Hmmmm, anyone ever see these two in the same room?
Posted on 02/02/2006 2:24:48 PM PST by Toddsterpatriot
In keeping with its established role as purveyor of disinformation, Fox "News" talking head Brit Hume misreported Fox's own poll. On the Jan. 26 "Special Report," Hume said that 51 percent of Americans "would now support" air strikes on Iran.
What the poll found is that if diplomacy fails, 51 percent would support air strikes.
Can we be optimistic and assume that the American public would not regard an orchestrated failure by the Bush administration as a true diplomatic failure? Alas, we cannot expect too much from a population in thrall to disinformation. The "evidence" that Iran is pursuing nuclear weapons consists of mere assertion by members of the Bush administration and the neoconsevative media. Iran says it is not pursuing nuclear weapons, and the International Atomic Energy Agency inspectors have found no evidence of a weapons program (and they wouldn't lie, would they?).
Iran is a signatory to the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty. Under the treaty, signatories have the right to develop nuclear energy. All they are required to do is to make reports to the IAEA and keep their facilities open to inspection. Iran complies with these requirements.
There is no Iranian "defiance." When news media report "defiance," they purvey disinformation. The "seals" on Iranian nuclear facilities were placed there voluntarily by the Iranians while they attempted to resolve the false charges brought by the Bush administration.
The "Iran crisis" is entirely the product of the Bush administration's determination to deprive Iran of its rights as a signatory of the non-proliferation treaty. It is one more demonstration of President Bush's belief that his policies are not constrained by fact, law and international treaties.
Despite the clear and unambiguous facts, the Fox-Opinion Dynamics poll reports that 60 percent of Republicans, 41 percent of independents and 36 percent of Democrats support using air strikes and ground troops against Iran in order to prevent Iran from developing nuclear weapons.
This poll indicates an appalling extent of ignorance and misinformation among the American public(he's talking about himself again). The Bush administration will take advantage of this ignorance to initiate another war in the Middle East.
A majority of Americans have now been deceived twice on the same issue. Just as there was no evidence that Iraq was developing nuclear weapons, there is no evidence that Iran is developing nuclear weapons.
There is nothing but unproven assertions - assertions, moreover, that are contradicted by the evidence that does exist. Americans, it would appear, are so eager for wars that they welcome being fooled into them.
One wonders, also, where the 60 percent of Republicans, 41 percent of independents and 36 percent of Democrats think the United States will find the ground troops with which to invade Iran.
As the three-year-old "cakewalk war" in Iraq has made completely clear, the United States does not have enough ground troops to successfully occupy Iraq and to suppress a small insurgency drawn from a Sunni population of 5 million people.
We hear report after report from military authorities that the Iraq war is straining our armed forces to the breaking point. For example, a Pentagon study by Andrew Krepinevich (reported by The Associated Press on Jan. 24) concludes that the U.S. Army cannot sustain the pace of troop deployments to Iraq long enough to break the back of the insurgency.
Every military expert knows this to be true, although few dare to say it. If the U.S. military is at the breaking point from trying to deal with an insurgency drawn from 5 million people, how can Bush send ground troops into vastly larger Iran with a population of 70 million people?
It boggles the mind that a majority of Americans favor an impossible policy.
Another recent poll, a Los Angeles Times-Bloomberg poll, finds that 57 percent of the respondents "favor military intervention if Iran's government pursues a program that could enable it to build nuclear arms." Fifty-three percent of these same respondents believe it was not worth going to war against Iraq.
The poll thus reveals the American public as grist for the neoconservatives' war mill.
If a country can produce material for nuclear energy, it can, with additional facilities and knowledge, produce material for nuclear weapons. Thus, if Iran exercises its rights under the non-proliferation treaty, 57 percent of Americans support a U.S. military attack on Iran!
American politicians, whose strings are pulled by the American Israel Public Affairs Committee despite AIPAC's current engulfment in spying charges against the United States, are demanding that the United States attack Iran in order to protect Israel(Ahhhh, those pesky Joooos).
