|
Today's
Stories
January 28,
2008
Patrick Cockburn
Return
to Fallujah
January 26
/ 27, 2008
Uri Avnery
Worse
Than a Crime
JoAnn Wypijewski
How the Clintons Lost It, Whatever the Outcome in S. Carolina
Ralph Nader
Ambition, Power and the Clintons
Paul Craig
Roberts
How Bush Destroyed the Dollar
Paul Watson
I'm Proud to be a Pirate!
John Ross
Murder and Cover-Up in Mexico
Fred Gardner
Ross v. Raging Wire: Employer's Right to Fire Workers Held Sacred
by California Supreme Court
Allan Nairn
Little Hands with Fever: Some Consequences of Poverty Death
Joshua Frank
Why Bush Wants to Legalize the Nuke Trade with Turkey
Binoy Kampmark
Société Générale and the Economic
Meltdown
James T. Phillips
America's Sick Comedy: Bringing the War Home
Stan Cox
The Depressing Truth About Anti-Depressants
Eamonn McCann
Hillary's Lie: "I Brought Peace to Northern Ireland"
Ron Jacobs
The Horizons of History: What's at Stake in Bolivia
Seth Sandronsky
California's Health Care Crisis
Ben Terrall
The Future is Unwritten
Poets' Basement
Tripp, Gardner, Gibbons and Davies
Website of
the Weekend
City of Immigrants
January 25,
2008
Douglas Valentine
Operation
Two-Fold: How the CIA Infiltrated the DEA
Patrick Cockburn
US Troops Will Be In Iraq for 10 More Years: an Interview with
Iraqi Foreign Minister Hoshyar Zebari
JoAnn Wypijewski
Down to the Wire in South Carolina
Heather Gray
Are We Seeing a Racial Shift in the South? Conversations with
South Carolina Voters
Marjorie Cohn
Senate Democrats Poised to Fold to Cheney on FISA
Erica Rosenberg
Environmentalists Out on a Limb: the Perils of Collaboration
Alan Farago
Jeb Bush Goes Nuclear
Robert Weissman
Reclaiming Economic Freedom
Laura Carlsen
Wild Cards: Mining the Hispanic Vote in Nevada
Stephen Lendman
Israeli Repression in the Hebron
Website of the Day
The FIX is In
January 24,
2008
JoAnn Wypijewski
Obama
as Anthologist of Uplift
Paul Craig
Roberts
President Hillary
Alexander Cockburn
Hillary Wants to Talk About Dirty Legal Dealings? Remember Her
Nursing Home Scam?
Kathleen Christison
One and Two State Solutions and the Myth of International Consensus
Jeff Halper
Power to the (Palestinian) People!
Stanley Heller
The Siege of Gaza is Broken
George Wuerthner
The Moronic Sport: ORVs on the Public Lands
Patrick Cockburn
Desperate Iraqi Farmers Turn to Opium
Jeff Sher
Just How "Good" is Your Health Insurance?
Patrick Irelan
Musharraf, the Steadfast Ally?
Charles Modiano
Restoring the Anti-War King
Website of
the Day
An Illustrated History of Trepanation
January 23,
2008
David Rosen
The
Great Disappearing Act: the Presidential Candidates and the Politics
of Sex
David Isenberg
Is
It Really So Hard to Believe That Iran Stopped Its Nuclear Weapons
Program?
Farzana Versey
Hillary's
Harem
Paul Craig
Roberts
The Empire That Must Be Obeyed
Alan Farago
Where Did All the Good Times Go?
