I Love the Smell of Vindication in the Morning

Lord knows, I tried to warn you: Andrew Sullivan is no peacenik. In the last 24 hours of his hysterical Iran!revolution!fascism!democracy!whiskey!sexy! typeathon, Sullivan has relapsed and rediscovered all his old drinking buddies from the Saddam!liberation!fascism!democracy!whiskey!sexy! days: Michael Ledeen, Glenn Reynolds, Michael Totten, Christopher Hitchens… What, no Laurie Mylroie yet?

Sure, sure, he also links to a Pat Buchanan piece advocating nonintervention, saying he agrees “for now,” but that’s typical of Sullivan’s fluttering, erratic style of punditry, which never pauses long enough to consider its own contradictions. But read his blog for a few hours, and you’ll get the general thrust, whether Sullivan is aware of it or not in his green delirium: something must be done!

39 thoughts on “I Love the Smell of Vindication in the Morning”

  1. This obsession with election in Iran has reached a new low in the theater of the absurd ,even the ABC program the View was debating it this morning.Talk about what a bunch of experts such as Whoopi Goldberg ,Joy Behar,Elisabeth Hasselbeck and Sherri Shepherd!

  2. The United States of America Cares About Free and Fair Elections!

    of T.U.S.A.C.A.F.F.E.

    TUSACAFFE FOREVER!!!!

  3. heres something sort of interesting

    http://www.newsmax.com/timmerman/Iran_elections_Hezbollah/2009/06/03/221083.html

    this is a neocon article about the election. It talks about mousavis hardly reformist backgruond but what really got my attention was at the end. this is from late may and the crowd at a mousavi rally is chanting “death to the dictator” and so forth.

    maybe we should have paid more attention to these rallies to begin with. is it possible that this reaction was PLANNED?

    2. Purple fuschia!

      Makes it easier for Moussavi supporters to accessorize.

  6. Bush Authorizes New Covert Action Against Iran: Bush Authorizes New Covert Action Against Iran The CIA has received secret presidential approval to mount a covert “black” operation to destabilize the Iranian government, current and former officials in the intelligence community tell the Blotter on ABCNews.com.

    Bush sanctions ‘black ops’ against Iran: Mr Bush has signed an official document endorsing CIA plans for a propaganda and disinformation campaign intended to destabilise, and eventually topple, the theocratic rule of the mullahs.

    Rice says Iran spying charges pervert rule of law: U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice accused Iran of perverting the rule of law by charging three Iranian-Americans with spying and denied they were involved in espionage.

    Secret war report led to spy charges for Roxana: Lawyer reveals that a trip to Israel in 2006 helped to incriminate journalist

    Journalist Copied Iranian Report on U.S. and Iraq: Her attorney revealed that the American-born journalist had been convicted of spying for the United States in part because she had a copy of a confidential Iranian report on the U.S.-led war in Iraq.

    Trojan Horse: The National Endowment for Democracy: How many Americans could identify the National Endowment for Democracy? An organization which often does exactly the opposite of what its name implies. The NED was set up in the early 1980s under President Reagan in the wake of all the negative revelations about the CIA in the second half of the 1970s.

    1. I find this tidbit fascinating:

      Pakistan’s former military chief, General Mirza Aslam Beig, said on Pashto Radio on Monday, June 15, that undisputed intelligence proves the U.S. interfered in the Iranian election. “The documents prove that the CIA spent 400 million dollars inside Iran to prop up a colorful but hollow revolution following the election.”

      More info on this undisputed intelligence plox.

    1. And Now! Heeeeeeres Jani!
      That guy is harder to get rid of than Cheney. Please take your pension and go away.

  9. My guess would be that we did in fact try to alter the election in favor of Mir-Hossein Mousavi. However, I doubt that the intention was to actually get him elected but to further destabilize the country, leaving Mahmoud Ahmadinejad in power so we can have our “Hitler”. This way we have our cake and eat it too. Not that I much care one way or the other, I fail to see how this could be any of my business (outside of my responsibility to fight against intervention).

    It’s just another example of how we love to interfere. The MSM propoganda BS shovelers are of course in love with this and what could that goal be? Intervention and more intervention and on and on, setting us up for more sanctions and possibly war. It’s yet another farce for the sheeple.

