Engage Monster Truck Voice: Sunday! Sunday! Sunday!

[elfs]

I cannot make this stuff up faster than reality. George Bush's current campaign swing is not a "campaign swing," as it has been traditionally known. No, it's now the Winning The War on Terrorism Tour. What's next? The Monsters of Iraq Tour? I can just see it: pint-sized Pfc. Lynndie England, (Warning: not work safe!) clearly visible is some of the more grotesque images, cigarette dangling from her lips as she humiliates the hooded prisoners, now properly dressed in a dominatrix outfit with whip in hand, standing over a humiliated, bound and naked John Kerry as George and Rummy look on, their faces alight with that unique combination of homoeroticsm and self-loathing they all seem to possess.

As much as I applaud the demise of a brutal dictator, and as much as I appreciate the self-correcting nature of the American system of justice, I don't think we really understand the absolutist nature of sharia over there. When we are victims of a petty or property crime and the criminal is caught, tried, and imprisoned, we have a vague dissatisfaction, a holdover from our primitive pasts when honor trumped justice. To the Iraqis, the "wheels of justice turning slowly" do not turn at all, and the American idea of justice where the humiliators will be allowed to live after all simply will not do. Their dissatisfaction with our notions of justice is so palpable it borders on the murderous. My hope for a working resolution in Iraq sinks with every report.

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I am not making this up: the thugs in the new Olsen flick are music pirates. Now how does that work? And looking at the release photos, I've gotta say that I don't understand the "countdown to 18" frenzy that seems to be unleashed: they're anorexic. Eww.

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The Top Ten Arab Conspiracies. I appreciate Memri; they take apart mainstream newspapers in Iran, Qatar, Egypt, and other Islamic newspapers and translate them for English-speaking audiences. Among the gems to be found: The Madrid bombing was the work of Israel; 9/11 was the work of Israel; 9/11 was done by the Bush administration to make Islam look bad; the CIA controls Osama bin Laden; the bombings in Riyadh, Damascus and Istanbul were the work of "Zionists" or Americans-- or both. The Crown Prince of Saudia Arabia himself said so.

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Rush on the abuse of prisoners:

This is no different than what happens at the Skull and Bones initiation, and we're going to ruin people's lives over it, and we're going to hamper our military effort, and then we are going to really hammer 'em because they had a good time. You know, these people are being fired at every day. I'm talking about people having a good time. These people, you ever heard of emotional release? You ever heard of need to blow some steam off?

Just so you know.

Comments

[technoshaman.livejournal.com]

That's something few seem to understand: Representative government has been part of Western culture since God was a little boy... but that's not the culture the Arabs have had all this time. They Simply. Do. Not. Grok. And trying to impose it on them Will. Not. Work.

Pride be damned. What we need to do is to just get the hell out of the Arab world, military, oil barons, and all. There are a lot of people (Halliburton) that aren't going to like that.... but until we do, there's going to be dead people and broken things over there that belong to us, and that's not cool. If after we do that, they still come at us, then we're justified in carpet-bombing them back to the stone age... but that doesn't require troops on the ground. Let'em think they won, they ran us off.... and let'em try and fund attacks with no oil money.

[technoshaman.livejournal.com]

The UN has been begging to help for months. Let'em. In all seriousness, I hear the Aussies are particularly good at doing such things. But not only do they not grok democracy, they believe with all their hearts that we are teh 3v1L - not all of them, but enough to keep costing us troopers on a daily basis...

This is what's so hard to get thru: They won't let us fix it... some of our idea of "fix" (government) isn't what they want, and trying to shove it at them is like teaching a pig to sing. It's a waste of lives, ours and theirs.

[http://users.livejournal.com/dominic-m-/]

dangit you beat me to the punch on that one :p and your response seems more to the point than mine....D'oh

[technoshaman.livejournal.com]

It doesn't hurt to keep pounding the drum; eventually someone will become aware that there's some noise out here...

[http://users.livejournal.com/dominic-m-/]

Thats why we leave and involve the U.N. totally in the reconstruction of iraq and quit trying to hog it to ourselves. This is not something we should have done in the first place but most people agree (like you) we are obligated to do something to fix it up. I say we cut all sanctions on iraq let them elect their own government and just pull out, that will please a whole lot of people, and we will be free of this shamefull act (sort of). Our one mistake was thinking we could control these arabs after we invaded them and then setup their own government. Imagine how pissed you would be if some random country invaded the U.S. crushed us utterly and then decided to setup a monarchy, I am more than willing to bet the public would fight back with every last breath, and thats just what the iraqis are doing. Your right in the fact we cannot leave without at least trying to fix things up but trying to control every aspect of their life is a bad bad idea and people are paying for that with their lives every day (on both sides).

