The Aerie
According to preliminary reports, a tape of Osama binLaden has been released warning of impending attacks against the U.S.
Unfortunately since bin Laden didn't issue this warning via a telephone call to someone in the U.S., the Bush Administration is still unaware of this warning. I'm considering phoning someone overseas and telling them about this warning, just to get it into the intelligence system. That way they can issue a Presidential Daily Briefing for the President to ignore.
It continues to boggle my mind that three years after 9/11, the American public re-elected George Bush, despite the fact that Osama binLaden had still not been brought to justice. And does anyone even remember the Anthrax Mailer, whose poison-pen letters were only sent to Democrats? It seems that bin Laden is the modern Emmanuel Goldstein, a bogeyman whose continued existence is crucial to justifying the Administrations fearmongering.
But given the ease with which Karl Rove and the American Heritage Foundation and other professional propanda marketing firms seem to be able to turn Mother Teresa into the Spawn of Satan if they take a mind to, you'd think that they would find it worth the effort to make a new Goldstein in order to cash in on catching the current one. After all, we've caught or killed the Al Qaeda "second in command" about seven times now. In fact, we've caught so many arch-villians, we've had to let some go!
The longer this behavior goes on, the longer the supporters of this Administration continue to deny plain reality in favor of muttered mantras of "Support the President," the more appreciative I become of the power of self-delusion.
Posted by Albatross at January 19, 2006 9:23 AM | TrackBackWhat, so Anderson thinks that getting rid of Hitler didn't make the world safer? Was FDR wrong? Come on, you can find a better example explaining the Goldstein effect than that hack.
Brad
Posted by: Brad at January 19, 2006 5:21 PMAnderson said:
"Their deaths, indeed, were good things and all have left a legacy of evil."
Brad, nobody questions the value of a just war.
The problem is, this ISN'T a just war. This was a war of choice, promoted by lies, designed to project American power into the Mideast by establishing a permanent Iraq military presence.
Even THAT could have been excused as realpolitik, but it has been SO incompetently handled, by an administration that shouts down critics.
No, the Bush Administration has had plenty of chances to do this the right way - at every turn they have chosen to do it the coward's way. The liar's way.
It's not disloyal to America to finally acknowledge that the people in whom you placed your trust have misled you. And when you look at the record of accomplishments - including Bin Laden still walking free more than four years after 91// - it's a pretty poor record indeed.
P.S. Yay! Comments work! Thanks Brad!
You make some fine points, but what Anderson was focused on was that when they (Hitler, Tojo et al) were dead "we were not a whit safer" and that "The passing of one does not make us safer." That's obviously untrue (even from an American-centric point of view) and it is a poor basis for an argument against the Iraq war when there are so many other points (like yours) to base it on.
Overall, I would like to see more arguments put forward without any references to Nazis (or plantations). Such comparisons trivialize the horror of the Holocaust (and slavery.)
I am by no means married to the Anderson article itself. I'm just too lazy at this point to dig up a better one.
I'm trying to figure out instead how to get TypeKey authentication working on this thing. I'd like to allow some comments, like yours, to publish immediately instead of having to do so by hand.
Posted by: Albatross at January 20, 2006 8:03 AM