Showing posts with label middle east. Show all posts
Showing posts with label middle east. Show all posts

Thursday, April 2, 2015

U.S. and Allies Reach a Deal with Iran

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Blessed are the Peacemakers: President Obama and John Kerry have helped broker a long-term nuclear deal with Iran. It's a great day for the Middle East and the World.

From USA Today
"Today, we have taken a decisive step. We have reached solutions on key parameters for a comprehensive future nuclear deal," European Union Foreign Affairs Minister Federica Mogherini said in formally announcing the deal in Lausanne, Switzerland.
She said Iran would not produce weapons-grade fuel and international monitors will have enhanced access to Iran's nuclear facilities.
She said sanctions would be "terminated" but did not specify the timetable, which has been a sticking point of the negotiations. Iran pushed to lift them immediately, while the United States wants most of them in place until Iran follows through on terms of the deal.The precise timing will be determined as the negotiators work out a final agreement scheduled for completion in June.



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In Israel, Netanyahu wasn't too happy. You'll recall he was tickled to death with the #47Traitors in the U.S. Senate who told Iraq not to make a deal.

Tweets from Bibi's spokesperson:







GOP Presidential hopefuls went on the record - surprise, they are against Obama!







And why not drag Hillary into this as well - thanks, Jeb!





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Thursday, June 19, 2014

Dick Cheney and Daughter Attack the President on Iraq

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Previous Related Posts:
Neocons Begging for Another War in Iraq
Cheney Slams Obama Apointees as "Dismal"
Wingnut Poutrage Towards Obama Gun Plan

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Former Veep Dick Cheney has been in retirement for some time and has a bad heart to boot. His daughter Liz has five children but wants to run for office, so recently she ran in the Wyoming GOP Senate Primary until she had to drop out in disgrace after she messed up a form to buy a fishing license and voters realized she was just a fake resident.

So times are rough for Dick and Daughter. They crave the limelight, and what better activity for a couple of sociopaths with too much time on their hands than writing a Wall Street Journal Op-Ed hit-piece?

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Yes, Dick and Daughter composed a scathing diatribe against Barack Obama that is the equivalent of shooting someone in the face with birdshot (something Cheney certainly knows how to do).

Rarely has a U.S. president been so wrong about so much at the expense of so many.
. . . Iraq is at risk of falling to a radical Islamic terror group and Mr. Obama is talking climate change. Terrorists take control of more territory and resources than ever before in history, and he goes golfing. He seems blithely unaware, or indifferent to the fact, that a resurgent al Qaeda presents a clear and present danger to the United States of America.
. . . he abandoned Iraq and we are watching American defeat snatched from the jaws of victory.
. . . Despite clear evidence of the dire need for American leadership around the world, the desperation of our allies and the glee of our enemies, President Obama seems determined to leave office ensuring he has taken America down a notch. Indeed, the speed of the terrorists' takeover of territory in Iraq has been matched only by the speed of American decline on his watch.
~ Former Vice President Dick Cheney and his daughter, failed Wyoming GOP candidate Liz Cheney, in Wall Street Journal



Which president was he talking about?
. . . Look, it's obviously always good to hear from former Vice President Cheney. It's pretty clear that President Obama and our team here have distinctly different views on Iraq from the team that led the United States to invade Iraq back in 2003.
~ White House Spokesman, Jay Carney

If there is one thing this country does not need is that we should be taking advice from Dick Cheney on wars. Being on the wrong side of Dick Cheney is being on the right side of history.
~ Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid D-Nevada

JACKSON HOLE, WYOMING (The Borowitz Report)—Former Vice-President Dick Cheney broke his silence about the crisis in Iraq on Tuesday, telling reporters, “My thoughts and prayers are with the Iraqi oil wells.”
Speaking from his Wyoming ranch, Cheney said that he had planned to remain quiet about the current state of affairs in Iraq, but “thinking about those oil wells has kept me up at night.”
“If Dick Cheney won’t speak for the Iraqi oil wells, who will?” he said.
~ Andy Borowitz parodying Cheney for New Yorker



The more the former vice president talks, the better Obama seems.
. . . To check Cheney’s facts is to enjoy a target-rich environment.
. . . Thank God for Dick Cheney. Before this week, Obama’s options were limited by a public justifiably tired of international entanglements. Now all he has to jab a thumb at the lot of Cheney, John McCain, and the rest of the Iraq War apologists and promise that whatever happens, he’s not repeating their mistakes. At long last, Dick Cheney is finally the right man at the right time.
~ Jason Stanford on Talking Points Memo

