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The UK Daily Mail on Sunday reports that British MPs were surprised to hear a visiting Pentagon official declare: “I hate all Iranians.”
Debra Cagan, Deputy Assistant Secretary for Coalition Affairs to US Defense Secretary Robert Gates, made the comments this month to a meeting of six Members of Parliament. She also accused Britain of “dismantling” the Anglo-US-led coalition in Iraq by pulling troops out of Basra too soon.
The report says that although the statement about Iranians was an aside, “it was not out of keeping with her general demeanour.” “She seemed more keen on saying she didn’t like Iranians than that the US had no plans to attack Iran,” said one MP. “She did say there were no plans for an attack but the tone did not fit the words.” Another MP said: “I formed the impression that some in America are looking for an excuse to attack Iran. It was very alarming.”
The Pentagon denied Ms. Cagan said she “hated” Iranians. “She doesn’t speak that way,” said an official.
But when The Mail on Sunday spoke to four of the six MPs, three confirmed privately that Cagain made the remark and one declined to comment. The other two could not be contacted.
I have to hand it to Ms. Cagan for being much more honest on the subject than most officials.
I’d bet good money that she would hate some other nation just as ferociously tomorrow if her neocon idols gave the signal.
This woman is a dumb ass. The British are re-deploying a percenatge of their soldiers to Afghanistan where they are needed because of a shortage of experienced NCOs.
She Really said that?
That’s no woman! That’s a man baby.
And mean and crazy as oh get up, eh. I hope that Cagan keeps taking what Cagan is taking, if that is what is enabling Cagan to tell the truth about Cagan’s governmental group’s HATREDS.
Debra Cagan is a frightening-looking woman - just google her.
I second that. Someone needs to kiss her (it?) to break the spell and turn her back into a frog.
IS IT REALLY A WOMAN? TALK ABOUT BUTT-UGLY! (S)HE GOES BY “MS.” CAGAN, BUT I HAVE MY DOUBTS! (S)HE MAKES ANN COULTER LOOK LIKE A DIVA! CHECK IT OUT: http://www.huembwas.org/Pictures3/56emb5.gif
JOHN DICKERSON, ATLANTA
I can’t agree with you more that’s what you call an Ugly American.
We should not attack or judge this person or anybody else for their actual facial or body appearance, as she is also a child of God. BUT, we can greatly criticize her appearance (makeup, dress and what not) as someone who holds a position in the administration of this so called great nation that has the possibility to speak such evil in public especially meeting with other foreign dignitaries. She should be reprimanded by her superiors (we know that will never happen). We cannot do much about this now, except voicing our opinion and wait for the great departure of Bush administration in the next 15 months.
“Debra Cagan is a frightening-looking woman - just google her.” She probably thinks her extreme amounts of make-up is some how “liberated” compared to a veil or scarf.
Zhu Bajie
If some Iranians are cab drivers in the US and some are, say, Muslim clerics in Iran, then her bias couldn’t be a cultural intolerance. The only definite similarity between those 2 groups of Iranians would be genetic, surely. What would happen if she said she hated Mexicans? or Chinese? In some European countries these are crimes with a mandatory jail sentence! (mostly thanks to slightly over-zealous campaigning from ADL-related European lobby groups!), But again, wingnut machismo pronouncements kick at the legs holding up American credibility and gravitas.
How is she allowed to say this and it isn’t in the news at all? Well, of course it isn’t in the “news”, because people like her pull the strings on most of the news sources in mainstream America.
Still, just goes to prove we have an openly racist, not to mention hideously ugly, person in the US Defense dept. I am sure she wouldn’t mind seeing bombs on Iran, or anyone else for that matter. So, is any country in the world really safe anymore? Are the US citizens themselves safe?
The ugly American, literally and figuratively. And Amerikans have such a hard time understanding why the world won’t kiss their feet.
… Ms. Debra Cagan.
Surely Debra Cagan is a trans-sexual. She looks like a man. A very ugly man. But a man. This is the type person to whom your American cousins are now in thrall.
http://rickwrites.blogspot.com/2007/09/debra-cagan-bushcos-scary-hairy-iranian.html
That’s a man baby! The ugly american, indeed.
