McCain acknowledges that the Marine who shot the unarmed wounded Iraqi in a Fallujah mosque committed a war crime.
Well, isn’t that the logical conclusion? Why else be angry that the film is being aired? Either what that Marine did is OK or it isn’t. If it’s OK, why would you care that the footage is being broadcast?
I don’t think anyone in Serbia has had time to read the Politics of Destruction yet, but it appears I’m not the only one to see things that way. That’s encouraging.
Here’s some excerpts from an article in the Thursday, November 18 issue of a Belgrade daily, Nacional, headlined “Kostunica resurrecting Milosevic?!”:
…American Serbs are watching their political influence drastically wane due to anti-Serb statements by Serbian leaders… In a recent interview for AP, [foreign minister Vuk] Draskovic commented that ‘”Serbia is obviously and tragically returning to the era of Slobodan Milosevic.”
Draskovic clearly notified Washington that [PM] Kostunica and [his party] DSS should be permanently removed from power, claiming Kostunica has ties to Milosevic.
“Draskovic is spreading fear in Washington that Kostunica will lead Serbia back into ethnic conflict…” says a reputable Washington analyst.
[Nota bene: Wasn’t me; I’m not reputable.]
Draskovic’s comments have forced even Serb partisans in Washington to stop and think whether he knows something they don’t.
[…]
“Draskovic is creating an atmosphere in which it’s impossible for Washington to pay attention to Serbian interests. Once again, someone in the Serbian government is sabotaging the country’s national interest.”
[…]
Instead of firing Draskovic and offering evidence of his ‘foul play’ in cahoots with the DS [President Tadic’s Democratic Party], Kostunica actually gives credence to his specious attacks, defending local arrangements with Milosevic’s longtime associates.
“Unless Kostunica can control Draskovic and stop this anti-Serb propaganda by one of his own government ministers, Serbia should prepare for another period of isolation, and maybe even war,” says our source in Washington. Continue reading “Serbia Takes Notice”
Review of Arab media for Thursday, November 18:
For an idea of how revolting this scene was to Iraqis, see Riverbend.
Three Palestinians were killed by the Israeli Army last night in Gaza.
Oh, wait! They weren’t Palestinians! They were Egyptian policemen! Oops!
If you ever wondered what an Israeli apology looked like, now one actually exists:
Prime Minister Ariel Sharon telephoned Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak to express regret over the incident, which could derail the Egyptian foreign minister’s first visit to the Jewish state next week to discuss a planned Israeli pullout from Gaza.
Sharon promised a full investigation and to share findings with the Egyptians. Israeli military officials said soldiers had mistaken the Egyptian policemen for Palestinian militants and thought they were planting explosives against Israeli forces.
“From the bottom of our hearts, we are sorry,” Israeli Deputy Prime Minister Ehud Olmert told reporters.
In light of that example, it’s interesting to revisit some Gaza killings the Israelis weren’t sorry about, like British cameraman James Miller who was shot by an IDF sniper, American peace activist Rachel Corrie who was crushed by an IDF armored D9 military bulldozer, and British peace activist Tom Hurndall, shot by the IDF while trying to get Palestinian children to safety. None of these deaths were worthy of an Israeli apology. Oh, and all those dead Palestinians? They aren’t even sorry for shooting little girls and boys.
I e-mailed Glenn Reynolds my post on his pals at Little Green Footballs. Glenn’s response was, well, predictable yet puzzling:
Uh, who invoked McCarthyism, Glenn?
UPDATE: He really is illiterate. In response to this post, Reynolds writes:
http://www.antiwar.com/justin/j013103.html
Well, go ahead and read that link.
You’ll notice that the only reference to McCarthy in that (2-year-old piece by Justin, not me) is a quotation from … Glenn Reynolds. Great research, professor. If he had done anything more than half-assed, selective Googling, he’d find that we actually have a soft spot for old Tailgunner Joe. At any rate, McCarthyism was utterly irrelevant to any discussion of what I wrote.
Go “read” some more porn, Glenn – it’s easier to understand.
Scrolling down through the threads Tex linked to on FreeRepublic and Little Green Footballs, a thought I’ve had many times before recurred: liberals have ruined the language. By throwing the words “Nazi” and “fascist” around all these years with reckless abandon, they devalued a portion of our political vocabulary that is desperately needed now. Thanks, liberals, for every time you used the N- or F-word to describe welfare reform, opposition to affirmative action, laissez-faire economics, or the slightest insensitivity. Cos’ now, we’re looking the real thing right in the face, and the appropriate terms have been sapped of all urgency.
Think I’m exaggerating? Some FreeRepublicans on Kevin Sites, the journalist who filmed the execution of the wounded Iraqi:
*No. They are traitors and should be hung.
*OK, you’re a Marine searching enemy bodies in a mosque. One of the bodies is starting to move and there is a reporter filming in the room. You only have two rounds left.
Quick! What do you do!
Shoot the reporter twice….
*It would be fitting to see him become the next “Salman Rushdie”.
*72 Virgins to you mother fucker!
You media f*cks who want to burn those Marines are not worth the sweat off my……just go fuck yourself!
*Would it be a threat to suggest that mister sites be left in the next Mosque with a billet [sic] in his head?
*[Beneath a photo of Sites] Kevin Sites – – Next Friendly-Fire Victim
Go read the thread if you think I’m cherrypicking. Nary a word of dissent – except perhaps a couple of posts that have been removed by the administrator.
And from Charles Johnson’s Little Green Footballs (blogrolled by Glenn “Crushing of Dissent” Reynolds):
*I just thought, there are very many Marines in California once Kevin Sites returns home.
Just a thought.
*The Marine in this situation deserves a Congressional Medal of Honor.
*Note to Marines: save at least one round for embedded terrorist sympathizers.
*”Oops, sorry, I was aiming at the rat behind your head and about to eat at your eyeballs.
Damn, I wish I had trained harder during shooting practice. Third time this week I’ve missed a friggin’ rat.”
*If I were in a Marine squad, the first thing I would do is make sure the embedded “reporter” and “cameraman” somehow got “lost”. Failing that I’d make sure that the camera was damaged by “enemy” fire.
*May be this smug elitist “blue stater”, POS, will catch a live grenade….to save the life of a soldier, of course….:).
And so on. Time to call a spade a spade.
