Archive for the ‘War’ Category
When Your Only Tool for Peace is a Military Hammer…
This past week saw the bloody attack on French satirical magazine “Charlie Hebdo” and a nearby Jewish deli by three Muslim extremists (trained by ISIS… or was it AQAP? No one seems to be sure) out to “avenge The Prophet!” for being depicted in a cartoon (question: If no one if allowed to draw “The Prophet”, how do you know that’s a cartoon of […]
January 12, 2015
Posted in: Infrastructure, Middle East, National Security, Religion, Terrorism, War
Dear Torture Advocates: Not only does it not work, it makes things worse.
On March 23, 2003… three days into the invasion of Iraq, Private Jessica Lynch was captured by Iraqi forces following an ambush of her convoy. Publicists in the Bush Administration spun an elaborate tail of how “Blood & Guts” Lynch fired her weapon “til she emptied her clip” of ammo (Lynch had actually done no such […]
December 15, 2014
Posted in: Crime, myth busting, National Security, Party of Life, Right-Wing Insanity, Scandals, Terrorism, War
No Arming Syrian Rebels. Have we learned *nothing* from Iraq?
Two famous proverbs haunted me all last week: “Those who do not learn from the past are doomed to repeat it.” – Edmund Burke, Irish Statesman (1729-1797) “The definition of insanity is doing the same thing over & over, and expecting a different result each time.” – Author Rita Mae Brown (1983) as quoted by […]
September 22, 2014
Posted in: Middle East, National Security, Seems Obvious to Me, Terrorism, War
Sunni Violence Against Americans Is Not New (2006 video)
This past week was packed wall-to-wall with Neocons and former “Bushies” alike criticizing President Obama for the rise of ISIS/ISIL. Senator McCain is still blaming President Obama for “pulling all of our troops out of Iraq in 2011” without leaving any residual forces behind… a claim that frustrates me to no end. The fact no one in the media ever challenges […]
September 15, 2014
Posted in: fake scandals, Middle East, myth busting, National Security, Politics, Terrorism, War
Republicans think “the world changed” on September 11th. No it didn’t. 17 months later it did.
The world did not change on September 11th. Maybe for Republicans it did, but for the rest of us, we were just as concerned about terrorism on September 10th as we were on September 11th. Just because Republicans were suddenly & violently awakened as to just how serious a threat “terrorism” was on “9/11” doesn’t mean […]
September 10, 2014
Posted in: General, Middle East, National Security, Politics, Terrorism, War
This Is Why We Said No to Invading Iraq in 2003. Those who pushed for war, please shut up.
Last June, The Rachel Maddow Show commented on the number of former Bush Administration figures that were suddenly being booked on the Sunday Political Talkshows to pontificate on the rise of ISIS, the Sunni-based terrorist organization: Attention Media: Stop booking Yahoos to advise on Iraq! (4:52) [flv:http://mugsysrapsheet.com/4blog/video/trms-stop_booking_yahoos_on_iraq-140620.flv http://mugsysrapsheet.com/4blog/video/trms-stop_booking_yahoos_on_iraq-140620.jpg 512 288] Yesterday on ABC’s ThisWeek, Bill […]
August 25, 2014
Posted in: Middle East, National Security, Politics, rewriting history, Terrorism, War
John Goodman Explains the Start of WWI 100 Years Ago Today (video)
Exactly 100 years ago today (June 28th, 1914), the Austro-Hungarian Archduke Franz Ferdinand, heir to the Austrian throne, was murdered by Serbian nationalists while visiting neighboring Sarajevo. One week later, the murder of the Archduke precipitated the start of World War I. In the Season 4 cliffhanger of NBC’s “The West Wing”, President Bartlett’s daughter Zoey is […]
June 28, 2014
Posted in: General, War
While President Bush Was Ducking Shoes… you missed the SOFA.
“It was a natural reaction to the killing of a million of my people, the orphaning of 5 million children, the widowing of one million women, resulting in tens of thousands of handicapped persons, tens of thousands of prisoners in American jails in Iraq, and the everyday scandals caused by the American occupation: rape, Abu Ghraib prison, bringing down […]
June 23, 2014
Posted in: fake scandals, Middle East, myth busting, Partisanship, Politics, rewriting history, Terrorism, War
Is ISIS Really a Threat to the U.S.? The argument(s) for staying out of Iraq’s Civil War.
By now, you’ve already heard the “catastrophic”, “world-is-coming-to-an-end” news that a terrorist group “too extreme for alQaeda” (“too extreme” for a group that dive-bombed hijacked planes into buildings? Doubtful.) is slowly taking over Iraq, with Iraqi soldiers so afraid, they’re “stripping off their uniforms and running for their lives”. And… of course… a conga-line of Republicans taking to […]
June 16, 2014
Posted in: Middle East, myth busting, National Security, Terrorism, War
Right Suddenly Outraged By A “Deserter” After Electing One President
First off, let’s get a few facts straight. I am NOT defending Sgt. Bowe Bergdahl, nor am I excusing him going AWOL (and let’s be clear, he’s NOT a “deserter”, you’re only AWOL the first 30 days, and he was captured long before then.) Second, it seems that the GOP would now have us put every American POW on trial […]
June 9, 2014
Posted in: National Security, Partisanship, Politics, Rants, Right-Wing Insanity, Scandals, Terrorism, War
Ukraine in Chaos. Could Syria Become a Proxy War?
Ukraine exploded in violence last week. At the same time, a chemical gas attack against rebels may or may not have been committed by Syria (we must consider the possibility that some psychotic and/or desperate rebel faction/individual released a homemade chemical weapon against their own people in order to draw the U.S. into the Syrian conflict (now […]
April 14, 2014
Posted in: Middle East, National Security, Predictions, Right-Wing Insanity, War
Guest Op/Ed – Ukraine Crisis: Lessons Obama Should Learn
Recent events in Crimea carry political consequences in the United States, calling the Obama administration to action in response to Vladimir Putin’s show of strength in the region. Already fettered by friction due to Edward Snowden being granted asylum by Russia last year, and noted diplomatic discord between Obama and Putin since they have shared […]
March 17, 2014
Posted in: fake scandals, Guest Blogger, National Security, Politics, rewriting history, War
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