G’day folks, greetings from Perth, Western Australia.
Seems that Bush and Co, are pushing ahead with a new war, this time with Iran.
If/when this happens, I for one will be cheering for the Iranians.
Warmly,
Noel H.
You will cheer for the Iranians? Shame on you! I had the wonderful opportunity to visit your beautiful country and to get to know the friendly folks there, thank God most of them are not as crazy as you. I went and saw Parliament in Canberra and certainly most people don’t share your twisted attitude. Thank God for a courageous man like your Prime Minister, John Howard. You would root for Muslim fanatics? I can’t understand peole like you. Why do you bother living in a wonderful and free country like Australia if you love the Islamic Fascists so much?
I’m another Australian, from that “underdog” nation (like the US once was). Sorry, but I too would support Iran if it was invaded by AmeriKKKa. John Howard is a piece of “%”@ and if you thank god for him, that is just another reason why I’m a proud atheist. We don’t like Islamofacists (wherever they are), but we also don’t like American fascists. I sure know which is the bigger threat to the people of Earth.
I’M AN AMERICAN (PART CHEROKEE NATIVE), AND I WILL SUPPORT IRAN AS WELL IF AIPAC, THE NEOCONS, THE ISRAELI LIKUDNIKS AND THE CHRISTIAN ZIONISTS FORCE THE CHENEY/BUSH ADMINISTRATION TO BOMB IRAN. I DON’T CARE IF BUSH DID PROMISE ARIEL SHARON THAT HE WOULD INVADE IRAN AFTER HE INVADED IRAQ. I DON’T CARE IF GOD TOLD GEORGE W. BUSH TO BOMB IRAN.
THE LOATHSOME CUR JOHN HOWARD WILL FAIL TO BE RE-ELECTED LATER THIS YEAR BY A SUBSTANTIAL MARGIN BECAUSE THE AUSTRALIANS FINALLY REALIZE THAT BUS/CHENEY, BLAIR AND HOWARD CONSPIRED TO INVADE IRAQ UNDER ‘FALSE PRETENSES’. I PRAY THAT THEY ARE ALL TRIED AND CONVICTED OF WAR CRIMES! John Lewis-Dickerson, Atlanta
I wonder, you call on Bush, Cheney, Tony Blair and John Howard to be put on trial for war crimes, did you also call for Saddam Hussein to be put on trial for war crimes? Were you happy when he was finally put on trial? Or do you feel that the people of Iraq were better off under a brutal and repressive dictator?
Yes, Timothy, the Iraqis were certainly better off under Saddam, because at least they had food and medicine. Around 5% of the population has been killed under your “liberation,” and another 16% has fled for their lives to other countries. Now, I don’t know what you regard as being better off, but most people would regard the depopulation of a country by some 20% as an appalling outcome. But maybe that’s a price you’re willing to pay with other people’s lives. Somehow, though, I don’t think you would be so cold-blooded and philosophical about it if were happening to you and yours.
“I wonder, you call on Bush, Cheney, Tony Blair and John Howard to be put on trial for war crimes, did you also call for Saddam Hussein to be put on trial for war crimes? ”
Saddam Hussein did not rule the US. We *are* responsible for punishing Bush and co. as they deserve.
Zhu Bajie
Tim R.,
Why do you hate America?
Comment by abraham on 2007-09-30 23:30:57 Report abuse
Tim R.,
Why do you hate America?
BECAUSE OF SCUMBAGS LIKE YOU, ABRAHAM! ENJOY THE RAPTURE!
JOHN DICKERSON, ATLANTA
How can you ask why? Just look at what the US has done im the past 5 years! Look at the American comments! You are all quite nuts. me too will cheer for the Iranians.
“You would root for Muslim fanatics?” It’s pretty obvious that the fanatics are Bush and his followers, like Ms. Cagan.
Zhu Bajie
“Why do you hate America?”
Actually, it’s the self-described “conservatives” who hate America. They hate the vast majority of Americans who are not their sort.
