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(AP Photo/Haraz N. Ghanbari)
Hmmmm…this whole "last throes" concept sure is confusing. But at least there is no civil war in Iraq, right? As the Iraqis stand up, we’ll stand down…isn’t that still the talking point du jour?
So, why is it that the last 24-hours has seen headlines like this:
– Group of Iraqi Soldiers Refuses to Go to Baghdad
– Radical Militia and Iraqi Army in Fierce Battle
– Iraqi Troops Battle Shiite Militiamen in Southern City
– Dozens Killed in Iraq Clashes
– In Iraq, Fewer Killed, More Are Wounded
– At Least 100 Die as Militia Force Iraqi Troops Out of Town
But what’s a few headlines among friends, eh? Especially when they end like this (for the moment):
Calm returned to a southern city Tuesday after a deal between Shiite militiamen loyal to a powerful cleric and Iraqi government forces ended a fierce 12-hour street battle that killed 40 people.
In Baghdad, police said they found the bodies of 24 people who had apparently been tortured and shot before being dumped in two locations.
Eleven of the bullet-riddled corpses, their hands and legs bound, were found near a school in the Shiite dominated Maalif neighborhood in southern Baghdad, police said.
The bodies of another 13 people, believed to have been aged between 25 and 35, were found dumped behind a Shiite mosque in the Turath neighborhood in western Baghdad. All were handcuffed, showed signs of torture and had been shot in the head, said police 1st Lt. Maitham Abdul-Razaq.
Oh sure, no civil war, things are fabulous, and the Green Lantern Theory of Iraq is alive and well. (h/t to Atrios)
And, by the way, it’s no wonder that the brass at the Pentagon have started grumbling about Rummy around the edges. I’m not certain that he can see reality through his goofy rose-colored glasses. Although to be completely fair, maybe he’s a glass half full kinda guy who is just excited that the Baghdad morgue will be receiving less than last month’s 1800 body total, if the numbers stay on the track they are this month.
The troops, many redeployed from hot spots around Iraq, have patrolled the capital, searched houses and made arrests since Aug. 7. Similar sweeps in Baghdad and elsewhere since the U.S.-led invasion in 2003 have reduced violence. But the bloodshed would increase when U.S. forces moved on.
Though the U.S. military has not issued a timetable for ending the sweep, officials say that patrolling Baghdad indefinitely would create dependency among Iraq’s nascent security forces and tax U.S. resources and manpower.
The U.S. military, with 138,000 troops, is stretched thin in Iraq; many units are on their third deployments. Last week, the Pentagon announced an involuntary recall of as many as 2,500 Marines reservists. The Army has issued recall orders to 10,000 soldiers.
U.S. military leaders say they hope Iraqi police units, paired with American training teams, will be able to maintain security once the troops leave.
Many Baghdad residents, however, think that Iraq’s notoriously corrupt and sectarian police forces are part of the problem. U.S. and Iraqi officials acknowledge that Shiite Muslim militiamen, many of whom have infiltrated the police, are responsible for most of Baghdad’s slayings, but there is still no plan to disarm paramilitary groups.
U.S. and Iraqi officials describe the Baghdad security plan as a last-ditch effort to stave off civil war and to shore up Maliki’s government, which has struggled to contain sectarian violence and deliver essentials such as electricity and gasoline. (emphasis mine)
By employing the Rummy Whack-a-Mole technique of troop redeployment, troops from areas like Ramadi and Fallujah have been moved into Baghdad to shore up the numbers there, and then they’ll be moved back into the newly revitalized hot spots of Ramadi and Fallujah, only to see Baghdad’s violence shoot back up again. Um…that doesn’t sound like lasting progress and last throes to me.
At least Afghanistan is going swimmingly …oops…
– 17 Die in Suicide Bombing in Afghan Market
– Why It’s Not Working in Afghanistan
Well, President Bush can at least count on all that loyal GOP support, right? Perhaps not. Heckuva job, Bushie. Your own party has begun running away from you to save their own political hides – quite a legacy you have there.
Juan Cole, Swopa and Laura Rozen have much more.
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NED!
Heh. And I didn’t even cheat.
heh heh heh, neither did I.
I’m gonna Spotlight this, too.
Pachacutec @
2
twolf1 @
3
There go your chances for ever getting a job in the Bush administration.
At least Afghanistan is going swimmingly …oops…
Rummy’s escape to Alaska went swimmgly for him too. I’ll have a bit on that in a few minutes.
“Although to be completely fair, maybe he’s a glass half full kinda guy who is just excited that the Baghdad morgue will be receiving less than last month’s 1800 body total, if the numbers stay on the track they are this month.”
It’s like a reverse of the Vietnam body count policy. But with the same myopic mindset.
That’s easy, he uses hair gel.
I’m sick of these idiots….
i can only imagine what kind of hurculean behind-the-scenes work the u.s. must be doing to continue to prop up the central government. since it has become all but irrelevant i’m wondering how much longer until it colapses completely. that would surely be the last straw for the administrations ability to put any sort of positive spin on anything happeneing in iraq.
HAD ENOUGH!!!!??????!!!!!
Sorry, this got EPU’d and it is a bit of good news for Lamont, so is worth repeating here.
orangejumpsuit @ 104
I am sick, sick, sick of Rummy, Cheney and Bush. I wish they’d abandon Planet PNAC and wake up to the real world. They’re so afraid of bruising their own pride that they’ll continue to put our military into no-win situations.
Bush and his gang talk tough, but they’re really little frightened children hiding from the truth. They can’t handle the truth!
But, but …. we are turning a corner, aren’t we? Isn’t this the last throes?
Meanwhile, hair boy Byron York at neocon central (National Review) is trying to do some pre-emptive spin on Corn and Isakoff’s book ‘Hubris’ which discusses the Plame matter. Watch as he protests that Rove and Libby were not contacted (a lie), watch as he whines that the book was rushed out (so what?). This from a man who believes every canard Cheney ever lobbied about Iraq and WMD.
Yet, Timmeh will have this male version of Ann Coulter on Meet the Press and say how non-partisan he is. Incredible.
In a related note, Joe Lieberman has received the public endorsement of Jack Kemp. This is actually one of his more progressive supporters.
