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Libertarian Harry Browne: Bush Did Not Liberate Iraq
HarryBrowne.org ^ | Dec 15, 2003 | Harry Browne

Posted on 12/17/2003 8:04:12 PM PST by Commie Basher

Sunday's capture of Saddam Hussein made it a great day — a great day for empty rhetoric and meaningless posturing by politicians and journalists.

Somehow it was assumed by politicians and the press, without explanation, that Hussein's capture has vindicated the Bush administration's attack on Iraq. But from September 2002 to March 2003, George Bush said nothing about capturing Saddam Hussein. Instead, Bush talked incessantly about weapons of mass destruction and Iraq's ability to attack the U.S. with them — as well as Al Qaeda camps in the Iraqi desert. How does finding Saddam Hussein make Bush's claims any more true than they were last week?

We're told that that the Iraqis can see now that Saddam Hussein isn't coming back to power — as though they couldn't figure that out for themselves with 130,000 foreign troops occupying their country.

But in the wonderland occupied by politicians and journalists, the capture of Hussein must mean that all the resisters — also known as "loyalists of the old regime" — would have no more reason to resist.

Some politicians said that if anti-war protesters had their gotten way, Hussein would be in his palace today, instead of in jail. Yes, and if the anti-war protesters had gotten their way, several hundred Americans and thousands of Iraqis would be alive today, instead of dead.

The press played its part in the celebration. Wolf Blitzer of CNN said that Hussein's capture proves to the world that "the President of the United States means business" — whatever that means.

In fact, we've known all along that George Bush means business — the business of getting reelected.

There were plenty of TV pictures of Iraqis firing AK-47s into the air. But no inquiring minds bothered to ask how everyday Iraqis could be carrying AK-47s out in the open, when the American occupiers have imposed strict gun-control edicts and are at war with resisters.

What if Saddam Hussein says that all the dreaded Weapons of Mass Destruction were destroyed years ago? Well, we know that George Bush believes in preemptive strikes, and he's already made one on this front. On Monday, he said of Hussein:

He’s a liar. He’s a torturer. He’s a murderer. . . . He’s a — he’s just — he is what he is: He’s a person that was willing to destroy his country and to kill a lot of his fellow citizens. He’s a person who used weapons of mass destruction against citizens in his own country. And so it’s — he is the kind of person that is untrustworthy and I’d be very cautious about relying upon his word in any way, shape or form.

In other words, "Believe him only if he confirms what I've been telling you for the past year."

Liberation

Donald Rumsfeld said that Hussein's capture means that the Iraqis can now be free in spirit, as well as in fact.

Ah yes, liberated Iraq. It is now a free country. George Bush has liberated it.

How has Iraq been liberated? Let me count the ways . . .

1. The country is occupied by a foreign power.

2. Its officials are appointed by that foreign power.

3. Its citizens must carry ID cards.

4. They must submit to searches of their persons and cars at checkpoints and roadblocks.

5. They must be in their homes by curfew time.

6. Many towns are ringed with barbed wire.

7. The occupiers have imposed strict gun-control laws, preventing ordinary citizens from defending themselves — making robberies, rapes, and assaults quite common.

8. Trade with some countries is banned by the occupying authorities.

9. The occupiers have decreed that certain electoral outcomes won't be permitted.

10. Families are held hostage until they reveal the whereabouts of wanted resisters — much like the Nazis held innocent French people hostage during World War II.

11. Protests are outlawed.

12. Private homes are raided or demolished — with no due process of law.

13. The occupiers have created a fiat currency and imposed it on the populace.

14. Newspapers, radio stations, and TV are all supervised by the occupiers.

This is liberation in the NewSpeak language of politics.

Words like freedom just don't seem to mean what they used to, do they?


TOPICS: Foreign Affairs; News/Current Events
KEYWORDS: 1gawdwhatanasshole; bush; harrybrowne; iraq; iraqwar; liberaltarians; libertarianparty; libertarians; losertarians; punklibertarians; saddamhussein; smurfs
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To: Commie Basher
If you see Harry, tell him to shut the h#ll up. He's embarrassing the rest of us.
181 posted on 12/18/2003 10:17:35 AM PST by Dead Corpse (For an Evil Super Genius, you aren't too bright are you?)
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To: tpaine
"Why is this crap continually allowed on here?"

Because Harry Browne keeps making stupid statements and people post them for a humor break.

182 posted on 12/18/2003 10:18:07 AM PST by CWOJackson
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To: bobo1
Same here. Browne and another fruitcake, Lew Rockwell, have become anti-American.

I can understand the Libertarian Party's opposition to the war, after all, when there is war, liberties of citizens are restricted, but these guys have become bitter, cynical naysayers.
183 posted on 12/18/2003 10:23:49 AM PST by rcofdayton
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To: rcofdayton
Unfortunately, there is some truth to what you are saying. I've been watching a couple of the libertarian forums out there pretty much self destruct into mindless conspiracy loons and anti-war fanaticism.

For someone like me, seeing them contort objectivism to fit thier cowardice is repulsive. Put me in the Boortz style libertarian camp.

184 posted on 12/18/2003 10:29:01 AM PST by Dead Corpse (For an Evil Super Genius, you aren't too bright are you?)
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To: Bozo; CWOJackson
CWOJackson wrote: "Why is this crap continually allowed on here?"
Because Harry Browne keeps making stupid statements and people post them for a humor break






Sick, stupid humor you clowns indulge in.
Along with Brown, you bozos should try getting some new lines.