    One thing is for sure, this continued US interest is not going to be good for the people of Iran.

    Peace!

    1. Yes, having our cake and eating it too. The Right gets its Hitler, and the Left gets to share Freedom Tweets with the Iranian Che Guevara. Everyone’s a winner, unless you’re an Iranian.

      1. Everyone’s a winner, unless you’re an Iranian.

        Or a liberty-loving American taxpayer.

  13. Today should be reverse St. Patrick’s day. Pinch anyone whose wearing green! Who came up with using the color green?

    The Neocons want regime change. A stretched out military, deep deficit spending and they want Obama to go on another adventure. Obama seems to be trying to stay out of it which is what I hope he will do.

  14. So we now are abandoning the JFK, Abraham Lincoln view of the world and empowering people and standing for democracy? Not me.

    1. Like Lincoln empowering the free black citizens, by enviting them to sit down for a little one on one?

      The purpose was to urge/entice these free black men to lead by example and deport themselves to Liberia (See Abraham Lincoln: Speeches and Writings, vol. 2, 1859-1865, pp. 353-357). Lincoln did not believe that a multi-racial society was either possible or desirable in America. “You and I are different races,” Lincoln told the free black men in 1862. “This physical difference,” he said, “is a great disadvantage to us both,” and “affords a reason at least why we should be separated . . . . It is better for us both, therefore, to be separate.” He then urged the men to leave America for Liberia.

      http://www.lewrockwell.com/blog/lewrw/archives/027607.html

      Peace!

  15. Good for you Toby! Spoken like a mind-numbed Fox-News american drunk on empire and the exceptionalism that mostly exists in his own mind..Never mind that JFK was killed by his own govt..Never mind that the “Civil” war was mostly about the right of secession and tariffs-not slavery. “democracy”. Indeed, how revolting and juvenile you are..Hitler was voted into power. Only a person poisoned by pride would value their vote more than the results-having someone in power who isn’t bought and owned by someone else. Someone who really cares about the long-term interests of HIS OWN country..In fact, that would be good advice for you: Mind your own damn business..

    1. What is this “democracy” I hear so much about. I thought we were supposed to be a Republic and that Democracy was bad because it is simply mob rule where 51% can tell the other 49% how to live. Oh wait I guess we are a Democracy now that I think about it. I guess we should forget about the rule of law and the Constitution that outdated junk that tried to put a stop to tyrany and mob rule.

      so I guess Toby is right, we SHOULD promote Democracy so they can have mob rule as well. I’m sure they will love it. Besides the US has brought nothing but joy and happiness with every intervetion right? (thats sarcasm in case you don’t get it Toby)

      Peace!

  17. Is someone going to argue that Grand Ayatollah Hossein Ali Montazeri was also in on the scam?

    I am strictly in favor of a non-interventionist policy in the Middle East, but some of you really want this to be a ‘fake revolution’ a little too badly.

  18. my best guess combining half read stuff from a ton of little articles and blogs:

    rasfanjani wanted to get back in power. he did this through support of the non ahmednejad candidates who in turned out were too nondescript to really offfer much of anythig ndifferent from ahmedenejad as they all still had to be acceptable to the regime. mousavi and the supreme leader have had a good relationship in the past and I am guessing rasfnajani felt this would be a guy who could get on the ballot. this is speculation don’t quote me.

    at some point I think mousavi and rasfanjani threw in the towel and went to a plan B or sorts which was ceding the big cities to the reformers and getting their votes, which still wouldn’t give them enough to win but would be enough to get them where they are now.

    I think the reformers were the wild card and Idon’t know that mousavi and co truly knew what they were getting into

  21. Mr Barganier, Show me ONE quote from Andrew Sullivan where he claims we should intervene! Almost every single hour Sullivan posts how he thinks Obama is doing the right thing by staying out of the election, yet you post this blatantly lying blog entry claiming Andrew is doing the opposite.