I was in the grocery store the other day when a customer greeted an employee, a friend she hadn’t seen in a while, apparently, and said “How’s Mike” (name changed, the lady’s son or husband, presumably). The employee kind sighed and smiled with resignation, and said “Oh he’s over in Iraq”. Everybody in earshot just kind of froze and turned around. I think she said her relative had another six months, the friend stammered out something about prayers, the friend’s husband said something I couldn’t hear, the people who didn’t know the lady turned away, I think a little bit sadly. I wanted to ask out loud: “So how are you all going to vote in November?”, but we’ve got a lot of deep deep red around here. The kind of people who thing the Iraqis started the war.
e.c., is that OUR central government you’re talking about?
Can’t explain, but I’ll complain.
Here’s the problem with “stay the course” and “as they stand up, we will stand down.” As they are standing up, those who don’t run are being cut down. The people dying in Iraq are people who had a right to expect our protection, because we came in and took over their country. Just because our government denies responsibility doesn’t mean that it doesn’t exist and that it won’t persist.
When Iraqi soldiers lose a battle to “insurgents,” running out of ammunition and suffering summary execution while our troops are occupied elswhere, what is a citizen to think? What considerations does an Iraqi citizen have to weigh in charting a course for survival?
The question bears repetition, if only because the Bush administration has gotten away with refusing to give an honest answer: What are our troops doing in Iraq? Whose side are they on? What can they do, and what’s beyond their control? Why are they dying? Why are they killing?
How could we send them to war without answering these questions? How can we keep them there?
Well Jenna and NotJenna need something to do:
http://wizbangblog.com/2004/07…..minder.php
Wonder why they are waiting to sign up to help Uncle Rummy?
I like Matt Yglesias’s Green Lantern theory of geopolitics, but I think he overlooks an important way of detecting its application: shifting goalposts. I propose that there is an inverse and proportional relationship between changing “measures” of success and the threat that a given failure will expose the “application of will” principle for the flapdoodle it is. Moreover, the application of this principle allows us to extend the realm of discussion outside the military/geopolitical sphere than Yglesias specifies. (One can argue, and I will not dispute the point, that Der Shrubbenfuhreradministration never intended for any given policy to produce a positive benefit for the general public, and that they therefore have not “failed.” Since they could never admit to that, however, the need to maintain the facade of positive general benefit remains and continues to drive the shifting-goalposts effect.)
do we have a physician with psychiatric and psychological specialties that would like to weigh in on the sociopathic personality?
one thing that I recall as being common is a “fast on their feet” way to explain everything away as though it never happened.
I would sure like to see the explanation from an expert, but there are notable signs of insanity and personality disorders with most of the people we see on the teevee, that are supposed to be running this country.
wouldn’t it be nice if a junior officer could relieve the superior of command when said superior is acting in a way detrimental to the well being of the rest of the company and in such a way as to cause them harm?
we have no government of the people, we have no checks and balances remaining, and we are owned by corporations (corpses) from countries all around the world that have invested in our way of life so as to control it. guess everyone got what they wanted,
except we the people.
Peterr @
5
I think I lost out on that chance when, in a fit of anger in early 2001 over Bush’s defunding of AIDS prevention programs over contraceptive issues, playing to his base, I sent a sharply worded protest letter to the White House. With a condom enclosed.
I think that’s when they probably put me in a file for monitoring.
twowolf: good on ya!
Dadhusker @ 18
Is it Jenna or notJenna who signed the teaching contract in the impoverished Central American country of Unnamedia, which contract apparently kicks in the on Jan 22, 2009?
On topic, but give it a minute . . .
Inouye’s backing away from Lieberman is a big deal, and not just for Joe. Inouye’s one of the “Gang of 14,” a certified WWII hero, and one of the few in the Senate who participated in the Watergate hearings.
Inouye knows a bit about excessive executive claims of authority. He knows a bit about war from firsthand experience, and about post-war care for those who have borne the burdens of war. He knows a bit about how the Senate and House can hold an executive accountable.
Back in June, he voted for Kerry’s amendment to the defense authorization bill, and here’s a chunk of his press release about that vote:
Bush has no strategic vision for Iraq. He has no tactical plans either, as these articles and headlines make clear. His prime concern is how he is seen and how he will be remembered.
Stephen Colbert hit it on the head at the White House Correspondents Association Dinner:
It’s National Photo-Op Week for the White House . . . let the world watch, and be afraid. Be very afraid.
NED was on C-Span this morning. Were you all aware? Of course he was GREAT! The more I see of him the more I am drawn to him. He’s so sincere and definitely wants to get this country on the right track. If you get a chance check him out online at C-Span. I am not sure if it’s up yet but I am sure it will be soon.
GO NED!!!!!
oldtree @ 20
For what it’s worth, my shrink has told me that armchair diagnosis of Bush and his Amazing Fiends has become something of a lunchtime tradition. The consensus among that group is that Bush himself suffers from a narcissistic, not an antisocial (sociopathic) personality disorder. Not that NPD is the kind of thing that makes for good public service, mind you. I’ll try to remember to ask whether the lunch club has tackled Rummy or Buckshot Dick–but my next appointment is a ways away.
And doesn’t it just warm the cockles of your heart that more and more will be killed and injured because ego and pride prevent these people from – if not openly admitting their errors – at least recognizing the problems by changing the course? Is what’s happening now supposed to be an implementation of “adapt to win?” The only thing that is ever adapted are the stories they tell to justify the losing that they always say is on the verge of victory. Maybe that should be the next slogan: “Victorious in Defeat: We may be Losing, but it’s gonna be the BEST loss EVER!”
Now, looking for something to throw…
Here’s the Spotlight email I just sent:
President GW Clusterfuck, Rummy and the shooter are dusting off their traveling shoes and opening up their campaign to hold congress- and to make it too dangerous for goopers to run against Clusterfuck on the war.
The shooter continues to be the liar extraordinaire- and that with incredible competition.
Lyin fuckin criminals- out on the town at our expense. Fuckheads!
I’m clinically trained, and though I don’t hang out among networks of shrinks, I’ve always armchaired narcissistic personality disorder, with the usual professional caveats that virtual diagnosis is unprofessional, and often more a product of the diagnostician’s projections than reflective of reality. Still, we have a lot of observable behavior over the course of five years to review.
