Andrew McCarthy at the National Review points out another change in the Administration’s war on man made disasters, formerly known as the War on Terror. He is swapping live enemy prisoners — facilitators of the Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps operation guilty of murdering American captives — for dead hostages. These Iranian special forces raided an American base disguised as friendlies, carted away prisoners and executed them when the rescue forces were hot on their tail. They were captured by the coalition and for a moment the scales were balanced by the avengers. But retribution and victory are so yesterday. Let McCarthy take up the story.
On Jan. 20, 2007, five American soldiers were killed and three seriously wounded in Iraq. As Bill Roggio relates at the Long War Journal, it was a daring operation: a twelve-man terrorist team disguised as U.S. servicemen attacked our troops as they held a previously arranged meeting with local officials in Karbala. Four of the soldiers were alive when they were abducted from the scene. They were handcuffed and murdered in a remote location when the coalition forces attempting to rescue them closed in.
Given the sophistication of the raid and the intelligence required to pull it off, it was a virtual certainty that the mullahs’ special forces, the Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps, were behind it. More than a decade earlier, in concert with Hezbollah (Iran’s forward terrorist militia), the IRGC had bombed the Khobar Towers in Saudi Arabia, killing 19 members of the United States Air Force. In Karbala, the IRGC had relied on what Michael Ledeen of the Foundation for Defense of Democracies aptly calls its “most lethal element,” the Quds (Jerusalem) Force, in combination with a burgeoning, Hezbollah-like network of local Shiite terrorists.
This was confirmed two months later when U.S. forces captured Ali Mussa Daqduq, a high-ranking veteran of Hezbollah, in Basrah. As Roggio explains, Daqduq had been tasked by Iran to organize a network of terror cells to strike coalition forces in Iraq. The network would operate under the direction of Qais Qazali. Qazali and his brother, Laith Qazali, were captured along with Daqduq.
You can guess what is coming next.
The Obama administration has not only released Laith Qazali, it has been in negotiations to release his brother, Qais Qazali, as well. The negotiations and release were carried out in flagrant disregard of the longstanding policy against exchanging prisoners for the release of hostages. Undermining that policy endangers all American troops and civilian personnel — as well as the troops and civilian personnel of our allies — by encouraging terrorists to kidnap them to use as bargaining chips.
The story of this deal with the devil traces back to May 31, 2007. At the Iraqi finance ministry in Baghdad that day, the Asaib al-Haq network kidnapped five British civilians: an information-technology expert named Peter Moore and his four contract bodyguards. The civilians pleaded for the British government to engineer their safe return. British, American, and Iraqi forces were unsuccessful in numerous rescue attempts.
Asaib al-Haq operatives told Iraqi-government officials that they would release the Brits in exchange for the Qazali brothers and Daqduq. The Bush administration refused. The Times of London has reported that the Americans gave the British request respectful consideration but declined to approve it absent an Iraqi commitment to prosecute the terrorists. The Iraqis refused. Mohammad al-Sa’ady, an adviser to Iraqi prime minister Nouri al-Maliki, rationalized the decision to take no action against the murderers of Americans who died fighting for Iraqis this way: “We pointed out that Qais Qazali has a problem with the Americans. He doesn’t have a problem with us. He is not wanted for crimes against Iraqis.”
By contrast, President Obama was persuaded to free Laith Qazali outright, just as Obama previously had authorized the outright release to Britain of the al-Qaeda terrorist Binyam Mohammed, who had plotted with “dirty bomber” José Padilla to commit post-9/11 mass-murder attacks in American cities. And although the administration has attempted to pass off Laith Qazali’s release as a necessary compromise of American national interests for the purportedly greater good of Iraqi reconciliation, the camouflage is thin indeed. Transparently, the terrorist has been freed as a quid pro quo for the release of British hostages. According to the New York Times, Sami al-Askari, another Maliki mouthpiece, told an interviewer:
This is a very sensitive topic because you know the position that the Iraqi government, the U.S. and British governments, and all the governments do not accept the idea of exchanging hostages for prisoners. . . . So we put it in another format, and we told them that if they want to participate in the political process they cannot do so while they are holding hostages. And we mentioned to the American side that they cannot join in the political process and release their hostages while their leaders are behind bars or imprisoned.
That President Obama has exchanged a terrorist for hostages is now obvious, as should be the disastrous consequences.
