BULLY BOY PRESS & CEDRIC'S BIX MIX -- HANOI, VIETNAM.
THIS JUST IN!
BULLY BOY -- AN IDIOT IN ANY CULTURE OR CLIMATE!
TRAVELING THE STONE PATH LINED WITH GREEN SHRUBBERY TO THE HANIO TEMPLE OF LITERATURE, THESE REPORTERS WERE AMAZED AT THE WALLED STRUCTURE. PASSING US WERE VIETNAMESE CARRYING BOOKS. SOME OF WHOM SAT IN THE FIRST COURTYARD READING. LATER THESE REPORTERS JOURNEYED TO THE VIETNAMESE NATIONAL HISTORY MUSEUM AND NOTICED HOW MANY PEOPLE TRAVELED THE STREETS ON BICYCLES AND MOTOR CYCLES.
SEEING THIS THRIVING CULTURE THAT WAS PRESENT BEFORE THE U.S. GOVERNMENT STARTED AN ILLEGAL WAR AND IS THRIVING AFTER, WE WONDERED HOW BULLY BOY, ALSO MAKING HIS FIRST VISIT TO VIETNAM, WOULD RESPOND TO HIS SURROUNDINGS -- WHICH DOES INCLUDE THE VERY REAL MARKS OF A LONG ILLEGAL WAR TO THIS DAY?
THE ONLY CHANGE WE OBSERVED WAS THAT HE WAS WEARING WAY TOO MUCH MAKE UP FOR HIS PHOTO OP WITH VIENAM'S PRIME MINISTER NGUYEN TAN DUNG. HIS HAIR ALSO LOOKED OVERLY BRUSHED.
BUT HIS MIND HADN'T GOTTEN A MAKE OVER.
COMPARING IRAQ AND VIETNAM HE DIDN'T SEEM TO HAVE A CLUE. HE STATED THAT SEEING VIETNAM MADE HIM THINK OF HISTORY'S "LONG MARCH" AND HOW "THE WORLD WE LIVE IN TODAY IS ONE WHERE THEY WANT THINGS TO HAPPEN IMMEDIATELY".
BULLY BOY FAILED TO GRASP THAT THE "LONG MARCH" FOR VIETNAM GOES BACK TO 200 B.C. AND THAT, FOR VIETNAM, THE ILLEGAL U.S. WAR WAS BUT A FRACTION OF A SECOND.
TRUE OF IRAQ AS WELL. OF WHICH BULLY BOY SAID, "WE'LL SUCCEED UNLESS WE QUIT." THE FACT THAT VIETNAM FLOURISHED AGAIN ONLY AFTER THE U.S. PULLED OUT SEEMS TO HAVE SAILED RIGHT OVER HIS HEAD CAUSING ONE MEMBER OF THE VIETNAM PRESS TO DUB HIM "THE PORTABLE IDIOT."
FROM THE TCI WIRE:
Starting with yesterday's kidnappings -- there were two. Reuters cover this: "Passengers from up to six minibuses may have been abducted after being stopped at a fake security checkpoint in the capital, police and local residents said" from yesterday and, in addition, there was a kidnapping in southern Iraq. England's C4 reported on the mass kidnapping in Baghdad one of the few that did.* Sudarsan Raghavan (Washington Post) noted: "Much of the day's other violence was directed at Shiite Muslims. Gunmen erected fake checkpoints in a Sunni neighborhood and seized Shiite passengers off minibuses." Alastair Macdonald (Reuters) noted: "Six missing minibuses were mostly carrying Shiites when gunmen, some in uniform, pulled them over for bogus security checks, police sources said."
The dickering over this kidnapping among Iraqi's various members of government follows the pattern after Tuesday's mass kidnapping which Kirk Semple (New York Times) observed was being seen (by Jalal Talabani, Iraqi president) as a potential "complete collapse of the government"). Queried by Jon Snow, of England's C4, as to whether "you think there are other ministers in the government who are complicit?" in the kidnappings, Iraq's minister of Higher Eductation, Abd Dhiab, stated he did believe that and, while refusing to answer whether he personally believed the police could be trusted, he noted that "the people" do not feel they can be.
