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The Spectacle Blog
Jeffrey Lord makes a fair point. We cannot perfect human nature. Human beings can and will be “extremely violent, psychotic, mentally unbalanced and a whole host of other.” But, upon consideration of the policy options presented the world’s lone superpower, does this flight of human identity demand equivalent response?
With all due respect, Jeff Lord’s error is that he fails to recognize a profound variation in circumstance.
“Communists, Nazis, Islamic Fundamentalists, the Ku Klux Klan [and] the guy next door” not to mention “Hitler, Mao, Stalin, Osama, Al Capone, Lee Harvey Oswald or the husband in your town who beats his wife to a pulp” ALL exist… much to our shared chagrin.
Sure. They’re all equally revolting — but in their own special ways. But they don’t present an identical threat profile and they clearly don’t demand an equivalent response.
Precisely why the U.S. Marines don’t police my neighborhood.
Conflating Neville Chamberlain’s response to the menace of National Socialism — let alone Oxford ‘33 — with Ron Paul’s criticism United States’ unilateral, (nay, “bottomless”) support for the “war on terror” is equal parts useless and inconsequential.
But first, let’s all breathe a sigh of relief. Hitler’s Panzer divisions are not flattening Vichy sod. We don’t find ourselves huddled beneath school desk at risk of a Cuban missile crisis. For that, we should all be thankful.
However, if Mr. Lord is “unwilling or unable” to differentiate — strategically — between American response to Nazi genocide, Soviet Empire, and several thousand “freedom haters” scattered somewhere between Morocco and Malaysia, I’m not sure where to proceed with this conversation.
The fact is, sometimes the United States struggles under the burden of its own might. Despite public exhaustion with a robust military presence abroad, American policymakers are reticent to allow our allies and other nations to assume greater responsibility — both for their own defense and for enforcing security in their respective regions.
I may be young, but I’m not dumb. Recognizing the fact that we’re no longer duty bound to follow a foreign and defense policy committed to containing the spread of Nazism or communism around the globe, perhaps Ron Paul’s perspective isn’t quite so crazy — and I mean for all of us, and not just those young folks out in Iowa Mr. Lord casually chides for their presumed, naïve pacifism.
Needless to say, it remains my sincere hope that this Cold War paradigm I previously mentioned dies with the armchair hawks who espouse it. I may be — recently — on the wrong side of thirty, but I can promise you my generation has already outgrown it.
View all comments (71) | Leave a comment
More Blog Posts by Reid Smith
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Ed| 1.4.12 @ 5:14PM
Lord can't differentiate? It's Ron Paul we're talking about, oh wise academic. He is the one who doesn't differentiate (and those examples aren't all equally revolting). Ron Paul would have done what Chamberlain did. Hell, he tells us he would. Chamberlain, at some point, sobered up and realized the error of his ways. Paul's still at the Union telling us, in 1944, to not be so belligerent towards Adolf.
Clint| 1.4.12 @ 6:18PM
Do Your Homework, Israel Firster Smear Bund Boy, Little Eddie.
Dr.Ron Paul, " I would ask Congress for a Declaration of War against Iran, if necessary,"
Steve| 1.5.12 @ 9:56AM
Well said.
as for Clint...
Wow Feel The Love!
Clint| 1.5.12 @ 10:05AM
as for Steve...
Wow, Feel Up Bibi !
Con Chef (NB) | 1.5.12 @ 10:51AM
Wow, you're still fellating Ron Paul. What a shock.
Clint| 1.5.12 @ 11:50AM
Wow, You're Still Humpin' Bibi, Israel Firster Smear Bund Fruit, Con Job.
The Tea Party Rebellion Steps On The Israel Firster Smear Bund Ass Clown, Con Job.
Con Chef (NB) | 1.5.12 @ 11:58AM
When are you gonna step on me? I'm still waiting.
Clint| 1.5.12 @ 12:55PM
I Just Did Neo-Chickenhawk Israel Firster Smear Bund Ass Clown , Con Job.
What Are Ya Gonna Do About It, Candy Ass?
Quartermaster| 1.5.12 @ 8:24PM
Nope! Lord can't differentiate. I think it's genetic. He grew up in a GOP that had been co-opted by the Neocons and is taken by their Wilsonian "wisdom." The Neocons damaged his political DNA and he sees little limit to the ability of the US to make war incessantly.
Many of us old Cold Warriors see the stupidity of people like Lord. Many of you make the mistake of thinking this is just a Ron Paul thing. It isn't. Going into Iraq was a mistake because we knew that the Neocons would jot be able to stop with just taking Saddam out. Alas, the Neocons once more proved us right when we would have greatly enjoyed being proven wrong.
We've pulled the same idiocy in Trashcanistan and have little to show for it other than huge debt and some full coffins.
A pox on both your houses!
Ed| 1.4.12 @ 5:25PM
As mentioned by Lord, every generation thinks they've outgrown it. Ron Paul so wants to outgrow it that he would blame Jews or the US Government for 9/11 just to avoid facing the facts of a dangerous world. Why do your columns on Paul so studiously avoid his actual world view?