But despite the goodwill gesture, the British prisoners were not released. Instead, their partners for peace released a pair of corpses. “The Asaib al-Haq network was unsatisfied; it continued to demand the release of its leader, Qais Qazali, and that of Daqduq. The terrorists did, however, release two of their British hostages, or, to be precise, their corpses: Jason Creswell of Glasgow and Jason Swindlehurst of Lancashire had been dead for weeks, perhaps longer, when their remains were turned over to the British embassy in Iraq.”
McCarthy ends with the call “where is Congress?” Under the dome of the Capitol, physically at least. It is on its face, the trade is a lopsided deal. Some will argue the release of the Qazalis is mere earnest money for some kind of Grand Bargain with Iran the administration is still working out; a prize so glittering that it will be worth all the sacrifices and goodwill gestures offered so far, could we but patiently wait for that hope and change that cooler and wiser heads than ours are pursuing. But current events have tended to cast doubt on the power of the Obama Administration to foresee events. Not to put too fine a point on it, it makes them look like a bunch of dupes for a cheap used car salesman. If the current masters of the Revolutionary Guard Corps remain in the saddle, the good news is that the deal is on; the bad news is that the deal is on with the most untrustworthy people possible.
I think it’s probable that the Administration has been had, or worse, they don’t even know they’ve been had.
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56 Comments
1. whiskey:Obama is not a dupe. He’s a MUSLIM. He’s on the other side.
Obama hates America.
Obama hates Americans (White ones at least).
Obama is on the side of terrorists.
What else is their to say?
Jun 24, 2009 - 5:32 pm 2. trangbang68:Played like a freakin’ drum, turning loose the killers of American soldiers. The only alternative to the criminal folly of the Obama administration is next time we apprehend one of these scumbags give him .556 mm message behind the ear or in the forehead.
Jun 24, 2009 - 5:36 pm 3. wretchard:What else is their to say?
Well, invitations formerly sent to Iranian diplomats to attend to the Fourth of July hot dog parties have been rescinded. So it’s not as if the administration isn’t doing anything. So to speak. However, there are indications that the Iranian diplomats didn’t want to go in the first place.
Jun 24, 2009 - 5:42 pm 4. winslow:The cultural streams that have created this nation are robust. However, not invulnerable. The constant onslaught of the main stream media and the ignorance and indifference of a majority of the populace do not bode well for our future. How can anyone be surprised at yet another example of Obama’s acts that undermines our nation?
I don’t agree with all of Whiskey’s comments, but i cannot find any fault with this one.
Jun 24, 2009 - 5:48 pm 5. maineman:I have to say, Whiskey, that it’s looking more plausible that you may be right. I still vote for the unconscious motivation, though.
Like, what about the fact that there are all sorts of other people involved in these decisions? They can’t all be Muslim now, can they? Are they just afraid to tell him they think he’s crazy, or are they all, including Barry, just infected with early ’80s leftist stupidity?
Jun 24, 2009 - 5:50 pm 6. Marcus Aurelius:I thought it was well within Geneva Convention conventions to shoot those who disguise themselves thusly.
Oh well, I guess the notion is if the GC cripples us we must adhere to it supra-scrupulously if it favors us then we must ignore it in such a fashion to disadvantage us.
Why those guys were simply imprisoned baffles me. They should have been interrogated and then shot.
Jun 24, 2009 - 5:51 pm 7. Ashen:From: Obama
To:Fascist Leaders of Iran
You can’t come to my birthday party now, so there!
Jun 24, 2009 - 5:52 pm 8. Hellfish:If obama were a muslim what would he do different?
Jun 24, 2009 - 6:17 pm 9. Unsk:On the day when Buraq’s BFF’s, the Regime, really clamped down and went ballastic, shooting and clubbing allegedly hundreds if not thousands of protesters in the streets, we hear our Dear Leader Buraq Hussein has been wantonly and submissively MEDDLED with Iran again. Oh nooooo! We can’t speak out against the Regimes’ massacres; that would be unnecessarily provacative. But we can negotiate with their despicable terrorists, no less, who murdered our brave men in uniform. And btw, just to rub America’s nose in it, we get very little in return.
Our Dear Leader is pissing on the graves of our fallen soldiers just to do his stupid deal. Any excuse to sell out America. Atta’ boy Buraq. Buraq said today, after all that has happened, that Iran still can turn back and be welcomed with open arms if they just respect the protesters appropriately. ya right- respect them after they’re dead.
Frigging Unbelieveable.
