Antiwar.com Blog

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.”

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

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] …”

Suburban Guerilla catches an interesting angle in a Guardian article:

Leaking the identity of an undercover agent is a serious crime under US law, but prosecutors would have to prove that the leaker was aware of the agent’s covert status. However, the investigation, led by federal prosecutor Patrick Fitzgerald, is reported also to be investigating possible charges of perjury and obstruction of justice.

Meanwhile, a parallel investigation is under way into who forged the Niger documents. They are known to have been passed to an Italian journalist by a former Italian defence intelligence officer, Rocco Martino, in October 2002, but their origins have remained a mystery. Mr Martino has insisted to the Italian press that he was “a tool used by someone for games much bigger than me”, but has not specified who that might be.

A source familiar with the inquiry said investigators were examining whether former US intelligence agents may have been involved in possible collaboration with Iraqi exiles determined to prove that Saddam Hussein had a nuclear programme.

Hmmm. Is there a parallel investigation or is Fitzgerald just expanding the original investigation??

In other news, the poor guy shot in the Stockwell Tube station yesterday turned out to be a Brazilian with no connection whatsoever to the London bombings.

Scott Horton is interviewing the heroic author Chris Hedges on his radio show this afternoon.

You can see the options to listen live here, or you can wait for the archive of the interview with commercials removed, available by tomorrow.

Scott will also be writing an article about the interview along with the audio linked, which will appear on Antiwar.com next week.

Steve Clemons is telling us — “from a highly placed source, and in the right place to know” — that would-be UN ambassador John Bolton is one of jailed New York Times reporter Judith Miller’s major sources for WMD and national security issues. Yet more evidence that my July 15 column nailing Bolton as a key figure in the plot to out CIA agent Valerie Plame was right on target.