Why I Didn't March This Time (Nat Hentoff)

The Village Voice ^ | March 28th, 2003 | Nat Hentoff

[veronica]

FYI.

[syriacus]

Thanks for posting this.

[Rocko]

Bumped and bookmarked.

[EternalVigilance]

Ah, once again we have a sighting of that most elusive of creatures--the honest liberal.

Nice post.

[EaglesUpForever]

Wow, some good points. Underscores just how extremely far off base France, Germany, Russia, and much of the rest of the world is by claiming they're "pro-Peace." In fact, they were merely "pro-Status Quo" which is functionally "pro-Torture", "pro-Rape" and "pro-Dictatorship."

Another factor that tends to be left out of the Iraq debate (by the pro-Torture crowd) is the fact that we already had a war going on, a war that the US and Britain largely continued on behalf of the international community. That could not have been called "peace" either.

I get the impression the world is jealous of US power, and has scapegoated us out of pure jealous rage, without paying a moment's notice to the depth of the situation. And some "protestors" in this country are just dumb enough (and knee jerk anti-authority enough) to fall for the ravings of our jealous former fake allies. Sad, in the short term, but truth will win out in the end.

[headsonpikes]

"I wonder...what their[anti-war demos] support for the Iraqi opposition amounts to."

They'll go so far as to speak well of them once they're dead.

They're highly moral, don't you know?

[Cool Guy]

BUMP!

[Revolting cat!]

Well, they were wrong on the Vietnam War too! We should ask these Johnny-come-latelys how come the North Vietnamese, Cambodian and Laotian Communist atrocities were hunky dory and the Iraqi ones aren't! (Yeah, yeah, I know that Hentoff is against abortion and for this and that, but...)

[Illbay]

Nat Hentoff: One of the few people about whom you may use these two words in the same sentence: "Honest Liberal."

[Illbay]

Ooh. Great minds think alike.

[Illbay]

You don't understand! They provided the people Free Health Care!

[samtheman]

I hate to break it to him, but George Bush is doing this for all the right reasons.

[baseballmom]

Well, I agree with Nat on this issue.

Bump

[Revolting cat!]

Do you remember the exact quote that made its rounds a few years back (I saw it here too) which went something like this (a clumsy attempt at recollection):

"Wherever in the world there are heads being bashed, the Left will tell you that the heads receive free health care and education"

[Bonaparte]

"They'll go so far as to speak well of them once they're dead."

Exactly. Just as they spoke well of the two-and-a-half million Vietnamese who were slaughtered by the communists once the "anti-war" crowd forced our withdrawal from that country. Who doesn't remember the airhead Joan Baez going on about how horrible it all was and how "we had no idea"? This is the same Baez who now shares the "peace" rally stage with Martin Sheen, supporting the continued genocide against the people of Iraq.

[Dont Mention the War]

Nat Hentoff has always been that rarest of breeds: The honest liberal.

[piasa]

Ah, once again we have a sighting of that most elusive of creatures--the honest liberal.

Elusive Chupracabra Liberal bump...(they only suck blood part-time)

[Cicero]

The only thing I would disagree about is this: "The UN is crucial for feeding people and trying to deal with such plagues as AIDS."

This seems very doubtful to me. The UN food programs do nothing that individual nations and charitable organizations couldn't do more directly. In fact the UN takes a large rakeoff for expenses, and often has been accused of incompetence and corruption in these operations.

As for AIDS, it has been obvious for some time that distributing condoms and telling people to enjoy indiscriminate sex helps to spread AIDS, not prevent it. Wherever the UN population controllers and sex educators have gone, things have gotten much worse.

[MizSterious]

Very worthy read!