Emphasis Added

Monday, March 24, 2003

Not Him Again

CNN is reporting that General Pete Osman has taken charge of allied forces in Northern Iraq. As it happens, the Turkish warlord who conquered the region in the 13th century was also named Osman (who gave a version of his name to the state he and his successors founded, the "Ottoman Empire"). It is certain this unfortunate coincidence will not be lost on the historically-minded residents of the region, who already have grounds to suspect that America has sold them out to modern-day Turkey.

1:09:10 PM

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It's a Rotten Job...

Apparently the US Armed Forces have set up a website to allow people to express their support for the troops via online petition (link courtesy of B. Duffy). The message is simply, "Thank you for defending our freedom," and while I have some doubts as to whether it's our freedom that they are defending, the young men and women over there are doing a difficult job under harrowing conditions and I know if I were them, I'd appreciate any small gesture of support from the homefront. They didn't choose the mission - they're just doing their job, and a few of them won't be coming back. Meanwhile, let's all do our part to make sure they return to a country worth defending.

10:41:11 AM

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Howling in Rage

The media criticism site The Daily Howler is high on my must-reads these days, and today's entry on attempts by right-wing pundits to silence critics of the war is worth quoting at length:

How stupid can people get at times of war? People can get very stupid. For example, they claim that those who oppose a war are somehow “against the troops!” You’re right—it’s hard to get dumber than that. But who knows? Perhaps they believe that, in the American system, the troops decide when wars should be fought. That, of course, would be very stupid. But stress makes these folks deeply stupid.
What do we learn from [right-wing loonies like David] Frum and [Ann] Coulter? That American values—indeed, that all post-Enlightenment, western-world values—are a very recent overlay, superimposed on much older impulses. These impulses undermine the western values we commonly claim to hold dear. These impulses were selected for millions of years ago, in the distant, pre-human past. They promote ancestral, pre-western thinking. The Frums and the Coulters give them voice.
What do these impulses tell us to think? They tell us that our own specific tribe must be right—and that all other tribes must be evil and wrong. These impulses say that those who disagree with our views must disagree out of evil. They tell us to stamp out those who disagree—to brand them Enemies of the State. And remember: These impulses are lodged in the human soul. Right up to this very day, these ancient impulses will persuade all those who don’t choose to resist them.
What values do these impulses promote? Of course! They promote Saddamism! It is precisely the values of Saddam’s Iraq that Frum is now espousing. Frum’s tribe—his tribe, and none other—is presumed to be morally right and sincere. All other tribes are presumed to be evil—denounced as duplicitous traitors. This nonsense began when the ludicrous [columnist Michele] Malkin went after a high school kid’s random remark. And now, Malkin’s colleagues are so overwrought that they are trying to devour their old colleagues.

8:35:57 AM

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