Make no mistake: the assassination of Osama Bin Laden will be used to continue and potentially escalate the so-called “Global War on Terror.” Already I hear the media drum beat growing that “the war must go on” and “we must fight against those that would retaliate.” Each time you feed the Global War on Terror, a by definition never-ending war, it simply grows and grows. Right now this growth is being cultivated through the calls we’re hearing to be “steadfast” in the face of the “retaliations” that are “sure to come.” (Which begs the question: why did we even assassinate Osama, who by many accounts was now just a figure head and had no operational power, if we knew it would result in retaliations against even more innocent lives?)
However, there is one impending and already manifesting danger even greater than the retaliations from Osama-allies that our politicians and media outlets are fomenting fear over: the immediate explosion of nationalistic fever and bloodlust that swept across the nation directly following the announcement of bin Laden’s assassination. I direct your attention to the short clip above of students celebrating on the University of Massachusetts, Amherst campus – which is fairly representative of the simultaneous celebrations engulfing the nation well into the early morning of May 2nd.
Images like these swept over the country, with young people in the streets and even in front of the White House cheering “we won! USA! USA!” and “it’s over! It’s finally over!”, on repeat throughout the night. I had to ask myself while watching these events: they really have no idea, do they?
If by “we won” and “it’s finally over,” these jubilant celebrators meant that our “win” was killing the ultimate terrorist boogeyman – than, yes, I suppose the specter of bin Laden has been defeated. Yet, the Ghost of Osama will keep the eternal “Global War on Terror” (GWOT) and the mass killings (perpetuated primarily by the United States) going and going. The GWOT is by definition an un-winable, never-ending war. It is a “fight” against a vaguely defined concept, meant to keep us on our toes anytime we determine there is a new boogeyman that must be defeated. And the great thing is that it’s global! We’ve got the whole world to scour over for terrorists! We’ll never have a shortage.
What’s important here, however, is that Osama’s assassination is being used consciously and subconsciously to justify and forget about all of the Afghanis and Pakistanis who have died. And, most likely, even the dead Iraqis as well. Don’t forget, we invaded (and continue to occupy) Iraq on the lie that Osama and Saddam were collaborating to kill Americans. (I’m serious: be watchful for the first time you hear “we killed Osama!” as retroactive nonsensical justification for the war in Iraq. I have already heard it mentioned once.). I repeat – the basis for our invasion of Iraq was a lie, and hundreds of thousands have died in Iraq as a result of it. That’s 9/11 over, and over, and over, and over, and over, and over, and over again. (And it’s still going on).
The problem is that American patriotism is so blinding that many Americans can’t even perceive how the death of this one person doesn’t justify the death of 14,000-34,000 Afghanis, thousands of Pakistanis, hundreds of people in Yemen, hundreds of thousands in Iraq, and thousands of more Americans. Not to mention the destruction these wars have brought to our environment, nor the financial and social cost we have burdened at home for them. (And by “we” I mean mostly the poor, women, and other historically marginalized communities. Those weapons and oil corporations seem to be doing pretty well for themselves.) So to all those Americans screaming “mission accomplished!” at the top of your lungs: I don’t really understand. What was the mission? To kill Osama? Tell that to the hundreds of thousands (if not millions) of innocent people that died before him in that effort, as well as to those that are still yet to perish in the wake of the “great” and “mighty” USA.
This nationalistic fever, however, has another symptom. And that is the misunderstanding of the term “justice.” There is justice and there is vengeance. These are two very different terms which should not be confused. What is being celebrated is not justice, it is vengeance. The justifications for our wars spanning across the Middle East and North Africa are based on vengeance, with those who had nothing to do with September 11th paying the vast majority of the price.
When Obama stood before the nation on his podium and proudly declared “justice” had been served, I asked myself: and where is the justice for the innocent Pakistanis, Iraqis, Afghanis, the Yemenis; the countless others that we will never know are dead; those who are innocent that are locked up in Guantanamo; and the whistle blowers like Bradley Manning? In fact, while reminding us of the suffering of those who lost loved ones on 9/11 and of those families that have “paid the ultimate sacrifice” during the War on Terror, not ONCE did Obama mention the thousands upon thousands upon thousands of those that have died from American bombs, bullets, and drones. Not once did Obama speak a word about the entire villages in Afghanistan that have been wiped off the map, nor did he say a peep about those who are suffering from cancer epidemics in Iraq as a result of our depleted uranium tipped bombs, and nor did he recall the wedding in Pakistan that we massacred. When will these people get their long awaited “justice?” The answer, is sadly, never. Because they are expendable fodder in the eyes of American nationalism and through its confusion over the meanings of justice and vengeance. Finally, when Obama was recalling the action to take down Osama (as if he were reading the nation a Tom Clancy novel), and he dared to mutter the words “[t]hey took care to avoid civilian casualties,” I could only think that there was a first time for everything. Too bad this first time had to come 10 years and at least four countries too late.
