Norman Solomon (ICH) writes:
Four weeks into Donald Trump’s presidency, New York Times columnist Paul Krugman wrote that “nothing he has done since the inauguration allays fears that he is in effect a Putin puppet.” The liberal pundit concluded with a matter-of-fact reference to “the Trump-Putin axis.”
Such lines of attack have become routine, citing and stoking fears that the president of the United States is a Kremlin stooge. The meme is on the march — and where it will end, nobody knows. Actually, it could end with a global nuclear holocaust.
The incessant goading and denunciations of Trump as a Kremlin flunky are escalating massive pressure on him to prove otherwise. Exculpatory behavior would involve setting aside possibilities for detente and, instead, confronting Russia — rhetorically and militarily.
Hostile behavior toward Russia is what much of the U.S. media and political establishment have been fervently seeking. It’s also the kind of behavior that could drag us all over the brink into thermonuclear destruction. But c’mon, why worry about that?
I agree. This is a very important issue.
So is bullying.
And why is the New York Times allowing Paul Krugman to be an online bully?
A person golfs with the president and Krugman thinks it's okay to demand that the person be shunned?
Krugman is disgusting.
This is C.I.'s "Iraq snapshot" for Tuesday:
Tuesday, February 28, 2017. Chaos and violence continue as some on the left rush to embrace a War Criminal.
As so many losers, whiners and cry babies stroke their little hate machines, we see where all this stupidity leads.
FOX NEWS reports:
Former President George W. Bush has told Fox News' Sean Hannity that he was "frustrated" when the U.S. pulled troops out of Iraq in 2011, clearing the way for ISIS to be formed from the remains of Al Qaeda in Iraq.
"I think what people have got to realize is this bunch of thugs can be defeated, because we did so with the surge," Bush said in a portion of the interview broadcast Monday. "And we can win again."
Bully Boy Bush is a War Criminal.
Who cares what the hell he thinks?
We were very lucky in the last 8 years because the scum hid under a rock and stayed there.
We didn't have to hear from him.
What changed?
He saw an opening.
The media kissed his ass -- long before 9/11.
They stroked his ego.
They lapped at his crotch.
Only after the public had solidly turned against Bully Boy Bush and the Iraq War did the media begin to treat him the way they should have all along.
Even then, they didn't go far enough.
They couldn't.
Because indicting Bully Boy Bush was indicting themselves.
As so many losers, whiners and cry babies stroke their little hate machines, we see where all this stupidity leads.
FOX NEWS reports:
Former President George W. Bush has told Fox News' Sean Hannity that he was "frustrated" when the U.S. pulled troops out of Iraq in 2011, clearing the way for ISIS to be formed from the remains of Al Qaeda in Iraq.
"I think what people have got to realize is this bunch of thugs can be defeated, because we did so with the surge," Bush said in a portion of the interview broadcast Monday. "And we can win again."
Bully Boy Bush is a War Criminal.
Who cares what the hell he thinks?
We were very lucky in the last 8 years because the scum hid under a rock and stayed there.
We didn't have to hear from him.
What changed?
He saw an opening.
The media kissed his ass -- long before 9/11.
They stroked his ego.
They lapped at his crotch.
Only after the public had solidly turned against Bully Boy Bush and the Iraq War did the media begin to treat him the way they should have all along.
Even then, they didn't go far enough.
They couldn't.
Because indicting Bully Boy Bush was indicting themselves.
Former President George W. Bush levels tacit criticism at Trump nyti.ms/2lsJkRo
Does THE NEW YORK TIMES like that?
The same NEW YORK TIMES that swallowed every lie Bully Boy Bush told -- right down to the hairy root?
The paper was on board with war much more than most of the public realizes.
They were selling war on Iraq in October of 2001. With a front page story.
Featuring anonymice (as always). Two unnamed Iraqi 'defectors' who explained Saddam Hussein had this (no) and was planning that (no).
Guess what?
That story had nothing to do with Judith Miller.
It was written by two men.
