT. You can't sit on the sidelines and cheer on these morons, and then say that you're not to blame when it comes around to bite you in the ass.

This war is a stain on every american's soul. If you are not speaking out then you are a silent accomplice, just as guilty as the ones who are doing the dirty work.

thanks for the Chomsky quote: it is amazingly clear. The point that stuck out at me was Jackson saying the Nuremburg trials would retroactively become a farce if we didn't live up to the standards we imposed on them. And now we see that we did not live up to those standards. How shameful is that for us? But then, I suppose what it really shows is that America is no different from any other of the great empires that have come down the pike. Childhood illusions are just so hard and painful to shake.

And think how hard this point would be to bring up in public discourse. But hasn't it always been that way too?

Screw you! I was NEVER for W, and NEVER FOR THIS WAR. I have witnesses who will tell you that as we were watching the initial attack on CNN I told them "We are making a BIG mistake". Anyone with half a scintilla of sense was against this.

You are making the same mistake that Glenn is constantly pointing out: You are assuming that everyone thinks as you. WRONG! BIG TIME WRONG.

And Glenn, there is a way we can stop this "cycle of violence": Punish those responsible for this mess. Maybe you can never get all of them, but we need to make SEVERE EXAMPLES of W, Cheney, Fuckyomama, Podhoretz, ANYONE WHO SIGNED THE PNAC papers. They should have two choices: Firing Squad, or lifetime of exile to Guantanimo and when they die their ashes will be thrown to the Cuban winds and they will rot there for posterity.

The point Glenn makes is so important. Obama seems rational about so many things, but earlier in his campaign he often spoke about how Great we are, and how we need to be so much Greater. Do you think he can learn that the U.S. has no special ability to rule the world?

Also,

"I underestimated the self-centeredness and sectarianism of the ruling elite and the social impact of 30 years of extreme dictatorship" -- Kanan Makiya

Is this comment about Iraq or the U.S.?

this war is a stain on every American's soul

Yes, it is. And we have to keep on saying it. Because the real horror of the war is what it did to innocent people in Iraq. They are the real essence of the issue. The deaths and injuries to our troops are basically collateral damage: the real damage is the innocent ones who are dead or have their lives ruined. And I was a soldier. And I hurt for the soldiers who were sent into this for no good reason. But even a soldier would say that the dead Iraqi children perhaps should take front and center.

I am not absolving the media of responsibility. They are as guilty as the bastards in the Rwandan media, who for weeks exhorted the hutus to slaughter the tutsi "cockroaches".

And they did under report the numbers. Absolutely, and may they burn in hell for their crimes, you are correct about that, I saw it personally.

"They" knew the real numbers though, and those numbers were simply not high enough. The "threat" to the oligarchy was simply not credible.

People do feel helpless. Maybe they are.