This is a very big deal. When you cravenly and unnecessarily put the lives of your soldiers in jeopardy and degrade the memory of our fallen in the process, why would you expect those same soldiers to die for you when the country is at risk.
This is a very big deal that we’re surely not going to hear anything about it on the State Run Media. They won’t get it and they won’t care.
Jun 24, 2009 - 6:17 pm 10. buckets:I would think that the men and women wearing a U.S. military uniform will, at some point, start questioning the character of their Commander in Chief.
Jun 24, 2009 - 6:54 pm 11. what is occupation:Ok folks here is the plan..
Whereas it is recognized that ALL that America stood for is being destroyed from the INSIDE out by those that seek American Dhimmihood…
Whereas WE are LOYAL Americans and WILL not violate our laws and behave as the enemies we detest…
We hereby shall do the following:
Allow our compromised troops to fight with one arm tied behind their back however we as private citizens shall in fact take on the concept of cybernet humiliation of Islamic jihadists..
Videos on UTUBE, Webblogs should at once start rumors and leaks talking about a ultra secret plan to use pork oil injected in all USA made munitions. These MPEGS, Jpegs and blogposts should be as real and authentic as possible. True believing moslem terrorists should be scared shitless by the thought that their Jihaded bodies are violated after death.
Does this sound childish? to western ears maybe…
Remember you are dealing with a culture that believed that Jews arranged and controlled the world trade center crash, that barbie dolls are a zionist plot, that cartoons of their prophet caused riots and hundreds of deaths of their own..
In a more historic point of view they actually believe that mohammed took a comet to heaven and that mohammed turned jews into pigs and monkeys…
In war you USE what they enemy BELIEVES not what you believe…
We as citizens, MUST start vicious rumors about pig fact injected ammo, pig skin burials, shark feedings of jihadists…
there are several other ideas to use their mass hysteria over…
Jun 24, 2009 - 6:55 pm 12. Hanoi Paris Hilton:Yo, Trangbang. Try to control yourself. That kind of bloodthirstiness is unbecoming to an old soldier. And it’s 5.56 mm, not .556, which of course you must know.
Jun 24, 2009 - 7:03 pm 13. dan:imagining for a minute that obama is being sincere in his gestures, it is amazing how much mullah ass he is prepared to kiss. i wonder what he really believes he’ll be getting in return for this – or what’ll happen when he gets absolutely nothing…
Jun 24, 2009 - 7:12 pm 14. Dave the Kapampangan:There are three options in diplomacy:
Option A) Guns, no butter. Threats that are credible generally deter bad guys, although violence is not the prefered solution for the good guy.
Option B) Butter, with threat of guns in the background in case of betrayal. This is the prefered solution, as long as the price of butter isn’t too high, or there is some mutual benefit.
Option C) Butter, with threat of more butter in case of betrayal. This solution doesn’t work because the bad guy escalates his attacks in the hopes of getting higher and higher appeasement payments.
Obananarama– the inexperienced freshman Senator whose “audacious” boasting and outrageous promises netted him the presidency only four years later– naively painted himself into a corner by outlawing the words “terror” or “war” in favor of “man made disasters.” Obananarama selected Option C (Butter and more butter only) and is now in the position of having to send appeasement letters and appeasement payments to the bad guys because he took all other options off the table.
Obananarama’s first appeasement letter was a secret letter, sent prior to the Iranian election, saying that the USA would gladly rubber stamp Achma-di-nutjob as the rightful ruler of Iran (despite the fraudulent elections). Achma-di-nutjob and Khameini saw this is a green light to murder the opposition, since there would be no repercussions.
When the students revolted, Obananarama was in a panic because if the student overthrew the dictator, his appeasement letter would be seen as the Neville chamberlain-type Option C appeasement that it really is. But if the dictator managed to put down the revolt, Obananarama’s letter could be spun as “keeping the channels open.”
So Obananarama found himself in the curious position of being an American president who, for the next few days, was crossing his fingers and “hoping” that the evil anti-American dictator Achma-di-nutjob would slay the freedom-loving innocent victims.
As part of Option C, the former freshman senator is also naiively releasing live terrorists in exchange for corpses. Peace in our time! Hope and change! Especially appeasement-based hope.
Jun 24, 2009 - 7:22 pm 15. Bohemond:“The only alternative to the criminal folly of the Obama administration is next time we apprehend one of these scumbags give him .556 mm message behind the ear or in the forehead.”
