'TBH Politoons'
Baron Dave Romm
Saddam Hussein as Manuel Noriega
By Baron Dave Romm
If, as is now claimed, we invaded Iraq to oust Saddam Hussein, the Bush administration certainly didn't plan very well for his eventual capture. On July 18, more than seven months later, Saddam Hussein is finally getting charged with a crime. Could it be that the Bushies really didn't have anything on him and had to scramble to assemble a legal charge? Here is a column from just before the invasion in Feb. 2003, slightly updated. Not all the links work as well, though I've replaced some that have mysteriously gone away. Note also how the entire Iraq War has been a distraction from the failed Afghan War.
Adolph Hitler is the epitome of evil, and it's become standard to invoke the Nazis whenever you rhetorically need an absolute position. (Interestingly, a lot of the rabid right used to invoke Stalin and Communism, but they seem to be letting that slide...) Around the invasion of Iraq, the person being compared to Hitler wass Saddam Hussein. Saddam is certainly a bad guy, but is this a fair comparison?
Hitler and Saddam similarities: Both are ruthless dictators who murder their own people for political and monetary gain. Both hate the US, Jews (or anyone not of their own religion), and have territorial ambitions. Both were helped by the Bush family; Hitler by W's great grand dad George Herbert Walker and grand dad Prescott Bush, Saddam by the Reagan/Bush administration and Dick Cheney's Haliburton.
Hitler and Saddam dissimilarities: Hitler, like Osama bin Laden (or George W. Bush...), was a religious fanatic who felt his calling was from God, and regularly invoked religion to win support and bash enemies. Saddam makes appeals to Islam, but is not terribly religious and is considered an "infidel" by bin Laden (8th paragraph from bottom). Hitler rose to power in a large nation on a wave of hate after WWI and, for better or worse, won elections and his Nazi party took control through the manipulation of a democratic process. Saddam rose to power when the head of the ruling Baath Party resigned, and he had several members of his fellow Ruling Command Council executed for treason. Hitler had a growing army and the support (or toleration) of most of his people. Saddam has a shrinking, dispirited army and still needs to suppress huge groups of people such as the Kurds or the Shi'ites. Hitler went out of his way to break the Versaille Treaty and rebuild the German military machine. Saddam is complying, reluctantly, with the inspectors and his country regularly gets bombed and planes shot down over the No Fly Zone. Hitler rose to power in 1933 and committed suicide in 1945; a bare 12 years as head of state, half while he was at war with much of the world. Saddam rose to power in 1963 and became dictator in 1979 and is still firmly ensconsed nearly 25 years later, with a few regional wars to his name. Hitler was mad enough to declare war on the US. Saddam blusters a lot hasn't been crazy enough to initiate a world war.
Saddam Hussein is a ruthless dictator and the world -- and Iraq -- is be better off without him. But he is not Hitler, and doesn't have world-conquering ambitions and is hated by the terrorists behind 9/11. Bush and his handlers were lying then and are lying now. They are covering their own asses to distract a frightened US from the miserable failure of the oily Bush administration in the economy and the War on Terror so their extremist agenda doesn't make the front page.
Meanwhile...
Noriega and Saddam similarities: Noriega was a ruthless dictator who came to power and held on to it with the direct aid and support of the Reagan/Bush administration, a graduate of the School of the Americas and on the CIA payroll while Poppy Bush was head of the CIA because he was not a commie and therefore better than the commies around him. Saddam held on to power with the direct aid of the Reagan/Bush administration, and was supplied chemical weapons by the US, because he was not Khomeini and therefore better than Iran. (There is a lot of evidence that the conservative news media isn't paying attention to, but you can find one book about the CIA's support of dictators here). Our invasion of Panama was a disaster, resulting in many civilian deaths and the regime that replaced Noriega was even worse than Noriega. Saddam is a ruthless dictator who came to power in the Baath coup of 1963, funded by the CIA claim the Muslims. Our invasion of Iraq during the Gulf War kicked them out of Kuwait but left Saddam in power and the Iraqi people suffering worse. The Gulf War's civilian deaths are given not mentioned much, much like we've ignored the friendly fire US casualties (this well-researched Canadian article on friendly fire mentions that "In the Persian Gulf War, 35 of the 146 combat deaths among U.S. soldiers have been blamed on friendly fire").
And the mere fact that we're talking about Saddam Hussein as if he were a threat to the US -- the only argument that the right uses is "Are you sure he isn't a threat? Are you sure?" as if the need to prove a negative is the only way to stave off an invasion -- is a feint. The oily Bush administration has lost the War on Terror and they can't admit it. Osama bin Laden has won, and the only thing the mightiest nation on earth can do is threaten old enemies that had nothing to do with 9/11.
Americans should stop the religious fanatic with weapons of mass distruction who is threatening war and thumbing his nose at the rest of the world while suppressing his own people. It's too bad that we went after Saddam Hussein instead of the major threats. The bombings in London and the continuing nightmare in Iraq show just how wrong Bush is about terrorism, and Karl Rove outing of a CIA agent shows their contempt for the rule of law here in America. At this point, we don't know whether Rove or Hussein will be convicted first, but both are threats to the US and only one is currently locked up.
