You do want to express yourself don’t you? — Office Space This clip has the NYTimes written all over it…as does this one.
The NYTimes is obsessed with candidate flair, going so far as to analyze the various lapel-wear moments from recent debates with gusto. And to specifically interview Barack Obama about his lack of flair, in a snippet so remniscent of Office Space that I thought it might be a parody for a moment or two. (Oh wait, two stories on the same issue…clearly this is groundbreaking journalism. Or maybe it’s just building some self-manufactured buzz. You decide.) And then followed up with John Edwards, in short order, making me certain that it was not, after all, intended to be a parody but instead to be taken as the Wise Beltway Flair Patrol teaching wayward candidates about the art of expression in a backhanded, weird, obsessive way.
Cue the flair patrol, news at eleven.
The WaPo has picked up the badge of shame, because you can’t let the NYTimes hog all the flair, I suppose. So have the BaltimoreSun, Fox News (predictably, their no demogogue left behind policy kicked in…), the Chicago Sun-Times (likewise), the WashTimes (natch), the ChiTrib (noticing a trend, yet?) and the kings of manufactured outrage at Investor’s Business Daily try to build it into some sort of federal case. The NYDailyNews does a whole piece on the manufactured qualiy of outrage, and the fact that in a free country we ought to be free to choose whether or not we wear or not some pin on our lapels.
Media Matters chronicles the genesis of all of this: from Drudge to mainstream press in the blink of a traffic meter. Shocked? I’m not. But, as Steve Benen points out, people who have glass lapels shouldn’t make public asses of themselves. (I’m talking to you, Hannity.)
What do I think about all of this? I think what you do ought to count more than what you are wearing — actions speak louder and words and lapel flair ever could. Putting a flag on your house or your lapel doesn’t make you patriotic, it just makes you more colorful. Unless you couple that flag display with standing up for the Constitution and American values when it counts, you have a public display akin to those folks who sit in the front pews on Sundays so that everyone can see them in their “piety,” and then go forth and sin the rest of the week with abandon.
You earn your patriotism, you don’t just slap on a pin and expect respect that you haven’t worked — every day — to get. Being a patriot is not something that you are, it is something that you do.
I’m sick to death of the media focusing in manufactured outrage minutiae, instead of digging into the issues that really matter to all of us. I’m with Todd on this one:
…There was a headline in last Sunday’s LA Times asking if John Edwards’ “rich-guy image” would trip him up in Iowa. I responded by asking why a self-made man from a small rural town would have a “rich guy” image problem but blue-blood scions of political families like Romney or Bush don’t.
Of course, the writer had to bring up the “widely derided” haircut, which I said was only widely derided b/c lazy writers keep bringing up the narrative. I asked if we would be hearing how much Romney spends on a tan or Guiliani on a suit. (they cut all of the Romney comments out).
Ended by saying that this country is facing dire problems, and that media should focus on those rather than such trivialities.
If anyone can find Todd’s LA Times letter to the editor online, I’d love to link it up. Good on you, Todd. More of this please…
UPDATE: Here’s the link to Todd’s letter. Thanks to everyone who found it for me.
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mornin’ Christy!
Good morning!
Classic video, perfect analogy.
total drive-by zed-luck.
Eighty-five degrees here in Indianapolis on October 7. Pool-sittin’ weather. (actually, it should be bike-ridin’ weather, but it was stolen yesterday *s*).
Gonna miss Katrina V. on This Week in favor of enjoying the weather.
Have a good day, all.
Office Space parody on lapel flare is priceless.
We are looking at Edwards with Russert. And we like what we are hearing from Mr. Edwards.
jayt @ 4
They puts lifeguards back on the beaches this weekend on LI b/c the weather is so hot.
And they say there is no global warming!
Morning Christy. Morning firepups.
Real reporting takes more effort than opinionating and jumping on bandwagons.
We got flag lapel pins with my old firm’s logo on it for the Christmas after 9.11.
It didn’t sit too well with A LOT of people.
I guess it’s not enough to wrap yourself in the flag rhetorically (like R’s), you have to have the symbol to prove it.
Good grief.
This was a great take on the lapel pin controversy, from the mouth of a HS student:
Why Oh Why is it the MSM is so desperate to avoid covering substantive news?!
They’ve lost this household’s attention almost totally. The only way we tune in is if HuffPo or FDL link something of note.
