This ain't Hell, but you can see it from here

Category: Antiwar crowd

  • Ringo in Hollywood

    Our buddy, Ringo the Gringo, took time off from his internet sabbatical Saturday to venture into Hollywood and document the protest there to celebrate the Left’s reason to be – the Iraq War. But, there was much more to celebrate, apparently;

    I guess even Obama isn’t far enough Left for the anti-war crowd. Of course, there were some pretty far Left elements. Truthers, unionists, Gaddafi-lovers, communists, Mike Prysner and some other socialists.

    Yeah, there’s some pretty scary-stupid stuff at Ringo’s post, you should check it out.

  • Really Cindy?

    Going to piggy back on Jon’s post about here with this story about the local’s reaction to the American pilots who crashed in Libya.

    Six Libyan villagers are recovering in hospital after being shot by American soldiers coming in to rescue the U.S. pilots whose plane crash-landed in a field.

    The helicopter strafed the ground as it landed in a field outside Benghazi beside the downed U.S. Air Force F-15E Eagle which ran into trouble during bombing raid last night.

    And a handful of locals who had come to greet the pilot were hit – among them a young boy who may have to have a leg amputated because of injuries caused by a bullet wound.

    A second aviator – the F15’s weapons officer – was found in a field full of sheep and was greeted like a hero by locals and anti-Gaddafi rebels.

    As the officer was surrounded by villagers, he held his arms out, calling ‘okay, okay’, according to the Evening Standard – but the grateful Libyans queued to thank him and give him juice.

    Younis Amruni told the newspaper: ‘I hugged him and said “Don’t be scared, we are your friends”. We are so grateful to these men who are protecting the skies.’

  • Being anti-war gets hard

    It used to be that being anti-war was cool, people embraced you just because you said you opposed US foreign policy. Especially if you had some sort of “absolute moral authority” that you could attach to that narrow world view. But not only did the economy go to shit, but hippies are out of vogue what with that new President in the White House. Well, according to Cindy Sheehan;

    I cringe with embarrassment when I think of the wasted years imagining that there could be any other way to solve problems without killing more innocent people! It’s okay to bomb Libyans to save Libyans (or Iraqis to save Iraqis; or Afghans to save Afghans; or Yemenis to save Yemenis, etc) because a Democratic president who has been given the cover of the UN Security Council may bomb them. Yep, it’s all starting to make sense. With all the continuing conflicts, imagining a world without war was starting to seem useless—and now I know it was! Phew!

    This is another kooky idea I had—that the Security Council of the UN oftentimes, if not always, bowed to the will of the global oligarchy—or should we say, OILigarchy. I chuckle, because apparently that notion was either dead wrong, or was just a fact of life up until January 20, 2009.

    Here’s another mistaken notion that I labored under all these years: Torture is inhumane and a war crime. Up until just last week, I thought the US torture camp at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba should be closed and that military tribunals should not resume—but President Obama signed an executive order to keep Gitmo open and resume military tribunals. Wow, it’s like from almost one day to the next, torture and illegal, indefinite detention became acceptable practices.

    Talk about self-flagellation. Next thing you know, she’ll be voting and stumping for Republicans so she can get her former luster back.

    Thanks to Old Trooper for the link.

  • Buonomo defends the Taliban

    It’s been a while, but TJ Buonomo, probably the best-educated of the IVAW crowd (thanks to the free education he got at the Air Force Academy) decided to school me on what the US policy towards Afghanistan should be last night;

    As unsavory as the Taliban’s rule would be from a human rights standpoint, it is not the responsibility of the United States military to go crusading around the world conducting armed human rights
    missions. And I would argue that the Afghan government’s human rights record isn’t much better if at all.

    So the question is, can the Taliban be negotiated with and on what terms? The only ostensible U.S. interest in Afghanistan is to ensure that Al Qaeda doesn’t re-establish itself there and organize the Taliban under its own banner. There is substantial evidence to indicate that this is not the inevitable outcome that many assume it to be.

    Unsavory, TJ? A bit of an understatement, isn’t it? They denied an education to women. You know what women are, right? They’re at least half of the population, in case they didn’t teach that at the Academy. They stoned people…you know, like they’ve been doing since the beginning of human history. They throw acid on the faces of little girls. Yeah, unsavory. Does the current government treat it’s citizens like that? But you said their human rights record isn’t much better – well, other than the stoning and the denial of basic human dignities thing.

    Yes, the United States shouldn’t be traipsing all over the world stomping out injustice, but when the fruits of that injustice strikes us at home, our government has the responsibility to make sure it doesn’t happen again. We left Afghanistan to it’s own devices in 1987, we walked away from Somalia in 1993, we walked away from Yemen in 2000.

    TJ, you act like the Taliban are rational actors – you negotiate with rational actors. But they’re really not. They’re the same kind of extremists as al Qaeda…a large number of them came from other countries just so they could practice their extremism on real people. It’s painfully myopic to even attempt to negotiate with a group who has no intention of cooperating with anyone.

    Yes, yes, I know, it’s vogue to defend yourself with the “questions which must be asked” line, but after asking the same questions, after they’ve already been answered, they’re not questions any more. They become bumpersticker slogans and it becomes obvious that you, the questioner, just won’t accept any answer that isn’t one you’ve not preordained.

    IVAW has outlived it’s usefulness, if it ever had any. For one, it’s lasted longer than the war it opposed. Most of it’s remaining members have never set foot in Iraq (it’s right there in the title). It opposed the successful strategy which brought Iraq to this point. It’s now opposing the war in Afghanistan, which it’s own executive director supported a few short years ago. Do you really expect Americans to follow you on this one, too?

