One more important post for the night, and then I'll either lapse into another week of inactivity or finish the WWIII series tomorrow. This just had to be written now because it's topical, it's fresh, and it will contain lots of cursing.
"Coalition forces have seized IEDs and components that were clearly produced in Iran... Such actions, along with Iran's support for terrorism and its pursuit of nuclear weapons, are increasingly isolating Iran, and America will continue to rally the world to confront these threats."
"So I’ve told people that if you’re interested in avoiding World War III, it seems like you ought to be interested in preventing them from have the knowledge necessary to make a nuclear weapon."
"This notion that the United States is getting ready to attack Iran is simply ridiculous. And having said that, all options are on the table."
"It's a time of sorrow and sadness when we lose a loss of life"
-Collected GW quotes
Of course, recently there's been some HUGE revelations in the news.
It turns out, the US intelligence community knows that Iran doesn't have an active nuclear program and is many years away from possibly acquiring a bomb:
http://www.nytimes.com/2007/12/03/world/middleeast/03cnd-iran.html?_r=1&hp&oref=slogin
And what's worse, GW knew about it
http://www.trueblueliberal.com/2007/12/04/bush-dni-told-me-%E2%80%98we-have-some-new-information-he-didn%E2%80%99t-tell-me-what-the-information-was%E2%80%99/
http://www.theyoungturks.com/story/2007/12/5/111740/472/tytvideoclips/President-Bush-Reveals-How-He-was-Briefed-on-Iran-s-Nukes-
Even the faithful are in doubt, but they'll still dutifully spin it.
http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,315742,00.html
Strange, it seems that the rest of the world tried blowing the whistle on this long ago:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/middle_east/4178804.stm
But it's not the time for apologies, for reason, or for backing down:
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20071204/ap_on_go_pr_wh/bush
And insult to injury, it makes our country look fucking STUPID:
http://edition.cnn.com/2007/WORLD/meast/12/05/iran.nuclear/index.html
It turns out that you can't keep the truth down for too long. Iran doesn't actually have that active nuclear weapons program that the president and his puppet master have been warning us about. Now that doesn't mean that they don't want one, and it doesn't mean that there aren't nuclear threats out there. Hell, Israel more than likely bombed a site in Syria that contained nuclear-related materials less than three months ago. But the recent revelation (to the American public at least) is that Iran does not currently have an active nuclear weapons program. There is good news to be gained from this revelation, but we'll save the cheery bit for the end.
Ever since Bush came into office he's been hyping threats. His three favorites were the axis of evil, and, fuck us all, he's managed to check two of them off of his list. Iraq: It sure doesn't look like a success story right now, but GW claims that history will vindicate him. Even if it does it will still probably recognize that he was an asshole, or at least that we all thought he was an asshole. North Korea: Amazing how little that pompadoured little napoleon complex of a dictator makes world news anymore. Unbelievably the administration seems to have brokered a deal to cool their nuclear ambitions. I believe this is the sole reason that Condolezza Rice is the only member of the administration that won't burn forever in eternal hellfire. (For the less politically intune, she's the secretary of state and mostly responsible for the deal. At least that's what I believe, it's debatable.) So that leaves us with the last item on Bush's list. The last of the axis of ill intent. Iran. And damn did they ever fear-monger that one. Iran, the nuclear-powered, jew-hating, irrational, crimson-eyed Persian threat. If you aren't familiar with the war hype, then Google "Iran". I'm pretty sure 50 of the first 100 results contain the word "threat" in the headline.
I've already "blogged" about the threat of war with Iran. Every single American knows how much this administration wanted to handle the Iran "situation" based on how they have talked about Iran. I won't get into the reasons for why they would want conflict with Iran (see "megalomania", "senility", and "GW has a tiny prick") What I will say though is that you have to admire the fucking cajones of these people. The truth is they lied us into Iraq. They knew people would die, they knew people would suffer, and while it's true that they didn't know how many that would be, it's equally true that they didn't FUCKING care. They weighed American life and Iraqi life against what they thought they could gain, and they decided it was worth it. And now, even when Iraq has turned into the shitstorm it has become, they have the fucking gall, the fucking self-deluded sense of righteousness to justify wanting war with Iran! That's not just stupid, that's not just evil, that's fucking inhuman. Once again, they knew they were lying, they knew the consequences of what they wrought, they had seen the effects of their incompetence, and they were willing to do it again. I can't think of anything more damning to say on the subject. The impression I want to leave with you though is this. These people, just like any other ruler, any other person in power, have their own ends. They will say and do whatever it takes to get to those ends, they will lie to you while staring you right in the eyes. But they are not like your boss who promised you that promotion the last three times only to give it to some other kiss-ass. They are not like your boyfriend who swears he will never cheat on you again. These people are willing to see you and four thousand of your countrymen DIE for that lie. They are willing to sacrifice the lives of countless of foreigners for that lie. And these people think you are so FUCKING STUPID that you will let them do it again.