We can do without MSM trashcrashmash fauxnewds.
And that’s a sad commentary, because we are avid readers by nature.
I think we should have a constitutional amendment banning the burning of lapel flags.
-GSD
Todd’s letter is here: http://www.calendarlive.com/tv…..l=cl-radio
Morning all.
Check out the news that has nothing to do with football from the Columbus Dispatch. Seems Neil Volz (COS to Rep Bob Ney) is talking to us folks about all he did to advance the Repubs taste for fine wine courtesy of Jack Abramoff.
Linky
I just realized, the president IS fullfilling this part of his oath
since that part comes before this part
quite naturally, the first part takes priority over the second part ( it is first after all)
see?
simple stuff here and we’ve had the president all wrong, why he took an oath and by gawd he’s gonna keep that oath
Christy — other than the deliberate ambiguity in the title, shouldn’t it be ‘flair’ elsewhere? Just sayin……
“Candidate flare”?
D’you mean candidate flair, maybe?
Still and all I can only shake my head at the utter… triviality of what the media chooses to obsess over. Jeebus.
This it?
Todd Calvin
The article questions whether Edwards’ “rich-guy image may trip him up.” Edwards is a self-made man from a small town. He only has a “rich-guy image” if the media keep pushing this hackneyed narrative. As for Edwards’ “widely derided” haircut — this is a self-perpetuating story on the part of lazy political writers. How much does Rudy Giuliani spend on his suits? Why can’t the media focus on the major issues confronting this country rather than such trivialities?
no demogogue left behind policy
Great snark, Christy!
Volz sums up the GOP-er mindset in the most succinct terms imagineable.
“But it’s kind of like I took on this mind-set that there was a machine at work and I was just a cog in the machine. And, therefore, I need to get mine.”
Can it be any more clear?
-GSD
flair fixed — everyone refresh the page.
From flare to flair in a flash.
-GSD
We have just finished watching John Edwards debating Tim Russert on MTP. This episode has reinforced two things for us: Why we like Edwards and why can’t stand Russert.
And I found the second half of the “flair” scene and posted the link above for everyone.
Oklahoma kiddo @ 24
Though I can’t say that I care for Edwards’ rightwing meme enforcing Carville like strategist Asshat Saunders.
-GSD
Christy Hardin Smith @ 25
While you’re editing, you may want to add the link to Todd’s wonderful letter.
After the 2000 election, I took an old Gore pin, covered it with an upside-down flag sticker and afixed a yellow & a green (for the environment) ribbon, and wore it everywhere – concerts, grocery store, restaurants. Occasionally, I was asked why upside-down. I had copies of the official flag code at the ready, and was amazed at how quickly people’s faces could change from scorn to appreciation, when they were informed about the meaning of an upside-down flag.
Ever since Dems supposedly took over Congress again, sorta, the flag is right-side up, but sits on a shelf at home, awaiting signs of proper governance in this country. I’m not holding my breath, but I’m not giving up either. We have to stay in this struggle for the long haul, even if only for future generations. imho ymmv
Deep thanks, Christy and pups, for all that you do! You keep hope alive in this household. ;->
Yes, thanks Betsy — will get right on that…
Meanwhile in Pathological GOoP-er World they are cheering about women voting in Iraq and cheering Ann Coulter decrying women’s right to vote in America.
That more rightwing heads don’t physically explode due to logic overloads is beyond me.
-GSD
Crowd advised to fear Clintons
By JIM GALLOWAY
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Published on: 10/07/07
Radio talk show host Laura Ingraham told more than 500 attendees at a Georgia Christian Alliance dinner Saturday that the nation is “on the verge of returning the most powerful couple in our lifetimes to the White House.”
“The Clintons get in, the entire Supreme Court is lost,” Ingraham told the overwhelmingly Republican crowd.
The fund-raiser was the first gathering of the Christian Alliance under its new name since chairman Sadie Fields severed ties with the national Christian Coalition last year.
Ingraham, the event’s speaker, condemned Hollywood elitism and the decline of cultural values, and reveled in two victories generated by talk-radio listeners — the defeat of an immigration reform bill this summer and the retraction of Bush’s nomination of White House counsel Harriet Miers to the U.S. Supreme Court.
I love it when Rove keeps hammering Edwards on his haircuts. This from the king of the dirty tricksters trying to get Republicans re-elected in 2008. The Republican Party. The no-tax and spend, spend, spend party. At least Mr. Edwards is spending his own money. The GOP is spending our money. Wildly.
