al Jazeera on Bush's Alleged Urge to Bomb
I'm often surprised at how restrained and reasonable al Jazeera is almost every time I check in on it. I only read it sporadically, though, so my sample may not be large enough. Far from being the propaganda organ the administration would have us believe it is, it seems to me to be a perfectly legitimate news organization. And apparently they are hated both by conservative extremists in the U.S. and Arab extremists in the Middle East. Imperfect evidence, of course, but when something/body is hated by both wacko ends of the spectrum, this tends to speak well of them. At any rate, they seem to be taking Bush's alleged desire to bomb them fairly seriously, but are by no means freaking out about it.
Thing is, this is very important. We obviously have to see the relevant parts of this memo now. If Bush was serious--something I still do not believe--then...well, we've got an even bigger problem here than we thought we had. To be honest, if this turned out to be true, I think we have to start seriously thinking about the impeachment option. Unless there's a really impressive set of reasons here that I don't know about, this would suggest a dangerous lack of judgment--or perhaps even something more along the lines of "instability" (as they say--on Mr. Bush's part.
Especially given the other reasons that continue to accumulate for doubting Mr. Bush's judgment and honesty, this issue must be addressed by the White House immediately. We've let them get away with being too secretive for too long, and this is as good a place as any to draw the line.
Almost incidentally, if these reports do turn out to be true--something, again, let me say that I do not expect--then that will mean that the administration has again tried to deceive us by playing on whatever remaining trust we have for them. McClellan's we-won't-dignify-that-with-a-response-style response is (ignoring a few details) perfectly fine if the claims about the bombing are false. On the other hand, if they turn out to be true it will be yet another dispicable there-are-no-plans-on-my-desk-type deception. Let me say here and now that if that happens--which, again, I do not expect--that will bring to an end any effort on my part to resist the conclusion that this administration is irredemably dishonest and corrupt.
I'm often surprised at how restrained and reasonable al Jazeera is almost every time I check in on it. I only read it sporadically, though, so my sample may not be large enough. Far from being the propaganda organ the administration would have us believe it is, it seems to me to be a perfectly legitimate news organization. And apparently they are hated both by conservative extremists in the U.S. and Arab extremists in the Middle East. Imperfect evidence, of course, but when something/body is hated by both wacko ends of the spectrum, this tends to speak well of them. At any rate, they seem to be taking Bush's alleged desire to bomb them fairly seriously, but are by no means freaking out about it.
Thing is, this is very important. We obviously have to see the relevant parts of this memo now. If Bush was serious--something I still do not believe--then...well, we've got an even bigger problem here than we thought we had. To be honest, if this turned out to be true, I think we have to start seriously thinking about the impeachment option. Unless there's a really impressive set of reasons here that I don't know about, this would suggest a dangerous lack of judgment--or perhaps even something more along the lines of "instability" (as they say--on Mr. Bush's part.
Especially given the other reasons that continue to accumulate for doubting Mr. Bush's judgment and honesty, this issue must be addressed by the White House immediately. We've let them get away with being too secretive for too long, and this is as good a place as any to draw the line.
Almost incidentally, if these reports do turn out to be true--something, again, let me say that I do not expect--then that will mean that the administration has again tried to deceive us by playing on whatever remaining trust we have for them. McClellan's we-won't-dignify-that-with-a-response-style response is (ignoring a few details) perfectly fine if the claims about the bombing are false. On the other hand, if they turn out to be true it will be yet another dispicable there-are-no-plans-on-my-desk-type deception. Let me say here and now that if that happens--which, again, I do not expect--that will bring to an end any effort on my part to resist the conclusion that this administration is irredemably dishonest and corrupt.
posted by Winston Smith at
2:59 PM
5 Comments:
I have trouble taking this seriously as well, except that if it were a joke, then why did Blair bother trying to talk him out of it? Is Bush's humor that dry? Also, the transcript is five pages, that's a pretty long joke.
I’ll bet it’s the language in that memo/transcript that they’re afraid of. It wouldn’t be good to have it confirmed that Bush wanted to bomb Al Jazeera, but at this point, I’m sure that most of the “hearts and minds” already believe that anyhow.
So, I would guess that the language in this thing is unusually harsh, discriminatory, or vulgar. Or that there’s a reference to something that has not yet been publicly confirmed.
I don't know MV...I don't think that Bush is a racist. I expect he's fairly disdainful of Islam as a religion, though, so I guess there could be derogatory comments of that nature.
Five pages, eh? I hadn't heard that.
Puzzling.
I doubt the transcript consists of the single exchange. No doubt it's meaningless chitchat for the most part, in the middle of which occurs Bush's little joke in a frat-boy tone and Blair responding "No, no, that won't do" in a jocular tone, followed by a deft change of subject. The tone of course won't be transcribed, making this a lose-lose scenario for Bush. If the memo comes out, he'll have to acknowledge the words and argue it was a joke, which no one disposed to dislike him will be able to believe fully with the best of will; and if the memo doesn't come out, people will continue to wonder and speculate.
That, Rilkefan, is the most reasonable thing I've heard anybody say about this yet.
For the most powerful world leader on planet Earth to date to have already bombed the hell out of a country with the population (but not the resources!) of Uganda on almost no justification hardly puts it beyond credibility that he would consider shutting down a contrary voice of reason that has been getting more world attention of late than he has. Al Jazeera is obviously doing something right!
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