Zhu Bajie
What is more hideous: this woman’s looks or her bigotry? This chick is representing America? God help us.
Who wears a red leather blouse, an iron cross, and a celtic silver necklace to press conference when she is speaking on the behalf of the Department of Defense?
I thought they had a “don’t ask, don’t tell” policy over there.
Of course its a terrible thing to say that one hates all Iranians or anyone else for that matter. However, we should stop being so politically correct and it is only reasonable to point out that although not all Muslims are terrorists, most terrorists are muslims. And there are a lot of Muslim fanatics in Iran and they should be hated. People who rape little 9 year old girls and call it marriage and do all sorts of terrible things like that, they should be hated. And so should an Iranian government that sanctions it with law.
Tim R.,
Yeah! F**K those carpet-weaving sand-niggers! America is AWESOME because we don’t have freaks here who marry nine year olds and rape them. And if we do, we call them Mormons, so technically that absolves us. And all those crazy-assed Muslim fanatics in I-ran! We don’t have religious fanatics here in America. We have Evagelical Christians!
Tim R., why do you hate America?
Comment by abraham on 2007-09-30 23:30:57
Tim R.,
Why do you hate America?
BECAUSE OF SCUMBAGS LIKE YOU, ABRAHAM! ENJOY THE RAPTURE!
JOHN DICKERSON, ATLANTA
“most terrorists are muslims.”
False. All warfare is terrorism.
Zhu Bajie
“Cagan”, no doubt an Anglicized version of “Kaganovich”, as in “7-10 Million Ukranians were killed by Lazar Kaganovich”
Funny how people from the US fear Islamic radicals so much, when the vast majority of terror attacks in the US (OK City and many more including Atlanta Olympics) were carried off by good ol’ white male Christians…
She “hates” all Iranians? My question is why? What in the world have Iranians done to her? “Her” directly that is- and not the abstract “America”?
How many Americans have direct personal reason to hate Iranians or even Iran’s government? I doubt the number of Americans whose lives have been adversely affected by the actions of Iranians or the Iranian government could fill half of one football stadium in this country.
Conversely, how many Iranians have direct personal reason to “hate” Americans and the American government? How many Iranian lives have been directly harmed by the actions of the US government? Millions if not all Iranians. The US is directly responsible for installing a murderous dictator for a quarter century in Iran. The US is directly responsible in proding Iraq to attack Iran in a war that took a million young Iranian lives and even helped Saddam with his “WMD” programs which the US government couldn’t have cared less about when used to kill 60,000 Iranians. And the US is directly responsible for the continued economic isolation of Iran.
So when you see that news reel footage of Iranian students chanting “Death to America” just remember that unlike the trollish coward Cagan- those students have real reasons to hate Americans and not invented ones.
very reasonable and wisdom person .Iwould like to now how meny people think as like you. thanks for your comment
“She ‘hates’ all Iranians? My question is why? What in the world have Iranians done to her? ‘Her’ directly that is- and not the abstract ‘America’ ”
Good question, one I wish the MPs the Daily Mail quotes had asked.
Probably it’s totally irrational, based on distaste for anything “different”. The excuses probably include support for Israel (although there are lots of Iranian Jews); feminism (as if Bush were helping US women, or vast amounts of make-up, high heels, foundation garments, etc. were more “liberating” than a burqa); maybe even an Evangelical desire to smite the heathen, speed up the Second Coming of Jesus, etc. The preachers of America have much to answer for.
Zhu Bajie
Please tell me ‘Cagan’ is not some relation of the Kagan clan, who have done enough damage already.
Hey Tim R. - I think you’ve come to the wrong site. Furthermore, John Howard is a dishonorable, lying piece of s**t. And yes, if America commits an aggression against Iran, it deserves to get mauled.
“its a terrible thing to say that one hates all Iranians or anyone else for that matter. However, we should stop being so politically correct”
Oh yes, you are so irrefutably wise. Such incisive logic.
“although not all Muslims are terrorists, most terrorists are muslims.”
What an original sentiment. What percentage of Muslims would you estimate are terrorists ? Is the invasion of Iraq not the greatest terrorist crime of the century ?