Clint| 1.4.12 @ 6:01PM
Tell It To The CIA, The Department of Defense And The 9/11 Commission,Who Agree With The CIA's Michael Scheuer And Dr.Ron Paul.
" Michael Scheuer, who was the head analyst at the CIA’s bin Laden unit, Alec Station, and authored the books Through Our Enemies Eyes and Imperial Hubris, said “I thought Mr. Paul captured it the other night exactly correctly. This war is dangerous to America because it’s based, not on gender equality, as Mr. Giuliani suggested, or any other kind of freedom, but simply because of what we do in the Islamic World because ‘we’re over there,’ basically, as Mr. Paul said in the debate.”
Scheuer also agreed with Dr. Paul’s statement in the debate that the war in Iraq was a diversion from capturing or killing Osama bin Laden and that bin Laden was “delighted” that the U.S. is occupying Iraq as it has become a training ground and recruiting tool for new jihadists joining the movement."
The Tea Party Rebellion Heads To The East Coast.
Scott Ward| 1.4.12 @ 5:31PM
My question for Mr. Smith is how would he interpret the Quran when it says in Sura 9:5 "Fight and slay the pagans (ie Infidels) wherever ye find them, and seize them, beleaguer them, and lie in wait for them in every strategem of war." Or in Sura 5:33, "Their punishment is...execution, or crucifixion, or the cutting off of hands and feet from the opposite sides, or exile from the land." Essentially, Convert or Die. Do I agree that we should be more prudent with our foreign support and our efforts, yes? Do i think letting evil people get the means to destroy us or letting our allies be on an island (Israel), no?
Ron Paul is a Neo-Liberal, Isolationist who would see America become weak.
Clint| 1.4.12 @ 6:45PM
Do Your Homework.
" Nonintervention or non-interventionism is a foreign policy which holds that political rulers should avoid alliances with other nations, but still retain diplomacy, and avoid all wars not related to direct self-defense. This is based on the grounds that a state should not interfere in the internal politics of another state, based upon the principles of state sovereignty and self-determination. A similar phrase is "strategic independence". Historical examples of supporters of non-interventionism are US Presidents George Washington and Thomas Jefferson, who both favored nonintervention in European Wars while maintaining free trade. Other proponents include United States Senator Robert Taft and United States Congressman Ron Paul.
Nonintervention is distinct from isolationism, the latter featuring economic nationalism (protectionism) and restrictive immigration. Proponents of non-interventionism distinguish their policies from isolationism through their advocacy of more open national relations, to include diplomacy and free trade."
The Tea Party Rebellion Heads To The East Coast.
Occam's Tool| 1.4.12 @ 9:06PM
"The Tea Party Rebellion Heads to The East Coast."
Thirrrrrrd. Turd. Your boy is going to lose more and more, Clint. Now, moving to adult topics:
Iran is threatening the US to stay out of the Persian gulf.
Correct Move: Inform the Chinese, Israelis, and Russians that the US is taking Iran out of the equation, and use the appropriate megatonnage (or conventional weaponry, but Teheran really needs a nuke ground zeroed on the site of the former American embassy) to do so.
Then roll over and call room service and tell them to scrmble the eggs right next time.
Something you missed, Reid: the Cold War mentality kept America secure against an evil totalitarian regime for over 50 years. Your understanding of the nature of man, like Ron Paul's, is pathetic. The Islamic world wants us dead. Their prophet was a psychopath, with no difference between his belief's and Charles Manson's.
Clint| 1.5.12 @ 3:31AM
Dr.Ron Paul's Foreign Policy Advisor Michael Scheuer, Former CIA Chief of The bin Laden Unit,
" On Iran,The President should:
1.) Explain to the American people that Iran is no threat to the United States unless we or Israel attack it first, and then it would be a serious threat to U.S. access to energy and would likely stage terrorist operations in the continental United States. [The last thanks to 30-years of federal immigration policies that leave us without knowledge of who is in the country or what they are capable of doing.]
2.) Publicly state that there will be no U.S. surprise attack on Iran, and no U.S. attack at all on Iran unless the president asks for a formal declaration of war and the Congress votes its approval in a constitutional manner.
3.) Call in Israel's ambassador to the United States and tell him that we understand that Israel believes Iran is a threat to its survival, and that we agree that Israel has every right to defend itself. If Israel believes it must go to war with Iran, then so be it. But also tell the ambassador that if Israel attacks Iran, the U.S. administration will declare U.S. neutrality in the war and immediately cut off military and financial support to all combatants in the war.
4.) Speak to the American people and tell them to expect to be brutally propagandized by U.S. citizen Israel-Firsters through AIPAC, their ubiquitous media shills, and the men and women they own in the U.S. Congress and federal bureaucracy. Urge Americans to ignore this effort by U.S. Israel-Firsters to get them to send their soldier-children to fight in a religious war in which the U.S. has no genuine national interest at stake, and in which U.S. participation would further bankrupt the country, require the reintroduction of conscription, and put America at war with all of the Muslim world -- Shia and Sunni -- for the foreseeable future."
The Tea Party Rebellion Steps On The Neo-Chickenhawk Coward Israel Firster Smear Bund Ass Clown, Tool Job.