  • Der Speigel manufactures outrage

    I saw the Der Speigel article earlier this weekend, the one that leads Drudge right now in the form of an official Army apology on BBC News. It included some pictures of the soldiers who are charged with murder of two Afghan civilians, Der Speigel says the pictures are worse than the Abu Ghraib photos.

    If possible, these pictures are even a little more disgusting than the ones from Abu Ghraib. Those photos demonstrated a casual disdain for the dignity of the captive Iraqis; the FOB Ramrod Kill Team’s photos, on the other hand, show a casual disdain for the very lives of the Afghans.

    As bad as the pictures of the buffoonery of the participants in both incidents are, there is nothing here to be outraged about since the pictures in question are currently being used as evidence in a court martial – just like the goofuses in Abu Ghraib were being investigated and tried as the photos of that incident were released. The BBC reports on the Army’s reaction to Der Speigel’s photos;

    The US Army said these photographs depict “actions repugnant to us as human beings and contrary to the standards and values of the United States Army”.

    “The actions portrayed in these photographs remain under investigation and are now the subject of ongoing US court-martial proceedings, in which the accused are presumed innocent unless and until proven guilty,” it added.

    Soldiers who are convicted will be held accountable as appropriate, the army says.

    Of course, this the German publication’s attempt to smear all members of the US Army as well as their mission in the middle east. Actually the actions of a few soldiers who knew at the time that they were acting contrary to Army regulations – which is why they tried to cover it up. The only “casual disregard” was on the part of a few soldiers, not an entire unit. No matter how hard Der Speigel fans the flames of false outrage.

    Of course, the perpetually outraged denizens of the middle east will use it as another excuse to be…well….perpetually outraged, but they’re still angry about the Koran that was never flushed down a toilet at Guantanamo. So they don’t need another excuse. It’s just Der Speigel doing what they do best – sensationalism. They claim that they have 4,000 photos from the electronic media collected from the nine soldiers – and this is probably the worst they have, so it’s more intellectual brain farts and pants-wetting from the Euro-wienies.

  • Manning protest at Quantico

    I don’t know how they did it, but CNN was able to video the protest at Quantico without any shots of Ann Wright (I wonder how many videographers were hospitalized keeping her nasty face out of camera range), but she did get her dusty old ass arrested.

    I noticed that Jimbo did get a picture of the old hag with Tighe Berry and Medea Benjamin. I see Tighe is still looking for his gonads.

    CNN, locked in the 70s, thinks that interviewing Daniel Ellsberg is some kind of coup, I suppose. The anti-war crowd exhumed his rotting corpse to remind us of the Pentagon Papers.

    Reports that Manning has been held in near-total isolation and forced to sleep without clothing during his nearly eight-month detention has sparked outrage from human rights and peace activists. The controversy even played a hand in the resignation of now-former State Department spokesman P.J. Crowley, who reportedly suggested that the Defense Department is mistreating Manning.

    Ellsberg said that Crowley “acted honorably and boldly” for uttering the remarks that got the former Defense Department spokesman fired. Crowley called the treatment of Manning at the hands of the military “ridiculous and counterproductive and stupid.”

    Of course Zombie Ellsburg thinks Manning is honorable, otherwise his own reputation might suffer. It’s kind of like Mao applauding Kim Jong Il as a great humanitarian.

  • Don’t worry, I am a musician.

    You know, I have to ask what makes people think that they can be subject experts something completely unrelated. Like take the following below.

    Let’s attend the Austin rally for the Int’l Day of Action/Million Musician March

    This is the event we discussed at the last Meetup. It’s the annual event led by Austin musicians spotlighting the terrible financial and human costs of the ongoing wars. Event at State Capitol 12pm to 3pm, parade through downtown from 3pm – 4pm
    Sponsored by Instruments for Peace

    Contact: Richard Bowden

    Except that the numbers were much lower then their name suggested. Oh and the Under the Hood/IVAW regulars were there. They also seemed to be in smaller numbers compared to their protests in July at Fort Hood.

  • Farrakhan and Moore attack on Libya attack

    Calypso Louie and Michael Moore are leading the anti-war fundraising crowd on the missile strikes on Libyan air defenses this weekend. Louie qants to know “Who the Hell so you think you are?”

    I warn my brother do you let these wicked demons move you in a direction that will absolutely ruin your future with your people in Africa and throughout the world…Why don’t you organize a group of respected Americans and ask for a meeting with Qaddafi, you can’t order him to step down and get out, who the hell do you think you are?

    It begins at 7:15 in this video;

    Meanwhile, The Hill reports that Michael Moore breathlessly Tweets that Obama=Bush

    Moore, a frequent critic of President Bush for launching the Iraq War, unleashed a string on tweets comparing the U.S. military’s mission in Libya to Iraq and Afghanistan, using a mantra coined by Charlie Sheen:

    It’s only cause we’re defending the Libyan people from a tyrant! That’s why we bombed the Saudis last wk! Hahaha. Pentagon=comedy

    And we always follow the French’s lead! Next thing you know, we’ll have free health care & free college! Yay war!

    We’ve had a “no-fly zone” over Afghanistan for over 9 yrs. How’s that going? #WINNING !

    Khadaffy must’ve planned 9/11! #excuses

    Khadaffy must’ve had WMD! #excusesthatwork

    Khadaffy must’ve threatened to kill somebody’s daddy! #daddywantedjeb

    Moore also suggested that Obama should return the Nobel Peace Prize he won in 2009:

    May I suggest a 50-mile evacuation zone around Obama’s Nobel Peace Prize? #returnspolicy

    How much koolaid do you have to drink to defend Qaddafi? Seriously.