Which party cozied up to Saddam Hussein? Pinochet? The Shah? Jonas Savimbi? Somoza? Roberto D’Aubisson? And other strongmen and tinhorn dictators too numerous to mention? Who sold arms to Iran, and to dozens of almost-as-odious Third World dictators?
Gimme a fucking break.
Naming names at least gives some definition to the discussion. No specificity = no meaning.
My point exactly.
Both parties?
Didn’t FDR say of the elder Somoza, “He may be a bastard, but at least he’s our bastard”?
I had heard that – “He’s our son-of-a-bitch” – in connection with Trujillo; but it appears the formulation may be older than that.
My guess is Alessan was being ironic and (for added effect) left out the winkey-smiley.
Both of them. The Pubs might arguably be the worse offenders, but neither party has clean hands in this regard. Look at LBJ’s support of the utterly corrupt Thieu regime, and Carter’s support of the Shah.
Thanks. This is a really complex area and I am not even going to try to form an opinion although in general Juan Cole is someone I would trust. Still, I’d like to see more concrete accusations rather than vague statements without substance.
I remember American military are forbidden from doing news-propaganda at home but they were recently rather easily getting around that by planting stories in Iraq and just letting the “free press” re-broadcast them in America.
I am not qualified to have any opinion on MEMRI so I’ll have to leave it at that.
And before one of the apologists shows up and demands a cite, cite.
yeah, that’s a new tactic, manipulating the media to serve one’s political ends…
:rolleyes:
I’d say LBJ’s support of Thieu was basically overruled by the lefty protests of the late 1960s which led to the image of Dems that Liberal mentions. And Carter’s support for the Shah was pretty lukewarm, and the right for years afterwards attributed the fall of the Shah to Carter’s weak support.
So when Congress passes a law outlawing something you are OK with the military or others in the government trying to skirt the spirit if not the letter of the law? Why have a Congress then? Why not just have the military ruling the country directly?
I wouldn’t necessarily say that the names you’ve mentioned rise to the standard of our discussion.
Maybe not so much, as you can see.
Note for reference that what DID work (for the Allies) was the invasion and conquest of the opposing nation. Are you suggesting that Israel should use this tactic against Hamas in Gaza?
No; I’m just saying that what they ARE doing is useless.
Its not useless.
Israel is destroying munitions and weakening Hamas to a point where after the ceasefire they will be able to tolerate a low level of rocket fire until such point where they’ll need to weaken Hamas and destroy their built up munitions again.
There is no alternative short of carpet bombing the entire Gaza strip.
For those who advocate a proportionate response.
Wasn’t the Dolittle raid on Japan a proportionate response to Pearl Harbour ? Think of the lives saved had the US stopped there.
They need to keep up pressure on Hamas’ supply routes, which may get touchy, re: Egypt’s Gaza border.
Perhaps a bit off-topic, but here’s a funny pic I saw:
Lol. Thanks for the laugh.