One excuse for these demands is the statement by the new Iranian president, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, that Europeans should give Israel a piece of Europe and move the country there.
His statement that Israel should be wiped out is one intended for Muslim ears, not a declaration of an Iranian program of action. The Iranian president is simply elevating Iran's standing among Muslims by taking advantage of the anger that President Bush has created against the United States and Israel.
The notion that Iran might march into Israel is laughable(Yeah, that's what we're worried about). Iran has four routes into Israel: through Turkey and Syria, through Iraq and Syria, through Iraq and Jordan (or Lebanon), and through Iraq, Kuwait and Saudi Arabia. Three of these routes are foreclosed by U.S. troops on the ground, and the fourth by the Turkish Army.
Moreover, Israel has never signed the non-proliferation treaty, and, unlike Iran, Israel does have nuclear weapons. An Iranian invasion of Israel could be fatal for Iran.
Why, then, is the American population being whipped up by the Bush administration and Fox "News" into war hysteria against Iran?
Fox is aggressively agitating for war with Iran. On shows such as "Hannity and Colmes," guest after guest - Newt Gingrich, various retired generals, pundits and even Democratic politicians - agitate for attacking Iran.
For example, on Jan. 26 and 27, liberal Democrat Bob Beckel said on Fox that the United States has "a moral obligation to take out what we could of Iran's nuclear capabilities." Newt Gingrich said that the Iranian "dictatorship" is "too dangerous" to leave "in charge of one of the world's largest supplies of oil."
On Jan. 27, Democratic strategist Pat Cadell expressed mystification as to how strongly the polls surged, literally overnight, in support for attacking Iran.
One wonders if Americans ever think of the consequences of the rash actions they favor. The Bush administration has placed Iraq in the hands of the majority Shia, who are allied with Iran, which is allied with Hizbollah, the strongest military force in Lebanon, which is friendly to Hamas, the new Palestinian authority.
What response might a U.S. attack on Iran bring from the Shia population in Iraq? What terrorism might Iran unleash throughout the Middle East? What U.S. puppets might fall?
What consequences might follow if Iran not only shuts off Iranian oil, but knocks out facilities throughout the region and blocks oil flows from the Middle East?
Compared to attacking Iran, attacking Iraq was a small, if reckless, risk. Nevertheless, the unexpected consequences of the U.S. invasion of Iraq have prevented the Bush administration from achieving its goals.
Osama bin Laden and al-Qaida must be marveling at the rank stupidity of the American people. Maybe Fox "News" only pretends to be the "ministry of war propaganda" for the Bush administration and is in the employ of al-Qaida, instead.
War is not strengthening America's position in the Middle East, as gains by extremists in Palestinian, Iraqi, Pakistani and Egyptian elections attest. There is no prospect of the Bush administration imposing its will on the Middle East.
In another Fox News poll, 99.999998% of Americans said, "Who is Paul Craig Roberts?"
And what, play tell, PCR, does an oil-rich nation want with enriched uranium reactors for electicity?
Hmmmm, anyone ever see these two in the same room?
Hasn't this guy retired yet. Made the mistake of reading him in the Washington Times right after 9/11 and thought, "who the heck is this guy, he's the most negative whiner in the world.
Now I just ignore him.
It's a good thing there are really smart guys like this Paul Craig Roberts guy who can fend off W's mind control and get the truth out thru the and over the walls of the right wing controled media.
No they haven't , Dirtbrain.
Roberts has lost his marbles, for some reason.
I have my suspicions that he is, shall we say, not overly fond of the Sons of Abraham - and that has colored his judgment profoundly. He ignores mountains of evidence (publicly available) that Iraq not only had, but sought additional materials required for the development of nuclear weapons. Is it believable that a megalomaniac like Saddam would not have even attempted such a thing?
It's a wonder he isn't a staff writer for The Nation yet or holding a professorship at Berkeley. Maybe he's vying with Krugman for a Nobel Prize in Economics, which will be awarded to the person who can endear himself to the left by bashing Bush the most.
here are the titles from his NewsMax archives. I'm surprised he hasn't fled the country or committed suicide yet, things are so bad, according to PCR
By the way, the most recent titles are at the top, the least recent (which began in early 2002) are at the bottom.