Quartermaster| 1.5.12 @ 8:30PM
Occam, there is a huge difference in situation between the 70 years war with Ivan, and what we now have with Muslims. The two situations are not even comparable.
We have two choices with Islam,
1. We isolate them from the rest of the world except for trade and forbid any sort of expansion in the west of their numbers. That means they have no kids here, and they are not allowed permanent residence here. No exceptions.
2. We kill all of them. No exceptions.
I could live with #1. You want #2 which means you become like them and that change will not go away. It's a simple fact of human nature. With #2 you become bestial and the type of man no should ever want to associate with. You would be no better than Stalin, Mao, and your Paulian bete noir, Hitler. You become everything you accuse Paul of being.
Hobbes| 1.4.12 @ 5:32PM
Even if Ron Paul fails this time around, there is still Rand Paul in 2016...Our day will come.
9thID| 1.4.12 @ 10:36PM
Rand isn't nearly the loon that his father is as he doesn't write racist newsletters, pose for pics with the leader of Stormfront, or have his home away from home over at PrisonPlanet/Infowars. Rand is more mature than his father ever was...
Tom| 1.4.12 @ 5:38PM
"However, if Mr. Lord is "unwilling or unable" to differentiate -- strategically -- between American response to Nazi genocide, Soviet Empire, and several thousand "freedom haters" scattered somewhere between Morocco and Malaysia, I'm not sure where to proceed with this conversation."
Well, many libertarians and isolationists didn't, and don't. Libertarian ideologue Murray Rothbard steadfastly opposed the Cold War. And his attacks on Barry Goldwater as the GOP nominee in the 1964 election read like the latest Paultard rant. Rothbard went so far as to call Goldwater a "menace," and applaud that infamous Democratic TV commercial with the little girl picking flowers and the nuclear explosion (The Betrayal of the American Right,pp. 188-190) .
Plus, the Dhimmi Dimwit's unending apologetic for Islam removes him from any claim to being a serious scholar. Islam has plagued humanity for 1400 years. Compared to it, Nazism is just a flash in the pan. Islam has been, is now, and will be for as long as it exists, the most hideous expression of social, political, and spiritual evil in the world. If the Dhimmi Dimwit wants to embrace the Paultardian doctrine of preemptive surrender, that is his choice. But true American conservatives and patriots will NEVER settle for that type of personal cowardice, intellectual poverty, and national betrayal.
Luis S.| 1.5.12 @ 3:18AM
Right, so I think you need to speak to a Muslim or two. I know that Mr. Smith has known a few, and I've worked with Muslims in the middle east myself... So I think I say this confidently and without generalizing.
You are ignorant at best, and dangerously bigotted at worst. I'm wondering if you can hear yourself. If you trade the word "Islam" with "Judaism," you sound no better than the Nazism you reference. You are taking pages out of Mein Kampf to make baseless, hateful statements about an entire religious community by presenting your bigotry as fact.
It is absolutely shameful, and you really should be ashamed. The pluralism our country was founded on allows all religions to flourish. It allows Appalachian Christians to dance with snakes, and it allowed Mormonism to preach near-racism towards blacks. Compared to those levels of crazy, Islam as a religion is nothing.
It is my sincere hope that you actually encounter a muslim person and speak with them. Listen to them, and I am 100% certain that it will soften your perspective. I am not a muslim, and I have absolutely no intention of ever converting, but I can appreciate things like "tolerance" and "facts." I suggest you find a similar appreciation. Not for me or other "liberals," but for yourself.
Tom| 1.5.12 @ 6:01AM
Dhimmi, we've got 1400 years of tyranny, oppression, and blood to prove the stupidity of your statements. The Koran has cause infinitely more misery than Mein Kampf and is the most evil book ever puked forth from the pits of hell.
And as for your ignorant statement trying to equate Judaism with Islam, Judiam doesn't have Islam's bloody and evil history.
I spit on the name of Mohammed.
Go screw yourself, dhimmi scum.
Clint| 1.5.12 @ 10:09AM
You Seem So Upset This Fine Morning, Smear Bund Girl, Thomasina.
Call Bibi.
Con Chef (NB) | 1.5.12 @ 10:50AM
I hear the good doctor calling for his morning rimjob. Better run along, Cwint.
Clint| 1.5.12 @ 11:56AM
I hear Bibi Callin' For His Morning Skin Flute Tune Up. Better Skip Along, Pipe Cleaner.
The Tea Party Rebellion Steps On The Israel Firster Smear Bund Girl, Condumb.
Tom| 1.5.12 @ 4:47PM
I have little tolerance for idiots; whether they be Dhimmi Dimwits, or neo-Nazi Paultards like yourself, Herr KKKlint.
Luis S.| 1.6.12 @ 2:05AM
First of all, "dhimmi"? If that's a veiled reference to me being a non-muslim subject to a muslim sovereign you're off base. I claim no allegiances but my citizenship and my family. Those are where my loyalties lie. And it is because of the principles instilled in me by my upbringing that I can't just "go screw myself."
