The Unknown Candidate: Staying the Wrong Course

Friday, August 18, 2006

Staying the Wrong Course

Picture this: You're on a one-lane, narrow mountain road, winding through the Rockies. Wooden crosses mark spots along the road where cars have gone over the side. Suddenly, you begin to see signs warning "Danger Ahead. SLOW." Vehicles far ahead of you are beginning to break. You hear sirens in the distance.

What do you do? If you're George W. Bush, you slam the gas pedal to floor, screech down the road full speed ahead, swerving dangerously close to the road's edge (the only thing between you and a deadly 2,000-foot drop), pull out a bottle of Tequila and take a huge sloppy swig as you gleefully exclaim, "Stay the Course!! Stay the Course!!"

9/11 Commissioner: Iraq War Hinders Anti-Terrorism Efforts

This morning on CNN, former 9/11 commissioner Tim Roemer argued that the recent terror plot in Britain illustrated why we need to direct resources from Iraq to the global terrorist threat. Roemer said, "It's very important that we don't put all our intelligence and military resources in Iraq and take our eye off the ball in other places in the world." He also emphasized that "it's very important that we capture Osama Bin Laden" because Bin Laden is producing "CNN quality tapes" and "communicating with hundreds of millions of potential jihadist and trying to get them to sign up." It's been four years, ten months and twenty-five days since President Bush pledged to capture Bin Laden "dead or alive." Click here for Full transcript

'New Middle East' Out Of Control By Jim Lobe

There is a sense that the growing number of crises in the "new Middle East" - proudly midwifed by the administration of President George W. Bush - is rapidly spinning out of control with potentially catastrophic consequences for the entire region and beyond. The first cracks in Israeli support for the war in Lebanon emerged Thursday, with leading intellectuals and mainstream politicians criticizing the government's decision to send more soldiers into Hezbollah territory.

The War Bush Isn't Fighting By Eugene Robinson

When unsmiling agents at the airport take away your contact lens solution, your toothpaste, and your cologne or after-shave, remember Osama bin Laden. Remember the real war on terrorism that the Bush administration and its allies decided not to fight, preferring cowboy-style military adventures.

Muslim leaders say foreign policy makes UK target

Leading UK Muslims have united to tell Tony Blair that his foreign policy in Iraq and on Israel offers "ammunition to extremists" and puts British lives "at increased risk." An open letter signed by three of the four Muslim MPs, three of the four peers, and 38 organisations including the Muslim Council of Britain and the Muslim Association of Britain, was greeted with dismay in Downing Street.

US Muslims bristle at Bush remarks

US Muslim groups have criticised US President George W Bush for calling a foiled plot to blow up airplanes part of a "war with Islamic fascists," saying the term could inflame anti-Muslim tensions.

Why Do We Hate Them? By Jason Miller

Western corporate media shamelessly serve the Neocons by perpetuating a virtually endless cycle of hatred and violence. They incite and feed Islamophobia and they fabricate a plethora of false justifications for the malevolent actions of Israel and the United States. But then in a fascist nation, corporations are wedded with the state, militarism is the state’s primary focus, scapegoats and enemies are essential, and the function of the Fourth Estate is to provide the propaganda to control the masses.

Why Democracies evolve into Dictatorships By James Cooke

Liberal commentators continue to respond with hysterics or dumfoundedness at the ability of Conservatives to destroy civil liberties while thus far waging three preemptive wars (yes Lebanon is a U.S. war). It should have been clear by now— with the media and Democrats suppressing or supporting the most blatant atrocities engineered by the Republicans— that larger forces are at play.