Other energy regimes in the past (England for coal, the Netherlands for water, whales, and wind, the South and Rome for slaves) have shown little ability to switch to a new energy resource. All their infrastructure was set up, and cleverly so, to take maximum advantage of the energy source they were dominant in. When they ran out at home, they went abroad on resource sprees. Eventually their resource wars became counterproductive due to the higher expenses involved in grabbing resources from unwilling parties, their economies became more dependent on finance than manufacturing, and to varying degrees in their very last stages of dominance, they all began to display uncomfortable levels of political incompetence. But I doubt they ever had a dumber, more delusional son of a bitch than Donald Rumsfeld.
Wouldn’t uttering the phrase “God wants me to be President” (among others) pretty much confirm NPD in and of itself?
Jim @ 33
LOL!
Over the weekend, Rummy was in Fairbanks and the Alaska ABM sites. The Fairbanks APRN (Alaska Public Radio Network) coverage was neutral, being critical of Rummy’s decision not to let reporters in when he spoke to families of the Alaska Stryker Brigade, which has been extended and shifted from Mosul to Bagdhad.
The Pentagon chief was meeting privately later Saturday with 172nd Stryker Brigade families at Fort Wainwright, the unit’s home base. Rumsfeld’s aides said they expected as many as 600 people to attend and to have a chance to ask questions.
Reporters who traveled with Rumsfeld from Washington, D.C., were to be excluded from the session.
Asked why reporters would not be permitted to cover the event, Rumsfeld at first replied, “I don’t have any idea. I haven’t addressed the subject.” Later he said he makes it a practice to make all family meetings private.
Then off to Fallon Naval Air Station in Nevada, where he claimed the reason we aren’t perceived as successful in Iraq (and, I presume, Afghanistan) is because the enemy’s press is so sophisticated!
“The enemy is so much better at communicating,” he added. “I wish we were better at countering that because the constant drumbeat of things they say – all of which are not true – is harmful. It’s cumulative. And it does weaken people’s will and lessen their determination, and raise questions in their minds as to whether the cost is worth it,” he said alluding to Americans and other Westerners.
http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/s…..CTION=HOME
Jim — it’s either NPD or untreated schizophrenia.
Anne 28 – speaking of ‘adapt to win’. Has anyone heard a gooper say that recently? I haven’t. Was it just a test market thing by rove/mehlman?
Pachacutec @ 31
Thanks for that caveat, Pach. I had meant to be clearer on that point, and I should have said so more directly. (Remember Terry Schiavo? Frist would rather not.)
You’re right, though: we’ve had quite a bit to observe, and perhaps even more recently. It doesn’t take very much training to notice that Bush is not a mentally or emotionally well man today, if he ever was.
Art Buchwald is a gem, and today’s column is right on topic here: Cut and Run Amok.
“As I see it, we couldn’t cut and run at this time even if we wanted to. . . .”
Another Watergate vet speaks out!
twolf1 @ 37
I’m still waiting for someone to define what “winning” looks like…
Ed*ard Teller @ 35
OldCoastie @ 40
Exactly.
Comforting to know that the shooter is committed to stayin in Iraq until the job is done–meaning until the last Iraqi is killed.
rwcole @ 43
And then they can beat their swords into drilling rigs.
OldCoastie @ 40
Winning? Look at Exxon and Halliburton profits. That’s ‘winning’.
A while back, MyDD was asking for nominations for one question to ask Bush in a public forum. My entry was, “Mr. President, what would not be a sign of progress in Iraq?”
I think whatever they had cooking over there never panned out. I think someone thought they could get access, but then they couldn’t.
EvilDrPuma @ 26
Actually, if one suffers from a so-called “narcissistic” disorder, this does not preclude also suffering from sociopathic disorders. Psychologists often fall into mutually exclusive fallacy — that a condition has to be either this or that but not both.
To me Bush is sociopathic to the extreme.
Pachacutec @ 31
Pach, the master of understatement….
let us hope the time to observe his behavior is nearing an end.
Another morning of wonderful pieces – thank you ma’am.
Lugar has pranced around like the snackfairy declaring we need to stay even in a civil war. Rumsfeld isn’t Santa Claus. Frist can diagnose Iraq from a video and says it’s fine. Pace can work in a three minute pause before answering that heck no, he never thought of civil war. No one can explain how the AUMF still authorizes our presence there. Roberts won’t do a decent job on the investigation about intel. No one is investigating the biggest revelation I think we could expect from the Plame investigation – that the President himself authorized (mis)use of classified information for purely partisan political purposes to bolster the war. SISMI in Italy is under investigation – but no on on Roberts committee showing any interest. Nat Guard and equipment decimated. How is it that Jon Stewart was the only one to run the video of the Iraqi recently trained /graduated soldiers who, upon learning where they were going to be sent, all revolted and started stripping their uniforms off right there on the parade grounds?
I’m not sharing my Advil with Rumsfeld.
OT – below thread (my connections are very very slow from home) Margot@90 – I really think it could have been so much worse when troops did get there if they had’t had someone like him. It was such a huge relief.
Mui @89 – and I think all remember the African American “looter” pictures and the Causian “desperate survivor” pictures. And the boat with hospital and rescue facilities, sitting around doing nothing for days; the helicopter pilot who, after dropping off his VIP delivery couldn’t stand to see Americans dieing on their rooftops and made the trips to rescue them, only to be reprimanded.
CBL – he rides too? I didn’t see that. Why can’t we have President’s like that?
The elections in two months are the public’s last chance to limit the spread of the GW Clusterfuck cancer.
If dems win the senate- they control the judiciary committee- and there will be no more dipshit supreme court judges. If they win EITHER house- there will be public investigations into Clusterfuck crimes. If the goopers hold congress- it’s business as usual for this pack of liars, thieves, and international monsters.
more ‘winning’:
http://thinkprogress.org/2006/…..s-numbers/
I’m only a gynecologist, but I would peg Chaney as a sociopath. Rumsfeld is just a dumbass.
I’m only a proctologist- but I can diagnose the shooter as an assholee!
Ed*ard Teller @ 34
Yes the enemy’s press IS so sophisticated. Too bad it is run fromCheney’s and Rove’s offices…
From CHS’s link, regarding the Green Lantern Theory of geopolitics, “It used to be the case that the rings wouldn’t function against yellow objects, but this is now understood to be a consequence of the “Parallax fear anomaly” which, along with all the ring’s other limits, can be overcome with sufficient willpower.”