"There's an old saying in Tennessee... I know it's in Texas, probably in Tennessee... that says, fool me once, shame on... shame on you. Fool me... you can't get fooled again."
You sure fucking can't get fooled again.
Well fuck me, I almost forgot about the cheery bit. Well it seems with the recent revelations that the forces of good may well have triumphed. Despite efforts to keep the NIE report under lock and key it has gotten out, and it has been revealed that the American intelligence community actually agrees with the rest of the world. The implications are that it is exceedingly unlikely that there will be any military conflict with Iran during shithead's term in office, and that there are still rational people in the US government. This doesn't mean the end of tensions with Iran. Ahmadinejad is still a very, very bad man. But hopefully now we can get back to spreading peace and democracy in what should be the American way. With hollywood movies and McDonalds.
4 comments:
I heard Newt Gingrich on the Sunday morning news shows saying that the NIE was a big conspiracy of bureaucrats in the government to play politics and undermine Bush's credibility.
What a fucking nutjob. The unanimous view of all 16 American spy agencies is a political conspiracy? How the shit does this man get allowed on the teevee??
Our media is still failing us.
Rich,
You've actually done an awesome job of keeping up with your blog. I was not referring to you in mine when I said that a lot of people wuss out of their own blog after only a few entries. It's impressive to keep it active and emotional, especially considering so few dissenting voices respond.
Well hell, we're just trying to stabilize the region! People want to drive their SUV's, and I say they should have the right to waste as much gas as they want! Capitalism will find an alternative when the fine consumers of this country want one.
Now I understand that it's not going so well over there right now, and maybe we should've had a better plan than "Wreck up the place" when we first invaded. But democracies aren't born overnight, nor are they easy to attain. When you give people free choice, unfortunately what usually comes out is the lowest common denominator. And with ethnic rivalries that go back hundreds of years, it might take a little while (decades) to sort out control of such a diverse country. Give it a few more years, and things will really start to turn around! Just look, ethnic cleansing is down big time from last year. Very positive.
As with our intelligence community agreeing with the "rest of the world" on Iran's nuclear capability, I will ask you to think about THEIR agendas: Russia might be selling information/materials/scientists to Iran just to destabilize our position in the region. Do you thing they like us messing with countries so close to their home? The Cold War may be over, but they didn't forget who lost, and don't intend to go down easily next time. Just look how Putin is slowly gaining a stranglehold on his country. This is not a man who intends to give away power anywhere. If by making friends with Iran, he gains, we lose.
It's true we knew that Iran might not have had the capability to produce a nuclear weapon, but better to be safe than 9/11. Whoever said that people who would give up freedom to get safety deserve neither lived in a very different time, when enemies were in front of you, not blowing up buses behind your back.
Man it's freaking hard to play devil's advocate for such a stupid devil, but I really like arguing with you! Everyone over here is too “crunchy” to argue with. I don't agree with really any of that (Russia might have agendas of their own in that vein, but I think the above takes it way too far), but those are the arguments I could see against you.
“Those who would give up essential liberty to purchase a little temporary safety deserve neither liberty nor safety. “
Very well advocated, I give you credit. I agree, Russia sucks something fierce, and Putin is so damned dangerous it gives me chills. Still it's not Russia that sets world opinion on Iran's nuclear capabilities, it's the IAEA. You might remember them, they're the ones that said that Iraq didn't actually have any weapons of mass destruction. They turned out to have been remarkably credible, while our guys in the white house haven't.
And the comment about liberty or death, different time, blowing up buses. Very well constructed, I can't imagine that argument isn't on conservative blogs already. Except that back then the argument meant something because if you were in a room and looked to your right and to your left, one of those people could very easily be dead after the coming war, which you probably won't win. However now days, the gamble is: Look to your right, now to your left, one of those people might have a myspace friend who knows someone who dies in a terrorist attack. The threat is far less dire, terrorists are not about to take over Omaha. If the revolutionaries could stand up back then and not be afraid, we would be nothing less than cowards not to do the same.
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