Libertarian Harry Browne: Bush Did Not Liberate Iraq

HarryBrowne.org ^ | Dec 15, 2003 | Harry Browne

[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?

[GeronL]

, the LP's position would be akin to one shrugging it's shoulders

Not 'akin' nit literally

[Guillermo]

Harry Browne should do the right thing, and that right thing is called seppuku.

[Normal4me]

Gee, reading this drivel, you'd think we were at WAR or something!

[Cultural Jihad]

Coward Dean for President on the moral-liberal L.P. ticket in 2004! ;-)

[Gunslingr3]

Anyway, all the above proves is that the Libertarian Party is not for serious people. It peaked in 1980 with about a million votes - and its been downhill ever since, which is a good thing.

Yeah, the Republocrat welfare/warfare state is much better than liberty.

[cartoonistx]

And to think that at one time I considered myself a Libertarian. What was I thinking?!

[Chad Fairbanks]

Harry Browne is a putz who's sole reason for existing is to make Libertarians look foolish.

[Cultural Jihad]

There's nothing wrong with so-called 'safety nets' although personal responsibility is even better, and laws which encourage personal responsibility and which discourage personal irresponsibility are all fine.

[Conservababe]

So, who is the Libertarian candidate President?

[gatorbait]

Why is this crap continually allowed on here?

So those of us who can actually think can be exposed to the loony tunes cogitations. The same kind of loony tunes who backed Perot and refuse still to admit they helped elect Billy Bolshevik twice.

[Cultural Jihad]

So, who is the Libertarian candidate President?

If you want predictions: Ralph Nader.

[eyespysomething]

ditto.

I am personally libertarian, morally conservative. There is a divulgence in the LP.

Some don't even want Neal Boortz to speak at the LP Convention in Atlanta. Fools.

[Shooter 2.5]

Mohammad: How exactly, will leaving Saddam in power, promote peace and justice in Iraq?

Andrea: Um, again, what i need to say is that...

Mohammad:No, now you are obfuscating...

Andrea: regime change, listen...

Mohammad: How exactly, will leaving Saddam...

Andrea: regime change, regime change is the issue for the Iraqi people. How will bomb...How will bombing Iraq help bring peace and justice in bombing thousands of people and killing thousands of innocent people.

Mohammad: I will explain it to you if you like me to answer your question since you are choosing not to answer mine.

Host: Okay, let him ...let him explain Let Mohammad explain how bombing will work...

Mohammad: Since you are choosing...Since you are chosing to play pingpong and not answer my question, little girl. I will answer yours. There will be civilian deaths in the war. Saddam has killed 2 million people. There are families here in this country who lost 20 or 30 people on one day in a gas attack by Saddam Hussein. Little girl. And I will tell you this, yes, civilians will die, my cousins will die. Maybe, Allah forbid. But here is a certainty that you do not understand in your simplistic nickleodeon diplomacy is that you are guaranteed to have civilians die under Saddam. So now you try again to answer my question without playing the pingpong. How does leaving Saddam in power promote peace and justice in Iraq?