It is bewildering that you seem to think that Islam as an ideological system has a history that is more bloodied than any other. Moreover, the notion that "Islam" is one ideological force is a myth that is forever propagated by a news culture that likes easy answers. For example, if we are trying to gather reports about al-Zarqawi and we want the information quickly, it's easier to say "a Muslim Radical" than it is to say "a member of a Quttubist-Sunni splinter group operating in Iraq" ... because to understand the more accurate latter title would mean that you spend time and mental energy actually grasping facts and history.
I would love to see some sources for your assertions. Really, I would. If you would be so kind as to post links to sources regarding your perspective of Islam, I will actually read them.
Then I will tell you - line by line - why they are wrong. Don't worry, I will have my own sources too.
I hope you get out of your hole someday.
- Luis S.
Ryan| 1.5.12 @ 9:43AM
You won't find many of them in America. However, militant Islamists - which is NOT Islamism as a whole - has a substantial foothold in many parts of the world.
And Islam has always sought to expand its borders and control through various means. And it has never resulted in greater freedoms for the general populace.
Pretending that we can pull back and be insulated from it is foolishness. No, we're not going to see hordes of Islamists pouring over our borders, but I don't see them ceasing attempts at 9/11-style attacks, cyberwar, and economic war against us.
Quartermaster| 1.5.12 @ 8:35PM
The population of Muslims is the sea the radicals swim in. Most can be counted upon to support the radicals. That, alas, is a fact we either face, or we are committing suicide.
WM| 1.4.12 @ 5:43PM
Demography is destiny. The neoconservative notion of military adventurism - all continents, all activity, all the time - could not last for long.
Smirking Weasel| 1.4.12 @ 5:47PM
Jeffy Lord's real fear is that young folk aren't going to Hessian up for the Empire, voluntarily or not, so Jeffy himself might have to go die in the dirt fer no good reason at all; appears some short-named chickenhawks may have similar, subliminal concerns.
Bob Grant| 1.4.12 @ 6:30PM
You guys love to use the term chickenhawk because it's a catchall, meaningless word used against anyone who's not a serial appeaser. An added feature is you can define it as you wish to suit your needs.
Throw it in the group of similar words like to push an agenda like Racism or Social Justice.
Quartermaster| 1.5.12 @ 8:38PM
And, as I have stated before, to you, no less, you are dead wrong. A Chickenhawk is one who is more than ready to call for war when they have no skin, and never had any skin in the game. In other words, they never served in the military, but are more than willing to go to war as long as it isn't them, or anyone they love, that has to feel the sting of combat.
That's all it means Bob, and that's all it has ever meant. It's not "code" for anything.
aware| 1.4.12 @ 7:00PM
"...Hessian up for the Empire.." A first class bit of smirking. My compliments, sir!
Clint| 1.4.12 @ 6:38PM
The New Hampshire Gazette
The Chickenhawk Hall Of Shame
name:
Willard Mitt Romney
rank:
Chickenhawk First Class with Distinguished Fleeing Cross
date-of-birth:
March 12, 1947
home state:
Michigan
missed opportunity:
Vietnam War
excuse:
None to speak of
preferred activity:
Trying to talk people into becoming Mormons
occupation:
Climbing ambition's greased pole
When your daddy's a Governor and a Cabinet Secretary, it's amazing how your odds of being drafted diminish."
The Tea Party Rebellion Heads To The East Coast.
Clint| 1.4.12 @ 6:40PM
The New Hampshire Gazette
The Chickenhawk Hall Of Shame.
name:
Newton Leroy "Newt" Gingrich
rank:
Chickenhawk First Class with Distinguished Fleeing Cross
date-of-birth:
June 17, 1943
home state:
Georgia
missed opportunity:
Vietnam War
preferred activity:
Attending grad school
occupation:
Congressman
A virtuoso in the art of hypocrisy, the former Speaker of the House now claims the Vietnam War was a splendid idea, but at the time he opposed going himself. Newtie also speaks highly of morality, but as a serial adulterer he doesn't want to get too close."
The Tea Party Rebellion Heads To The East Coast.
Windy City Commentary| 1.4.12 @ 6:44PM
If you think Islamic Terrorists planned and implemented 9/11, you will take their threat seriously, but if you feel deep down that it was all a big govt. conspiracy, it makes it really easy to buy into Ron Paul's foreign policy and see the threat of radical Islam as simply several thousand "freedom haters" scattered somewhere between Morocco and Malaysia. After all, if you believe 9/11 was orchestrated by the U.S. govt. then they are just scattered freedom haters not a group who in 1 hour changed the skyline of New York City and killed a few thousand unarmed citizens.
If you think the U.S. Govt. orchestrated 9/11, you would feel safer in this present day world where the coming attack is such a surprise, you can't even develop and rehearse a futile defense mechanism like huddling beneath a school desk.
Clint| 1.4.12 @ 6:52PM
Dr.Ron Paul's Foreign Policy Advisor Michael Scheuer, Former CIA Chief of The bin Laden Unit,
" On Iran, The President should:
1.) Explain to the American people that Iran is no threat to the United States unless we or Israel attack it first, and then it would be a serious threat to U.S. access to energy and would likely stage terrorist operations in the continental United States. [The last thanks to 30-years of federal immigration policies that leave us without knowledge of who is in the country or what they are capable of doing.]