By “scumbags” I trust you mean members of the Obama administration?
Jun 24, 2009 - 7:24 pm 16. RWE:This is a case where the oft-used slippery slope arguement applies.
Once you start giving in to their demands then it is so easy to just give them a little more, figuring this next contribution will do the trick.
It’s like the old broken Coke machine problem. It took your first 25 cents and then your next quarter and gave you nothing but if you put in another dime will it finally give you something, anything? And it no longer matters if it is the cold can of Coke you wanted or a warm Mountain Dew; you’re too invested in the machine to care. Someone should do a cartoon about Obama like that.
Jun 24, 2009 - 7:25 pm 17. Walt:This sort of thing’s right up his alley
Jun 24, 2009 - 7:41 pm 18. dan:Freeing killers like Qazali
Siding with the killers of our guys
Selling out the brave protesters
Smiling while the murder festers
Acting like a Muslim in disguise
I’m not sure, I have no reason
Thinking that it’s surely treason
Possibly there’s something up his sleeve
Something grand beyond imagine
Some grand prize he’ll soon be cadgin’
Fooling those poor mullahs who believe
That he’s with them and against us
That he’s shackled and he’s fenced us
Into places where we can’t get out
And then when they try something bigger
Obama smiles and pulls the trigger
And all comes down with one enormous shout
The nukes are gone and so are Quds
The bad guys out and in the goods
The rotten Middle East in smithereens
Oh wouldn’t it be nice to think
That when it comes it’s they who blink
Excuse me while I wake up from my dreams
For I am bound to say out loud
That O and all his lefty crowd
Have taken our fair country round the bend
They’ve taken up the Muslim course
Who call our death without remorse
And who can tell just where it all will end
i view the letter as consistent with obama’s stated policy with the islamic revolution: we’ll talk to you, we apologize.
if the regime had been toppled, that is how he’d describe the letter, and the explanation would have been accepted by the usuals.
but in my opinion the most absurd demonstration of just how abject obama is prepared to be is best illustrated by the release of these Quds prisoners. presumably the mullahs said (if O did not himself propose it) something like, “ok, if you really want to show good faith, you’ll do something really sleazy like release our assassins.” and O probably just said, “ok, deal.”
the whole transaction is sordid, but not as sordid as the quality of soul this president demonstrates. i personally believe he is sincere, he’s just very gullible and a dupe. i remember back in my Columbia days when i had only a vague notion of rejecting the intellectual and moral atmosphere of the place, but i too was vulnerable to what seemed like sophisticated and persuasive arguments in favor of appeasement – i would not even have known there was another side, that the side i might go along with was just a pathetic cartoon version of reality, had i not done a crapload of reading on my own. but there are many scum in who have obama’s ear who make sure he believes all warnings about the mullahs’ cynicism and duplicity is itself cynical and duplicitous, and therein lies our present danger.
the mullahs – and the russians and chinese, among others – will absolutely exploit this worse than they did Kennedy’s similar stupidity. let’s hope this is a quick 4 years.
Jun 24, 2009 - 7:46 pm 19. Thrasymachus:I’m not sure that conservatives realize how strong an influence pacificism has in America. There is a certain kind of Christianity that emphasizes everything must be forgiven, and revenge or punishment must never be administered. It is associated with political liberalism and is especially strong in the Midwest.
Obama’s grandfather was a Communist but I think his grandparents should be thought of primarily as Midwestern pacifist liberals. Too much attention is paid to his mother and father in trying to understand what shaped him; he was raised by his grandparents and I think their influence was more important.
My mother was a person of this sort. It is hard even for me to believe or understand a person who has no emotional reaction to evil; who just thinks it must have been provoked somehow, the evildoer is aggrieved, and should receive compensation. How much harder it must be for someone who has not known such people personally.
This is best seen in the reaction to America’s original terrorists, the Native Americans. Kidnapping, torturing, enslaving and murdering people outside their tribe was their culture; it was just what they did. Settlers had an idea that the Indians were by nature a simple, peaceful people who only attacked when provoked. Requests for military assistance by those on the frontier were often met with skepticism- “What did you do to those people to provoke them?” A good source on this is “Comanches, History of a People” by T.R. Fehrenbach.
Jun 24, 2009 - 8:05 pm 20. Emphasis:I have always believed that you should not attribute to malice what you can explain as ineptitude or ignorance. But when you refer to a man that occupies the presidency of the United States, the difference is irrelevant.