Someday I wish to see cheering crowds across the United States when Bush, Obama, et al face trial for starting and maintaining illegal wars and military campaigns that’ve killed hundreds of thousands (again, if not millions), wreaked utter havoc on our planet, and gutted our national infrastructure as well as social programs. Sadly, I know that day will never come. The celebrations directly following Osama’s assassination re-awoke the blind nationalism, bloodlust, and calls for eternal warfare that were finally starting to fade. I hope they soon begin to subside once more and finally crumble.
I have one final question. If we (rightly) proclaim that Osama is a “monster” for planning the killing of roughly 3,000 innocent lives on September 11th, then how do we have the gall to call this nation anything different when our wars have killed that number many, many times over in Afghanistan, Iraq, Pakistan, Yemen, and god-knows where else for nearly a decade? While the United States helped create and then finally took down Osama bin Laden, the most pressing monster we’ve created to date is this Global War on Terror. It must be stopped.
Brian Van Slyke is an educator on social change, economic change, and anti-imperialism. He blogs about these issues at LiberateKnowledge.Net and tweets about them at @thebrinos.
Bin Laden’s assassination will undoubtedly be used by the US to justify all kinds of questionable policies. Already, we are seeing the Pentagon lauding the use of those black sites, one of which allegedly produced the intelligence needed to locate bin Laden.
I think it is naive to think that this will be used by the Obama administration as pretext to withdraw from Afghanistan or Yemen.
Just two days ago, Australia’s PM stated in no uncertain terms that the war on terror goes on, full steam ahead. Sometimes I wonder about such lackeys, allies who like Tony Blair behave like a housebroken poodle, eager to please their master at the snap of a couple of fingers. But, I digress.
Anyway, Obama realized that the American public wasn’t buying the so-called terror alerts anymore. So, what better way to revive the boogeyman (the threat of terrorism and the fear-mongering that accompanies it) by actually killing the all-elusive boogeyman (bin Laden).
Much in the same way Israel launched a “daring” middle-of-the-night raid deep in Lebanese territory AFTER the ceasefire took effect in 2006 to boost its own citizenry’s morale and to reinvigorate domestic support, so did the US in this case. Mind you, in 2006 Israel simply captured two Lebanese civilians which according to Lebanese sources were simply two hapless civilians, in the wrong place at the wrong time. But, it was the Chuck Norris-like raid that was of public relations — political — significance. Israeli media played-up the raid as though the army had kidnapped Ahmadinejad, the devil incarnate by Israeli perceptions.
Some in the US media are already churning articles speculating about who will succeed bin Laden, as though this were an election campaign, or a popularity contest for Man of the Year.
You know what they say, The show must go on,/cite> and on the world stage, the gullible masses are the spectators.
Israel will certainly use the opportunity to undertake more assassinations and dare the world to explain why it’s OK for Obama but not for Bibi.
done
link to ynetnews.com
So, tell us then, why does the UN say it’s OK for Obama, but not for Bibi.
I’m like you. I think both are wrong. Why do you think the UN disagrees with us?
Brian, your concerns are well founded. What happened is that OBL provoked the US into fighting wars it could not win. We have lost those wars in Afghanistan and Iraq, though most Americans do not know this. OBL won years ago, whatever happens to his life — basically he was willing to sacrifice that years ago for what he accomplished.
If his death today convinces even more Americans that these wars were worth it and leads to the notion that we must pursue these wars even more fervently today, then he has succeeded yet again.
Hopefully, there are some sane minds in our government who realize that his death gives us an excuse to pull our troops out of those failed wars. I have lost hope that Obama has the insight to realize this possibility.
Watching the loop of pictures of U.S. occupation soldiers on Democracy Now accompanying the discussion of Bin Laden’s death and its consequences, I was struck by the similarities with the pictures of Israeli soldiers in Joseph Dana’s video documentaries about Palestinian children (“Stolen Children, Stolen Lives”) I had just watched. (Pardon if this link has been posted before): link to 972mag.com
If you think of the ordinary people of Iraq/Afghanistan/Pakistan as the same kind of innocents as those children, you can be as depressed as I am about what our world has come to.
Is this what the youth of today have become? I thought one went to University to learn, but not to learn to become ignorant and naive, or was this just an excuse to rally and have a few beers? Unfortunately I don’t think so. I find this distressful and depressing, and quite scary considering the repercussions, I think these actions are just going to incite more, and quick attacks. Typical chest-beating, we kicked his ass, we can kick anybody’s ass, bring’em on mentality, very scary. I had though it was just the government that was *expletive* up, now I’m not so sure….Where’s this country heading?
my reaction exactly. maybe these kids have been brainwashed w/osama talk since they were children. i had no idea they wer elike this. my son isn’t like this, or his friends. amherst? i thought they were lefties there. wtf
I remember being in grade school during the first Gulf War and wondering why I was being taught to hate Saddam Hussein. Meanwhile, the other students threw his name around like it was an epithet.