Baron Dave Romm is a conceptual artist and a noble of Ladonia with a radio show, a very weird CD collection and an ever growing list of political links. Dave Romm reviews things at random for obscure web sites. You can read all his music recommendations from Bartcop-E , and you can hear the last two Shockwave broadcasts in Real Audio (scroll down to Shockwave). Thanks to everyone who has sent me music to play on the air.
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Recommended Reading
from Bruce
Monica Mehta: The Myth of Marriage (AlterNet)
A radical new book debunks the concept of marriage as a time-honored institution, and argues that we need to loosen up about it.
Bill Penrose: From Eco-Chumps to Champs (Grist Magazine. Posted on Alternet)
With even Doritos toting a 'natural' label, are we suckers for anything green -- or are we really making a difference?
Bill O'Reilly's Videogate (perrspectives.com)
Over the years, Fox's Bill O'Reilly has accumulated an impressive record of distortions, lies, and even falafel lust.
ROGER EBERT: The Island (3 Stars)
"The Island" runs 136 minutes, but that's not long for a double feature. The first half of Michael Bay's new film is a spare, creepy science fiction parable, and then it shifts into a high-tech action picture.
Purple Gene Reviews
Beenie Man at the Shattuck Down Low
Selected Readings
from that Mad Cat, JD
In The Chaos Household
Last Night
The humidity has returned. Boo. Hiss.
Have seen 2 ads for 'The Aristocrats', both late at night & on NBC.
Radar Online provides this very detailed breakdown of the movie - The Aristocrats: Blow by Blow
Tomorrow the E-page will celebrate it's 4th birthday.
Wins Critics Award
'Desperate Housewives'
Hit newcomers "Desperate Housewives" and "Lost" won top honors from the Television Critics Association.
The dark suburban satire "Desperate Housewives" was named program of the year Saturday, and "Lost," about plane crash survivors marooned on a mysterious island, was honored as outstanding new program and for outstanding achievement in drama.
Both air on ABC, which also claimed an award for "Nightline." The news program received the Heritage Award, which goes to a long-running show that's had "a lasting cultural or social impact," according to the association.
Comedian-actor Bob Newhart received the 2005 award for career achievement.
For the rest, 'Desperate Housewives'
Some Vets Condemn Site
'Wedding Crashers'
Some military veterans and law enforcement officials are angry about a Web site promoting Owen Wilson and Vince Vaughn's comedy "Wedding Crashers."
To win the affections of attractive bridesmaids in the movie, two fun-loving partiers pretend to be Purple Heart recipients.
New Line Cinema's movie Web site includes a fake, paper Purple Heart to cut out, with the spoof: "Carrying a Purple Heart in your jacket guarantees you attention, admiration and plenty of free booze."
"I challenge the producer of that movie to go to Walter Reed Hospital and walk through the ward and see if he still wants to print out a fake Purple Heart," said Thomas Cottone, Jr., a special agent with the FBI who enforces a federal law that prohibits wearing, manufacturing, buying, selling or trading a Medal of Honor.
'Wedding Crashers'
Where was this guy during the Republican convention & the 'Purple Heart Band-Aid' "prank"?
Just for Laughs Comedy Festival
Lewis Black
For someone who makes his living ranting, Lewis Black is pretty pleased with his blood pressure. Popping his comic veins does him a world of good. "I recommend it for all people with high blood pressure," Black said in an interview at the Just for Laughs comedy festival, which wrapped up Sunday.
There's a lot to test it. Stupidity, politics, the war in Iraq.
"We've taken a country that was completely dominated by a psychotic, we've taken away the psychotic and made it more psychotic," said Black, who hosted the World Stupidity Awards at the festival and performed in a gala show.
Lewis Black
Official Lewis Black website
Lewis Black - The Less than Official Website
Model Backs Polanski's Version of Events
Beatte Telle
The model at the center of Roman Polanski's successful libel suit against Vanity Fair says the filmmaker never tried to seduce her.
Polanski on Friday won his suit over an article that accused him of propositioning the model in a New York restaurant on the way to the funeral of his wife, Sharon Tate, who was killed by followers of Charles Manson in 1969.
Norwegian model Beatte Telle, the woman Polanski was alleged to have propositioned, didn't testify in the libel case.
"He never said that he would 'make me another Sharon Tate' or that he would make me a star. He never spoke to me at all," Telle told the newspaper.
Beatte Telle
Sore Over 'Sopranos' Episode
Boonton, NJ
Tony Soprano may find himself an unwelcome guest here. The hit HBO series "The Sopranos" wants to film an episode in this town, but some residents are still sore over a previous episode that depicted a character getting killed in "Boonton," although the episode was not actually filmed there.
Show producers in 2001 asked the town for permission to shoot on location, but were turned down because officials said they hadn't been given enough time to consider the request.
This time, Boonton has more than a month to decide, but officials are worried about potential traffic problems, the effect on local businesses and the series' past depiction of the town.
Boonton, NJ
Broadway Bound
Huey Lewis
Huey Lewis is coming to Broadway, starring as rapscallion lawyer Billy Flynn in the long-running revival of "Chicago."
