Top Ten Ways Iraq is like Harry Whittington
1. Cheney attacked secular Iraq, mistaking it for an ally of Usamah Bin Laden. Cheney attacked Harry Whittington, mistaking him for a small bird.
2. Iraq has been peppered with Cheney's munitions. Whittington has been peppered with Cheney's munitions.
3. Cheney did not have a legal license to hunt quail on the trip that saw Whittingon wounded. Cheney did not have a United Nations license to invade Iraq or reduce it to rubble.
4. Cheney tried to blame Iraq for getting itself invaded by not signalling hard enough that it really did not have weapons of mass destruction. Cheney tried to blame Whittington for getting himself shot by not signalling hard enough that he was not a small bird.
5. Cheney thought Iraq's insurgency was in its last throes nearly a year ago. Cheney was deathly afraid that Whittington might be in his last throes.
6. Whittington thought Cheney as hunting partner would keep him secure. Iraqis thought that after the fall of Saddam, Cheney would make them secure.
7. Cheney gave Whittington a heart attack by shooting him in the heart. Cheney gave Iraqis a heart attack by having them bombed relentlessly.
8. Cheney tried to cover up how bad Whittington's condition was after he shot him. Cheney tried to cover up how bad Iraq's situation is after he had it invaded.
9. Cheney thought Iraq had weapons of mass destruction. Cheney thought Whittington was a small bird.
10. Cheney shot Whittington while hunting in the dark. Cheney invaded Iraq while being in the dark.
posted by Juan Cole @ 2/15/2006 06:34:00 AM
10 Comments:
The "absurd" parallels in your comparison point up the real absurdity of our, us Americans and Iraqis, position underneath the present American regime.
Thanks for the bleak reminder of the ongoing murderous absurdity of the position of the United States of America.
The real monstrosity is the fact that they, the present regime and its cronies in the corporate media, are doing EXACTLY THE SAME THING AGAIN IN IRAN!!
And we, hands in our pockets, are all whistling past the graveyards, watching the train wreck unfold in slow motion, as though we didn't know what was going to happen. When we have the script right in our hands.
Transcript of press conference:
"Good afternoon. I am Lea Anne McBride, Vice President Cheney's spokeswoman."
"I hope you will understand that, for reasons of national security, the White House could not release this information earlier and there is much we still can not say now in order to protect operational integrity. On Saturday morning it was discovered via the kind of intercept technology that the Democrats want to do away with that Mr. Harry Whittington had been in contact over the last several months with several high-level al Qaeda operatives operating in Iraq."
"That information was quickly relayed to the Vice President's hunting party, but not in time to stop them from embarking on their shoot. Secret Service attempted to apprehend Mr. Whittington for questioning in the field, but he ran and they were unable to apprehend him. It was in fact Mr. Cheney who, acting quickly in the face of a serious and immediate threat, took aim at Mr. Whittington and shot to stun him. The Vice President's quick thinking, flinty resolve, and sure shooting averted a major catastrophe. As additional intercepts of the kind Democrats want to do away with have shown, Mr. Whittington planned to attack and bring down the tallest building between the Rio Grande and the panhandle."
"At this hour, Mr. Whittington is being transferred from his hospital bed to Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, where he can be better treated under optimal conditions. The gratitude of the American people go out today to the Vice President."
"We will have no further comment on this matter."
"Thank you."
Source: ABC News' "The Note"
http://abcnews.go.com/Politics/TheNote/story?id=156238
It wasn't dark. And he was shot a close range for the buckshot load -- see infowars.com for excellent analysis on this coverup
My apologies to Carole King
Now Smackwater Dick he bought a shotgun
Cause he was in the mood of a little confrontation
He just let it all hang loose
He didn't think about the noose
He couldn't take no more abuse,
So he shot down the congregation
You can't talk to a man with a shotgun in his hand
Now Bulldog Fitzgerald stood for law and order
He called for the guard to come and surround the border
Now fron his bulldog mouth
As he led the posse south
Came the cry "We got to ride to clean up the street
For our wives and our daughters!"
You can't talk to a man when he don't want to understand
The account of the capture wasn't in the papers
But you know, they hanged ole Smack right then (instead of
later)
You know, the people where quite pleased
Cause the outlaw had been siezed
And on the whole, it was a very good year for the undertaker
You can't talk to a man with a shotgun in his hand
THen there's Jr Walker and the All Stars but I didn't want to overdo it
As much as I would prefer to see Cheney and the White House attacked by the media on Iraq, the stories that illustrate a point in the simplest terms stick in the public's mind the best. That's why Katrina and the Whittington shooting have legs: The public can understand them much more easily than Plamegate and the WH's handling of the events illustrate key points about how the WH operates
Ten is a very good number, but I'll add some more!
+ Failing to follow practices that generations of fellow hunters (or national leaders) developed to prevent dangerous accidents, such as knowing your target (full NRA quote at bottom). Similar to failing to give the intelligence agencies the usual amount of time they need to prepare an estimate, for instance.
+ Also, perhaps Cheney had followed this dictum, perhaps not: "Before handling a gun, learn how it operates." But he certainly didn't spend any time learning how the military operates e.g. from Gen. Shinsecki.