    Geez, people, why is it some of you see the US govt under every bush and tree? We are all aware of the US government’s meddling in the last century, but you guys treat them like they are an all powerful God who can control and see everything (which ironically is what the government WANTS you to think, they think it’s wonderful when you fear them having more power than they have, it’s like that South Park episode where Eric Cartman finally asks Bush if he did 9-11, and Bush admits that the real conspriacy is getting people to think that he did in fact do it to so they would think government was able to actually pull something off instead of blunder like it always does.

  22. “Right-wing Israeli interests are engaged in an all out Twitter attack with hopes of delegitimizing the Iranian election and causing political instability within Iran.

    Anyone using Twitter over the past few days knows that the topic of the Iranian election has been the most popular. Thousands of tweets and retweets alleging that the election was a fraud, calling for protests in Iran, and even urging followers hack various Iranian news websites (which they did successfully). The Twitter popularity caught the eye of various blogs such as Mashableand TechCrunch and even made its way to mainstream news media sites.

    Were these legitimate Iranian people or the works of a propaganda machine? I became curious and decided to investigate the origins of the information. In doing so, I narrowed it down to a handful of people who have accounted for 30,000 Iran related tweets in the past few days. Each of them had some striking similarities”

    Continued at…

    Proof: Israeli Effort to Destabilize Iran Via Twitter. UPDATES
    http://axisoflogic.com/artman/publish/printer_56061.shtml

  23. Well, well, well.

    The Jerusalem Post engages in a bit of retroactive alteration of its June 14th article, apparently in response to the piece “Proof: Israeli Effort to Destabilize Iran Via Twitter. UPDATES” by the website ChartingStocks.net

    The J-Post even penned an article rebutting the charges made by the site.

    But why the Jersualem Post would even bother to alter its article and write a response to the allegations made by ChartingStocks.net is a question that is the most interesting (and damning).

    “In response to our recent post, which traced the bulk of the #IranElection twitter spam back to an article in JPost rather than “Iranian Students”, the Jerusalem newspaper has removed the evidence by altering their June 14th article (luckily, we kept the screenshot). JPost has also written a response to our allegations.”

    “JPost Removes the Evidence and Issues a Response #IranElection”
    http://www.chartingstocks.net/2009/06/jpost-removes-the-evidence-and-issues-a-response-iranelection/

  24. In that context the Iranian protesters, arguably, really are traitors..Why? Because their country is truly threatened..and, by the way, we didn't "free" anybody in Iraq..we freed them fm having their own sovereign country. We freed them fm a country fee of depleted uranium..freed them their power grids and water purification plants..Freed them??!!

  25. good mornign everyone, here is my current worthless 2 cents

    when I see the iranian soccer team wearing green to show solidarity I’d say we have entered a new phase.

    my impression now is that the reformers, who were cynically used by mousavi and co to get votes/power have turned the tables on everyone mainly via TWitter. they have been having these rallies for years but they weren’t covered by the media and were thus, easy to put down.

    now unless the iranian governmetn wanted to look like absolute monsters, they have no choice but to let them go on which will lead to fundamental changes for the country.

    my hope is this “revolution” will be better managed than the ones in ukraine georgia and elsewhere where people risked life and limb protesting only to put incompetents in charge of a country who subsequently blow the whole thing.

    China I think might be a better sort of template: stable but significant change

  26. http://www.juancole.com/2009/06/iran-election-fraud-moaddel-on-ballen.html

    “In the June 15, 2009 issue of Washington Post, Ken Ballen and Patrick Doherty wrote that “The election results in Iran may reflect the will of the Iranian people. Many experts are claiming that the margin of victory of incumbent President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad was the result of fraud or manipulation, but our nationwide public opinion survey of Iranians three weeks before the vote showed Ahmadinejad leading by a more than 2 to 1 margin — greater than his actual apparent margin of victory in Friday’s election.”