Allan Nairn
Indonesian Intelligence Service Threatens to Kill Human Rights
Activist
Kenneth Couesbouc
Another Turn of the Screw
Niranjan Ramakrishnan
How the West was Re-Sold
Michael Donnelly
Obama Strikes Back
Norman Solomon
The Power of Love
Website of the Day
Rafah Today
January 22,
2008
Paul Craig
Roberts
Farewell
to Old Economic Nostrums
JoAnn Wypijewski
King Day in Columbia, South Carolina
Al Giordano
Divide and Conquer Politics: How the Clinton Campaign Armed a
Black-Latino Time Bomb in Nevada
Felice Pace
Power Politics in the Klamath: Water, Dams and Salmon
Paul Wolf
Bolívar's Sword
Robert Weissman
Deregulation and the Financial Crisis
Dave Lindorff
The Bush Dollar Trap
Marjorie Cohn
Cheney Impeachment Gains Traction
Richard Neville
Keeping Shakespeare in a Box
Don Fitz /
Zaki Baruti
St. Louis Mayor Booed Off MLK Platform
Ben Terrall
Cindy Sheehan and the Virtues of Divisiveness
Sam Husseini
Stoning Martin Luther King, Jr.
Website of
the Day
Defend the Mapuche!
January 21,
2008
Kevin Alexander
Gray
Playing
the Race Card
Linn Washington,
Jr.
Deferring Dreams, Delusions of Democracy
Pam Martens
How Wall Street Blew Itself Up
David Macaray
Labor's Grim Dilemma: Do We Need a Labor Party?
Uri Avnery
Look Who's Talking
Omar Barghouti
Europe's Collusion in Israel's Slow Genocide
Joe DeRaymond
Protest and Trial in D.C.
B.R. Gowani
Why Islam Should Tolerate Images
Shepherd Bliss
The False U.S. Economy
Jean-Guy Allard
Philip Agee Versus the CIA
Dan Bacher
Leaping Steelhead!
Website of
the Day
Destroyed
By a Rising Flood
January 19
/ 20, 2008
Alexander Cockburn
The
Campaign in Black and White
Saul Landau
Good Time Charlie's War
China Hand
Endgame for Pakistan?
Conn Hallinan
Desert Mirage: What Was the Bombing of Syria Really About?
Ron Jacobs
No Retreat
Dave Lindorff
A Tax Rebate Won't Fix This Mess
Andy Worthington
Canada's Humiliating Double Standard on Torture
Paul Armentano
What's the Going Price for a Joint? More Than You Might Think
Seth Sandronsky
High Crimes and Economics
Michael Donnelly
Dodging Ecocide
Patrick Irelan
The Ordeal of Dr. Safdar Sarki
Martha Rosenberg
The Drug Industry Takes Another Hit
Sherwood Ross
Making the World Safe for Despots: Bush's Global Arms Trade
David Michael
Green
So You Want to be My President, Eh?
James Rothenberg
Unimpeachable: Under House Protection
Daniel Gross
Starbucks Shortchanges Dr. King
Peter N. Carroll
In Memory of Milton Wolff
Susie Day
Croakin' on Hudson
Paul Krassner
Woody Allen Meets Tongue Fu
Poets' Basement
Wolff, Buknatski and Orloski
Website of the Day
Rocky Mountain
Blues
January 18,
2008
Allan Nairn
Killing
Civilians, Carefully
Ralph Nader
When
the Big Boys Get in Trouble, Who Pays the Ultimate Bill?
Joanne Mariner
Terrorism and Preventative Detention
Alan Farago
The Stimulus and the Meltdown
P. Sainath
Pity the Brahmins
R.F. Blader
Beyond Steinem's Feminism
Andy Worthington
A Letter from Guantánamo
John Jonik
Private Insurance is Bad for Your Health
Brian McKenna
Where Even Sharing is Prohibited: Notes from Inside a Michigan
Women's Prison
Daoud Kuttab
This Time Next Year?
Website of the Day
Those South Carolina Voting Machines
January 17,
2008
Paul Craig
Roberts
Leader
and Vassal
Christopher
Brauchli
The FBI's Bills Come Due
Robert Fantina
Leadership, Bush and the New York Times
Patrick Irelan
Eternal War
Paul A. Moore
When the Rich Pay No Taxes
Stephen Lendman
Institutionalized Spying on Americans
Beena Sarwar
Bhutto and the "State Within a State"
Walter Brasch
Buzzwords in the Echo Chamber: Change and the Establishment
Brenda Norrell
Bush Legacy in Texas Sours
Adam Federman
End of the Left?
Website of the Day
Democrats for Romney
January 16,
2008
Jeffrey St.
