FUCK THE “DEMOCRACY” THEY DIED FOR
Oh those wacky Neocon thugs are all in a froth over the al-Maliki government in Iraq backing the Obama timetable for withdrawal of U.S troops by 2010.
Here's John Derbyshire, a man who never met a war he wouldn't let other people fight on his behalf, over at The National Review Online giving his ideas on what democracy is supposed to look like:
"We should tell Maliki, loudly and in public, that he owes his job to us, and that further prosecution of our military operations in his country will be conducted with regard only to U.S. interests, as determined in consensus by our established domestic political processes. And if he doesn't like that, he can go to hell."
That's what I like to see; the true colors of American conservative authoritarianism waving proudly for all to see and salute.
One of the beneficiaries of the American Neoconservative experiment in democracy building splashed across a Baghdad street.
We invade a country because of — WMD, to remove Saddam, to prevent another 911, to bring democracy to the Middle East……chose your fave — with thousands of Americans dead, tens of thousands wounded and hundreds of thousands of Iraqis killed and millions displaced and at the end of the day, when the freely elected government of Iraq that represents the will of the Iraqi people — a government that we've fought for and supported as part of our democracy project — says that they want us gone by 2010 what do the Neocon loons who brought us this disaster say?
They say, "fuck that we'll go when we're good and ready and if you don't like it we'll change your government for you."
I think we need to bring more American style democracy like that to some other places in the world that need it because clearly, this Iraq thing has been a resounding fucking success.
Here's John Sydney McHundredyears saying basically that it doesn't matter what the Iraqi government says it wants HE knows what they REALLY want and what they really want is American troops there indefinitely or until he says it's time for them to leave.
July 22nd, 2008 at 2:17 pm
Scott, as much as I LOVE your blog and can appreciate a lot of what you do or say on here I have to be honest, the "photo" in this entry knocked the wind out of me having no warning or expecting something like that. I have seen a lot in my life but that was a bit much too stomach…could you give your readers a warning next time you decide to post something like that please????
July 22nd, 2008 at 3:54 pm
I totally understand Gregorio but that was kind of the point. I mean, lets be honest; how much warning that his head was gonna be spread out on a Baghdad street do you think this guy had when he got up in the morning.
And wouldn't it have been nice to be able to say, at the end of the day, that having his head squashed like an overripe cantaloupe had actually accomplished something?
July 22nd, 2008 at 6:28 pm
i understand the point that you have made well, but i fall on Gregorio's side of the fence. at the risk of being ridiculed by you Scott for my sensibilities, i had to close my eyes to scroll down to make this post for two reasons. I am concerned about the dignity that this guy deserves in death, as much as in life. and i dont like the picture. which of course could lead us into a long discussion about the sanitisation of war blah blah blah. I dont wish to go there, and i understand the range of views on that debate. unlike you, i havent served in military, and i havent seen some of the things you have, and i dont want to either.
July 22nd, 2008 at 8:24 pm
But you did go there Shaun you did go there and maybe if people like you saw a few more pictures like this you'd develop enough outrage (or balls) to actually do something about what your government does in your name instead of wringing your hands uselessly like a little old lady and worrying about the "dignity that this guy deserves in death" How about the fact that maybe he didn't deserve to die at all??? Wheres the dignity in not deserving to have your head crushed on a Baghdad street in the first place Shaun??? Scott I'm sorry but the mewling chickenshit sensibilities of some of your readers is every bit as responsible for the atrocities that we've committed as a nation as the direct orders that our "leaders" have issued in our names for without the tacit complicity of people like Shaun who through his need to close his eyes to the horror that his government has unleashed enables that very horror and without which we wouldn't be where the fuck we are now. Seriously pathetic!!! P.A.T.H.E.T.I.C!!!!!
July 22nd, 2008 at 8:46 pm
Yeah……Shaun I've gotta say that I'm pretty much all in with what Tball said.
Don't tell me that you don't want to go there AFTER you've gone there. And I'd suggest that you grow a pair before you start wringing your fucking hands over a simple picture.