The paper eventually kicked Miller to the curb.
But as we've long noted, Judith didn't edit her own copy, didn't decide where on the front page it went, didn't assign herself stories or even deliver the papers.
But the paper pretended she did.
Pretended Judith Miller was the problem.
The worst of her actions, the absolute worst, indicted the paper far more than it did her. If the paper had behaved as a journalistic outlet, there would have been checks.
Judith wasn't the problem.
She was, instead, a sign of how deep the problems were at the paper.
The problems were never fixed.
Which is why the paper could and did (and does) go after Donald Trump.
And some love it because they don't like Donald.
So we applaud lies if they're about someone we don't like?
Is that how it works?
Watching the media redeem Bush's image in order to use him against Trump is fake news historical revisionism in action.
Yes, they rush to redeem him.
Even worse?
Those on the left slobbering over Bully Boy Bush.
I don't let Barack Obama off for his part in the Iraq War (it's still continuing, if you didn't notice) but I never forget who it started under.
And as long as that War Criminal was hiding his filthy soul under a rock, he was the least of my worries.
But everyone needs to take a long hard look at themselves in the mirror before they start applauding this piece of trash who's responsible for the deaths of millions.
Here are two idiots who need to take a look at themselves.
Progressive Man George W. Bush’s criticisms of Trump illustrate the president’s threat to fundamental freedoms bit.ly/2lMyzfc
Impeach Donald Trump When Liberals are citing George W Bush as a voice of moderation and sanity, you understand how extreme the right has become under Trump...
What it illustrates is how far you will go to stroke your hate and what you understand is how far the so-called left has fallen that they will cite Bully Boy Bush.
The children of Iraq did not deserve what Bully Boy Bush unleashed and a big f**k you to any American who cites the War Criminal as though anything he says -- ever -- is anything less than pandering.
Shame on you all.
Let's look at it again:
Former President George W. Bush has told Fox News' Sean Hannity that he was "frustrated" when the U.S. pulled troops out of Iraq in 2011, clearing the way for ISIS to be formed from the remains of Al Qaeda in Iraq.
"I think what people have got to realize is this bunch of thugs can be defeated, because we did so with the surge," Bush said in a portion of the interview broadcast Monday. "And we can win again."
The surge was a failure.
Just like Bully Boy Bush, the surge was a failure.
No one ever doubted that the violence would go down if you flooded Iraq with US troops.
(Though some argue that the actions Bully Boy Bush took had the effect of protecting Iraqis carrying out genocide.)
But that wasn't the point of the surge.
Alex Kingsbury (BOSTON GLOBE) explained in 2014:
The goals of the Iraq surge were spelled out explicitly by the White House in Jan. 2007: Stop the raging sectarian bloodletting and reconcile Sunnis, Shiites, and Kurds in the government. “A successful strategy for Iraq goes beyond military operations,” then-President George W. Bush said.
In light of all that has happened since that announcement, it is jaw-dropping to still hear the surge described as a success. Yet the myth of its success is as alive as it is dangerous. It’s a myth that prevents us from grappling with the realities of the last effort in Iraq, even as we embark on another.
To believe in the myth of the surge is to absolve Iraqis of their responsibility to resolve their differences. It gives the US government an unrealistic sense of its own capabilities. And it ignores the roots of the conflict now stretching from Damascus to Baghdad.
The US military did what they were tasked with.
That's not in question.
But they were doing that to provide "space," remember, for the government of Iraq (installed by the US government) to work on reconciliation.
Didn't happen.
Never happened.
And that's why we repeatedly pointed that out in the last two years -- as Barack did a similar thing -- bombing and sending in US forces would 'fix' the problem. No, the problem was a hostile government.
Back to Kinsbury:
Which brings us to the second and equally important goal of the surge: political reconciliation. This also failed — and in spectacular fashion.
The corrupt, viciously sectarian government of Nouri al-Malaki was prone to terrible abuses of any and all opponents. And Muslims weren’t the only ones in the crosshairs. “Christians are finished in Iraq,” wrote one former Human Rights Watch worker this fall, after an exodus of some 750,000 people that predated the rise of the Islamic State.
