Politics: J'accuse!

[Not Me]

• WASHINGTON (Reuters) - President Bush strongly backed Donald Rumsfeld on Monday and said the nation owed him a debt of gratitude, countering calls by some Democrats for the defense secretary to resign over his handling of the Iraqi prisoner abuse scandal.
  
  After a meeting with Rumsfeld, military leaders and other top administration officials at the Pentagon, Bush told Rumsfeld, "Thank you for your leadership. You are courageously leading our nation in the war against terror."
  
  "You're doing a superb job. You're a strong secretary of defense and our nation owes you a debt of gratitude," Bush said.

[Not Me]

Originally posted by Secret_Agent_Man
The officials said there also was a videotape, apparently shot by U.S. personnel, showing Iraqi guards raping young boys.'"

Obviously, the US personnel should have stopped the rapes, but it was Iraqis doing the raping.

[Gattigap]

Originally posted by Not Me
Obviously, the US personnel should have stopped the rapes, but it was Iraqis doing the raping.

Well, thank God for that silver lining.

[Not Me]

Originally posted by Gattigap
Well, thank God for that silver lining.

Not a silver lining at all, but it does put things into perspective.

Let's see, US personnel put naked men in pyramids and put panties on their heads. Iraqis fuck young Iraqi boys in the ass against their will.

Let us also not forget what atrocities Iraqis perpetrated on other Iraqi's under SH's rule.

Perspective, gatti, perspective.

[Atticus Grinch]

Originally posted by Say_hello_for_me
To me, democracy is a natural course that fulfills a basic human urge to be acknowledged.

And yet we, the paragons of republican democracy and masters of the basic human urge, have an Electoral College and sempiternal redistricting that occasions --- nay, ensures --- phantom landslide results, and talk of "mandates" and a "bully pulpit" for the man elected.

The basic human need is not to be acknowledged. It is to command.

[Atticus Grinch]

Originally posted by Not Me
Obviously, the US personnel should have stopped the rapes, but it was Iraqis doing the raping.

What a perfectly Machiavellian summation of our Latin America policy between 1898 and 1992! I would ask you to do the same thing for our Africa policy, but then I remembered we don't have one.

[Sexual Harassment Panda]

Originally posted by Not Me
Not a silver lining at all, but it does put things into perspective.

Let's see, US personnel put naked men in pyramids and put panties on their heads. Iraqis fuck young Iraqi boys in the ass against their will.

Let us also not forget what atrocities Iraqis perpetrated on other Iraqi's under SH's rule.

Perspective, gatti, perspective.

"Bush/Cheney '04 - JFC, Get Some Perspective!"

or how about

"Bush/Cheney '04 - Because No Matter What Happens, We're Still Not As Bad As Saddam Was!"

[Say_hello_for_me]

Originally posted by Atticus Grinch
And yet we, the paragons of republican democracy and masters of the basic human urge, have an Electoral College and sempiternal redistricting that occasions --- nay, ensures --- phantom landslide results, and talk of "mandates" and a "bully pulpit" for the man elected.

The basic human need is not to be acknowledged. It is to command.

Command? For some, I'm sure such a strong word applies well. But others? Leadership is often only available to those who step forward, and most often its true leaders who can't be found, not followers. In fact, look at mobs! But I digress.

I think that maybe "command" and "be acknowledged" are somewhere along a sliding scale of what people want. Many people might properly be characterized as finding meaning in a group identity. cf. Chicago politician's habits of twisting their names into something Irish (my grammama's milkman was Irish!). In regards to Iraq, promising the Shiites that they would have control in proportion to their votes, would almost certainly have been a carrot to keep the lid on. Ditto Sadr city (for example). You want Sadr aldermen? Vote em in. Democracy is an endless promise of power.

With the Sunnis, it probably sounded more like a promise that they wouldn't be completely marginalized. But hey, if the other choice is napalm, what would they really do.