Clair
Return
of the Native
Franklin Lamb
The Bombing at Qarantina
Julian Sanchez
David Weigel
Who Wrote Ron Paul's Newsletters?
Sharon Smith
Ron Paul and the Left: a Slippery Slope?
Allan Nairn
Economic Indicator: No Free Lunch, No Free Market
Ayesha Ijaz
Khan
How the American Media Enables Bush's Iran Fixation
Andy Worthington
A Strategic Call to Close Guantánamo
Richard Behan
Nancy Pelosi, You Must Impeach!
Website of the Day
Obama the New JFK? He's Not That Bad!
January 15,
2008
Andrea Peacock
Breach
of Trust in America's Most Toxic Town: How the EPA is Rubbing
Poison Into Libby's Wounds
Wajahat Ali
An Interview with Seymour Hersh on Iraq, Bush Foreign Policy
and the Prospects of War with Iran
Joe Bageant
Getting Out the Bling Vote
Ralph Nader
The Candidate Taboos
John Ross
Zero Hour: NAFTA and Mexico's Agrarian Apocalypse
Elaine Cassel
Jose Padilla vs. John Yoo: Can a National Disgrace be Rectified?
Peter Morici
The Fed Needs More Than a New Communications Strategy
Beena Sarwar
Pakistan's Dirty Tricks Brigade
Robert Weissman
Big Business is Even More Unpopular Than You Thought
Binoy Kampmark
Going Tata in India
Dave Zirin
Dennis Brutus Smacks Down the Hall of Fame
Website of
the Day
David Lynch on the iPhone
January 14,
2008
Ishmael Reed
Ma
and Pa Clinton Flog Uppity Black Man
Roger Morris
Burials in the Sind
Uri Avnery
The
Hands of Esau
Mike Whitney
Bush's Voodoo Stimulus Package
Allan Nairn
General Suharto of Indonesia: One Small Man Leaves a Million
Corpses
William Blum
Oh, By the Way, the Iraqis Don't Really Want Us
Alan Farago
A Subprime Wake Up Call
David Macaray
Are Labor Unions Ready for Prime Time?
Eva Liddell
Getting Drunk with Obama
Zoe Blunt
Road Kill: New Highway Blocked by Protesting Raccoons
Website of the Day
Doug and Andrea Peacock on Grizzlies
January 12
/ 13, 2008
Andrew Cockburn
How
the New England Journal of Medicine Undercounted Iraqi Civilian
Deaths
Saul Landau
60
Years of Empire
Corey D. B. Walker
Barack Obama and the Crisis of the White Intellectual
Col. Dan Smith
Bush, Iran and the Magician of the Tarot
Eric Toussaint
The US Subprime Crisis Goes Global
Ron Jacobs
Television, Murder and Vietnam
Fred Gardner
The People vs. Christopher James Chakos
Stan Cox
Don't Take That Pill!
Jacob G. Hornberger
The Warfare State
Ramzy Baroud
The Good, the Bad and the Ugly
Joseph Grosso
The Anglosphere: a Special Relationship of Elites
David Díaz-Arias
Imagining An/Other Latin American Left
Stacey Warde
Before We Move On ...
Dan Bacher
Pumped to Extinction: the Decline of the Delta Smelt
Michael Dickinson
Georgie in Jesusland
Website of
Weekend
CounterPunchers Protest Outside NYT Offices
January 11,
2008
Dave Lindorff
Did
Hillary Really Win New Hampshire? More Questions About Diebold
Voting Machines
Paul Craig
Roberts
No
Escape from War and Unemployment
Andy Worthington
Six Years of Guantánamo
Kenneth Couesbouc
Banking on Thin Ice
Jeff Ballinger
Inside the Vienna Consensus
Christopher
Brauchli
Lethal Injection, the Supremes and China
Manuel Garcia, Jr.
Paying No Attention to the Presidential Campaigns
Andrew Silverstein
Bush's Weepy Visit to Jerasulem
Marwan Bishara
Bush in the Middle East
Robert Weissman
The First Amendment Gone Wild
Patrick Irelan
Damn the Small Boats!
