Sunday Blogivision;
McCain calls for Negotiations with Hamas
Some telling video clips for a lazy Sunday:
Via Josh Marshall's TPM Veracifier: John McCain says the US will have to negotiate with Hamas at some point, since they are the government. (They are still the government in Gaza.)
Obama replies to Bush's 'appeasement' crack in Israel:
Condi Rice says she will meet the Iranian foreign minister "any time, any place" if Iran will suspend enrichment activities. She says the question is not why the Bush administration won't talk to Iran, since it will. The question is why Iran won't talk to the Bush administration:
Joe Biden points out that Bush's government talked with North Korea and Iran, both of which it considers terrorist states:
Chris Matthews nails talk radio hatehead Kevin James for having no idea who Neville Chamberlain was while deploying the "appeasement" trope against Obama. When Chris Matthews asks you why you are shouting, you are really shouting.
Lebanese people hope for a solution to their crisis (via Aljazeera English):
In the Kuwaiti election, women candidates are pushing for change (Aljazeera English):
posted by Juan Cole @ 5/18/2008 12:37:00 AM
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John McCain and Barack Obama tilt toward the center on Iraq plans
Obama says he wants to keep a “follow-on force” in Iraq that would fight terrorists, protect U.S. forces and facilities, and train Iraqi forces. Obama has not provided an estimate of how large that force might be.
In a debate with Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton on April 16 in Philadelphia, Obama said: “I will always listen to our commanders on the ground with respect to tactics.”
Many doubt that a new president would risk his term by ordering a withdrawal that could strengthen Iran, distress Israel and cause regional upheaval.
A senior European diplomat, speaking on condition of anonymity in keeping with diplomatic protocol, predicted recently that there would prove to be little difference in how the candidates acted on Iraq -- or for that matter, on Iran or on policy toward Israel and its Arab neighbors.
“I’m not sure they will have a very different foreign policy at all,” he said.
We get excited about the candidates because the media makes a horse race of it and we respond.
It really makes little difference which of the three are elected.
Gravel/McKinney/Obama for President.
We must organize ourselves and provide new faces for Congress. Many, many new faces if we are serious about change.
What business does the USA have with Hamas anyway?
Sooner or later the US will be thrown out of the Middle East (but it may leave on its own accord due to the looming money trouble) and all this will be remembered as just stupid American politicians emitting the usual.
War Over Wall Persists in Sadr City Despite Truce
An Iraqi soldier taking cover in a hall on the second floor urged the Americans to stay away from the windows and to keep low.
“Sniper,” he said in English.
The floor was covered with broken concrete, empty cigarette packages and a dusty brown teddy bear, a fleeting reminder that the fighting position had once been someone’s home.
A splotch of red blood was in a corner room where the Iraqi soldier had been hit.
His fellow soldiers said that he had been sitting in a plastic chair and looking over the wall when a round hit the side of his face, ripping across his eyes.
Sergeant Alicea radioed the coordinates and described the target to a team of Apache attack helicopters. It seemed possible that the sniper had moved with the arrival of the Americans, but another rifle shot rang out.
Sergeant Alicea said it was important to strike nonetheless. Often, a sniper will leave his weapon so he can blend in with civilians on the street, he said. If nothing else, he said, the Apaches would eliminate another hiding place.
“We keep cutting down positions they can use,” he said.
After a long wait, a Hellfire missile soared over the soldiers’ position and slammed into the building, demolishing a wall on the top floor and setting it aflame.
On Tuesday, Colonel Pemrick went forward again to visit an Iraqi outpost near the wall that was commanded by First Lt. Adel Ali.
A small fleet of American armored vehicles was positioned nearby. They were working to extend the wall under the protection of two M1 tanks. The troops came under fire, and an M1 tank answered by firing three rounds into a building just north of the barrier, setting it alight.
Of the Americans they have not killed, the Neocons have made terrorists, in Baghdad as they target civilians in the very heart of the city, just as the IDF have been made terrorists of in Gaza and the West Bank.
Americans, we're three hundred million strong, yet we allow ourselves to be led by our noses by these thugs, by these greedy losers. For at the end of this sorry aggression, this crusade, those of our troops who do come home will come home to our bankrupted nation used and abused for naught.
For worse than naught, for the scorn and derision of the world at our monstrous aggression will be ours to share with the Israelis for the next generation. Two nations of war criminals we have become.
How the mighty through hubris and greed have fallen.
It is disgusting that after all that Prescot Bush did to finance Hitler's rise to power, that W throws him under the bus. In all fairness, I guess there is a difference between an appeaser and an enabler.
It is fun to catch the bad guys out in contradictions, of course, but would we really be better off if they were perfectly consistent and refused to negotiate with those whom they ultimately propose to obliterate?
Happy days.
Just sent Kevin James this link...
http://www.spartacus.schoolnet.co.uk/2WWappeasement.htm
A recent letter to the editor of the NY Times hit the nail on the head - something along the lines that appeasement is allowing al-Qaida freedom of movement in the FATA.
A couple points of observation:
* Are our candidates running for the office of the Presidency or for the Prime ministership of Israel? When will they talk about issues like health care, job outsourcing, etc.
* A common practice of the uncivil Right is not to argue with the facts but to shout down the opponent, a tactic perfected by O’Reilly.
*Clearly, the two news clips presented by Dr. Cole should dispel the notion that Al Jazeera is a terrorist network.
* This election is going to be ugly. Be forewarned of the things to come. By the time this campaign is over Obama will be accused of practicing cannibalism, molesting children and having sex with animals. I am using hyperbole here but that scoundrel Rove, with his swiftboat tactics, has perfected the technique of slandering his opponents. The Republicans can’t win on the strength of their arguments so they will resort to ad homenim attacks and fear mongering. Let’s hope the American public won’t fall for it.
Wow, George W.'s banging his genuine Ostrich FootJoy golf shoe on the Knesset podium while calling Democrats "Nazi appeasers" caused quite the row. Thank you Dr. Cole for filling in the bigger picture, unconstrained by President Bush's paint by numbers lines.
Did Obama just say that Hezbollah poses the greatest threat to America in a generation?!!? Did he just drink Bush's KoolAid?
And did he condemn Bush for supporting democratic elections in the Occupied Territories?
That doesn't sound like change, that sounds like a continued policy of American hegemony and pants-wetting over extremists in other countries.
Obama also fails to mention that our attacking Afghanistan is a contributing factor in radicalizing the population.
One thing seems certain. There will be no change this November if you vote for either pro-war candidate.
New Study Calls 'Embed' Program for US Media in Iraq a 'Victory' -- for the Pentagon
http://www.editorandpublisher.com/eandp/news/article_display.jsp?vnu_content_id=1003803787&imw=Y
Controlling the Media in Iraq
http://contexts.org/articles/spring-2008/controlling-the-media-in-iraq/
Maybe it's just wishful thinking, but the current mood of the USA now seems to suggest that the right is in retreat.
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