No matter. I really just don't hear anyone waving these carrots around. After the promises made to justify the invasion, I'd be extremely disappointed if I were an Iraqi.

Americans can crow til the cows come home about how at least we aren't Saddam. But Iraqis almost certainly lament that the Americans' plans don't seem to make them as free as Americans.

And why not?

Hello

[Hank Chinaski]

Originally posted by Atticus Grinch
And yet we, the paragons of republican democracy and masters of the basic human urge, have an Electoral College and sempiternal redistricting that occasions --- nay, ensures --- phantom landslide results, and talk of "mandates" and a "bully pulpit" for the man elected.

The basic human need is not to be acknowledged. It is to command.

If you're like me and live in a blue state, you aren't hoping your votes are ackonwledged, and certainly can't hope for command.

mostly, I hope for the occasional response to a post on an anon. forum. That, and I have the smallest burning hope that the Gilligan posts bring a smile to at least one face, somewhere.

[ltl/fb]

Originally posted by Hank Chinaski
If you're like me and live in a blue state, you aren't hoping your votes are ackonwledged, and certainly can't hope for command.

mostly, I hope for the occasional response to a post on an anon. forum. That, and I have the smallest burning hope that the Gilligan posts bring a smile to at least one face, somewhere.

Changing your avatar now that Mother's Day is past would bring a smile to my face . . . or at least erase the frown.

[Hank Chinaski]

Originally posted by ltl/fb
Changing your avatar now that Mother's Day is past would bring a smile to my face . . . or at least erase the frown.

the thing is said...

[ltl/fb]

Originally posted by Hank Chinaski
the thing is said...

That actually made me laugh. Nice one.

[Not Bob]

Originally posted by Hank Chinaski
the thing is said... [avatar change at fringey's request]

Hank -- as you know, I am a huge fan of your themed avatars, but I think this one (your face on paigow's julianne moore as maude lebowski) is a no-go. The first three times I read your earlier post, I wondered why paigow was seeking validation by receiving responses to a gilligan plot summary. Then I saw your smiling mug under that black bob. Ew.

Change it to something less confusing, please. Thanks. I don't want my love for La Paigow (she is the Mia to my Frank, circa 1969) to be sullied. No offense.

[Gattigap]

Originally posted by Not Me
Not a silver lining at all, but it does put things into perspective.

Let's see, US personnel put naked men in pyramids and put panties on their heads. Iraqis fuck young Iraqi boys in the ass against their will.

My point was that you had to dig pretty deep through SAM's quote to find that "perspective." Let's review.

"NBC News later quoted U.S. military officials as saying that the unreleased photographs showed American soldiers 'severely beating an Iraqi prisoner nearly to death, having sex with a female Iraqi prisoner, and ‘acting inappropriately with a dead body.’ The officials said there also was a videotape, apparently shot by U.S. personnel, showing Iraqi guards raping young boys.'"

As an occasional feminist, I'd have expected that you would be offended by soldiers having sex with a female prisoner, but maybe "consentual prison sex" is, in the expansive worldview you hold, OK under these circumstances.

There are also allegations about some 25 deaths occuring in the prison, though thankfully these have not yet been detailed on camera.

You've been quite determined about glomming on to images of panty-wearing prisoners to reach the safe harbor of your "perspective". Must these other acts appear in distributed photos/videos before you'll incorporate them into your worldview? If so, then your preference that cameras be banned is revealing.

Let us also not forget what atrocities Iraqis perpetrated on other Iraqi's under SH's rule.

I've not forgotten that, but repeating it brings me small comfort. As a barometer of human rights treatment, "we're better than Saddam" is a depressing standard.

Gattigap

[Secret_Agent_Man]

Originally posted by Hank Chinaski
If you're like me and live in a blue state, you aren't hoping your votes are ackonwledged, and certainly can't hope for command.

Not with that haircut, you can't.

Thanks for the perspective, Not Me. I feel lots better. Gentlemen, I believe we've found our next Secretary of Defense. The implants should be a plus.

S_A_M