Website of
the Day
Hillary and the Superdelegates: Or Why She Wins Even When She
Loses
January 10,
2008
Alexander Cockburn
Now
Nader Claims He Didn't Endorse Edwards
Bob Wing
Marqueece Harris-Dawson
Race Within the Race: Obama, the NH Vote and the Specter of Tom
Bradley
Michael Donnelly
White Women Gone Wild?
David Macaray
Three Big Reasons for the Decline of Labor Unions
China Hand
Bush's Delusional Policy Pushes Pakistan to Brink of Catastrophe
Ayesha Ijaz Khan
Saudi Arabia and Pakistan: Brotherly, Friendly Countries?
Rannie Amiri
Obama, Man of Kansas or Kenya?
Website of the Day
Iranian Video of the Hormuz Incident
January 9,
2008
Cockburn /
St. Clair
The
Empire Strikes Back
Dave Lindorff
The Bad News from New Hampshire: Death By Triangulation
John Chuckman
Pardon My Laughter: Watching the US Primaries from Canada
James Bovard
Stomping Freedom: Inside the Martial Law Act of 2006
Alan Farago
As Florida Sinks: the View from the Titanic
Russell Mokhiber
Why Picket the New York Times in DC on Friday?
William S. Lind
Kicking the Can Down the Road in Iraq
Peter Morici
Beyond the Sophistry: Why the Trade Deficit Matters
Josh Reubner
Sudan vs. Israel: Double Standard on Divestment
Mike Roselle
The Pursuit of Happiness
Website of the Day
Bottles of Tears on the Wall: Steve Perry on NH
January 8,
2008
Paul Craig
Roberts
No
Jobs for the New Economy (or the Old)
Russell Mokhiber
The Black Hillary: Obama is Just Another Political Sedative
Robert Fantina
The Gulf of Tonkin and the Strait of Hormuz
Dave Zirin
Butts on Parade
Shamako Nobel
I Am an Emcee: the Politics of Hip Hop
John Ross
Zapatista Women Encounter Themselves
Brenda Norrell
Apaches Defend Homeland from Homeland Security
Laura Carlsen
Why Bolivia Matters
Patrick Irelan
Remember the Maine!
Evelyn J. Pringle
The Holes in Bush's FDA
Jonathan M.
Feldman
After Iowa and New Hampshire: a Strategy for Rebuilding the Peace
Movement
Michael Dickinson
Playing Soldier
Website of
the Day
Sean Hannity on the Run!
January 7,
2008
Chris Floyd
There
Will Be Blood: But No Justice for Iraq Atrocities
John Blair
Remove That Man! Creeping Fascism in Indiana
Uri Avnery
The Case of the White Bird
Andy Worthington
Who Are the Gitmo Saudis?
Binoy Kampmark
Needling the Convict: Lethal Injection and the Supreme Court
David Macaray
Women on Strike
Ralph Nader
Obamarama: the Politics of the Smooth Mood
Michael Donnelly
It's the War Vote(s), Stupid!
Ron Jacobs
Ron Paul's Run: Is Being Against the War Enough?
Gideon Levy
The Hostile President
Dave Lindorff
A Real 9/11 Cover-Up? Sibel Edmonds, Turkey and the Bomb
Website of
the Day
Plagues and Pleasures on the Salton Sea
January 5 /
6, 2008
Douglas Valentine
Good
Guys in Black Hoods
Kevin Young
The
US Occupation and Popular Opinion in Iraq
Richard Rhames
Saddam
Who?
Saul Landau
Bush Snatches Defeat from Victory
Marc Lynch
Why Bush's Iran Strategy is Failing
Robert Fantina
Iowa, Democrats and the Iraq War
Donna Volatile
Antiwar Soldier: an Interview with Jonathan Hutto, Sr.
