I remember seeing the unimpressive DRAWING of the "doomsday trailer" in Powell's presentation, and wondered what majesty JFK would have portrayed showing cartoons of Soviet missiles in Cuba.
When he held up the "anthrax" salt shaker, I knew the 4 horsemen had received their marching orders.
Posted by TIKI AL at April 12, 2006 03:03 AMDo you drop nuclear weapons to eliminate 160 centrifuges? Surely the answer now is sanctions like those that killed Saddam's nuclear program.
Posted by bob h at April 12, 2006 04:10 AMSo you have to be a megolomaniac to comment that Ahmadinejad is the "new Hitler"? Yeah, I mean, it's not as if he wants to kill all the Jews and disprove the Holocaust or anything. No similarities to Hitler at all.
Only crazy people like Bush can see the similarities...
Posted by Seixon at April 12, 2006 04:27 AMBillmon has a very good post up about possible nuclear war. Very credible and very frightening.
Major problem today is the complete absence of any sort of counterweight to Bush & Co.
Trust the troll to Godwin the thread already.
How do you stop him?
Well, a good start would be to write your congressmen and congresswomen, now.
Really, everybody reading this who hasn't written their congressmen and/or congresswomen about their opposition to the nuclear first-strike option reportedly being readied needs to write their congressmen and/or congresswomen, right now. Don't delay. Time is of the essence. Heaven forbid it does happen, and worse. If it did, aren't you going to wish you'd at least written your conressfolk? It can't hurt. Don't live to regret it, write them right now.
Congress has made it exceedingly easy to contact them, too. You don't even have to leave your computer monitor, just follow the links and use the Web forms.
For your member of the U.S. House of Representatives:
http://www.house.gov/writerep/
For your U.S. Senators;
http://www.senate.gov/general/contact_information/senators_cfm.cfm
Light up their switchboards and e-mail boxes, please, for your own good, for the country's good, for the good of the world.
Posted by Brian Bell at April 12, 2006 05:29 AMI wonder if BushCo. thinks taking Iran will solve all problems that they incurred in Afghanistan and Iraq?
Outside of Kabul and our torture prison at Bagram, what do we control in Afghanistan? Hmmm?
Iraq was a military trumph that was utterly betrayed and ruined by an incompetent, greed maddened, civilian administration that has seemingly called all the wrong shots, from Garner right up to the present "Unocal" Khalilzad and "Old Death Squad" Negroponte version.
I think the neo-con war fiends around Bush actually believe Iran will relieve them from their failures. This is appearing like an "Aww please, pretty please, give us one last chance to prove we're right!" sort of situation. That Bush is a bully and megalomaniac who is easily stroked by these loons is not reassuring at all.
Fasten your seatbelts.
Posted by boilerman10 at April 12, 2006 05:31 AMHere, this time with links:
For your member of the U.S. House of Representatives:
http://www.house.gov/writerep/
For your U.S. Senators;
http://www.senate.gov/general/contact_information/senators_cfm.cfm
Posted by Brian Bell at April 12, 2006 05:31 AMIdio, I wouldn't trust the troll to take out my garbage, thank you very much. Anyone that trusts the killer krewe in the White House has a screw loose.
Posted by iamcoyote at April 12, 2006 05:32 AMBrian, read that Billmon post that Rich just linked. Reading that essay about how we're going to get led down the path to accepting a tatcical nuke (almost exactly the same way we told that torture is alright) makes it fairly clear to me that writing Congress won't do jack unless you enclose 200-odd spines for the opposition party to use.
Personally, writing Grassley, Leach, Steve King, Nussle, and Latham won't do jack - Grassley and Leach are 'controlled indpendents', rarely straying off the res when it's not their pet reform topics. King is the source of the Garhib=Fraternity initiation quote. Nussle is running for state governor and had his picture taken hundreds of times at a $10K/plate fundraiser with Commander CookooBananas last night. And Latham is the state GOP rock, voting party line without comment.
Boswell is a yellow dog democrat and Harkin - well, Harkin just got hung out to dry with Russ on the censure motion.
Fuck the Congress.
Posted by idiosynchronic at April 12, 2006 05:40 AMSo you have to be a megolomaniac to comment that Ahmadinejad is the "new Hitler"? Yeah, I mean, it's not as if he wants to kill all the Jews and disprove the Holocaust or anything. No similarities to Hitler at all.
Only crazy people like Bush can see the similarities...
Posted by Seixon at April 12, 2006 04:27 AM
*****
Hitler had a massive war machine and the means, methods, and efficiency to unleash it upon Europe and the USSR. Hitler could be running Europe as we speak had he played his cards right.
Ahmadinejad is a trash-talking half-wit who is taunting the US because of our failure in Iraq. He can't do jack shit beyond his own region. Yeah, he's hatin' him some jews, but he hasn't the means to do anything about it unless he really wants Israel to wipe him off the map.
If you cannot see the difference between the two, you are a pissant moron beyond repair and unworthy of debate.
So STFU and pimp your less than worthless blog elswhere.