Without mentioning any specific neckwear, I’m just noting this ;-)
phoebes @ #40,
I wonder, have any of the families Rumsfeld met with commented on their meeting?
The radio articles had actualities of family members calling him out. Many feel the brigade is doing work they’re untrained for (sound familiar, that one?).
Apparently, Robert Burns from the AP is one of the five wqriters accompanying the SecDef on his current tour. Rummy said this today in Salt Lake City:
In unusually explicit terms, Rumsfeld portrayed the administration’s critics as suffering from “moral and intellectual confusion” about what threatens the nation’s security and accused them of lacking the courage to fight back.
In remarks prepared for delivery to the American Legion’s national convention, Rumsfeld recited what he called the lessons of history, including the failed efforts to appease the Adolf Hitler regime in the 1930s.
“I recount this history because once again we face the same kind of challenges in efforts to confront the rising threat of a new type of fascism” he said.
http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/…..sfeld.html
Mary, any word from Condi lately?
oh and Lebanon? Tom Lantos is blocking aid to those people… aid that Fartacus promised them.
I can’t stand it– the winning of hearts and minds throughout the world is just going swimmingly!
Ed*ard Teller @ 55
The cabal’s talent for projection is reaching new heights — THEY are the new type of fascism, and surely they know we know this!
========
Had Enough?
========
Condi and Rummy are speaking to their adoring fans here in SLC today…Wednesday a different side will be seen…the not so adoring public
angie @ 57
Isreal first last and always for these people.
From Forbes via HuffPo:
http://www.forbes.com/business…..78817.html
Synopsis: It’s Rover’s show, and his game plan is more of the same-old, same-old. Run the same play until the Dems stop it. An October Surprise shouldn’t be a surprise at all.
I’m more concerned with how much the Dems have learned and operationalized than I am about Junior’s mental state right now. That’s not to denigrate at all the Dems’ commitment or the inherent dangers of an imploding presidency. But the Dems control their own performance, and Junior won’t (probably can’t) change his.
There are 70 days left until the midterms. It’s time to blow those swiftboaters out of the water.
Klyde, it’s not about Israel, it’s about votes.
President of Iran wants to debate Bush–hell- that’s like a contender taking a fight with a guy who has been knocked out every time he laced em up. Why doesn’t he go pick on someone who speaks in whole sentences?
Teddy @ 59
You are so right.
That’s also why they are coining the phrase “islamofacism”.
By attaching a negative religious connotation to facism, they can dismiss the claim without having to defend themselves against it rationally.
TeddySanFran,
Rummy’s Salt Lake City speech this morning was a trimmed down version of the speech he’ll be giving later today at the American Legion convention in Reno (or Vegas?). Talk about a proto-fascist group – the Legion. Sheesh!
that phrase “islamofascism”, T, has been debunked by both people/scholars in the west and the east; but real Americans will never hear it from the admin or the pundits or the bobbleheads…
OS – Condi was recently giving a speech and when interrupted with questions about Katrina answered, “But would you have really wanted to have coffee in NO before Katrina?”
And the msm continues to slobber over republican talking points and casting criminals like rummhell and bush in heroic light.
How come?
Maybe ’cause they’re ALL repugs. ALL OF THEM!
the guy that this story about is a blogger, too– saw him interviewed on cnn once over the weekend.
.
http://www.wnyc.org/news/articles/63716
Mary, I’m sure her mother brought her up better than that. Must be the company she keeps.
The Thing speaks for himself.
New Fascism…the legacy of the Worst.President.Ever.
Had Enough? Vote.
OT – just saw this:
klyde @ 60
I think it was Josh Marshall who pointed out that Lantos is, effectively, blocking American aid to Lebanon so that Iran can establish a stronger presence there. It’s called the Law of Unintended Consequences, I think. It happens when you let emotion rule your politics.
Thanks, Angie.
Is there a site I can visit to read about the debunk?
These wingnuts down here in GA looove that word. Its a shiny new one. At least they finally quit making up sentences to use “root cause”.
Sure wish I could figger out how to work this edit comment button running windows IE….
Is Rumsfeld the Least Credible Person in America?
I think so.
OT – Raw Story has this headline up:
Senate moves to expand Bush power to tap: Soon…
Shorter Rummy – “If I say it is fascist, it IS Fascist!”
meanwhile, back at the Kennebunkport Kompound:
President Bush launched an initiative this month to combat international kleptocracy, the sort of high-level corruption by foreign officials that he called “a grave and corrosive abuse of power” that “threatens our national interest and violates our values.” The plan, he said, would be “a critical component of our freedom agenda.”
Three weeks later, the White House is making arrangements to host the leader of Kazakhstan, an autocrat who runs a nation that is anything but free and who has been accused by U.S. prosecutors of pocketing the bulk of $78 million in bribes from an American businessman. Not only will President Nursultan Nazarbayev visit the White House, people involved say, but he also will travel to the Bush family compound in Maine.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/…..01282.html
Oh, well! Off to my first day of work for fall semester. The limit on my big lecture class has been changed from 110 to 200 students. That’s 2,350 or so quizzes, exams and term papers to correct for that one class!
Former President Jimmy Carter has done an interview for British MSM (which I’ve just blogged about), wherein he says flat out that he would NOT have gone to war against Iraq. Moreover, he blames our pitiful excuse for a premier, Tony Blair for much of this Iraq invasion & occupation nightmare, for so subserviently going along with BushCo.
Here’s a snippet:
** “We’ve never before had an administration that would endorse pre-emptive war – that is a basic policy of going to war against another country even though our own security was not directly threatened,” he said. In his book, President Carter writes: “I have been sorely tempted to launch a military attack on foreigners.”
But had he still been president, he says that he would never have considered invading Iraq in 2003.
“No,” he said, “I would never have ordered it. **
Moral and intellectual confusion says it all about THIS administration.
Sheesh, ET, I hope you have some good grad students working with you.
“I recount this history because once again we face the same kind of challenges in efforts to confront the rising threat of a new type of fascism” he said.
http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/…..sfeld.html
Methinks he’s really talking about the country he’s helping to wreck—-the U.S.
