I’m sorry to say this, because Talk Left’s Jeralyn Merritt is a friend, and I genuinely like her—but her commentary on the AP version of a story alleging US troops assaulted Abu Musab al-Zarqawi after pulling him alive from the ruins of a bombed out Baqouba farmhouse makes it clear she’s lost her everloving mind:
Does an anonymous report mean a beating happened? No, but the AP is not the National Enquirer and it doens’t print bald accusations. Think about it. Pumped up soldiers on a fresh bombing scene realize they’ve captured the bronze alive (Osama being the gold and Saddam the silver)—what do you think they did, read him his Miranda rights or give him a few little jubilant stomps?
Killing Zarqawi and three women in the house with him was not an act of war. It was an act of retaliatory terrorism. By our government. And I don’t want it to be in my name. Even if he was, as we’re told, the devil incarnate. Violence begets violence. It’s time for the war and the killing to stop.
There is so much wrong here that I don’t know where to begin.
First, the AP just printed a “bald accusation” made by an anonymous source, so the suggestion that it should be shielded from suspicion for doing what it did because, well, it doesn’t do what it clearly did, is asking an awful lot. Second, Jeralyn’s idea of soldiers, it would seem, comes from one too many viewings of Platoon; as someone noted in the comments to my earlier post, it is far more likely that if this witness saw anything, it was a medic throwing a collar around Zarqawi’s neck and thumping on his chest to try to revive him.
After all, Jeralyn may think our soldiers are out there simply to “stomp” some Brown people, but these men and women are highly-trained professionals, and surely had they been able to revive Zarqawi and capture him, his intel value would have been rather high. Would they risk their careers, a court martial, and potential murder charges just to kick a guy who’d likely already been largely liquified by the force of the explosions and subsequent rubble shower? Richard Belzer probably thinks so; but then, Richard Belzer is one of the few working comedians who can make Margaret Cho seem sane and funny.
The fact is, I think Jeralyn’s post reveals a lot about certain progressives who pretend to support our troops but who, let’s face it, think of them as little more than rabid dogs with flak jackets and fancy night vision binoculars. It’s the worst kind of 60s cliche’, really—US soldiers as poorly-led, dope-smoking baby killers who march through foreign lands exterminating the brutes for “revenge”—which makes the suggestion that a carefully-planned airstrike on al Qaeda’s self-proclaimed leader in Iraq is NOT an act of war as predictable as it is ridiculous. In fact, what Jeralyn calls “retaliatory terrorism” led to 56 subsequent raids that many terrorism experts believe could spell the end of al Qaeda in Iraq.
And if it is true, as Jeralyn says, that violence begets violence, then perhaps the jihadists would do well to remember that before they go flying any more of our airplanes into our buildings. And Jeralyn herself would do well to remember that cycles of violence generally end when one side either surrenders or is beaten into the dust.
Of course, if she and John Kerry wish to get a delegation together to go discuss terms of peace agreement with al Qaeda, they’re more than welcome to give it a go. But I suggest they wear titanium collars around their necks while they do so.
Hmmmm.
What the Left believes of soldiers is that they’re uneducated dunces who enlist because they’re unable to handle any “real” jobs.
This also shows a complete ignorance of how the military works, and how technologically advanced the military is. It has been a fact of military careers that to advance in rank you must advance in education. And failing to advance in education will result in an “up or out” condition where you won’t be promoted and thus shown the door at some point fairly soon.
And this applies to enlisted soldiers as well as officers.
Her character wasn’t obvious when she said she’d take Jason Leopold’s word on faith?
Or just yesterday when her site read “So now we use information gained from torture to murder our target.”? Murder Zarqawi? She’s beneath contempt.
Yep, the first thing we do is give a victim that codes in our presence a hard thump to the chest. Sometimes that’s all that is required to restart the heart. In Zarqawi’s case i would have recommended about and 8 inch knive with a hard thrust streight through the heart. Hell, us medic’s need to have fun sometimes. At least we would then put a bandaid on the wound. It ain’t good to be a nice guy all the time. LMAO at whoever would write and print such rot. It sure shows how the left has fallen of the cliff streight into the pool of insanity. I guess it’s too late to stop them from contaminating the gene pool of the human race.
Please note, also, that the AP reporter chose to pass along this “witness” without it being corroborated.
This is a damaging accusation to make, and to write this without any attempt to verify it is unprofessional behavior on the part of The Associated Press.
“It’s time for the war and the killing to stop.”
Terrific idea Jeralyn! What do you think the chances are that OBL and his al Qaeda cronies will go along with it?
(In fact, her statement sounds like a temper tantrum.)
Let’s face it, OBL declared war on us, and al Qaeda doesn’t seem to slowing down their killing of innocents.
Remarkable how our enemy can play the media, and “progressives” whose brains are allegedly the size of a planet, like a cheap violin.