Mr. Cheney ... is still trying to bend history toward an exoneration of his guilt and an expunging of his record. But history, on this, is stiff, and his record is written in blood.
~ Charles Blow on New York Times

Time and time again, history has proven that you got it wrong as well in Iraq, sir.
~ Said by Megyn Kelly of Fox News, while introducing Dick and Liz Cheney



There is not a single person in America — not Bill Kristol, not Paul Wolfowitz, not Don Rumsfeld, no pundit, not even President Bush himself — who has been more wrong and more shamelessly dishonest on the topic of Iraq than Dick Cheney.
And now, as the cascade of misery and death and chaos he did so much to unleash rages anew, Cheney has the unadulterated gall to come before the country and tell us that it’s all someone else’s fault, and if we would only listen to him then we could keep America safe forever. How dumb would we have to be to listen?
~ Paul Waldman in Washington Post, Plum Line

Cheney let 9/11 happen on his watch.
American history has had its share of villains - J. Edgar Hoover, Joe McCarthy, and Richard Nixon come to mind as some of the worst - but there is no one in recent history who has disgraced our country quite like Dick Cheney has. He lied his way into an illegal war, profited off that war, and shredded the Constitution. He’s a war criminal and has the blood of hundreds of thousands of innocent people on his hands.
Dick Cheney should be rotting in a prison cell at The Hague, not writing editorials for the Wall Street Journal.
- Thom Hartman














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Tuesday, June 17, 2014

Neocons Begging for Another War in Iraq - Updated with Morning Joe

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Previous Related Posts:
Berghazi: Flip-Flopping Wingnuts Trash Bergdahl
Armchair Chickenhawks say Obama is "Weak" and "Feckless" on Russia
Obama Wins on Syria, With Media Derp
Donald Rumsfeld: Blood-Gargling Psychopath

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As Iraq crumbles into chaos, the Neocons are losing their minds again. They don't want Obama to get credit for ending the wars, and they hate him for the Benghazi flop, so they are blaming him for the new chaos in the Middle East. And they seem to want our country to get dragged into ALL the conflicts there, no matter what the consequences. Why exactly? Perhaps they love death and destruction? Senility? Brain Damage? They want another war so they can blame Hillary when she runs for President? The possibilities are endless.

And for some reason the media is dragging up the whole W. Bush administration to talk about it as if anyone cares what they think! Plus Mitt Romneyshambles, the Horses and Bayonets Guy.

Our peace-loving President is trying to be the voice of reason. Here is what he said last Friday:

We will not be sending U.S. troops back into combat in Iraq, but I have asked my national security team to prepare a range of other options that could help support Iraqi security forces, and I’ll be reviewing those options in the days ahead.
. . . We’re also going to pursue intensive diplomacy throughout this period both inside of Iraq and across the region, because there’s never going to be stability in Iraq or the broader region unless there are political outcomes that allow people to resolve their differences peacefully without resorting to war or relying on the United States military.

Another peace-lover is Shepard Smith of Fox News, who had this reaction to his colleagues sounding the alarm for yet another war:

Are we about to be drawn back into a conflict in Iraq?" Smith asked. "The same people who 12 years ago told us this will be quick, this will be easy, this will be inexpensive, they will see us as liberators, it's the right thing to do, are now telling us, 'It's the right thing to do.' What's the endgame? Who's thought this through?




Who has thought this through? Apparently no one, but that won't keep them from speaking their minds. And in fact the media is inviting them to do it. Rachel Maddow had this to say:

It is very frustrating to see that this is the way we handle debates about foreign policy in this country. We take people who were so provably, terribly wrong and bring them back and treat them like experts on the very subject they have been so wrong about. It is maddening. It is frustrating.
If you have been frustrated by seeing all these Iraq War architects and cheerleaders back out there doing it again with no accountability you are not alone in your frustration.
. . . Hey Sunday shows! Hey op-ed pages! Hey cable news! Hey everybody! We know you are tempted to keep booking these yahoos on these subjects, but if you keep turning to the people who were famously wrong about Iraq to ask them about what to do about Iraq, you at least will be laughed at. And you will be embarrassed that you did this. And you will eventually have to apologize or at least explain yourself for why you thought Bill Kristol should be explaining what to do now. We can see what you’re doing, and it’s funny, but not in a good way.