Jun 24, 2009 - 8:13 pm 21. noprisoners:The father of one of the slain soldiers (1st Lieutenant Jacob Fritz) is a high school friend of mine. There has never been a finer family despite an unbelievable number of personal tragedies. Jacob’s grandmother died when his father was about ten in a head on car collision. His father lost a sister, an aunt and a cousin in that crash. Jacob’s grandfather died when a tractor rolled over on him when Jacob’s father was about 19. His father served as a Marine in Viet Nam and then spent nearly 20 years in the Nebraska National Guard. Jacob was a graduate of West Point after having attended his father’s (and my) high school. He probably had fewer than fifteen classmates. His younger brother just graduated from West Point this year. Jacob bought a farm near his father’s for when he retired from the Army. It has a tombstone-like stone declaring it “Jake’s Farm”.
This act of betrayal is very upsetting to me. What has this country become? Jake’s parents are the best of the best. He was the best of the best. And yet, our so-called Commander in Chief agrees to this type of treachery!!??? I will not pass this on to Jake’s parents. The pain would be too great. God help this country. I don’t recognize what we have become.
Jun 24, 2009 - 8:25 pm 22. noprisoners:If any of you could have seen 1st Lieutenant Jacob Fritz’s father and mother at his funeral, you would join me in the desire to personally kill his murderers. His father was deflated like a balloon and his mother’s grief was unbearable to watch. Her next oldest son (in his West Point uniform with his arm around her) trying to console her was too much to bear.
This post has brought home to me the vast divide between real people who love America and the Obama admiminstration. I feel sick.
Jun 24, 2009 - 8:41 pm 23. Gaffe Prices:o’l 0bama shure has changed things: changed things right back to the failed policies of the Carter/Clinton past.
Reminds me of the woman whose husband disappeared into the clutches of Saddam Husseins police.
She pleaded for Saddam to return her husband to which he agreed. Her husband, or his corpse rather, was delivered in a plastic bag to her front porch, along with a bill for the bullets and the bag.
Thanks a bunch 0bama.
Jun 24, 2009 - 8:50 pm 24. Mark:McCarthy writes: “the IRGC had bombed the Khobar Towers in Saudi Arabia, killing 19 members of the United States Air Force.”
Clinton’s FBI director Louis Freeh vowed to bring the bombers to justice. The Clinton administration stiffed him, if I remember correctly, to mollify the Saudis. Obama has exceeded any cravenness that Bill ever exhibited.
‘Dhimmi’ is a word that comes to mind.
Jun 24, 2009 - 9:03 pm 25. Inland Empire:Whether intentional or not, this is a direct strike against the morale of our troops. Why go to all the effort of capturing Tangoes if they’ll be traded for a bag of bones? If on the other hand, Tangoes are shot out of hand that is a war crime. This places our troops in a double bind: either capture, knowing that it is for naught, or shoot, and be prosecuted. Before you say “it can’t happen here” google Lt Col Chessani, Haditha Marines, or Lt Michael Behenna. It is a simple and very very powerful blow that degrades our combat effectiveness without a shot being fired.
InlandEmpire
Jun 24, 2009 - 9:07 pm 26. Walt:noprisoners @21
Thank you. Sometimes words can sing, however sadly, and I thank you for reminding us the country routinely produces men, families and honor that the rest of us can only hope to attain.
Walt Erickson
Jun 24, 2009 - 9:07 pm 27. DW:What is even more maddening is that so many people in this country hold Obama in high esteem and seem blinded by his meaningless rhetoric. It’s really quite disgusting.
Jun 24, 2009 - 9:12 pm 28. Bohemond:That bastard. That disgusting, revolting, odious, vile, infamous bastard.
God damn Ogabe to Hell.
Jun 24, 2009 - 9:23 pm 29. Robohobo:wretchard: “I think it’s probable that the Administration has been had, or worse, they don’t even know they’ve been had.”
Heh. There is no thing good that can be said about this, is there? Either The 0bamanation is either a dupe or malevolent. Bad outcome either way. Like Hellfish @ 8 says: “If obama were a muslim what would he do different?” A: No thing. Nothing.
When will we label The Pantywaist pResident a traitor? When?
The slaughter has been and is being done in Tehran. Apparently with The 0bamanation’s blessing.
The 0bamanation is sending an ambassador to Caracas, Venezuela to minister to Hugo Chavez.
