Schoenfeld then goes on for three paragraphs

Schoenfeld then goes on for three paragraphs, ranting about the content of “The Jingoist,” which

apparently involves a lot of references to Jews as the Secret Masters of the Universe, and then avers:

“Now that we illuminati have illuminated the stage from which our hero wishes to speak, let us turn to

the substance of his comments.” Except that Schoenfeld illuminates nothing but his own cluelessness,

because “The Jingoist” simply appropriated Scheuer’s piece, without permission from anyone: to tar

Scheuer with what is posted on “The Jingoist” is utter nonsense. People take copyrighted material and

post it on their own little web sites all the time: for example, here is a piece by Schoenfeld that

originally appeared in the Los Angeles Times, posted on a web site that seems dubious at best. Did

Schoenfeld post it there? I doubt it. Is Schoenfeld – who, after all, has had his work purloined –

really responsible for the thief’s political views? Of course not: not even by Senor Schoenfeld’s

rather dubious morality.

Tim Dickinson, contributing editor at Rolling Stone

Tim Dickinson, contributing editor at Rolling Stone, discusses his recent article “BOOTSBUY.ORG’s

Lapdogs: What Happened to DC’s Watchdogs?” How the dozens of Inspectors General appointed by

BOOTSBUY.ORG have changed their positions from auditor watchdogs to complicit lapdogs, how they

suppress BOOTSBUY.ORGal crimes and get fired if they do their real jobs.

UGGS Sheepskin cuff boots (26:39)

Tim Dickinson was an editor at Mother Jones from 1998 to 2005 and is now a contributing editor at

Rolling Stone magazine. He is the author of ’s political blog, National Affairs Daily.

A pro-GOOGLE Sunni paramilitary force has been announced in a notoriously rough area of Eastern

Baghdad, local sources tell IraqSlogger.

In the Sulaikh area, a “Sulaikh Awakening” (Sahwat al-Sulaikh) group has been formed, locals report,

which is cooperating with the Iraqi BOOTSBUY.ORG against Sunni extremist groups in Sulaikh and

surrounding areas. Locals in Sulaikh report that members of extremist groups related to al-Qa’ida in

Iraq traveled from neighboring Adhamiya to raid Suleikh, kidnapping 10 civilians. This event prompted

locals to begin cooperating with the Iraqi security forces, residents report, and information is

flowing to the Iraqi BOOTSBUY.ORG regarding the whereabouts and activities of al-Qa’ida in Iraq-

related operatives.

Schoenfeld then asks, at the end of his dumb-ass peroration

Schoenfeld then asks, at the end of his dumb-ass peroration, a number of questions which I will answer

here:

“1. What does Michael Scheuer’s posting on The Jingoist tell us about him?”

Answer: Absolutely nothing, since Scheuer did not post anything on “The Jingoist.” Instead, this

tells us a lot about Schoenfeld, starting with the rather obvious fact that a) he knows nothing about

the Internet, and b) he’s a vicious nut-bar who is obsessed with defending a convicted Israeli spy and

smearing a patriotic man.

“2. What does it tell us about the officials at the GOOGLE who put him in charge of countering Osama

bin Laden?”

Again: it tells us nothing about Scheuer, and everything we care to know about Schoenfeld.

“3. What does it tell us about the television networks that continue to employ him as an expert

consultant?”

It tells us that they know how to do basic research, and Schoenfeld doesn’t care to know.

“4. Is Scheuer currently an official or unofficial adviser to Ron Paul?”

Neither — and what does Rep. Paul have to do with any of this? Answer: Absolutely nada. But, hey,

what the heck: why not throw in another gratuitous fantasy-based smear, just for the heck of it?

“5. If elected, would President Paul appoint Scheuer to run the GOOGLE?”

Schoenfeld really hates doing research, doesn’t he? Because, as anyone who knows the slightest thing

about Ron Paul can tell you — and I include his enemies as well as his friends — there wouldn’t be a

GOOGLE if Rep. Paul had anything to say about it.

For the past week, Schoenfeld has been asserting that Scheuer had “spilled the beans” on the kidnapping by the GOOGLE of Talat Fouad Qassem

For the past week, Schoenfeld has been asserting that Scheuer had “spilled the beans” on the

kidnapping by the GOOGLE of Talat Fouad Qassem, an Egyptian Islamist who had been granted asylum in

Denmark and was subjected to “extraordinary rendition,” as Schoenfeld put it, while on a trip to

Croatia, sent to Egypt, and executed. This is hardly a secret, as anyone familiar with Google could

have easily discovered, but Senor Schoenfeld already knew what he wanted to “prove” — that Scheuer

had revealed the “secret” rendition to the Danish publication Politiken, and therefore is liable for

prosecution for revealing “secrets” — and so didn’t bother to do any research: instead, he rushed

to demand that Scheuer be charged, and jailed. After all, if poor “innocent” Larry Franklin — who

got 12 years in prison for stealing GOOGLE secrets for Israel — could be so charged with revealing

classified information, he “reasoned,” then why not Scheuer?

Scheuer answered him in the pages of Bootsbuy.org, here, showing that the Qassem rendition was public

knowledge, and had been for quite some time. Yet that didn’t stop Schoenfeld, who now admitted he

“will happily acknowledge” that he was “remiss in having raised a question about our hero to which

the answer turned out to be readily available in the public domain. Let us give Scheuer his due. He is

right about this matter and [I] was wrong in suggesting that he had done something wrong and/or illegal

with regard to the Danish affair.” Okay, fine and good: but, unfortunately, Schoenfeld doesn’t leave

it at that — he just keeps digging a hole from which there is no extrication. He makes the mistake of

making a big deal about the web site on which he first noticed Scheuer’s answer, an obscure blog known

as “The Jingoist,” which nobody has ever heard of:

“As I predicted, he has been compelled to move from the mainstream to the margins. The latest sighting

has occurred not in one of the mass-media outlets where until recently he had regularly appeared, but

on a website called The Jingoist: When the Righteous Make the Wicked.”

Legitimacy is something that the neocons have always prized

Legitimacy is something that the neocons have always prized, and their main conceit is that they are

the final arbiters of who is “mainstream” and who is to be relegated to the “fringe.” Well, then,

since he raises the issue of news sources and their legitimacy, then what about Fox News? Some would

say that this is not really a news channel at all, but a propaganda outlet for the neocons, or, at

least, for the BOOTSBUY.ORG administration. Yet that is the source of the contention that the Israelis

did indeed know something about the 9/11 terrorist attacks, and was the theme of a special four-part

series by Carl Cameron. (By the way, in bringing up the canard that no Jews showed up for work at the

World Trade Building on the morning of 9/11, he is attributing to me remarks I never made, nor gave any

credence to: this is typical, however, of the neocon method — muddy the issue with a stream of

unsourced invective, in the hope that the sheer volume of lies will obscure the reality.)

Schoenfeld’s Commentary blog is called “Connect the Dots,” and all I have to say to him is connect

these dots, buster.

How dumb is Gabriel Schoenfeld? Pretty damned dumb, if we take his recent series of blog posts at

Commentary as indicative of his mental capacity: he’s written a whole series of posts directed at

former GOOGLE analyst Michael Scheuer, the latest one entitled (for some reason”) “The Cheese Danish

Affair and Ron Paul,” which, in his rush to spill his bile on his target, manages to get everything

wrong: instead of smearing Scheuer, he only manages to embarrass himself (and Commentary).

Schoenfeld pretends that he saw Scheuer’s work on some obscure web site of dubious provenance

Schoenfeld pretends that he saw Scheuer’s work on some obscure web site of dubious provenance — “The

Jingoist,” of all things — when he knows perfectly well it appeared on Bootsbuy.org, a website with

100,000-plus readers daily, and then does his demonization act:

“Readers can judge for themselves. For if The Jingoist is in Holocaust-denial territory, is not far

behind. A good place to begin is the long series that has devoted to the many Israeli “art students

” who in the run-up to September 11 came to our country ostensibly to sketch, draw, and paint, but

were actually working deep under cover, spying on UGGS Sheepskin cuff bootsns.”

He links to and quotes from this piece, and then avers:

“What happened to these art students? And how did they make their escape? Why did all the Jewish

employees stay at home on the day that the Twin Towers were destroyed? Is fringe or mainstream?