Tip you ask how many muslims are terrorists? Well, check out the Pew Global Attitudes Research Project, it was co chaired by former Secretary of State Madeline Albright. The answer is there are very substantial numbers of Muslims who would be terrorists if they had the means and who support terrorism, admire Bin Laden and justify suicide bombings. Example: Over 50 percent of those “peaceful” muslims polled in Pakistan support suicide bombings, at least some of the time. Face reality, even if only 10% of muslims support terror that adds up to over 100 million fanatics running around. And according to the Pew research project, mentioned above, the number is a LOT higher than 10 percent.
And for Iraq: It was a dictaorship run by a brutal tyrant who we removed. Millions of Iraq citizens voted in open elections for the first time in years so I would not call that a terrorist action.
Millions of Iraqis have been killed or forced to flee their homes, countless more wounded or traumatized. Iraq society has been destroyed and Iraqis left under the rule of some of the most reactionary groupings (women’s rights? none left).
If you can’t grasp the enormous criminality of the enterprise, and the spuriousness of the humanitarian rationale, you are a fool, fanatic, or liar. In any case a waste of time.
Tip, you say millions of Iraqis have been killed or forced to flee? And countless more maimed or injured? Do you have any statistics to support those numbers?
Also, Iraqi society was destroyed? So a dictator, a ruthless tyrant was deposed and millions of Iraqs came out to vote in free elections for the first time in many years and you say their society was destroyed?
So would you like to see Saddam back in power? Maybe you feel the Iraqi people were better off under his rule. By the way, if you like Saddam so much tell that to the hundreds of thousands of Kurds and others that he murdered.
While most American Christians do not support suicide bombing many are quite happy with the idea of ’shock and awe’ type of terrorist bombing done using air force bombers and cruise missiles. Nobody cares how many Iraqis, Afghans, or Lebanese got killed? We do not do body counts. If one tenth of one percent of Muslims were terrorists the world would be ablaze. What the neocons are most frustrated with is the fact that Muslims do not respond to such atrocities as a group, thus making their dream of a perpetual war more difficult to achieve. They attacked Iraq hoping that all Muslim countries will respond giving them an excuse to got to war with all of them simultaneously. Since this did not happen they have to invent excuses to go after each one of them individually.
If so few Muslims are terrorists why did they dance in the streets on the west bank on september 11 2001? How come in a recent survey Bin Laden holds an approval rating in Pakistan that is almost as high as Musharif’s?
Tim R
Please do not repeat that canard that little Palestinian children were dancing in the streets of occupied Palestine upon news of 9/11. What the US saw on television the afternoon of 9/11 was Palestinian children dancing in the street because a very cynical Israeli bought them candy and gave them little Palestinian flags to wave so that he could videotape them and then feed this propoganda to the US. I remember hearing this jerk bragging about pulling this crap for the purposes of infuriating the Americans against Palestine. If you actually saw this fraudulent garbage and had half a brain, you could see that these children were barely more than toddlers with a world view to match. Is there no end to the vicous hatred coming from the “chosen people”. I feel as Apostle Paul felt (see First Thessalonians 2:15).
I am an Indian Christian and a committed one. No, I am not one of the evangelical kind that believes that the Bible is infallible (even the Bible does not claim that for itself) or that Jesus will return the day that the State of Israel is established. I work in a hospital that was set up by an AMERICAN missionary a hundred years ago. This hospital practices a Christian form of socialism. For example: in this hospital the highest paid doctor gets a salary that is only twelve times that of the lowest paid worker. This gives you the idea of what I think Christianity is all about. It is not about responding to the voice of God to go and fight in Iraq and have 650,000 people killed in the process.(The Lancet in a scientific article reported the number killed and the scientific method to arrive at this number is the best we have.)
You ask us outsiders why people hate America so much. You give yourselves the answer which is way off the mark.You think that it is because we hate your freedoms and your way of life. Absolute and utter nonsense!!
