George Will joins the ranks of the jihadist:
A surreal and ultimately disgusting facet of the Iraq fiasco is the lag between when a fact becomes obvious and when the fiasco’s architects acknowledge that fact. Iraq’s civil war has been raging for more than a year; so has the Washington debate about whether it is what it is.
In a recent interview with Vice President Cheney, Time magazine asked, “If you had to take back any one thing you’d said about Iraq, what would it be?” Selecting from what one hopes is a very long list, Cheney replied: “I thought that the elections that we went through in ’05 would have had a bigger impact on the level of violence than they have … I thought we were over the hump in terms of violence. I think that was premature.”
He thinks so? Clearly, and weirdly, he implies that the elections had some positive impact on the level of violence. Worse, in the full transcript of the interview posted online he said the big impact he expected from the elections “hasn’t happened yet.” “Yet”? Doggedness can be admirable, but this is clinical.
Anyway, what Cheney actually said 17 months ago was that the insurgency was in its “last throes.” That was much stronger than saying we were “over the hump” regarding violence. Beware of people who misquote themselves while purporting to display candor.
George Will is clearly a one-man axis of evil. And to say this stuff, before an election, putting country before party? How dare he, the damned defeatocrat.
Zifnab
Funny how all this just happens to crop up during an election year. Clearly, George Will is going to be releasing a book, shortly.
Andrew
Anyone hear about the car bomb that killed 26 people in Philadelphia today? Cause it’s just as dangerous as Baghdad.
Punchy
Actually, he meant the insurgency was in their last throws. They went to stationary IEDs instead of the Molotov cocktails they had been chucking due to too many Tommy Johns and rotator cuff tears the terrorists were incurring…
Bruce Moomaw
To reuse a line I used in Mark Kleiman’s site (well, I thought it was clever): clearly the Administration is trying to cover up its mess with a Throe Rug.
Notice, though, how much Will now sounds like Howard Dean, at least on this particular issue? If the Three Governing Stooges do what they publicly say they intend to do and insist on keeping large number of US troops in Iraq AFTER the Dems retake Congress, people are going to be furious enough that this country just may blow up politically.
Geek, Esq.
We can expect a Red State post comparing him to John Wayne Gacy.
The Asshole Formerly Known as GOP4Me
Send George Will to Guantanamo, for his behavior only aids our enemies, the terrorists and secularists!
Gold Star for Robot Boy
Wrong – George F. wouldn’t have been caught dead standing next to First Lady Rosalyn Carter.
jcricket
Doesn’t George Will wear a bow-tie? Obviously a homo. He and Foley probably troll the Internets for young pages to despoil.
Not a real conservative, obviously.
tBone
Sigh. Another day, another former Republican turned vicious America-hater. Next thing you know Will be faking Parkinson’s disease to try to get Defeatocrats elected.
jcricket
Fixed:
Let’s be blunt: Everything Republicans claimed would happen, didn’t. Everything the war critics claimed would happen did.
That’s why Republicans are now so desperate to either: poison America against the media, re-write what they said during the run-up to and initial months of the war, discredit statistics about deaths of Americans or Iraqis, and/or ridicule international viewpoints on what the results have been of this war, They know that unless they can quickly re-write recent history, the history books will quickly cement the era of Republican rule as one of the biggest disasters in American history.
Republicans will then spend the next 20-30 years in the “political wilderness”, if not more, unless the “sane Republicans” re-take control of their party. Given the passions of the radical Christianists, and their ability to promote their candidates in the the primaries, I think sane Republicans should get ready for a long, cold winter.
tBone
At least there are a few good, patriotic columnists left out there, like Kathleen Parker:
Parker, like President Bush, understands the truth: if we leave Iraq, the insurgents will board their vast fleet of boats and planes, follow us home, and murder us in our beds. Too bad you moonbats can’t understand that.
Area Man
Dick Cheney: America’s Biggest Dick
Bruce Moomaw
Actually, as pointed out by Fareed Zakaria in this week’s Newsweek, there’s nothing keeping any Iraqi terrorist who feels like it from trotting out of the country and following us home right now: “In fact, Iraq’s borders are more porous today than they have ever been. If a terrorist wanted to inflict harm on U.S. civilians, he could drive across Anbar into Syria, then hop a plane to New York or Washington, D.C. Does the president really believe that because we’re in Iraq, terrorists have forgotten that we’re also in America?”
Well, maybe Bush does. After all, HE doesn’t seem to remember what country he’s in anymore.
ThymeZone
Heh, well that’s TBD.
But he seems a little late to this party. Any level headed person, such as Bill Buckley, or me, or umpty thousand other people, could say, and many did say, back in the day of the Big Fucking Deal over Purple Fingers, that elections in Iraq were irrelevant unless a government was being formed which (a) would be granted, by the people, the right to actually govern, and (b) earn the right to be defended — that is, fought for — by the people. Without those happy things, the elections were a farce. And of course, they were in fact a farce. They were theatrical only.
Will is a pretty smart guy. What was he saying about the elections at the time? If he waited until now to tell us they were bullshit, then …. why? Was he fooled? Bamboozled? Misled? Ill informed? Etc.