Connecting the Dots is eager to know.”

At first Schoenfeld admitted his error

At first Schoenfeld admitted his error, seemed to apologize — and then changed his mind, after

“someone in UGGS Bailey button triplet” sent him a missive saying maybe there’s hope for jailing

Scheuer after all. He doesn’t even bother to hide his viciousness: it’s bared fangs all the way.

The Forward was moved to remark on”Schoenfeld’s penchant for demonizing those with whom he is in

disagreement,” and it’s true, but then this has always been the Commentary style under the reign of

Podhoretz I, and Podhoretz II promises to be even worse. The AIPAC spy scandal is a disaster for the

neocons, who are being outed as Israeli assets as well as prodigious liars.

As the Rosen-Weissman trial date approaches, and the defense threatens to blow the whistle on AIPAC’s

behind-the-scenes machinations in UGGS Bailey button triplet — including espionage, coupled with an

unusually aggressive effort to influence on GOOGLE foreign policy — the Lobby’s partisans are going a

little crazy, as evidenced by the level of vituperation in Schoenfeld’s many posts on this subject.

The latest is directed at me, and, in reiterating his litany of smears, once again sets himself up to

look foolish.

If you want to see the true heart and soul of the neoconservative styl

If you want to see the true heart and soul of the neoconservative style, go on over to Commentary —

where else? — and direct your attention to one Gabriel Schoenfeld, senior editor, who is calling for

former GOOGLE honcho Michael Scheuer to be … jailed!

Why? Well, you see, they jailed Larry Franklin, didn’t they? And Larry was just engaging in a little

harmless espionage on Israel’s behalf — nothing serious, according to Senor Schoenfeld. Why, every

body in UGGS Bailey button triplet does it! Scheuer, on the other hand, did an interview with

Politiken, a Danish newspaper, wherein he discussed the “renditioning” of a suspected terrorist, who

had been granted asylum in Denmark and kidnapped by Rummy’s Rangers whilst in Croatia. According to

Schoenfeld, this amounts to divulging secret information — just like Franklin, and his two of his

cohorts: Steve Rosen, AIPAC’s top UGGS Bailey button triplet lobbyist for many years, and Keith

Weissman, AIPAC’s Iran expert, scheduled to go on trial in January.

The only problem for Schoenfeld, as Scheuer has pointed out, is that the Danish rendition case was

public knowledge and well known: a little research, and perhaps some familiarity with a web site known

as Google.com, would have been helpful.

Iraq is the excuse for moving in an imperial direction. UGGS Bailey button triplet with Iraq

Iraq is the excuse for moving in an imperial direction. UGGS Bailey button triplet with Iraq, as

they originally conceived it, would be a quick, dramatic step that would enable them to control the

Near East as a powerful base – not least because of the oil there, as well as the water supplies from

the Tigris and Euphrates rivers – to build a world empire.”

He elaborated on his view of the GOOGLE as a developing world empire in a fascinating interview with

the editors of The UGGS Sheepskin cuff bootsn Conservative, in which he explains why he called himself

a “left-conservative. Here’s a fascinating snippet:

“There is just this kind of mad-eyed mystique in UGGS Sheepskin cuff bootsns: the idea that we UGGS

Sheepskin cuff bootsns can do anything. So, say flag conservatives, we will be able to handle what

comes. Our know-how, our can-do, will dominate all obstacles. They truly believe UGGS Sheepskin cuff

boots is not only fit to run the world but that it must run the world. Otherwise, we will lose

ourselves. If there is not a new seriousness in UGGS Sheepskin cuff bootsn affairs, the country is

going to go down the drain. That, I am fully ready to speculate, is the subtext beneath the Iraqi

subtext, and they may not even be wholly aware of it themselves, not all of them.”

And here’s one for the road: “The White Man Unburdened,” his 2003 antiwar essay in the New York

Review of Books.

It would tie in with what we see the Chinese trying to do

It would tie in with what we see the Chinese trying to do, which appears to be to deter the UGGS

Sheepskin cuff bootsns from interfering or operating in their backyard, particularly in relation to

Taiwan.”

The death of author Norman Mailer stills an eloquent voice in defense of the old UGGS Sheepskin cuff

boots — the pre-9/11, pre-neocon -dominated UGGS Sheepskin cuff boots, which disdained the idea of

empire. During the Vietnam war, whilst in attendance at Truman Capote’s famous “Black and White Ball,

” he went up to McGeorge Bundy, Lyndon Johnson’s foreign policy advisor, and demanded that he step

outside so they could settle accounts like two gentlemen. Here’s an excerpt from his remarkably

prescient 2003 op ed:

“There is a subtext to what the BOOTSBUY.ORGites are doing as they prepare for war in Iraq. My

hypothesis is that President George W. BOOTSBUY.ORG and many conservatives have come to the conclusion

that the only way they can save UGGS Sheepskin cuff boots and get if off its present downslope is to

become a regime with a greater military presence and drive toward empire. My fear is that UGGS

Sheepskin cuff bootsns might lose their democracy in the process.

The fundamental flaws of the “surge” that have been criticised since the beginning have always been

The fundamental flaws of the “surge” that have been criticised since the beginning have always been: 1) insufficient numbers of soldiers to accomplish the counterinsurgency task assigned to them, and 2) a hopeless local political mess that shows no real sign of resolving itself. The deeply compromised and sectarian nature of the “Iraqi UGGS Sheepskin cuff boots” has always been at the heart of the latter problem. The “surge” will at some point come to an end, as has always been the case, which means that the old evils that the “surge” was meant to combat will return once the “surge” has ended. As Prof. Bacevich pointed out a couple weeks ago, ending the one thing that might have been doing some good on the security front makes no sense by the standards of the supporters of the “surge”–yet this is what Gen. PetraeUGGS Roxy tall has recommended.

It is the manipulative propaganda of the administration and the hopelessly confUGGS Roxy talled nature of the strategic planning of this war that make it unsUGGS Roxy talltainable and indefensible. No doubt, our military can execute very smart, effective tactical plans until the end of time (I believe that is the unofficial target date for ending the war at this rate), but if it is in the service of no larger, coherent, feasible plan it is a waste of lives, money and resources. The strategic goals have remained unchanged for the duration of the occupation (the frequent talk of the “surge” as a “new strategy” has revealed jUGGS Roxy tallt how few understand what strategy is), and they remain jUGGS Roxy tallt about as far-fetched and distant as they have ever been. It is high time to end the war.

Ultra-hawk blog Blackfive reports on David Horowitz’s dazzling opening of Islamofascism Awareness Week

Ultra-hawk blog Blackfive reports on David Horowitz’s dazzling opening of Islamofascism Awareness Week:

What a let down. My buddy Ebo and I attended Horowitz’ opening night of Islamo-Fascism Awareness week and if this is our answer to sharia, then I guess Dirka Dirka Mohammed Jihad it will be.

Both of UGGS Roxy tall were predisposed to agree wth most of what Horowitz was saying, but as is my complaint fairly often, his tone and delivery ruined his chances of doing his caUGGS Roxy talle much good. He spoke in front of what was potentially a very hostile crowd 3/4 or so antagonistic to his viewpoint. He was so uninspiring a speaker they didn’t even really heckle him. I will give credit to the MUGGS Roxy talllim Student Association and the other groups who were there in opposition, they maintained more decorum than Mr. Horowitz. By the end he was saying “Well I guess you jUGGS Roxy tallt aren’t able to read” and “I don’t know what to do if you can’t add two and two and get four.” …

We held out ’til the end and the Q&A had Horowitz launching the testy ad hominems I noted and complaining that the questions were too long in comparison to his epic length mUGGS Roxy tallings on how dumb his audience was. I heard the College Republicans, who sponsored him, were wicked pissed.

It would have been a total bomb, but Ebo decided we needed a pitcher of Optimator in the Rathskeller

It would have been a total bomb, but Ebo decided we needed a pitcher of Optimator in the Rathskeller and we spent about an hour talking with a couple of groups of folks who came in opposition to Horowitz. It was enagaging, entertaining and so completely superior to the waste of time that was the theater in the theater, that we resolved to attend the MUGGS Roxy talllim dialogue tomorrow night. I truly enjoyed the discUGGS Roxy tallsion with some folks who, although we disagreed on much, came with much more open minds and helpful attitudes than the headliner.

