Title: What Would Be Worse Than Bush?
ALGOREismylife - July 19, 2007 02:01 AM (GMT)
http://www.alternet.org/blogs/peek/57117/
What Would Be Worse Than Bush?
By Guest Blogger
Posted on July 17, 2007, Printed on July 18, 2007
Howie Klein: An approach to Iraq even worse than Bush's? Oh yes, Cheney unchained would be a lot worse.
This post, written by Howie Klein, originally appeared on Down With Tyranny!
I started reading ex-CIA analyst Michael Scheur's book, Imperial Hubris-- Why The West Is Losing The War on Terror months ago. I've finished 3 or 4 other books since starting it. I loved it at first. It was filled with denunciations of the Bush Regime and confirmed my own belief that Bush's ascension to the presidency was one of the most catastrophic national security disasters in the history of the United States, right up there with the War of 1812, the insurrection by southern bandits that came to be known as the Civil War, and the bombing of Pearl Harbor.
The first half of the book is filled with a spot on analysis of Bush's horrendous shortcomings as a leader. His detailed, minute comparisons of the relative leadership qualities and overall effectiveness of Bush and bin-Laden are among the most scathing indictments of Bush I have ever read in any context. On the other hand Scheur's critic of the failings of the Bush Regime-- while extremely accurate in many respects-- comes from an even more peculiar perspective. It's as though when "Anonymous" was first revealed to be Scheur, it was actually a cover by the real author: Dick Cheney, writing about why his apocalyptic wet dream, best laid plans, went awry in the hands of a half-baked ex-junkie, cheerleader. Basically, he says the only option America has towards dealing with "the Muslim world" is a military one.
And it is not the option of daintily applying military power as we have since 1991. "U.S. soldiers are unprepared for the absolute mercilessness of which modern warriors are capable," Ralph Peters correctly said in Fighting For The Future: Will America Triumph?, "and they are discouraged or prohibited by their civilian masters and their own customs from taking the kind of measures that might be effective against members of the warrior class." To secure as much of our way of life as possible, we have to use military force in the way that Americans used it on the fields of Virginia and Georgia, in France and on the Pacific Islands, and from skies over Tokyo and Dresden. Progress will be measured by the pace of killing and, yes, by body counts. Not the fatuous body counts of Vietnam, but precise counts that will run to extremely large numbers. They piles of dead will include as many or more civilians as combatants because our enemies wear no uniforms.
This paragraph makes me think that the book was actually a joint work by Dick and Lynne Cheney. This is far more her semi-pornographic literary style. It could also have been co-authored with Scooter, another close Cheney confidant with a flair for the unspeakably vile.
Killing in large numbers is not enough to defeat our Muslim foes. With killing must come a Sherman-like razing of infrastructure. Roads and irrigation systems; bridges, power plants, and crops in the field; fertilizer plants and grain mills-- all these and more will need to be destroyed to deny the enemy its support base. Land mines, moreover, will be massively reintroduced to seal borders and mountain passes too long, high or numerous to close with U.S. soldiers. As noted, such actions will yield large civilian casualties, displaced populations and refugee flows.
This, of course is why we have things like the Geneva Conventions, war crimes tribunals and it is also why Cheney insisted that the first thing Bush do is strong arm as many countries as possible to make the U.S. and its officials immune from war crimes prosecutions.
In this morning's Washington Post Anne Applebaum says there are no magic bullets for Iraq and goes on to list all the plans (by Hillary, Obama, the House Dems, the Senate Dems, the Senate Obstructionists, etc) that won't work. It sounds like she gets paid by the word and had to fill a column but had nothing to say. Her ending, while not as hideous as Anonymous'/Scheur's/the Cheneys', speaks to and of and by the utter intellectual and moral bankruptcy of the Beltway Crowd that cheered us into this catastrophe: "Last weekend, I met a Marine about to depart for his second tour in Iraq. He wasn't exactly enthusiastic about going, nor was he particularly optimistic about what could be achieved. But he wasn't demanding to stay home, either. If nothing else, he felt obliged to stick by the many Iraqis who had helped the Marines and who might well be murdered if the Marines left for good. He had, in other words, perceived the only truth of which we can really be certain: that there are no obvious solutions in Iraq, only policy changes that could make some things better and some things worse. Maybe much worse."