Morning, all.
Tristero spotlights an interesting NYT
#cooliris”>book reviewthat includes the following quote;
“neoconservatives blend the New Deal’s idealistic spirit with conservatism’s muscular nationalism;”
Which is a reasonable one-sentence definition of Fascism, isn’t it?
Last night on How Wingnuts Support The Troops
By: Phoenix Woman, commenter ThingsComeUndone came up with this:
I think we can accomadate the Red Staters
After all
1) have no gods before God, to which we add that INCLUDES MONEY/CAPITALISM
2) Thou shall not take the Name of the Lord in Vain, or 9/11 for that matter Rudy for the same reasons twisting the sacred for the profane purpose of getting elected is wrong. Supporting a war in Iraq while the Osama the killer of 9/11 remains free insults our dead. It puts a war for oil as more important than our dead who we still claim to fight for?
3) Keep the Sabbath holy, except for Doctors, Police and Firemen who must work if society is to survive, then yeah everyone deserves one day off work!
4) Honor you Mom and Dad, Don’t privitize their Social Security
5) Thou Shall not Kill Iraqi’s when they HAD NOTHING TO DO WITH 9/11
6) Don’t Steal, and that includes war proffitering Dick!
7) Don’t Lie Scooter, Gonzo this means you! The President told me to excuse will not work in the Kingdom of Heaven!
8) Thou shall not covet thy Neighbors house by lending him money to buy a house knowing that he can never pay you back!
9 ) Thou Shall Not Covet thy Neighbors Wife…which is not a problem for the GOP, Men, Boys, Prosititues on the other hand.
Which Comandment am I missing?
Since it’s Sunday morning, I thought I’d repost his comment, since the commandment missing is about not making False Idols.
Wouldn’t the American Flag Lapel silliness be appropos to this?
I thought TCU did a fine job and that FDL readers would enjoy it this am.
flare patrol hahahaha, that will last me the whole day, thanks
Oklahoma kiddo @ 32
If THAT is the worst they can fault the man for, I think he’s got a lot going for him.
Oh sho*t! Gotta go continue with our sprucin’up binge, groan. Later pups. Thanks for brightening my morn. ;->
raven @ 31
Hollywood elitism? Does that include Fred Thompson?
Todd’s link added, too — thanks to everyone who dug it up for me.
John Edwards wants to put the issues of class and economic justice on the table.
He makes the MSM chatterers and their employers nervous.
Therefore, he must be maginalized at every turn.
ok, now it’s working.
These people are assholes and the same ones who think that patriotism is having a ribbon magnet on their car or a flag on their lawn.
I don’t care how a person looks as long as they are clean, and neat and show evidence of good hygiene. I am not thrilled by conformists nor fashion rebels, but I am concerned with their ideas and their actions, not their haircuts, suits or jewelry.
I don’t even mind wealth as long as those with are not self absorbed spend thrifts and use their wealth, or a good portion of it for a redeeming social purpose and they haven’t gained their wealth, by harming others in anyway.
Some pundits are so shallow… and others are amazingly shallow.
Brown suits? No good
Brown shirts… now there’s an idea they can get behind.
Oh dear.
“Former Bush aids embittered at presidency they helped build”
http://www.washingtonpost.com/…..id=topnews
War on Terror, unsubscribe me.
Petraeus puts heat on Iran over Iraq violence
U.S. military commander accuses Tehran of giving weaponry to militias
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/21171360/
Oklahoma kiddo @ 45
And who does the US arm over there?
there was a great reporter in a newsroom I once worked in who wore a lapel pin: it was the combat infantry badge he earned in Vietnam.
Other than that, I can’t think of how a lapel pin shows patriotism.
Oklahoma kiddo @ 43
These people should be met with a hail of eggs, rotten lettuce and tomatoes wherever they go.
In a metaphorical sense, lest I be accused of being a violent fringe leftist.
-GSD
Proposed new rule for commenting on any aspect of American life:
Was this covered in OFFICE SPACE? If so, carefully consider whether your viewpoint is similar to that of any authority figure in the film. Carefully consider.
Oklahoma kiddo @ 45
Since Petraeus couldn’t keep track of the weapons in his charge, how does he expect the Iranians to do so?
peterboy @ 47
I wear a lapel pin of my school’s mascot. Cheaper than buying a new school shirt every year that never fits quite right.