1) Osama bin Laden did not attack America because he hated your way of life or Christianity. Please read his speeches before the attack. He asked America to leave Arabia because it was the land of the sacred (muslim) shrines and because America was supporting and reaping big money from contracts with a corrupt dicatatorial government which was living off the oil wealth which rightfully belongs to the Saudi people. He had warned America in advance.
2) America does not have the right to choose who rules which country. America cannot decide who should have nuclear weapons and who should not. If America feels that way please give every person IN THE WORLD a vote to decide who the next president of America wiil be. If America can have nuclear weapons, surely Irans hould be allowed the same freedom. Iran , for your information, has not broken any of the rules laid down by its treaty obligations.
3) Saddam Hussain was demonised by America. Of course he was a dicatator but at least he ran a secular country where there were three Christians in the cabinet.Now Iraq is not only more Muslim but fragmented as well. America did not attack Iraq because of weapons of mass destruction, or false intelligence, or for the sake of democracy. Lets face it America struck because of oil. If Iraq did not have oil, it would not even have been noticed. The entire situation in the Middle East was because of the oil there. The establishment of the State of Israel, the cutting up of the old Ottaman Empire into convenient little emirates and sultanates, the support for the fake “Shah” of Iran and the Iraq war. Do you now understand why America is hated so much.
3) Israel is one of the most evil nations in the world. It is as racist as South Africa was .That is why Jimmy Carter used the word “Apartheid” in the title of his book. (Why does Carter hate Israel, and by connection America, so much?) It was set up without the permission of the local population. The Jews have displaced the Arab population at the point of a gun and are still expanding. Israel has the support of America. It also has the most nuclear weapons in the Middle East. America supports it against the Arabs.
Are you surprised that Americans are hated the world over? They support dictatorships and evil racist countries.
Yes their are child marriages in Iran as in other societies. My great grandmother (a Christian) was married at the age of 6 to a 9 year old boy. Some of these marriages are forced but that does not have government sanction.Education has changed that. Iran has a greater proportion of women in their Parliament than America has in its senate. There are less rapes on Iran’s streets than in New York (I’m guessing).25,000 Jews are living in Iran and continue to stay there despite attractive blandishments from Israel.I suggest you go and visit one of these Arab countries and you will see their traditions of hospitality and experience their friendships.
About suicide bombings: I am nearly a pacifist and I don’t see any difference between the bombs you drop in Iraq or elsewhere and suicide bombers. They are sacrificing their bodies for a cause greater than themselves like the boy on the burning deck. America has killed more innocent civilians (Korea, Vietnam and the Middle East) than all the suicide bombers in the world put together. So don’t take the high moral position ,please.It does not become you.
“And for Iraq: It was a dictaorship run by a brutal tyrant who we removed. ” You mean “supported.” Don’t you remember how Reagan had the US Navy defending Iraqi tankers, how he gave a medal to the captain of the USS Vincennes for shooting down an Iranian civilian airliner?
Zhu Bajie
For the love of god someone tell me, is this photo of a human?
http://img.dailymail.co.uk/i/pix/2007/09_04/Counselor2909MOS_468×365.jpg
Of course, if someone prominent in the British parliament were to say the same about her ethnicity, they could kiss their career and any hopes of a livelihood goodbye. Their children’s children would suffer the consequences.Just remember, what goes around comes around Debbie.
More on Cagan: This woman definitely gets around. From State to Defense. Some of the positions she’s held in the past:
1996 Senior Coordinator for Nuclear and Nonproliferation Policy, Bureau of European and Canadian Affairs, Department of State, United States
1998 Director of Policy and Regional Affairs for Russia and the Independent States at the State Department
2001 office director in the State Department’s Bureau of European and Eurasian Affairs (where she was known to “play above her pay grade.”)
2005 Political Advisor to Supreme Allied Commander Transformation
Talking of pay grades, she’s obviously earning good money. Last year she bought a house in the Washington area at 21ST ST. S., 1110 Arlington for $1.16 million. Not bad for a civil servant…
Just a few facts for the war hungry crowd who get easily brain washed by general media:
Iran had nothing (zero) to do with 9/11 in any form or shape
Iran hasn’t invaded any country for at least a 1000 year
Iran was the only country in the Middle East where people held candle vigils immediately following the aftermath of 9/11 to show their sympathy
Despite of what you hear, Iran has continuously arrested Al Qada members and handed them over to their governments where they came from
There has not been a single incident where a person of Iranian origin has set off an explosion to take either their life or life of others. Interestingly, there have been non-stop supplies of them from countries that are considered as allies.