OT – LOL, JBR live presser interrupted by fire alarm.
Ed*ard Teller @ 78
Well, at least with the high priority everyone gives to education these days, I’m sure you’ve got the money for 20 or so TA’s to take care of that grading for you.
OT
The current CNN poll question is: Who would win a debate on world issues between President Bush and Iranian President Ahmadinejad?
Currently with 3900 votes, it is Ahmadinejad 67% to Bush 33%.
T- @ 74
wikipedia has covered the changing definition and criticism of the term “islamofascism” as generally used by politicians and pnac pundits.
Islamofascism is a neologism and political epithet used to induce an association of the ideological or operational characteristics of certain modern Islamist movements with European fascist movements of the early 20th century, neofascist movements, or totalitarianism. Organizations that have been labeled “Islamofascist” include Al-Qaeda, the current Iranian government,[1] the Taliban, the Muslim Brotherhood, Hamas, and Hezbollah. None label themselves fascist, however, and critics of the term argue that associating the religion of Islam with fascism is both offensive and historically inaccurate.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Islamofascism
twolf1 @ 81
I’m processin a little slow this fine morning: JBR?
It’s clear that the only way Clusterfuck and the Shooter can defend themselves on Iraq is to lie- nothing else has a prayer of success.
Jim @ 85
JonBenet Ramsey
The Iranian president offers to debate Clusterfuck with one tongue tied behind his back.
Your assignment, should you choose to accept it:
Check if your senator is on the list of those on the record as denying having placed a “secret hold” on bipartisan legislation
If your senator is not yet on the record, give him/her a buzz and get back to TPMuckraker.
Peterr & Old Sow,
One TA. She’s new. Best I ever had is headed off to earn his MusD. He’ll help train her today and thursday.
rw — you are cracking me up — good to see you this morning. :)
1,256 DAYZ AND THE KILLIN’ GOEZ ON AND ON AND…
Wake up folks!! Rummy and the new American Nazis are tryin to expropriate another word-concept: fascism.
I have been beatin this drum for a good long while here but it’s time to take back the vocabulary of this fight. We must start usin’ “fascism” when talkin’ about Bush and the Bush administration and the political party in power. It is essential that we collect and consolidate the anger in the American electorate and focus it where it belongs. One word does it…when we get the corporate media and the Administration and even some elected Republicrats in positions of power in the Democratic Party engaged in a public debate over the application of the term to the current party in power, then we have won!
We must brand the enemy….it is clear that this election , like so many “watershed” elections in the past, is about gettin’ an angry electorate to vote AGAINST a party not to convince ‘em ta vote for a specific set of articulated political positions or values.
WAKE UP FOLKS!! Start every political discussion, every comment in the supermarket checkout line, every argument in the breakroom with the words “fascist Republicans”. Even if the discussion then degenerates into a debate on the term, we win because by every definition that’s what these folks are…they are fascists.
And don’t worry about alienating long time Republican voters, they either aren’t gunna ever vote for a Democrat or they aren’t gunna vote…but makin ‘em defend their fascist party will demoralize ‘em enough ta get ‘em outta the ring and back in the closet where they belong.
KEEP THE FAITH AND KILL ‘EM WITH LOVE AND THE TRUTH!!!
Jim says
I think it was Josh Marshall who pointed out that Lantos is, effectively, blocking American aid to Lebanon so that Iran can establish a stronger presence there. It’s called the Law of Unintended Consequences, I think. It happens when you let emotion rule your politics
*********************************
I’ve always thought that lantos is, like lie-berman, so conservative a dem that he may as well be a member of the republican party.
Rumsfeld Lashes Out at Bush’s Critics
By ROBERT BURNS
The Associated Press
Tuesday, August 29, 2006; 11:48 AM
A new type of fascism….the infuriating and meaningless neologism aside, let’s focus on the “new”, shall we? Was it twenty-four or twenty-five years ago that Rummy shook hands with Saddam Hussein and Ronald Reagan called him our great ally in the fight against the Islamist hordes from Iran? Rummy can’t tell you what time it is without leaving the truth in his rear-view mirror.
Hi Redd- Good ta see you too. Nothin like a good old fashioned Bush bash in the mornin!
I’ve always thought that lantos is, like lie-berman, so conservative a dem that he may as well be a member of the republican party.
Bobby-
I always thought Lantos was pretty good on most domestic issues…? I’ve only seen him when he pops up in stories I’m reading, so I’m not sure. He’s definitely got the Israel blindspot, but he’s also got a number tattooed on his arm. I can’t in good conscience criticize him.
T– I have read it debunked at both Prof Cole’s site and numerous articles at Information Clearing House.
Here’s one good example, scroll down for the meat of the matter.
http://www.juancole.com/2006/0…..ns-of.html
jhmay @
51
Rumsfield denies that he is a guy necrologist
Jim @ 73
I’ve had a revelation. The juanta are actually Iranian agents. How else can you explain their actions? First they destroy Iran’s enemy in Afghanistan, then they destroy Iran’s #1 enemy Saddam, then they let or encourage isreal to launch a war that builds animosity toward the US and strengthens Iran’s client in Lebanon. And now another alleged isreali firster is taking actions that will allow Hezbollah and by extention Iran be the heroes of the Lebanese reconstruction effort. Now it all makes sense.
rwcole @
88
Oh brother, I needed that! ROTFLMAO!!! After hearing of my nephew’s possible recall. Sgt. in the Marines, two tours, released XMAS eve 2005, new father to a 7lb.6oz. little baby girl. Dumbfield’s such a down home sort o’ guy!!!
How can Cheney get away with spouting this crap?
We weren’t in Nepal either. So should we have invaded them?
OT – Wake Island evacuated as ’super typhoon’ roars in
op99 @ 100
Cheney’s audience are the people who consider Rush Limbo “the news”.
Chertoff: All your data are belong to us.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/…..00849.html
And while we are at the debunking stage here, I have written many letters to media outlets asking a “simple question” related to the substance of the cite below and many by Prof Cole and *suprise* nobody has taken me up on it or even deigned to answer me at all…
http://www.informationclearing…..e14733.htm
Maybe it’s my grammar or something…
I’d love to be Santa Claus. I’d visit the White House and the homes of President Cheney, Scooter, Rummy, Wm Kristol, Wolfie, Pearle, Newt, Jeb, and every other PNAC dreamer, and I’d leave each of them a lump of coal. But I’m not Santa.