Jelle Bruinsma
Norman Finkelstein in The Netherlands
Bob Sutcliffe
Remembering Andrew Glyn, Rebel Economist
Harvey Wasserman
Anti-Nuclear Renaissance
Missy Beattie
Why Obama Can't Save Us
David Swanson
Remembering the Separation of Powers
Jacob Hornberger
The Importance of the Padilla Case
Shepherd Bliss
Survival Tools from Kokopelli Farms
Ron Jacobs
Bleeding Kansas
Poets' Basement
Patti Smith, B.R. Gowani and Peter Buknatski
Website of the Weekend
Jimmy Dean Sausage Call Complaint
January 4,
2008
Cockburn /
St. Clair
A
Good Night in Iowa
Jonathan Cook
War Crimes Airbrushed from History
Paul Craig Roberts
Thinking for Yourself is Now a Crime
Stan Goff
Ron Paul's Monkeywrench
Dave Lindorff
Clinton's Iowa Flop Exposes DLC Myths as Frauds
Niranjan Ramakrishnan
To Pindi Station
Allan Nairn
U.S. Elections Over Before They Began
Joshua Frank
The Failures of Sectarianism
Peter Morici
Economy on the Skids
Mary McInnis
Iowa Cocky-Us: How to be a Caucus Tease
Website of the Day
The Return of Obama Girl
January 3,
2008
Fatima Bhutto
Farewell
to Wadi Bua
Pam Martens
The
Free Market Myth Dissolves into Chaos
Joanne Mariner
The Presidential Candidates and Torture
Zoltan Grossman
Remember the '80s: Social Movements Between Woodstock and the
Web
David Domke
The Echoing Press and Huckabee
Norman Solomon
Edwards Reconsidered
Nikolas Kozloff
Return of the Faux Liberal
Jacob G. Hornberger
The Padilla Case and the Future of Habeas Corpus
Martha Rosenberg
Quit Picking on Huckabee's Son, Michael Vick
Russell Means
This Property is Condemned: a Notice to Those Occupying Lakotah
Lands
Website of the Day
WolfQuest
|
January
28, 2008
Kristolizing Iraq
What
a Great Freakin' War
By DAVID MICHAEL GREEN
What a ding-dong I am!
For months--nay, years!--I've
been ranting about how screwed up the war in Iraq has been, and
how disastrous have been its consequences.
What a fool I've been! In
reality, it's actually turned out pretty great.
That's what I learned when
I read William Kristol's recent New York Times piece, "The
Democrats' Fairy Tale". In a stroke of thoughtfulness,
generosity and uncanny prescience, the Times was kind enough
recently to hire Kristol to write a regular column for their
op-ed page. I guess that's because Ariel Sharon was unavailable
and David Duke was on vacation.
And bless his little heart,
Kristol knows a thing or two about a thing or two. Heck, he's
the one who got us into Iraq in the first place! He's been telling
us for a long time what a cool thing it would be to knock over
that tin-pot Saddam Hussein crank, and damned if he didn't convince
the president to do it, despite Bush's decades of foreign policy
experience.
But it's been a rough couple
of years for Ol' Bill, 'cause the whole damn country went into
some sort of narcoleptic, apoplectic, pathogenic tizzy about
the war, crying fickle and foul at every turn and seeming like
all everyone wanted was to end the darned thing. Imagine that.
What a bunch of whiney little self-interested twits, squealing
like a continent full of Europeans, and utterly failing to see
the great wisdom of Young William's Grand Adventure In Mesopotamia.
It's really quite nauseating, isn't it?
In his article, Kristol really
rips the Democrats, and don't they ever deserve it. Now that
Iraq appears to be marginally more peaceful than it was last
year at this time, Kristol is angry because, as he puts it:
"It's apparently impermissible for leading Democrats to
acknowledge--let alone celebrate--progress in Iraq".
Bill is angry because the Democrats
(and the public--but, oddly, he doesn't mention that part) still
want to end the war--even though it's been a huge success! They
should "celebrate" it, instead! Fortunately, he is
clever enough to suss out the real reason for this childish intransigence.
It's not, as Hillary put it, because the Iraqis know the Democrats
will shut off the supply valve of endless wasted dollars and
soon-to-be casualties headed to Baghdad. As Kristol notes, "That
is truly a fairy tale. And it is driven by a refusal to admit
real success because that success has been achieved under the
leadership of ... George W. Bush. The horror!"