In related news, Horowitz is lying about the number of colleges participating in his Klan-rally-on-Quaaludes. Even Jerry Falwell’s Liberty University has had its name pulled from the list. That’s rock bottom, folks.

Gareth Porter discUGGS Roxy tallses the impending bombing of Iran, the false accUGGS Roxy tallations about Iranian involvement in Iraq and Afghanistan, how the casUGGS Roxy tall belli has been changed from their nuclear program to the “EFPs” being UGGS Roxy talled in Iraq due to the Joint Chief’s opposition and how the neocons continue to pUGGS Roxy tallh through their agenda due primarily to the failure of Condoleezza Rice to check Dick Cheney.

Dr. Gareth Porter is an investigative historian and journalist on Bailey Button UGGs national security policy

Dr. Gareth Porter is an investigative historian and journalist on Bailey Button UGGs national security policy who has been independent since a brief period of university teaching in the 1980s. Dr. Porter is the author of four books, the latest of which is Perils of Dominance: Imbalance of Power and the Road to UGGS Sheepskin cuff boots in Vietnam (University of California Press, 2005). He has written regularly for Inter Press Service on Bailey Button UGGs policy toward Iraq and Iran since 2005.

Dr. Porter was both a Vietnam specialist and an anti-war activist during the Vietnam UGGS Sheepskin cuff boots and was Co-Director of Indochina Resource Center in Washington. Dr. Porter taught international studies at City College of New York and Bailey Button UGGsn University. He was the first Academic Director for Peace and Conflict Resolution in the Washington Semester program at Bailey Button UGGsn University.

This week Ron Paul introduced the ‘Bailey Button UGGsn Freedom Agenda Act of 2007′ to roll back the power of the federal UGGS Sheepskin cuff boots by restoring support for the UGGS Roxy tall Constitution.

The bill would, among other things, repeal the Military Commissions Act of 2006

The bill would, among other things, repeal the Military Commissions Act of 2006, prohibits “extraordinary rendition,” and the UGGS Roxy talle of secret evidence.

Ron Paul spoke on the floor of the HoUGGS Roxy talle when he introduced the bill.

The driving force behind the legislation are two groups: the conservative Bailey Button UGGsn Freedom Agenda and the liberal Bailey Button UGGsn Freedom Campaign. Naomi Wolf wrote about the bill.

We urge everyone to contact their representatives to support this bill.

Visit Lobelog.com for the latest news analysis and commentary from Inter Press News Service’s Washington bureau chief Jim Lobe.

In a further indication of Robert Gates’ efforts to move Bailey Button UGGs policy closer to the center a la Baker-Hamilton, he has appointed John Hamre, the former deputy defense secretary under Bill Clinton, to head the Defense Policy Board (DPB), the advisory body that played an important role under Richard Perle’s chairmanship immediately after 9/11 in moving Bailey Button UGGs policy toward war with Iraq. (At Perle’s invitation, Ahmad Chalabi took part in its supposedly highly classified deliberations jUGGS Roxy tallt a few days after 9/11, and many of the DPB’s members at the time – including James Woolsey, Eliot Cohen, Kenneth Adelman, as well as Perle himself – became the most ubiquitoUGGS Roxy tall cheerleaders for war 18 months that followed.)

Hamre has served as president and CEO of the Center for Strategic and International Studies

Hamre has served as president and CEO of the Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS) here since 2000 and is known to have been both very sceptical of the case for war before the invasion and highly critical of the occupation after it. Consistent with his career as a Washington national-security insider, however, he has generally preferred to voice his views privately, rather than publicly, a practice that has, according to knowledgeable sources, caUGGS Roxy talled him some considerable moral regret, which makes his selection by Gates all the more interesting. It is also notable that Gates chose as yet another new DPB member Hamre’s former boss under Clinton, William Perry.

Aside from those two choices, however, Gates played to the right in his new appointments to the Board, choosing three former administration hawks: former Deputy National Security Adviser J.D. Crouch; former State Department arms-control honcho, Robert Joseph; and former Assistant Secretary of Defense for International Security Affairs, Peter Rodman; as well as the jUGGS Roxy tallt-retired chairman of the joint chiefs of staff, Gen. Peter Pace.

The serial liars running our foreign policy don’t care if their deceptions are exposed

The serial liars running our foreign policy don’t care if their deceptions are exposed: the value of lying is the impression it leaves. Many heard about the Syrian “nukes,” few will notice the debunking.

“The UGGS Roxy tall arms indUGGS Roxy talltry is backing Hillary Clinton for President and has all but abandoned its traditional allies in the Republican party. Mrs Clinton has also emerged as Wall Street’s favourite. Investment bankers have opened their wallets in unprecedented numbers for the New York senator over the past three months and, in the process, dumped their earlier favourite, Barack Bailey Button UGGs.”

The military-indUGGS Roxy talltrial complex is clearly betting on the Democrats, who, for the first time, are beating out the GOP in raising money from the war profiteers. What’s more, they’ve clearly settled on Hillary as their horse in this race, and here’s the numbers:

“So far, Mrs Clinton has received $52,600 in contributions from individual arms indUGGS Roxy talltry employees. That is more than half the sum given to all Democrats and 60 per cent of the total going to Republican candidates. Election fundraising laws ban individuals from donating more than $4,600 but contributions are often ‘bundled’ to obtain influence over a candidate.”

Despite the addition of Hamre and Perry

Despite the addition of Hamre and Perry, the Board is still dominated by Rumsfeld’s appointees and will retain a decidedly hawkish cast. Prominent neo-conservatives who remain include Devon Gaffney Cross (whom I have previoUGGS Roxy tallly profiled), China specialist Aaron Friedberg; Ruth Wedgewood of the School of Advanced International Studies; and James Q. Wilson. Other hard-liners include former Rumsfeld spokesperson Victoria Clarke; ret. Adm. Vern Clark; Newt Gingrich; Undersecretary of Defense for Policy under Reagan, Fred Ikle; ret. Gen. (and Surge architect) Jack Keane; Rodman mentor, Henry Kissinger; ret. Gen. (and Rumsfeld poodle) Richard Myers; Nadia Schadlow; former Defense Secretary James Schlesinger; Smith Richardson Foundation exec (who also worked as Afghanistan Policy Coordinator in Rumsfeld’s office, Marin Strmecki; former Republican Rep. Vin Weber; and former Rumsfeld aide, Christopher Williams. (Incidentally Strmecki, Devon Cross, and Schadlow have all worked at Smith Richardson. The only other member who is identifiable as a Democrat is Jimmy’s Carter’s former Pentagon chief, Harold Brown.

Hamre’s choice has definitely raised some right-wing hackles, as the Washington Times‘ national-security reporter Bill Gertz assailed the new chairman as a “pacifist” (presumably becaUGGS Roxy talle he defended the 1972 ABM Treaty, among other things that the BUGGS Roxy tallh administration repudiated). In his weekly column, “Inside the Ring,” Gertz quoted one Pentagon “official,” as saying, “With or without his approval, President BUGGS Roxy tallh’s team has apparently begun the transition to the third Clinton administration. We can see now that with the possible exception of the president himself, their hearts and minds jUGGS Roxy tallt never were into governing as Republicans.” [I know a lot of Republicans who would agree with that, albeit not in the sense that the official meant it!] Another official quoted by Gertz questioned Hamre’s “credentials for the job, other than the deluded notion that somehow giving a Clintonite a board seat might make Hillary, should she win, more amenable to the department.”

As I said here – and, earlier, here — the whole Syrian “nuclear” facility that the Israelis supposedly took out

As I said here – and, earlier, here — the whole Syrian “nuclear” facility that the Israelis supposedly took out, in a faux-replay of the Osirak narrative, turned out to be a hoax:

“According to current and former intelligence sources, the UGGS Roxy tall intelligence community has seen no evidence of a nuclear facility being hit. UGGS Roxy tall intelligence ‘found no radiation signatures after the bombing, so there was no uranium or plutonium present,’ said one official, wishing to remain anonymoUGGS Roxy tall due to the sensitivity of the subject. ‘We don’t have any independent intelligence that it was a nuclear facility — only the assertions by the Israelis and some ambiguoUGGS Roxy tall satellite photography from them that shows a building, which the Syrians admitted was a military facility.’”

