BBA
The Freeway Blogger continues to do excellent work, day in and out to raise public
awareness in California of Bush administration atrocities. If
you've never been to freewayblogger.com, do yourself a
favor and check out some of the fabulous past
work.
According
to CBS news, on 9/11 the building of the case for war began:
At 9:53 a.m., just 15
minutes after the hijacked plane had hit
the Pentagon, and while Rumsfeld was still outside
helping with the injured, the National Security
Agency, which monitors communications worldwide,
intercepted
a phone call from one of Osama bin
Laden's operatives in Afghanistan to a phone number
in the former Soviet Republic of
Georgia.
The caller said he had "heard good news" and that another target was still to
come; an indication he knew another
airliner, the
one that eventually crashed in Pennsylvania, was at
that very moment zeroing in on Washington. It was 12:05 p.m. when
the director of Central Intelligence told Rumsfeld about the
intercepted
conversation.
Rumsfeld felt it
was "vague," that it "might not mean something," and that there was "no good basis for hanging hat." In other
words, the evidence was not clear-cut enough to
justify military action against bin Laden.
But later that afternoon,
the CIA reported the passenger manifests for
the hijacked airliners showed three of the
hijackers
were suspected al Qaeda
operatives. "One guy is associate of Cole bomber," the notes say, a reference to the October
2000 suicide boat attack on the USS Cole in Yemen,
which had also been the work of bin Laden.
With the intelligence all
pointing toward bin Laden, Rumsfeld ordered
the military to begin working on strike plans. And
at 2:40 p.m., the notes quote Rumsfeld as saying he
wanted "best info fast. Judge whether good enough
hit S.H."
meaning Saddam Hussein "at same time. Not only UBL" the initials used to identify
Osama bin Laden.
Now, nearly one year
later, there is still very little evidence Iraq
was involved in the Sept. 11 attacks. But if these
notes are accurate, that didn't matter to
Rumsfeld.
"Go massive,"the notes quote him as saying. "Sweep it all up. Things related and not."
I think these things might be clues to the
truth, and how and when the case for war was built.
And what it was built on, but, no -- nobody got a blowjob -- or did
they?
While you're visiting the Poor Man, read this too. A couple of times. Then print it out and pass it around.
This is a very significant
post - the realization that words can actually hurt the right wing is
an insight I have not seen before.
On the whole, progressives try to deal with "reality", and pride
ourselves on making a conscious effort not to be tricked by orwellian
language. As a result, perhaps, we have not understood the crucial
importance of this same orwellian language to the right wing. We have
attacked what we think is their "reality" problem, but the right wing
isn't listening because we're not dealing directly with the pseudonyms
and talking points through which they can quell any vestige of
uneasiness about what they are actually doing.
Offensive, unjustified and unprovoked war becomes "the Bush doctrine".
Dissing Arafat becomes "they hate our freedom"
Bugging the security council becomes "reforming the UN"
Intolerant creationist bible worship becomes "intelligent design".
Threatening judges and picketing hospitals becomes "culture of life".
Demonizing gay people becomes "protecting the sancity of marriage."
In fact, by instantly transforming a discussion of the way the right
way transforms discussions of grotesque, systematic acts of torture
into a discussion of the words like Gulags used to describe that torture, Bush and the Right
pulled off quite a nifty post-modern hat-trick that only reinforces The
Poor Man's point.
People are being BEATEN TO DEATH in our name,
by our government, on a scale and with a brazenness that boggles the
mind.That is THE discussion. Those are the words we should be
repeating PERIOD. That question of the status of the detainees has to be taken to what
the conventions call a competent tribunal to determine whether or not
they are POW's or instead, as we claim, enemy combatants. And, in fact,
no such competent tribunal has ever ruled on these detainees' status. Not a point missed or scum left unscathed.
Maybe your best, and thats saying something. Damn, would I like to hear
this for the opening statement at the upcoming Hague trials. I think
Abu Ghraib is the worst of all because they knew damn well they weren't
terrorists in Iraq. The invasion and occupation of Iraq never did and
still doesn't have anything to do with the war on terror. To quote Mark
Twain "We should remove the Stars and Stripes and put up the Skull and
Crossbones".
UPDATE: Driftglass has more details about "willful blindness" and the mind-fuck done on the GOP/Fundie stooge mindset.
Most of these people are not Nazis, but they are the perfect raw
material for our own, homegrown American Rightwing Demagogues;
obedient, stupid, bigoted and easily frightened.
And because
everything - their very souls - rest on the foundation of the
infallibility of Dear Leader, they'll happily kill anyone in any
numbers who might force them to face up to the fact that Dear Leader is
a duplicitous, lying sleazebag who has played on their fear and
ignorance and patriotism to turn them out like $2 crack whores.
Well, the Bush-Nazi comparisons are deja-done, so of course now we have to move on. Seen on the MARC
commuter train (between Baltimore and DC) today, this picture pretty
much sums up the new "National Security:
That is so Soviet as to be erie.
I swear they ripped off a Soviet
poster down to the color of the people's shirts. If memory serves
correct, it was a Olympics poster even.
Wonder if it's real or guerrilla art. If it's real, I still wonder if maybe the designer is pulling a fast on on his employers.
Although this style is often associated with 1930s communism. It was
also very popular in the U.S. Look at much of the WPA era art work at
your local historic library or post office. It's collectivist, sure.
But there was a time in America where that was considered a good thing
(before we all ran off to our voucher-funded schools and gated
communities...)
Perhaps the artist was working within the bounds of the assignment to
say, sotto voce, "Holy crap, are we in a police state now or what?"
Ha ha, that's great, I love it. Wait for the "I heart The Patriot Act" posters coming soon.
But while the tone might well be Stalinist/Maoist/Fascist (oh hell,
might as well just say totalitarian), the actual art is Deco, not
socialist realism.
Granted the style of that poster isn't exactly "Socialist Realism,"
it's the combination of the vaguely-socialist realism style and the
"Watch, Ride, Report!" motto that jars.
Reporting left-behind parcels, OK. Reporting other passengers who
are behaving oddly, I'm not so keen on. Define "behaving oddly." Thanks
to the munificence of our social services, there are a *lot* of
clinically crazy people on the streets, and mass transit is a perfect
place to involuntarily meet them. I hate to think of some poor schizo,
who already has problems with mysterious voices and paranoia, getting
hauled in on a security sweep.
That is so Soviet as to be erie. 
