The UN, US and Iraq IV

The moderate right is lost; nearly no chance of them following the fundies in lockstep in 2004.

The author of the following, James Pinkerton, served in Bush the Elder's administration:

Bush and Co. Use Orwell Selling Strategy

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from PDiddie's link

Quote:

Yesterday, the Gannett News Service reported that 11 different U.S. newspapers had unwittingly printed identical five-paragraph letters-to-the- editor from soldiers in Iraq. The letters were full of upbeat puff - "the quality of life and security for the citizens has been largely restored" - the kind that some PR blitzer might dream up.

None of the soldiers contacted by Gannett for comment said that they had written the letter; it had been handed to them for signature, they said, by Army superiors. Indeed, one soldier said he hadn't even seen the letter before it appeared in his hometown paper.

Let's all wave hello at Carl now.

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For lovers of irony, I recommend this short piece linked below. One chap from The Project for a New American Century and another from Rand Corp wrote an essay on Strauss, the godfather/guru of the neocons. Here's one of the notions they put down in that essay.

Quote:

Central to understanding the behavior of rogue regimes, Shulsky and Schmitt posit, is these regimes' use of deception. Tyrannies are built on foundations of lies, and those who live under them must, for survival, speak in code, even when speaking the truth.

http://www.washingtonmonthly.com/features/2003/0310.rozen.html

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I heard the interview with the 'Stars and Stripes' editor for the previously given survey.

His interpretation was nearly the same, timber gave .... well, there were exactly only 180° between their views. :wink:

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Steve (as 41oo) wrote:

[...]
They also said Blair made a special study of the Tokyo subway attack by the Aum Shinrikyo cult. I thought that was an attack by a bunch of nutters who had some how got hold of a small amount of sarin.

But they planned to kill millions! They had hundreds of tonnes of chemicals. They planned to get tonnes of sarin into the subway system, not just the small amount they actually released.

Even more ominously, they had been quietly recruiting chemistry and biology graduates for years, 'respectable' members of society apparantly...to produce for them a bio/chem weapons capability which was really significant. Oh and they had $600 million to play with.

This is very interesting as well:
Bigger Worries Than BioChem

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Gautam, When it's not your own kin and buddies, the loss of life in Iraq has little or less meaning. The commander in chief's "compassionate conservatism" means, only my family and friends benefit from the largess. You should visit the forum on "GREED."

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McTag wrote:

I think some right-wing people placed on these threads are not independent of, and may be in the pay of, government bodies.

Anybody else feel that way?

Nah ...

it's true I catch myself thinking that Timber, for example, would make a very professional politician or PR officer - but no professional politician or government PR-man would waste his time posting on an obscure, liberal board like this.

(Err .. guess I owe an apology to both Walter and Craven now - <grins> - but you know what I meant, I'm sure!)

As for "not independent of", well ... there's more than enough members of political parties and organisations here, I'm sure, so ... <shrugs>.

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Walter Hinteler wrote:

This is very interesting as well:
Bigger Worries Than BioChem

Oh my god!! I haven't even started reading yet, but I'm already shocked - the author has obviously done some very serious, dangerous field work! Just look at that picture! Poor guy!!! Shocked

(sorry i'm in a silly mood)

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You mean Timber is really our own Ari Fleischer?

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nimh wrote:

(sorry i'm in a silly mood)

Loat maer kuuln, 't loep wa loes. Laughing

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hobitbob wrote:

And in answer to those who claim morale in Iraq is just spiffy, I would submit this:

"Army Concerned About Suicides of U.S. Troops in Iraq
By Will Dunham"

Sorry, but that article doesnt actually make your case very well, hobitbob, sad though the story is. Consider:

1. "At least 13 U.S. troops have committed suicide in Iraq", and
2. There are "130,000 U.S. troops in Iraq".

-> 13 in 130,000 is exactly 1 in 10,000 - or, extrapolated to an annual rate (since this is about seven months) - 17 in 100,000. Whereas:

3. "The Army and Navy annually average about 11 suicides per 100,000 personnel, the Air Force about 9.5 per 100,000 and the Marines about 12.6 per 100,000."

Ergo, sent out into the Iraqi desert to face imminent, but scattershot danger and harsh conditions, soldiers apparently are still less than twice as likely to commit suicide as when they're just serving 'regular' time.

Furthermore - and thats really sad, come to think of it - they are actually less likely to commit suicide then their peers at home. The suicide rate among 20-24 year-old men in the US is about 20 per 100,000 (source).

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Walter Hinteler wrote:

nimh wrote:
(sorry i'm in a silly mood)

Loat maer kuuln, 't loep wa loes.

na, dass ist ja affengeil! Very Happy

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No, at all: just a basic knowledge of Dutch and an average experience in using search maschines :wink:

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<giggles> it sounds like a farmer's dialect from the south ...
where d'ya learn dutch?

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Actually, on one abuzz thread a couple of years back (a political discussion), an Information Liason Officer from the US military DID come and do his thing, though right from the top he quite openly told us all who he was. And he was good - smart and very engaging. But it became clear in a short while that the education/training they'd provided for him was not in history or political theory, but rather, it was in marketing. A beautiful spinner, but it was still straw coming out.

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Sorry for this interruption!

nimh wrote:

<giggles> it sounds like a farmer's dialect from the south ...
where d'ya learn dutch?

Actually, I forgot all. And it really was just a more or less passive knowledge: relatives in Amersfoort (visited them only as toddler), friends of the family in Enschede/Twente, and then some holidays in Dutch "Mallorca places" :wink:

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Walter Hinteler wrote:

Steve (as 41oo) wrote:
Summary a major attack on New York or London or both is inevitable.

MI5 chief reveals terror threat

Probably rather not want to think about it, but what if she's right, and a major attack on London or New York is soon to come?

For one, what would it mean for the chances of regime change in America?

A new attack on NY would drastically prove the government's rhetorical assertions wrong, when it comes to how the Iraq war has supposedly dealt al-Qaeda a decisive blow - or even significantly hampered its operations. But on the other hand it would push the war on terror right back up to the font of the national agenda, pushing domestic, economical concerns way back into irrelevance. And the people - the American people perhaps in particular - does tend to rally behind its leader in times of acute crisis.

What would be the overriding reaction? Outrage at how the administration sold you a supposed war against terror that only escalated the danger? Or solidarity with the Commander in Chief, in the realisation that he was proven right about the acute, overriding danger of terrorism?

(I'm afraid its the latter ...)

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A Terrorist Attack
Wouldn't it be real timely if one was executed about a month before the USA election? Shocked

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We're at a hightened "yellow" alert in the US.

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nimh

At some point earlier, we both talked about the phenomenon of leaks from 'anonymous administration officials'. In searching for something else, I just found a discussion on this topic from PBS News with some journalists and historians...
http://www.pbs.org/newshour/bb/white_house/july-dec03/historyleaks_10-09.html

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The UN, US and Iraq IV

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