People like us are a minority.
These kids were 10-14 or around there. Guess Obama and team are figuring they can collect their votes since some of the older progressives may be too attached to principles and not party
I, too, was in grade school when the US first used its military against Iraq. As was oft done by children, then and now, I was asked what kind of name Moomjy was. When I replied that it is Assyrian, the first reply was usually confusion. Those with slighly more knowledge would say, “you mean Syria?” And I would say no, Assyria. And I would try to explain that Assyrians are essentially from what is now Iraq. As soon as my classmates heard Iraq, ire arose, as if to say “you mean you are one of them.” I’ve spent the better part of the last twenty some odd years trying to explain to my fellow Americans that American military intervention has been an ongoing process that never stopped between the so called 1st and 2nd gulf wars. I don’t know why, but a few hours ago I felt compelled to listen to some Nixon/Kissinger tapes. Listening to Nixon say over and over that the professors and press are the enemy and that bombing Hanoi would give him an extra month to stall for his reelection campaign in 72 reminded me of what happened a few days ago. I don’t think my Great-grandparents could have imagined when they fled Mosul in 1910 that they their adopted homeland would become(and perhaps always was) the single largest purveyor of violence the world has ever seen. Violence, unfortunately, is as American as apple pie. It’s no wonder that we are Israel’s sponsor–we provide an excellent model of what to do to indigenous populations. Geronimo…
Geronimo indeed. I appreciate your comment, especially the bracketed “and perhaps always was” and: “Violence, unfortunately, is as American as apple pie. It’s no wonder that we are Israel’s sponsor–we provide an excellent model of what to do to indigenous populations”
What bothers me frequently on MW is the insinuation that Zionism, Israel and the Lobby have steered the US off course, betraying ‘American values’. Yes, those values have been loudly proclaimed by the founding fathers and their successors, who all violated them in spectacular ways, domestically and internationally. Hypocrisy is a universal human trait, no doubt, and the advantage of judging one’s own actions, individually or nationally, by different standards than other people’s actions, appears to be hard-wired into the human brain. Still, wake up people, and stop projecting, or claiming the US was only ‘bad’ centuries ago, and suffered a relapse when the Zionist lobby reared its ugly head.
rob I shared your concern about these demonstrations. But after reading some accounts of who were actually in those demonstrations I am not that concerned. Basically, these actions broke out at the ‘party’ schools. These are schools whose social life is dominated by the beer swilling greek world.
For example, University of California campuses were not involved, nor any of the more intellectually inclined universities. Those partyers for the most part came from the second rate colleges (full disclosure, I was educated at the UW, Seattle, UC Berkeley and taught at Stanford, Harvard and other UC campuses as a full professor). The point is that these morons who poured into the streets were just looking for a big party, they are an ephemeral political blip.
It should be remembered that college students in the US have been historically very conservative. We think of the students at Berkeley, Columbia, Madison, and more during the Vietnam war as defining student politics. In the 1930s students from major state universities were used as strike breakers against the growing labor movement in this country. Totally logical if you think about it: it was the sons and daughters of the bourgeosie that attended college in those days, the working class youth were. well, day laborers, not students.
The drunk frat kids just what the rest of the world fears. Drunk swaggering Americans with the most sophisticated killing weapons on the planet on the ground in their countries.
Killing for oil, killing for Israel, killing for Christ
There’s a new commenter here in the last few days who calls himself “Bart.” You know, like in Homer Simpson cartoons? He describes himself as a real down-home American boy who likes guns, killing his own meat, and his college sheepskin from a non-ivy league college, and, oh yeah, he’s of the Episcopalian faith heritage. He says his name is legion; he represent real Americans, not those who feel conflicted or horrified about the way OBL was finished off and the way it was presented to the world, and he has no interest in following OBL’s career as a US lackey before he changed his mind. His word to MW readers is, you mess with us, we will track you down like a dog, and we will get you, no matter how long it takes, along with his notion that the attack on the USS Liberty is a closed accident case, and obviously anyone who even mentions that incident or the events surrounding it fore and after is a nut job. Although this masquerade by “Bart” is dead serious, I just gotta ask, did you ever watch a nerd trying to act like a kool guy? Or Glen Beck pretending he’s rational as he weeps over how America is deserting Israel, all alone in the world? Funny, at least Beck makes tons of money off of his Israel First show. “Bart” is probably only paid by his thought that he’s living and writing here for a cause beyond himself, one that makes him feel mighty–you know, like the little kid beating the big drum in Leni Reifehstahl’s Triumph Of The Will? OTOH, he might be getting a few sheckels (sic).
I guess Bart never read that the former Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff under Nixon and Former Chief of Naval Operations, Admiral Thomas Moorer, was the guy who headed the first official USS Liberty independent commission, and found Israel guilty of deliberately attacking the ship and accused the President, and Sec Def McNamara of leaving American soldiers to die.
