now let’s go home. I’m glad to see Derb is setting a good example for his fellow warbots: just because you’re morally crippled doesn’t mean you have to be stupid, too!
Of course, Derb seems to be taking some heat from his red-state fascist readers, so he may need to drop or at least re-rationalize his cut-n-run position. Maybe he could say the Arabs are turning our boys into homos…
In today’s Backtalk:
Carl Webb, a soldier protesting the Iraq Stop Loss Program, announces his new website: CarlWebb.net.
Monica Nouwens seeks Iraq veterans in southern California for her documentary: monicano@earthlink.net.
Tim Gillin continues the “peak oil theory” discussion: Why are Iraq hawks driving Priuses?
Michael Austin directs a reader to AWC’s quotes archive.
Phil Crincoli and Sam Koritz discuss the politics of retracted news reports.
Justin Raimondo and Nebojsa Malic reply to critics.
Paul Craig Roberts replies to William S. Lind’s relatively optimistic "The Dangers of Abstract Nationalism" and asks, "…What becomes of the American police state that the war on terror has put in place? … How do we get rid of it in the event the new nationalism deflates as Bill Lind suggests?" Abstract nationalism or fascism? Ian Bell reminds us of Mussolini’s definition of the latter: the merger of state and corporate power.
Az-Zaman reports that the “Cadres and Chosen Party” of 180 members of the Sadr Movement is coming in third in the early election returns [in the south], after the mainstream Shiite United Iraqi Alliance and the Iraqiyah list of interim Prime Minister Allawi. So far the Cadres are guaranteed 8 seats in the 275-member parliament, according to its leader. Since about 20 Sadrists ran on the UIA, they could make up 6 or 7 percent of the members of parliament. Had their leader not sat out the election, the Sadrists could have done much better. They note that Muqtada al-Sadr did not forbid them to run. One of the prominent list members was a Mahdi Army guerrilla fighter in Sadr City only a few months ago.
We have introduced a new section: “News by Region.” There you can find news and viewpoints on Iraq, China, India or any other country in the world, updated throughout the day. Check it out.
Apropos my recent post on the Iraq elections, Christopher Hitchens, and liberventionists generally, here’s what Hitch recently told some Iraqi guests:
First, who is this “we”? Consider the epithet chickenhawk forever vindicated.
Second, you liberventionists can spare us any further BS about the sanctity of democracy – you cynical creeps don’t believe in it any more than I do. And please stop selling this line about democracy being an antidote to terrorism, illiberalism, fundamentalism, etc. You clearly don’t buy that, either.
Finally, never again protest the labels imperialist or colonialist: if “we” are to ensure Iraq’s political correctness for the rest of eternity, then that nation lacks self-determination and is by definition a colony.
Ouch! I’m talking about the public thrashing Juan Cole delivered to the clueless Jonah Goldberg. Not content to accept defeat after being bested by Cole, Goldie made the dispute the subject of a column — and soon found himself on the receiving end of the most-painful-to-watch take-down since Jon Stewart humiliated Tucker Carlson. I almost found myself feeling sorry for poor Jonah.
Almost — but not quite …