Mrs. Fartacus introducing said stinker on teevee.
angie @ 105
CNN – shorter chimpy. Everything in NOLA is back to normal.
They hate our freedoms!
good morning, firepups -
OT – (or not, depending on how one defines the “f-ism” word here in Bush’s Homeland?)
Here’s a nice bit o’news on this dreadful anniversary:
(of course, assuming the source is accurate….)
http://www.rawstory.com/news/2….._0829.html
Fartacus is live from warren easton (sp?) high school in NOLA – the oldest HS in the state.
-Thanking everyone.
-there’s clapping, must be more pre-screened than yesterday’s sweaty event.
Whatever It Is, I’m Against It on the violence in Iraq:
Jim @ 95
Fair enough, but lantos and lieberman represent a Judaism which is alien to my Judaism. I adhere to a Judaism which, for all intents and purposes, died with the founding of the state of Israel, when zionism made a mockery of the deeply rich, centuries-old tradition of a Judaism steeped in Peace, and in its place created a war-like, oppressive Judaism. I don’t recognize “Judaism” anymore, as lieberman and lantos hype it.
Fartacus on CNN – “there were countless acts of selflessness”
“also saw things we never thought we’d see in the US” (and it’s your fault ASS!)
certainly is a larger audience than yesterday… doesn’t chimpy know he will never be forgiven for his criminal negligence?
why do I see these guys in my mind’s eye clap their hands with glee with every new disaster? oh yeah, because there’s a lot of money to be made in chaos…
Fartacus on CNN – the challenge is not only to help rebuild but to help restore the soul of NOLA
“I take full responsibility for the fed govt’s response.”
they’ve got a paid clapper there at chimpy’s thing… there’s one guy with really big hands clapping Extra Loud
Hi all! I am reposting this from the late night thread — I hope that some more LA folks can join us!
SteveAudio @
166
Fartacus on CNN – “i felt it was important out govt be generous to the people that have suffered”
“to make sure we keep our promise and this are recovers”
sounds like heckler?? WTF is going on
Heckelererrer. wtf
what’s all that conversation going on?!?
i guess it’s fair to say that Shez’s “Fartacus” is a keeper! (the name, not the creature)
Fartacus on CNN – someone doesnt realize their mic is on on CNN. this is crazy.
they are picking up some unintentional feed… “control freak”?!?
Fartacus on CNN – OK, seems they got it fixed. Sounded like some lady was bad mouthing her husband a little??
back to the chimp…
Peterr @
5
Y’all don’t know how true that is. A GOP candidate down here in TX tried to hire me as a speechwriter. I had a terrible job at the time and almost considered it. But one meeting with the guy… I couldn’t do it. I just couldn’t twist the truth into as many knots as that guy watned me to. No amount of money was worth it, and they were gonna pay me very well.
Anyway, at what point with Iraq do those of us who knew it would be a clusterfuck get to say, “I told you so”?
You can have the trait without having the disease. Bush’s feelings of grandiosity and complete self-involvement bespeak narcissism. His lack of empathy, sociopathy. But the most likely explanation is selfish, immature, intellectually limited fratboy with sense of entitlement becomes burnt out alcoholic later in life.
Cheney, on the other hand, is delusional and paranoid.
Rumsfeld I don’t have any ideas about.
Tom Waits – Clap Hands:
did y’all hear that wierd audio on CNN just now, over-top of Chimpy, the anchor-bot was talking about some guy who’s got three kids and a wife who’s a control freak? It sounded like someone then told her her mike was live and she tried to recover. How funny!!
Fartacus on CNN – “levee been restored to pre katrina level. in some areas it’s better”
-pushing energy legislation so LA can get revenue from off-shore drilling
“Fair enough, but lantos and lieberman represent a Judaism which is alien to my Judaism.”
I would say LIeberman’s Zionism is like his American “patriotism” and even his moralism. There’s nothing philosophical about it, no thought or reflection, it’s all projected and reflected narcissism, me me me me me. And people who are like me and who like me. Point a camera at me! Tell me what a great guy I am! I am Joe! Love me! Admire me!
This is a man who ditched his wife and children for another woman, used religion as an excuse for his selfishness in public documents, and then stood in a spotlight and criticized Bill Clinton for “setting a bad example” with some sad furtive sex in a hallway that was only public because of a four-year, 70 million dollar legal and extra-legal inquisition that brought the United States government to a halt for almost a full year.
But Joe Lieberman got to stroke his own ego. Israel, Iraq, or Monica, with Lieberman it always comes back to the spotlights, the one over the camera, and the one in his own mind.
Sorry for the OT rant.
Moderator, thanks for releasing my 105. A favor to ask– post 99 @ 930 has an attribution to me that isn’t mine and I would like to have my quote restored.
pretty please?
Matt Browner-Hamlin @ 111
I always felt that senoir officers had a committment to the truth, within the confines of mission and orders of course. They might keep things from you but they would neverflat out lie, I thought. Franks and Myers changed all that. And sadly the rest of these guys are no better.
Teddy – shows you how much attention the anchorbot is actually paying to chimpy’s speech!
Fartacus on CNN –
-working to make levees better by 2010
-tonnage of debris from katrina is more than any previous disaster
-u cant rebuild until u get rid of the rubble (duh)
-faith-baised groups have been the key
Can you imagine halliburton receiving $23 mil to clean up some debris in NO and ultimately farming it out to some dude in NJ who has to schlep his equipment down to NO——for $3 mil?!?!
Never happen!
angie @ 131
Sorry angie I screwed that up somehow.
If y’all can’t take fartacus, you can always switch to the DA’s presser on JBR.
what choices.
Fartacus on CNN – more than 3/4 debris cleared
“a renewed NOLA is a NOLA w/ new homes.”
“the goal is to make sure communities are restored because there is new homes” eh?? did we lose our place on our chicken scratch notes
Peterr @
82
Everybody knows that Ed*ard’s in for the big bucks……
Katrina Cottages easy-peasy… but no, nobody actually looks at the solutions that have already been created!
Fartacus on CNN – “gotta get the money in the hands of the people as fast as possible” Ok… it’s been a year.