I must admit I've suffered
from some of the same confusion as the Dumb Dems, whom I think
we can all agree are simply hopelessly naive pacifists intent
on allowing our country to be taken over by Very Bad People (of
less than fully white complexion) who mean us harm. You know
the type I mean, like George McGovern, who flew all those bombing
missions during World War II while Little Bush, Cheney, Ashcroft,
Kristol and the rest fought ... valiantly ... in ... Viet ...
oh, never mind. Anyhow, that hopeless and dangerous idealism
is why, just one year before the Iraq war, every single Democrat
in the Congress opposed the invasion of Afghanistan except for
... well, except for ... every single Democrat in Congress other
than one. Okay, never mind on that one too.
Look, let's get down to brass
tacks here. Kristol just gets it. The rest of us don't. He
realizes that in the grand scheme of things--"World War
IV" as his pappy likes to call it--what's important is not
the big picture, but the very narrowest.
You may think, for example,
that promulgating egregious lies in order to shove your way into
am Iraq war that no one else wants is stupid and counterproductive,
damaging the credibility and interests of the United States,
and probably accounting for the lack of allied support in a more
credible war in Afghanistan. But Bill Kristol knows better.
You may think that fighting
a war that massively drains military, diplomatic and financial
resources away from the real enemies of the country in order
to pursue a pet project that has nothing to do with those genuine
threats would be idiotic and suicidal. But that's 'cause you're
not as smart as William Kristol.
You might believe that it was
a ludicrous waste of blood and treasure to kill 4,000 Americans
and one million Iraqis, while borrowing and spending a trillion
bucks (fast going up to two) in order to invade a country that
had neither attacked us nor threatened us. And that doing so
was an extremely poor choice of resource allocation, especially
when we have tens of millions of children doing without healthcare
in this country. But if you were a clever neoconservative like
Bill Kristol you'd know better.
You might think that wrecking
our military and compromising American security over a non-problem--indeed,
a problem that people like Bushes and Cheneys and Rumsfelds and
Reagans once very much created and encouraged--would be a stupid
choice of priorities. But that's only because you don't have
the foreign policy insight of someone like Bill Kristol.
And let me guess--I bet you
also think that launching a war that brings chaos to a vital
and volatile area, and that massively increases the power of
an Iran run by radical theocrats was a really, really dumb idea.
But if you were Bill Kristol you'd realize that all we need
is a third war against an Islamic country, and we can clean up
the whole mess all at once!
Or maybe you're like all those
American intelligence agencies, who collectively reported last
year that the Iraq war was actually creating anti-American terrorists
rather than eradicating them. But if you were as smart as Mr.
Bill and his Kristol Ball, you'd know that they're all just a
bunch of long-haired and bearded blame-America-first left-wing
Berkeley rejects running covert ops for the CIA, NSA and other
intelligence agencies. Of course they're going to diss the war!
It's going well, and those unpatriotic spooks can't stand that
because they hate America!
Maybe you're angry because
you think the same American soldiers whom people like George
W. Bush are always hiding behind should actually have adequate
armor to fight the war they've been thrust into, rather than
their families having to hold bake sales to buy it for them.
And maybe you also think they should be treated a wee bit better
than they have been at Walter Reed (and far beyond) when they
come home wounded, or they have to fight harder than in Anbar
to get the benefits owed to them out of the military. But what
Bill Kristol knows is that you can't make an omelette without
breaking some eggs! So lighten up on that whole concern-for-the-troops
thing already. (Unless you're the president doing a photo-op,
of course.)
Don't tell me you're chagrined
at the idea that American forces may be in Iraq for another decade,
or even for a full "generation". Probably that's just
because you or someone you know might have to go fight there.
People like Kristol never do, of course, so why should he worry?
Are you angry that well-connected
cronies and corporations got rich off this war? That eight billion
dollars in cash went completely missing in Iraq? That multi-billion
dollar no-bid contracts got paid out for jobs never done? That
American soldiers worked and bled and died for peanuts alongside
mercenaries making four times as much salary? That we will be
paying for this war in interest on loans and expensive treatment
of the wounded for generations to come? Yeah? Well Bill Kristol
thinks you should get your priorities straight!
