Solomon:The Headless Horseman of the Apocalypse
Friday, 12 January 2007, 10:59 am
Opinion: Norman Solomon
The Headless Horseman of the Apocalypse
By Norman Solomon
t r u t h o u t | Guest Contributor
From: http://www.truthout.org/docs_2006/011107N.shtml
Thursday 11 January 2007
President Bush may be a headless horseman. But the biggest problem is what
he rode in on.
Martin Luther King Jr. had a good name for it 40 years ago: "The madness
of militarism."
We can blame Bush all we want - and he does hold the reins right now - but
his main enablers these days are the fastidious public servants in
Congress. They keep preparing the hay, freshening the water, oiling the
saddle, even while criticizing the inappropriately jocular rider. And when
the band plays "Hail to the Jockey," most of the grown-up stable boys and
girls can't help saluting.
The people who actually live in Iraq have their own opinions, of course.
UPI reported at the end of December that a new poll, conducted by the Iraq
Center for Research and Strategic Studies, found that "about 90 percent of
Iraqis feel the situation in the country was better before the US-led
invasion than it is today." Meanwhile, according to a CNN poll last month,
11 percent of Americans support sending more US troops to Iraq.
Buried in a New York Times news article on Tuesday (January 9) was this
statement of fact: "By law, Congress can limit the nature of troop
deployments, cap the size of military deployments and cut financing for
existing or prospective deployments."
Some Democrats in Congress want to hand the president his head and some
don't. But, as a practical matter, the distinction is moot. He's in the
thrall of what you might call a repetition compulsion disorder that
manifests as digging in his heels.
Obviously the president likes the wind in his ears. And he shows no sign
of slowing down. Bush can keep riding the madness of militarism at a
gallop unless people on Capitol Hill stop nourishing it with
appropriations. And they won't do that unless we find effective ways to
insist that they cut off funding for the war.
The key problem right now isn't the headless jockey. It's the stable hands
who keep feeding the horse he rode in on.
*************
Norman Solomon's latest book, War Made Easy: How Presidents and Pundits
Keep Spinning Us to Death, is now out in paperback.
http://www.scoop.co.nz/stories/HL0701/S00136.htm
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| User: "" |
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| Title: Re: The Headless Horseman Of The Apocalypse |
13 Jan 2007 09:38:14 PM |
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Docrodile wrote:
Solomon:The Headless Horseman of the Apocalypse
Friday, 12 January 2007, 10:59 am
Opinion: Norman Solomon
The Headless Horseman of the Apocalypse
By Norman Solomon
t r u t h o u t | Guest Contributor
From: http://www.truthout.org/docs_2006/011107N.shtml
Thursday 11 January 2007
President Bush may be a headless horseman. But the biggest problem is what
he rode in on.
Martin Luther King Jr. had a good name for it 40 years ago: "The madness
of militarism."
We can blame Bush all we want - and he does hold the reins right now - but
his main enablers these days are the fastidious public servants in
Congress. They keep preparing the hay, freshening the water, oiling the
saddle, even while criticizing the inappropriately jocular rider. And when
the band plays "Hail to the Jockey," most of the grown-up stable boys and
girls can't help saluting.
The people who actually live in Iraq have their own opinions, of course.
UPI reported at the end of December that a new poll, conducted by the Iraq
Center for Research and Strategic Studies, found that "about 90 percent of
Iraqis feel the situation in the country was better before the US-led
invasion than it is today." Meanwhile, according to a CNN poll last month,
11 percent of Americans support sending more US troops to Iraq.
Buried in a New York Times news article on Tuesday (January 9) was this
statement of fact: "By law, Congress can limit the nature of troop
deployments, cap the size of military deployments and cut financing for
existing or prospective deployments."
Some Democrats in Congress want to hand the president his head and some
don't. But, as a practical matter, the distinction is moot. He's in the
thrall of what you might call a repetition compulsion disorder that
manifests as digging in his heels.
Obviously the president likes the wind in his ears. And he shows no sign
of slowing down. Bush can keep riding the madness of militarism at a
gallop unless people on Capitol Hill stop nourishing it with
appropriations. And they won't do that unless we find effective ways to
insist that they cut off funding for the war.