More CNN mic difficulties “my mic is on” says kira over farts-a-lot
dat’s ok, klyde! The wizards behind the curtain can probably fix it.
omg– the mic lady is back. sounds like kyra phillips.
Fartacus on CNN – talking about getting schools back
-was basically blaming local govt for the mess. said people wanted the fed to control everything. thats not how I think (heh heh heh) I trust them to do what needs to be done
Anyway, at what point with Iraq do those of us who knew it would be a clusterfuck get to say, “I told you so”?
Three years ago.
I gotta go out and clean up the yard… energy so much better spent as this is so bad!
Fartacus on CNN – “center of school is the library”
donated a bazillion dollarz to school libraries
books’ll help if you got a place to sleep and electricity and family, you idjit.
ya gotta have HOUSES where CHILDREN can LIVE in order to have SCHOOLS, much less libraries…
Old Coastie – did you see the note about a Los Angeles meetup?
Fartacus on CNN – “NOLA school system is enriched by the religious schools here”
sir farts-a-lot quotes a girl student “i was so happy i could hear the choir singing in my head”
Hugh says
Rumsfeld I don’t have any ideas about.
rumsfeld is Ming the Merciless.
op99 9:31 am –
You know, when I first read what Cheney said, I thought, Wow, he forgot about Poland; we weren’t in Poland, either.
For a long time I figured the guy was smart and evil. This clinched it: Cheney’s just plain evil. If the Republican Party had a soul and a whit of intelligence left, it ditch Cheney.
A pretty big If, though.
Rumsfeld I don’t have any ideas about.
I do, being only separated from his corporate side by a couple of degrees. Try “martinet” writ XXXL.
I just love the way he “answers” his critics a day or two after the fact, when they aren’t in the room to rebut his Bolshoi. Kinda says it all.
twolf1 @ 145
You mean a “brazillion”?
Fartacus on CNN – “i predict a year from now, people r gonna be wunderin where they can find workers”
twolf1 #102,
I commented on this yesterday. Ioke started as a hurricane and became a typhoon when it crossed the International Dateline. It is on track to become the longest sustained Category 4 or higher hurricane since records were kept . . . and nobody’s heard of it. As some of asked, Where are all the hurricanes this year? The answer is They’re in the Pacific.
hi moderator -
I’m getting the “edit this comment” link on someone else’s post (Angie @ 146)
and nope, I didn’t click the link. :)
portrait of Fartacus by Garry Trudeau
You mean a “brazillion”? – actually, i was gonna type that but thought it may confuse :)
Fartacus on CNN – “i have returned to make it clear to people – this anniv is not an end. we will stand w/ people of NOLA and S. Miss until the job is done.”
“the work ahead includes making the streets safe”
-cracking down on violent crime. (now we’re really fired up)
twolf1 @ 158
i thought a “brazillion” was a DLC consultant’s going rate for tanking a presidential campaign….
Hugh @ 155
yes, and china got hit with a cat 5 last week (or so) – the biggest in 50 years
I heard on NPR today that the population is back to 54% of what it was pre-Katrina and 28% of the city had electricity. Sheesh, what’s everyone complaining about? *i*
kirk murphy @ 160
Donna Brazillion?
Major props to twolf1, angie and Old Coastie for their three-way fartacus digest!
:-)
Hey kirk, re: late-nite…
Ever been to Pie & Burger on California near Lake? Best pecan pie, this side of Joe-Jah, not that my diet would ever let me have any.
Fartacus on CNN – “i want to remind u that the fed gov’t cant and shouldn’t be expected to do the job alone”
“we all have the ability to clear obstacles that stand in the way of making goals”
Bush: “We will not leave until the job is done.” First he said this about Iraq, and now he’s saying it about New Orleans and the Gulf Coast.
Mr. President, you keep using those words. I do not think they mean what you think they mean . . .
the storm was a big storm and created a lot of damage…
Fartacus on CNN – It’s hard work. the storm was a big storm. created a lot of damage.
private sector has a responsibility to help down here
punaise @ 163
the one and only…..
hey – on another topic, I’m getting the edit this comment link on your post (163) and Hugh’s at 162.
have the tubes made my laptop a stealth moderator?
bwahhhhhhhahaha!
The administration’s new found attraction to the word “fascist” should not fool us into thinkng that they just don’t have a good dictionary handy. First, they floated “islamofascist,” and now Rummy is using “new fascism” to strike at people who criticize the WH on Iraq.
Both of these uses of the word are nonsensical since the base meaning of “fascist” refers to a highly centralized form of government that supresses dissent. Last I heard, neither al Qaeda nor critics of the president consitute forms of government, forget about centralized.
What is happening as I see it is that this is a clever and deliberate attempt to corrupt the meaning of the word “fascist” to the point where it has no meaning in common currency.
I can start saying that MacDonald’s sells “fascist” hamburgers and make as much sense.
OK, I have my size medium tin-foil hat on, but I see an orchestrated attempt to eviscerate the word “fascist” to the point where any use of the word against them can be deflected:
“What do you mean we’re fascist. MacDonald’s is fascist. Didn’t you see that article that says they make fascist hamburgers? Hell, we got a govamint to run here, we don’t make hamburgers. Away with your fascist charges.”
Peterr at 169 — mwahahahaha…I was just thinking the same thing. What does it say that The Princess Bride is more and more applicable to the Bush Administration on a daily basis?
you can’t rebuild until you get rid of the rubble, er bubble.
Fartacus on CNN – “she (nola) needs those saints to come marchin’ back”
having trouble reading notes again
http://www.timesonline.co.uk/a…..43,00.html
Fartacus on CNN – “nola has always been a city of second chance.”
Hugh @ 156
Not to wish them on anyone, anywhere, but Florida and the Gulf Coast are happy to share.
Christy Hardin Smith @ 174
Yeah, but where’s Peter Falk to interrupt the president to tell us that everything will be OK in the end? (”I can see you’re a little worried, Peterr . . . New Orleans does not die at this time. . .”)
Fartacus on CNN – all done. i was totally lost on that last thing he was talking about. chimpy took a big deep breath when he was done. looks like he is feeling the pressure.
new thread
a propos of nothing: the main character in Spike Lee’s “She’s Gotta Have It” was named Nola Darling.