Have you somehow come to the
conclusion that turning one-fifth of Iraq's 25 million people
into either corpses or refugees hasn't exactly been a great liberating
service to that country? You know, sorta like when we told them
to rise up but then stood by and watched Saddam mow them down.
Or when we turned a blind eye to Saddam's use of chemical weapons
against his own people, and even protected him from condemnation
for those crimes at the UN? Bill Kristol thinks that's because
you just don't know the true value of freedom and democracy.
Oh, and you put too much emphasis on that whole not-getting-killed
thing.
Are you one of those whiney
liberals who believe that this war--whether one supported the
idea of it originally or not--has been ridiculously mishandled
from the beginning? That there were never enough troops sent
in? That allowing rampant looting was stupid? That failing
to have plans for the occupation of a country of 25 million people
constitutes criminal negligence? That firing the Iraqi army
was just as idiotic as sending thousands of armed and angry men
home unemployed sounds like it would be? That purging the national
government and infrastructure of all Baath Party members was
a prescription for chaos? That allowing civil war between Sunni
and Shiite was disastrous? Yeah, well, Bill Kristol knows better.
He understands that what's really important is that the massive
levels of violence and pandemonium of these last FIVE years (count
'em) are now possibly slightly lower than the outrageous levels
they've long been at, and could conceivably stay that way.
Can't you see the small picture
here? Kristol can. I guess that's why he has a New York Times
column and you don't. I guess that's why the president listens
to his advice and not yours.
Who could blame him for being
angry and vituperative toward dangerously silly Democrats who
don't see the peril facing our civilization?
Such quibblers! So what if
the war was sold on completely fabricated lies, was supposed
to be a cakewalk but has now lasted longer than World War II,
has divided the country and made the world hate us, has squandered
our (borrowed) resources and broken our military, has brought
instability to a volatile and crucial region and allowed a real
national antagonist to double its power, has diverted our resources
from the still-uncaptured guy who supposedly attacked us on 9/11,
has become a factory for producing anti-American terrorists,
has wiped out over a million innocent people and turned more
than four million into refugees? So what if this war has now
supposedly been 'saved' by precisely the same strategy that was
vehemently rejected by the same people in the beginning?
Let's keep our priorities straight
here, people. All that really matters is that we've seen a possible
slight improvement in levels of violence in Iraq over the last
couple of months (all of which may be due to a host of possible
factors, including that there aren't many people left alive to
fight there anymore). Get it?
Some people think that burning
down your neighbor's house and having your own catch fire as
a result is a highly stupid and really criminal thing to do.
What neocons like Bill Kristol understand, though--and what
naive liberals will never get--is that what really matters is
whether you can slightly diminish the rate at which the flames
consume those dwellings, five years after starting the fire.
That's what's genuinely important--not the ashes where the houses
once stood.
If you understood that simple
principle, you wouldn't be complaining about this war so much.
Rather, you'd be "celebrating" how well it's going.
If you understood this logic,
you'd have supported the war from the very beginning, as William
Kristol did. (Which of course has nothing to do with his apparent
defensiveness about it today, we can all rest assured.)
In fact, if you were as smart
as Bill Kristol and the other fine folks who brought you the
invasion of Iraq, you'd quit with all your smug complaints, once
and for all.
And you'd realize what a great
freakin' war this really is!
David Michael Green is a professor of political science
at Hofstra University in New York. He is delighted to receive
readers' reactions to his articles (dmg@regressiveantidote.net),
but regrets that time constraints do not always allow him to
respond. More of his work can be found at his website, www.regressiveantidote.net.
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Neumann's Devastating Rebuttal of Alan Dershowitz
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Saul Landau's
Bush and Botox World
with a Foreword by Gore Vidal
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Grand Theft Pentagon
How They Made a Killing on the War on Terrorism
The Occupation
by Patrick Cockburn
Humanitarian Imperialism
By Jean Bricmont
CITY BEAUTIFUL
By Tennessee Reed
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