I’ve just nominated Firedoglake for best Liberal Blog. I hope there are others who feel the same way.
Margaret @ 52
where do you nominate?
groannnn – the flag pin really shows how well you can run a country……NOT!! this is more manufactured bull shit…
Margaret @ 52
I would perhaps tweak what you say ever so slightly:
Best ‘common sense’ blog. ;0)
So the press is going from the Barber Police to becoming the Patriot Police. Good shallow obervations boys and girls, but the adults in this country aren’t reading “Teen Magazine”. Now can we discuss the fact that the Reprehensibilican candidates haven’t come up with anything other than ‘More of the Same’.
OT – if anyone wants an early preview, i just finished putting up the list of congressional hearings for next week (about half of normal due to the holiday, i suppose), summary is here, and complete list is here.
PeteCO @ 33
Also from Rauch’s NYT book review:
Shorter “serious” conservatives: it’s
Clinton’sthe Dems’ fault.Oklahoma kiddo @ 32
Any talk of Edwards’ $400 haircut should be met with – “at least he didnt spend $400 billion on an unnecessary, illegal war.”
Leave Rush Limbaugh alone, leave Rush Limbaugh alone. Never mind if he is a draft dodging chickenhawk, he is a Republican. Bo Hoo!, Bo Hoo!, Bo Hoo! The ‘Fair and Balanced’ FoxNews was You Tube type parody all on its own last week.
off for some tennis while the weather is still good here in long island
have a good sunday all
Anybody know whether these flag pins are made in China?
Poor Turdblossom, his wife hates the press.
Boo fricken hoo.
I am sick and tired of hearing sob stories from these losers.
-GSD
The flag lapel pin is this generation’s Flag Decal. And like the song says, “Your flag decal won’t get you into heaven anymore…”
before I go, this is STUNNING;(think progress)
HOLY CROW!!!!
THE CIA IS GONNA DO WHAT CONGRESS REFUSES TO DO;
protect our republic and put PULL THE REIGNS IN ON THE WAR MONGUERING UNITARY EXECUTIVE
man, I would love to see what larry johnson has to say
TexBetsy @ 51
Sometimes I wear this tiny Vietnam Service Ribbon, no one except other vets know what it is.
With all this attention to lapels, three words come to mind: polyester leisure suit.
Please don’t tell me they are coming back into style.
How do these politicians handle their flag pins when the show is over? Are they just carried in a pocket full of lint and empty gum wrappers or a George Washington/Thomas Jefferson approved lapel pin box? Do Veterans of Foreign Wars have a special disposal program for lapel pins? Is it illegal to try and burn a lapel pin? What should we do to people who wear a lapel pin on a T-shirt or a cap? Shouldn’t a person properly take down their lapel pin at dusk or in poor weather conditions and perhaps wear it at belt level (half body mast) during times of mourning? Are flag lapel pins manufactured in Iran or China or made with lead paint? What should we do with lapel pin no bid profiteers?
Peterr @ 67
That would be criminal.
raven @ 66
“what it is”. [Mod: fixed]
From the Wapo article on former Busholes:
Neither wants to talk about that now, and they spoke with each other by telephone recently. Bartlett shares Rove’s aversion to revisiting the past. Asked about regrets, Dan Bartlett said, “I can think of a banner on a certain ship,” a reference to the infamous “Mission Accomplished” sign behind Bush on the USS Abraham Lincoln in 2003.
Oh, so it WAS done by the Whitehouse and it WASN’T a spontaneous thing done by the good sailors aboard the Lincoln.
Lies plus time equal absolution.
-GSD
Good morning.
Second cuppa here.
While the flair patrol peddles its wares, it only highlights the power of the netroots in the coming election cycle. Spin is empty air and as such it can only support the weight of simplistic ideas.
I have to wonder how the MSM privately views these posts. They know they’ve been busted time and again, day after day by the blogs. They’re relentlessly being called out on their bs and know they are being laughed at by people who actually take seriousness seriously.
Remember the defeated Blue Meanies in “Yellow Submarine?” It’s really that pathetic for those who now inhabit the bastions of what used to be called Journalism.
Let them have their flair patrol, we will continue to call them on it, while we organize in every precinct.
Gore/Dean 08
Dan Bartlett, the youngest Bush staffer sez:
He still resents the newspaper articles that present Bush as “the most-isolated, stupid moron in America today,“
From the mouths of babes.
