Paul Craig Roberts: Evil in Our Government [barf]

NewsMax ^ | 5-30-06 | Paul Craig Roberts

[Calif Conservative]

Evil in Our Government

Paul Craig Roberts Tuesday, May 30, 2006

Is the Bush regime a state sponsor of terrorism?

A powerful case can be made that it is.

In the past three years, the Bush regime has murdered tens of thousands of Iraqi civilians and an unknown number of Afghan ones.

U.S. Marines, members of our finest and proudest military force, are under criminal investigation for breaking into Iraqi homes and murdering entire families. In an unprecedented event, Gen. Michael Hagee, the Marine Corps commandant, has found it necessary to fly to Iraq to tell our best-trained troops to stop murdering civilians.

Hagee told the U.S. Marines: "We do not employ force just for the sake of employing force. We use lethal force only when justified, proportional and, most importantly, lawful."

The war criminals in the Bush regime have dismissed the murders as "collateral damage," but they are in fact murders. Otherwise, there would be no criminal investigations and the Marine commandant would not be burdened with the embarrassment of having to fly to Iraq to lecture U.S. Marines on the lawful use of force.

The criminal Bush regime has now murdered more Iraqis than Saddam Hussein. The Bush regime is also responsible for 20,000 U.S. casualties (dead, maimed for life and wounded).

Bush damns the "axis of evil." But who has the "axis of evil" attacked? Iran has attacked no one. North Korea has attacked no country for more than a half-century. Iraq attacked Kuwait a decade and a half ago, apparently after securing permission from the U.S. ambassador.

Isn't the real axis of evil Bush-Blair-Olmert? George Bush and Tony Blair have attacked two countries, slaughtering their citizens. Israel's Ehud Olmert is urging them on to attack a third country, Iran.

Where does the danger to the world reside? In Iran, a small religious country where the family is intact and the government is constrained by religious authority and ancient traditions, or in the United States, where propaganda rules and the powerful executive branch has removed itself from accountability by breaking the constitutional restraints on its power?

Why is the U.S. superpower orchestrating fear of puny Iran?

The U.S. government has spent the past half-century interfering in the internal affairs of other countries, overthrowing or assassinating their chosen leaders and imposing its puppets on foreign peoples.

To what country has Iran done this, or Iraq, or North Korea?

Americans think that they are the salt of the earth. The hubris that comes from this self-righteous belief makes Americans blind to the evil of their leaders. How can American leaders be evil when Americans are so good and so wonderful?

How many Serbs were slaughtered by American bombs released from high above the clouds, and for what reason? Who even remembers the propagandistic lies that the Clinton administration told us about why we absolutely had to drop bombs on the Serbs?

Wasn't it evil for the United States to bomb Iraq for a decade and to embargo medicines for children? When U.S. Secretary of State Madeleine Albright was asked if she thought an embargo that resulted in the deaths of 500,000 Iraqi children was justified, she replied, "Yes."

The former terrible tyrant ruler of Iraq, Hussein, is on trial for killing 150 people. The U.S. government murdered 500,000 Iraqi children prior to Bush's invasion. When the U.S. government murders people, whether Serbs, Branch Davidians at Waco, Texas, or Iraqi women and children, it is "collateral damage." But we put Hussein on trial for putting down rebellions.

Gentle reader, do you believe that the Bush regime will not shoot you down in the streets if you have a rebellion?

[.cnI redruM]

PCR has gone from intellectual brilliance to cheap, derogatory name calling. I was pondering how to respond to this bucket of sewage that ran as an editorial, but decided that the only fitting response to make to something this pathetic is derision.

[1rudeboy]

It's a shame Willie is not around to see it. Nonetheless, hanging on to this piece for the purpose of discrediting Mr. Roberts will be a marginal benefit at best. The true believers won't accept it ("a stopped clock is right twice a day," and all that nonsense--what is that? a confidence level of 0.0004%?). You can always Google . . . I mean, this guy's stuff is posted at counterpunch.org, and the Left gets hold of something like this it'll have the half-life of Carbon-14.

In other words, it's already clear to all who understand that a legitimate argument can be made that PCR's political "hatred" can be coloring his economic positions. I think the last time I pointed that out one of the believers accused me of attacking his character. More like credibility, but again, the point is lost on some.

What's more interesting to me is what has happened. Is his motivation purely ideological? It sounds too simple and, as someone mentioned above, PCR appeared to remain silent during the Clinton Admin. Whether it was simply timing, I don't know. Is it for the money? Maybe he has a kid to put through medical school. Ego? Maybe the cocktail-speaking circuit beckons. Is he being coerced? (I had to throw that one in simply to complete the analysis, but we do live in an age of political opponents accessing IRS/FBI files). A true mystery.

The Two Faces of Paul Craig Roberts [Free Republic], an economic perspective.

[LS]

What happened to this guy? In the 1980s he was sensible, but now, he's stark raving mad. Why does he hate Bush? More important, why does he hate America? Any ideas?

[veronica]

Paleo-CON foolishness.

[reagan_fanatic]

Oh, stuff a sock in it Roberts. I'm sick and tired of armchair generals like yourself slamming the President over the conduct of a war that you yourself or any of your liberal stooges could not have done any better, and most likely would have screwed up even worse.