    However, scrutiny of the data posted at Terror Free Tomorrow (www.terrorfreetomorrow.org) fails to support Ballen and Doherty’s interpretations. Their findings, from a telephone survey conducted four weeks before the election, are based on the responses of only 57.8% of the 1,731 people who were successfully contacted by telephone from outside of Iran. Among these, 34% said they would vote for Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, 14% for Mir Hussein Mousavi, 2% for Mehdi Karoubi, 1% for Mohsen Rezaie, and 27% did not know. (These figures add up only to 78% in the Ballen report.) In other words, of 1,731 people contacted, well over half either refused to participate (42.2%) or did not indicate a preferred candidate (15.6%) While we cannot guess at the political preferences of this nonresponding/ noncommitting group, we do know from these data that just 19.7% of all those contacted indicated they planned to vote for Ahmadinejad. This polling figure is very low for an incumbent – particularly for a self-described populist candidate – and cannot be responsibly interpreted as representing a clear harbinger of election victory.”

  27. Antiwar.com has this article linked to:

    http://atimes.com/atimes/Middle_East/KF16Ak02.html

    “The MSM sites” !. As Justin Raimondo himself would say: Ha, Ha, Ha!

    Frankly I did not read to the end of the article. The stench of hypocrisy was to much to bear. For example Pepe Scobar says that the ballot boxes were not even opened before the votes in favor of Ahmadinejad were circulated and announced on the the state TV. Actually, 95% of the boxes, over 40,000 boxes, hold the signatures of representatives of Mr. Mousavi confirming the validity of the vote inside the boxes. And there is the same number of signatures from the same people confirming the validity and robustness of the resealed boxes. Mr. Mousavi has not officially and publicly requested a vote recount or random examination of the boxes in the presence of his representatives or himself. He has just called publicly and repeatedly for annulment of the vote. No wonder. Well, actually I stopped reading after this:

    “Even a former Minister of Culture and Islamic Guidance, Ayatollah Mohajerani, went on the BBC Persian service to say the Supreme Leader was not infallible, and should be replaced in case of “dishonesty”.”

    Pepe Scobar is in such a rush to dethrone Ayatollah Khamenei that he just writes down the best he can the name he has heard, mistaking so amateurishly “Ata’ollah” for “”Ayatollah”. Mr. Mohajerani is not a member of the clergy. “Ata’ollah” is the first name of Mr. Mohajerani. It is just an ordinary name. So much for the roving bullshit.

    http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ataollah_Mohajerani

    The Western media, and naturally Pepe Scobar included, have made much of the supposed knowledge about the source of “hatred” and mistrust that the Iranians feel about the West. In particular they have an unwritten claim to some sort of scholarship on the coup that overthrew Dr. Mossadegh. They mention Dr. Mossadegh as if it washes them of any future mischief and immediately jump on the same CIA financed trucks that carried the prostitutes and thugs from the less reputable parts of old Tehran to the door of Dr. Mossadegh’s home.

    As once a dying father told his son: “I do not need a sermon. Just don’t shit on my grave”.

    http://original.antiwar.com/justin/2009/06/18/irans-green-revolution/

    However, this article by Justine Raimondo takes the cake. The “unofficial memo” that was circulated, and is linked to by Raimondo be way of a San Francisco Examiner article is a forgery. It is produced by the same people who have forged the Niger uranium documents, and the documents on the infamous laptop with which America and its “allies” are accusing Iran with nuclear weapons ambitions. One would have hoped that Raimondo, the great political detective would again take a step back, and look at it as is his usual habit. But no, he indulges in that forgery. According neocon forgeries are sometimes good, and sometimes not. It depends on which part of the equation they sit. From now on. The fact that they are produced by the same neocons, is of no consequence.
    I am sure that if Cheney gets to visit Iran again to follow up on his unofficial negotiations with Rafsanjani and friends, he may even find time to laud your site as a beacon of freedom too, right along the rest of MSM. He may even bring his daughter along. Well done, Raimondo. You are Mainstream now, too.

    In the Black and White world of Raimondo, outside America there exists only Israel and everything else, and inside America there is only neocons and nonneocons. In the nonCheney-esque (Ha, Ha, Ha), world of Raimondo, no nation has the right to think of its own interests. In that world, they are required by the purest of “Universal American Libertarian” oxymoron of an ideology to only guard and adjust their path with that of the interests and well being of the neocon battered “Fortress of Freedom”, America.

    So, Ladies and Gentlemen, will you please welcome Professor Justin Raimondo, the first Libertarian Internationalist. (Err, in your best French accent please!)

    (Cheney-esuqe, wasn’t that? Ha, Ha, Ha)

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