(crossposted from the frontpage of
My Left Wing)
The Jerusalem Post
(snip)
Defense officials told the Post last week that they were receiving indications from the US that America would be interested in seeing Israel attack Syria. Source
Our pathetic non-leaders can't be bothered to support a cease-fire in Lebanon that the whole world is calling for, but encourage Israel to attack Syria, even as war rages in Iraq and Lebanon? Sure. Why not?
(more below the fold...)
(tip of the hat to
Jeff Huber for his diary day before yesterday,
Jerusalem Post: U.S. Urges Attack on Syria)
Some say the war in Lebanon is Israel's fault, some say it's Hezbollah's or Iran's fault, but anyone who's been paying attention knows it's America's fault - or more accurately, Bush's fault. Of course when I say Bush, I mean the whole stinking lot of them - the dimwitted, knuckle-dragging neocons who have neconned our country while screwing the world.
The war raging in the Middle East right now is not about terrorism or weapons of mass destruction. It's not about Hezbollah, Iran, Syria, Israel's right to exist, the exportation of democracy, or any of the other despicable lies that have been and are being told. The war in Iraq is all about oil, empire, and war profiteering fueled by greed and the Military Industrial Complex. And the latest developments in Lebanon which now threatens the entire region, as hard as it may be to believe, is all about Republican electoral politics.
A wider war in the Middle East is the Republican plan to upset the Democratic apple cart in November. What would lead me to such a drastic and unsavory conclusion? A number of things - stay with me while we take a look at what stinks in Denmark.
From the LA Times
July 8, 2006
Despite polls that indicate Democrats are positioned to make gains in November, Bush said Republicans would retain control of the House and Senate. "I'm looking forward to these elections," he said. "I think you'll be surprised."
~ George W. Bush Source
It would certainly be surprising if they won, wouldn't it? They sure seem to think they will, despite all of the evidence to the contrary.
"Republicans will keep the House, Republicans will keep the Senate," he predicted. "The question is, what will be the margin? Will we gain a couple of seats? Will we lose a couple of seats? Will we lose more than a couple seats? I'm frankly very optimistic."
~ Karl Rove Source
So the Torturer in Chief and his bloody-handed minions are `very optimistic' even though their vaunted `War Prez' is in `Nixon Disgraced' territory poll-wise. It's enough to make a fellow wonder why.
In the mean time, our missing-in-action `leadership' stubbornly refuses to do the right thing and call for an immediate cease-fire in Lebanon.
Rice: Cease-fire at this time pointless
US Secretary of State rules out quick cease-fire as `false promise,' says `Syria knows what it needs to do, Hizbullah is the source of the problem.' Israeli ambassador to US: This is a war not of our choosing
Associated Press Source
Our leaders' tortured logic, disingenuous dissembling (that means not telling the truth ;-)), and outright lies are all meant to hide a disturbing truth - the US does not want peace.
(snip) Bolton, presumably with the full support of the White House, has not only sat on resolutions calling for a ceasefire, he has managed to stonewall and then attenuate a resolution condemning the bombing attack on the U.N. camp at Khiyam, which killed four U.N. observers. Whatever happened to resolution 1502, passed unanimously in the wake of the bombing of the U.N. headquarters in Baghdad, declaring attacks on U.N. personnel on mission to be a war crime? Source
Okay, so our `leaders' aren't bending over backwards for peace. What else is new? Everybody knows that the chickenhawks are in charge. But why would anyone suspect that they are politically motivated?
Cheney Uses Mideast As Campaign Issue
Vice President Cheney Uses Mideast Conflict As Reason to Keep Republicans in Control of Congress
TAMPA, Fla. Jul 21, 2006 (AP)-- Vice President Dick Cheney on Friday pointed to the fighting between Israel and Hezbollah as fresh evidence of the ongoing battle against terrorism that underscores the need to keep President Bush's Republican allies in control of Congress.
"This conflict is a long way from over," Cheney said at a fundraising appearance for a GOP congressional candidate. "It's going to be a battle that will last for a very long time. It is absolutely essential that we stay the course." Source
Could this asshole be any more transparent? I knew when Israel first attacked Lebanon that they had the greenlight from Washington. Anybody familiar with the politics of the Middle East understood that as well.
Israel set war plan more than a year ago
Strategy was put in motion as Hezbollah began increasing its military strength
Matthew Kalman, Chronicle Foreign Service
Friday, July 21, 2006
(07-21) 04:00 PDT Jerusalem -- Israel's military response by air, land and sea to what it considered a provocation last week by Hezbollah militants is unfolding according to a plan finalized more than a year ago.