If Will was there with us declaring the emperor to have no clothes, then where was the rest of the respectable conservative establishment? The only thing I can recall from that time is Buckley being jeered at by the apologista.
“Democracy depends on the submission of the minority,” he said. What did they think he was talking about? Angels on the heads of pins?
BadTux
The Bush Administration has been such a disaster on so many levels that anybody sane, Republican or not, is hard pressed to support it. The fact that there are still supporters of the Administration still boggles my mind.
And this isn’t about ideology. Even if you agree with the ideological goals of the Bush Administration, the implementation has been so incompetent, so corrupt, so absolutely insensisible, as to defy comprehension. They’ve managed to destroy the Army, run up insane budget deficits, increase government spending to unprecedented amounts, make our nation beholden to our worst enemy (Communist China, which can destroy the value of the U.S. dollar at any time by dumping their dollar reserves upon the open market)… Sane Republicans are running screaming from the Busheviks because the Bush Administration threatens to discredit conservatism for a generation, much in the same way that Herbert Hoover’s incompetent handling of the Great Depression discredited conservatism for a generation. Otherwise you’d see them bellying up to the kool-aid bar along with the knee-jerk supporters of the Busheviks, because after all, the alternative to the Busheviks is smaller government, budget surpluses, and a nation at peace.
Hmm… y’know, I despised Clinton (though I never understood the fascination with Willy’s willy, Presidential dalliances have been the norm ever since George Washington, who was a notorious womanizer), but compared to the Busheviks, Clinton looks like the resurrection of Barry Goldwater and Ronald Reagan combined. Which just goes to show how bad the Busheviks really are…
-BT
SeesThroughIt
I’m not saying George Will is an anti-American defeat-o-crat, but he does run a terrorist training camp in his basement.
Area Man
In fairness, Tom Oliphant sports a bow-tie. According to Al Franken it’s somewhat of a “mood-tie”.
Randy
It sounds to me like Will spoke too soon. Looks like we might have got Zawahiri in Pakistan. This could be the time we finally start turning the corner in this war.
demimondian
STI — no, no, no. You need to get it right…
“I’m not saying that George Will is an nati-American defeat-o-crat, but…have *you* been hearing reports about the terrorist training camp in his basement? It does seem utterly stupid that such a smart man might do such a thing, now doesn’t it?”
tBone
George Will is from Cincinnati?
Randy
But what about the time the mayor of Philly blew up a whole block to fight the group Move? That was arguably worse than anything that has happened so far in Iraq.
ThymeZone
You mean, in the last twenty minutes.
sglover
But what about the time the mayor of Philly blew up a whole block to fight the group Move? That was arguably worse than anything that has happened so far in Iraq.
And how’s about that there Battle of Antietam? Ain’t been nothing that bloody in Iraq — so we gotta be doing great!!
How can the right-wingers actually be getting MORE stupid? Isn’t there some limiting principle, some Conservation of Idiocy Law, that limits the sum total of cretinism in the universe?
Randy
How can you even compare anything going on to Iraq to blood baths like Antietam and Gettysburg? And bear in mind, the US came out of its civil war stronger and more unified. What’s going on in Iraq is painful to watch. But it’s mild at worst by historical standards and may lead to the Middle East’s first true democracy. You have a problem with that?
SeesThroughIt
You are correct, demi. I really need to be more aware of my phrasing.
tBone
Not at all, Spoofy McSpooferson.
If there were, LGF, Free Republic, and Red State would have dissolved into the ether a long time ago.
Pooh
POTD. I mean DougJ on his best day couldn’t have done better…oh wait, you were serious? I honestly can’t tell anymore…
Andrew
Damn, Randy is good. I read his first post on MOVE as total snark (because, well, a whole 11 people died there, which sucks, but that’s a typical day for any Baghdad neighborhood).
Then he went for the spoof right winger idiocy.
I think he may be a spoofing a right winger who is pretending to be a moonbat who is spoofing a wingnut. Layers upon layers, dude.
Tsulagi
No problem at all! So why is this stupid-ass president and Republicans keeping our troops in Iraq? They say they’re there to prevent a civil war. We should be encouraging one! Bring out our guys so the Iraqis can get it on and have the ME’s first true democracy. Damn freedom, democracy hating Pub scum.
KC
Jeez John, now your quoting communists like George Will? Before you know it, you’re going to be playing pan pipes, hugging trees, and praising mother earth.
Randy
Nice straw man, tsulagi. I never said civil war would be a good thing, merely that it need not be the disaster the Peloshiites are claiming it will be. Our civil war here was a terrible blood bath, but in the end it may have been for the best.
CaseyL
I vote Randy goes to Iraq to explain to the people there how the civil war is really good for them.
tBone
He gave it away in his first post, though. Anyone who uses the phrase “This could be the time we finally start turning the corner in this war” might as well change their username to “IAM ASPOOF.”
If we do turn any more corners in Iraq, I’m afraid the whole place is going to fold into a tesseract and then disappear from the realm of Euclidean geometry forever.
