Apparently a Spanish official has released a transcript of a private talk between Dubya and Jose Maria Aznar of Spain in early 2003.
The gist of the conversation is that Dubya is going to invade regardless of what the world thinks, and is dead set on the “fact” that Saddam is an immediate threat to the US.
He also believed that the takeover would happen without widespread destruction.
Even with the Spanish prime minister pleading for patience and for letting diplomacy handle Iraq, the decider would not accept any else’s advice.
There is a crude Google translation of the transcript in the article
Mr. Bush spoke to deadening silence at the UN yesterday, calling for action in every corner of the world. It is the opinion of Mr. Bush that the UN itself needs to
Every civilized nation also has a responsibility to stand up for the people suffering under dictatorship,� the president said. “In Belarus, North Korea, Syria and Iran, brutal regimes deny their people the fundamental rights enshrined in the Universal Declaration� of the United Nations.
He forgot Myanmar (Burma). So now we call on the UN to remove everyone that disagrees with us. Can he please just shut up, I really doubt calling for the international overthrow of every dictator in the world is really going to help our cause. Remember the last time we asked for that kind of help, we’re still there, almost alone.
Now I know this is unrelated but Mike McConnell told the Senate Judiciary Committee today that Al-Qaeda can use the European visa waiver to sneak people into the US undetected. If there is another attack I pity whatever country has nothing to do with it, because they are going to be in trouble.
So everyone and their dog is ranting about Ahmadinejad’s visit to New York, so why should I be different.
Why is this causing so much friction. I know about the supposed links between Iran and the Iraq insurgency, I know about them developing nuclear technology, and I know how evil they are supposed to be.
My big thing is that we are being told all this by the same administration and media outlets that told us about how evil Iraq was, how they were developing nuclear technology and their link to Al-Qaeda.
Shouldn’t we embrace something like this, the opportunity for America to show their strength and tolerance? For America to listen to the view of someone we are being told is our enemy?
Robert McNamara wrote “In Retrospect” (basis for the movie Fog of War) and I think these 4 of his 11 points have a lot to say about this situation:
1. We misjudged then — and we have since — the geopolitical intentions of our adversaries . . . and we exaggerated the dangers to the United States of their actions.
2. We viewed the people and leaders of South Vietnam in terms of our own experience. . . . We totally misjudged the political forces within the country.
3. We underestimated the power of nationalism to motivate a people to fight and die for their beliefs and values.
4. Our judgments of friend and foe alike reflected our profound ignorance of the history, culture, and politics of the people in the area, and the personalities and habits of their leaders.
In my view we should listen to Mr. Ahmadinejad as we can only stand to better understand the man, the culture and the society he presides over.
Here is a clip of Garofalo bringing up some good points on Real-Time with Bill Maher. Rants on Blackwater, Iraq, Bush, Halliburtan, etc. Even Salmon Rushdie (of Satanic Verses Fame) chimes in. Why doen’t we hear more people speaking like this in the mainstream media?
This girl really went off the deep end. Seriously, Athiests are not the problem, and in my never so humble opinion, Athiests are traditionally more accepting than those with devout religions conviction. I’ve never seen an Athiests go door to door trying to convert people, I’ve never heard of an Atheist blowing themselves up.
My Rebuttal :
First off nutbag, “In God We Trust” was added to the currency in around 1837, it is not in the Constitution, it is not in the Declaration so it is not what this country was founded on. The country was founded with the consideration that all people should be able to worship in any way they saw fit, which includes the “non-believers”. You cannot push your views on another person, which is why Prayer should not be in schools. What would you say if we instituted Prayer in schools and forced everyone to Pray to Jesus, Muhammad, Budda, Flying Spaghetti Monster, Krishna, L. Ron Hubbard and whatever else you can think of? Would that be better? Or is it better to have you do that in the privacy of your own home, church, mosque, synagogue? How can practicing nothing be evil? And how the hell does being an Atheist have anything to do with Crime…even without the bible most people know right from wrong, and what is acceptable behavior. The 10 commandments, I consider to be human truths rather than religious truths. These are things that are engrained into the basic makeup of people, and that is why those themes are carried throughout most major religions.
You really need to get off your horse and realize that not everyone (thank God) thinks the way you do.
People need to get over themselves, just because someone attempts to show you another point of view DOES NOT MEAN they are insulting your beliefs. One of the best things about America is the fact that EVERYONE can have an opinion, and those opinions differ, and those opinions can co-exist.
I bring this up since a Community College professor is saying he was fired for saying that people should not take the bible as literal truth.
One note to those that DO take the bible as literal truth, unless you have read the original texts (dead sea scrolls, etc) in the original language (Aramaic) you cannot take it as literal truth. It has been recited, edited, condensed, translated, reworked hundreds of times over the centuries. I’m thinking people’s own perceptions, notions, and views have worked their way into the text. It is amazing how ones own opinions can affect the translation. That and you have to read ALL the books, not just the ones that have been canonized, there is a lot more out there that may or may not have just as much meaning.
“US Aims to lure insurgents with Bait”, basically the Washington Post is reporting that US snipers are leaving “interesting” items laying around (det corn, ammo, etc) and then killing anyone that picks it up.
Does this strike anyone else as being particularly nuts? Who wouldn’t pick it up? I doubt they are whacking just insurgents, but then again who really knows who is an insurgent and who isn’t. Maybe they should leave uniforms laying around, and just shoot whoever puts it on. That may make things a little clearer.
More doubletalk out of Mr. Bush today. It seems that the decider has decided that the US still does not need to participate in the global warming talks at the UN Monday. It seems that Mr. Bush thinks that every country should make their own decisions and should not be beholden to an international standard.
Unfortunately Mr. Bush refuses to do either. Although he does not need to participate in the talks, he has made no move toward limiting emissions in the US on his own.
As anyone that knows me will tell you, I’m not the biggest Bill-o fan (or Rush for that matter). I found this video on youtube and it just makes me chuckle. The guy will string togather whatever unrelated facts he can find, all to support an ignorant opinion.
I’m just glad that his ratings are falling and RadioFactor is geting canned! (Thank You Keith)
I’m not going to say I agree with Moveon.org’s tactics, message or ideology ALL of the time. Truth be told I once campaigned for Kerry under the Moveon.org flag. So they ran an add blasting Petraeus, it isn’t so much an insult to him as a slam on the administration. The purpose of the ad was to point out that Petraeus was more of a puppet than we were lead to believe. The whole “Betray-us” moniker was from the TROOPS, it isn’t a Moveon invention.
The fact that there had to be a vote in the Senate to see “Do you support General Petraeus” is absolutely ludicrous. I’m tending to be of the opinion that it was more of a “smoking out” of those afraid or beholden to Moveon.
Get over yourselves, and get something done. There are far to many things to worry about than a Moveon.org ad. Personally I’m more worried about the strength of the Loonie vs the Dollar than I am about the big bad monster than is Moveon.
Props to Moveon for at least getting some discussion started, sometimes you need to throw some gasoline on the fire to get things cooking.
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