John McCain

Everybody in his national security team, including the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, ought to be replaced. It's a colossal failure of American security policy.
. . . Lindsey Graham and John McCain were right. Our failure to leave forces on Iraq is why Sen. Graham and I predicted this would happen.
~ Senator John McCain R-AZ, so excited he is talking in third person about himself

The John McCain military plan for America is the same as the John McCain media strategy. Be everywhere — forever.
~ Jon Stewart on The Daily Show




John McCain has made some really bad Predictions on Iraq
 ~ Via Chris Hayes on MSNBC
  • They Sent Us The Anthrax
  • The Iraqi People will treat us as Liberators
  • Iraqis will pay for post-Saddam Era
  • There's No history of violence between Sunnis and Shias
  • War will be Brief
  • There will be Evidence of Weapons of Mass Destruction
  • President Bush will be Justified

















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Lindsey Graham:

We’ve got another Benghazi in the making here. What I heard in there scared the hell out of me.
~ Senator Lindsey Graham, R-SC










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Tony Blair

The reality is that the whole of the Middle East and beyond is going through a huge, agonising and protracted transition. We have to liberate ourselves from the notion that ‘we’ have caused this. We haven't. We can argue as to whether our policies at points have helped or not; and whether action or inaction is the best policy and there is a lot to be said on both sides. But the fundamental cause of the crisis lies within the region not outside it.
~ Tony Blair, Former British Prime Minister

I have come to the conclusion that Tony Blair has finally gone mad. He wrote an essay published last week that struck me as unhinged in its refusal to face facts. In discussing the disaster of modern Iraq he made assertions that are so jaw-droppingly and breathtakingly at variance with reality that he surely needs professional psychiatric help.
. . . Somebody needs to get on to Tony Blair and tell him to put a sock in it - or at least to accept the reality of the disaster he helped to engender. Then he might be worth hearing. The truth shall set you free, Tony.
~ Boris Johnson, Mayor of London

Read more: http://www.smh.com.au/comment/tony-blair-is-mad-to-deny-iraq-was-a-tragic-error-20140616-zs97h.html#ixzz34tlUalWm












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Mitt Romney

Tragically, all we’ve fought for in Iraq, all that 4,500 American lives were shed to gain, is on the cusp, potentially, of vanishing.
. . . I lost the election. We lost the election. But I and we will continue to fight.”
~ Mittster Romney at his Mormon "Summit" in Park City, Utah







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Bill Kristol:

It's a disaster made possibly by our ridiculous and total withdrawal from Iraq in 2011.
. . . President Obama said two days before election day, in 2012, Iraq is on the path of defeat, the war in Iraq is over. That was enough to get him re-elected. Iraq is on the path of defeat. Neither is true. It's a disaster for our country.
~ Conservative Bill Kristol, editor of the Weekly Standard

Kristol has been wrong about literally everything — most of all, Iraq.
I’d give him credit for tenacity if he wasn’t so tenaciously clinging to an idea that led to one of the most horrifying foreign policy blunders in modern history.
~ Bob Cesca on The Daily Banter

Update: Kristol vs. Heileman on Morning Joe

If [Obama] goes on TV and says, ‘This is a strategic crisis for the reasons I’m going to lay out here. We have to do something no one wants to do, which is to go back in with a lot of air power and special forces and maybe a few conventional troops to help stabilize the situation. We cannot allow an al Qaeda-backed group to dominate one part of the Middle East and Iran and Iranian-backed groups to dominate another part of the Middle East. It’s an unacceptable threat to us.’ He would have support.
~ Bill Kristol on Morning Joe, 6-17-2014

Bill’s notion, with all due respect, is fantastical. As in, absurd.
I think it's ridiculous. This is American blood you're talking about! You want to send people into another intervention in which most people in the country believe that this is a centuries-old sectarian violence that we have no place and no ability to solve!
. . . There is war weariness in this country, whether you like it or not. I know you don’t have the weariness for war, but the country does.
~ John Heileman on Morning Joe









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Paul Wolfowitz

This is more than just the obscure Shia/Sunni conflict. This is al-Qaeda and al-Qaeda is not on the road of defeat, al-Qaeda is on the march. Not just in Iraq and Syria and we have real enemies in the US and what we should be looking for friends. I think when we stick with our friends and those friends are not always perfect, but we stuck with the Kurds for twenty years. Northern Iraq, Kurdistan is a success story. We stuck with them South Korea for sixty years. South Korea is a miracle story if we walked away from that country in 1953, that country was a basket case.
~ Paul Wolfowitz on Meet the Press

(HUH?)