ThymeZone
Fee, fi, fo, fum.
I smell …
etc
Andrew
Tesseract? Which of the 24 sides of cut and run do you support, moonbat?
Kline Bottle ’08.
Andrew
Er, Klein. Stupid non-editable posts.
The Other Steve
So you don’t have a problem with the US butting out, right?
Or are you planning on taking sides?
The Other Steve
I think we can blame the news media for not reporting on it.
Mona
To the commenter who thinks Will is late to the party in criticizing Bush/Cheney. Last spring, if not earlier, he was slamming the Iraq debacle and insisting Iraq was in a state of civil war. Further, after the reports of the illegal NSA wiretapping came out, Will issued a withering column saying Bush was claiming the powers of a monarch. Which is true.
The Asshole Formerly Known as GOP4Me
Amen. And anyway, most of those bodies in Iraq aren’t Iraqis. They’re the victims of gangland hits in Detroit, Compton, Camden, etc., who are then transported to Iraq to make it LOOK like the Iraqis did it. It’s a good trick, really. If you can kill someone, and smuggle their body to Iraq, police will never, EVER trace it back to you. My guess is they have some link-up with AQ to fly the bodies there. Maybe in exchange for taking the dead bodies of American gang victims, Osama gets to smuggle live terrorists into the ghettoes. This could be a very unpleasant situation.
The Asshole Formerly Known as GOP4Me
I think it’s fair to say we’ve turned the corner on Girard Avenue, though. The prostitutes and junkies are in their last throes. (Whatever that means.)
The Asshole Formerly Known as GOP4Me
Also, doesn’t America have lots and lots of serial killers? So aren’t there small rural towns where the murder rate is much higher than in Iraq?
I don’t remember what John Wayne Gacy’s hometown was, but I’m sure the death toll was way higher, per capita, than it is in Baghdad or Samarra.
SeesThroughIt
Whether he’s a spoof or an honest-to-Jebus wingnut, at least Randy’s bringing some new material to the table. I’ve never heard “Peloshiites” before–that’s actually pretty good.
Perry Como
And original. Google doesn’t turn anything up for it.
/me golf claps
Randy
So aren’t there small rural towns where the murder rate is much higher than in Iraq?
There seem to be some in Arkansas.
demimondian
A tesseract is an octotope, which has only eight hyperfaces.
Zifnab
Wow. Talk about your revisionist history.
Titus Pullo
Wait a minute, we can’t lose this war, we’re number 1. I know we are because I have a foam finger in my closet that says so…so does the bumper sticker on my Ford pickup. Also, I’ve never seen a Chuck Norris movie where America lost so its obviously impossible for us to lose. Why do you liberals hate america? Maybe you should all listen to more country music, then you’d see. Heh, heh, this country is soooo fucking over, man.
ThymeZone
ZZZZZZZZZZZZZzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz………
Titus Pullo
The first democracy in the ME was Iran in the 50’s. We overthrew is as a favor to British Petroleum because the newly elected Prime Minister wanted to nationalize the Iranian oil industry. One of those pesky facts the faith-before-facts crowd like to forget.
Pb
Yeah, seriously. I thought about mentioning projective planes, but immediately thought better of it–snooze and nerd city.
Andrew
You may be white and nerdy, but this really clarified things about a powerful empire occupying a desert nation.
craigie
Your bravery is staggering. Oh, the pain of reading about the deaths of total strangers. And every day!
I must lie down. You carry on.
Make7
More shamelessly biased media coverage.
I have become a little tired of seeing article after article emphasizing how many US Military deaths there have been this month in Iraq. Why can’t the headlines be something more like this:
149,897 US Soldiers Survive Another Month in Iraq
The media constantly only reports the bad news in Iraq. Let’s hear about the good news for a change.
Pb
And this says a lot about what’s left, and what it will take to rebuild… teamwork and elbow grease, baby!
The Disenfranchised Voter
Actually in retrospect we should have never fought our Civil war. We should have just let the South secede.
Punchy
I’ve seen these octotopes when SCUBA diving. They’re fun to mess with, unless they sucker themselves onto your mask or spray you with ink.
Marie
I haven’t heard any republicans criticize George Will’s comments. So are you just projecting or what?
tBone
I knew that comment was going to make you math nerds itch.
Zifnab
You say that now, but I’m betting we’d just have to put up a fence from Maryland to Nevada to keep the damn wankers from spilling over the boarder. Something about them all wanting Social Security and a living wage and an escape from an oppressive and totalitarian regime.
Zifnab
Will the plane intersect our house?
Punchy
I, too, hate it when wankers keep climbing over that guy who rents the basement of my house.
Zifnab
Ouch. Right in the spelling.
crack
Hey, I just heard an NPR piece about the word ‘Jihad’. Apparently it is generally taken to mean ‘Striving in the path of God’. Thus it is very much a complementary name, and people who aren’t terrorists see a war on jihadists more tied with a war on Islam. They recommend the term hirabah (and hirabis), which means brigandage or ‘sinful warfare’.
I say there is no reason to use a term that the would be considered a complement to describe these hirabis.
http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=6392989