2.) Publicly state that there will be no U.S. surprise attack on Iran, and no U.S. attack at all on Iran unless the president asks for a formal declaration of war and the Congress votes its approval in a constitutional manner.
3.) Call in Israel's ambassador to the United States and tell him that we understand that Israel believes Iran is a threat to its survival, and that we agree that Israel has every right to defend itself. If Israel believes it must go to war with Iran, then so be it. But also tell the ambassador that if Israel attacks Iran, the U.S. administration will declare U.S. neutrality in the war and immediately cut off military and financial support to all combatants in the war.
4.) Speak to the American people and tell them to expect to be brutally propagandized by U.S. citizen Israel-Firsters through AIPAC, their ubiquitous media shills, and the men and women they own in the U.S. Congress and federal bureaucracy. Urge Americans to ignore this effort by U.S. Israel-Firsters to get them to send their soldier-children to fight in a religious war in which the U.S. has no genuine national interest at stake, and in which U.S. participation would further bankrupt the country, require the reintroduction of conscription, and put America at war with all of the Muslim world -- Shia and Sunni -- for the foreseeable future."
The Tea Party Rebellion Heads To The East Coast.
aware| 1.4.12 @ 6:53PM
Excellent response, and many of us agree, Reid. It's not just the military complex but the welfare complex too. They will both cease not because of our efforts against it, but because we are approaching broke.
When that realization arrives expect much weeping and gnashing of teeth. And a whole herd of sacred cows will get slaughtered. Bad way for it to end but too many folks love their sacred cow too much to understand we are about to be trampled by a real big herd of sacred cows.
rssg| 1.4.12 @ 7:19PM
Mr Smith, like most Paulbots, is truly "young and dumb". Like previously said, every generation "thinks" that they have the "new enlightenment".
Young and dumb, truly young and dumb.
9thID| 1.4.12 @ 10:43PM
As one Conservative so eloquently puts it, "young skulls full of mush". Filled with mush from our wonderful unionized public school system, network TV, and social justice "churches"...
C Bowen | 1.4.12 @ 7:36PM
Mr. Smith;
Don't hold back. We have to keep in mind that Iraq, Serbia/Kosovo, Libya, Egypt...were interventions of dubious legality to outright criminal in the case of using the forged Nigerian Uranium documents, or allying with Osama in Kosovo, and certainly based on media manufactured lies, where the media relies on government contracts and government bailouts (and the FCC) to stay in business..
We can pretend its an intellectual discussion, but at the heart of it, Lord is defending crime--only the House Committee on UnAmerican Activities could uncover whether he is a paid agent, or just, what did they call it, a useful idiot.
Just consider how many figures are on the MEK payroll--a Marxist terrorist organization--yet, Tom Ridge or Guiliani haven't been arrested? Oh, but they support bombing Iran!
I wouldn't bother with Lord unless he confesses his financial ties.
Con Chef (NB) | 1.5.12 @ 10:48AM
"...using the forged Nigerian Uranium documents"
Yeah. They were "forged." That's why that yellowcake is being destroyed in Canada as we speak.
I have a moon rock made of gorganzola cheese for sale, if you want to buy it...
C Bowen | 1.5.12 @ 1:53PM
Yes, they were forged. The Italians arrested the forger--the Bush Administration and the Ruling Class did not conduct an investigation into who fooled (wink wink) the intelligence apparatus.
You are clearly ignorant on this topic.
Yeah--they Yellow Cake in Canada was old stuff already known about and was not weapon's grade--are you just lying or were you duped again?
What makes you different then Manning is that you are participating in a crime to cover-up the illegal Iraq War that cost over $1 trillion (not counting trillions in future vet benefits), killed thousands of Americans and hundreds of thousands of Iraqi's and made Iran dominant in the region, furthering the reach of Islamists.
If you work for the government, and I suspect you do, better hope the House Committee on UnAmerican Activities never comes back.
C Bowen | 1.5.12 @ 2:04PM
Article on Italian Intelligence identification of who forged the Niger Uranium documents:
http://www.nytimes.com/2005/11.....italy.html
Do you know who Marino is associated with?
It's pretty easy to figure out where the trail leads to--the Office of Special Plans, Feith, Maloof, and the since convicted spy, Larry Franklin.
Con Chef (NB) | 1.5.12 @ 4:00PM
Wow. The New York Times. Because THEY'RE not biased at ALL. And no, I don't work for the government, idiot. And I know the uranium wasn't weapons grade. What the hell were all the centrifuges for?
I shake with fear as you come to affect your "arrest" of me for being "un-American."
C Bowen | 1.5.12 @ 6:11PM
So you are basically just a dupe?
The New York Times carried the lies from the Office of Special Plans on their frontpage--Judith Miller would get fired eventually for it--please tell me you recall this?
If you are saying that the Italians really did not finger the author of the fraud, may I ask how tight your tinfoil is?
What are you covering for traitors? Isn't that a reasonable question?
C Bowen | 1.5.12 @ 6:22PM
Philip Giraldi had an article in The American Conservative in 2005, Forging A Case For War--I am sure you are a subscriber (LOL, right?) so you could pull out the back issue.