Catastrophe Looms
Syria in the Crosshairs
Land Mine in Patriot Act Provision
More War in the Works
Al Gore's Challenge to America
Evidence That 2004 Election Was Stolen
Bush Has Crossed the Rubicon
America's Superpower Days Are Over
A Gestapo Administration
Three Books to Wake You Up
Guilty When Charged
Christianity: The Greatest Gift for All
Bush's Rendition Policy
Condi to Europe: 'Trust Me'
Don't Confuse the Jobs Hype With the Facts
We Must Hold the Scoundrels Accountable
Destruction of Habeas Corpus in U.S.
Job Growth in U.S. at a Standstill
Libby's Indictment: Counterrevolution
The Police State Is Closer Than You Think
The Triumph of Ideology Over Reality
How the Neocons Took Over
The Greatest Strategic Disaster in U.S. History
America Is Running Out of Time
America Is Running out of Time
Will Neocon Fanaticism Destroy America?
From Federal Failure Arises More Federal Power
Impeach Bush Now
How New Orleans was Lost
Does Anyone Know What We Are Doing in Iraq?
Corrupted Justice
Get Ready for World War III
Why Is Cheney Lobbying for a Boost in China's Nuclear Capability?
Watching the Economy Crumble
Kelo's Implications Are Horrendous
The Kelo Calamity
Armageddon Gets No Press
Departing Iraq
U.S. Falling Behind Across the Board
China-Mart Takes Over
America's Descent Into the Third World
The No-Think Nation
Londoners Pay Heavy Price for Blair's Deception
A Defeat Bred in Deceit
Bush's War Against Iraq Ruining America
What Is Bush's Agenda in Iraq?
Americans Enabling Evil
If Pinochet Is Guilty, So Is Bush
FBI Creates 'Terrorists' With Entrapment
U.S. Labor Force: One Foot in the Third World
Washington Is the Source of Terror
Bush Opts for Civil War in Iraq
More Jobs Hype
Woodrow Wilson and George Bush
Outsourcing: A Greater Threat Than Terrorism
Job Drought Continues
Whither America?
Draft Needed to Bail Out the Cakewalk War
A Threat Greater Than Terrorism
America's Has-been Economy
U.S. Heading Toward Third World Economy
Is Bush Plunging Deeper Into the Quagmire?
America's Superpower Status Coming to an End
Bush Outfoxed by bin Laden
Sycophantic Media
The Great American Job Sellout
We Have Nothing to Fear but Bush Himself
More Bad News on the Jobs Front
Abandoning Liberty, Gaining Insecurity
Does Bush Mean It?
A Party Without Virtue
Our Troops Are Dying for Sycophants
How Americans Were Seduced by War
No Iraq 'Cakewalk'
Unbecoming Conduct
No Justice for Falsely Imprisoned
A Dose of Reality for Douglas Feith
Bush Losing His 'War on Terror'
Bush Has Created Bad Image of America
What Became of Conservatives?
Spreading the War to Iran?
Dollar's Value In Jeopardy
Continuing Distress on the Jobs Front
U.S. Moving From First to Third World
British Labour Party Hiring Our Army for Largesse
Economics: Science or Religion?
The War Against Men
Delusion Rules
Attention Deficit America
John Kerry, Do Your Duty
Thinking About Jobs
Podhoretz Turning Aggression into Virtue
A Letter to Readers
Lke War? Vote Republican
The Star Chamber Is Back
Foibles and Their Consequences
All Quiet on the Jobs Front
A Colossus With Weak Knees
The Jobs Question
The Process Did It
U.S. Employment Growth not Part of Global Economy
Democrat/Republican Role Reversal
Say Goodbye to the Attorney-Client Privilege
Assessing the Assessments
The Jobs That Aren't
Deceit in Jobs Numbers
Reagan Changed the World
Brown Myths Live in Law Schools
Watching the Economy Disintegrate
An Infamous Ruling
Bill Simon Reflects
A Third World Country in the Making
A Prison State, if not a Police State
Colonizing Iraq?