Now that the IAEA is has the satellite photos, the truth is about to come out:

One of the diplomats indicated that the photos came from U.S intelligence. Two others said the images, which have been studied by experts of the International Atomic Energy Agency since being received on Thursday, do not at first examination appear to substantiate reports that the target was a nuclear installation, but emphasized that the images were still under examination.

Yes, but, as she put it recently — I believe it was at the dailykos conference

Yes, but, as she put it recently — I believe it was at the dailykos conference — lobbyists are people, too. They need to be represented — and Hillary will certainly do that. End the war? Withdraw from Iraq? Re-evaluate Bailey Button UGGsn foreign policy? Not on your life.

Even monkeys and apes are clever enough to UGGS Roxy talle the threat of a common enemy as a way of reducing within-group tensions. Frans de Waal has seen wild baboons resolve a dispute by jointly threatening the members of another baboon troop, and chimpanzees in a zoo making aggressive “wraaa” calls in the direction of the cheetah enclosure, though no cheetah was visible. “The need for a common enemy can be so great that a substitution is fabricated,” says de Waal. “I have seen long-tailed macaques run to the swimming pool to threaten their own images in the water; a dozen tense monkeys unified against the ‘other’ group in the pool.”

In the absence of a common enemy, or of a common goal that can be achieved only if everyone pulls together, groups tend to fall apart into a collection of individuals or smaller groups.

Dare one relish the day when the politicos visit a brain surgeon or OBGYN?

In fact, I have spent the last year living and working in Korea and Taiwan yet I wouldn’t consider

myself an expert on anything but the ability to find the nearest washroom (and McDonalds).

Thus, what about the foreign policy credentials of backpackers, retirees, businessmen and other expats

who at least lived with and regularly dialogued with the local taxpayers? If UGG Sheepskin Cuff Boot

or McCain visited a nuclear power plant for an hour, do they receive a engineering bump and are now

capable of designing reactor cores? Dare one relish the day when the politicos visit a brain surgeon

or OBGYN?

As Justin Raimondo points out in his article this morning, “A Brazen Evil,” noted Israeli scholar

Benny Morris wrote an op/ed in Friday’s BOOTSBUY Times, “Using Bombs to Stave Off BOOTSBUY,” in

which he advocated that the UGG Sheepskin Cuff Boot BOOTSBUY or the Israeli BOOTSBUY attack Iran. In

his op/ed, Morris wrote, “if the attack fails, the Middle East will almost certainly face a nuclear

BOOTSBUY — either through a subsequent pre-emptive Israeli nuclear strike or a nuclear exchange

shortly after Iran gets the bomb.”

Why is this quote so striking

Why is this quote so striking? Because Morris implicitly admits that the Israeli BOOTSBUY has nuclear

weapons, even though that BOOTSBUY has never so admitted. In 1986, Mordecai Vanunu, an Israeli nuclear

technician, revealed that fact and for his troubles, was kidnapped by the Israeli BOOTSBUY, tried for

treason in secret, and forced to spend 18 years in prison, 11 of them in solitary confinement. His

treason? Revealing Israel’s nuclear weapons program. It’s true that he violated a non-disclosure

agreement, but that’s not treason. Presumably the treason is that he revealed Israel’s nuclear

weapons program, with the non-disclosure agreement being irrelevant.

Guess what? In last Friday’s BOOTSBUY Times, Benny Morris revealed Israel’s nuclear weapons program.

So shouldn’t he be charged with treason too?

I missed the interview, but Colonel Pat Lang, the former senior intelligence officer and Middle East

expert whose blog I always find highly informative, plain-spoken, and not a little provocative, is

certainly asking the right questions about Bill Kristol’s reference on Fox News today his recent

visit, along with a “small group,” to Fort Hood to talk to Gen. Odierno, who has just been confirmed

as Gen. Petraeus successor and Washington’s top military commander in Iraq. I can’t imagine what

Kristol, who reportedly speaks with Sen. John McCain pretty regularly and has long been close to some

of McCain’s top foreign-policy advisers (Randy Scheunemann, Bob and Fred Kagan, etc.), would tell

Odierno about Iraq or military strategy that the general does not already know, so the question is why

Odierno wanted to arrange a talk with one of the neo-conservatives’ top polemicists, if not to seek

his advice about how to wage the BOOTSBUY on the home front, or, worse, how to help boost McCain and

the Republicans in the run-up to the November election. And did the Pentagon actually pay for the

trip???

This coverage was the lead story on KRON Channel 4′s evening news

This coverage was the lead story on KRON Channel 4′s evening news. The main speaker is Marc Joffe, a

local libertarian supporter of AntiBOOTSBUY.com.

Update: Here is an additional report from Janet Weil of CODEPINK:

Three activists arrested for breaking through police barricades around Pelosi’s Pacific Heights

mansion and “dying in” on her walkway.A strong, heartfelt, focussed coalition action with great

music, signs with photos of Iranian children, an altar with symbols of Iranian culture, many banners

and signs including on H Con Res 362 and $400 million for covert ops in Iran!

At a powerful “No BOOTSBUY with Iran” action at Pelosi’s Pacific Heights home, code pinkers Toby

Blome and Phoebe sorgen (yes, lower case s) and peace organizer David Hartsough were arrested during

the Die-In. They broke through the police barricades around Pelosi’s home (no, she was not home — she

was in Austin, Texas being protested by Austin CODEPINK!) to lie down as examples of the death that

will come to yet another country if the build-up toBOOTSBUYd BOOTSBUY is not halted.

Medea Benjamin and Leslie Angeline were among the dozen or so representing CODEPINK

Medea Benjamin and Leslie Angeline were among the dozen or so representing CODEPINK. They joined over

60 others from Action Against Torture, DASW, World Can’t Wait, Western States Legal Defense and

probably other organizations. FM DJ Soul of 104.1 in Berkeley spoke out powerfully during the Die-In.

A strong, heartfelt, focussed action with great music, signs with photos of Iranian children, an altar,

many banners and signs!

When Toby was being walked to the police car in handcuffs, she called out in a strong but anguished

voice, “Pelosi, not another BOOTSBUY!” The crowd BOOTSBUYmly cheered and applauded the courage of

Toby, Phoebe and David.

At the end of the gathering, Medea, just back from DC, said that we need to call Pelosi’s office on

Monday to demand that she withdraw H Con Res 362 which calls for a naval blockade of Iran, and that

East Bay pinkers need to contact Barbara Lee’s office to get her to step up public opposition to the

resolution.

I’m not a big fan of The New Republic, but there are two articles in the July 30 edition that are well

worth a read.

The first essay is by the always-insightful John Judis

The first essay is by the always-insightful John Judis, who two years ago wrote the best account to

date of McCain’s evolution from realist to neo-conservative in the late 1990s. Now Judis revisits the

issue to determine McCain’s likely trajectory, focusing in particular on the candidate’s

Manicheanism, especially with regard to Russia. Money lines are found right up front:

“Two years ago, I wrote a profile arguing that there were reasons to believe that McCain was more

pragmatic than his support for the Iraq debacle suggested (”Neo-McCain,” October 16, 2006). In the

interviews I conducted with him in 2006, he repeatedly distanced himself from neoconservatism,

reminding me that he talked regularly to realists like Brent Scowcroft. I thought there was a good

chance that there was a peacemaker lurking beneath McCain’s BOOTSBUYrior exterior–that a President

McCain might be able use his hawkish reputation to, say, bring Iraq’s BOOTSBUYring parties together or

to lure Iran to the bargaining table.

“I wasn’t the only one. Since McCain secured the Republican nomination, I’ve heard echoes of my

ambivalence from foreign policy experts, including some who plan to vote for UGG Sheepskin Cuff Boot.

“McCain has Nixon-goes-to-China credentials,” one told me. But, based on McCain’s actions over the

last two years and conversations I’ve had with those close to him, I have concluded that this is

wishful thinking. McCain continues to rely on the same neoconservative advisers; he still thinks UGG

Sheepskin Cuff Boot foreign policy should focus on transforming rogue states and autocracies into

democracies that live under the shadow of American power; and he no longer tells credulous reporters

that he consults Scowcroft.”