But here is the rest of the MSM:
Here is CIA/Washington Post (the folks the conspirators did an end run around, or looked the other way any-hoot:
http://www.globalpolicy.org/co.....37608.html
CNN
http://articles.cnn.com/2003-0.....s?_s=PM:US
Hey--are you anyway connected to the homosexual prostitute reporter, but I repeat myself, Jeff Gannon the Bush Administration so enjoyed, along with Hannity?
Ken (Old Texican)| 1.4.12 @ 7:36PM
rssg
thank you for your cutting to the bottom line.
I wrote a speech for a fictional US President in my latest novel, www.americaalonesaidno.com
Here it is:
Men and women of the United States, it is an honor to have the opportunity to speak to you this evening. We… all of us… have been through some serious suffering these last months and years. Many of you are still in the midst of that suffering, and I am sorry.
“Nevertheless, I want to tell all of you, that tomorrow…tomorrow… the dawn breaks across America. I want to remind each of us that even tonight in the darkest dark, America is still the lighthouse; the shining city on the hill for all mankind!
“As I began to write this speech, I thought of all the men and women across the world in our military uniforms. I recalled that every single one of them is a volunteer. I recalled that every one of them has written a blank check to our country, and that blank check might be for their very lives.
“But you know, they have not only written a check to us. They have written a check to the people they are trying to help.
“They are trying to make a world where little girls do not have their womanhood stolen from them with a dirty knife. They are trying to make a world where every man can sit beneath his fig tree in peace.
“Men and women of America, sometimes we forget that it is our mission also; the mission for every single one of us.
“I am now going to plagiarize one of the most brilliant men who has ever walked the earth. Somehow, by the grace of God, he survived the NAZI death camps. He said, “A man can live with almost any how…if he has an adequate why.”
He also said, there are only three ways to find meaning in life: “One, a task or tasks worthy of one‟s life. Two, to experience love…even if only given and not reciprocated. Three, to have the opportunity to experience suffering for goodness‟ sake.”
“He also said: In the course of searching for a „worthy of life task‟, in his experience most joyful human beings found themselves confronted with a task-master. As Christians and Jews, we call that taskmaster…God.
“Men and women of America, we are engaged in a World War. With deepest respect for our former Presidents, I must share with you my own thoughts. I believe we are engaged in a World War with the most sweeping totalitarianism in the history of mankind. That totalitarianism is not only political, but demands soul-slavery to a hateful seventh century warlord with no questions even allowed to be asked.
“It is worse than barbarism, ladies and gentlemen. Even barbarians never tried to enslave people‟s soul, but only their lives.
“Our enemy is a religion and a political system enslaved by a religion. I cannot get around that reality. I will live and die believing that we were created by a just and loving God.
“I will lay down my life on the premise that God doesn‟t want…or need…slaves in „submission‟ to puff up His ego.
“So, as a nation, and as individual Americans in our daily work, let us again lift up the torch that Lady Liberty holds aloft in New York harbor; the torch of hope and freedom, for all the world. In her other hand she holds a tablet, and few of you know what is inscribed on that tablet…do you?
“It is a very simple inscription. It simply reads, July 4th, 1776; the date our Declaration of Independence was signed. I shall now quote one of the most well known sentences in the English language:
We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty, and the pursuit of Happiness.
“Men and women of America, Our Why, as a nation in these days is to lift the torch of hope and freedom once again, this time to light the way for one point five billion human beings living in slavery…in submission…called Islam.
“I am committed to the proposition that those one point five billion human beings were also created equal, and endowed by our common Creator…gifted by our common Creator… with those same rights that we enjoy, and the son and daughter relationship that we can aspire to in fellowship with our Creator.
“So,
From this day forward, let it become our why; to lift these human beings out of slavery…slavery to a religion of murder and enslavement.
Thank you.”
C Bowen | 1.4.12 @ 8:01PM
Do those checks say BCCI or Export/Import Bank on them?
Simon Templar| 1.4.12 @ 8:20PM
Reid, like many young and inexperienced people you tend to overlook the obvious and deny that which is not apparently visible. If you can not see it then it does not exist.
I am glad you used the cold war analogy as it fits perfectly. Like yourself, there were many, and most often LIBERALS, that denied that communism and soviet expansionism was a threat. Plenty of Hollywood movies were made decrying the conservative, or as you say neo-con paranoia. Since, it was covert and often not obvious and not visible it did not exist. Got news for ya, it did exist, check out the tons of EVIDENCE from KGB files and other sources that are now available. If you had bothered to actually talk with someone from that era that actually worked in military intelligence, you would know this. The chinese were up to some incredibly, evil and dangerous covert activities in the 70's. All of which, like the international terrorist threat today were stopped but not known by the general public.
With what we do know about Islamic aims and the real threats and terrorism in Europe and the world, it is preposterous that you attempt to downplay this threat and try to play and old game of crying paranoia.
If you are not for nation building and gigantic invasion actions, then that is one thing, but you damn well better take this serious and come up with another means to deal with it that is less costly.
A reasonable case can be made that we can not afford large scale land war nor that it is the best way to deal with the threats. We do not have to always play policeman either. Ok, that is reasonable.
C Bowen | 1.4.12 @ 8:29PM
This post is silly.