A: I mean, I guess what folks who listen to this show are saying or here are calling in or saying...
M: I'm not asking what folks listening to this show say...
A: ...you know...
M: ...can you answer the question, little girl.
A: ...huhuhuhu...
M: Oh now you laugh at people dying...
A: Well, no what I'm,...
M: ...you are unable to answer the question...
A: ...what I'm laughing at is that is seems like you need to um, personally attack me to make your point.
M: I do not want advice from you, I'm not giving you advice...
A:...so what what I want to say...
H: well, I I have I have I hav... Here well Mohammad Mohammad, let me le me pose this way Andrea, I have the feeling that if you just answer his question he'll be happy...
A: ...huhuhu...
H: ..and I'm by the way, I'm not abated by your laughter
M: you know, is that laughter in the background?
A: you know what I believe is ... that bombing and killing people is not gonna bring peace and justice...
M: You cannot answer the question, you are a joke. You are a joke you cannot answer the question...
A: ...what what I also believe is that there are other alternatives if we can pursue..
M: You who cannot answer the question, you are a joke. You are a joke. I would give you one more chance and then I never listen to another word you say again, you chirping bird.
A: ...okay, and I just want to say although you are um.
H: How How How How will promoting peace and How can you promote peace and justice without removing Saddam, thats his question its real simple Andrea.
A: ...and when I'm...huhuhu...
H: you are not... hahaha
M: listen to the laughter of this little bird who justifies herself...
A: You guys...
H: hey... I... I dont I don't see why its so hard, Andrea.
A: I don't think...I don't think that you know calling somebody a little bird is gonna help address the serious question that millions of people are worried about...
M: ...you have not heard the serious questions.
A: ...millions of people are worred about the consequences of a war. Okay, millions of people are worried about..
M: ... No I'm not okay with you not answering the question
A: ...bombing bombing and killing many people and millions of people are worried about increasing security threats to people in the United States if we go to war, and additionally I don't um..
H: Sure Sure Sure I We We're We're We're retreading the same territory, the the the yeah we're retreading but you're not you're not...
M: ...bustering little girl
A: ...huhuhu...
H: You're you're not answering the question. Andrea, Andrea, Andrea you can continue to petulantly ... gale in laughter but you have to admit you are not answering his question
A: Well...I'm I'm I'm laughing at him calling me a little girl and I think that you guys ...
H: Well, you're coming off, you're coming off like my 9 year old niece.
A: The only it seems like the only focus we can have here is Saddam Hussein and the fact is that Iraqi are...
M: That is the focus of the war. Do you understand one thing about anything? That is the focus of the war.
A: ...the people who are gonna be killed in this bombing campaign. And what I said is war is that there are alternatives.
H: Cure..Cure...Curiously Andrea, you're, yeah, alright but curiously you are talking to a guy from Iraq and you are telling him that peace and justice will somehow remove the guy that is the reaosn he had to emigrate here. Is that what you are saying?
A: What i'm saying is that...
M: Now she repeats herself again.
A: ...if we pursue peace and justice for the Iraqi people through international law, through diplomacy...
M: International law has failed, Andrea.
A: ...through pressure, through various um, different initiatives, if we can pursue them in North Korea if we can pursue them in Israel and Palestine and all over the world we can pursue them in Iraq.
M: And can I say one more thing before I hang..
A: ...and I also... and..
H: Oh and absolute...No no no Andrea, Mohammad has to go he's a caller, he gets to go you have been on for for 45 minutes. Go ahead go ahead, Mohammad go ahead
M: If you.. If you personally end up going to the gulf, Allah will bless you because Saddam is a pretend muslim and everybody knows this. And for the listeners who hear this girl and she thinks I insult her with the term. I do not insult her, being a little girl is natural, we all start out children and we learn and grow. But she has no point lecturing me on what will happen in Iraq or lecturing you. This why this so called peace movement, they cannot even justify their own name. And i will remind you, if they leave Saddam in power they guarrantee death if he is removed there will be some, but for a short time, and the Iraqi people are ready and they will welcome the Americans, including if Allah forbid Brian ah Suits goes. So Andrea do not take it as being an insult that you are a little girl, you are simply not ready for the adult world. Thank you Brian.
H: Ah. Thank you Mohammad, what he's refering to Andrea is that tomor.. tomorrow night is my final night here at KVI, my , I I'm being called up by the Army National Guard I was in the first Desert Storm I pray to God I'm not in the second one I just wonder as I say in 10 years will people shake my hand and say thanks for my freedom or will they shake your hand, neither you nor I know.

[breakem]

.........laws which encourage personal responsibility and which discourage personal irresponsibility are all fine. Oxymoron alert!

[Cultural Jihad]

So the Libertarian position is that personal irresponsibility is some kind of right? No wonder their shabby political product is regularly ignored by the electorate.

[Conservababe]

If they lose Boortze...I am laughing so hard. He is soooo proud of being Libertarian.

[PSYCHO-FREEP]

I believe you took a wrong turn!

Smurfville is over at DU now.........They are also giving away free tinfoil hats for new members. (I thought that would interest you)

[dighton]

Ah, yes!

"I never listen to another word you say again, you chirping bird."

[Gunslingr3]

There's nothing wrong with so-called 'safety nets'

Stealing is alright, if enough people agree with it. This is the fundamental tenet of democracy, and why it is forever at odds with individual rights.

[Mr. Mojo]

lol......fringe nonsense from a fringe party. Actually, the LP used to be a fringe party. Now they're too irrelevant for even that designation.