Watch for Matt Bai's new book The Argument: Billionaires, Bloggers and the Battle to Remake Democratic Politics which will bemoan how "American voters who once looked to newspaper columnists for guidance on politics now blog their own idle punditry." I'll take some idle punditry from a citizen blogger like Scarecrow over the senseless-- but "professional"-- babbling of a Matt Bai, David Broder or Anne Applebaum any day of the week.
Howie Klein was president of his freshman class, drove to Afghanistan and Nepal, became the president of Reprise Records and started a blog called Down With Tyranny!. He's always hated tyrants.
What Would Be Worse Than Bush?
By Guest Blogger
Posted on July 17, 2007, Printed on July 18, 2007
Howie Klein: An approach to Iraq even worse than Bush's? Oh yes, Cheney unchained would be a lot worse.
This post, written by Howie Klein, originally appeared on Down With Tyranny!
I started reading ex-CIA analyst Michael Scheur's book, Imperial Hubris-- Why The West Is Losing The War on Terror months ago. I've finished 3 or 4 other books since starting it. I loved it at first. It was filled with denunciations of the Bush Regime and confirmed my own belief that Bush's ascension to the presidency was one of the most catastrophic national security disasters in the history of the United States, right up there with the War of 1812, the insurrection by southern bandits that came to be known as the Civil War, and the bombing of Pearl Harbor.
The first half of the book is filled with a spot on analysis of Bush's horrendous shortcomings as a leader. His detailed, minute comparisons of the relative leadership qualities and overall effectiveness of Bush and bin-Laden are among the most scathing indictments of Bush I have ever read in any context. On the other hand Scheur's critic of the failings of the Bush Regime-- while extremely accurate in many respects-- comes from an even more peculiar perspective. It's as though when "Anonymous" was first revealed to be Scheur, it was actually a cover by the real author: Dick Cheney, writing about why his apocalyptic wet dream, best laid plans, went awry in the hands of a half-baked ex-junkie, cheerleader. Basically, he says the only option America has towards dealing with "the Muslim world" is a military one.
And it is not the option of daintily applying military power as we have since 1991. "U.S. soldiers are unprepared for the absolute mercilessness of which modern warriors are capable," Ralph Peters correctly said in Fighting For The Future: Will America Triumph?, "and they are discouraged or prohibited by their civilian masters and their own customs from taking the kind of measures that might be effective against members of the warrior class." To secure as much of our way of life as possible, we have to use military force in the way that Americans used it on the fields of Virginia and Georgia, in France and on the Pacific Islands, and from skies over Tokyo and Dresden. Progress will be measured by the pace of killing and, yes, by body counts. Not the fatuous body counts of Vietnam, but precise counts that will run to extremely large numbers. They piles of dead will include as many or more civilians as combatants because our enemies wear no uniforms.
This paragraph makes me think that the book was actually a joint work by Dick and Lynne Cheney. This is far more her semi-pornographic literary style. It could also have been co-authored with Scooter, another close Cheney confidant with a flair for the unspeakably vile.
Killing in large numbers is not enough to defeat our Muslim foes. With killing must come a Sherman-like razing of infrastructure. Roads and irrigation systems; bridges, power plants, and crops in the field; fertilizer plants and grain mills-- all these and more will need to be destroyed to deny the enemy its support base. Land mines, moreover, will be massively reintroduced to seal borders and mountain passes too long, high or numerous to close with U.S. soldiers. As noted, such actions will yield large civilian casualties, displaced populations and refugee flows.
This, of course is why we have things like the Geneva Conventions, war crimes tribunals and it is also why Cheney insisted that the first thing Bush do is strong arm as many countries as possible to make the U.S. and its officials immune from war crimes prosecutions.
In this morning's Washington Post Anne Applebaum says there are no magic bullets for Iraq and goes on to list all the plans (by Hillary, Obama, the House Dems, the Senate Dems, the Senate Obstructionists, etc) that won't work. It sounds like she gets paid by the word and had to fill a column but had nothing to say. Her ending, while not as hideous as Anonymous'/Scheur's/the Cheneys', speaks to and of and by the utter intellectual and moral bankruptcy of the Beltway Crowd that cheered us into this catastrophe: "Last weekend, I met a Marine about to depart for his second tour in Iraq. He wasn't exactly enthusiastic about going, nor was he particularly optimistic about what could be achieved. But he wasn't demanding to stay home, either. If nothing else, he felt obliged to stick by the many Iraqis who had helped the Marines and who might well be murdered if the Marines left for good. He had, in other words, perceived the only truth of which we can really be certain: that there are no obvious solutions in Iraq, only policy changes that could make some things better and some things worse. Maybe much worse."
