Shortly after 9/11, we asked why “they hate us.” We still haven’t considered who “they” are, much less "why" "they" allegedly hate us. At Alternet, Matt Taibbi has posted a sharp criticism of America's refusal to take this question seriously. Taibbi correctly notes that America versus the World (similarly consider American versus…
Here’s what the president said Monday night:
“The safety of America depends on the outcome of the battle in the streets of Baghdad”
Here’s an exerpt from a well-written post by Robert J. Elisberg:
Actually, no, it doesn’t. Anyone who thinks our safety “depends” on street fighting in Baghdad has a piss-poor, pathetic view of America and should be so ashamed that they stay in their room in disgrace. Of course, if they think that little of America, they probably are already hiding in their rooms.
Elisberg continues:
We’ve reached the point where the White House has become a scene out of the “Wizard of Oz.” A disembodied head blowing smoke and making ominous pronouncements, while begging us not to look at the little man behind the curtain.
The words are fantasy, the reality befuddled.
Here’s some more examples from Bush’s 9/11/06 speech, all of them equally pathetic:
We’re adapting to stay ahead of the enemy, and we are carrying out a clear plan to ensure that a democratic Iraq succeeds. [Clear plan? Could you please remind us of the terms of this “clear plan”]
We’re helping Iraq’s unity government grow in strength and serve its people. [It’s getting so good, that our military personnel are bringing their spouses and children over there to vacation while the soldiers are off-duty. Oh, wait. No, I was thinking about Hawaii.]
It appears that the War on Terror is shaping up to be as decisive, efficient and effective as the War on Drugs: “Mission Accomplished since 1933”. The enemy is hard to define, hard to detect, and there is no exit strategy (see bureaucracies, below) in the unlikely case of a declared win.Terror is a state of mind, a reaction to extreme and unexpected negative events. Those Saudis who attacked on 9/11/01 (using materials and training acquired in the U.S.) set off a chain of events that is turning our country into a Police State. This is a win for them.
Here are some signs of a gathering Police State.
According to CNN,the Bush administration figured out all it needed to do, to substantially reduce the Iraq monthly death total, was stop counting all of those dead people. You know how the number of deaths dipped sharply for August . . . well, it didn't really happen. Here's how CNN reports…
Dear Mr. President:
Five years ago, you told us you would “bring to justice” the perpetrators of 9/11. Yet today, five years later, the man who is undisputed to have caused the 9/11 attack — Osama bin Laden — remains at large. Instead of making it your mission — and that of the U.S. military — to capture or kill bin Laden, you have wasted America’s resources — and your own — on a wild goose chase in Iraq. In the process, you have needlessly killed or maimed (both physically and emotionally) hundreds of thousands of innocent Muslims. We must assume that some of these people — or their spouses, parents, children, friends, etc. — will harbor extreme hatred toward America for this loss.
Indeed, we should not think otherwise given our own extreme reaction to the 9/11 attack. We must also assume that some of these angry people will, in some way, at some point in their lives, support violence against America. Whether it is by strapping a bomb to their chest and blowing up a street market, or merely providing a safe house to someone who does, we cannot tell. But we do know, for certain, that violence begets violence, especially when the violence is perceived as unjust — which is exactly how your invasion of Iraq and many other misguided policies are perceived.
The Bible tells us to love our enemies. This probably does not mean bombing their families and neighbors, perhaps because doing so merely creates …