In addition, if you look at video of the “safe” house (for instance, CNN has a video on their homepage now, but I can’t get the link to work here, and this aerial photo from the Pentagon makes it extremely obvious) it was in a rural area, with nothing around it but palm trees. It is at least partially surrounded by a high stone wall in the CNN video, and was 8 km from the village of Baquba. It’s not like anybody could have just stepped out of their door and happened across the alleged abuse.
Moreover, given the importance of the intelligence we would have expected to obtain from the site, it seems very doubtful that the Army units that responded wouldn’t have established a security perimeter immediately – and in fact, the very AP article quotes the commander of the first unit of the scene as saying exactly that:
Anyway, I guess it comes down to: who do you trust? The US Army, or a shadowy accuser in an area crawling with dire-hard Saddamists and AQ sympathizers. For “progressives”, it seems the answer is clear.
Here’s her problem:
which is of course like saying, “that’s not a sandwich, it’s a hamburger!”
:peter
It’s the worst kind of 60s cliche’, reallyâ€â€US soldiers as poorly-led, dope-smoking baby killers who march through foreign lands exterminating the brutes for “revengeâ€Ââ€â€
For christ’s sake, I served in 1980-84 and that sterotype of the crappy, draft-era slacker was already a shopworn cliche with not a shred of truth behind it.
The 11 Bravos that the army currently have–the most maligned grunts of all the services–are smarter, more savvy and more professional than any of the leftist chickenhawks–to borrow a very, very poorly chosen phrase of derision–could ever imagine.
Just remember, she supports our murder-happy killbots.
TW = She just wants them to return home safely so they can face war crimes tribunals.
I was thrilled to read that the bastard survived long enough to know the US military has blown his ass to hell. The AP prints unsubstantiated rumors all the time. They trust any anti-American statement by any terrorist stringer in Iraq. The whole fake, but accurate, template in motion. The left couldn’t protect themselves out of a paper bag at this point.
Merritt may be a heckuva gal in person, but ever since the Jonbenet Ramsey case she is nails on slate as far as I’m concerned. Therefore, I’ve yet to bother with reading a single solitary thing of hers since she started spewing on the net.
The same reaction the left gets with Coulter, I suppose.
“violence begets violence” I must remember this advice the next time I see a female having the shit kicked out of her. Now I know to walk away because my own act of violence in saving her life will bring nothing but violence.
Thanks Jeralyn, you save me lots of unwanted trouble.
Hey, if we could just buy them all a socially-responsible cola beverage, who knows?
In a case like that, violence should beget violence. But just try to get anybody on the left to agree in principle.
Umm…The POS just got hit by 2, count ‘em two 500 pounders, and was still moving…there was enough exposed re-bar in the rubble to build a quarter of the Eisenhower bridge. That fuck got off making videos of himself hacking live peoples heads off with an apparently dull knife, and some dumb c**t is worried that someone might have beat up the guy moments before he died from exposure to 1000 pounds of cordite detonating in his personal space….give me a fucking break!
I’m surprised these moonbats haven’t criticized the decision to drop two bombs instead of one, and demanded the pilots be put on trial.
Presumably everybody in the building had at least a little headache after we knocked on the door with the first quarter-ton of high explosives.
Isn’t it a “war crime” to drop a bomb on a building full of wounded people, much less wounded women and children?
And for that matter, wasn’t it a violation of some Geneva convention that we didn’t have a medical team already on-site to hand out safety gear and render immediate assistance, before the first bomb hit?
What about ‘spiritual advisor’ Sheikh Abd-al-Huggybear-Rahman-Noodle ?!? Or whatever.
That’s Washington for you, fuckin’ killing for fun.
Not in my name!
—-
I don’t even know how to critique this piece – good luck with all that?
– Heres hoping all the Libturd Kossak Commies get a really top notch case of Motazuma’s revenge this weekend in Vegas. Maybe we need to start thinking of replacing the placards with ballbats at the next anti-American rally…..
And “two men,” says AP.
But those two aren’t known to have been terrorists, which status would have cleansed them of the dehumanizing soulstain that is Teh Penis, so they don’t count.
TW “college”: Yes, I learned that there.
Linked from Abu Musab al Zarqawi Is Still Dead Today Too.
Great post, Jeff. Thank you from a tired old Nam vet; where were you in ‘71?
Speaking as an Army medic let me say that we are not taught a “chest thump” as part of our CPR protocol (however if the medic in question had pursued Paramedic training outside the Army system, he might know a different technique). The c-collar is standard protocol with suspected head or neck injuries and who knows how our unnamed haji interpreted regular CPR.
Just another idiot lefty slinging crap IMHO.
Jeralyn Merrit has been spitefully unhinged for a long time
looking at her facial mannerisms gives me heartburn
Fine. She can have in her name the retaliatory violence we don’t do.
Jeralyn and friends can own Darfur, The Congo, Nigeria, Zimbabwe, and I’ll even throw in the ol’ Rwanda.
So that explains why every single war in history ended with an ever-increasing spiral of violence that destroyed humanity.