Watch for Matt Bai's new book The Argument: Billionaires, Bloggers and the Battle to Remake Democratic Politics which will bemoan how "American voters who once looked to newspaper columnists for guidance on politics now blog their own idle punditry." I'll take some idle punditry from a citizen blogger like Scarecrow over the senseless-- but "professional"-- babbling of a Matt Bai, David Broder or Anne Applebaum any day of the week.
Howie Klein was president of his freshman class, drove to Afghanistan and Nepal, became the president of Reprise Records and started a blog called Down With Tyranny!. He's always hated tyrants.
ReElectAlGore2008 - July 19, 2007 09:20 AM (GMT)
Worse than Bush is Bush not being repudiated, and Hillary then Jeb comes in 2016.
That would be worse than it is now.
If Bush is not repudiated totally, then the next election won't matter at all.
Impeachment is a must, conviction, ouster etc...for Bush, Cheney and all syncopants.
Without it, our democracy may not survive.
That would be worse than it is now.
If Bush is not repudiated totally, then the next election won't matter at all.
Impeachment is a must, conviction, ouster etc...for Bush, Cheney and all syncopants.
Without it, our democracy may not survive.
Wayne in WA State - July 19, 2007 10:07 AM (GMT)
tkdveg - July 19, 2007 04:20 PM (GMT)
Impeachment is really the only way to redeem ourselves. We have no other recourse.
ReElectAlGore2008 - July 21, 2007 05:48 AM (GMT)
Cheney becomes President today while Bush has his head examined.
Will he give back the power at the end of the day?
Will he give back the power at the end of the day?
thisplanet - July 21, 2007 01:16 PM (GMT)
| QUOTE |
| Cheney becomes President today while Bush has his head examined |
:laugh: I went to post the following but had to wait till I was through laughing. :laugh:
I wonder how many heart attacks there will be as the various news broadcasts open their report today with:
"President Bush transferred presidential powers to VP Dick Cheney today..."
I know I almost passed out till I heard it followed with the info about the colonoscopy. Makes you think though doesn't it?
Patsy - July 21, 2007 05:07 PM (GMT)
How could things get any worse with Bush being President? Well he as gotten away with something else. He signed the "Torture Bill", but most of it is secret. Does he have the right to sign bills that the Congress and others have no idea what is in the bill? Are we not a nation of laws? Are we not "We the People, etc.?"
Reverend Wally - July 21, 2007 05:10 PM (GMT)
This must be the impeachment of three key individuals.
1 ... G W Bush
2 ... Dick Cheney
3 ... Alberto Gonzales(z)
Imperative.
1 ... G W Bush
2 ... Dick Cheney
3 ... Alberto Gonzales(z)
Imperative.
Reverend Wally - July 21, 2007 05:14 PM (GMT)
| QUOTE (Reverend Wally @ Jul 21 2007, 01:10 PM) |
| This must be the impeachment of three key individuals. 1 ... G W Bush 2 ... Dick Cheney 3 ... Alberto Gonzales(z) Imperative. |
Followed by the arrest of all three for treason against the People of and The Constitution of The United States of America.
Is there at least one lawyer out there with the balls to do this?
I certainly hope so.
The time to start a deep investigation is Yesterday, but we have to settle for right now this second.
I know there must be some one with a law degree and bar membership somewhere who can do this.
ReElectAlGore2008 - July 22, 2007 12:36 AM (GMT)
and followed by the arrest of Bush41 and his wife for starting the whole thing up, and the complete repudiation of all the Bush people from the 1980s
(and don't forget that once again Jimmy Carter's greatness will shine through and the illegal way they stopped the hostages from being released will be learned by the people who still don't know that
(and don't forget that once again Jimmy Carter's greatness will shine through and the illegal way they stopped the hostages from being released will be learned by the people who still don't know that