FDR's Administration was crawling with Reds as the Navy Intelligence files illuminate, but mention a word about the truth of Pearl Harbor, and you'll switch tactics.
I am quite confident from previous exchanges with Mr. Smith that he understands a Deep State concept, so you are missing the point.
Simon Templar| 1.5.12 @ 9:53AM
If you have anything of substance to counter my argument then state it. Calling it silly just does not cut it and shows your lack of depth and your inability to respond intelligently. FDR's administration was crawling with Red's is making my point not undermining it. You really need to read more about history than what you picked up in the national inquirer and the latest conspiracy tabloid. No, you are missing a brain.
Those Reds you mentioned were soviet spys and recruits approached by soviet agents. Conservatives were screaming bloody murder about their suspicions of communist infiltration but assholes like you and Reid were telling them that there was no enemy, no threat, and that they were paranoid.
Con Chef (NB) | 1.5.12 @ 10:46AM
"Conservatives were screaming bloody murder about their suspicions of communist infiltration but assholes like you and Reid were telling them that there was no enemy, no threat, and that they were paranoid."
I'm sure all those people who were sounding the alarm were just "neocons." Gee, no matter who the enemy is, why is it that regresssives & their neo liberal blame America First buddies think we should just send each other hugs & kisses & that the world will be all good?
C Bowen | 1.5.12 @ 1:58PM
The neocons, so to speak, were the Communists--they were over at The New Republic Magazine in the 30s and 40s.
You really don't know much about this topic, do you?
Con Chef (NB) | 1.5.12 @ 4:01PM
Yes, tell us all about how the "neocons" are commie sleeper agents, my little Alex Jones acolyte. Please educate me.
C Bowen | 1.5.12 @ 6:30PM
Sleeper agents? No, they were originally Trotskyites--they didn't hide it, Irving Kristol (Bill's Dad) or Norm Podhoretz, all had solid Red credentials and said as much in their books--of course you read those right? (I know, LOL) Their sons just continued the tradition, with less honesty.
Reid Smith has promised a post on Max Shachtman http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Max_Shachtman so hopefully he can do some educating.
It's bizarre that you don't know a basic history of the American Pre-Post WWII Right when a Regnery is a publisher for this magazine--do you know who their father was?
I'd be happy to assist, and let bygones be bygones, but it would have to be by e-mail or hop over to the site I occasionally post at (click name) and we can continue this discussion--I would do it here but it gets tedious on this comment board system--I trust we can agree on that.
Do you have a disqus account? I'd share my username if you do.
C Bowen | 1.5.12 @ 1:56PM
See, now you don't make any sense.
You just switched sides. Rightwingers like me, if I had been alive back then, would have argued along with America First that FDR was angling for a war to save Communist Russia, save the Soviet.
FDR illegally violated the neutrality act and used diplomacy to encourage a Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor, to create a backdoor to war.
That is history--not your goofy version of apologizing for Trotskyites.
Ed| 1.4.12 @ 9:34PM
I hope the budding professor defends his thesis better than he writes here (or else it will be a waste of a lot of schooling).
9thID| 1.4.12 @ 10:51PM
Not to worry, Obama took over the school loan program, so you probably won't even notice the increase in your taxes when Reid defaults for losing his job...
Interested Conservative| 1.5.12 @ 12:44AM
Let's take it again from the top:
1) Who wrote the following?
2) When?
3) In what context?
4) What in it is arguable or refutable, and why?
"How dreadful are the curses which Mohammedanism lays on its votaries! Besides the fanatical frenzy, which is as dangerous in a man as hydrophobia in a dog, there is this fearful fatalistic apathy. The effects are apparent in many countries. Improvident habits, slovenly systems of agriculture, sluggish methods of commerce, and insecurity of property exist wherever the followers of the Prophet rule or live.
A degraded sensualism deprives this life of its grace and refinement; the next of its dignity and sanctity. The fact that in Mohammedan law every woman must belong to some man as his absolute property, either as a child, a wife, or a concubine, must delay the final extinction of slavery until the faith of Islam has ceased to be a great power among men.
Individual Moslems may show splendid qualities, but the influence of the religion paralyzes the social development of those who follow it.
No stronger retrograde force exists in the world. Far from being moribund, Mohammedanism is a militant and proselytizing faith. It has already spread throughout Central Africa, raising fearless warriors at every step; and were it not that Christianity is sheltered in the strong arms of science, the science against which it had vainly struggled, the civilization of modern Europe might fall, as fell the civilization of ancient Rome."
Clint| 1.5.12 @ 3:57AM
1,) Winnie
2,) 1899
3.) The Mahdist Revolt
4.) Good Generals Don't Fight The Last War.
Dr.Ron Paul's Foreign Policy Advisor Michael Scheuer, Former CIA Chief of The bin Laden Unit,
" On Iran, The President should:
1.) Explain to the American people that Iran is no threat to the United States unless we or Israel attack it first, and then it would be a serious threat to U.S. access to energy and would likely stage terrorist operations in the continental United States. [The last thanks to 30-years of federal immigration policies that leave us without knowledge of who is in the country or what they are capable of doing.]
2.) Publicly state that there will be no U.S. surprise attack on Iran, and no U.S. attack at all on Iran unless the president asks for a formal declaration of war and the Congress votes its approval in a constitutional manner.