+ And thinking he is above the rules, and thereby severely harming innocents nearby and his own efforts. Like the Geneva accords... Cheney and the current president, both repeat avoiders of military service, think they know better than generations of generals and intelligence officials. Their encouragement of torture throws aside both human decency and years of precedent. And it has done grievous harm to many people, and to the US military's ability to collect intelligence!
Thanks Dr. Cole... Hope you enjoy or at least can ruefully appreciate... I'm praying for Mr. Whittington's health and recovery. And for all of us trying to recover from Cheney's other reckless endangerment... how many orders of magnitude bigger is that? 3, 4, 6?
from http://www.nrahq.org/education/guide.asp
"Know your target and what is beyond.
Be absolutely sure you have identified your target beyond any doubt. Equally important, be aware of the area beyond your target. This means observing your prospective area of fire before you shoot. Never fire in a direction in which there are people or any other potential for mishap. Think first. Shoot second."
Over-wrought jokes, parodies, and non sequiturs will backfire. To mock guns or hunting is not politically wise in the US. Cheney will recover his reputation, reassure conservatives, and emerge even more powerful.
NRA and 2nd Amendment faithful would gut the rest of the Constutition before letting anyone make light of hunting, of gun ownership, or of a political comrade at arms. If (heaven forbid) poor Wittington passes away, it will be a serious matter indeed, but leave the Rove-W-Rumsfeld-Rice decision structure intact. Worse, it could make them more edgy, much the way some people think the Lewinski scandal made Clinton more likely to launch cruise missiles against the Sudan factory and Afghan camps.
Better to discuss the Iran risk in terms of what is really known about the regime and its programs. Some would argue that the signs are pretty clear. Even those that don't still assert that an Iran nuke is only a matter of time. The time for pre-emption might be very short if it is necessary to destroy a new reactor before it "goes hot." Otherwise, a strike produces a very nasty radiation mess.
Both the secular and the religious Right have already agreed that is seeking nuclear weapons and may be deterred only by military threat. The threat will work only if there is ample assurance it will be backed by action.
Bush craves remembrance as decisive. Setbacks in Iraq and on the domestic front may only bolster his gamble to leave a heroic legacy.
W may believe he can get Iran to "blink" the way Russia did in 1962. Or, even if he sees the showdown in terms of Wyatt Erp, Rambo, Dirty Harry, or Deadeye Dick, all the the precedents favor a quick trigger and intimidation over appeasement.
W may stand by Cheney precisely to warn Ahmadinejad that America is serious and not afraid to "pepper" all of Iran. Cheney's long awaited speech on the accident bolsters this image of firmness by accepting responsibility, expressing condolences to a friend, but no contrition about pulling the trigger.
Look what happens to poachers in Australia:
---
Phet Van Pham, 38, was arrested on Tuesday night after Fisheries officers observed him and another man diving for abalone for more than four hours on the western shore of Port Phillip Bay, a court heard yesterday...
Laws enacted in April make trafficking in commercial quantities of "priority fish" an indictable offence punishable by up to 10 years' imprisonment and fines of up to $250,000.
---
Yet this is what happens when our VP shoots a man:
---
The interview will not aired in full until 6 p.m. but according to Hume, in summarizing the contents, the vice president remained "totally unapologetic" about the long lag in reporting the shooting to the public-- and also said that he had consumed one beer at lunch that day.
---
He gets to go on for some soft-ball interviews on the station he's endorsed, from Digby:
---
For example, I end up spending a lot of time watching Fox News, because they're more accurate in my experience, in those events that I'm personally involved in, than many of the other outlets.--Dick Cheney
---
Hey Fox News, 1984 wasn't a blue-print!
You had me on the floor laughing Professor Cole. Very amusing.
Parallel # 10, however, is one I would suggest amending from "Cheney shot Whittington while hunting in the dark. Cheney invaded Iraq while being in the dark" to "Cheney shot Whittington while hunting in the dark. Cheney invaded Iraq while keeping us in the dark"
And, if I may, I'll add my own parallel:
#11
Cheney is currently taking grief for (allegedly) hunting while fueled by alcohol, and his defenders note that 'everybody does it.' Cheney is currently taking grief for 2nd-in-helming an administration (allegedly) fueled by corruption, and his defenders note that 'everybody does it.'
Guess that makes it okay?
In a general sense, I believe it all reduces down to, simply this "A Failure to Take Care," a point convincingly made by Elizabeth Holtzman in her article "The Impeachment of George W. Bush" in The Nation, the relevant portions of which I have taken the liberty of excerpting here.
We need to get down to brass tacks. The VP probably shot this man because the VP's career is quaking under his feet. In the same way, President Bush invaded Iraq because the US public was/is having a nervous breakdown, manifested in its beliefs about the "war on terror". The invasion was a lashing out, a psychotic projection. There used to be a cartoon displayed in some National Guard armories, with a grizzled soldier saying, "Patience, hell; I'm going to go out and kill something." The point was either that this is good therapy or that if you notice yourself thinking like this, get help from somebody who doesn't believe it is good therapy, which may be hard to do. Most of us seem to believe that, morality and pragmatism aside, it's a good release to go shoot up Iraq.
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