The 0bamanation is sending an ambassador to Damascus, Syria to minister to Assad.
When?
When they come for your Jewish neighbor?
When they come for your local priest?
(Remember Larry Grathwohl on Ayers’ plan for American re-education camps?)
When?
Jun 24, 2009 - 9:24 pm 30. Alexis:I think it’s probable that the Administration has been had, or worse, they don’t even know they’ve been had.
What if they don’t care?
Jun 24, 2009 - 9:36 pm 31. Mad Fiddler:It would be valuable to know if anyone has a line of communication to professional officers willing to give candid assessments (anonymously, of course) of various national governments and the reactions of their officer corps.
We’ve seen a number of nations saddled with conspicuously incompetent leadership. Did those prolonged embarrassments result in substantial decamping of experienced professionals from the ranks of their military, police, fire, and intelligence services?
It’s normal to assume an elected administration, notwithstanding its abject provinciality and amateurism, must have some ability to anticipate the consequences of its policies.
And then you recall the spectacular stupidity of the platoon of shambling dimbulbs who have publicly insulted the uniformed military that keep them safe in their adulterous beds of a night. If their desire was to get every person in the military with any pride or love of country to go to bed and wake up in the medical waste disposal trade, they couldn’t find a better way.
Why bother lowering the military budgets when you can simply make their morale keel over dead?
Jun 24, 2009 - 9:58 pm 32. Mad Fiddler:But really, folks, this HAS to be a deliberate program meant specifically to undermine the military, to send a message to OUR military that they have no future in this country other than repeated abuse, humiliation, betrayal.
Last I heard, the Department of Homeland Security continue to define conservatives, anti-abortionists, and any military rotating from combat as potential domestic terrorists.
Jun 24, 2009 - 10:07 pm 33. trangbang68:My pronoun reference on the take no prisoners was to the Hitlers in Headscarves, the craven cowards who are shooting women in the streets of Tehran. That the administration turned loose two of the worst is abominable. Who next, KSM ?
Jun 24, 2009 - 11:06 pm 34. twobyfour:Remember the “my muslim faith” “gaffe” from one of the interview with 0? What if it was not a gaffe, but an affirmation directed towards certain actors?
Anyway, M. Zuhdi Jasser from Family Security thinks that: Obama Administration [is] Stacking the Deck with Islamists.
Jun 25, 2009 - 12:49 am 35. no mo uro:Thrasymachus-
You’ve perfectly described the overeducated but underintelligent, Garrison Keillor-loving, NPR-listening, PBS watching, half-assed liberation theology “Christian”, need-to-feel-morally-superior types that one can find throughout the suburbs and rural parts of the U.S. They are moral relativists by nature. They vote Democrat. And they drool over Obama.
Whiskey has done a great job describing the urban support for Obama and his policies, but as a small town guy, I can vouch for what you’ve described in terms of this pacifist, nose-in-the-air support for him out in the hinterlands.
Good job.
Jun 25, 2009 - 3:10 am 36. blogstrop:#35 and #19
Jun 25, 2009 - 4:13 am 37. Barry 0351:If it comes down to betting on tribalism v. pacificism, I know a sure thing when I see it.
3/S
Jun 25, 2009 - 5:31 am 38. Mongoose:shoot, shovel and shut up about it.
who needs an EPW that will kill and be released to kill again?
no mo uro:
I was born in such a place. I can remember a time where everyone had to belong to a church, there was no such thing as a open atheistic, human secularist in small and mid-sized rural communities.
But there were an great deal of “busy-body”, snobby “fake Christians”–or at least that is what I would called them, Lord forgive me–who used the mantle of Christianity and its language to stick their nose in everyone’s business and to constantly posture and preen.
Over the years, as the nation has become less Christian and the social pressures on the observance of Faith flaked away, these people moved out of the churches and into the Democrat Party, the lecture hall and the Union hall. They are still at it; they are still running around with their snouts in the air meddling, pontificating and preening–they only have a different god now. Or perhaps I should say, they have stopped pretending that they worshiped anything but themselves and their opinions. What hypocrites these people where. This they still are. They were mostly Democrats, but the GOP and a good portion of them too. They all are Democrats now, or so it seems to me.
In a way I am thankful for this development–or at least one aspect of it–for religious life is now less hypocritical in the USA then it once was, and this is true no matter how many churches have been undone by Liberal infiltration and subversion.