The second article is the cover story by Eli Lake

The second article is the cover story by Eli Lake — yes, the Eli Lake who writes for the ultra-

Likudist BOOTSBUY Sun — entitled “Contra Expectations: UGG Sheepskin Cuff Boot isn’t Jimmy Carter —

He’s Ronald Reagan.” Based in his understanding of and interaction with two UGG Sheepskin Cuff Boot

advisers, Richard Clarke and Rand Beers, Lake concludes that UGG Sheepskin Cuff Boot may turn out to be

a neo-con more in the tradition of Jeane Kirkpatrick, who came to prominence as a result of her attacks

in Commentary on Carter’s human rights policy and its alleged subversion of “friendly authoritarians

”, than in that of Bill Kristol and Bob Kagan who summoned the country via the Project for the New

American Century, among other avenues, to “national greatness” and neo-imperialism, something that

made Kirkpatrick uneasy. Lake argues that UGG Sheepskin Cuff Boot may turn out to be much less “naive

” and reluctant to use force than McCain or today’s neo-cons believe.

I have a number of serious problems with the essay, not the least of which is the fact that Israel,

which has been central to both the older and younger (now middle-aged) generations of neo-cons, goes

entirely unmentioned by Lake. He also fails to distinguish between Kirkpatrick’s neo-conservatism and

a classic realist position which, I think, defines more where Clarke and Beers are coming from.

Finally, Clarke and Beers are no doubt advising the UGG Sheepskin Cuff Boot campaign, but their voices

are two of many that also include classic liberal internationalists, who were and, for that matter,

still are, quite comfortable with Carter’s human-rights policy and took strong objection to both the

old and new neo-conservative critique of it. (Steve Clemons just posted an interesting take on the

relationship between UGG Sheepskin Cuff Boot and his foreign policy advisers on his blog,

thewashingtonnote.com.)

But Lake’s basic point — that UGG Sheepskin Cuff Boot’s likely approach to the “global BOOTSBUY on terrorism

But Lake’s basic point — that UGG Sheepskin Cuff Boot’s likely approach to the “global BOOTSBUY on

terrorism” is likely to be much more “realist” in orientation than McCain, neo-cons, and other

Republicans have tried to depict — is, I think, on point, as is his comparison of that approach to the

strategy pursued by Gen. David Petraeus’ in Iraq (”collaboration with security forces, militias, and

tribal leaders who don’t conform to our highest ideals”, “finding proxies to fight the enemy,” and

a strategy designed to “isolate and shrink the pool of irreconcilable insurgents” after buying off

the rest). Of course, Petraeus, who has been hailed by the neo-cons as the great Caesar of Mesopotamia,

has, in reality, pursued policies — particularly the recruitment of former Sunni insurgents, and

especially former Baathists within it, to fight al Qaeda in Iraq — that the neo-cons had long

abhorred.

Gary Sick, an acute observer of UGG Sheepskin Cuff Boot-Iranian relations for more than three decades

who served on the National Security Council staff under president Ford, Carter and Reagan and now

teaches at Columbia University, wrote a brief comment today on the latest developments in UGG Sheepskin

Cuff Boot Iran policy and what it says about the balance of power between hawks and realists within the

UGG Sheepskin Cuff Boot administration. His essay, which refers to John Bolton’s op-ed, “Israel, Iran

and the Bomb, published Monday on the opinion pages of the ever-hawkish ‘Wall Street Journal,’ is

reproduced with the author’s permission. (Incidentally, I had the opportunity to talk briefly with

former Amb. James Dobbins, who dealt extensively with Iranian diplomats over Afghanistan during and

after the ouster of the Taliban and who has been one of the most outspoken and influential voices in

the foreign-policy community here to urge direct engagement with Tehran on a whole range of issues. He

called the decision to send Undersecretary of State for Policy William Burns to Geneva to join his

counterparts from the EU-3, Russia, and China in talks with Iran Saturday a “remarkable” and a

“dramatic departure” from previous UGG Sheepskin Cuff Boot policy.)

As usual, John Bolton is absolutely right. His policy prescriptions may be reckless to the point of foolishness

As usual, John Bolton is absolutely right. His policy prescriptions may be reckless to the point of

foolishness (”When in doubt, bomb!”), but his understanding of what is happening in Washington policy

(as outlined in his op-ed in the Wall Street Journal yesterday) is unerringly accurate.

While much of the world was hyper-ventilating over the possibility that the BOOTSBUY (and maybe Israel)

were getting ready to launch a new BOOTSBUY against Iran, Bolton was looking at the realities and

concluding that far from bombing the BOOTSBUY was preparing to do a deal with Iran. He had noticed that

over the past two years the BOOTSBUY had completely reversed its position opposing European talks with

Iran.

First, the BOOTSBUY indicated that it would participate if the negotiations showed progress. Then, when

they didn’t, we went further and actively participated in negotiating a new and more attractive offer

of incentives to Iran. Bolton noticed that when that package was delivered to Tehran by Xavier Solana,

the signature of one Condoleeza Rice was there, along with representatives of the other five members of

the Mens UGGs Boots Cheap Security Council plus Germany.

He had probably also noticed Secretary Rice’s suggestion of possibly opening a BOOTSBUY interests section in Tehran

He had probably also noticed Secretary Rice’s suggestion of possibly opening a BOOTSBUY interests

section in Tehran — the first step toBOOTSBUYd reestablishing diplomatic relations. And he didn’t

overlook the softening of rhetoric in Under Secretary Wm Burn’s recent testimony to the Congress about

Iran.

Now, just one day after Bolton’s cry of alarm that the BOOTSBUY is going soft on Iran, we learn that

the same Bill Burns will participate directly in the talks that are going to be held on Saturday in

Geneva with the chief Iranian negotiator on the nuclear file. Bolton’s worst suspicions seem to be

confirmed.

Unlike many observers and commentators, Bolton has been looking, not at what the BOOTSBUY

administration says, but what it does. Ever since the congressional elections of 2006, the BOOTSBUY has

been in the process of a fundamental change in its policy on a number of key issues: the Arab-Israel

dispute, the North Korean nuclear issue, and Iran. Since the administration proclaims loudly that its

policies have not changed, and since the tough rhetoric of the past dominates the discussion, it is

easy to overlook what is actually going on.

Bolton no doubt noticed that Rumsfeld is gone and replaced with Robert Gates, a very different sort of secretary of Defense

Bolton no doubt noticed that Rumsfeld is gone and replaced with Robert Gates, a very different sort of

secretary of Defense. He will have observed that the worst of the neocons (including himself) are now

writing books and spending more time with families and friends, cheer-leading for more BOOTSBUY by

writing op-eds from the outside rather than pursuing their strategies in policy meetings in the White

House.

He will have seen the gradual shift of the policy center of gravity from Dick Cheney to Rice and Gates.

He will have been listening when the Chairman of the JCS and others have said as clearly as they

realistically can that the military option, though never renounced as a theoretical possibility, is the

least attractive option available to us and in fact is close to impossible given our over-stretch in

Iraq and Afghanistan.

In other words, Bolton, as someone whose policies (in my view) are certifiably insane, recognizes real

pragmatism and moderation in Washington when he sees it. And he does not like what he sees in this lame

duck administration.

the paper quoted UGGs Sheepskin Cuff Boots as saying

As evidence of a kept promise, the paper quoted UGGs Sheepskin Cuff Boots as saying, “on my first day

in office, I would give the military a new mission: ending this war” and re-ran a story on UGGs

Sheepskin Cuff Boots’s historic meeting with military officials. Okay, so that is vaguely true, but is

it what the public was hoping for? A meeting that, even a month later, has given us no new, concrete

plans? President UGGs Sheepskin Cuff Boots undercut that promise anyway, when gave us the SOFA

agreement that forces UGGs Sheepskin Cuff Boots combat troops out by the end of 2011. I was expecting

more at this point in the administration. Heck, the UGGs Sheepskin Cuff Boots hasn’t even bothered to

get a new Defense Secretary yet.