Moorer’s statement, one month before he died in 2004.
link to ussliberty.org
Well, Bart made it a point to tell us he hunted and shot his own food, so maybe’s he’s just been too busy with that to do more than laugh at us because the USS Liberty incident was cleared up ages ago as an accident.
‘vengeance is mine
says the lord’
when did we become gods ?
certainly not by killing – any-
of our fellow human beings
‘we’ve come so far,
only to fall so low’
the only thing that can
heal us now is forgiveness
cease and desist
and perhaps
we might know the truth
and save ourselves
I watched the 12 & 1/2 min video. The young crowd seemed totally aimless, and all the comments were too; a small thin line at the fringe of it periodically chorused, “USA, USA!” Lots of kids taking phone camera shots, probably to put up on their Facebook page. A couple of cops walked through the crowd, unaware a bunch of kids trailed after them, apparently just for the fun of it or because it was the only way to get easily through the thick crowd. A couple of small fires were started here and there; a cop brandished his pepper gun at those around one of them. Seemed mostly just a chance to socialize ineptly. I heard nobody at all talking about OBL or the GWOT, not one snatch of such. Aimless. Sort of like people slowing down briefly to gawk out the car window as they pass by a car accident.
“because it was the only way to get easily through the thick crowd.”
I’ve used this strategy before. Gets you right through the crowd
let the witchhunt against dissenters begin…
Rashard Mendenhall causes stir with Osama bin Laden tweets
Mendenhall is one of the top receivers in US football. and here’s the start of his twitter feed: “What kind of person celebrates death? It’s amazing how people can HATE a man they have never even heard speak. We’ve only heard one side…”
This reminiscent of the social fears after 9-11 occurred. Buy the party lines and we’ll all get along…
MSNBC’s Cenk Uygar did a segment on Fox News going after those who are are criticizing the gloating. Cenk basically said there are not many who are criticizing the gloaters. Cenk went back to his “USA USA” chant
Why not celebrate the killing as a kind of closure? It gives Obama opportunity to climb down from Afghanistan (which I’m sure he realizes in a no-win) and perhaps to veer off more from Bush-lite positions. He may not take it, but I wouldn’t bet against it.
As former head of the CIA’s Bin Laden Unit Micheal Scheurer brought up today OBL’s killing is no closure.
link to thedianerehmshow.org
my questions for Micheal. He answered several of them during the show
Micheal Scheuer….. I have read the 9/11 Commissions report, conclusions and recommendations. In the report they conclude many of the same things that I have heard you say that many people in that part of the world are angry with the US due to US support for dictators in the region, US support for Israel no matter what they do and US military bases on their lands to protect US access to oil.
I am not advocating violence in any way shape or form but…..Micheal do you think we would have seen the Arab spring without OBL’s and his kill teams attack on the US?
Queen Noor, the King of Jordan, former Cia analyst Ray McGovern, Kathleen and Bill Christison, former weapons inspector Scott Ritter, former President Jimmy Carter, as well as former head of the CIA’s Bin Laden uni and many otherst have expressed that the reasons for the anger and hatred towards the US as well as the attacks on the US are not because people hate our lifestyles but because of US support for dictators in that part of the world, US support for Israel no matter what they do and US military bases on their land to protect our access to oil. These reasons fo anger towards the US are also brought up in the 9/11 commission report
The US had been ignoring most of these issues for decades.
I am not advocating violence in any way shape or form…but does Micheal Scheuer think that the Arab Spring would have taken place without Al Quedas attack on the US?
Some closure.
Tell that to the hundreds of thousands dead in Iraq and Afghanistan.
It’s closure for American exceptionalists only. For Iraqi orphans, closure would mean a better future, one where the US funds their education in the absence of parents who would have otherwise provided for their children. Closure along those lines would be a good start toward making amends with the people whose lives the US destroyed.
No one no one in the MSM touches this. In fact many of them are busy still linking 9/11 to Iraq. Complicit
Yeah, the MSM has closure by driving on past the car accident to the next event.
“Already I hear the media drum beat growing that “the war must go on” and “we must fight against those that would retaliate.” Each time you feed the Global War on Terror, a by definition never-ending war, it simply grows and grows. Right now this growth is being cultivated through the calls we’re hearing to be “steadfast” in the face of the “retaliations” that are “sure to come.”
Rachel Maddow was rabid last night. Telling people what they think “everyone is ecstatic that OBL was killed” “he was the most wanted terrorist in the world” She was out of her mind. Sure to stir up more hatred and anger. This is a journalist who clearly like so many American journalist who excuse Obama, our justice system and our congress for “sheltering” our war criminals. Bush, Cheney, Wolfowitz, Feith, Rice etc are responsible for far more deaths and injuries of innocent people in Iraq than OBL’s crimes against humanity. Racheal Maddow was bearing the drums. Demonizing demonizing.