The obtuse stupidity of these people just astounds me.
Anyone who is surprised by this retelling of events, raise your hand.
Just another example, friends, of the Left’s certainty that if we could all just sit in a big encounter group with the Zarqawi’s and Bin Laden’s of the world that all those nasty soldiers would not be necessary.
Wow, that didn’t take long! If you watch the video of the farmhouse, you will see an adult male picking up debris and showing it to the camera. At one point he brandishes a kid’s shoe (no telling where it came from). I thought, here it comes, the Big Lie. Was it the usual “it’s a wedding party”? No, now it’s “abuse” of a FELLOW HUMAN BEING, my people!
So I guess he’s the designated spokeshole for the terrorists. I guess he did his lives shots first, then the print journalists. Hey, it’s a living.
Friend of yours, or not Jeff, this “womyn” has become assimilated in the Leftborg. She should be forced to watch the beheading video’s on a 42 inch plasma for a month, while listening to Neil Diamond cuts at 120 decibles.
For what it’s worth, many of her commenters—the vast majority, in fact—seem to disagree with her. At least, last I checked.
Wow, I wasn’t aware that Jeralyn comments section was infiltrated by the kossacks who couldn’t get into their version of the prom (the “yearlykos” gathering). Do yourselves a favor and do NOT read those adolescents, unless you want to see eschaton v1.2.
Wow.
I’m glad I could raise a few hackles on a hot Saturday afternoon for you all. And I’m not in Vegas at Yearly Kos, though I’m thrilled to read about the success of the event.
Thanks, Jeff, I appreciate the civil nature of your disagreement and yes, you are my friend.
By the way, how old were you in ‘71? (A commenter above asked if you remember something then about Vietnam.) I know you were born by ‘85. Here’s what Springsteen said then at an LA concert as he was about to sing “War” by Edwin Starr.
Peace, everyone.
I think Jackie Chan sang him some Edwin Starr in Rush Hour. Then he went and kicked some Juntao ass!
Sometimes violence solves problems, Jeralyn. And there are a whole lot of people in Europe who can tell you what war is good for, I’d imagine.
Jeralyn, war has just killed a guy who has been doing everything he can to kill Iraqis and keep them from forming a peaceful, civil society because he’d rather install a new Caliphate. Watch the Nick Berg beheading, and tell me that killing Zarqawi is a bad thing. Killing him saved innocent lives, because he was a serial murderer.
War did that, and it’s a good thing. It doesn’t rhyme, but it’s the truth.
Nurse, more Haloperidol, stat!
tw: nothing. Ain’t that the truth?
As I said, Jeralyn, Darfur is all yours. There is no US-led violence going on there, thank goodness.
Ah, invoking that great political analyst, Edwin Starr. Well played, Jeralyn, well played. I guess invoking a two hit wonder (with an assist from Springsteen) should shut down the debate. If one was alive in ‘71 and lived to comment on a blog, then they were alive in ‘75 to see what became of south east Asia. Tell me how did that turn out, Jeralyn?
Help me out here, maybe I’m just a brutal callous thug-like male but why is it bad if he was beaten before he died? If there ever was anyone who deserved an ass kicking and a painful death, doesn’t this scumbag qualify? Why is this even an issue?
I’m serious, does anyone really give a damn if soldiers jackbooted this turd?
Throw away lines like “violence begets violence” sound true… and at times are true.
But on an individual level, Zarqawi can beget no more violence. One cycle is broken at least, and sometimes the world can only be changed for the better one person at a time… and the world is indeed better off witout him. Right?
Simple yes or no.
Another throw away line goes something like this: “thousands more will rise up to take his place”.
Lets look at some US history… Lincoln, JFK, RFK, MLK assassinated… I wish we had thousands of Lincolns rise up, the Kennedy offspring have declined… precipitously, and Jesse Jackson and Al Sharpton? well lets not tarnish MLK’s memory with racist buffoonery.
I one sense I hope 1000 more take to the streets today all in a rage to avenge Zarqawi… and I hope we shoot ‘em all…. “his friends are our enemies” and all that.
Of course we can’t shoot ALL his friends… those friends who claim he was murdered. Here is murder defined: “In criminal law, murder is the crime of causing the death of another human being, without lawful excuse..”
The argument will be… the war isn’t lawful. I think most Americans (and most Senators and Congresspersons) believe the war is lawful and anyway we know how the Supreme Court would vote…
So the war is lawful, Zarqawi declared war verbally and in writing. He committed acts of war on both US civilians and the US Armed Forces.
He did the same to Iraq and the Iraqi civilians.
So he wasn’t murdered, he was killed in a combat operation during a war he declared. If he had stayed out of the fight at home in Jordan selling pita bread in the market, he’d still be alive.
I would imagine that there are a large number of elderly Jews with tattoos on their forearms that would disagree with that sentiment.
But hey, who are they to go trampling all over your sanctimonious narcissism?