The “obscure Shia/Sunni conflict”? There is no hell hot enough for these people.
~ Scholars and Rogues Blog

"The truth is that for reasons that have a lot to do with the U.S. government bureaucracy, we settled on the one issue that everyone could agree on, which was weapons of mass destruction, as the core reason." – Deputy Defense Secretary Paul Wolfowitz, during a "Vanity Fair" interview, May 28, 2003
~ Via IBTimes




~~~~~~~~~~

Ari Fleischer:





(Ahem, the U.S. invaded Iraq in 2003.)








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Monday, April 21, 2014

Jealous Clowns Brooks and Todd Discuss Whether Obama is a Manly Alpha-Dog ~ Updated

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Previous Related Posts:
Armchair Chicken Hawks Call Obama Weak, Trembling and Feckless on Russia
Obama Baffles Media by Ordering Congress to Vote on Syria
Chuck Todd Admits that Truth Isn't Part of His Job Description
David Brooks: GOP are Wackos Because Obama Divides GOP
Chuck Todd Jumps the Shark over Romney Voting Machines

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On Meet the Press this Sunday, Old Frat Boy David Brooks and MSNBC's Non-Journalist Chuck Todd questioned the President's "Manhood" in dealing with world affairs. The irony is painfully obvious. Number one, both of them are pretty much the antithesis of Macho, using talking points from the #GOP on any given day like a couple of trained parrots, which is an insult to parrots. And number two, they just sound jealous, as if they have career ~ if not "manhood" ~ envy.

They're just so ready to emasculate the President now that Obamacare is a success, while GOP has gone flaccid except for their "Patriot" rhetoric. The Republican Presidential candidates are the return of the clown show, and the Tea Party only wants to have an armed insurrection in Nevada. I guess size really does matter when you are the incredible shrinking party.

Transcript Via Crooks and Liars

DAVID BROOKS: And, let's face it, Obama, whether deservedly or not, does have a (I'll say it crudely) but a manhood problem in the Middle East: Is he tough enough to stand up to somebody like Assad, somebody like Putin? I think a lot of the rap is unfair. But certainly in the Middle East, there's an assumption he's not tough.

. . . CHUCK TODD: And isolating Putin, but also just sort of containing this issue, because there is this fear, as you know. He doesn't want this to become the rest of his presidency, you know. But in many ways, he is being tested here in some way on how he handles Ukraine.

So, for instance, I'm about to hop on a plane in two days. We're going on this Asia trip. And, oh, by the way, Japan has an issue with islands with China; Korea has some territorial issues. There are a lot of countries in Asia that have territorial issues with China. Where is the United States going to sit when this decides to raise its head and become an issue there? So that's why this does matter globally, sort of how the White House responds to this. And they have no interest right now in doing sectoral things.

DAVID BROOKS:I mean, basically since Yalta, we've had an assumption that borders are basically going to be borders. And once that comes into question, if in Ukraine or in Crimea or anywhere else, then all over the world, you know, the tokens--

CHUCK TODD: All bets are off.

DAVID BROOKS: All bets are off.

CHUCK TODD: It is open.

CHUCK TODD: By the way, internally, they fear this. You know, it's not just Bob Corker saying it, okay, questioning whether the president is being alpha male. That's essentially what he's saying: He's not alpha dog enough. His rhetoric isn't tough enough. They agree with the policy decisions that they're making. Nobody is saying-- but it is sort of the rhetoric. Internally this is a question.

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. . . It was this president who escalated the use of force against al Qaeda; it was this president that launched the mission that killed bin Laden; it was this president who increased the use of predator drones to strike at terrorist suspects (including killing Americans affiliated with al Qaeda living abroad); it was this president who helped assemble an international coalition to strike at the Gadhafi regime in Libya; and on and on.
. . . If you knew literally nothing about the last five years, you might hear this chatter about “manhood” and “alpha males” and assume that President Obama was a pacifist, reluctant to use military force under any circumstances. But given what we know about what actually happened over the last five years, the scuttlebutt is just bizarre.
~ Steve Benen, Maddow Blog

The racial aspect adds another dimension. Obama’s entire political career has been defined by pushing back against the “threatening, black alpha-male” stereotype. Conciliation, not confrontation, is not just his style, but the core of his substance as well.