-GSD
the news is no longer the “news” – its entertainment and soundbites maybe some press releases but actual news?? hardly any….thank god for online resources otherwise we’d be sunk by now…………..
selise @ 57
Thanks, Selise. Why is there another holiday for the congress?!
The lapel pin talk reminds me of the “Great Loyalty Oath” war in Catch 22.
Can’t we have candidates take loyalty oaths several times a day to show their patriotism?
And if they won’t, doesn’t that prove they don’t love America?
Former Whitehouse flunky, Meaghan O’Sullivan is going to spend time doing things that the folks who have been sent to Guantanamo can’t do, the 3,800 dead US troops can’t do, the 1.2 million dead Iraqis can’t do.
“The first thing I’m going to do is recapture my life,” she said. “I’m taking a poetry class here. I’m going to do a triathlon. And I’m going to break all kinds of records on sleep. And then I’m going to devote the time to thinking about what happened, to thinking about the lessons learned.”
How touching.
-GSD
albert fall @ 76
State of Georgia requires “all persons who are employed by and are on the payroll of… the State of Georgia, or its departments and agencies” to take a loyalty oath. If a person does not sign the oath, the act then instructs that “(the person) be taken from the payroll and not be permitted to receive any payment from the State.”
raven @ 78
And I am sure that makes ALL the difference.
allan_in_upstate @ 40
and that, my friends, is the heart of the matter.
if Edwards should, somehow, get the nomination they will (pardon my french) shit down both legs and create the most viscious attack campaign this country has ever seen.
KathieinMN @ 75
columbus day?
All I can do is ask, “When will the adults be in charge again?”
dakine01 @ 64
Thank You! dakine. i was thinking about the same thing,
John Prine, one of America’s real treasures ……
phe4r cl0wn5
How shallow must these people be if they think dumb sh*t as this is important enough to put in newspapers and on radio and TV? We have a secretive VP who is trying to run amok starting a war with Iran, a President that won’t turn over ANY information regarding ANYTHING, and a Congress that capitulates at every turn regarding the Iraq war, and this is the best they have? Pitiful.
John Cole (at Balloon Juice) has the perfect reply, How to Wear a Lapel Pin. Priceless.
Randy G @ 86
Larry Craig wears his on his Left lapel. hmmmm….. i just don’t know what to think about that. Why, it seems, somehow, sinister.
twȝk @ 84
cl0wn5 n0 phe4r
Is it thingscomeundone that thinks a lot about “Group Mind?”
twȝk @ 89
I’ve been bringing it up a bit, and that is an interesting link. It speaks to part of what I’ve been mulling. In some other ways, I think the lake sometimes function as one mind, free associating.
From today’s NYT, more anecdotal evidence for advocates of single-payer.
I’m a firm believer that everything is connected to everything else, so I will pose the following question: can these clowns be effectively prosecuted if the restrictions on white-collar prosecution tactics that Betsy commented about go through?
This has been another episode of “Be Careful What You Wish For…”
Fuck the flair, I want my RED STAPLER back!
fahrender @ 87
Must be a sort of double secret handshake or something.
From the article linked to above:
Nonsense. Try harder. Or … do not pass Go, do not collect $200.
Will Lou Dobbs get exersized about the fact that non-US citizens who are subcontracted to work in Iraq can get on the US disability dole if they are injured in Iraq working for Halliburton or Blackwater? Even if they were apartheid era goons from South Africa?
-GSD
tangentially related: workers at jpl (jet propulsion lab) have been fighting the implementation of new security background checks that many feel violate their privacy. they won the first round in court friday.
great to see pushback against yet another attempt to hoover up personal information and dump it into yet another gov’t database.
http://www.latimes.com/news/lo…..;cset=true
burnspbesq @ 94
You can copy the Russians: it’s not necessary to know what the law is, only who to pay.
Laura Doty @ 90
Definitely an interesting topic for an interesting age and something to be considered.
Great quote :)
Laura Doty @ 90
100!?
I’ve always called it “mass mind”.
looseheadprop upstairs on abusing the pardon
Off this topic, but still topical for Lake:
Cholera striking the displaced of Iraq. (text).
If you can spare some dollars: please consider donating to the Red Cross Red Crescent.
selise @ 57
Thanks for this link, I just love a good congressional hearing. Now, if something, anything, actually happens as a result of one, I’ll be dancing in the streets.