Well Talkleft,
(I’ll call you that since that’s how you signed.)
Talkleft,
I’m old enough that I still spell it Viet Nam.
So? How is that important?
Never mind. It’s not important to me.
But MayBee (above) has put something important before you.
I’m interested how you might respond.
You are (rather gleefully) monitoring here.
So I’ll take ‘No Response’ as your capitulation.
I’ve got a song to help Jeralyn recall the good times in south east Asia during 1970s ….
Well you’ll work harder
With a gun to your back
For a bowl of rice a day
Slave for soldiers
Till you starve
Then your head is skewered on a stake
Now you can be where people are one
Now you can be where they get things done
What you need, my son ….
Is a holiday in Cambodia
Where people dress in black
A holiday in Cambodia
Where you’ll kiss ass or crack
Pol Pot Pol Pot Pol Pot Pol Pot etc ….
JM’s statement is a feign. It’s a morally vacuous expression of sentiment intended to resemble a sincere ethical dilemma.
Here’s what she’s actually saying…
I suggest they don’t.
Is that so? I suppose we should still be British colonies, then? Or perhaps speaking German and learning to goose-step. Of course we wouldn’t have to worry about kosher products. There’d be no one alive who’d need them.
I humbly submit that certain causes and certain people make war a moral necessity if not obligation. I am quite sure Neville Chamberlain, for all his good intentions, would have wished he had more of Churchill’s spunk and martial spirit.
We are in Iraq for a good cause and for good reason. And we must remain until our work there is done.
Why do I EVER go read these kinds of links?
Good God, y’all!
The best minds of my generation, destroyed by BDS!
for a female blogger, Jeralyn sure knows how to play the gender-card.
Jeralyn: Adult terrorists were killed. That you find it noteworthy that some of them were female is more a comment on your perceptions than reality.
Any others killed in the process were a result of either the former not telling the latter that they were terrorists, which is sad and all – or the latter knowing and not choosing to move to a location a couple of hundred yards down the pike.
Christopher Taylor –
“Why is this even an issue?”
It isn’t.
The pustule had that and a lot more coming.
But it’s being a non-issue doesn’t stop puffed-up lefties who love to hear the sound of their own voices pontificating on subjects which they know absolutely nothing about (I’m looking at you J) from attempting to draw attention away from the simple justice of this event. You see, we can’t have people contemplating Z-deads’ actions, the things he did to put himself at ground zero the other day. Why, once you start down that slippery slope, one might find oneself coming to the conclusion that we are doing something right in Iraq, and that simply won’t do if we’re going to depose the evil republicans and get back down to the business of making daycare and abortion and healthcare free (meaning I get to pay for Jeralyn’s abortion if she wants me to).
I’m sorry Jeff, but your friend is playing games with the truth, and for that she deserves contempt.
TW: “strong” – There’s a strong odor of Michael Moore about.
I notice the lone, anonymous witness to these American atrocities was one “Mohammed.” Presumably it is against his religion, and by extention, outside the outer limit of the AP’s dedication to free speech, to show this guy’s lying face in the newspaper.
Peace, everyone.
Jeralyn….the Paris Hilton of bloggers
maybe you’d be better suited for beauty pagents sweety
I wasn’t referring to WWII but to Iraq and Viet Nam (correcting my spelling for commenter above.) It’s this notion of pre-emptive war and regime change that is good for nothing.
As to Nick Berg, I watched the video after he was killed. Do you think he would have been killed in Iraq had we not invaded that country?
To Maybee above, I’m torn on Darfur. I think we should be doing more to end the genocide, but I don’t support sending our troops to fight there.
More violence on our part will not defeat al Qaeda or terrorists. As soon as you kill one leader, two more will spring up to take his place and thousands more will be spurred to take revenge. You could take out Osama now and it wouldn’t end the hatred and desire to wipe America off the face of the planet. Face it, the violence hasn’t worked.
As for Iraq, it’s been a failure. It’s time to come home.
Is anyone else out there as sick as I am of the unmitigated arrogance inherent in the “not in my name” formulation? It’s as if they believe that denial of their approval ought to have some impact.
TW: “below” – People like that can “below” out their backsides.
Aristotle, Rousseau, Kant… Springsteen.
Here’s an equally musical rebuttal, utilizing a lyric more age-appropriate to the poster in question:
“One of these things is not like the others,
One of these things just doesn’t belong,
Can you tell which thing is not like the others
By the time I finish my song?”
I am compelled to repeat what Phil Smith said a bit:
Far be it for me to question her character or her patrioitism, you know, because leftist do that doesn’t make it OK for me and you, but Merritt pretty much went to bat for a Jason Leopold despite the fact his past digressions were decisively more egregious than that bigot Satan WAPO blogger Ben…a story based entirely on anonymous (except for Joe Wilson) sources…so anonymous one questions if they’re real or schizophrenia since the scoop is like a month moldy…
Well, Jeff…I am sure if was a tough post to compose…but I appreciate it. It’s really getting hard these days to discern whether perhaps a few on the left might at this point be thankful that we are at war in order to get the anti-us/military hate on…not saying it is so, but it is, like I said, getting blurry…
We’ve heard that speech before. The same sort of good-intentioned, yet empty-headed platitudes.