I have to suppress laughter when I hear Liberals rail against Christians for they are actually the describing themselves. They are the remnant of that that “Pompous Christian Culture” they so vociferously decry and denounce. Is there such a thing as “recursive hypocrisy”? If so, this is surely it.
I would ruefully note that difference between then and now, however, is that back then these folks did not try to make their narcissism into Federal Law. There is a deep irony at play here. They got away with all of this back then in part due to the flowering of the individual in this nation and the wealth that ensued from it. Back then they got away with their self importance due in large part to their distance from the Federal Government. Today, in their pride, they do not see that they are being used and duped by Marxists.
When the wealth and freedom goes, these folks will be shocked speechless.
As an aside, I would also disagree that there is a substancial cuture of “all things must be forgiven” out there, at least not in any “Christian” sense. In small towns, people never really forget anything, they just keep their mouths shut as they have to live with each other year in and year out. Sometimes the grudges are held for generations.
It is more a case of mores than it is one of morality.
Jun 25, 2009 - 6:30 am 39. rule 303:Apply Rule 303, problem solved!
Jun 25, 2009 - 6:59 am 40. Stones Cry Out - If they keep silent… » Things Heard: e73v4:[...] Why are these guys not being executed? [...]
Jun 25, 2009 - 7:13 am 41. RLS:My son plans to join the Marines in 21 months.
Thus far, I have encouraged him.
Should I continue my encouragement?
Jun 25, 2009 - 7:17 am 42. Unsk:As it turns out our Muslim Traitor President did not disinvite the Iranians after all.
The Iranians just failed to RSVP in the appropriate time. h/t Gateway Pundit
Way to show resolve Buraq!
Jun 25, 2009 - 7:27 am 43. Mongoose:RLS: Yes. The USMC has been likened to Israel: They are small, tenacious and do not take there survival for granted.
They survived Carter and Clinton, they will survive Obama.
If not, then he will at least have some skills that he can take back with him to defend his home town and county.
We may really need those skills then.
Jun 25, 2009 - 7:56 am 44. Jay:I agree with the posts but remember that Bush did nothing against Iran while they sent their forces into Iraq to kill our troops. We could have brought the regime down by stopping gasoline from being imported by Iran and by stirring up the Shiite Arabs in Arabistan in Iran’s Persian Guld area where they produce their petroleum.
Jun 25, 2009 - 8:11 am 45. Mongoose:Saudi Arabia must have been a major factor in influencing W.
Obama wants to demoralize the combat troops so that they do not reup. Then he will try to build his own army of thugs from the black underclass.
The combat troops in the Army are white or Hispanics.
Jay: What do you mean he did nothing? There was a whole counter campaign against Iran. It is included intel, financial, diplomatic and political and operational covert direct action elements. Certainly, Iranian operatives on the ground where hit r interdicted when and where they could be.
He put them in the Axis of Evil for Heaven’s sake. And he spoke out about it every time he got a shot. He was hardly an apologist for Islam, and he certainly would not do something as hurtful and dishonorable has Obama did in Cairo.
Do you really think the the International Left in the Democrat Party, the UN and in the EU would have given their assent to direct, conventional military action? This is a completely dishonest argument and takes the whole matter completely out of the context of the moment.
Are you really sure he did nothing? Please do not equate Bush with Obama.
The difference could not be more obvious.
Jun 25, 2009 - 8:36 am 46. Hutsul:Can anybody tell be where General Jones is in all of this?? I find it hard to believe he approves of deals like this. And if he doesn’t, is he on his way out (voluntarily)?
Jun 25, 2009 - 8:40 am 47. always right:Two reasons.
1. Because GWBush refused to negotiate with the terrorists, even through 3rd parties.
2. Because all the other countries, be it European, Israeli, Japanese, Korean, Philippine, and whatnot, all DID it this way.
Jun 25, 2009 - 8:54 am 48. Jay:Mongoose, I did not know about the covert ops. But early in the war when this started Bush was popular. I heard combat troops talking about the Iranian and Syrian infiltration while W was POTUS.These realities were transmitted home to the families and friends.
Jun 25, 2009 - 8:54 am 49. always right:If the administration would have made this public and made speeches a lot of Americans would have supported stronger actions against Iran.
I did not support an invasion of Teheran. Just action south of the mountains between where the Persians live and the Persian Guld Arabistan.
I voted for Bush twice.
Re: Bush did nothing
Unfair! Remember our troops operate in Iraq. Either it is a sovereign country, or it is one of our states therefore under Bush’s jurisdiction, i.e., our complete control.