Not only did Israel have the greenlight from Washington, and not only was it planned for a year in advance, but, it has been suggested that the whole evil plot was cooked up by the very same neocon scumbags who are ruining our country just as hard as they can go. If that is true, and my instincts tell me it is, who can doubt that it was done purely for political gain?
This amounts to cold-blooded mass murder willfully committed in the name of politics by men so beneath the standards of civilization as to constitute a whole new species of soulless sub-creatures. Innocents and children are being bombed, terrorized, and torn to bloody shreds so that the Republicans can avoid paying for their sins at the polls in November. This is savagery, horror, and the ruination of millions of lives as political gamesmanship. I cannot imagine anything more unforgivable, more devoid of all that is righteous and good, or more contrary to all that is best in humanity. There is no avoiding the conclusion that these feral swine are nothing less than evil. Nixon was a fucking angel by comparison. There will never be a darker stain on American history than that left by these heartless beasts.
This is a coldly calculated ploy to put the lives of millions of innocent people in dire jeopardy to draw attention away from the disastrous civil war the neocons have started in Iraq, and to overcome the massive lead in the polls now enjoyed by the Democrats as the result of Republican misdeeds.
November Midterm Elections: For Democrats, Wave Is Building
The Washington Post, July 16, 2006
Thomas E. Mann, Senior Fellow, Governance Studies
There's probably no way congressional Republicans can lose this fall, no matter how unpopular President Bush is or how unhappy the voters are with the war in Iraq. That's the prevailing view in Washington today.
But it's wrong.
If history is any guide, we're heading into a major political storm. And that means we could see a national tide in November that will sweep the Democrats back into the majority.
Virtually every public opinion measure points to a Category 4 or 5 hurricane gathering. Bush's job-approval rating is below 40 percent, and congressional job approval is more than 10 percentage points lower. Only a quarter of the electorate thinks the country is moving in the right direction, and voters are unhappy with the economy under Bush. Finally, Democrats hold a double-digit lead as the party the public trusts to do a better job of tackling the nation's problems and the party it would like to see controlling Congress. Source
Yes, we are way ahead in the polls because of widespread displeasure with the Republicans. You know that Dick Cheney, Karl Rove, and their army of neocon nutcases are not going to just let this lie. You know they're up late at night cooking up what we used to so quaintly call dirty tricks. Only they've graduated from dirty tricks to global disasters these days, and in their tactics, have sunk to breathtaking new lows.
But even while they plot against us, and scheme to avoid their just dues, the Republican misdeeds just keep on a-coming. Stirring up war in the volatile Middle East for electoral advantage has got to be the misdeed of the century - quite possibly the greatest misdeed in all of human history. This is the dirtiest, the lowest, the scummiest of all Republican dirty tricks. This is our October Surprise come early. Sur-pri-ize!
And the bloodthirsty bastards are not satisfied with screwing up Iraq, Lebanon, and Israel. They want to push it even further. They've been threatening Iran and Syria for months if not years. They want to drag all of the innocents into their savage vortex of blood and horror. They want to engulf the entire region in a burning hell of their own making. They want to stage Armageddon - not for religious purposes, but for political gain. And we thought it was bad when they outted a CIA agent for that same low purpose. Hell! That was nothing!
Diddling While Rome Burns
The psychopaths in charge of our so-called government have refused all calls from the international community for a cease-fire in Lebanon. As their proxy army (the Israelis) viciously overreact to the wholly regrettable kidnappings of two men by slaying scores of innocent Lebanese men, women, and children, our idiot swine carry on as if nothing of import is going on.
Rice to Play Piano Piece at ASEAN Dinner
By KATHERINE SHRADER
Associated Press Writer
July 27, 2006, 7:10 PM EDT
KUALA LUMPUR, Malaysia -- Colin Powell danced to "YMCA," and Madeleine Albright did an Eva Peron impersonation. But Condoleeza Rice decided to play a classical piano piece.
The annual Association of Southeast Asian Nations dinner, which is closed to the news media, has traditionally given world figures a chance to show a more playful side.
But the current secretary of state said that given world events, a lighthearted skit wouldn't be appropriate.
Instead, Rice, an accomplished pianist who has performed with cellist Yo-Yo Ma, said she'll play a Brahms piece to fit her "serious mood" at the dinner Thursday. Source
A lighthearted skit wouldn't be appropriate, so Condi delicately chooses to play a Brahms piece instead because she's in a `serious mood' - not unlike the serious mood she was in, no doubt, when she shopped for Gucci's while New Orleans drowned, its inhabitants crying out in vain for help and for mercy. And Bush, while refusing to lift a finger to stop the carnage in Lebanon, spent his time whooping it up with the American Idol crowd instead.