Posted by God Of War at April 12, 2006 05:52 AMI know people don't agree with me on this, and think I am an old hippie (which I am and proud of it), but just as the Hispanics have successfully done, so should we. Time to take to the streets of America and demand the impeachment of Bush and Cheney, or at the very least, protest against nuclear madness. Protest against nuclear madness is something everyone can get behind. I'm convinced that writing Congress means nothing anymore. Hell, look who is in control.
Posted by Judith at April 12, 2006 05:58 AMDo you suppose George W.'s father wants the Bush family legacy to be that of starting World War III? Or, at least, absolutely ruining America? The elder Bush was supposed to know something about international relations. I realize George W. has some parental issues, but his parents had better start intervening when no one else can.
Charles
Posted by charles moore at April 12, 2006 06:05 AMCharles - I honestly belive that if H.W. told W. not to use nuclear waepons, W. would do it just to prove his old man wrong.
Posted by idiosynchronic at April 12, 2006 06:31 AM...and "that saving Iran is going to be his legacy."
Here is a novel idea for junior: how about saving Iraq first? Or for that matter, New Orleans.
Posted by Hank at April 12, 2006 06:45 AMSaddam was Hitler, Ahmadinejad is Hitler, Iran is an "Islamo-fascist" regime....however preposterous and fundamentally stupid (as GOW demonstrates), the WWII frame has been going on for 5 years, why stop now?
Every national leader opposed to the US, whether actual dictator or elected official, is a Hitler to the crazed Reactionary Right, because Hitler is the one uncontroversial, approved, universal enemy in American history. Hence, "Hitler, Hitler, Hitler!!!" Such fundamental dishonesty; such mindless propaganda.
Not every anti-semite is a Hitler. What's scary is that this is being reported as what passes as high level analysis in the White House----childish, juvenile Hitler comparisons. Perhaps that's all Nero Jr. can grasp or stay awake for.
I would note that the real Adolf Hitler was elected Chancellor with the support of less than a majority of the citizenry, perverted the country's constitution and courts to usurp total dictatorial control, was backed by and worked closely with German corporations to increase their wealth and economic power, and ultimately undertook a militarist, expansionist policy of aggressive, pre-emptive invasions and occupations of other nations based on their being supposed threats to the security "Fatherland"---although Homeland would probably be a better translation. Plus, those invaded nations had resources that the Fatherland needed, especially oil.
So one would think that maybe Nero, Dead-eye Dick and the Reactionary Right would shy away from finding new "Hitlers" everywhere they look.
Posted by euzoius at April 12, 2006 07:30 AMTime to take to the streets of America and demand the impeachment of Bush and Cheney, or at the very least, protest against nuclear madness. Protest against nuclear madness is something everyone can get behind.
Judith,
It is long past due for people to take to the streets. Problem is that the establishment has succeeded at dumbing down society and convincing everyone that being active in your own democracy is simply a hobby. Why bother when there are so many other fun things to do such as watching "Deal or No Deal" or go to the mall.
When, in a good year, only 55% of elegible voters bother to show up to vote.
Sorry for being so cynical, but I just got good dose of "reality" after spending a week in Aurora/Parker, CO.
Posted by Simp at April 12, 2006 07:46 AMi would imagine this hitler has already exterminated the remaining jews of iran, no? i mean he's hitler, right?
Posted by at April 12, 2006 07:49 AM"Power corrupts, absolute power corrupts absolutely."
Power does tend to corrupt but it also attracts people who are already corrupt and the absolutely corrupt are the most likely to pursue absolute power. Cause and effect are both present here, though with this gang, I think the corruption was there from the start.
"When, in a good year, only 55% of elegible voters bother to show up to vote."
I do vote, but as a South Carolina native and life-long resident, I see plenty of reasons not to bother and very little reason for hope. A lot of people are ignorant and more are apathetic, but many of the people who don't vote are both passionate and informed: they know that voting in this thoroughly corrupted environment is pointless. On top of that, most people who DO vote are misinformed or underinformed. Why bother voting when there's nobody worth voting for and when even if you do cast a vote for a lackluster candidate, odds are, your vote won't be counted and even if it is counted, you're outnumbered by people who are either stupid or - if they really know what they're voting for - evil.
Posted by Michael at April 12, 2006 08:01 AMOh "Higher Father", please do NOT tell your stepson, George, to bomb Iran. When you joked around with him laying out that Iraq Epiphany thing, HE TOOK YOU SERIOUSLY. We beseech you to allow for his intelligence level in the future. Amen.
Posted by TIKI AL at April 12, 2006 08:03 AMI honestly belive that if H.W. told W. not to use nuclear waepons, W. would do it just to prove his old man wrong.
idiosynchronic - I agree. w is a mama's boy. And it's pretty damn depressing to think that babs is the last firewall before nuclear war in the Middle East.
Posted by Jim Faith at April 12, 2006 08:16 AM
Degrees of Freedom
Bush has freedom. We, citizens do not. Bush has the freedom to do what he wants. He has the power to make the rules to fit his actions. The checks against his power have ceased to function.