A Country Destroyed
An American Caesar
Feeling a Draft
Outsourcing Our Future
9/11 Incongruities
Terror War’s Legal Cost
The Missing Case for Free Trade
Outsourcing: A New Occupational Hazard
Another Defeat for the Justice System
The Passion’s Message
Order Without Law
Moving Our Economy Offshore
Where Did All the Jobs Go?
Propaganda
Fake Crimes
America the Unfree
Martin Luther King Day
Is Bush Doomed by the Neocons?
The Jobs Problem
Jailing the Innocent
The Greatest Gift of All
Forgive Us Our Injustices
Two Who Made a Difference
On the Road to Squanderville
A Cover-up That Won't Stay Covered
Neocon Propanda
America's New Agenda
Hold the Neocons Accountable
Hate-Crimes Bill Itself a Hate-Crime
Loss of Jobs in America
Why Africans Starve
Israeli Hubris
Rumsfeld Wants a Ministry of Truth
U.S. Policy Genocidal
America vs. the World
A Hegemon No More
Wisdom of the Father, Folly of the Son
The Cost of Disinformation
America Is for Aliens
Privatizing the Government
Stepping Into a Wider War
Did Airline Deregulation Fail?
The Trade Question
The Neocons Have Blown It
Trade Nothink
Turning Lawyers Into Government Spies
Jobless in the USA
A Nightmare on Film
Whither the Economy?
A Comedy of Injustice
Political Lying Still Has Consequences
Landmarking Tomfoolery
Michigan 'Compelling State Interest' Trumps Constitution
Don Regan: An Appreciation
The Job Problem
Kiss Your Rights Goodbye
What Goes Around Comes Around
Our Undemocratic Ally
A Superpower Without a Culture
Everyone a Criminal
Are the Good Times Over?
Gun Control: The Criminal Lobby
Democracy's Serfs
Our Undemocratic Democracy
A Strategic Blunder?
Will Bush Be Impeached?
Is Your Job Safe?
Notes for Free Traders
A Suicidal Country
An Immigration Dictatorship
The Union That Killed Education
Was It All Hype?
Consequences of War With Iraq: An Interview With Robert Higgs
Another Government Failure
Iraq: The Last Republican Hurrah
United States Leaving First World
The Importance of Being Balint
Convicting Wrongfully
Will the Dollar Fall Before Saddam Hussein?
Making the Economy Static
Constitution Lost to Politics
The Greatest Gift for All
Free Speech at a Crossroads
Hate and Ignorance at Vanderbilt
The Feudal Present
Immigration Corrupts
Europe R.I.P.
Measuring Freedom
Liberal Democracy's Final Hour?
A Leap In the Dark
Class Genocide Down the Memory Hole
Costly Immigration
How a Mantra Ate Justice
What? Me, Worry?
Criminalizing Business
Blinded by Hubris?
Stalled Engines of Economic Growth
What Are We Doing?
Whither the Economy?
Report Blasts Administration’s Iraq Strategy
Better to Think Before We Fight
Before Invading, Consider the Risks
Beware the Unintended Consequences
Comment: It's a Long, Hard Fall From the Top
LOL
There should be a "Pesky Joooooos" pinglist for the PCR and Roberts threads.
One has to have a pretty fevered mind to come up with all those articles.
I mean, the PCR and Buchanan threads.
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That would be a fun list, you should start it.
A couple of points: He quotes Gingrich. Gingrich is a fellow at AEI, a colleague of Richard Perle and a supporter of Iraqi Freedom. In fact, Gingrich called for a declaration of war shortly after 9-11. More recently, Gingrich has been extremely strong on dealing with Iran. I doubt that Gingrich agrees with a damn thing in this article.
Second, Newsmax has gone over to the neo-isolationist side. Their chief, Chris Ruddy, wrote an op ed about a year ago calling for an end to the "occupation" of Iraq, so we could deal with more important matters--like social security and medicare!
PCR is a good economist, but a complete ideologue on foreign affairs.
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