Also, none of us think that icing Osama would.
Read: I think we should do more to end the genocide except something that would ACTUALLY end the genocide.
Oh baby, you’ve got to step away from the bong for a minute.
“As soon as you kill one leader, two more will spring up to take his place” blahbitty blah blah.
Did you pick that one up in Polysci 101, or was that from “Womyn & War, we don’t know shit, but why should that matter”?
Really, you can’t be that stupid.
I’m betting you’re one of those media types who’s been taught that the best way to garner attention (and therefore, dollars) is to say something demonstrably false and wrong, thereby stirring the pot. You’re not the Parris Hilton of bloggers. You’re the Madonna of the MSM.
Sorry, empty-headed isn’t the right word. The imagery I need to invoke is head in the clouds type stuff.
As well as work the word “trite” in there, as well as the phrase “claims unsubstantiated by evidence.”
I’m a low level peon here though, for a good reason.
TalkLeft,
Sorry for the misunderstanding.
You’re spelling is fine.
I was not correcting you.
It’s just that we of a certain age
(and maybe subset) learned it that way and
habitually stick with the older spelling.
I see you’ve responded to Maybee on Darfur.
Good for you.
But it’s a bit vague no?
I mean solution-wise. Not intention-wise.
And solutions are what really count. Right?
So. Got anything in that vein?
With all do respect Ms. Merritt…that is complete and utter bullshit. Why is “history” such a difficult concept for the left…during years when we weren’t aggressive or *violent* the terrorist attacks against this country DID HAPPEN…compounding, growing and since we didn’t take any real meaningful action resulted in 9-11 (and thank gawd it wasn’t worse) . We missed the DOTS! We ignored it…additionally I take issue with that simple view, thank gawd we didn’t take a violence doesn’t work approach in WWII
What is most interesting to me is the muslim extremist (and frankly not even the extremists) abhor most about the west is the liberal ideology…the loose culture, the freedom and the decandence…what the left stands for…yet if they had their way what leftist hold so dear would be suppressed at best, extinct at worst. Why?
Thanks for taking the time to let us have a chance at convincing you, TalkLeft. I can point to one mistake you are making. The violence America is engaged in is not intended to “end the hatred”. The purpose of the violence is to keep America from being wiped off the face of the earth. So far it’s working. So the war in Iraq is not a stupid or evil mistake, it’s an effective response to an attack.
I wish you could put aside your emotion and use reason on this problem. If you could do that I suppose you already would have and you would already have concluded that war is sometimes the lesser of two evils. Really, it is.
Oh, and another mistake: regime change did work in WWII. Neither country has tried to take over the world since they became democracies. In fact neither has even invaded another country since then. If FDR had been able to be preemptive then maybe a lot of lives would have been saved. You could look at Truman’s using the A-bomb against Japan as a kind of preemption. Look at how many lives on both sides that “evil act” saved.
More violence on al Qaeda’s part will not defeat America. As soon as they kill one of us, two more will spring up to take his place and thousands more will be spurred to defend America. You could take out President Bush now and it wouldn’t end the hatred and desire to wipe al Qaeda off the face of the planet.
I know it is wrong to speak ill of the dead.. but Nick Berg didn’t go to Jordan, Mali, Thailand or even Myanmar… he picked Iraq.
He took a huge risk and paid for it.
I remember when some tourists from Holland or somewhere got lost in Miami and got robbed and killed. They were innocents and should not have been at risk… you oughtta be able to go to DisneyWorld without getting murdered…. Iraq during wartime is a whole different deal.
Going to Iraq was a bad choice for Nick Berg… you can’t blame Bush for that.
Zarqawi made the choice to behead Nick Berg… you can’t blame Bush for that either.
Blame Bush for US casualties… I think he shoulders that burden when asked.
The blame Bush game gets a little too indirect for me when a guy buys a ticket into a war zone and someone evil there cuts their head off… too much of a stretch.
People need to take responsibility for their own choices.
– The left had no real effect in Viet Nam, and for all their guilt ridden, simple minded pavel, will have none now. In fact the only effect they ever have, as they sink deeper and deeper into the mire of self-glorification, is to spur on the realistic response of those who do the very difficult work of assuring liberty, while the contrarian voices hide their fears, and cowardliness, in platitudes and salicious perfidy.
– The shame is, they’re never called to task for their callous escapism, disguised with a patriotic mask. Had they to really put their lifes on the line, as better men than they are called to do, rather than hide in a sea of santimonious, self serving tripe, they’d stop all the nonsense, and simply stand up proudly for their country, and defend it, rather than falling into lockstep with the same hectoring voices of agents that have fled some Socialist paradise, only to immigrate here with the purpose of sabotaging our Republic and its Future.
