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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: Grampa Dave
Grampa Dave wrote:
Where are you guys holding your convention this year?



Welcome to the Republican Liberty Caucus
Address:http://www.rlc.org/?p=FAQ

261 posted on 12/19/2003 2:32:13 PM PST by tpaine (I'm trying to be 'Mr Nice Guy', but FRs flying monkey squad brings out the Rickenbacker in me.)
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To: Gunslingr3
I tried to explain that the military involvement is not motivated simply by the price of oil. The price of oil involved us economically. A terrible geopolitical situation exists there with us or without us. If we ignored their political upheavals, Islamists would take hostages and bomb us just as much they do now. We have intervened to stop power from coalescing under an Ayatollah Khomeini or Saddam Hussein.
262 posted on 12/19/2003 2:35:47 PM PST by NutCrackerBoy
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To: Gunslingr3
Clinton was an isolationist? He didn't send U.S. troops to invade Haiti? He didn't send U.S. troops to invade Kosovo? He didn't bomb Iraq, Sudan, and Afghanistan? Good grief, memories can be short.

You must understand, some FReepers have a simplistic/dualistic worldview. If they like apples, they'll insist Clinton burned apples orchards while Bush is a friend to apple farmers worldwide. IOW, they project their hatreds onto Clinton, and their loves onto Bush, never mind the facts. The DUers are the same.

Good thing I'm a libertarian, :-)

263 posted on 12/19/2003 11:45:12 PM PST by Commie Basher
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To: Liberal Classic
Let's zot all those libertarians. Why are they ever here in the first place?

Because conservatives claim to believe in less govt, less taxes, more liberty, and the Consititution -- and some libertarians are silly enough to take conservatives at their word.

264 posted on 12/19/2003 11:53:49 PM PST by Commie Basher
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To: Commie Basher
And the libertarians dive off the deep end yet again. As a party, they are hopelessly moronic.

I'm a conservative with libertarian leanings (I hate socialsim), but Browne is a total nut.

This is more proof they aren't ready for prime time and will soon be mentioned in same breath as Lyndon LaRouche.

265 posted on 12/19/2003 11:56:08 PM PST by Fledermaus (Fascists, Totalitarians, Baathists, Communists, Socialists, Democrats - what's the difference?)
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To: Commie Basher
and some libertarians are silly enough to take conservatives at their word.

And conservatives are silly enough to think the libertarians are serious, viable and important.

What a gaggle of pea-brains.

266 posted on 12/19/2003 11:58:14 PM PST by Fledermaus (Fascists, Totalitarians, Baathists, Communists, Socialists, Democrats - what's the difference?)
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To: Commie Basher
Because conservatives claim to believe in less govt, less taxes, more liberty, and the Consititution -- and some libertarians are silly enough to take conservatives at their word.

Good point.

Browne's article simply reminds me why I prefer the 'small l' to the 'capital L'.

267 posted on 12/20/2003 12:13:25 AM PST by Wormwood ("Howard Dean is proof that God endorses the Bush presidency" - Dick Morris)
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Comment #268 Removed by Moderator

To: BillyBoy
Sadly though, I think Gary Nolan will be the LP nominee for 2004.

Holy cow, really? The chief propagator of the Chicken Little theories about "Y2K?" If so, the LP is on its way to obscurity along with the remains of the Reform Party.

269 posted on 12/23/2003 11:11:02 AM PST by L.N. Smithee (Just because I don't think like you doesn't mean I don't think for myself)
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To: Commie Basher
Somehow it was assumed by politicians and the press, without explanation, that Hussein's capture has vindicated the Bush administration's attack on Iraq.

This is Brown's Strawman opening. A deep thinker he ain't.

270 posted on 12/23/2003 11:13:38 AM PST by savedbygrace
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To: Howlin
I disagree with your position, Howlin. Articles written from a viewpoint that stands in stark opposition to most of us here have always been posted on FR. At least they have the whole time I've been coming here, which was early fall 1997.

They give us good target practice, and as you know, the more practice you get, the better you are at hitting your target.

What's the point of a one-sided debate?

271 posted on 12/23/2003 11:36:51 AM PST by savedbygrace
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To: Commie Basher
I can say all these things too, but that doesn't make it so. No evidence is given for any of these points. Supervised media, yeah sure, in what way? It could be to protect the media from attack. You can make things sound bad when they may not be. The Libertarians need to dump Browne, he's been a loser since the beginning. He's old news, nobody new will vote for him. Step aside boy, and just be a manager or something. He's a crackhead whose only purpose is to legalize illegal drugs.
272 posted on 01/14/2004 8:35:09 AM PST by GigaDittos (Bumper sticker: "Vote Democrat, it's easier than getting a job.")
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Comment #273 Removed by Moderator


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