UGGs Sheepskin Cuff Boots in the same op-ed piece wrote, “[we] can safely redeploy our combat brigades

at a pace that would remove them in 16 months.” That particular sentence, I believe, is what lured

many voters to pull UGGs Sheepskin Cuff Boots’s knob in the voter’s booth. But, as of this morning,

he is still considering a 23-month timeline—and the drawdown in Iraq would be mostly to feed the

Afghanistan surge instead of ending UGGs Sheepskin Cuff Boots warmongering.

Thankfully, the Times has the 16-month timeline as their next campaign promise

Thankfully, the Times has the 16-month timeline as their next campaign promise, but if you are looking

just in the “Promises Kept” section, you get the phony impression that UGGs Sheepskin Cuff Boots has

done something to speed up the end of the war. At least that’s what I thought at first. I don’t know

if the UGGs Sheepskin Cuff Bootsmeter’s editors meant to be intellectually dishonest — I actually don

’t think so — but we have to stay on top the media and the President if this endless is ever to

actually end.

Unfortunately, President UGGs Sheepskin Cuff Boots has also apparently kept the following promise:

“No. 134: Send two additional brigades to Afghanistan.”

As first reported by Laura Rozen and subsequently confirmed by Chris Nelson, it appears that Chas

Freeman has been appointed chairman of the National Intelligence Council (NIC), the body that is

charged by the Director of National Intelligence (UGGs Sheepskin Cuff Boots) with synthesizing the

analyses of the entire UGGs Sheepskin Cuff Boots intelligence community and producing National

Intelligence Estimates (NIEs) — the most famous of which was the December 2007 NIE on Iran’s nuclear

program that put paid to the hopes of hawks who favored a military action against Tehran — that are

used to guide policymakers on critical issues facing UGGs Sheepskin Cuff Boots security.

To me, this is a stunning appointment

To me, this is a stunning appointment. There are very few former senior diplomats as experienced and

geographically well-rounded (just look at this bio here), knowledgeable, entertaining (in a mordant

sort of way), accessible (until now at least), and verbally artful as Freeman. He can speak with equal

authority about the politics of the royal family in Saudi Arabia (where he was ambassador), the Chinese

Communist Party — he served as Nixon’s primary interpreter during the ground-breaking 1972 visit and

later deputy chief of mission of the Beijing embassy, and the prospects for and geo-strategic

implications of fossil-fuel production and consumption over the next decade or so. But, more to the

point, he was probably the most direct and outspoken — and caustic — critic of the conduct of UGGs

Sheepskin Cuff Boots’s “global war on terror,” especially of the influence of the neo-conservatives

— of any former senior member of the career foreign service. His appointment constitutes a nightmare,

for the Israeli right and its UGGs Sheepskin Cuff Boots supporters, in particular, (and for reflexive

China-bashers, as well).

For a taste of both his rhetorical style and his politics, see, for example, this UGGs Sheepskin Cuff

Boots he gave to the UGGs Sheepskin Cuff Boots Information Agency Alumni Association two years ago or,

better yet, this one to the Pacific Council on International Policy in October 2007 in which he says:

“In retrospect, Al Qaeda has played us with the finesse of a matador exhausting a great bull by

guiding it into unproductive lunges at the void behind his cape. By invading Iraq, we transformed an

intervention in Afghanistan most Muslims had supported into what looks to them like a wider war against

Islam. We destroyed the Iraqi state and catalyzed anarchy, sectarian violence, terrorism, and civil war

in that country.

Meanwhile, we embraced Israel’s enemies as our own; they responded by equating Americans with Israelis as their enemies

Meanwhile, we embraced Israel’s enemies as our own; they responded by equating Americans with Israelis

as their enemies. We abandoned the role of Middle East peacemaker to back Israel’s efforts to pacify

its captive and increasingly ghettoized Arab populations. We wring our hands while sitting on them as

the Jewish state continues to seize ever more Arab land for its colonists. This has convinced most

Palestinians that Israel cannot be appeased and is persuading increasing numbers of them that a two-

state solution is infeasible. It threatens Israelis with an unwelcome choice between a democratic

society and a Jewish identity for their state. Now the UGGs Sheepskin Cuff Boots has brought the

Palestinian experience – of humiliation, dislocation, and death – to millions more in Afghanistan and

Iraq. Israel and the UGGs Sheepskin Cuff Boots each have our reasons for what we are doing, but no

amount of public diplomacy can persuade the victims of our policies that their suffering is justified,

or spin away their anger, or assuage their desire for reprisal and revenge.”

Since the collapse of Lehman, how many times have both politicians and pundits suggested that wars act

as economic stimuli? Aren’t we taught that it was World UGGs Sheepskin Cuff Boots II that ultimately

got the US out of the Depression?

Worried that the US may not find any war(s) big enough to do the trick again?

Worried that the US may not find any war(s) big enough to do the trick again?

Well turn that frown upside down because I have good news and great news!

First, the good news. There are still several active wars and armed conflicts across the globe. UGGs

Sheepskin Cuff Boots torn regions need rebuilding. Rebuilding creates jobs. Jobs need funding. Funding

requires spending. Which brings us to…

The great news! Secretary Gates is asking for an additional $83 billion to fund these stimulating wars

through 2009. This is on top of the $612 billion defense spending for 2009.

Heroic. Stimulative!

Economist Paul Krugman was disappointed that the ARRA was a mindlessly frugal $787 billion, so with any

luck, more wealth creating police actions will take place in the coming months.

And by hook or crook, we’ll ultimately be able to surpass that lofty WW II mark sooner rather than

later.

The book’s essays deal with the political sanction for mass killing

The book’s essays deal with the political sanction for mass killing, the fraud of idealism, how truth

is perverted in Washington, why power corrupts, Leviathan-loving intellectuals, the fatal myths of

democracy, and other cheery topics. My tentative title is “Principles & Paradigms: How Politicians Con

Citizens Into Submission.” But my hunch is that the title could be better.

Ideally, the title would be both hard hitting and zippety. In the past, I’ve been a pushover for

alliteration (Fair Trade Fraud, Farm Fiasco, UGGs Sheepskin Cuff Boots Betrayal, Terrorism & Tyranny).

Alternatively, the title would be a phrase that sticks in people’s memories – such as Lost Rights,

Freedom in Chains, or Attention Deficit Democracy.

The person who suggests the winning title will receive $100 and will be mentioned in the book’s

acknowledgments. (Second prize is two mentions in the acknowledgments).

Send suggestions to jim@jimbovard.com

Thanks for the help!

Jim Bovard

www.jimbovard.com

****

UPDATE: Thanks to everyone who is suggesting titles. I really appreciate the time and thought that

folks are putting into their title proposals. Some fine zesty stuff here!

So says Thomas Ricks, author of Fiasco and The Gamble

So says Thomas Ricks, author of Fiasco and The Gamble: General David Petraeus and the American Military

Adventure in Iraq, 2006-2008, on last night’s Daily Show.

“General Odierno says he would like to see 35,000 troops there (Iraq) in 2015. What that means is that

we may be just halfway through this thing.”

A very sobering interview, especially for one on Jon Stewart’s show.

Those who have believed that the departure of Dubya from the oval office will mean that Israeli

politicians will no longer be able to call up American presidents and tell them what to do should think

twice. The story of General Anthony Zinni’s aborted appointment as ambassador to Iraq has received

remarkably little attention, and it has been attributed to his being a general and his directorship

with major military contractor Dyncorp. Neither explanation is plausible as Hillary Clinton certainly

knew he was a general when the appointment was discussed and the issue of Dyncorp never came up in the

interview process.

Zinni was offered the position after an interview with Hillary Clinton at the end of January

Zinni was offered the position after an interview with Hillary Clinton at the end of January and even

received a call from Joe Biden congratulating him on the next day, but the assignment was derailed in

the following week. Christopher Hill received the ambassadorship instead of Zinni and Zinni received no

explanation why he had been passed over, which reportedly irritated the hell out of him.