These virulent swine know no shame. They make Vlad the Impaler look like a piker. They make Atilla the Hun look like the fucking Welcome Wagon. They make Hitler look like a timid, unimaginative Bavarian pussy. Sure they haven't killed six million Jews yet - but just wait. Give `em a chance. They're likely to kill that many Jews and twice as many Muslims. My prediction is that WWIII, which they are trying their damnedest to start, will eclipse WWII by a considerable amount. The bloodshed, sacrifice, horror, and loss will in all likelihood be far greater. If these sad predictions come true, comparing the Neocons to the Nazis will no longer be a matter of wild exaggeration. And these demented misguided morons are trying to start WWIII to cover their own ignorant and brutish mistakes in Iraq, and to win an election they have no earthly right to win. They deserve the absolute and withering scorn of every human being on the face of the planet.
First Published 2006-07-25, Last Updated 2006-07-25 09:17:08
Stumbling Into Armageddon
American Prospect editor Robert Kuttner lists the bumbling mistakes of the Bush administration that have led the world further and further toward a cataclysm in the Middle East. In contrast, former Presidents in former crises used diplomacy and containment, which Bush, until now, has eschewed.
The latest violence in the Middle East demonstrates the bankruptcy of the Bush administration's grand design for the region. The Iraq war was going to display American power, promote democracy, strengthen moderates, and secure Israel. Instead, the quagmire has demonstrated the humiliating limits of U.S. military power, fomented anarchy, recruited Islamist extremists, and strengthened a more radicalized Iran.
Palestinian moderates have been marginalized, leaving nobody for Israeli moderates to negotiate with. Hamas and Hezbollah have more support among Arabs than ever. Israel finds itself more vulnerable militarily, prone to excess, and dangerously isolated from world opinion. As for democracy, our few allies in the region are dictators and kings. Democratic Lebanon is a shambles. The democratically elected government in Iraq has just denounced Israel, and a democratic Palestinian election empowered Hamas.
Bush said you couldn't negotiate with bad guys. In Iraq, where Saddam turned out to be telling the truth about nuclear weapons and Bush turned out to be lying, diplomacy was forsaken for war. Syria, which gave the United States genuine intelligence help after 9/11, was deemed a nation not worth diplomatic engagement. As former National Security Council official Flynt Leverett documented, an overture by the then-moderate Iranian government in 2002 was blown off by the United States.
Snip
But today, the ideological heirs to that lunatic fringe are running the American government. Every arrogant miscalculation only leads them to more disastrous blunders.
Snip
With a mid-term election looming and the Mideast in flames, will voters finally recognize that this crowd is delusionally incompetent? Or will cynical fear-mongering lead anxious citizens yet again to rally 'round their president? Source
We can't afford to let them get away with their `rally `round the War President' scheme. We must defeat this cynical and disgusting ploy. It may well be that things are much worse by November, and people even more upset and freaked out by it all. If the neocons have their way, they almost certainly will be. We can't let them translate that into an electoral victory as they plan to do. We need to defeat the meme that America needs the Republicans in power because of all the trouble in the world - when, after all, it's the Republicans behind all of the trouble in the first damned place.
They are going to try and buffalo the public - yet again. We have to educate the public instead. While they "catapult the propaganda," we have to counter hard with the TRUTH. The truth is on our side brothers and sisters - and the truth shall set us free.
Oh my name it is nothin'
My age it means less
The country I come from
Is called the Midwest
I's taught and brought up there
The laws to abide
And that land that I live in
Has God on its side.
Oh the history books tell it
They tell it so well
The cavalries charged
The Indians fell
The cavalries charged
The Indians died
Oh the country was young
With God on its side.
Oh the Spanish-American
War had its day
And the Civil War too
Was soon laid away
And the names of the heroes
I's made to memorize
With guns in their hands
And God on their side.
Oh the First World War, boys
It closed out its fate
The reason for fighting
I never got straight
But I learned to accept it
Accept it with pride
For you don't count the dead
When God's on your side.
When the Second World War
Came to an end
We forgave the Germans
And we were friends
Though they murdered six million
In the ovens they fried
The Germans now too
Have God on their side.
I've learned to hate Russians
All through my whole life
If another war starts
It's them we must fight
To hate them and fear them
To run and to hide
And accept it all bravely
With God on my side.
But now we got weapons
Of the chemical dust
If fire them we're forced to
Then fire them we must
One push of the button
And a shot the world wide
And you never ask questions
When God's on your side.
In a many dark hour
I've been thinkin' about this
That Jesus Christ
Was betrayed by a kiss
But I can't think for you
You'll have to decide
Whether Judas Iscariot
Had God on his side.
So now as I'm leavin'
I'm weary as Hell
The confusion I'm feelin'
Ain't no tongue can tell
The words fill my head
And fall to the floor
If God's on our side
He'll stop the next war.
~ Dylan's With God On Our Side, 1963