Just read the new Hitchens piece– as always, a must read:
So it turns out that all the slogans of the anti-war movement were right after all. And their demands were just. “No War on Iraq,” they said
Reader Interactions
10Comments
Comments are closed.
barney gumble
“Indeed, there was barely a “war” at all.”…””Stop the War” was the call. And the “war” is indeed stopping.”
170,000 troops on the ground, which everyone except the Pentagon agrees are spread too thin…this war has just started.
Dean Esmay
A friendly piece of advice, John? Don’t put up with too much of this stuff from Barney Gumble. He’s a self-proclaimed troll, and proud of it.
Barney Gumble
I was posting on this blog before I ever heard of yours, Dean “Swallow the Hook, Line and Sinker” Esmay.
And, as always, my assertions are never refuted. A million Shi’ites marched against us, Dean. Think they’re not back to hating us yet?
HH
Nope sorry, the war is over… and those marches were put together by Iranians.
Barney Gumble
I hope you are right, but I disagree. 60% of Iraq’s 24 million are Shiite, We can assume they did have some input on the march.
“Shiites from Iran joined those from Iraq and other countries to converge on Karbala – site of the seventh-century martyrdom of Hussein, a grandson of the Prophet Muhammad. The extent of the Iranian presence was unclear.”
“There was anti-American sentiment among the pilgrims Tuesday. Some held signs that said “Bush equals Saddam” and “Down USA.”
h
ttp://www.amarillonet.com/stories/042303/usn_shiitestout.shtml
IB Bill
Hey, Barney. I never caught you in the act of trolling before.
I read the article you linked to.
It doesn’t say anything remotely like one million Shi’ites marches against the U.S. It was a pilgrimage where some people carried signs … consider your facts, never mind your assertions, refuted.
Nice try, though.
Barney Gumble
I will have to take back the million marchers against the USA. I heard it in the car on NPR, and I couldn’t find a link that would verify it to your exacting specification. This comes close:
“Thousands of Shiite Muslims took advantage of their newfound freedom to hold a political protest yesterday, criticizing at the United States as their brethren began the final prayers of a fervent religious pilgrimage that dramatized the Shiites’ potential political power.
Over a million Shiites crowded into this holy city for a festival mourning the martyred grandson of the Prophet Muhammad, some flailing themselves, others bleeding from self-inflicted head wounds in rituals that had been banned for decades under Saddam Hussein.
At an anti-American demonstration, protesters carried banners with messages such as “No to America, no to Israel, yes to Islam.”
http://www.etaiwannews.com/World/2003/04/24/1051149728.htm
I admit I can’t back up that assertion with a link. I got some bad info from the guy on the radio and didn’t verify it.
Say, you still plagiarizing your textbooks for your blog entries? How much of your epistemology do you remember a few weeks later?
IB Bill
Hi everyone. Barney’s making an in-joke about some recent philosophical posts on my blog, including one defending plagiarism in certain cases.
No problem on the mix-up, Barn. Everyone has trouble with their sources from time-to-time.
BTW, that was the point of my post on my ridiculed post on epistemology: How do any of us really know what is going on over in Iraq? Is it just that we listen to the news organizations whom we trust and deride the others? Is that a valuable truth-assessment policy?
barney gumble
Not a problem, IB Bill. You’re the professor, I’m the street cop. I just happen to think street smarts trumps book smarts.
Iraq: Exactly, getting too wound up over news reports of whats going on Iraq versus what’s really going on in Iraq is pointless. Reality will write the story, not us.
David Perron
Sure, I design weapons using street smarts all the time. Street smarts wins!
Not.