I remember countless times of operation this and operation that to tighten the Iraqi borders on both Syria and Iran sides. What was that for, then?
Jun 25, 2009 - 9:47 am 50. Tcobb:We’re all living in the box. In the immortal words of Hunter S. Thompson, “kill the head and the body dies.” If there is any chance of doing an “easy” strike on Iran, the effort should be precision bombing on the homes of the ruling mullahs and their toadies. No ground invasion–no bombing of anything that doesn’t belong to the military or the ruling elite.
Its easy to give the order to fight to the death when you are not one of the people who are really going to have to do it. The people who are most likely to give such orders are, for the most part, the people who would be most terrified and incapable of obeying them if that order had been given to them. Consider Suddam Hussein, who was hiding in his hole, and who meekly surrendered. Once THEIR lives are threatened, they tend to turn into good little sheep.
No, just have a sudden air strike that just takes out the homes of the governmental elite. Then set up something on the Internet for the Iranians. Who would you most like to have killed next of the government survivors, why, and where are they hiding? Financial rewards would go toward those who give valid information about where these human targets are so that the precision bombings produce the appropriate corpses. Let them vote on the website who they want to die next, and then target those people. If results occur, the regime will crumble.
An odd way to conduct a war perhaps, but maybe one whose time has come.
Jun 25, 2009 - 12:50 pm 51. NahnCee:“In the immortal words of Hunter S. Thompson, “kill the head and the body dies.” If there is any chance of doing an “easy” strike on Iran, the effort should be precision bombing on the homes of the ruling mullahs and their toadies. No ground invasion–no bombing of anything that doesn’t belong to the military or the ruling elite.”
Increasingly, the thought occurs that this also holds true for Washington, DC.
Jun 25, 2009 - 1:29 pm 52. Roderick Reilly:NahnCee: you’re making me increasingly nervous. First you wanted to nuke me, now you want precision strikes on me. Should I wear special clothes or a funny hat on the day of Armaggeddon in the hopes of being spared?
Jun 25, 2009 - 1:40 pm 53. rickl:31 & 32 Mad Fiddler:
You’re spot on.
44 Jay:
Obama wants to demoralize the combat troops so that they do not reup. Then he will try to build his own army of thugs from the black underclass.
You got that part right. I’ve been thinking that for a long time.
Jun 25, 2009 - 5:40 pm 54. Highlander:We’ve been here once before…perhaps, once again, for every Jimmy Carter there is a Reagan to follow. At least that is my hope. But I think that most in the service recognize that their oath is not to one institution or one individual, but to the Constitution of the United States.
That Constitution, and the American People, are what they will continue to stand up to defend against a continuing threat. You can read the news about what happened in Taza a few days ago. These people, nor the treat they pose, nor the EVIL they represent, will not be magically defined out of existence by some childish semantic game. Where those in power continue to consume the Lotus of their own arrogance, those who stand where steel meets bone see the reality. The American people still need their protection.
The American people, in the end, are not fools. Over time, in fits and starts, they make the right decisions. But as free, soft-hearted people, they are vulnerable to those who will tell them what they want to hear for the sake of gaining power and advancing unstated agendas. Such people are always found out in the end, but there is always a lag in the process. I hope that these political hucksters are exposed, and either voted or thrown out (under the law…) before irreparable harm is done to the institutions of our country.
People on the Left spin all kinds of conspiracy theories about the degradation of civil liberties, such as how denying perverts the right to marry is some crime against humanity. But if you really want to exert control over individual or population, as the case may be, control their money. Tyrrany is insidious in many ways. Drunken in their power, and perhaps sensing that the tide may be starting to turn against them, the wild-eyed, Lotus-addled Left is making their charge….
Stand and fight.
Jun 25, 2009 - 10:34 pm 55. You know Osama’s swapping KNOWN terrorist murderers for dead Brit bodies? « Cmblake6’s Weblog:[...] swapping KNOWN terrorist murderers for dead Brit bodies? 2009 June 27 by cmblake6 Read Richard Fernandez’s take on it. That enemy sympathizer has got to go. He’s trying to destroy our economy, and suceeding [...]
Jun 27, 2009 - 5:29 pm 56. cmblake6:Sedition at least, treason more likely, espionage at the grandest level MOST likely.
Jun 27, 2009 - 5:37 pmSorry, comments for this entry are closed at this time.