Gee, after spending years working in the Middle East and making friends over there — some of whom have been murdered by terrorists and are today targeted to be murdered by terrorists — I’m just like a Nazi supporter in your depraved mental universe for having more sympathy for the people of the region than I did before I ever set foot in the place.

Are the Kurds the sworn enemies of our civilization? Are the pro-American Arabs of Anbar Province (whom I have met and looked in the eye while you haven’t) also the sworn enemies of our civilization? If you truly believe they are then you either know nothing about them or are a really sick person.

Several American soldiers, including very high level officers, told me that what surprises them most about their time over there is how much emotional attachment they have to the Iraqis they have befriended. Are you going compare them to Nazi supporters and Hanoi Jane, too?

You really are a sick person.

“I decided to work in the Middle East for many reasons, Swopa, but one was because I knew I was being too America-centric. I wanted to break out of it and write about the subject up close and a little more on its own terms.

I also felt I owed it to Arabs and Muslims. You may have noticed that I am a lot more sympathetic to them than I used to be.”

michael j. totten at August 18, 2007 05:28 PM

_______

I THINK THIS VERY RECENT QUOTE PROVES ONE OF MY POINTS ABOUT MJT.

i feel his reporting and writing are excellent.

But i have always felt that his analysis and sympathies basically have always had more in common with the Arabists at State (and the doves of Labour & Meretz) than let’s say Bolton or Cheney or Bush or Bibi or Sharon.

that’s why i called him out on his statement that he wasn’t sure which party’s nominee he would vote for in 2008.

no real hawk could feel that way. NONE.

I FEEL THE ABOVE QUOTE HELPS SHOW HOW/WHY TOTTEN IS NOT A REAL HAWK.

which is fine. except he seems sometimes to want to play both sides of the game. a moderate hawk/dove. not a chicken hawk a dove-hawk.

this ambivalence comes out in his posts as fuzzy analysis. it the thing i don’t like about his posts.

AND THEN THERE’S THIS QUESTION: would a true blue patriot go to germany in 1943 looking to be SYMPATHETIC with nazis!?!?!?!

or to hanoi in 1970 to be sympathetic to the VC?

totten and the Dept State ask us to be sympathetic to those who are our civilization’s sworn enemies.

i feel this is wrong. and a bad strategy. if we want to win.

land for peace – and sympathy for the enemy – are means to appeasement, not victory.

appeasement is merely surrendering a little at a time.

i believe that churchill was right when he said about diplomacy (paraphrasing):

“it’s like talking nice to a mad dog while you slowly reach down a grab a rock.”

Accusing me of anti-Semitism and of working for Hezbollah is not a way to get on my good side. If you ever want me to be polite to you, you need to write an apology in public on the front page of your blog.

“a REAL hawk could NOT entertain voting for any one of them”

good luck in your adventures!

i hope – like scott thomas BEAUCHAMP – you get a book deal.

your nastiness and personal vitriol and name-calling reveals a lot about you.

i admire yopur courage for going to dangerous places to report.

your writing is easy to read.

generally your analysis is weak.

and your political values confused.

this is obvious from the fact that david thomson swears you are for rudy – which MIGHT be true, while in this thread and the one at your own blog you claim to be waiting and not decided which party’s nominee you will support.

for someone who poften portarys hiumself as an anti-islamonazi hawk – i repeat – THISIS BIZARRE.

all the dem candidates are essentially copperheads.

a REAL hawk could entertain voting for any one of them

good luck in your adventures!

i hope – like scott thomas – you get a book deal.

We all get that at this point, so you can stop yelling at everyone now. You can also wrap up your obsession with my own personal voting record at any time. I assure you no one will wish you did not.

You can also stop libeling me (not here, but elsewhere) as an anti-Semite if you decide you would rather be known as a decent human being than as a degenerate scumbag.

all i want is for people who want VICTORY to vote GOP and not be fooled by the copperheads.

and i want people who think we might get away with retreating from iraq, or “strategically redploying” to realize it would only encourage outr enemies and discourage ou allies.

i have a long link-filled post on totten and the copperheads at my blog ; the astute bloggers.

check it out, if you want.

ALL THE BEST!

you assert mjt is for rudy, but he doesn’t, apparently.

in this thread he said he has not decided which party’s nominee to vote for.

he said in his thread at his blog:

“I vote for members of both parties, and I don’t know which party I’m voting for next year.”

that was the whole point of my comments.

it would make sense if michael was for rudy; rudy can be trusted with ww4. unlike ANY of the dems/copperheads.

Michael Totten is currently backing Rudy Giuliani. The odds are highly unlikely that he will be able to support the Democratic Party presidential candidate. What more do you want? Something tells me that Joseph Lieberman is not going to be Hillary Clinton’s running mate.

wait a year and focus on iraq.

but…

the contest – as its unfolding does seem to have an effect on events over there.

witness obama’s pakistan remarks.

the dems partisan use of Iraq is another thing which disgusts me. and many other hawks.
they parrot al Qaeda and encourage the enemy.

they hurt our chances at victory.

BOTTOIM-LINE: mjt, you carry A LOT of weight.

your views can influence a lot of people in the 2008 race heavily.

so it’s important you take a principled stand.

ALL THE BEST!