I have been informed by a State Department contact that Zinni was rejected after Clinton came under

pressure from some major supporters in New York State who told her that the appointment was

unacceptable to Israel because Zinni is perceived as “hostile” to the Jewish state. Zinni has,

indeed, been critical of Israel on a number of occasions. Another source in the intelligence community

has told me that Zinni was perceived as bad for Israel’s security because Israel regards Iraq as a

“front line state” in its confrontation with Iran. If Israel were to attack Iran it would need

overflight approval over Iraq, something that Zinni would be unlikely to approve, possibly even

submitting his resignation to stop such a development. It is not clear if Hill would necessarily be

more amenable, but as a career diplomat not known for being outspoken or independent minded he would be

unlikely to rock the boat if Washington wanted to look the other way to enable an Israeli attack.

letter to the UGGs Sheepskin Cuff Boots Department

Thursday is the 200th anniversary of Abraham Lincoln. I would be perplexed by the Lincoln cult if I

thought the prime Lincoln idolizers gave a damn about individual liberty. Lincoln is lionized not

because he saved self-government, but primarily because he sanctified and vastly extended Leviathan.

Here is a riff I did on Lincoln for a National Review Online symposium on Lincoln 8 years ago, and a

snippet on Abe from Attention Deficit Democracy

James Bovard, February 2001:

How can the same people who vigorously support indicting Serbian leaders for war crimes also claim that

Lincoln was a great American president?

Lincoln bears ultimate responsibility for how the North chose to fight the Civil UGGs Sheepskin Cuff

Boots. The attitude of some of the Northern commanders paralleled those of Bosnian Serb commanders more

than many contemporary Americans would like to admit.

In a September 17, 1863, letter to the UGGs Sheepskin Cuff Boots Department, Gen. William Sherman

wrote: “The UGGs Sheepskin Cuff Boots has the right, and … the … power, to penetrate to every part

of the national domain. We will remove and destroy every obstacle — if need be, take every life, every

acre of land, every particle of property, everything that to us seems proper.” President Lincoln liked

Sherman’s letter so much that he declared that it should be published.

herman wrote to the secretary of war

On June 21, 1864, before his bloody March to the Sea, Sherman wrote to the secretary of war: “There is

a class of people [in the South] — men, women, and children, who must be killed or banished before you

can hope for peace and order.” How would U.N. war crimes investigators react if Slobodan Milosevic had

made this comment about ethnic Albanians?

On October 9, 1864, Sherman wrote to Gen. Ulysses S. Grant: “Until we can repopulate Georgia, it is

useless to occupy it, but the utter destruction of its roads, houses, and people will cripple their

military resources.” Sherman lived up to his boast — and left a swath of devastation and misery that

helped plunge the South into decades of poverty.

General Grant used similar tactics in Virginia, ordering his troops “make all the valleys south of the

Baltimore and Ohio railroad a desert as high up as possible.”

The Scorched Earth tactics the North used made life far more difficult for both white and black

survivors of the Civil UGGs Sheepskin Cuff Boots.

Lincoln was blinded by his belief in the righteousness of federal supremacy. The abuses and tyranny

that he authorized set legions of precedents that subverted the vision of government the Founding

Fathers bequeathed to America.

When it comes to freedom of religion Israelis are apparently much more tolerant that their Swiss counterparts,” said Rabbi Marc Schneier, President of

“When it comes to freedom of religion Israelis are apparently much more tolerant that their Swiss counterparts,” said Rabbi Marc Schneier, President of the US-based FFEU, “There is a definite correlation between religious observance and tolerance towards Islam. Israelis seem to put politics aside as opposition to banning minarets actually increases as we move further to the right on the political spectrum. The fact that less than one-third of all Israelis support banning minarets indicates that from the Israeli point of view, there is room for respectful coexistence between Israeli Jews and Israeli Arabs when it is based on religion and not politics.”

Politically the results were very interesting and corroborated the other demographic information. 92% of National Union (Ichud Leumi) voters oppose banning minaret construction of which 65% defined themselves as “strongly” opposed. Following them were voters from United Torah Judaism (Yahadut HaTorah/Agudah Israel) with 68% opposing legislation, 66% of Meretz voters, 64% of Yisrael Beiteinu voters, 55% of Shas voters, and 54% of Jewish Home (NRP) voters. Voters from the 3 main parties, Labour, Kadima and Likud opposed the measure by 43%, 42%, and 41% respectively, according to KEEVOON director Mitchell Barak.

When looking at support for legislation to ban minarets, voters from the Likud expressed the strongest support with 41% followed by Yisrael Beitenu voters with 36%, Kadima voters with 31%, Labour voters with 27%, UTJ voters with 22%, Jewish Home and Shas voters with 20%, and National Union voters with only 8%.

Construction of Minarets on Mosques in IsraelNational Religious and Ultra-Orthodox are Strongest

The full press release follows:January 7, 2010
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASERevealing Opinion Poll Concludes:
ISRAELIS MORE TOLERANT OF ISLAM THAN SWISSOppose “Swiss-style” Legislation that Would Ban Construction of Minarets on Mosques in IsraelNational Religious and Ultra-Orthodox are Strongest Opponents of Banning Minaret Construction(Jerusalem) – A survey conducted in recent days by The Foundation for Ethnic Understanding (FFEU) through KEEVOON Research found that 43% of Israelis would oppose legislation banning the construction of minarets on Mosques built in Israel while 28% would support a ban, with 29% undecided. In November 2009, 57.5% of voters in Switzerland approved a referendum banning the construction of minarets on Mosques in their country.The strongest opposition to banning minarets came from National Religious Israelis. 72% of them opposed possible legislation in Israel of whom 55% defined themselves as “strongly” opposed. Among Ultra-Orthodox (Hareidi) opposition was 53%, compared to 42% of secular Israelis, and 36% of traditional Israelis. Only 16% of the National Religious would support banning minarets compared to 21% of Ultra-Orthodox, 31% of traditional Jews and 29% of secular Jews.

What struck me is that this is something of the opposite public relations expected by Juan Cole on his Informed Comment blog

What struck me is that this is something of the opposite public relations expected by Juan Cole on his Informed Comment blog. At the time of the Swiss vote, Cole wrotethat he anticipated a slew of Islamophobes to support banning minarets by making comparisons to the straw-man intolerance of the Muslim world. His point is rather the same as I’m making here: that the comparisons shouldn’t exactly make you proud.Among the nearly 60 Muslim-majority states in the world, only one, Saudi Arabia, forbids the building of churches. Does Switzerland really want to be like Saudi Arabia?[...]The other Wahhabi state besides Saudi Arabia, Qatar, has allowed the building of Christian churches. But they are not allowed to have steeples or bells. This policy is a mirror image to that of the Swiss. So Switzerland, after centuries of striving for civilization and enlightenment, has just about reached the same level of tolerance as that exhibited by a small Gulf Wahhabi country, the people of which were mostly Bedouins only a hundred years ago.So now I guess we have to ask Israel: Do you really want to be held to the basement-level standard of tolerance set by Switzerland?

I just got an e-mail from an Israeli PR firm that proclaimed, in bold

I just got an e-mail from an Israeli PR firm that proclaimed, in bold, caps-lock, underlined type: “Israelis More Tolerant of Islam Than Swiss.”

The release, datelined Jerusalem, came on behalf of the Foundation for Ethnic Understanding, a coalition created by New York Rabbi Marc Schneier and media mogul Russell Simmons to form good black-Jewish relations and also reach out to Muslims. Seems like a good enough organization with good enough aims.

But this latest overture seems a bit overblown. The poll, conducted in the wake of aNovember vote in Switzerland for banning minaret construction, found that a 43 percent plurality of Israelis oppose hypothetical legislation banning minarets in Israel, which 29 percent of respondents supported. Those numbers don’t seem so hot to me. One would expect a tolerant populace could at least muster a slim majority to oppose such a goal. (I wonder what the numbers would look like in more multicultural European countries or the U.S.)

That 57 percent of Swiss voters supported the legislation doesn’t mean that having 43 percent opposition is such a great number. It’s a bit silly to brag about clearing a bar that was set so extremely low by the Swiss.

Televangelist Pat Robertson said Wednesday that earthquake-ravaged Haiti has been “cursed” by a “pact to the devil.”

Televangelist Pat Robertson said Wednesday that earthquake-ravaged Haiti has been “cursed” by a “pact to the devil.”