I’m also reminded of the Seinfeld classic: Who? Who does not want to wear the ribbon?
I think the issues appeals to right wing people who are limited thinkers. It is like the image of lady who can be old and young.. or the 2 profiles and the vase. They either can’t or don’t want to see the image where someone can put the pin on or wave the flag and not be patriotic… what they can only see is the fact that someone who could put it on or wave has choosen NOT TO.. hence they are unpatriotic.
This is probably why the ‘left’ and the ‘right’ look at the same ‘reality’ and see different things. In this case we have a political base who are so into Rapture and miracles and obeyance and unworthiness that is gives us those freaks who are Bush’s supporters. Probably also a reason the Red States have such a high rate of divorce, adultery, drunkenness and sexual perversity.
Probably also why they so want and need morality laws.. they weren’t brought up to develop will power and a positive self image, so they wantsomeone to tell them no and make the punishment bad enough they won’t do it. They have spent all their lives learning to be unworthy and needing to pray and wait for some mythical being to do things instead of taking the initiative and making their life better.
Mme Racine @ 49
Mmmmm, okaaaay
LOL
Is it sensible that a ‘cult’ film should become a roadmap for our whole society? Is there any way to avoid it?
twolf1 @ 59
That puts it in perspective very simply.
I wonder if Obama feels okay with just waiting for Iowa, knowing that leaves the Left of Hillary splintered. What’s in it for him?
Repeat after me: Obama is clearly not a viable candidate.
After the temporary surge of attention Hillary’s getting wears off will the public realize she’s nothing but a big pastry, all pretty on the outside, but just full of hot air?
Get a whole wheat bagel with cream cheese!
The NYDailyNews does a whole piece on the manufactured qualiy of outrage, and the fact that in a free country we ought to be free to choose whether or not we wear or not some pin on our lapels.
Probably very few of you are aware of Bush, Cheney and others in this rotted administration wear a very special flag lapel pin, one of the alternative, subversive, traitorous “secret” government that is responsible for the pillage of the US Treasury.
What does this flag look like? It’s an ordinary American flag with a big red star in the middle of the “stripe” field, an oddly “soviet” banner that one could imagine the villians in “Red Dawn” wearing as they paraded around their occupied territory.
Keep your eye out for it and you’ll see that I’m not imagining it…Cheney was the first one I noticed wearing it (he probably designed it and keeps the prototype in his man-sized office safe) and suddenly, all kinds of Bushies were showning their “patriotism” to something other than “The United States of America”
Who knows, maybe Russert will ask one of them why they wear an intentionally defaced American flag on their lapel? Nahhh. Not gonna happen, is it?
Yeah. These fucking assholes, showing “support” for the troops, by wearing a goddamn LAPEL PIN, while helping to keep them in the middle of operation Enduring Clusterfuck.
What bravehearts they are, with 3800 of our troops dead in Iraq; $2.5 billion a week being pissed down the drain, and, AS EVER, no fucking end in sight, while THEY spew patriot-jizz all over the MSM.
Thank you, you cowardly, denial-queens.
Cue the flair patrol, news at eleven
Oh Come now Christy! We went you to express yourself! It isn’t the flair patrol…. It’s the Freaky Fugged-up Flaming [… x 37…] Flair Patrol!
See, honey, it’s yer attitude!
perris @ 65
The Brits just released a report that the “War on Terror” actually increased Al Qaeda’s ability to recruit; and that the Iraq War exponentially increased their ability to train for terror attacks. Nothing new there that hasn’t already been disclosed in released US National Intelligence Estimates.
But what was chilling was that any attack on IRAN would be a boon to Al Qaeda; even to the point of creating an “unnatural alliance” between IRAN and the Salafist Sunnis. They demonstrate that such an “alliance” occurred between secularist nationalist Iraqi’s (Baathists) and Al Qaeda after the US invasion…and that an operational linkage would likely emerge if the US attacked Iran. In addition, Muslims worldwide would see any attack as yet more complete evidence that the US wanted to destroy Islam and Muslims.
The report recommended that the British government discourage the US from any such agressive moves and work to defuse tensions between Iran and the West,in addition to undertaking a ten-year effort to correct the errors in the current “War On Terror” stategy.
Now is the time to drag out grandfather’s National Socialist German Workers Party lapel pins. They look really, really good on brown suits!