Today I heard Willy Geist and Nora O Donnell bring up Saddam Husseins sons being killed comparing them to OBL’s killing again indicating that our invasion of Iraq was necessary and linked to 9/11. Many journalist that I heard did this on Monday and Tuesday.
I have to give it to Mika Brezinski today during her conversation on Morning Joe with Senator Clair McCasgill she was careful not to include Iraq in their conversation about OBL, Afghanistan and 9/11. She was one of the most skillful talking heads that I have heard the last several days. Clearly separating the issues. Although none of these sold out types have demanded that the same accountability standards that applied to OBL’s crimes against humanity be applied to the Bush administrations crimes agianst humanity
These demonstrations are an absolute disgrace to my country. Inappropriate, undignified, chauvinistic, ugly, a harbinger of more violent destruction abroad and at home.
“What’s important here, however, is that Osama’s assassination is being used consciously and subconsciously to justify and forget about all of the Afghanis and Pakistanis who have died. And, most likely, even the dead Iraqis as well. Don’t forget, we invaded (and continue to occupy) Iraq on the lie that Osama and Saddam were collaborating to kill Americans. (I’m serious: be watchful for the first time you hear “we killed Osama!” as retroactive nonsensical justification for the war in Iraq. I have already heard it mentioned once.). I repeat – the basis for our invasion of Iraq was a lie, and hundreds of thousands have died in Iraq as a result of it. That’s 9/11 over, and over, and over, and over, and over, and over, and over again. (And it’s still going on).”
I hope folks here at Mondoweiss and have brought this up at other sites yesterday keep a running track of how often you hear the MSM talking heads and others link 9/11 to Iraq.
Today (Wednesday) both MSNBC’s Willy Geist and Nora O’Donnell brought up the killings of Saddams sons along with OBL’s killing again linking 9/11 with Iraq. Not very subtle but so full of intent
Here are my observations for a couple of days
Posted them on another Mondoweiss thread yesterday
Kathleen May 3, 2011 at 11:33 am
Amazing to hear how many times MSNBC’s Joe Scarborough, Maria Schaivo Campo, Richard Engel as well as others continue to link Iraq to 9/11. On Monday I heard Scarborough say that “those who have lost family members in Iraq and Afghanistan and those who have lost limbs should be able to find comfort in this”
On Monday MSNBC’s Maria Schaivo Campo blamed the deaths in Iraq on Osama.
MSNBC’s Richard Engel compared the words used when Saddam was found “we got him” to the words used when Osama either killed himself or JSOC killed him “we got him” Again linking Iraq and 9/11.
NPR’s Rami Kouri Beirut linked 9/11 and Iraq on Monday.
Then today (Tuesday) Scarborough called Osama and KSM cowards for sending young men and women to their deaths. How fucking absurd. Bush, Cheney, Wolfowitz, Feith, Rumsfeld, Clinton etc sent thousands of American soldiers to their deaths in Iraq as well as being very much the reason that hundreds of thousands have been killed and injured in Iraq.
The whole world is witness to the double standards placed on human life say for instance the innocent life lost in the 9/11 attack versus the loss of life as a direct result of the invasion of Iraq by our leaders?
So absurd that Secretary of State Clinton or President Obama can say “grievous attacks on innocent people” with straight faces.
Don’t forget the abandonment of injured veterans when they got back to the US, Kathleen . That Walter Reed hospital scandal a few years ago said more about the real priorities of the US than any political ad ever could.
And of course there is this :
link to cbsnews.com
Oh I have not forgotten but our MSM has. Chris Matthews went into Walter Reed in I believe 2005 and broadcast live from there. That has been the end of that. Seldom hear about the injured. I have spent a fair amount of time at the Dayton Ohio VA talking to some of these mostly guys without a leg, or arm or mentally impaired. This is the way their lives will be until they die.
If I were the Judge with any power Bush,Cheney, Feith, Rice, Wolfowitz would be working in Walter Reed changing bed pans and wrapping the wounds of these soldiers at least 12 hours a day.
Hey, Kathleen, cheer up, Oprah had a recent show devoted to the 1% of men/women and families in the US bearing the combat burden of our aggressive nation-building and preventing radical Islamic terrorism. She even admitted she never thought about it before.
some of the best coverage of the “gloating and celebrating”
Glenn Greenwald
link to salon.com
“Speaking of “frat boy reactions,” Leon Panetta is excitingly speculating about which actors should portray him in the movie about the Hunt for bin Laden, helpfully suggesting Al Pacino. It’s been a long time since Americans
felt this good and strong about themselves — nothing like putting bullets in someone’s skull and dumping their corpse into an ocean to rejuvenate that can-do American sense of optimism.”