There has been zero evidence of Iran doing anything other than building a civilian nuclear energy program. While Iran has a lot of oil and gas, nuclear energy is by far much cleaner and efficient for generating electricity. Believe it or not, Iran has to import large amounts of gasoline at astronomical process for internal combustion.
Iran / Iraq border is roughly 900 miles long and a good portion of it is very mountainous. The US / Mexico border is roughly 1900 miles long and Mexicans get in and out of US every day in spite of all the border protection. How do you suppose the Iranians can stop the flow of anything to and from Iraq? Even if the entire Iranian army did nothing but to sit on the 900 mile border and try to monitor people / good movement, they would not be able to scratch the surface.
There have been many accusations on Iran supporting the various militia in Iraq to attack US, but not a single piece of evidence has been put forward (or shared with public) that concretely connects an Iranian (plenty of others from other countries) to it. Not one. Smuggling is a way of life in that part of the world and people (not governments) smuggle anything to make a buck. For that matter, what do you think happened to the massive arsenal of ammunition when Saddam’s army was dissolved? These folks were highly trained soldiers with all sorts of advanced skills. These folks not only hated the Americans, but they hated the Iranians even more. One may naturally think that they along with thousands of other rogue Iraqi groups and Al Qada would want to start a war between the US and IRAN by fabricating evidence. For one thing, the MEK (an Iranian group designated by US as a terrorist organization and based in Iraq who is responsible for hundred of deadly attacks against the Iranian government) does nothing day and night but to spread false information about the Iranian government. This group with connections to antigovernment groups inside of Iran may also be fabricating evidence in the hopes of starting a war between Iran and US.
Finally, the end game is about having substantial control in a region where world’s largest supply of oil resides. It’s not about establishing democracies or bringing down tyrannical regimes. If anyone thinks otherwise, they have been sufficiently brainwashed by media.
An attack on Iran may bring a quick military victory, but it’s always the long term effects of such acts that cause the most damage to all parties involved. Unfortunately, there are now just too many entities who would want to see an unjustified war between Iran and US and their non-stop propaganda machines are starting to have a significant effect on folks who are eaily brainwashed by media.
If you are going to post on here you should do your homework first.
Point one: Read the 9/11 Commission Report. Iran gave safe transit to several of the 9/11 hijackers who were on their way to Bin Laden’s camps for training. Also, after the bombing of the USS Cole the Iranians approached Al Quida in order to cooperate with them on future endeavors but were rebuffed.
Second: Iran attacked our embassy in 1979 and kidnapped 52 of our fellow citizens. They also fully support and fund Hizzbollah, the same organization that helped to kill 241 United States Marines in Beirut in 1983.
The 1979 attack took place during a war — at the time the US Navy was shelling Lebanon. The US was in invader during a civil war. Hezbollah have never been known to conduct activities much further than the border of Lebanon.
Also, when the Iranians took the embassy, they accused the staff of being CIA agents, which the US denied. It has now been confirmed that there were several CIA agents among the hostages.
There are reasons that Iran would be hostile to the US.
In 1953, the US overthrew the first democratically-elected President of Iran and installed a the head of a lower royal Iranian house to become a brutal dictator.
In the 1980s, we aided Iran’s arch-enemy, Saddam Hussein, in a bloody war that lasted a decade. This included the CIA assistance to Saddam in the use of chemical weapons against the Iranians and Kurds. Iran possessed but did not use these weapons (they said it was a violation of Islam).
