or Powell's or me• • •
"Mike and Jon, Jon and Mike—I've known them both for years, and, clearly, one of them is very funny. As for the other: truly one of the great hangers-on of our time."—Steve Bodow, head writer, The Daily Show
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"Who can really judge what's funny? If humor is a subjective medium, then can there be something that is really and truly hilarious? Me. This book."—Daniel Handler, author, Adverbs, and personal representative of Lemony Snicket
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"The good news: I thought Our Kampf was consistently hilarious. The bad news: I’m the guy who wrote Monkeybone."—Sam Hamm, screenwriter, Batman, Batman Returns, and Homecoming
May 06, 2008
I Wonder When The Mission Changed
This is from a new article about David Petraeus by Spencer Ackerman:
While commanding the 101st Airborne Division during the 2003 invasion of Iraq, David H. Petraeus famously mused to journalist Rick Atkinson, "Tell me how this ends." Asked today by The Washington Independent how he would answer that if one of his own division commanders posed it, Petraeus replied by phone from Baghdad's Camp Victory, "I would just reiterate what our objectives are, and that is what we're trying to help the Iraqis achieve. And that is: an Iraq that is at peace with itself and with its neighbors; and can defend itself; that is a democracy in Iraqi fashion -- I would also say a government that is represent of and responsive to all its citizens."
This is George Bush on March 6, 2003:
Q Thank you, sir. Mr. President, millions of Americans can recall a time when leaders from both parties set this country on a mission of regime change in Vietnam...What can you say tonight, sir, to the sons and the daughters of the Americans who served in Vietnam to assure them that you will not lead this country down a similar path in Iraq?THE PRESIDENT: That's a great question. Our mission is clear in Iraq. Should we have to go in, our mission is very clear: disarmament. And in order to disarm, it would mean regime change...But it's very clear what we intend to do. And our mission won't change. Our mission is precisely what I just stated.
—Jonathan Schwarz
Posted at May 6, 2008 07:21 PMI guess you could call it the Petraeus Barn rule: "You break it, you hold onto it until it is capable of putting itself back together again."
Posted by: Whistler Blue at May 6, 2008 09:01 PMActually the mission has always been to produce chaos in that part of the world. The only thing that has changed is the lies and excuses but the mission of chaos has remained a constant. The same holds true here in the States. Does anyone believe our own government is responsive to the will of the people, though it certainly warms my heart that Petroleum, er, I mean Petraeus is so concerned with a responsive Iraq government. Ha, ha, ha. Even as a joke it is not very funny.
Posted by: Rob Payne at May 6, 2008 11:03 PMActually, isn't that rule something more along the lines of, "You break it, you go on breaking it and bombing and strafing and raping it until it welcomes Exxon-Mobil with open but broken arms."
Posted by: Duncan at May 7, 2008 12:10 AMRe: US Occupation of Iraq
Subject: US Pre-Election Murder Campaign
Dear US Representatives and Senators,
The US intentionally kills, injures and starves Sadr City civilians to punish and deter their support for the Sadrist trend and the Mahdi Army.
The US/GZG puppet military offensive against Sadrist/Mahdi Army nationalists in Sadr City has killed 1000 civilians and injured 2600 in April '08 and three times that number in southern Iraq since May 25, 2008.
Overwhelming firepower savagely applied in occupied cities forseeably and inevitably causes high civilian casualties. Such results, both forseeable and inevitable, are therefore intentional and intentionally killing civilians is a grossly repulsive criminal violation of the US Code (18 USC 2441).
Battering Iraqi civilians will only increase Sadrist and Mahdi Army supporters and attract the uncommitted. At the same time, such abhorrent crimes diminish US moral authority, weaken support, alienate allies and corrode national security. They increase the probability of retaliatory defensive attacks on Americans like those of 9/11.
I object to using my taxes to murder Iraqis resisting the theft of their oil. Please include time in your busy schedule to end this primitively brutal, shameful and counterproductive practice. Thank you.
Very truly yours,
Posted by: Pvt. Keepout at May 7, 2008 12:27 AMAn obedient ally has always been the goal, it just hasn't gone so well for the US so far. Doesn't matter if it's a hollowed-out democracy och theocratic dictatorship a la Saudi Arabia as long as it obeys. Invanders always claim that they're doing good, with "good" being whatever cause is considered good at the moment. So in the 19th century we had the white man's burden and Christianizing the savages as a form of "humanitarian intervention" to cover for the invasions of Africa and elsewhere. The song might change but the music remains the same.
Posted by: Non Nato at May 7, 2008 07:23 AM
