Liars Don’t Link

In the aforementioned post by Glenn Reynolds about the contras and Antiwar.com (with bonus balderdash from Stephen Schwartz), Reynolds writes:

    Yeah, the refrain’s a familiar one, since it’s always the same: Our guys are the bad guys, the only atrocities are by our guys, the murderous thugs our guys oppose are actually pure-minded agrarian reformers, and the U.S. is wrong and should get out. That’s the story from these guys every single time.

Reynolds didn’t link to the offending post by Justin Raimondo because, of course, NOTHING in it praised the Sandinistas or any other “pure-minded agrarian reformers.” In fact, Raimondo specifically dissed the Commies:

    Che Guevara was a totalitarian thug, but I don’t recall hearing that ever did anything like cut off a woman’s breasts. And why, pray tell, must we choose between a dead Commie and a bunch of “ex”-fascists hustling t-shirts?

A quick search for the term “Sandinistas” on Antiwar.com turns up this first result. Some choice snippets (and by all means, go read the whole thing if you think I’m cherrypicking):

    The Sandinistas were lionized on the Left, much as Fidel Castro and his ragged guerrilla army were upheld as the new symbols of a revolutionary generation in the heyday of the radicalized 1960s. The repression against domestic dissidents, Miskito Indians and trade unionists, was ignored by the Left or else rationalized as “revolutionary.” …

    It is one thing to oppose whitewashing the crimes of the Sandinistas, and quite another to advocate aiding the so-called contras – the US-supported-and-subsidized armed force that was engaged in overthrowing them. Radosh explains his transition from a principled noninterventionist to an advocate of contra aid as follows:

    “As a result of what I observed on the trip, I eventually became a firm supporter of contra aid. While congressional liberals were waging a campaign to cut off all such military aid, I had come to understand that it was only the threat of a fully capable contra army that made the Sandinista leaders even contemplate any internal loosening up.”

    NO THIRD FORCE?
    As to why such an army could not arise indigenously, and overthrow the Sandinistas without being turned into the sock puppet of the Americans, is a question that contra aid supporters could not answer then, and will not address today. For the answer is that there was, indeed, such an army, one led by Commandante Eden Pastora, the leader of the original army that overthrew the US-backed dictator Anastasio Somoza. Pastora was a popular hero who sought to use his political weight to organize a third force, one committed to political pluralism that would be independent of both the US and Moscow. For his trouble he was targeted by the CIA and marked for assassination, barely escaping with his life to Costa Rica, where, today, he is a fisherman. But for Radosh, it was and is a black-and-white issue, the contras versus the Sandinistas, with no room for a third force.

That Reynolds is a pathological liar should surprise no one — it’s almost a prerequisite for his profession, which he might actually practice instead of teach if he were smart enough to ignore Suleyman Ahmad.

UPDATE: Oh, goody. Suleyman Ahmad resumes his creepy correspondence with me, hurling another revealing “insult” my way:

    I know it hurts you, but you are ignored and I appear on TV and in print all the time.

Hey, Suleyman, how’s the lawsuit coming? You could be on Fox News AND Court TV!

Nuke Iran?

Tuesday at 5pm eastern time, I will be filling in on the boss’s show, and talking with former CIA man Philip Giraldi about this curious bit he wrote in the American Conservative (not online) among other things:

The Pentagon, acting under instructions from Vice President Dick Cheney’s office, has tasked the United States Strategic Command (STRATCOM) with drawing up a contingency plan to be employed in response to another 9/11-type terrorist attack on the United States. The plan includes a large-scale air assault on Iran employing both conventional and tactical nuclear weapons. Within Iran there are more than 450 major strategic targets, including numerous suspected nuclear-weapons-program development sites. Many of the targets are hardened or are deep underground and could not be taken out by conventional weapons, hence the nuclear option. As in the case of Iraq, the response is not conditional on Iran actually being involved in the act of terrorism directed against the United States. Several senior Air Force officers involved in the planning are reportedly appalled at the implications of what they are doing–that Iran is being set up for an unprovoked nuclear attack–but no one is prepared to damage his career by posing any objections.

Thanks to Justin Logan.

Update: Show’s over. To listen to the interview, click here, to download mp3, click here
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Contra Reynolds: Instapundit Goes Soft on Terrorism

His High-and-Mightiness, Glenn Reynolds of Instapundit fame, was soooo pissed off that I blogged his endorsement of contra terrorism that he gave a free blog ad to “Contra Cafe,” an outfit selling coffee, t-shirts, and perhaps old atrocity pictures now that these former Somocistas are out of the assassination and drug-dealing business:

“Yes, that’s a blogad for Contra Café over on the right. But they didn’t buy it in response to my post — I gave ’em a freebie after seeing the folks at antiwar.com go crazy over my earlier mention of them. I should’ve held out for a free t-shirt, at least.”

