Letters to the Editor
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-- quickstrategy @ political unitard
Your absolutely right in your point about other countries but I'm not so sure about this - "... how we can examine and understand (well, talk about anyway) the most obscure and minute differentiations in our own politics...", unless by "we" you mean the public and not the mainstream media. If one had no prior knowledge of our system of government and looked only at the media coverage of the last eight years they would have to assume we lived under a monarchy. Not "obscure and minute differentiations" but simply whether there is agreement with the president or an attempt to block or thwart him, with everything seen and filtered through the lens of the president and his administration.
Basically we have a "unitard" too, with the Democrats occupying the area around the ass-flap.
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according to the late Penny Lernoux...
...in her landmark, out-of-print 1984 book In Banks We Trust, an authentic classic of investigative journalism, Lernoux claims that Michael Ledeen attempted to purchase a secret list of Uruguayan members of the infamous Propaganda Due Lodge from a Uruguayan source.
Never have run across that list, personally...wonder who's on it.
http://www.amazon.com/Banks-We-Trust-Penny-Lernoux/dp/014008794X
More from the Rawstory interview [click on signature for live link to Part 2]:
"...Raw Story's Larisa Alexandrovna: Looking back at your career and over the many controversies, the allegations that you were tied to P2 were the most intriguing. Is there any truth to this? Did you know Francesco Pazienza?
Michael Ledeen: There’s no truth to the P2 charges. In fact I didn’t believe in its existence, even though various Italians, including Pazienza, were pushing me to interview Licio Gelli, who was the head of it. I was New Republic correspondent at the time, and it probably would have been a good story, but I thought it was just another of the endless conspiracy theories that one ran into every day. Probably I should have talked to Gelli, then you’d have another suspicious connection…
Raw Story: I am not accusing you or attempting to locate suspicious connections. I am simply asking about allegations. How did you meet current SISMI chief Nicollo Pollari? You are good friends, no?
Ledeen: Pollari isn't a good friend; he's a person I met occasionally, at bridge games in Rome. [Ledeen has some repute as a highly ranked bridge player, fwiw. ed.]
RS: When we have talked in the past you have indicated that you did indeed do some work for [Italian Intelligence] SISMI around 1980. What was the nature of the work?..."
etc.
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I think Ledeen looks like horns growing out of his head
And a long tail would suit him.
Although Ledeen was in favor of regime change in Iraq, he believed that Iran should have been the first priority. Ledeen's phrase, "faster, please" has become a signature meme in Ledeen's writings and is often referenced by neoconservative writers advocating a more forceful and broader "war on terror".
In 1979, Ledeen was one of the first Western writers to argue that Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini was a "clerical fascist", and that while it was legitimate to criticize the Shah's regime, if Khomeini seized power in Iran the Iranian people would suffer an even greater loss of freedom and women would be deprived of political and social rights.
Ledeen currently claims to be against a US invasion of Iran: "Not that I want the Marines marching on Tehran, as readers of this blog are well aware". But he is apparently arguing for airstrikes against Iran without a full military invasion, as laid out in this article on his blog at Pajamas Media:
"I have little sympathy for those who have avoided the obvious necessity of confronting Iran"
"This is a particularly good moment to go after the mullahs, because they are deeply engaged in a war of all against all within Iran."
"Just as the likes of General Abizaid need to be replaced with generals who are prepared to attack targets like the terrorist training camps (especially those used by Hizbollah) in Iran and Syria, so we need civilian leadership that will attack our enemies politically."
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Michael_Ledeen
Responses from this group from Bernador to the Vanity Fair article:
http://www.benadorassociates.com/article/20260
Glenn has called Bamford a "superb journalist". Most of Glenn's regular readers know I am not partial to conspiracism or conspiracy theories but I have come to the conclusion after re-examining this for the last few days that U.S.S. Liberty Incident bears further study. Bamford, disagrees. He's been convinced that is was a deliberate attack and covered up since his book, Body of Secrets came out early in 2001. Something happened in September of that year that took the focus off the one controversy that was developing but I don't buy that one. Sorry. I think Bamford's conclusions bear further investigation. If the IDF did intend to sink the Liberty and kill its entire crew to leave no witnesses to the massacre of Egyptian POWs, this should be made known to the American public. You should read Bamford's response to Steven Aftergood:
FROM: James Bamford
TO: Steve Aftergood
DATE: July 25, 2001
SUBJECT: Response to charges made in Secrecy News on July 17, 2001
http://fas.org/sgp/eprint/bamford.html
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@Iokannan
Don't go easy. No reason to, and there's nothing to be learned by that approach.
We can talk forever about the other guy being the bad guy. That doesn't solve anything.
omooex talks about the PO'd arabs driven from their land, by the UN sanctioned creation of Israel.
So how do you fix that?....Iran has offered a solution.
Israel has learned to, has proven, to peacefully co-exist with its neighbors, when those neighbors act responsibly. Examples include Egypt, Jordan.
They could live with Lebanon, if the syrians quit stirring the pot (another nation seeking nukes).
Israel has tried to provide a homeland for palestinians.
They can't be expected to tolerate routine suicide bombers riding their buses.
Iran wants a really big bomb. I don't trust them. I can't imagine why anyone would.
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@GC
When they see Pedinska with pumps, a whip, and big white teeth, we hear, meow.
Yes, and don't forget my p.j.s with the drop-down bottom. They're fire-engine red. ;-}