And Jeremy Scahill on Democracy Now
link to democracynow.org
“On the other side of this, though, I think there’s another reaction. I found it quite disgusting to see people chanting, like it was some sort of sporting event, outside of the White House. I think it was idiotic. Let’s remember here, hundreds of thousands of people have died. Iraq was invaded, a country that had nothing to do with al-Qaeda, nothing to do with Osama bin Laden. The United States created an al-Qaeda presence in Iraq by invading it, made Iran a far more influential force in Iraq than it ever would have been. We have given a grand motivation to people around the world that want to do harm to Americans in our killing of civilians, our waging of war against countries that have no connection to al-Qaeda, and by staying in these countries long after the mission was accomplished. Al-Qaeda was destroyed in Afghanistan, forced on the run. The Taliban have no chance of retaking power in Afghanistan. And so, I think that this is a somber day where we should be remembering all of the victims, the 3,000 people that died in the United States and then the hundreds of thousands that died afterwards as a result of a U.S. response to this that should have been a law enforcement response and instead was to declare war on the world.”
Some background on the ‘dancing students’ –
Fewer than half of American eighth graders knew the purpose of the Bill of Rights on the most recent national civics examination.
At the same time, three-quarters of high school seniors who took the test, the National Assessment of Educational Progress, were unable to demonstrate civic skills like identifying the effect of United States foreign policy on other nations or naming a power granted to Congress by the Constitution.
link to nytimes.com
Doubtless not even one student, anywhere in the land, could quote from Amendment V — ‘No person shall … be deprived of life, liberty, or property, without due process of law.’ And ‘due process of law’ doesn’t mean by executive decree. Or at least it didn’t use to.
Do you want to live out your life under a democracy of oblivious know-nothings? Me neither. I am so out of here …
Yeah, it’s nice to know our fathers and uncles or grandfathers and granduncles, or their female counteparts, suffered and sometimes died as they did in WW2 so our government could ape Israel’s. Makes us proud to be American. Time to rewrite the boy scout handbook? Oh you say Hitler did that for his kids? Well, now it’s our turn. What the hey, we have such a good model in Israel. I nominate Richard Witty, the resident liberal Zionist of record on MW, to write our new boy scout handbook. He will pay special attention to Phil Weiss, as to whether Phil gets any cub or boy scout badges.
“Nine years and eight months ago a faraway fanatic brought forth on this continent a new notion, conceived in Kandahar and dedicated to the proposition that the American republic is a house of cards. Now we are engaged in a great War on Terror, testing whether our nation or any nation so easily enticed into bankrupting itself and its principles can long endure. We are met on a great battlefield of that war. We have come to commemorate the end of this mastermind who devoted his life to our republic’s demise.
“It is altogether fitting and proper that we should do this. But in a larger sense, he could not dismantle, he could not demolish, he could not desecrate our Constitution. A population of petrified pygmies, Republican and Democrat who proved so ready to jettison liberties for promises of safety have damaged it far above his poor power to add or detract. The world will little note nor long remember his videotaped rants, but it can never forget what we did to ourselves. It is for us now rather to be dedicated here to ending the nightmare which they who have terrorized us with what happened that day have thus far so glibly advanced. It is rather for us to be here dedicated to the great task remaining before us — that with this monster’s death we return to our senses and our Constitution — that we here highly resolve that the victims of a decade of lunacy shall not have died in vain, that this nation under God shall have a new restoration, and that the pre-9/11, pre-Empire, pre-Corporate American republic shall not perish from the earth.”
“Obama to visit Ground Zero on Thursday, May 5, 2011 following bin Laden’s killing.” — News reports
A Draft Speech for Obama
The Abbottabad Address
May 4, 2011
By NIRANJAN RAMAKRISHNAN
Niranjan Ramakrishnan lives on the West Coast. He can be reached at njn_2003 at yahoo.com.
link to counterpunch.com
Do you know why Americans can’t stand the far-left? Because they cannot find the positive in anything.
Bin Laden is dead. It’s a good thing. Move on.
Cluelessly generalize much?
All that happened was a mafia don killed a former underling.
bin Laden’s brand of Islamic terrorism was good enough directed at the Soviets and Afghanis (and Bosnian Serbs). Only when he turned against the USA did he become public enemy #1. He was killed for being a loose cannon while your collection of Bush/Obama smiling with Abdullah al-Saud pictures grows by the year.
Take your own advice…”move on”
I love how hard-core Zionists and Israel-Firsters preach “move on” (and it’s not just hophmi) but can’t seem to do that themselves; they shake the Bible real estate deal in our faces and every battle fought since The Flood, and every and any slight they heard about for the last 3,000 years as justification for their own actions and beliefs, and are incensed, I tell you, insulted, deeply hurt, and emotionally distraught, I demand an apology, if you say the same thing to them.