Clearly, the Executive is not limited by Congress. He is so disdainful of Congress, his ministers just say something is secret and refuse to answer. Congress is so timid, it praises the Minister for a job well done and give thanks for stooping to attend the hearing. It comes out he lies to go to war and Congress keeps appropriating all of the money he asks for and more. He bribes them by allowing them unlimited earmarks. When it turns out he is spying on everyone, they do nothing. When he needs money he prints it.
Clearly, Bush is not limited by the Courts. They cannnot make impose any meaningful sanction against secret detention, murder, and torture even unto death. They are simply rubber stamping his policies on a local level by condoning refusal based upon national security and state secret defenses.
Bush is not limited by the people. He thinks they can be placated by lies. Remember most of the American people believed {and probably still believe) Saddam was directly responsible for 9/11.
Bush is not limited by international pressure. He listens to no one.
As further argument, what would each of you bloggers do:
If tomorrow Bush nuked Tehran with ten nukes to the center of the residential areas.
If this November, only Bush supporters win elections and the Republicans have a landslide amid serious evidence or voting machine "problems" that surfaces, but is not prosecuted by the Justice Department.
If Bush told you he was wiretapping every communication in the United States and keeping dossiers on everyone.
If a few outspoken critics of Bush are prosecuted for things like child pornography, tax evasion, or become enmeshed in trumped-up scandals.
If mysteriously, blogs critical of the President simply and mysteriously cease functioning without any explanation and soon by word of mouth it became known that the NSA was simply filtering negative content. (Coincidentally, full length current movies became free for download, thereby tying up all available bandwidth to sop the People with bread and circuses."
If Bush told you he had prison camps ready to incarcerate every illegal alien and was going to deport all of them starting today?
If a propaganda blitz suddenly materialized scapegoating illegal aliens as "evil line-breakers."
If a 9/11 "emergency" occurred just before the 2008 elections and the federal courts decreed that the elections would be postponed indefinitely because the dissarray preventing a few from voting denied them "equal protection" so no one should vote and the Supreme Court also said the President should remain in office "until" a successor was chosen.
The central question: Are we going to renew our democratic process and get an active Congress again, or not?
Or, have we gotten to the point that Bush has absoluted freedom to do what he chooses?
Where are we going? What would {could} {can} you do today?
Posted by JWP at April 12, 2006 09:21 AMWill you people please come to grips with the fact that Ahmadinejad is a direct result of bush's pugnacious, bellicose saber rattling just before the Iranian elections!
BUSH, not the Ayatollahs and Muftis set back the Iranian democracy movement at least 5 years.
BUSH literally scared the Iranians into electing a staunch Iranian patriot and Iranian nationalist, namely Ahmadinejad.
Ahmadinedjad is about as related to Hitler, or Hitler-like, as Charles "LGF" Johnson is related to Martin Luther King, or as Chimpy McFlightsuit is Walter Cronkite-like.
Ahmadinejad is a fright wig, a fetish mask for the witch doctor, something to scare the kiddies with by him hiding under the bed.
Ahmadinejad called Chimp's bluff, and Sy hersh this year, showed Chimp's hand, just like Scott Ritter did last year. Now the White House is backpedeling, just like last year.
Posted by boilerman10 at April 12, 2006 09:48 AMBy Howard Fineman
MSNBC contributor
Updated: 12:17 p.m. ET April 12, 2006
"A nuclear-weaponized Iran is every sane person’s worst nightmare."
No Howard, I'm afraid that ranks way down there on my list and I'm very sane. My wife diagnosed with a malignant brain tumor, my son killed in a car wreck, my legs getting gnawed off by a rabid wolverine as I watched in horror, all rank higher than nukes in Iran. Call me when they have an ICBM to mount it on and can lob it several thousand miles with any sort of accuracy. I might move your worst nightmare to 21st or 22nd on my personal list at that time. Otherwise shut the fuck up.
Posted by steve duncan at April 12, 2006 10:11 AMOn top of that, most people who DO vote are misinformed or underinformed.
I agree with you. I thought my point was clear. Most people in this country don't really understand nor care about democracy. Its a feel good term. My point is that the electorate is too self-absorbed to be bothered in really participating.
Additionally, there is a huge disconnect between what happens inside the beltway and their lives. If there isn't an immediate and tangible consequence of some legislation, most have no idea how it affects their lives.
Posted by Simp at April 12, 2006 11:31 AMBoilerman makes great points.
Iran had a real air of change in the air. The progressive moderates were slowly starting to win. Then comes along Bush with his sophomoric chest beating Evil of Axis and screwed it all.
Posted by Simp at April 12, 2006 11:40 AMeuzoius, I could have sworn you were refering to the United States in your post about Hitler.
Posted by Judith at April 12, 2006 08:59 PMGo watch a video of Ahmadinejad at the UN last year.
Posted by Godwin at April 13, 2006 06:18 AMGo change your sheets.
Posted by at April 13, 2006 07:38 AMI love this guy. He interpreted the shocked, wide-eyed stares at his madness to be an apocolyptic moment of understanding in his audience. His missiles can now reach Europe. And Moscow; note Russia's curious role,here.
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