. . . The more that physicality, per se, is demonized in the black male, the more problematic it becomes for white males asserting their own masculine identities, particularly their power over women. This inherent, largely buried contradiction lies close to the core of the GOP’s current problems, simultaneously losing the votes of women and minorities in a long demographic decline.
Faced with this reality, the GOP has no choice. No matter how riddled with contradictions it may be, faulting Barack Obama for his performance of masculinity is the only possible move Republicans have left.
~ Paul Rosenberg on Salon

Brooks exemplifies the problem with US foreign policy, which is that the inside-the-beltway chickenhawks with small peckers equate military aggression with “manhood.”
~ Juan Cole on TruthDig

How is it that the GOP still feels that if you don't threaten a war, you are not a man? It galls the GOP to no end that Obama is smart enough to fix problems and avoid conflicts without resorting to warfare.
~ ImaPragmatist on Huffington Post

Because as every good Tea-Thuglican knows, the only way to deal with any foreign country is by whipping out your missile and wagging it in their face.
~ Shawn K. on ThinkProgress

More Old White Ba___ds trying to Castrate a Black man.
War loving, A**kissing,"CHICKENHAWKS!" make me sick.
~ Tom L. on ThinkProgress

These folks are to funny...in other words, Obama is not being the bully of the world they are so accustomed too! And that's exactly why we reelected him! Alpha males don't start or look for fights...or stick our nose in others business!
~ Art W. on ThinkProgress

Pasty GOP Media Tools Chuck Todd and David Brooks Decide That Obama Has a Manhood Problem
~ Headline on PoliticusUSA





















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Tuesday, September 10, 2013

Obama Speaks to the World on Syria


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Let Our Idiots Go: Bachmann, Gohmert and King in Egypt

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We want to make sure that you have the Apache helicopters, the F-16s, the equipment that you have so bravely used to capture terrorists and to take care of this menace that’s on your border. Many of you have asked, do we understand who the enemy is? We can speak for ourselves. We do.
We have seen the threat that the Muslim Brotherhood has posed here for the people in Egypt. We've seen the threat that the Muslim Brotherhood has posed around the world. We stand against this great evil. We are not for them. We remember who caused 9/11 in America. We remember who it was that killed 3,000 brave Americans. We have not forgotten. We know that you have dealt with that enemy as well.
~ Congresswoman Michele Bachmann, R-Minn, in Egypt

The American people do not support the Muslim Brotherhood. We oppose all forms of terror and terrorism.
~ Steve King, R-Iowa

We met with for a long meeting General el-Sissi and many of the military leaders, and my friend Steve King mentioned again about our heritage in America. George Washington, doing what no one had ever done before him, led a military in revolution, won the revolution, and then resigned and went home.
And we met, in General el-Sissi, a man who is leader of the military, who might have a shot at being elected president, but is more concerned about giving his life to help his country, Egypt.
~ Congressman Louie Gohmert, R-Texas



. . . a ‘Saturday Night Live’ skit — unbelievable, ludicrous, almost comic if it wasn’t so painful.
~ Samer Shehata, a political scientist at the University of Oklahoma who studies Egypt and the Brotherhood, in New York Times

There are times when the U.S. Congress seems to almost exist in a parallel reality which defies any sense of logic or reason to the real world. There are also times when certain individuals within that reality are just bizarre in their idealistic foundation to the point that they stretch the boundaries of sanity. In a video released Saturday, three Republican congress members made a strong case for the latter.
. . . Bachmann herself stated that the delegation had been asked, ‘Do you understand who the enemy is?’ The reasoning for that question to be asked seems pretty obvious. They have no clue, and are blinded by their own bigotry toward Muslim faith.
~ Mark Borop on Liberal America

The Trifecta of Derp.
~ mustangsavvy on Wonkette

But what about BENGHAZI!!!!!!!!!!!!111!, Congresscritters? Huh? HUH?
~ actor212 on Wonkette

Did they drive the clown car all the way to Egypt?
~ gd14lawn on YouTube

This group looks like they're afraid they're going to get "Muslim" on them. Not that there appears to be anyone else in the room. Honestly, the vibe of this whole thing is "Nervous Delegation of Earthlings Meet Aliens in a Sci-Fi Movie."
~ Jon Stewart on Comedy Central


7:36 Fake Thomas Paine quote alert.
~ dsax on YouTube

This is like having Elmer Fudd, Wile E. Coyote, and Yosemite Sam in the same Bugs Bunny Cartoon.
~ SopwithCamel on Crooks and Liars

THE THREE FACES OF EVIL....THE GOON THE LOON AND THE GOMER
~ osage on Crooks and Liars