Jon Snow: You seem to be describing a situation of anarchy here?
Abd Dhiab: Anarchy clearly, nobody can deny that.
Jon Snow: But, I mean, if you feel you have to resign then in a way we're beginning to see the disengration of the government?
Abd Dhiab (in a rambling answer) agreed. Kirk Semple noted Mohammed Bashar al-Faidi (Muslim Scholars Associaton) declared on Al Jazeera TV, "I don't know how to describe it, but it represents the bankruptcy of the sectarian government following one scandal after the other." The willingness of officials go to public with their own stark observations about Iraq comes as Nouri al-Maliki, puppet of the occupation, is in Turkey. Louise Roug (LA Times) reports that al-Maliki believes the matters can wait until next week to be resolved in a meeting of his cabinet.
Bully Boy believes that the answer for a 'win' is, as Simon Tisdall (Guardian of London) reports, "a last big push" that could result in increasing US troops in Iraq -- not withdrawing them. Tisdall also reveals that sources say "Bush family loyalist James Baker" and others on the supposed independent Iraq Study Group are now doing the bidding of the Pentagon and will include the following points as "victory strategy:"
1) Increase US troop levels by up to 20,000 to secure Baghdad and allow redeployments elsewhere in Iraq.
2) Focus on regional cooperation with international conference and/or direct diplomatic involvement of countries such as Kuwait and Saudi Arabia.
3) Revive reconciliation process between Sunni, Shia and others.
4) Increased resources from Congress to fund training and equipment of Iraqi security forces.
[. . .]
In peace news, Vietnam war resister Gerry Condon has posted a letter at Soldiers Say No! on Kyle Snyder. To recap, Snyder, on October 31st, turned himself in at Fort Knox only to self-check out again after discovering the military had lied yet again. Since then Snyder has been underground, surfacing to speaking out against the war.
Condon is requesting more calls supporting to Snyder:
Thanks to all of you who have made calls to the Commanding General at Fort Knox, Kentucky. The phones have been ringing off the walls there. Now it is time to make the phones ring at Fort Leonard Wood. Say hello to Fort Leonard Woods's brand new commander, Major General William McCoy, Jr., recently returned from the U.S. occupation of Iraq (you can read his emotional address upon assuming his new command at http://www.flw-guidon.com/).
Here are the numbers to call at Fort Leonard Wood
Office of the Commanding General (that's how they answer) 573-596-0131
Public Affairs Office, tel. 573-563-4013 or 4105,
fax: 573-563-4012, email: alleym@wood.army.mil
We want to deliver one clear message:
RELEASE KYLE SNYDER WITHOUT ANY PUNISHMENT
Kyle Snyder is a US war resister and part of a movement of resistance within the military that also includes people such as Ehren Watada, Joshua Key, Ivan Brobeck, Darrell Anderson, Ricky Clousing, Mark Wilkerson, Camilo Meija, Pablo Paredes, Carl Webb, Stephen Funk, David Sanders, Dan Felushko, Brandon Hughey, Jeremy Hinzman, Corey Glass, Patrick Hart, Clifford Cornell, Agustin Aguayo, Joshua Despain, Katherine Jashinski, and Kevin Benderman. That's just the ones who have gone public. (Over thirty US war resisters are currently in Canada attempting to be legally recognized.)
Information on war resistance within the military can be found at Center on Conscience & War, The Objector, The G.I. Rights Hotline, and the War Resisters Support Campaign. Courage to Resist offers information on all public war resisters. Appeal for Redress is collecting signatures of active duty service members calling on Congress to bring the troops home -- the petition will be delivered to Congress in January.
Recommended: "Iraq Snapshot"
"And the war drags on"
"NYT: 'Iraq Issues Arrest Warrant for Sunni Cleric' (Kirk Semple)"
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"The Carville brain speaks (humor)"
"THIS JUST IN! FROM THE BRAIN OF JAMES CARVILLE!"