“Justice will be done” when Obama, our congress and our so called justice system apply the same standards of accountability and justice that were applied to Osama Bin Laden for his crimes against humanity to the crimes committed against humanity by the Bush administrations through their unnecessary and immoral invasion of Iraq
The difference is that more innocent people have been killed by the Bush administration and so far they have gotten away with their crimes…. so far. No need to send in the Seals….. Trials would suffice.
No, Kathleen. First we’ve got to get someone, people, to start telling the truth, put it into the mainstream raw and in the proper context. Knowing the American people, the justice thing will then take care of itself.
Conspiracy theorist as a slur for people who wont drink the kool-aid, who recognize propaganda when they see it, has got to go. That term needs to go through the same debunking that the overuse and indiscriminate use of anti-semitic is now experiencing. The sneering at anybody who questions the official stories is a mental strait-jacket.
It’s our national version of the Arab Spring. The freedom (and need) to talk about uncomfortable truths, and the maturity to face ourselves in the mirror and say we let so much go by out of knee-jerk fear. 911 needs to be examined in a full-out proper investigation. The Patriot Act, the ridiculous airport security, the Islamofascism, the border fences, the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, the security politics infecting even local police forces, and if Schumer has his way, future shopping and riding on trains, all devolve from that unexamined day. Maximum possible 23,980 US gallons of kerosene (Jet-A) per tower. That’s maximum possible 436 barrels (drums) of a fuel that can’t burn any hotter in open air conditions, assuming it has enough oxygen, than 700 degrees F.
Disgusting to see young people so unlike my generation was during the Viet war. Many of the young today have apparently been co-opted and brainwashed by the media and gov propaganda over the past decade.
Yep, casaananda, not to mention, the males of your generation had skin in the game–the Draft? Today, with our “voluntary” military and the complicity of our MSM there’s no chance the young have today to actually
do much with any intelligence, except, as Bush Jr, said, “shop at the mall.”
Of course, first they need a decent job, or any job.
Everybody needs to relax … the celebrating is so yesterday … it was a spasm, and as I pointed out in another post mostly by college kids who grew up with OBL as the official bogeyman and they got to witness their villain get spectacularly slain (or least the events of this recounted) … most adults and others took it with a sigh since a lot of us have been wondering was OBL still a CIA asset and had merely come to the end of his usefulness? … was he truly the “evil” man and “mastermind” or was he a more thoughtful self-appointed “spiritual” leader guiding those who would follow along a path that evoked Saladin? … was he a marginalized terrorist and nothing more? … OLD NEWS is what he is now – the Arab Spring is the NEW THING and the new paradigm is forming before our eyes … the only question is will israel f*ck it up for everyone or let it play out to everyone’s benefit?
Radii, I’d like to think there are actually college kids in some good number dwelling on the meaning of the Arab Spring. Hey, there’s hope, look how long Rachel Carson’s Silent Spring took to take hold. All we need is WW3, no doubt apropos Iran. Then historians in the far future can tell us how the settlement of WW1 led to WW2, and the settlement of WW2 led to WW3. Israel’s key to this will be shown in all its glory. Then,
that key will be dismissed as “anti-semitism” and we will be on to WW4.
Sound like a prescription for pain?
What happened to the US prohibition on assassination?
http://www.trialbriefs.com
Recruit Obama; his legacy continues:
link to maskofzion.com
Which all leads to the question: Why was Goldman Sachs the #1 donor of record to both Obama’s and McCain’s political campaigns?
My personal opinion is that this is just laying the groundwork for a later false-flag attack to be blamed on Muslim desire for revenge in the supposedly recent death of Bin Laden. This will further whip up a frenzy of renewed support for the so-called GWOT (of which Arabs/Muslims are the high-profile bogeymen).
Clues are found, I think, in some of the early false memes (OBL purportedly using a female human sheild).
Who has put out those false memes before and who benefits from an association of [OBL]terror target numero uno and their villian of choice?
Why, it’s Chosanistan!
That bit of human shield disinformation puts OBL squarely on par with Palestinians.
My pal, Bernie the Attorney, sez that people remember the 1st bit of information, whether true or not, and later corrections generally do not serve to alter the remembered misinformation (the legacy of the low information voter).
Bernie surmises that a “dirty bomb” attack is a likely scenerio, particularly against a ‘liberal’ region, so as to essentially eliminate their resistance to further aggression.
We both hope that does not turn out to be the case.
Rumours percolating that it’s going to be Germany. Please God, no.
That’s the buzz I heard is going around as well.
=(
Frances, please elaborate; we can then get LeaNder’s POV, and knowing her from her comments on MW, can take it from there.
Hi Citizen. I’m from Asia, most of my news is from Asian sources and I have some friends and family working in diplomacy and intelligence. Germany is APPARENTLY the prime target for a false-flag for sentimental reasons (you can guess), and because they’ve been relatively reluctant to be part of the Great Muslim WitchHunting Jamboree.
Hi Frances. A false flag on innocent Germans does sound like a way to galvinize more arms and money, and diplomacy for Israel. And has a nice double or triple ironic twist to it, eh?
