Monday, September 18, 2006

An unacceptable comparison...?

"Time is running out" claims Bush, vis-a-vis a new terror attack. We may interpret this statement to mean that an election is coming up and Republicans may lose unless Big Wedding II occurs first. In the same speech, Bush said something worthy of further study:
"It's unacceptable," a visibly angered Bush told the press, "to think there's any kind of comparison between the behavior of the United States of America and the action of Islamic extremists, who kill innocent women and children to achieve an objective."
If W means to imply that Jihadists murder the innocent and "our" forces do not -- well, let's look at a few photos.

Here is a person (male? female?) murdered in a kitchen in Fallujah. She or he died the most agonizing death imaginable, for "Whiskey Pete" produces an unquenchable fire. There were many such victims: Watch the important documentary Fallujah: The Hidden Massacre here.

You may also want to scan the mainstream news stories collected here. Examples:
A hospital official said over 600 Iraqis were killed in Fallujah alone - mostly women, children and the elderly. (AP, April 12, 2004)
One woman, shot in the gut, was making rasping, gurgling noises as the doctors worked frantically to extract a bullet and patch the wound. All around were the sounds of muffled moaning. The clinic was running low on crucial supplies. The woman's small son had a bullet wound in the neck; his eyes glazed, he vomited continually as other doctors raced to save his life. The desperate work in the clinic continued, off and on, into the night as more victims arrived. (American Friends Service Committee, April 14)
Here is a picture of the corpse of a young Lebanese girl. We supported these Israeli atrocities and bear no small measure of responsibility.

This is an 18-month old Lebanese child, victim of Israeli aggression.

There are many such images on the web, if you care to seek them. While you look for the others, think of the hundreds of thousands of Lebanese forced from their homes, now demolished. Think of Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert bragging to his cabinet: "The claim that we lost is unfounded. Half of Lebanon is destroyed; is that a loss?"

(Alas, even Bill Maher repeats the lie that Hezbelloah provoked the Israeli response with pre-war rocket attacks.)

And then try to calculate how many more innocent Iraqis will die before Bush's misadventure concludes.

This blog will always condemn the inexcusable atrocities committed by the Islamic fundamentalists who back Bin Laden. I will also condemn the inexcusable atrocites committed by the Jewish fundamentalists who back Olmert and the Christian fundamentalists who back Bush. If justice prevailed, the World Court would condemn all three men to spend the rest of their lives in prison cells surrounded by images of their victims.

Osama has killed his thousands of while Bush and Olmert have killed their tens of thousands. Comparison is not just acceptable; it is necessary.

5 comments:

Anonymous said...

Uh-oh, now you've done it (again). You really don't want donors do you, Joseph?

Friends, let this post be a reference point for all of you honestly claiming that Joe here has taken a pay-off to toe the so-called "Party line" WRT explanations for September 11th. And come on. Should a blogger this gutsy go without proper support? PayPal doesn't like me, so I can't offer that support yet, but some of the rest of you can, I know it.

Anonymous said...

It is undoubtedly true that the primary cause of such atrocities is corporate greed masquerading as marketplace efficiency. It has been thus, so far as the US is concerned, for at least the last century or so. But in the 60's that began to change, exposed for what it was.

And then the counter-revolution began. Let there be no mistake about this: it could never have been successful without the enthusiasisic cooperation of the fundamentalist Christians. It was they who gave Reagan, Bush I and II, and their corrupt corporate friends the moral legitimacy they needed to crush the rising dissent and ethics of liberal humanism.

Creatures like Bush and Rove are certain to become carcasses on the landfills of history. In the long run they will be revealed as what they are. It isn't them we need to denounce. But we must denounce those who gave them their license, who exalted them, who so eagerly praised their faith and morals.

The reality wars are coming.

Anonymous said...

One wonders how long it will take in this country for *any* national figure to stand up and say, yes, the actions of the U.S. *are* as reprehensible as those of the Islamic extremists, particularly from the point of view of the victims.

The main difference being, "we" operate on an immeasurably larger scale. Thousands, Joseph? If you count American anti-civilian atrocities post WWII, it adds up to millions of dead.

Of course, there's no comparison between *civil* society in the U.S., and the world envisioned by Bin Laden (or our Saudi, Egyptian or Israeli allies). But that's despite the best efforts of BushCo, not because of them.

Anonymous said...

It's interesting to me how news of LOTS of bodies with evidence of torture were "discovered" recently in Iraq. That news just before the Bush push for legalizing torture. Well, not only did I not connect the two in the above respect until now, the thought HAD crossed my mind as to whether "we" were responsible for that.

Miss P.

Anonymous said...

Bill Maher is a joke. He has proven himself time and time again, in the past 2 seasons, to be a total shill. And a sneaky one at that. When Charlie Sheen was interviewed last April on the radio about his questions concerning 9-11, the very next week Maher had 3 jokes about Charlie Sheen meant to minimize and discredit him. Since that time, I have seen this same tactic used to put down anybody who tries to seek the truth outside what we are fed by the "Establishment".

Maher is especially crooked when it comes to being honest when it comes to anything to do with Israel. His interview with Netanyahu was especially sickening in a brown nosing type of way. I guess he learned his lesson from ABC. Now he's beholden to HBO and their Israeli bias.