The picture happened because people like you and me and TBall let it happen so you may want to believe that the person in the picture deserves dignity in his death but what he really deserves is not to be fucking dead.
And I'm willing to bet that your real concern is not, in fact, with the dignity denied this guy in death but with how your poor sensibilities are offended contemplating the fact that more than likely you've done absolutely NOTHING to prevent some other poor schmuck from having his brains squeezed out all over some shitty Iraqi street because of us.
Yeah Shaun, its a harsh image I admit but what's even harsher is the fact there are people out there like you who are more concerned with the image and how upsetting it is rather than the actions that led up to the image because if those actions and their consequences were the real concern to you Shaun you wouldn't want to avert your overly sensitive eyes. You'd want to be reminded every day by images just like that of your complicity in why this poor man's brains are scattered all over the street.
July 22nd, 2008 at 9:59 pm
thanks guys, my point made in eliciting your responses, vehement as they were and for what its worth, you have no idea of what involvement i have had in terms of Australia's escapade into iraq. make your general point, but i think personalising beyond what you know is patronising
July 23rd, 2008 at 4:49 am
I find the picture horrifying. As well it should be. The American media has sanitized the results of this war so that even a child can watch it. It's high time that the US public face up to the handiwork of the Chimp-in-Chief.
July 23rd, 2008 at 5:20 am
OK Shaun, so tell us; what involvement have you had in terms of Australia's involvement in Iraq?
And although TBall may have gotten a bit carried away {and frankly, not being able to look at an image is a bit pathetic if you ask me, especially when that image tells a very important story} I can't see where I personalised my comment nor where I was patronizing in the least. In fact Shaun, if you reread what I wrote I indicted myself right along with you in my comment.
Shaun, if you think my questioning what you've done or not done to oppose the war was patronizing you need to understand that when someone tells me that they can't look at an image that I post and criticize me for posting it because it offends their sensibilities I immediately — and generally correctly — assume that that person doesn't have the fortitude to stand up to the powers that be and demand that the actions that those powers take that result in pictures like that cease.
So, as I said, please tell me what you've done — other than think harsh thoughts about the Howard government that is {OK now THAT was pretty patronizing I'll admit} — and I'll be glad to apologize for any incorrect assumptions on my part.
July 23rd, 2008 at 5:37 pm
I have to say, that disturbing pictures may illicit feelings of disgust and anger, but they do not reinforce your point. We all know that war is violent, that's because it's a war. And this particular war has been the result of both neocon loons and liberal phonies in the white house over the course of many many decades. Many might even argue that by virtue of the fact that this kind of violence remains a big problem, we cannot remove ourselves from it just yet. So when I visit this site and see this kind of gore, it does not help organize my feelings about war and politics. I'm just angry at you. If you would like to make a political statement, it might carry more weight to do it without the pictures of naked men.
July 24th, 2008 at 4:58 am
Darren you don't have any fucking idea what I want to do or want not to do so don't presume to tell me what I should try to accomplish with my blog. A blog, I might add, that has 3,000 readers a day and which doubles its readership every ten months or so.
If what I post here makes you angry at me and you don't like pictures of naked men mixed with politics then why don't you try Technorati where you can find a listing of literally millions of blogs, at least a few of which are sure not to offend you.
July 24th, 2008 at 10:05 am
I was shocked and appalled by the photo. I'm still a little nauseated. But you know what? I didn't turn away, I didn't quickly scroll past, and most of all, I didn't find it necessary to complain that my delicate sensibilities had been offended. Shock has value. Moral outrage has value. Remember how hard the authorities tried to suppress those pictures of flag-draped coffins returning from Iraq a couple of years ago? They did that for a reason. If more people had been as shocked as I was by being forced to look at the results of this useless, criminal war, perhaps the poor guy and thousands like him wouldn't have been splattered all over the pavement.
July 27th, 2008 at 9:47 pm
that pic of homeboy w/his brains & upper torso splattered is from his head being run over by an M1 Abrahms tank. all hail OPEC.
have a great day.
–j.