For myself Jeralyn, your feckless ranks trully disgust me.You simply do not deserve the liberties you enjoy, nor the supreme sacrifice in their blood that America’s sons have shed for you.
Rather than rile against your own you should get down on your knees, and thank G_d for your good fortune, and His many blessings.
I think it comes from that deep thinker Stan Lee, actually, as in “Hail Hydra, immortal Hydra! We shall never be destroyed! Cut off a head and 10,000 more will take its place!”
As Ms. Merritt appears adamantine in her mulish insistence that the actions of our United States Military not be “in [her] name”: Patterico is allowing posters to offer alternate suggestions as to just whose name, specifically, they SHOULD be, rather than hers.
Should have read: ”offer alternate suggestions as to just whose name, specifically, they SHOULD be in.”
Stephen_M, no I have no solutions. I’m just a practicing criminal defense lawyer and a blogger, trying to defend constitutional rights and raise my voice against what I perceive to be injustice. I view the Iraq war as unjust.
As to Phil Smith on Jason Leopold, I suggest you go back and review my many posts. I never said he was right or that I believed his sources were accurate. What I said was I know him and that he believes his article is accurate and that he trusts his sources. I believe his sources told him what he says they told him. In other words, he did not make the story up out of thin air and he’s not crazy. But…I also wrote his sources may have been spinning him or they might not be lawyers and have mixed up their terminology.
I was the only blog to get Rove’s lawyer and his spokesman on record, not just once, but several times, and I printed their denials and their criticisms of Jason’s article in full and verbatim.
And, it’s too soon to say whether his article was right or wrong in the key detail that Karl Rove was indicted. We won’t know that until Fitzgerald decides it’s time to either clear Karl Rove or announce his indictment. If it’s the latter, we’ll know when we see the date the grand jury returned the Indictment if Jason’s sources were right or wrong.
And that’s that, and now I have to get back to my own blog where the Dukesters seem to be having a melt-down.
Actually, not only does AP do this, they offer it as a selling point. AP offers an entirely different series of story headlines, all denigratory to the US and its interests, to foreign subscribers who want them. It’s not just their practice, it’s their damned business plan.
talk left. regarding
you are probably right
and the SS Cole would not have been bombed, had it not been in Yemen
and the US Embassy in Beirut would not have been bombed (1983) had we not been in Lebanon
and the US embassies in Dar es Salam, and Nairobi would not have been bombed(1998) had we not had a presence in those countries
and 19 American airmen would not have died in the truck bombing in Saudi (1996) had they not been there.
Are we to ask permission or get aproval from jihadis where AMerican presence is allowed? and what our policies should be
….why don’t you just curl up and submit to the islamic rules??
Why?
good question TS…
Jeralyn and most lefties are at heart bitter because Bush beat them twice in a row…they always think they are going to win because slanted polls and the MSM tell them so, and then reality intrudes and they wind up feeling bitter and powerless…
so they throw out grenades like Leopold Rove indictments and AP reports smearing our soldiers and smack their lips at anything that makes Bush looks bad…and then become more bitter when the grenade fizzles…
also, notice how Jeralyn has lots of opinions but no solutions? Just like most Democrats these days. They are scared shitless that Iraq might just turn out ok.
Oh, and Jeralyn, we’re happy you are enjoying the great success of the KOS convention…but when will ya’ll put one in the win column..
0 for 20 kinda sucks I would imagine.
Peace
– Oh yes. Do cut and run. The same brave posture you would take in dealing with every difficult choice we have to make as a country.
– Cut and run. The holy graile of the “progessive” mind.
a court marshal
Why don’t they get a court deputy instead?
Amen. The liberties we enjoy…
I was rather amused the other night when a woman at my local, yet social conscious, grocery store brought in her own bags to bag the groceries.
You could tell she was pretty proud of herself. Good, great for her…she placed the organic goat cheese and free range chicken in her Apple, Anne Taylor, Nordstrom and Macy’s bags.
I was only buying milk, so I was able to see her pop into her sporty jetta –complete with “no blood for oil” and Kerry/Edwards stickers.
Oh, my. Hope I didn’t give someone ideas:
https://www.proteinwisdom.com/index.php/weblog/entry/20510/#169902
Interesting use of the passive voice–almost sort of denies Zarqawi’s act of sawing Berg’s head off. And while you’re probably not necessarily incorrect, consider the alternatives. Would it have been better if Zarqawi had been in Afghanistan stoning adulteresses or drawing and quartering homosexuals? Or in Jordan blowing up restaurants?
What I’m getting at is we didn’t make this evil fuck, and it’s reprehensible to suggest that we did.
– You cannot reason with those that have sold their souls to the god of pacivism. If proven wrong, as they consciously fear, theres nothing left but an endless fall from grace. Few have the character it takes to reverse the process, once the die is cast, until something in their lives forces the issue, and theres no longer any reason to protect that hollow stance. For most its called “growing up”.