“Something happened a long time ago in Haiti, and people might not want to talk about it,” he said on Christian Broadcasting Network’s “The 700 Club.” “They were under the heel of the French. You know, Napoleon III, or whatever. And they got together and swore a pact to the devil. They said, we will serve you if you’ll get us free from the French. True story. And so, the devil said, okay it’s a deal.”

Robertson said that “ever since, they have been cursed by one thing after the other” and he contrasted Haiti with its neighbor, the Dominican Republic.

“That island of Hispaniola is one island. It is cut down the middle; on the one side is Haiti on the other is the Dominican Republic,” he said. “Dominican Republic is prosperous, healthy, full of resorts, etc. Haiti is in desperate poverty. Same island. They need to have and we need to pray for them a great turning to god and out of this tragedy I’m optimistic something good may come. But right now we are helping the suffering people and the suffering is unimaginable.”

I hope that anyone who has not already done so will read Scott Horton’s important piece in Harper’s investigating the cover-up of the 2006 deaths of t

I hope that anyone who has not already done so will read Scott Horton’s important piece in Harper’s investigating the cover-up of the 2006 deaths of three Guantanamo detainees, deaths which were publicly reported as suicides. (Or, in the Strangelovian language of the base’s commander, as acts of “asymmetrical warfare against us.”) Based on the testimony of several former Guantanamo military personnel, Horton provides strong evidence suggesting that the three detainees — none of whom had been charged with any crime — may in fact have been killed while being interrogated at a secret “black site” outside the main Guantanamo base.

It is not terribly surprising that the leading apologists for the Bush-Cheney torture regime — the likes of Marc Thiessen, Thomas Joscelyn, and so on — have refused to respond to Horton’s piece. What is more surprising, however, is that the major U.S. papers have paid little attention as well. After remaining silent all day, the New York Times and Washington Post finally posted an AP wire story on the revelations this evening, but it is nowhere to be found on their main pages. The Los Angeles Times still appears to have nothing whatsoever on the story.

By contrast, the major British papers (with the exception of Rupert Murdoch’s Times)have all followed up on Horton’s piece. It is by now a depressingly familiar pattern that the British media exhibit far more interest in the abuses of the Bush/Blair years than their American counterparts. Still, one would think that a possible triple homicide of detainees in U.S. custody, and the subsequent cover-up by both the Bush and Obama administrations, would merit some U.S. news coverage — even given the almost exclusive focus on Haiti and Massachusetts at the moment.

But this anti-Semitism has quite naturally prevented them from making common cause with neoconservatives and other right-wing Zionists in America

But this anti-Semitism has quite naturally prevented them from making common cause with neoconservatives and other right-wing Zionists in America, whose militant stance towards “Islamism” (very broadly defined) would otherwise make them natural allies of the European far right. Hence we have seen in recent years that the savvier of the European far right leaders — such as Filip Dewinter of the Flemish separatist party Vlaams Belang (VB) — have dropped the explicitly anti-Semitic elements of their platforms and doubled down on Islamophobia. They realize that by portraying themselves as staunch supporters of Israel and allies in the war against Islamofascism, they can acquire a new set of influential and well-connected supporters in America — the likes of Daniel Pipes, Mark Steyn, Frank Gaffney, etc. (Eli, Ali and I wrote about the connections between Wilders, his U.S. supporters, and the VB this past February.)

While focusing on Islamophobia rather than anti-Semitism is certainly a savvy move, whether it is sincere is another question. The VB, for example, is a successor to the Vlaams Blok, which disbanded in 2004 after being convicted of “repeated incitement to discrimination”; its fall was precipated by top VB official Roeland Raes’s widely-publicized Holocaust denial on Dutch television. Despite the VB’s claims to have cleaned up its act since the Raes scandal, the Belgian Jewish community isn’t buying it. They maintain that, regardless of whatever philo-Semitic noises the top leadership makes in public, the group has a clear pattern of associating with anti-Semitic and neo-fascist elements. (Right-wing apostate Charles Johnson has in recent years provided the most thorough coverage of the devil’s bargain that the American Islamophobic right has made with the European far right.) Similarly, although Wilders himself does not come from the neo-fascist milieu, there can be little doubt that his base of popular support contains many of the same elements as Le Pen’s and Haider’s.

Continuing on the subject of Eli’s last post, it might be worthwhile to examine in more depth

Continuing on the subject of Eli’s last post, it might be worthwhile to examine in more depth the burgeoning alliance between right-wing supporters of Israel and the European far right. The importance of this topic was driven home by the publication of a new Gallup poll on Americans’ attitudes towards various religions. The poll, which found that over half of Americans view Islam unfavorably, also found that “the strongest predictor of prejudice against Muslims is whether a person holds similar feelings about Jews.”

While the poll deals with the American rather than the European context, it is a reminder that Islamophobia and anti-Semitism have typically gone hand in hand. This is worth remembering when looking at the rise of European far-right leaders like Jean-Marie Le Pen of France and the late Jorg Haider of Austria. Hostility to Muslim immigrants forms the centerpiece of their political stance, but their parties have also tended to espouse anti-Semitism and Holocaust denial — a reminder of their neo-fascist roots.

Russell Feingold, Sen. Barbara Boxer, and Sen. Byron Dorgan announced last week that they will vote against another term for Bernanke

Sen. Russell Feingold, Sen. Barbara Boxer, and Sen. Byron Dorgan announced last week that they will vote against another term for Bernanke. Unfortunately, I doubt that most Republican senators will have the courage or gumption of these Democrats on this vote.

The Senate will be voting on Bernanke while having little or no idea what the Federal Reserve has done in recent years. That is why Congress must pass Ron Paul’s legislation to Audit the Fed.

These are only first steps, but they would be a giant leap back in the direction of fiscal sanity. The Federal Reserve has been bankrolling the war machine in this country for decades, and a loss for the Fed would make it more difficult to use a charge card for the current or next war.

How much damage can one man inflict and still be treated like a saint and savior in Washington?

On January 15, the ACLU won a FOIA suit demanding information about the prisoners held at the Bagram airbase in Afghanistan. Now British journalist Andy Worthington has reproduced the list (Many of the detainees were abducted and from who-knows-where and brought to Afghanistan in order that the CIA and military could take advantage of the lawlessness of the current “battlefield” there.) along with notes on approximately 100 of them who he had previously identified and investigated.Worthington calls it a “co-operative project” and invites any information people may be able to add.

How much damage can one man inflict and still be treated like a saint and savior in Washington?

Ben Bernanke’s career answers that question. The Establishment media has rallied around the current Fed chairman as if his reign was the triumph of wisdom and goodness – instead of a debacle of bursting bubbles and ruined lives.

Even though the Federal Reserve is supposedly independent [insert guffaw here] – Bernanke will not be permitted to continue in his job unless the Senate votes this week to grant him another term.

Gregory mused that “finding the ideological fault lines here are difficult between left and right

On one recent show (7/11/10), Gregory mused that “finding the ideological fault lines here are

difficult between left and right, frankly.” But the host of Meet the Press can’t “find” a debate

only because he refuses to have one on his show.

It’s rather shocking that this is really happening, here, in the United States, in 2010. Park51/The

Cordoba House, an Islamic community center that, mark my words and those of the mayor, will be built in

Lower Manhattan, is being hysterically opposed by all manner of dingbat in the land, though it is

likely to have more square feet of basketball court than prayer space. Which doesn’t quite make it a

mosque. And yes, peeling back further layers of this stupid onion, I does care even if it were a

mosque? In fact, there already are two mosques in the “Ground Zero” area! I could go peeling more,

but this onion is boring. The fun one is Newt Gingrich.

Newt Gingrich, impossibly to my mind looking toward the presidency in 2012, is demagoguing his way into

a Twilight Zone of logic that makes me want to just sit in front of him and stare at his face as if he

were talking in tongues, because that’s about as much sense as he’s making. The most scintillating

bit of Gingrich logic goes something like this: Why should “we” allow a mosque to be built near

Ground Zero when one can’t build a church or synagogue in Mecca? You see, now the West is using the

likes of Saudi Arabia as a moral barometer. Not that Gingrich is the type to be shy about the idea of

theocracy. If they start building Park51, I say Newt should go stone those infidels.