Thursday, September 13, 2012

The GOP sticks to the script

For more evidence that Nakoula's film was a deliberate Mossad/neocon ploy to incite a riot and propel Romney into office, look at John Podhoretz' column in the New York Post, Donald Rumsfeld's disgusting tweet, vile editorials like this one -- and, of course, Mitt Romney's continuing attacks. Despite the criticism they have faced, the Republicans have doubled down on the propaganda. All of the GOP's luminaries -- and all of their obedient wingnut bloggers -- have received the script. And they refuse to deviate from it.

Believe me, that script was written weeks ago, maybe months ago. This whole thing is an operation.

I mean, what the hell could Nakoula (freshly released from the joint) have hoped to gain for his co-religionists in Egypt? Did he really think that his inane film would cause all the Muslims in Egypt to slap their heads and shout: "Oh no! We've been following the wrong religion! Time to switch!"?

Anyone with any sense could have foreseen that this cinematic stunt would incite outrage, riots and persecution of the Copts. Nakoula -- or rather, his funders -- wanted to get people killed.

Incidentally, a friend of mine "in the industry" has seen the YouTube material and estimates the budget of Nakoula's film at around $30,000. I'd go higher, but not much higher. The rest of the $5 million budget was Nakoula's payoff. It's blood money. People like Nakoula make me wish that I believed in Hell, because that's where he belongs.

I'm watching the YouTube video right now. What dialogue! Shit like this is hard to watch without Rifftrax. The lunacy-filled script was obviously written by an Israeli fundamentalist -- either that, or it was written to please an Israeli fundamentalist backer. Even though the dialogue is often impenetrably weird, one message comes through clearly: "Jews good; Muslims bad." This movie ain't just a Coptic thing.

5 comments:

lambert strether said...

The AQ "connection" to the embassy attacks only appeared recently. One might speculate that this is the administation's effort to convert danger into opportunity by sending the Marines and whacking a few more AQ #2s....

Anonymous said...

Nailed on right.

But at least they havnt sold this one as thoroughly as the have sold other little operations. At least some people spotted the wizard behind the curtain...

Harry

Anonymous said...

As soon as Kurt Eichenwald's NYT story on the Bush administration's extreme negligence, if one can call it that, in the summer of 2001 appeared to grow legs, with Eichenwald appearing on numerous TV outlets on Tuesday, my first thought was, 'Time for a terror scare.'

So when I woke up Wednesday morning to see headlines glaring about a new attack, let's just say I wasn't surprised.

I wouldn't conflate the Republicans' opportunism as motive. Nor am I claiming that it was about the Eichenwald revelations. I'm just suggesting a possibility.

I would also consider just how threatening the Eichenwald revelation actually are. One of the big missed aspects of his reporting is that not only did the Neocons ignore imminent warnings, but actually expended energy trying to knock them down.

Perhaps the most amazing bit in the article is the revelation that Bush actually ordered the CIA to divert valuable time and resources away from the immediate threat to do a workup on the history of al Qaeda.

"But the president did not feel the briefings on potential attacks were sufficient, one intelligence official told me, and instead asked for a broader analysis on Al Qaeda, its aspirations and its history. In response, the C.I.A. set to work on the Aug. 6 brief."

If true, this goes well beyond negligence and suggests outright obstruction. One not need be a truther to recognize the damage these revelations can do not just to the right wing security establishment but to the underlying justification for the last 11 years of war and attacks on civil liberties and trillions spent.

Another factor is, regardless of the Republicans' attempts to seize on this for political gain, no astute political observer would assume that the events in Libya would necessarily harm Obama's re-election prospects. In fact, it is far more likely to give him a jingoist boost. So if this is merely a campaign ploy,designed to hurt Obama, I don't think it's a very wise one.

No, I'm more inclined towards the possibility that this was about damage control rather than presidential politics.

Anonymous said...

It follows occult Kabbalistic timelines. 11 years after 9/11, the neo Baal worshippers try to rekindle the magic.

Ken Hoop said...

Rummy's tweet was particularly disgusting in that his war was key in leading to the "weakness." But "disgusting" also was Obama's
illegal (but no more so than the Iraq intervention) intervention in Libya, and surge in Afghanistan, increasing the overstretch and weakness.

Romney also cheered the overthrow of Khadafi who had been lately pro-American and under whose rule no American embassies were attacked.

Bipartisan imperial hubris and accompanying karma.