[http://users.livejournal.com/dominic-m-/]

The reason most americans dont see this is not ebcause they are too stupid(they are but thats not the reason), it is because we lack empathy for other countries feeelings. We pretty much have been taught to hate anything that is "un-american" or resist,s american ways. All we see is our people dying in iraq so we inherintly see most if not all iraqis as the enemy and that pretty much cuts off all forethought of why they are atacking us. Oh and on a side note the only people that actully believed the iraqis would be dancing in the streets are those that "where" for the war and had no idea what they where getting into (in other words the whole bush regime).

[http://users.livejournal.com/dominic-m-/]

I know Im tired of being told I dont love my country because I am a liberal. That is soo bull$hit. I love my country because I AM liberal. I will always be loyal to my country but loyal to my government when it deserves it. Right now it doesent so I protest. Its good to know other people think like me in this kind of situation rather than just shrug it off as the usual liberal banter. And the reason why we justify attacking other countries is because we are the ones shut off from the rest of the world. And on the bush signature thing, that is just sooo tacky. I wouldent want the signature of clinton to show off, just maybe to shake his hand. I want to know whats up with all this bush loving going on in the republican world when in reality he is a mockery.

[mcmiller.livejournal.com]

I never thought that they would be dancing in the streets, but I did support the war. Not because I'm stupid, but because while I was in the Army I worked on a mission that dealt with terrorists, and we all hoped that the "War on Terrorism" would mean fixing the mess that we had to deal with, eventually.

Everyday, we saw American soldiers risking their lives to make the world a better place and getting spit on for their troubles. Most soldiers are secret idealists - I mean, come on, they volunteered! So we all secretly hoped that when they were done with Afghanistan, the administration would move on to deal with some of the truly heinous criminals in the world.

Not Iraqi civilians. Hardened, gun-running narco-terrorists who train conscripted armies of 15 year olds to stab live animals of increasing size until they work up to humans, until they are inured to causing pain on innocents. Brutes who kidnap 10 and 11 year old girls to give away as "prizes" to their valued officers. You know, "the BAD guys." That's who I thought we would be fighting. I knew there would be innocent people harmed, but I had naive faith in the concept of "the greatest good for the greatest number" being our objective. This whole travesty... I don't know what to say. Maybe my more pacifistic friends were right for reasons they never anticipated.

[mcmiller.livejournal.com]

Honestly, I can't imagine why Iraq when there were so many other targets - in South America, in Eastern Europe, in North Africa... many places with truly sick individuals who are terrorists. But I thought that "when we were done with Iraq" we'd get to those places. In a decade, maybe, when America is the boy who cried "Godzilla!" because a snake got in the house.

I admit, I'm not sympathetic to other countries. I'm sympathetic to other people. I don't see how else Iraq could have gotten rid of Sadaam, and I scoffed at the cries that America was just as bad or worse. I didn't and couldn't imagine that American soldiers would act that way. I'm still having to force myself to confront that reality over and over again as my mind tries to distance itself from the horror.

[mcmiller.livejournal.com]

Let us not forget that France had a very profitable relationship with Sadaam, for all their posturing to the contrary. Also, French Muslims are one of the largest voting blocks in France, and therefore most political analysts never expected their support. I don't blame them, I'd probably not involve my country in a costly war with a financial ally that would be violently opposed by the public.

[http://users.livejournal.com/dominic-m-/]

I miss clinton....."tear"

[http://users.livejournal.com/dominic-m-/]

woah woah. One of the main reasons I am soo against this war is because the brave men and women whom are soldiers and are putting their lives on the line daily to protect and serve and they dont even know what they got themselves into. I am tired of watching our brothers and sisters fall in the streets of iraq so bush can get a little oil for his fatcat friends. In a deep sense if we did this properly it WOULD be a just war but since we screwed up real good and are just killing mostly civilians nowadays its become a slaughter on both sides and its ALL MEANINGLESS. Why are we still there? saddam is gone. we have started a new form of government (its shakey but arent they all in the beginnning) and we are sending billions of dollars in aid to them. We should leave...NOW nobody else needs to die for this lost cause.

[technoshaman.livejournal.com]

I dunno. A properly set-up constitutional monarchy, with the consent of the governed, works pretty well. Ever read Dave Weber's Honorverse?

Of course, the cynic in me thinks that the reason we're hogging it is political, both to make Bush look good at home, and to pay off Halliburton and others... nothing wrong with a little spoils, but when it's costing us troopers on an ongoing basis, that's too far.

[http://users.livejournal.com/dominic-m-/]

I dunno we americans no matter howmuch we complain LOVE our democracy. We havent had anything else EVER pretty much. most people (like me) would freak if something else showed up.