Germany would be the ideal target for anything like this, no doubt.
Public and political pressure to end the war in Afghanistan and pull out German troops is mounting. Nobody can honestly or plausibly explain what the Bundeswehr, or anyone else, is still doing there. While Islamophobia maintains support for the WOT, it simultaneously fuels anti-Muslim sentiment and paranoia that creates major domestic problems in Germany and other European countries.
Germany voting against military intervention in Libya in the UNSC raised a few eyebrows. As far as I know, NATO can not launch any full scale war without German consent. I’m a bit confused about this but: unless Germany is under direct attack, military attacks must be approved by a majority of the Bundestag, and NATO decisions must be unanimous. So if Germany is not going, nobody is going. Correct me if I’m wrong on this.
It would be a bizarre historical irony indeed if, God forbid, a false flag terrorist attack should be used to tun the Germans, presently in uproar about Merkel expressing joy over the death of OBL, into Obama’s – or Netanyhau’s – willing executioners — and increase public support for reducing the number of Muslim immigrants/migrants in Germany.
Iran? Syria?
I hear security is way up at the Reichstag.
Brennan put that forward. Joe Scarborough has been repeating what cowards Bin Laden, KSM are. Christ All Mighty while killing innocent people is one hundred percent wrong and criminal how one could call OBL and KSM cowards is beyond me. What drives a person to be this fanatical?
Now Cheney, Bush, Wolfowitz, Feith, Rice clearly cowards they have never put their own lives on the line for anything and never will
“My personal opinion is that this is just laying the groundwork for a later false-flag attack to be blamed on Muslim desire for revenge in the supposedly recent death of Bin Laden.”
Again, the Palestinians thank you profusely for helpful comments like these. Jeez.
Oh, I’m sorry. I forgot that the only ones qualified to help the Palestinians are the Israelis who so often do so by blasting them to bits.
For the record, what part of my comment might they object to?
That they’re demonized as terrorists in the same vein as any Islamic extremists that get front page coverage? While true that it happens doesn’t mean that the comparisons are valid. Or is your reading comprehension lacking?
Thank you in advance for clearing this up.
I’m sure the Palestinians are MUCH better having twits like you who think they should all just jump into the sea so you can have a Jews-only country club to call home.
Tell us again how Saddam was working with OBL and that’s why five thousand American soldiers had to sacrifice themselves for nothing. That’ll sound great the next time you lust to drop bombs on Iranians.
hophmi has indicated in the past on MW that he really could care less about the crackers who make up the bulk of American soldiers and their families. You gotta think hophmi=dick witty. American soldiers are made to serve Israel, or they deserve no respect at all.
“hophmi has indicated in the past on MW that he really could care less about the crackers who make up the bulk of American soldiers and their families.”
APOLOGIZE IMMEDIATELY, OR SUBSTANTIATE THAT CLAIM. I HAVE NEVER SAID ANYTHING LIKE THIS. I’m sick and tired of this shit. I ask the moderator to step in. Accusing people of being traitors and the like is a clear violation of the rules, and unsubstantiated claims like this are frankly libelous.
How about you respond to the very specific question I put to you after your snide remarks.
Can’t have it both ways.
German comedian on Saddam, OBL, I/P and the WOT. German with English subtitles. 5 parts (I/P part 2). Not bad at all
link to youtube.com
Thanks for the Volker Pispers comedy, Antidote. I agree, not bad at all. I wish I could send it to some Americans I know who would actually watch his five video clips. Well, at least now I know the name of a good German political comedian; that he has an appreciative audience in Germany. “And then there’s always a Merkel to come along… Bush’s suppository.” He was particularly acute tracing how the US used SH, the former Iraq dictator, and on the former Shah of Iran, etc. Generally, very witty on the absurdity of neocon rhetoric. Too, on how Bush Jr deprived africans of affordable drugs against AIDS, justifying his stance as a “free market”
value. His pointing out the American formula for valuing American lives, etc
You’re welcome, citizen. This Pispers classic was from 2004, but what has changed, other than Merkel having moved from opposition leader to chancellor? Nothing. Schroeder’s opposition to the Iraq war made no difference whatsoever, and Bush openly lied about having received Schroeder’s private endorsement (Germany voted no in the UNSC) for the invasion to fake clandestine support of a key European ally despite overwhelming evidence to the contrary. To be or not to be a suppository – what difference does it make?
Political comedy is an old tradition in Germany, and there are many good comedians in Germany today, despite the stereotype of Germans having no sense of humor bla, bla, bla. Not much of it available with subtitles, though. Pispers was pretty good on more recent clips I watched, on ME uprisings and Libya, where he poked some serious fun at the average German at the gas station of the future, prices having doubled and tripled since the Libyans had been liberated and finally working into their own pockets, and for the rebuilding of their country: “Ghadafi (sp?) really wasn’t that bad, was he?”