Naturally Reynolds doesn’t provide a link to our critique of his contra-enthusiasm — that might expose his readers to our eeeeeeeeeeevil thoughts. Just like his contra friends, who tortured women and sneaked around blowing up cooperatives and assassinating their political enemies — sound familiar? — Reynolds has the moral sensibilities of the administration hacks he defends — many of whom, not coincidentally, were active during the 1980s pushing the contra cause.

Choosing Tyranny

This guy is a big pro-war blogger and a vocal advocate of “spreading democracy and freedom” to Iraq.

Search me

: I say it’s a good thing that New York police will start random bag searches on the subways.

Oh, I know it will be inconvenient when I’m late for a meeting and it’s 120-degrees down there and I fear there will be a line. Nonetheless, if and when the cops search me, I’ll thank them.

This morning on Today, they rolled out the “privacy” boogeyman. “Privacy advocates” were expressing concern. Who the hell are these “privacy advocates?” Name two. But listening to reporters, they seem to be everywhere. You just don’t know it. Because they’re very private.

And what precisely is the privacy problem? If the cops catch you carrying something illegal, well, you shouldn’t be carrying anything illegal. If they catch you carrying the latest Playboy — or, more embarrassing, Radar — then don’t worry; they’ve seen worse.

Are random screenings going to catch the next terrorist ready to kill people? We’ll never know. But it is worth the effort.

Elsewhere, bloviating on about how “we” can’t allow the mullahs to come to power in Iraq (this was before the mullahs came to power in Iraq), this same guy says, “And you cannot convince me that any people will willingly choose tyranny.”

Corruption of the NPT and Corruption of the War Culture

Saturday on the Weekend Interview Show, Gordon Prather explained all about the IAEA/Non-Proliferation Treaty/Nuclear Suppliers Group non-proliferation regime, and how George W. Bush is undermining it, and Chris Hedges, author of War is a Force That Gives Us Meaning, talked about the effects of war on individuals and cultures.
Archives at weekendinterviewshow.com

Instapundit Endorses Terrorism

Glenn Reynolds of Instapundit fame complains that the press isn’t covering “anti-terrorist” demonstrations (dozens gathered in Antelope Valley, California), but then turns around and praises the Nicaraguan contras — one of the most vicious terrorist groups of the modern era. Here is a vivid account of what these “freedom fighters” were up to in the 1980s:

“In the words of human rights group Americas Watch, ‘the Contras systematically engage in violent abuses … so prevalent that these may be said to be their principal means of waging war.’ Another NGO compiled a year’s worth of Contra atrocities, which included murder, rape, torture, maiming children, cutting off arms, cutting out tongues, gouging out eyes, castration, bayoneting pregnant women in the stomach, and amputating genitals.

“An eyewitness to a Contra raid in Jinotega province said: ‘Rosa had her breasts cut off. Then they cut into her chest and took out her heart. The men had their arms broken, their testicles cut off and their eyes poked out. They were killed by slitting their throats and pulling the tongue out through the slit.'”

Ugh. Yet Reynolds describes these monsters as “freedom fighters,” and encourages his readers to buy coffee, or t-shirts — or something — from these “ex-contras.” He is hopeful their t-shirts “will start competing with Ché shirts on college campuses.”

Che Guevara was a totalitarian thug, but I don’t recall hearing that ever did anything like cut off a woman’s breasts. And why, pray tell, must we choose between a dead Commie and a bunch of “ex”-fascists hustling t-shirts?

What gets me is that Reynolds blogged the two above-mentioned items within minutes of each other. What was he thinking? It’s hard to believe that someone can be that blinded by ideology, but there you have it …

By the way, the CIA provided the contras with a manual instructing them in the art of terrorism. The manual advised Ollie North’s Nicaraguan “freedom fighters” to lead

“Demonstrators into clashes with the authorities, to provoke riots or shootings, which lead to the killing of one or more persons, who will be seen as the martyrs; this situation should be taken advantage of immediately against the Government to create even bigger conflicts.”

The manual also contained this helpful hint, recommending the

“Selective use of armed force for PSYOP [psychological operations] effect…. Carefully selected, planned targets — judges, police officials, tax collectors, etc. — may be removed for PSYOP effect in a UWOA [unconventional warfare operations area] …”