185 posted on 12/18/2003 10:29:02 AM PST by tpaine (I'm trying to be 'Mr Nice Guy', but FRs flying monkey squad brings out the Rickenbacker in me.JR)
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To: Commie Basher
You know the rules: No whining, no refunds, and no changing the titles of posts.
186 posted on 12/18/2003 10:30:19 AM PST by graycamel
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To: tpaine
Don't worry so much tp...Harry doesn't threaten your unique position here. Most people still consider you every bit as irrelevent and amusing as Harry.
187 posted on 12/18/2003 10:31:52 AM PST by CWOJackson
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To: cartoonistx
And to think that at one time I considered myself a Libertarian. What was I thinking?!

Just so you know...you're not alone.

I cringe when I remember that I thought my vote for him in 2000 would send a message to the Republicans. I'm glad that message didn't get through.

188 posted on 12/18/2003 10:42:26 AM PST by AngryJawa ("The bang is great, but the shockwave is where it’s at.")
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To: CWOJackson
Some time ago JR tried to spark some interest by creating & endorsing a separate forum for the RLC position.
Liberty Caucus | latest posts
Address:http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/rlc/browse
Obviously, the libertarian haters on this site would rather trash our constitution than work with us in its restoration.
180 -tpaine-

______________________________________


CWOJackson wrote:
Don't worry so much tp...Harry doesn't threaten your unique position here. Most people still consider you every bit as irrelevent and amusing as Harry.





Worry? -- About what? You seem to have a weird idea about FR as some sort of a popularity contest, jackson.

Dream on that anyone here cares about your 'relevency'.

189 posted on 12/18/2003 11:25:39 AM PST by tpaine (I'm trying to be 'Mr Nice Guy', but FRs flying monkey squad brings out the Rickenbacker in me.JR)
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To: tpaine
Thanks for that info.
190 posted on 12/18/2003 12:36:23 PM PST by freeangel (freeangel)
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To: tpaine
Stop pinging me to your garbage, Pain.
191 posted on 12/18/2003 12:39:42 PM PST by Southflanknorthpawsis
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To: Commie Basher
As a kick-ass-and-take-names libertarian, shut the hell up Harry.
192 posted on 12/18/2003 12:53:18 PM PST by Liberal Classic (No better friend, no worse enemy.)
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To: Dead Corpse
Those who refuse to support and defend a state have no claim to protection by that state. Killing an anarchist or a pacifist should not be defined as "murder" in a legalistic sense. The offense against the state, if any, should be "Using a deadly weapon inside city limits," or "Creating a traffic hazard," or "Endangering bystanders," or other misdemeanor. However, the state may reasonably place a closed season on these exotic asocial animals whenever they are in danger of becoming extinct.
193 posted on 12/18/2003 12:54:55 PM PST by Liberal Classic (No better friend, no worse enemy.)
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To: Bozo
Looking at your last 20 posts, all one can see is garbage.
194 posted on 12/18/2003 1:20:27 PM PST by tpaine (I'm trying to be 'Mr Nice Guy', but FRs flying monkey squad brings out the Rickenbacker in me.JR)
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To: Chris Tucker
I hate the Libertarians. They gave Jim Doyle here in WI the governorship on a silver platter. A bunch of fringe fanatic losers. They'll never get more than .0000000000000000000000000000000001 of the vote.

Which was enough to give you Jim Doyle.  You remind me of, "No one ever goes there anymore. It's too crowded."
195 posted on 12/18/2003 2:08:51 PM PST by gcruse (http://gcruse.typepad.com/)
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To: Cultural Jihad
They do a horrible job because they see the world colored by the glasses of their humanist moral-liberal ideology, and hence they do not see Reality.

Reality as in invisible men in the sky?    Heh.  I don't think so.
196 posted on 12/18/2003 2:15:51 PM PST by gcruse (http://gcruse.typepad.com/)
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To: gcruse

Invisible as the sky itself, and yet you wouldn't say there is no sky. As invisible as an atom, and yet materialists would not question the existence of atoms they cannot see, still have complete faith in, albeit ever so blind. I've never seen Florida, either, so supposedly that doesn't exist.

The Reality I mentioned was the spiritual dimension of humanity, and the spiritual warfare going on in human society. Indeed, the most ignorant of medieval peasants knew more about the human condition than the most erudite and learned of modern humanist professors.

197 posted on 12/18/2003 4:27:01 PM PST by Cultural Jihad
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To: autoresponder; Grampa Dave; MeeknMing
Harry, Harry, Harry, two words:

MASS GRAVES

Saddam killed a million or two and you equate that with a curfew?

That's it, Harry, Drop the bong, and step away from keyboard.

198 posted on 12/18/2003 6:10:43 PM PST by PhilDragoo (Hitlery: das Butch von Buchenvald)
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To: tpaine
Obviously, the libertarian haters on this site would rather trash our constitution than work with us in its restoration.

I'm not sure I understand what you're saying. Do you support Harry W. Browne?

199 posted on 12/18/2003 6:17:57 PM PST by Amelia ("We have met the enemy and he is us." -- Pogo)
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To: Commie Basher
Dear Harry-

Please do us a favor and knock it off with this crap. There are plenty of reasons to disagree with the constitutional technicalities of the Iraq war without making yourself look like an ass.

How foolish.

Thanks, in advance...

LPMC
Rochester NY


200 posted on 12/18/2003 6:41:28 PM PST by bc2 (http://www.thinkforyourself.us)
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