That ties it all together nicely doesn't it.
Al queda in Iraq= Bad
Al queda in Iran=good
How far can you stretch 9 billion, when you have more looted explosives that you could ever use?
Posted by pwapvt at April 4, 2007 08:15 AMDid the little hostage taker and his boss see the writing on the wall? We can play this game as well as they can.
Posted by JohnT at April 4, 2007 08:32 AMHeard this on the news coming in. Amazing what diplomacy will do to a volatile situation, huh?
JohnT, that was the lousiest Bush impression I've ever heard. You might want to rethink your desire to be a stand up comedian; or at least get lessons or something. Truly cringe-worthy.
Posted by iamcoyote at April 4, 2007 08:46 AMThe Mad King, idiot son of George Bush, supports Al Qaeda. Why am I not surprised?
Once again, my thanks to all of you neo-con and republi-con asswipes who called us traitors, unpatriotic, antiAmerican, not supporting the troops...ad infinitum. You motherfuckers should have your teeth kicked in. Never again can conservatives be allowed to have control of anything. They must take their place with the other reviled "isms" on this planet. They've earned it.
Posted by phidipides at April 4, 2007 08:48 AMWould leaving a fork truck with a mega bundle of cash on it unattended for a while be indirect support?
Can't wait till Jan. 09 when the true stories of this whole mismanaged mess begin to surface.
Posted by TIKI AL at April 4, 2007 09:03 AMcoyote
What makes you think diplomacy brought this about. You must really be naive. They were sent a message and unlike you they understood it.
JohnT, proof?
Posted by iamcoyote at April 4, 2007 09:57 AMWhere's yours?
Posted by JohnT at April 4, 2007 10:00 AMDid you read the post? Have you read anything else?
It was done with a bit of theater, after an Iranian diplomat seized in Iraq by unknown forces was released and returned home to Iran, and after 5 Iranian staff seized by American troops were allowed to meet with an Iranian envoy. Both Bush and Blair welcomed the news.
As Fareed Zakaria said on Sunday:
But what I've been struck by talking privately to both Iranian and British officials is the temperature is much, much lower in private. They keep talking about the fact that they think there is a solution here and it will be some language about regret and making sure that the - these waters which are somewhat disputed are more clearly delineated.
That sounds kinda diplomatic to me.
Posted by iamcoyote at April 4, 2007 10:06 AMOhhhh!
But 'sending a message' is soooooo much more macho!
Posted by snark at April 4, 2007 10:12 AMI'm wondering if the "message" was sent in dogwhistle frequency, that's why no one heard it.
Posted by iamcoyote at April 4, 2007 10:20 AMI bet W had his biggest baddest 10 gallon hat on.
Posted by snark at April 4, 2007 10:29 AMI still can't believe the Iranians didn't use the United States standards of interrogation on these Brits. How the hell can the Iranians claim they interrogated these people if there wasn't a little waterboarding and rectal probing? They are so backwards in Iran.
They were sent a message and unlike you they understood it.
Like the message we sent with Iraq? You know, utter incompetence?
Posted by phidipides at April 4, 2007 10:39 AMAre they going to start the attack on Iran?
It looks like the navy is in charge. A naval aviator is in charge of Central Command.
Everything seems in place, but it probably cannot be kept in place indefinitely. Some of the navy crews have been in theater for a long time.
My guess is Bush&Co thinks they can get away with an attack because the the Congress has already signed on and American Public is indifferent and will not protest too much.
If so, what will the provocation be? They cannot use the British sailors anymore.
The question no news person or blogger can answer is the state of Bush's mind. Are they going to go criminal and attack Iran or not?
Nobody, Congress has not signed on - just because they didn't put a specific "you can't attack Iran" in the latest bill to pass, doesn't mean they've signed on. Bush may think he's king, but even he won't get away with something that brazen. Because as you say, that would be a criminal move.
Posted by iamcoyote at April 4, 2007 11:10 AMSorry, but taking soldiers hostage doesn't make the causus belli that the neocons wish for.
It's interesting to note that last summer's causus belli for the Israeli bombardment of Lebanon were purportedly the Israeli soldiers taken hostage, yet the Israeli govt has backed away from that, in light of the news that the offensive had been planned long beforehand.
Bush said he was going to fix the risk of the Iranians having a nuclear capability before he left office. The threat remains and does not seem to be going away. In his mind, that may be sufficient causus belli.
It has taken years of planning to get all of the ships in the Persian Gulf, well trained and fitted, at the same time.
I wonder if he will just let their six-month deployments run and call them home? It seems somewhat out of character for him to do that.
Posted by Nobody at April 4, 2007 01:14 PMOops, is diplomacy breaking out? Whatever will the Bush war-crime family do? Bush, Cheney and their little gang of neocon idiots is becoming more isolated each day... Delusion and insanity are hardly the basis for good foreign policy. The American people are finally beginning to see what Bush & Co. really stand for: corporate greed, treason and stalinist rule...
Posted by james k. sayre at April 4, 2007 01:39 PMI bet W had his biggest baddest 10 gallon hat on.
And those cute little boots with the pResidential seal on them.
Posted by Seven of Six at April 4, 2007 01:40 PM"My guess is Bush&Co thinks they can get away with an attack because the the Congress has already signed on and American Public is indifferent and will not protest too much."
Nobody, I disagree with the statement that the "American Public is indifferent and will not protest too much." I want to believe, since the public wants out of Iraq, that Bush starting an additional war would send the Americans into the streets in protest. Yes, Bush will do what Cheney wants him to do, but I wouldn't count on the people of this Country going shopping in response.
Posted by Judith at April 4, 2007 01:54 PMRove's car got pelted with rocks and people blocked it after a speech to repubs at the American University.
Hey, it's a start.
Posted by TIKI AL at April 4, 2007 02:20 PMTIKI, Rude Pundit did a great post today on Rove's "welcome." Funny!
Posted by iamcoyote at April 4, 2007 02:34 PMThanks uRcoyote, that Rude Pundit article is a riot: "If someone shoots whipped cream at Nelson Mandela, that's a violent assault. If a crowd burns Karl Rove's car and chases him through the streets of DC until he has to cower, weeping, shitting himself, in a filthy alley with the other rats and feral beasts, well, that's barely a misdemeanor."
How true.
Posted by TIKI AL at April 4, 2007 02:48 PMThough you might get a kick out of it, TIKI. Rude One is a wizard with words!
Posted by iamcoyote at April 4, 2007 02:53 PMPeople here in America are going to have a hard time going shoping during a attack on Iran after Iran shuts down the Straits of Hormuz and gasoline spikes to 10 dolars/gallon. Especially if Iran keeps the spigot shut for a couple of weeks.
I think people might object in fact.
When the American Constitution was being signed at the conclusion of the Constitutional Convention, Benjamin Franklin remarked that he had often wondered whether the rays of the sun painted in the chair of the president of the convention signified a sunrise or sunset for the new country.
There are no sides of right or wrong to be had in this great effort on which we as American’s have had thrust upon us. Perhaps some would say, in our misunderstanding of other cultures, we asked for it. Others intone, we should have been ready. The crisis is clear, it is not the words, meaning or lack there of at which you battle with. Death. Death has come, for that is the crisis. The pen it is said may be mightier than the sword and yet those who do not life by the sword can still die by it. No, not a threat just a sad irony of the age we have awaken. Continue your protests, your marches and by all means express your constitutional rights. Death will wait for both the hawk and the dove. I have just nearly spent all my tears on the fallen. So many are gone and such a loss of our innocence. I gape at the void left behind. My attention averted only by the disillusionment of a civilization grasping for a solution.