Obama: “…beyond our wildest dreams…”
Another way station on our plunge into darkness was passed last week with the publication of Bob Woodward’s new book, The War Within. Along with the usual backstairs gossip dished out by self-serving insiders eager to plant their spin on events, Woodward revealed — or, rather, confirmed — the existence of what he called the key element to the “success” of Bush’s escalation of the war crime in Iraq: a “secret killing program” aimed at assassinating anyone arbitrarily deemed a “terrorist” by the leaders of the foreign forces occupying the conquered land.
In a TV appearance to puff the book, Woodward celebrated the arbitrary murder, by methods unknown, of people designated “terrorists,” by criteria unknown, as “a wonderful example of American ingenuity solving a problem in war, as we often have.” The White House acknowledged the existence of the assassination program, but insisted that it was the “surge” of troops that was mainly responsible for the drop in violence from the howling hell of 2006 to today’s level, which, as Juan Cole has pointed out, is still greater than some of the most horrific civic conflicts of the last century. (It is a strange country indeed that can celebrate the creation of a blood-gushing sinkhole of violence and destruction as a “success beyond our wildest dreams,” to use Barack Obama’s new take on the surge.)
Of course, Woodward, the consummate Beltway courtier, embraces this…
Michael Anderson:
I like the Chris cooper memebar that came up…it fits with this link! This may or may not be a bit off-topic, but it definitely shows how language gets tortured—as Orwell put it, “the defense of the indefensible”. And, of course, shows the LACK of REAL CHOICE that we have—something a friend from Flawda sent me:
http://abcnews.go.com/politics/MatchoMatic/fullpage?id=5542139
17 September 2008, 1:23 pmJeremy:
Match-O-Matic is Brilliant!!! Opening line: “Two Candidates, One Vote, Yours.” What about Mckinney or any of the other third party candidates?
18 September 2008, 11:07 amIf we really want “Change” and “Hope,” then it would be better for us to work to get third parties on the ballot, and give them a real chance at being elected than it would to simply elect yet another corporate shill. Or, better yet, we should work on creating grassroots movements to take power out of the hands of the political and economic elites!
remembereringgiap:
am concerned for deanander
hoping all is well
19 September 2008, 1:26 pmDeAnander:
DeAnander is doing fine, just suffering from Canadian Summer-itis, i.e. the compulsion to spend every possible minute out of doors while the warm fine weather lasts
expect more frequent blogging as the cold, dark, wet winter sets in. My apologies to everyone for going AWOL for so long, but it’s been a blast… a very eventful summer on many fronts and a very happy one.
19 September 2008, 8:48 pmStan:
Good for you, De. I’ll be waiting for the winter readouts. (:
On the subject of Demcorats and Republicans and war, there is this thing in Pakistan…
FULL
20 September 2008, 5:46 amStan:
Here is the latest on Obama’s favorite war.
http://edition.cnn.com/2008/WORLD/asiapcf/09/25/pakistan.helicopters/?iref=mpstoryview
25 September 2008, 4:52 pmTimothy R. Anderson:
The Surge Is Working, There Just Aren’t Any American Journalists With Microphones On The Ground That Is Safer Due To The Surge, uhhhhh , but that said, The Surge IS Working. It has worked ! See, the terrorists will fail. Wait, they have failed ! Iraq is free ! Iraq has democracy ! Well, not democracy democracy, exactly. But Iraq doesn’t have Saddam Hussein ! And as long as no-one looks too closely, the daily lives of the majority of the non-terrorist Iraqi civilians seeeeem like they are almost perfect ! The living, non-injured Iraqis who are not deaf and not traumatized, those Iraqis - the ones still in Iraq, not in Syria.
Something for “wildest dreams” Democratic presidential nominee to ponder, perhaps :
” ( Republican ) President Bush, in his July 30, 2003 press conference, declared : ‘ I take ppersonal responsibility for everything I say, of course. Absolutely. ‘ President Bush made this declaration in response to a question about wrong information
regarding Iraq’s attempt to purchase uranium in Niger. He hoped
it would end a controversy that is eating away like an acid drip
on his administration’s credibility. But ” the 16 words ” - as Bush defenders characterize his reference to the attempted uranium purchases in his State Of The Union address - were not the most
brazen example of trampling the truth on the road to war. ”
” From January 2003 onward, President Bush constantly portrayed
the United States as an innocent victim of Saddam Hussein’s imminent aggression. President Bush’s repeated claims that war was
being ‘forced upon us’ was the biggest, most consistent scam
the President used
to convince the American people that their government had no alternative but to invade another nation. ”
The above was written by James Bovard ; presidential candidate
Barack Obama needs to ( and likely will not ) realize that when the President of the United States Of America is allowed to, by BOTH
political parties, MISLEAD the public on weighty issues such as war, there are unintended consequences. Very real, very painful consequences. So, lying about the present conditions in Iraq might “score some points ” politically, short-term, but registered voters have memories, y’know, and that’s something all politicians need constant reminders of …….. Sadly.
Tim Anderson
6 October 2008, 2:02 pm