The key problem right now isn't the headless jockey. It's the stable hands
who keep feeding the horse he rode in on.
*************
Norman Solomon's latest book, War Made Easy: How Presidents and Pundits
Keep Spinning Us to Death, is now out in paperback.
http://www.scoop.co.nz/stories/HL0701/S00136.htm
We're all totally FCUKED, Doc, beyond all possible repair.
The world has now passed the point of no return.
How the FRICK did humanity get itself into this mess ?!??!?
HOOROO
UNCLE WALLY
====0====
http://news.independent.co.uk/world/middle_east/article2152461.ece
Tensions rise as Washington accuses Iran over militias
By Andrew Buncombe in Washington
Published: 14 January 2007
Tensions between the US and Iran were set to escalate last night after
it was revealed that President George Bush had signed an executive
order several months ago, authorising American troops to undertake
wide-ranging military action against Iranian operatives active inside
Iraq.
That discreetly issued directive was the basis for at least two raids
against Iranian targets last week - including one in the Kurdish city
of Irbil.
The President's decision - revealed by Condoleezza Rice, the Secretary
of State, who yesterday arrived in the Middle East for talks with
Israeli and Palestinian leaders - was taken amid growing concern that
Iran has been providing weapons and training to Shia forces in Iraq.
Without irony, the US has long accused Iran of meddling in the affairs
of its neighbour.
"There has been a decision to go after these networks," Ms Rice told
The New York Times before leaving Washington. "[The President acted]
after a period of time in which we saw increasing activity among
Iranians in Iraq and increasing lethality in what they were producing."
Her comments echoed those made by Mr Bush during his address to the
nation on Wednesday evening, when he outlined his plan to send an
additional 20,000 troops to Iraq. In his address, without citing any
evidence, he accused Iran of supplying support for attacks being
carried out on US troops and vowed to respond.
"[Iran and Syria] are allowing terrorists and insurgents to use their
territory to move in and out of Iraq. Iran is providing material
support for attacks on American troops," Mr Bush said. "We will disrupt
the attacks on our forces. We will interrupt the flow of support from
Iran and Syria. And we will seek out and destroy the networks providing
advanced weaponry and training to our enemies in Iraq."
Privately, US officials claim Iran has provided explosives and infrared
triggering devices for roadside bombs that can penetrate armour. Some
of the attacks have been on British forces in southern Iraq. Officials
have also reportedly claimed that thousands of Shia militia fighters
have been trained in Iran by the Iranian Revolutionary Guards and the
Ministry of Intelligence and Security. Again, no evidence to support
these claims has been made public.
US officials deny that the Bush administration is seeking to provoke
Iran. The White House spokesman, Tony Snow, said that there was "an
urban legend that's going around that Mr Bush was trying to prepare the
way for war" with Iran or Syria.
But in recent days the US has deployed an additional aircraft carrier
off the Iranian coast. USS John Stennis will join the battle group led
by USS Dwight D Eisenhower. In addition, a 600-strong Patriot
anti-missile defence system unit from Fort Bliss, Texas, has been
deployed to the Middle East, though it is unclear where precisely it
will be located.
Against this backdrop, Ms Rice, perhaps not surprisingly, has played
down expectations from her trip to the Middle East - her eighth since
becoming Secretary of State. Speaking to reporters on the way to
Israel, she said: "I'm not coming with a proposal. I'm not coming with
a plan." She added: "I expect this trip to really be one in which we
have intensive consultations. If you don't lay the groundwork very
well, then it's not going to succeed. And I think no plan can be made
in America."
Her mission was given some headway last night by news that significant
progress had been made in secret coalition talks in Damascus between
the supreme Hamas leader and envoys of the Palestinian president,
Mahmoud Abbas. As another round of talks was held yesterday in the
Syrian capital, officials from both sides signalled a sudden shift in
atmosphere after several weeks of tough internal fighting.
Ms Rice was last night due to meet Israel's defence and foreign
ministers. Today she heads for the West Bank city of Ramallah to meet
Mr Abbas, and tomorrow talks are scheduled with the Israeli Prime
Minister, Ehud Olmert. Her trip also includes stops in Jordan, Egypt,
Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, Germany and Britain.
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