3.) Call in Israel's ambassador to the United States and tell him that we understand that Israel believes Iran is a threat to its survival, and that we agree that Israel has every right to defend itself. If Israel believes it must go to war with Iran, then so be it. But also tell the ambassador that if Israel attacks Iran, the U.S. administration will declare U.S. neutrality in the war and immediately cut off military and financial support to all combatants in the war.
4.) Speak to the American people and tell them to expect to be brutally propagandized by U.S. citizen Israel-Firsters through AIPAC, their ubiquitous media shills, and the men and women they own in the U.S. Congress and federal bureaucracy. Urge Americans to ignore this effort by U.S. Israel-Firsters to get them to send their soldier-children to fight in a religious war in which the U.S. has no genuine national interest at stake, and in which U.S. participation would further bankrupt the country, require the reintroduction of conscription, and put America at war with all of the Muslim world -- Shia and Sunni -- for the foreseeable future."
The Tea Party Rebellion Heads To The East Coast.
Con Chef (NB) | 1.5.12 @ 10:42AM
Hey, look! Its the same robo posted crap from the guy who failed to get Bin Laden.
The Pee Party of Clint will get sodomized on the east coast worse than their 3rd place piss poor finish in Iowa.
Clint| 1.5.12 @ 12:08PM
You're An Israel Firster Traitor Bastard Smear Bund Liar, Con Job.
" Michael Scheuer, the former chief of the Central Intelligence Agency’s (CIA's) Osama bin Laden unit, told the U.K. Daily Telegraph in a recent interview he was prevented from capturing or killing the terrorist by his superiors on at least 10 separate occasions.
The 22-year CIA veteran-turned-whistle=blower resigned from the agency in 2004, disgusted by the government’s lies surrounding the terror war.
The next year, bin Laden declared war on the American government. And in 1997, when bin Laden was again living in Afghanistan, Scheuer said his team groomed a band of Afghans to capture the suspected terror boss. There were at least two “clear opportunities” to bring down bin Laden by the middle of 1998, according to Scheuer. But in both cases, he said, CIA bosses refused to proceed.
Scheuer told the Telegraph that following the missed opportunities to kill or capture bin Laden in 1998, there were at least eight other chances to get the terror mastermind. By that point, bin Laden was supposedly among the U.S. government’s most wanted criminals. But for some unknown reason, senior officials refused to authorize his capture or assassination.
“One 50-cent round could have put us all out of our agony,” Scheuer explained. But that didn’t happen, as high-level authorities consistently ordered the CIA unit not to stop bin Laden."
The Tea Party Rebellion Steps On The Israel DFirster Traitor Bastard Smear Bund Liar, Con Job.
Con Chef (NB) | 1.5.12 @ 12:36PM
Again, why should I give a shit about what a guy who failed in his mission has to say?
His commentary is ALMOST as meaningless as your's.
Clint| 1.5.12 @ 12:58PM
Again, You're An Israel Firster Traitor Bastard Smear Bund Liar, Con Job.
Now,Go Fetch Bibi's Bone, Smear Bund Doggie
Con Chef (NB) | 1.5.12 @ 4:02PM
Doesn't change the fact that Scheuer is a failure, as are you, as is your candidate.
Interested Conservative| 1.5.12 @ 1:53PM
I must have missed the news. When did the "last war" end?
Clinton| 1.5.12 @ 5:08AM
Ron Paul is a pork swilling DC insider and two-faced hypocrite. He makes Rick Santorum look parsimonious when it comes to wasting taxpayer dollars on his favorite special interest groups. As for "your generation" you don't speak for the young men and women who are actually defending our nation against Ron Paul’s jihadist buddies (please don’t claim he’s got support in the military that’s a joke when 90+% of young military people don’t know who Ron Paul is).
As for your subjective statement, "I may be young, but I'm not dumb." Convince a fool against his will and he's of the same opinion still. I can see why you’re a Ron Paul cultist you’re delusional ego is almost as big as his.
As for Nazi genocide Ron Paul seems to think it was nothing important. Maybe like 9/11 he thinks the US was behind it.
Con Chef (NB) | 1.5.12 @ 10:41AM
From the article:
"Conflating Neville Chamberlain's response to the menace of National Socialism -- let alone Oxford '33 -- with Ron Paul's criticism United States' unilateral, (nay, "bottomless") support for the "war on terror" is equal parts useless and inconsequential.:
Oh, for Christ's sake. Read some more history about appeasement. Like some Demosthenes. You ARE young & stupid, Mr. Smith. As with most of the neo Chamberlains, your lack of knowledge of history is your downfall. As is your failure to recognize the threats posed to this nation by our various enemies.
Dai Alanye | 1.5.12 @ 11:02AM
"I may be young, but I'm not dumb."
I beg to differ.
Quartermaster| 1.5.12 @ 8:47PM
You have the privilege of differing all you like. But, unlike Lord, he has made some very good points that have not been answered. We are on the threshold being removed from the world scene as a serious played because we are broke, and Lord would have us ramp up what has already failed?
There's a dumb one in this exchange, and it isn't Reid in this case.