Windansniffer
It really is that simple isn’t it?
Yes. If he was in Iraq and the Baathists were still in power, it’s very likely that he’d have been killed. If he were in Jordan attending Ashraf Mohammad’s wedding, it’s very likely that he’d have been killed. If he were in the Sari Club in bali, Paradise Hotel in Mombasa Kenya, Atocha station in Madrid, or simply touring London on a bus in the summer of 2005, it’s very likely that he’d have been killed.
What’s your point?
—
Here’s a simple question TL – if you knew that taking your own life could save the lives of multiple other people, would you? If so, how many people would need to be saved for you to sacrifice yourself?
This couldn’t possibly be any more self-congratulatory. Unless, of course, you were masturbating at the same moment you were typing it.
What a pompous dickhead.
I believe his sources told him what he says they told him. In other words, he did not make the story up out of thin air and he’s not crazy.
uh huh…and did you believe Jason when he said he would out his sources if the idictment didn’t happen in 24 hours?….24 business hours?
24 “24” hours??
I was the only blog to get Rove’s lawyer and his spokesman on record, not just once, but several times, and I printed their denials and their criticisms of Jason’s article in full and verbatim.
uh huh…and then proceeded to question their credibility
And, it’s too soon to say whether his article was right or wrong in the key detail that Karl Rove was indicted.
Huh? surely it’s been more than 24 hours
You are all about posting unsubstantiated BS so you can raise hackles, get more hits for your website, and sell more ads…
but we’ve lost the war in Iraq!
By what measure is Iraq a failure? By what measure is it finished? We’ve been in Iraq for three years. In that time, Saddam Hussein has been captured and put on trial; the Iraqi people have turned out by the millions to vote for a provisional government, a Constitution, and a “permanent” government; Sunnis, originally boycotting the 2005 provisional-gov’t election, have realized that their fortunes lie where the rest of Iraq’s fortunes lie and have joined the political process; a unity government has been formed; some 200,000 Iraqi security forces have been trained or are in training – I may be out of date on that number; Iraq is exporting food to its neighbors; Iraq’s GDP is increasing by double-digit percentages; durable-goods sales are booming; a vibrant free press has arisen and is thriving; oil production is essentially back to prewar levels (recalling that prior to our invasion Saddam Hussein grossly overproduced Iraq’s oil fields, which has ruined some fields and has seriously taxed equipment so old and unsafe that it’s had to be replaced because it simply can’t be repaired – not to mention oilfield and pipeline sabotage by the “insurgency,” which, if it were actually trying to retake Iraq for Iraqis, you’d think would be rather less cavalier about Iraq’s primary resource). Where’s the failure?
Are civilians still being killed? Is Israel a failure as a nation-state because it’s still subject to terrorist attacks against its civilian populace? Is Iraq fully and independently functioning as a representative democracy? Was Japan, three years after Nagasaki? Are there still “increasing” (what a silly term that is – do the dead rise when a war is officially over?) American casualties? Ask American soldiers if what they perceive on the ground is “failure,” or “quagmire,” or “futility.”
What, pray tell, was your stance on the whole Bosnia/Kosovo thing? That little US-led unpleasantness had some pre-emptive and regime-changing qualities to it, as I remember.
Or were you too busy rhetorically fellating President Clinton to raise your lone, brave voice of dissent?
It’s this notion of pre-emptive war and regime change that is good for nothing.
Germany violated the Versailles Treaty by sending troops into the Rhineland in 1936, which was supposed to stay demilitarized. Violating the treaty means, legally, that the war the treaty ended resumes.
At that point, Germany had not re-armed enough to be a match against the other European powers. Their own leaders knew (and, later, said) that, had the Allies attacked, Germany was toast.
Instead, they did nothing. They just watched, and hoped.
A little pre-emptive war then would have saved a LOT of trouble later.
Of course, I did just spend an evening with neighbors, one (outspoken liberal) of whom said she was glad that another neighbor’s son was probably not going to make the cut to get into the Naval Academy, his dream, because “I just hate all that military crap.” Make no mistake, she supports the troops… I guess.
Phinn, raise the tone a little, willya? I agree with the general point, but rise above, man, rise above.
Y’know, I went over there. She requires registration to comment, and I’m damned if I will.
I think the most amusing thing (in a RCOB sort of way) was the bit in the comments about how very improbable it is that they’d need two bombs to take out a single house, therefore it was all a show and didn’t really get Zarqawi (opinions differ: either he’s been dead all along, or was let go, or wasn’t around at all) and BUSH LIED!
The sophisticated, nuanced, reality-based party thinks all houses in the world are the flimsy wooden balloon-frame things we live in. No doubt built by clearcutting the bunnywunny habitat and killing off our Happy Tree Friends. Just another example of projection—they have absolutely no idea of conditions anywhere in the world outside their happy safe suburban middle-class orbit, so they assume everywhere is like that. The phrase “too ignorant to pound sand” comes to mind.
