Antiwar.com Blog

Justin Logan has an intriguing take on why the neocons are suddenly piling on Rumsfeld:

Rumsfeld wants out of Iraq, and the neocons are scared to death that he’ll succeed.

Go here for the rest of his argument.

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It’s Feingold for president! Having run his amazing senate speech as a Capital Time op-ed piece, John Nichols anoints him the 2008 standardbearer in Thursday’s column. “Absolute rejection of the war in Iraq and empire building” is to be the rallying cry.

As the dead horse is about to be beaten again, it’s fitting to recall the old Limelighters’ takeoff on the psychological western. “You’ve killed one hundred and forty men, old buddy, and now you want to settle down.” It turns out that the “Gunslinger” is not a bad cowpoke, just a sick one–he comes from a “broken home on the range.” I’d like to, indeed I do think that Russ Feingold’s deception isn’t willful.

How could someone who laments the “squandering” of “our power to lead, to persuade, and to inspire” and the “undermining” of “our ability to win…hearts and minds” have expressed solidarity with Israel after it wrought death and demolished the Palestinian infrastructure in the spring of 2002? He mentions the 9/11 Commission report, but ignores what it calls a “simple fact,” “American policy regarding the Israeli-Palestinian conflict” as well as “American actions in Iraq are dominant staples of popular commentary across the Arab and Muslim world.”

Citing the Pentagon’s Defense Science Board’s conclusion that “Muslims” hate us for our policies, “especially ‘what they see as one-sided support in favor of Israel and against Palestinian rights,'” David Hirst notes that the Bush adminstration “can never acknowledge the real nature of the [Arab-Israeli] problem, which is essentially one of decolonization.”

Feingold notes that majorities in the four predominantly Muslim countries included in a 2004 Pew survey “doubt the sincerity of the U.S. war on terrorism and say that it is an effort to control Mideast oil and dominate the world.” Majorities in three of the five non-Muslim states agree. Does Feingold? I don’t know, but if he is “rejecting empire building” here, he’s on shaky ground, he’s denying the U.S. a prerogative he’s afforded Israel.

He doesn’t mention the survey’s finding that majorities or near majorities in the four Muslim countries “also believe the anti-terrorism effort is driven by the desire of the U.S. to protect Israel” (the elephant). Nor does he mention the 2003 Pew which finds that “in 20 of 21 populations surveyed – Americans are the only exception – pluralities or majorities believe the United States favors Israel over the Palestinians too much. This opinion is shared in Israel…”

Acknowledging that the anointed one has a severe psychological problem, that he needs deprogramming, is not going to help the effort to provide “progressives” something to feel good about. Feingold doesn’t use the word “Israel,” so neither does Nichols. That’s 106 columns down, four to go.

From Reuters, December 17, 2004, Fallujah

Combination handout pictures released on December 17, 2004, (Upper L frame) showing U.S. Marine Platoon Gunnery Sergeant, Ryan P. Shane, from the 1st. Battalion of the 8th. Marine Regiment as he pulls a fatally wounded comrade to safety while under fire during a military operation in the Iraqi western city of Falluja. (Upper R frame) Shane and another member of the 1/8 pulled their fatally wounded comrade under fire. (Lower L frame) Shane (extreme, L) is hit by insurgent fire and (Lower R frame) lies wounded (L). REUTERS/HO/USMC/Cpl. Joel A. Chaverri

On the same day this was happening in Fallujah the Iraqi “government” was saying Fallujah was all ready for the refugees’ return. The Marines were forced to issue a denial.

From Baghdad today, Sunday, December 19, 2004:

A gunman, left, shoots and kills a man lying in Baghdad’s Haifa Street after being pulled from a car Sunday, Dec. 19, 2004. The man at right on his knees was executed moments later, along with another man not shown in picture. About 30 militants hurling hand grenades and firing machine guns attacked a car carrying five people employed by the commission’s Baghdad office and tried ‘to drag them out,’ said Adel al-Lami, a member of the Independent Electoral Commission of Iraq. (AP Photo/Str)

Related story: Three electoral employees killed in Iraq

This happened, obviously, in broad daylight near the Green Zone (Haifa street is in downtown Baghdad.) Reuters describes the scene:

Witnesses said insurgents opened fire on the vehicle before dragging three people from it and shooting them. The car was set on fire and the bodies left lying near the burning wreckage.

Guerrillas armed with AK-47 assault rifles and pistols then set up a roadblock on the street, stopping and searching every car that passed, pointing their guns in through the windows.

Fierce gunbattles ensued, witnesses said, as police tried for several hours to get to the scene of the attack. U.S. military helicopters flew low overhead scanning the area, which echoed with gunfire and small explosions, residents said.

George W. Bush has been named Time Magazine’s Person of the Year, joining such luminaries as Ted Turner, Josef Stalin, and Adolf Hitler.

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John Nichols: Feingold-for-president buzz growing

Ufot was right, I just couldn’t resist plugging Russ again! And I can’t believe I had never used the word gush before, why, it’s almost as lovely as tikkun.

It’s unlikely Russ will ever be President and I’ll be his Press Secretary, but progressives have little else to feel good about so I gush. And if I have to gloss over his cognitive dissonance, well, it’s for the greater good, progressives need uplifting. It’s too bad other states don’t have their own Feingold, ours will have to do.

What’s that, honey, the tofu is ready? Okay, got to run.

Best,
John Nichols

p.s. I won’t forget to use “Israel” in my December 30 Capital Times column like I did last year, anything for a good joke.

Proquest data base search results (through December 15):

1663 documents found for: (au(john nichols) and so(capital times) ) AND PDN(>1/1/1994)

Searching for (au(john nichols) and so(capital times) and gush) AND PDN(>1/1/1994) did not find any documents. Try the following: snip

216 documents found for: (au(john nichols) and so(capital times) and feingold) AND PDN(>1/1/1994)

In Havana, Cuba vs. the US Billboard Competition

The American entry:

The Cuban entry:

Advantage: Cuba

HAVANA, Dec 17 (AFP) – Cuba on Friday put up pictures of US soldiers torturing Iraqi prisoners at the Abu Ghraib prison across the street from Christmas decorations at the US mission that highlight Cuban dissidents.

An enormous billboard put up on the road in front of the US special interest section offices said: “Fascists Made In USA”.

Cuba complained this week to the chief US representative in Havana, James Cason, after the mission put up Christmas decorations which included a neon 75 — a pointed reference to 75 Cuban dissidents detained by the communist authorities last year.

UPDATE: A reader requested more detailed pictures of the Cuban billboard, saying that the ones being shown in the US media are oblique shots that obscure the pictures and message, so here they are, from the Sydney Morning Herald and the UK Telegraph. (click to enlarge)