Lewis, lead vocalist and founding member of Huey Lewis and the News, starts performances in the Kander-and-Ebb musical on Nov. 1.
Brooke Shields joins "Chicago" as Roxie Hart on Sept. 9, appearing in the show through Oct. 30.
Huey Lewis
Fighting 'Cultural Imperialism'
Telesur
Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez launched a new Latin American television channel on Sunday to fight what his government called "cultural imperialism" from U.S. and European media.
Telesur (Telesouth), a Spanish-language station formed by the governments of Venezuela, Argentina, Cuba and Uruguay, began transmissions with round-table commentary from the station's officials and an advisory board of international left-wing intellectuals and celebrities.
The Venezuelan-financed venture aims to provide a Latin American perspective on events, promote cultural diversity, and counter what its creators call the "hegemony" of international and local commercial networks in their coverage of the region.
Telesur advisory board members attending the broadcast included British left-wing intellectual Tariq Ali, Le Monde Diplomatique editor Ignacio Ramonet, and U.S. film star Danny Glover.
Telesur
Hong Kong to Erect Statue
Bruce Lee
Hong Kong will mark kung-fu movie legend Bruce Lee's 65th birthday in November with a bronze statue, the Bruce Lee Club said Saturday.
Wong Yiu-keung, chairman of the Hong Kong fan club, said it will be the first statue of Bruce Lee in a public place in the world.
The Bruce Lee Club in Hong Kong has long wanted a Bruce Lee museum, but shortage of funding and the lack of available venues have been obstacles. The statue will cost about $154,460, Wong said.
Bruce Lee
Austria's President Opens Salzburg Fest
Heinz Fischer
Austrian President Heinz Fischer warned against the dangers of European values being "bombed away" on Sunday at the opening ceremonies of the Salzburg Festival, the world-famous musical and drama event dedicated to art as a universal value.
Touching on the terror attacks over the last few weeks in London and Egypt, Fischer said that a Europe recovering from an earlier horror - the Nazi regime of Adolf Hitler - was ill prepared for the new threat that targets innocents everywhere.
The Salzburg Festival is often called the premiere event of its kind in the world, presenting more than a month of opera, drama and orchestral music against the breathtaking backdrop of the city of medieval and baroque architectural masterpieces.
Heinz Fischer
The Gonzales-Card Leak (was: Rove-Plame Leak)
Steven G. Brant
What did White House Chief of Staff Andrew Card learn from Alberto Gonzales and when did he learn it...and what did he do with that knowledge? This "whole new can of worms" (to quote CBS News' Bob Schieffer, on this morning's Face The Nation is to me the breaking news question of the day. Why? Because on today's Face The Nation, Alberto Gonzales admitted that he called Andrew Card right after he was notified that the Justice Department had opened its investigation of the Plame leak...even though he formally notified The White House staff 12 hours later.
On Face The Nation, Gonzales said the Justice Department contacted him at 8pm and, after responding by saying something to the effect that everyone had gone home for the night, Gonzales asked if it would be okay if he waited until 8am the next day to notify The White House Staff to "preserve all records" etc. Gonzales got permission to do so, but then - again this is Gonzales speaking on Face The Nation - he said he contacted Andrew Card to informally tell him what had happened.
I wish you could have seen Bob Schieffer's face as he came back from commercial break to his next guest, Senator Joe Biden, who he then took up this issue with. Bob Schieffer said to Joe Biden "You know, everyone in The White House has these BlackBerrys. And you have to wonder what sort of message Andrew Card emailed at 8pm to the other people in The White House...what sort of documents could have been shredded in those 12 hours." There was little Joe Biden needed to add to what Bob Schieffer said. But Watergate - and the famous 18 1/2 minute gap on the audio recording (remember Nixon's secretary, Rosemary Woods posing for a picture in which she tried to demonstrate how she could have accidentally erased those 18 1/2 minutes from the tape?) - suddenly became the "pink elephant" in the room. You could see it on Schieffer and Biden's faces.
For the rest, Steven G. Brant: The Gonzales-Card Leak (was: Rove-Plame Leak)
Video at Crooks and Liars
In Memory
Edward Bunker
Edward Bunker, an ex-con who learned to write in prison before achieving literary fame as a crime novelist, has died. He was 71.
In 1973, while still in prison, he made his literary debut with "No Beast So Fierce," a novel about a paroled thief who has trouble re-entering society. Author James Ellroy called the novel "quite simply one of the great crime novels of the past 30 years; perhaps the best novel of the Los Angeles underworld ever written."
It was made into the 1978 movie "Straight Time" starring Dustin Hoffman.
Bunker co-wrote the script and played a minor role as a criminal who helps Hoffman plan a heist. Other big-screen credits include 1985's"Runaway Train," an action drama about two escaped convicts played by Jon Voight and Eric Roberts.
As an actor, Bunker had nearly two dozen roles, most notably as Mr. Blue in Quentin Tarantino's 1992 violent drama "Reservoir Dogs." More recently, he played a convict in the remake of "The Longest Yard."
Edward Bunker
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