The surge was a failure.
So were the "benchmarks."
Anyone remember those?
Bully Boy Bush proposed a series of benchmarks that the Iraqi government would have to meet in order to continue receiving tons of US taxpayer dollars.
They never met them.
But Congress continued to fund Iraq.
A Congress controlled by the Democrats -- both houses -- by the way, so let's not pretend the Iraq War is only Republicans.
One of the benchmarks was reconciliation.
Never met.
And Barack, with the operation he started in August of 2014, never put any conditions on US forces and US money.
So there's been no reconciliation.
How stupid do you have to be to not grasp that even if you eliminate the Islamic State, something else will pop up?
How dumb do you have to be to not grasp that until the root causes are addressed, nothing will change?
Pretty dumb.
And as many idiots have proved this week, America is full of dumb people -- look at the ones rushing to embrace Bully Boy Bush because he criticized Donald Trump.
The Debra Messings of the world (she slobbered with two reTweets on BBB) are always with us. You walk past them without making eye contact. But a lot of people who are actually intelligent and actually care are acting just as crazy as that psycho.
Bully Boy Bush is a War Criminal.
You do not cite him and look credible.
Yglesias on Bush reveals one thing. Those who feel embarrassed that they supported the Iraq War have extra incentive to normalise Bush.
They are 'normalizing' him and his actions.
I seem to remember stories about the KKK in the election.
I ignored them, I have real issues to address and you don't give publicity to hate groups.
But some people were bent out of shape because the KKK supported Donald Trump (or so the press/rumors went).
Who cares?
They're going to support someone in an election.
It's not like Donald Trump was meeting with them.
But The Debra Messings . . .
Donald Trump ignored the hate group -- as he should have done.
The Debra Messings embrace Bully Boy Bush today.
Can he breathe life back into Iraq and bring back all the dead?
Can he breathe life into all the US troops who died there?
Please stop ignoring that George W Bush is responsible for unnecessary deaths of over 4,000 Americans in Iraq and countless Iraqis. #decency
There is no redemption.
He could (and should) be on trial at the Hague but even that wouldn't provide him with redemption -- it would only allow justice to be served.
This is who the Debra Messings are embracing.
They're whores.
They have no ethics.
(Well that explains how they could support Hillary last year.)
In fairness to Debra, she didn't oppose the Iraq War. She was on TV back then, remember?
Susan Sarandon opposed it.
Debbie was okay with it.
Let the Arab world note that Debra Messing supported the Iraq War. Maybe she's a neocon. I don't know. Maybe she's part of the Jewish right-wing intellectual movement that pushed for the war. Who knows? But she was okay with the Iraq War. Before it started. After it started.
If that's you, dance along with Bully Boy Bush -- let him lead you through the gates of hell and may you suffer every moment as you should.
And when you get in bed with him, not only will you be sleeping in the wet spot, here's what you'll be endorsing.
From Justice for the Babies of Fallujah:
Another male born in FGH with multiple gross congenital anomalies in
addition to CHD , he is the 1st baby to 2 young healthy couples with no
previous history of any anomaly
The birth defects are a result of the weapons Bully Boy Bush authorized.
So that's what you're endorsing.
Not just death, not just a country of orphans, you're embracing inflicting birth defects on the Iraqi people.
Don't pretend you're rational or ethical if you're clutching Bully Boy Bush to your chest now.
Love The Broken Ones We need to know the full magnitude of devastation caused by the US in Iraq; thanks @vijayprashad
Meanwhile . . .
Day 134 of The Mosul Slog and they got a bridge.
How impressive (sarcasm). Why do I feel like the mom Lily Tomlin played in the skit that so upset CBS? "Leg or no leg, supper's on the table."
Tori Amos performing "In The Springtime Of His Voodoo" live (song first appears on her BOYS FROM PELE album).
Tori appreciation was the theme for the latest rounds of community posts:
iraq
