Thursday, November 18, 2004
Over Plain Black Coffee
To round up the outrages we hollered about over pre-chores coffee today, in no particular order:
So I see in an article by Jonathan Schell that the NYT says that "The offensive also shut down what officers said was a propaganda weapon for the militants: Falluja General Hospital, with its stream of reports of civilian casualties." “Shut down” as in “Bombed to rubble.” So that “propaganda” about who goes to hospital can’t come out. Bottom line: nobody knows how many were killed, or how many that were killed were “insurgents.” And while we're at it, what’s the difference between an “insurgent” and some pissed off person trying to protect their home—how is that differentiation made? Jonathan Schell puts it this way: “No men of military age were permitted to leave during the attack. Remaining civilians were trapped in their apartments with no electricity or water. No one knows how many of them have been killed, and no official group has any plans to find out.” "Tomgram: Schell, The Battle for Minds (Forget the Hearts)"
Latest news is the UN wants to investigate the possibility of war crimes in Falluja. Might be a good time to drop a line to Danforth and tell him that would be a really good idea, with a cc to Kofi Annan. Oh, and now it’s happening in Mosul, too.
Can we please at least be united in our horror and anger? (And please don’t preach to me about the troops not being responsible for the kidnappings and murders—I understand the concept of cause and effect... see The Star for example…)
On the election fraud front, Greg Palast and Farhad Manjoo are having a tiff about whether or not Kerry actually won Ohio. But it’s a silly argument—they both agree that the election was a mess. Totally FUBAR, er, goshdarned. Their disagreement is whether or not that means Kerry had enough votes to win. A recount will tell that, but only if it’s fair, and it likely won’t be. The real issue is the undisputed fact that election officials in Ohio (and Florida, and elsewhere) botched the election process. And I personally have no doubt that it was deliberate—remember the usefulness of the Fog Machine? Toss enough shit up in the air and it starts to look like, well, golly, there’s so much shit in the air, it’s so complicated to figure out, questioning it’s just one of those silly left-wing crybaby conspiracies. Blackwell, et. al. know that the American public and the SCLM pablum-feeders don’t have time for subtleties. Watch for this same tactic over and over again. New Hampshire will be next. And they aren’t done counting in New Mexico, either.
A girl who busted her ass for Kerry around here, even though she was a Green and thought he was a sellout, just did it to help save her country from Bush, sent me this link, she said it matched her feelings and I don’t know what to think: Now Is Not the Time For National Unity!
Where does this leave us? Hmmm:
Ridiculous, is it?
So I see in an article by Jonathan Schell that the NYT says that "The offensive also shut down what officers said was a propaganda weapon for the militants: Falluja General Hospital, with its stream of reports of civilian casualties." “Shut down” as in “Bombed to rubble.” So that “propaganda” about who goes to hospital can’t come out. Bottom line: nobody knows how many were killed, or how many that were killed were “insurgents.” And while we're at it, what’s the difference between an “insurgent” and some pissed off person trying to protect their home—how is that differentiation made? Jonathan Schell puts it this way: “No men of military age were permitted to leave during the attack. Remaining civilians were trapped in their apartments with no electricity or water. No one knows how many of them have been killed, and no official group has any plans to find out.” "Tomgram: Schell, The Battle for Minds (Forget the Hearts)"
Latest news is the UN wants to investigate the possibility of war crimes in Falluja. Might be a good time to drop a line to Danforth and tell him that would be a really good idea, with a cc to Kofi Annan. Oh, and now it’s happening in Mosul, too.
Can we please at least be united in our horror and anger? (And please don’t preach to me about the troops not being responsible for the kidnappings and murders—I understand the concept of cause and effect... see The Star for example…)
On the election fraud front, Greg Palast and Farhad Manjoo are having a tiff about whether or not Kerry actually won Ohio. But it’s a silly argument—they both agree that the election was a mess. Totally FUBAR, er, goshdarned. Their disagreement is whether or not that means Kerry had enough votes to win. A recount will tell that, but only if it’s fair, and it likely won’t be. The real issue is the undisputed fact that election officials in Ohio (and Florida, and elsewhere) botched the election process. And I personally have no doubt that it was deliberate—remember the usefulness of the Fog Machine? Toss enough shit up in the air and it starts to look like, well, golly, there’s so much shit in the air, it’s so complicated to figure out, questioning it’s just one of those silly left-wing crybaby conspiracies. Blackwell, et. al. know that the American public and the SCLM pablum-feeders don’t have time for subtleties. Watch for this same tactic over and over again. New Hampshire will be next. And they aren’t done counting in New Mexico, either.
A girl who busted her ass for Kerry around here, even though she was a Green and thought he was a sellout, just did it to help save her country from Bush, sent me this link, she said it matched her feelings and I don’t know what to think: Now Is Not the Time For National Unity!
Where does this leave us? Hmmm:
Mokhiber: Kofi Annan in September said that the Iraq war is an illegal war. If it is an illegal war, then the 100,000 who have died there – according to the Johns Hopkins School of Public Health – are victims of war crimes. Now, the President is going to Canada later this year. And the largest circulation newspaper in Canada (the Toronto Star) printed a column yesterday titled “Should Canada Indict Bush?” – raising the question of a war crimes prosecution. They have a war crimes law in Canada. And I’m wondering –
Scott McLellan: Do you have a question or is it just a statement of opinion?
Mokhiber: No, this is the question. Has the White House counsel looked at the President’s legal exposure to a war crimes prosecution?
Scott McLellan: It is a ridiculous question that you bring up. You were out on the Nader campaign at the time that this issue came up. It was addressed at that time. And I’m not going to go through it again. more...
Ridiculous, is it?