At the close of the Iran-Iraq war, the US shot down an Iranian passenger airliner, killing 290 civilians. The plane was on course.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Iran_Air_Flight_655
Saying that “Iran gave safe transit …” is like saying USA gave safe entry to the terrorists of 9/11. Did anyone know that these guys were going to blow up the buildings? We ourselves established the training bases for AlQaida to fight the Soviets, are we then the supporters of terrorism by this twisted definition? Why would Iran contact AQ? don’t they hate each other? All you can cite as examples are things that happened over 20 years ago. And you want to destroy the whole region for that.
Tim R. Stop spouting this rubbish. That someone travels throuhgh a country does not imply anything. More known terrorists live in the USA than any other country with the full knowledge and support of your government.
Bin Laden attacked the Iranian embassy in Kabul and killed every Iranian official in it. Bin Laden is a Wahabbi who consider Shia muslims apostates.
Bin Laden was treated in a US naval hospital for kidney failure AFTER the USS Cole bombing. Al Qaeda recruits were given visas to travel to the US by the US consulate in Saudi Arabia. What the hell does that imply?
Her internal ugliness has obviously manifested itself on the outside.
is that an ‘iron cross’ around her neck? looks scary…
FYI: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Iron_Cross
The dracula trophy looking thing? I was curious about it too. Turns out its a Commander’s Cross Order of Merit given to her by the Hungarian government.
Why did HUNGARY give her a medal? Did she invent a new use for paprikash? :-)
Zhu Bajie
I’d agree with the mullahs on this one - that ugly puss really could use a veil!
This Cagan’s personal ‘image’ is (like most people’s), not accidental but rather a carefully cultivated image.
In her (paticularly obvious) case, I think that what & how she thinks is quite litterally written all over her.
I also happen to think that after all the current fuss she’s caused, she’s likely to find herself not quite so indespensible to her Bushmasters’ highly paid, high-flyers’ group(s) — pretty soon, too.
More time with her family maybe? Though perhaps in her case it may be more time with her tailor and or her hairdresser.
As a former U.S. Army Sergeant who served from 1966 to 1969, I also root for Iran if the U.S. attacks. I have no love for muslim terrorists. I just hate U.S. imperialists more; they’ve caused more damage.
If you served in the US Army and now will root for other countries in war time, we have a word for that, traitor.
Is there anything the US could do that would be wrong? Would you ever root for another country?
What if you were a German soldier in 1943? What if things got worse in the US. Is it possible for the US to be wrong?
Yes, Eric, there are many things the US did that were wrong and you aptly pointed out some. We should never have subverted the Iranian government of Mossedegh in 1953 and we should not have provided Saddam with chemical weapons in the 80’s. While we are at it, we should not have interfered and helped to overthow Allende in Chile in 1972, we should not have treated the Native Americans so unjustly,we should not have enslaved Africans. We probably should not have invaded Mexico in 1846. Yes, Eric, I can admit that the United States, like just about every country in the world has done some pretty awful things that we shold be sorry about.
But, on balance, I can also recognize and am very proud of all the great things this nation has done. And I truly believe history will show that the United States of America has been the greatest vehicle in the cultivation of human liberty that the world has ever known. I believe history from World War II proves that already.
Do you really think western europe would be free and democratic today if it were not for America? And if it were not for America, would not millions still be trapped behind the Iron Curtain in Eastern Europe? And while we are at it, think what you will about the Iraq war but we removed a brutal dictator and helped that nation have free elections. And yes, that is a good thing and something we ought to be proud of!
Also, think about this: Just because my country has made some terrible mistakes that does not mean I should not be loyal to it. Read about Socrates, he remained loyal to Athens even as he was about to be executed for “corrupting the youth.” I certainly believe that if one, willingly, lives in a country he should be loyal to that country. Or if not, he should move!
I am glad you recognize those things were wrong.
But can they only be recognized AFTER THE FACT? If someone opposed slavery before 1863, would that mean that they were not loyal to the country? Many British abolitionists turned their attention to America after slavery was outlawed in Britain. Would it have been traitorous for American abolitionists to have applauded their help in trying to end such an institution?
In other words, does loyalty to one’s country include unqualified support for all actions at the time of those actions?
You asked ” Does loyalty to ones country require unqualified support for all actions at the time of those actions.” Great question, and I would say no. It calls for strong support, but not unqualified suppo