Month: October 2003

Civilization…. As soon as Amal protested about letting the dog sniff her bag because of the Quran inside, the soldier grabbed the Quran, threw it out of the bag and proceeded to check it. The lady was horrified and the dozens of employees who were waiting to be checked moved forward in a rage at having the Quran thrown to the ground. Amal was put in hand-cuffs and taken away and the raging mob was greeted with the butts of rifles.

[…]

How would the troops feel if Iraqis began flinging around Holy Bibles or Torahs and burning crosses?! They would be horrified and angry because you do not touch a person’s faith… [Baghdad Burning]

Another problem caused by the failure of the Feds to provide adequate training to the soldiers occupying Iraq. This time, they’ve managed to make even their collaborators angry with them.

However, I’m sure it wasn’t deliberate. What Riverbend doesn’t seem to know is that most Americans are not very religious at all. Allthough the majority of them say they’re Christian, it’s really just something they give lip service to. Only someone like a Fundamentalist Christian might have forseen how the Iraqis would react. I doubt the soldier in this incident ever considered that throwing a book on the ground would cause such a problem.

Of course, if the Feds had taken the time to provide even the slightest instruction in what religious taboos where likely to make Iraqis really upset, the soldier would have known to handle things differently.

Background – Afghanistan – On patrol with the U.S. 10th Mountain Division on the border between Afghanistan and Pakistan. Things are not going so well for the U.S. on the ground…

• The Times: America’s bloody hunt for Bin Laden in Mad Max territory

[NOSI – Naval Open Source Intelligence]

Mexican Workers Come Here to Work: Let Them!. Current immigration law has made lawbreakers out of millions of hard-working, otherwise law-abiding people–immigrant workers and native employers alike–whose only “crime” is a desire to work together in our market economy for mutual advantage. Death in a boxcar is perverse punishment for seeking a better life. [Cato Institute Center for Trade Policy Studies]

Reconstruction. The US government is not reconstructing Iraq. It is reconstructing the Iraqi government: the central bank, the army, the police, the secret police, a multitude of ministries, public schools, etc. Businessmen, for example, who had their property obliderated by US… [LewRockwell.com Blog]

The Feds want a puppet government. They don’t care at all about Iraq or the Iraqi people.

A NOTE TO THE FEDS: THANK HIM, AND HIRE HIM. This story about the airplane smuggling incident has some very interesting details in it:

A college student who the FBI believes hid box cutters and other banned items aboard two Southwest Airlines planes had warned government officials he would try to bring forbidden articles onto commercial flights to expose holes in security.

A federal law enforcement official confirmed Saturday that investigators are interviewing Nathaniel T. Heatwole of Greensboro, N.C., to learn how he got… [The Light of Reason]

They should thank him and offer him a job, but this being the real world what they’ll actually do is arrest him and charge him with some invented-on-the-spot felony for having the nerve to embarrass his lords and masters.

CAREFUL WITH THAT HISTORY, MR. PRESIDENT. Sometimes you just have to wonder if anyone at all is minding the store. Apparently, Bush made a number of comparisons between his nation-building plans for Iraq and the wonderful history of America’s relationship with the Philippines during his visit to Manila. Among other things, there’s this:

While Mr. Bush made elliptical references to the Spanish-American War, some of his critics have argued that the justification for invading Iraq bore a resemblance to the rationale the United… [The Light of Reason]

It seems even Bush recognizes the similarities between Iraq and the “liberation” of the Phillipines, although he’s apparently stupid or ignorant enough to think that makes it a good thing.

Is Syria Next?. There’s been a lot of speculation that Iraq was just the first in a line of nettlesome problems in the Middle East that neo-cons wanted to “solve.” Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon said in an interview almost a year ago that Iran should be the next target. However, it seems Washington has decided to step up its campaign against Syria. [Back In Iraq 2.0]

The Crusaders were making threatening noises at Syria immediately after the conquest of Iraq, but Bush told them to cut it out (supposedly the directive was “no more wars before the election”). Now they seem to be starting up again–could there be another war before the election after all?

If the Feds do try to conquer Syria before Iran, that will give Iran additional time to develop working nuclear weapons–which, given the circumstances, they would be insane not to do.

Emiliano Antunez at Sierra Times –

Rush and Chong – possibly the best, most concise, statement on the
war on freedom, er… some drugs, that I’ve read. [sierra]
bq.
Within a month’s time, drug war supporter and conservatives’
conservative Rush Limabugh fesses up (only after being outed by a
tabloid) about his addiction to prescription pain killers and 70s
pothead icon Tommy Chong (the other half of Cheech and Chong) is
sentenced to nine months in prison, not for possession of the evil
weed, not for distribution of the enticing white powder, but for
selling “paraphernalia.” America has definitely reached the
boiling point of hypocrisy in its useless drug war.

…

The cat is out of the proverbial bag, many Americans have known for
years that the war on drugs is not about drugs. This drug war is a war
by our own government on its own citizens, it has made mince meat of
the fourth amendment, it has shredded the second amendment, it has
given the government the power to peak into our finances, it has run
rough shod over private property rights, it has turned our inner
cities into war zones, it has turned non violent youths into criminals
and in the process ruined countless lives.
[End the War on Freedom]

This is a very relevant comparison which I haven’t seen made anywhere else.

More Insane Neocon Lines. Here, Michael Ledeen suggests that France may be behind the WTC attacks and entertains the possibility of invading the country. Incidentally, Rush Limbaugh has endorsed this theory. http://www.nationalreview.com/ledeen/ledeen031003.asp “How could it [fighting American global dominance] be done [byFrance and Germany]?… [LewRockwell.com Blog]

Just when you think the Crusaders can’t possibly be any more insane.

REMEMBERING THE PAST. In view of the continuing theme hammered upon by some that those who criticize the Bush Administration, or who oppose our current foreign policy, are the “enemy,” or are “traitors” who are “unAmerican,” I offer this reminder from history:

Mr. President:

I rise to a question of personal privilege. I have no intention of taking the time of the Senate with a review of the events which led to our entrance into the war except in so far as they bear upon… [The Light of Reason]

This speech, given during World War One, is just as applicable today.