We're at war. Mistakes are made. People die. Deal with it and shut up.

[kellynla]

The only response this article warrants is my tagline.

[Richard Axtell]

PCR thinks that if his columns reach the point of outright outrage and treason, and then surpass it, that someone... anyone will read them. Sorry doc, no soap. PCR is certifiably "Sheehan", which is to say, insane.

[Mr. Silverback]

Bush damns the "axis of evil." But who has the "axis of evil" attacked? Iran has attacked no one. North Korea has attacked no country for more than a half-century. Iraq attacked Kuwait a decade and a half ago, apparently after securing permission from the U.S. ambassador.

You know when you see a thread title like this that the article will be a fountain of dumb, but this exceeds any expectations.

Iran has attacked no one? Well, not with their army, but they attacked and occupied our sovereign territory in 1979 and treated our embassy personnel in a way far beyond the bounds of humane conduct. That action, though despicable, is dwarfed by their sponsorship of numerous terror organizations from the end of the Shah's reign to this very day.

North Korea? Ask Japan about peaceful North Korea. How would Roberts feel if Canada, which hasn't fought us since the 1814, decided to kidnap Americans so they could better train spies to operate in our territory? How does a country with concentration camps not land on a list of evil regimes?

Iraq? Puh-leeze! Iraq has been in a state of war against this nation from the moment our planes took off on the first night of the Gulf War. What kind of moron looks at a country that has been shooting at American pilots and trying to kill an American president and doesn't see an enemy? I'll answer that: A hateful little moron.

By Roberts' definition, the 9/11 attacks must not have happened, because Afghanistan didn't attack us.

[Mr. Silverback]

They send sappers to try to tunnel under the DMZ every now and then, but let's not quibble.

And I guess in PCR's world, kidnapping civilians from a nation (Japan) so you can force them to coach your spies isn't an attack. And a nation that puts Christians in concentration camps isn't "evil."

[GSWarrior]

Didn't this guy used to be on our side?

[murdoog]

Paul Craig Roberts has some sort of mental illness that is getting progressively worse. I am serious, the guy needs help.

I am kind of inclined to agree with you, and not just because of Roberts' unorthodox opinions.

I was initially opposed to the Iraq war, and while not 100% opposed to free trade, have my doubts. So I used to enjoy reading Robert's articles on these topics.

Somewhere along the line though, he went from being a rather interesting iconoclast to being strident and shrill to the point of lunacy. It's one thing to say going into Iraq was a bad idea, it's another to call Bush a terrorist.

I think maybe his feelings are hurt by the reaction of his old friends to his columns, and is dealing with it in the worst way possible.

[labard1]

Quite a number of libertarians have gone off the deep end on Iraq. I stopped supporting Cato Institute because of its anti-war position.

[Northern Yankee]

Hard to figure, isn't it?

[alrea]

North Korea has attacked no country for more than a half-century.

For years they have provided their people with a wonderful supply of bark to eat.

[Tokra]

Newsmax is a Catholic identity publication

.....and just what the hell is a "Catholic identity publication"?

[familyop]

".....and just what the hell is a "Catholic identity publication"?"

That's interesting. At least one priest asked the same thing about the trend, disagreed with it, and proceded to encourage personal spiritual beliefs over "identity." The following is an article in a more obvious example of such a publication--an article that I disagree with very much. There are many others out there like it.

THE MYSTERY OF THE JEWISH PEOPLE IN HISTORY
By Rev. Frs. Michael Crowdy & Kenneth Novak
Originally printed in the April 1997 issue of The Angelus magazine.
http://www.sspx.org/against_the_sound_bites/mystery_of_the_jews.htm

[Mr. Silverback]

Could you please come over here and explain why your website is being used to transmit this treasonous bilge?

Imagine if in 1945 the NYT had reported on how many GIs were being prosecuted for raping civilians in the European theater, and then blamed FDR for the rapes, called him a rapist (after all, poor Germany would have left us alone if he hadn't cozied up to Britian so much) and said he was the same as Hitler.

I don't see any difference between Roberts' comments here and that scenario. I also don't see how the Commander in Chief could be a terrorist but the troops under his command aren't. In other words, Mister Roberts is saying my nephew and my friends are terrorists, and he's doing it on your dime.

Don't give me any jazz about "Free Speech" or tell me how patriotic you are. NewsMax is a private enterprise that gets to decide what content it carries, and one of your columnists is giving aid and comfort to the enemy. Give me a reason any conservative, or any other patriotic American, should ever visit NewsMax again. Tell me why your site should not dry up from lack of traffic and die with a whimper because of this treason.

[Mr. Silverback]

I seconded it again in post 97. I say we ask him every day until he responds.

[Mr. Silverback]

Not just seditious, but dishonest. There are a number of things this guy says in the piece that are flat out lies or half-truths. Like the part about how none of the countries in the Axis of Evil have attacked anyone lately. With Iraq it's a lie; with Iran and North Korea it's only true if you narrowly consider attacks by armed forces against other armed forces in wartime.

I understand this guy is supposed to be a reliable conservative on many issues, but he makes Charles Lindbergh look like Winston Churchill. This requires an explanation.

[dighton]

Bumping as a reminder of the question, Why?