Oh CRAP!!! Peterr, you just confirmed a talking point!!!
That’s EXACTLY what Chairman Don Powell, Federal Coordinator for Gulf Coast Rebuilding, said this weekend on This Week to George Stephanopoulous.
They really are going to do exactly what they’re doing in Iraq, send their hordes of contractors like Halliburton and Blackwater in to suck the money dry until the locals rebel, forming an insurgency and forcibly kick their *sses out of the region.
In relation to this article, I ponder:
The Last Helo
When the last helo departed Saigon…what happened?
1. truly, many were rounded up and put into re-education camps (prison). Some were summarily executed. And “Jeffersonian Democracy” extinguished. But…what then?
A. Did Vietnam become a saber-rattling “commie regime?” No. Did the nation become a breeding ground for “little commies” to go forth into the world and make mischief? No.
B. To my knowledge, the good folks on our West Coast never once awoke to see upon the Pacific waters “Landing Craft Approaching!” All flying the flag of Vietnam. Nor do I recall any airstrikes or missile launches against us. Nor do I recall a Vietnamese naval task force shelling our shores.
2. After the last helo departed, there was a time of tubulence over there. But then…things settled down. People had to get on with the business of…living! Crops had to be raised, people fed, roads re-built, and commerce, albeit haltingly, slowly did bloom. Perhaps, to this day, once a year they all have a parade, light firecrackers, and celebrate their independence from Uncle Sam. So?
3. And today, Vietnam yearns to “be our buddy”. They like those US Dollars! Are they still a commie land? I guess they are…but who really cares.
The analogy is imperfect, admittedly. One event will never square fully with Iraq. But…what REALLY will set in when the last helo leaves Baghdad? I’ve heard the R team spin on the prognosis. I don’t buy it.
Ghostman
al-Scooter @ 165
mmmm… Pie and Burger …. mmmm
don’t know which is worse for my diet – the Pie and Burger on California or the Apple Pan on Pico near the Beverly Center.
lucky there are no temptations like that in SF – as long as
I stay in my house and don’t allow anything from the Farmers’ Markets past my door…
mmm…Ferry Plaza Farmers’ Market …mmmm
I have to hiking in the woods today or fdl will have me spherical!
My utensils – and the attached limbs – are without fault in the matter.
(ooooh – I get to edit 171, too! bwahhhhhaha – soon all the opinions on fdl will be mine, all mine!
that would be sooo boring – I promise I won’t use the link. Promise.
bwah – err – promise)
orangejumpsuit @ #171
Right on!!!
Pretty soon they’ll be calling everyone who criticizes their fascist policies, “Fascists.”
yet another depressing similarity to the War in Viet Nam. i wonder what the breakdown is on how long the deserters had been in before they left.justintime @
177
kirk murphy – thanks for your reply on MX last night.
Woke up and hit CNN for about thirty seconds of that guy who is no longer a Benet suspect. Made coffee and Christy is spot on as usual. Thank you Christy.
Both Iraqi invasions took less than six months in preparation (deployment). I want our troops and all weapons, every last bullet (leave food and medical supplies) out in six months from yesterday.
The sacrifice needed is from all of us in a massive transformation in our use of energy. It’s clear and we must change our strategy and reduce the killing on both sides in the process.
Most of our country knows this and I believe stands ready for leadership who will initiate change with responsibility.
astralplame @ 149
yup, I did… can’t get up there this evening though… :-(
Hear that? It’s the sound of rich lowery’s pinhead assploding
new thread
Here’s the problem with “stay the course” and “as they stand up, we will stand down.”
Sounds like that “wave” thing at a baseball game….
Eureka Springs, AR @
189
Hi Eureka Springs -
thanks for your kind reply…sorry it took me so long to put up – I am a slow typist, and my feline owners had other plans for those hands…
thanks also for your passion and interest in ending the Iraq catastrophe.
and thanks for your interest in Mexico! Even the beeb concedes “parts of Oaxaca are starting to look ungovernable” (the beeb seems to have missed out on that whole Subcommandate Marcos story, but that’s old news). Aunty beeb clucks on
The central government announces hands-off on Oaxaca, and the mayor of Mexico City – who just happens to be challenging the corrupt presidential elections just handed to the ruling party – is pulling out all municipal stops in the logistical support of an occupation measured in the tens to hundreds of thousands of the nation’s capital.
Good on ‘em.
And poor Mexico – far from God – so close to the United States – poor Mexico is blessed that Washington’s world view is confined to the Green Zone, not the zocolo.
winds are changing
In the UK Times story…
http://www.timesonline.co.uk/a….._3,00.html
…3 out of the 4 deserters interviewed are Iraq veterans with combat experience and one was sold a bill of goods by the recruiters.
The article leaves one with the question, “Why isn’t the Pentagon going after them?”
My brother refused induction during the Vietnam War after disrupting the induction physical with his naked body painted as “Captain America”.
He had previously spent 2 years in the Peace Corps and was denied CO status by the draft board.
He collected all of his draft related correspondence, mailed it back to the draft board and wrote them, “this is my address, come and get me.”
They never did.
The Army declines to go after deserters probably because they do not want to draw attention to them.
fahrender @ 188
Phoebes (40), please see http://www.bringhome172nd.org/stryker/
for comments on Rumsfeld’s visit by some of the people affected by the redeployment of the 172nd Stryker Combat Brigade.
Phoebes at 40
You may find this of interest re the families:
http://www.mfso.org/
Every candidate and his brother seems to be running away from Bush in particular, and even the word Republican.
Speaking of words that have fallen out of fashion: Can we start calling him RUMSTUD yet?
Pachacutec @ 21
so you live in a “file” now
I don’ know if it’s listed abouve, but commondreams has this little article:
At Least 100 Die as Militia Force Iraqi Troops out of Town
you have to scroll down to get to the lead:
can we call it a CIVIL WAR now ???
Our military has been destroyed by the chickenhawks.
http://www.nytimes.com/2006/08…..ref=slogin
Worthy of a link? I think so. This story made me seriously angry.
http://jonorato42.wordpress.co…..confusion/
I go on from there in subsequent posts.
A blogroll? Nah, even though many of the links I click on from every site I visit haven’t been updated in months. There are millions of us, and I’m a shitty writer compared to most of them.
Rumsfeld needs to get a grip.