If you listen near her ear, you can hear the sea.
~ DaveT451 on Huff Post

To quote Nancy Pelosi regarding Michele Bachmann, "Who cares what she thinks?"
~ tinkertoy on Huff Post


























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Saturday, September 7, 2013

Alan Grayson ~ Democrat or Anti-Obama Libertarian?



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Previous Related Posts:
Irony Takes a Holiday when Rumsfeld Slams Obama on Syria
Obama's Red Line in Syria Draws Criticism Left and Right
'Is This Live?' ~ Fox Snooze On Air for Tucker Carlson
MSNBC Ratings Fall as Hosts Go Emoprog - Now with Olbermann Tweets
Glenn Greenwald Threatens America
Chris Hayes Thinks Military Heroes Don't Exist
Sarah Palin Calls Nancy Pelosi a 'Dingbat' and Obama a 'Tool'

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~


This Happened: "Let Allah Sort it Out"



"This is one of those rare occasions
in which I'm in agreement with Sarah Palin.
Let Allah Sort it Out."
~ Congressman Alan Grayson D-Florida



















~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Defended By Libertarian Glenn Greenwald?



~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
 
Quoting from Right-Wing Daily Caller

Note: The Daily Caller is a slanted online news website
founded by Conservatives:
Tucker Carlson, a Libertarian Fox News Host
Neil Patel, former adviser to former Vice President Dick Cheney

From U.S. News Blog
The White House released its four-page public report Aug. 30, arguing that Assad's government killed 1,429 people on Aug. 21 with a planned chemical weapon attack. Evidence cited in that report included "intercepted communications involving a senior official intimately familiar with the offensive who confirmed that chemical weapons were used."

Grayson, however, says "the claim has been made that that information was completely mischaracterized."
He points to an article published by The Daily Caller that alleges the communications actually showed Syrian officers were surprised by the alleged chemical weapon attack.

. . . "What they say in The Daily Caller is that [intercepted communications] would lead one to the opposite conclusion," Grayson said. "I don't know if it's right or wrong, [but] there's a very simple way to find out, that's for the administration to show me and other members of Congress" translated transcripts of the intercepts, he said.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

PBS Interview: Send Syria a Hallmark Card

Complete Interview Transcript Here
Tonight, the view of a House Democrat leading the charge against using force. Florida Representative Alan Grayson serves on the Foreign Affairs Committee. I spoke with him from Capitol Hill a short time ago. Well, thanks for joining us.

 Let's just get right to it. Why would a limited strike against Syria be a mistake?

REP. ALAN GRAYSON, D-Fla.: Several reasons.
First, it's not our responsibility. It's not our responsibility to act unilaterally. Secondly, it's not going to do any good. It's not going to change the regime. It's not going to end the civil war. It's not even going prevent a new strike and use of chemical warfare.
Third, it's expensive, and, fourth, it's dangerous. It could easily spin out of control.

JEFFREY BROWN: A key argument from the president of course has been that chemical weapons are simply different, the use of them must be punished, it must be stopped, or what kind of message do you send to the Syrian government and to other governments, including Iran?

ALAN GRAYSON: As one of my colleagues said, if you want to send a message, use Hallmark, not missiles. I think that logic applies here.

. . . JEFFREY BROWN: But this is your -- many people in your own -- of course, this is a president in your own party. He's talked about -- he said: "My credibility is not on the line. The international community's credibility is on the line."

 Is he wrong about that?

ALAN GRAYSON: Yes. The international community has spoken. We are the only ones who are contemplating anything like this.
If we don't do this attack, no one else will. The British, on exactly the same evidence, decided against doing exactly this specific thing. The international community has decided that, when it works, it works multilaterally, and not simply by lobbing missiles and bombs into a war zone, with effects we cannot even possibly anticipate.

JEFFREY BROWN: What about the international community long ago coming out against the use of chemical weapons, saying that they are somehow different?

ALAN GRAYSON: Honestly, I don't even know what that means. I mean, it sounds like many of the cliches that I hear coming out of the mouths of administration spokesmen.
The fact is this. People understand, it's not our problem, it's not going to do any good, it's expensive, and it's dangerous. If you want to get us into a third war in the Middle East, this is the way to do it.






































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