So Ms. Merritt is a lawyer? Explains a lot. When all you have is a hammer—Jeralyn, you are an enabler and excuser of torturers, murderers, and genocidists; when anyone tries to stop them, you do all in your power to allow them to continue their depredations. That makes you an accessory before, during, and after the fact, as guilty as if you’d slit that baby’s throat yourself. Enjoy it. Your clients do.
Regards,
Ric
– The mantra of the left: “I have no solutions, just back biting bitter invective for those tasked with doing the dirty jobs, and making the sacrifices you’re just too fucking good, and high and mighty to do.
– A suggestion comes to mind. If you have no solutions THEN SIT THE FUCK DOWN AND SHUT THE FUCK UP!
Iraq signed a cease fire after the first Gulf War. Many times after that they violated the terms of that cease fire. We were therefore technically in a state of war with Iraq after the first of those violations.
How in the name of God do you “pre-empt” a war started by Iraq over a decade ago?
Are there any other kind?
Oh, how many dinners, barbecues, lunches, meetings have I had to demurely sit through while a liberal spouts there politics at every inopportune time. And oh how offended and infuriated they are if I just happen to respond and disagree!
Oh, the ever-elusive quest for the solution that involves “doing more” without anyone getting hurt. We all want that solution, believe me.
The point is, Jeralyn, that what you are seeing in Darfur is that non-violence often also begets violence. What you saw in Rwanda is that a non-violent response didn’t save one soul. That’s what eschewing violent solutions can get you. Not wanting to get involved to the point of using violence to stop something is a perfectly practical response, but I don’t see the moral superiority of it.
Windandsniffer,
pretty sure in the comments of TL she told her readers she did believe everything Jason reported and sure that TL and Hamsher were delighted he said he’d out his sources…Hamsher said it was “fantastic” as it would illustrate how mush better blogs were than the Liberal Press.
Careful, man! She might pop back in at any moment, armed to the teeth with pithy lyrical couplets from Bobby Sherman, or Bo Donaldson and the Heywoods!
I reserve civility for people whose fundamental existence I respect.
When it comes to Leftist garbage (whose sole mission in life is to encourage, enable and cheerlead the boot of government to press harder down on the necks of productive, peaceful people, but who then insistently complain when people dare to use restrained, measured, defensive violence to deal with the harm caused by fucking criminals, then take it a step further down the road to insult by claiming that she is somehow morally superior or to be lauded for this behavior … well, let’s just say that she will not be receiving that measure of respect from me.
I just want to know if she was too busy choking on Clinton’s stiffy to have spoken up when, in the 1990s, US policy was to effect regime change in Bosnia—a country halfway around the world that posed no security threat to us, all based on intelligence reports that later proved to be largely false.
Has a familiar ring, no? Except that time, it was accurate.
…and this will happen in which mellenium TS9?
Children’s Prison, a place that child molester and traitor Scott Ritter refused to talk about after being paid off by Saddam, because in his own words, “it would strengthen the case for war.”
Mass graves of women and children shot dead, some still clutching toys.
I can’t say this any more clearly, Jeralynn:
Fuck. You.
You are all too nasty to have a reasoned discussion. Just scroll up and read the last ten or so comments and see how ugly you all sound.
Didn’t anyone ever tell you that you catch more bees with honey than vinegar? Party on, people.
Jeff, Back to you.
party on TL
Flies, poppet. One catches FLIES with honey; not “bees.”
Back in the 70’s when Palo Alto was wetting its pants at the thought of Vinceramos displeasure, I engaged one of them in a debate. When he bragged about the imminent taking to the streets to overthrow our corrupt government, I respond there were a lots of veterans like me, with actual rather than theoretical experience in killing who could not wait for the opportunity to blow a bunch of them away. I then added that in the very unlikely event the revolution succeeded, if I survived the first 6 months I would witness his execution, since even revolutions need engineers to make lights light and toilets flush, but the first order of business of any recent revolution has been to kill off the revolutionaries since they had become potential counter revolutionaries.
Two things: first, I’ve noted Jeralyn is a friend. So I’d appreciate if you guys would keep it dignified. She’s here to defend herself, which is not something we got from, say, Dr Andrew Haggerty.
Second, to Jeralyn: You need to understand that a lot of active duty soldiers and vets post here, and your post has essentially accused them as a kind of being sadistic and unprincipled. So you have to expect so level of vitriol in response.
Now. Touch gloves and etc. We can’t always raise the tone, but when we can, we should try.
TL, mine was one of the last 10 or so, and I wasn’t nasty. I’d appreciate a response.
Amen, brother.
He might have been killed right here at home in America. Would that make you feel better?
Which is of course far worse than sawing heads off people in front of a video camera.
I don’t think I was nasty…but I’ve also read an immense amount on the subject…mostly the left dispensing with the notion of niceties and civility…
I would like to note that Ms. Merritt is always very respectful in tone and content on right leaning blogs.