Eugene Robinson - Dick Cheney's lies about President Obama - washingtonpost.com
Eugene Robinson - Dick Cheney's lies about President Obama - washingtonpost.com
Excellent demolition of Dick Cheney's shameful attack on the president in the wake of the Detroit attempted attack.
Cheney wanted to use the nonsensically phrased 'war on terror' as a wedge to destroy the Bill of Rights and permanently undermine the US constitution, and is annoyed that all the groundwork he laid for the return of rightwing monarchy has been sensibly tossed aside by the constitutional lawyer who succeeded him.
All this is not to mention that there can be more or fewer Muslims radicalized and that no one made America more vulnerable to attack than Cheney:
These are the standard grievances in the al-Qaeda recruitment videos. All of them contravene basic American values.
So, Mr. Cheney, you don't make America safer with terminology, blustering about 'war on terror.' Living up to American values of no military aggression and basic civil rights and condemnation of cruel and unusual punishment-- just being real Americans would deprive al-Qaeda of most of its current recruitment tools.
In fact, as the Cheney legacy has begun to fade, al-Qaeda is facing problems with recruitment. One problem for them is that family and friends increasingly turn the jihadi in. That is what happened to Abdulmutallab and it would have foiled his mission if Cheney had devoted more energy to interagency cooperation during the last 8 years.
The reason that Muslims turn in a relative or friend who goes off the deep end about America is that they know America is not evil.
Cheney's methods and values are aimed at convincing them otherwise.
Cheney turned on the American values of the Founding Fathers in the 1970s, when he was defending Tricky Dick Nixon and a quagmire in southeast Asia, and he has only gone further and further toward the Dark Side ever since.
If we can't try him, can't we at least try to get him North Korean citizenship, since he seems to like authoritarian values better than American ones? Plus, he and Kim Jong-Il both like pretending they are James Bond-- they'd get along famously.
End/ (Not Continued)
posted by Juan Cole @ 12/31/2009 01:07:00 AM
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17 Comments:
The question is, why aren't Bush and Cheney being prosecuted for war crimes? The question is, hasn't President Obama himself become culpable to be prosecuted for not prosecuting war criminals? What are your thoughts on this Prof.? Thanks.
Mr. Cole, I say this without irony - you are the wind beneath my wings.
Thanks for pointing out how the people such as Mr. Cheney, Mr. Ridge, and others who now claim the mantle of "safety" and "manliness" have a track record of complete incompetence, and should be given no more credence than the man standing on the corner for the last 20 years screaming "The End is Near!"
A cleverly written article, I couldn't agree more. Well done.
"is annoyed that all the groundwork he laid for the return of rightwing monarchy has been sensibly tossed aside by the constitutional lawyer who succeeded him"
Our hero's responses to the points against Cheney include:
1. Continued use of guantanamo, black site prisons and extradition to torturing countries.
2. Proposed "indefinite detention" to enshrine the denial of habeas corpus.
3. Continues to occupy Iraq and is escalating the war in Afghanistan.
4. Expanding to our history of atrocity with new secret wars and civilian body counts in pakistan and yemen
Great analysis.
There is a joke that goes like this. A man is being shown various torments in Hell when he comes upon a decrepit old man with a beautiful young woman on his lap. When he remarks that it's not so bad and he wants to spend the rest of eternity that way, he is placed on the lap of the decrepit old man.
I think Dick Cheney should spend all eternity sitting on Richard Nixon's lap.
What is Cheney's point when he accuses of Obama of pretending we're not at war?
I can't help but think Cheney thinks a state of war, under his preferred conditions, justifies even more "collateral damage," i.e., the slaughter of potentially thousands of innocents.
I expect Obama is too smart to be goaded into doing something really stupid.
Yes, Cheney is a blustering gasbag who is repeatedly trotted out to provide fodder for the 24 hour infotainment cycle called the MSM. And a liar to boot.
However, I had to chuckle at your assertion of the 'American value' of no military agression. Let's see: Indigenous North America, Phillipines, Mexico, Haiti, Vietnam, Central America, Iraq, Afghanistan, Pakistan, Yemen...
What history are you reading, Dr. Cole? It's long past time that the 'decent' American people (concerned as we are with our ipods, celebrities, and reality show) can be separated from the murderous policies of the government.
Sounds like the 'good German' argument to me. Rings very, very hollow now, and even more so when the empire falls apart.
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Perfesser,
I cannot imagine how a person of your obligations and commitments can find the time to maintain this journal.
But I thank God that you do: it, and you, are a blessing and an inspiration.
in admiration and appreciation,
Brian Scott
.
I think it's also worth noting that the illegal invasion of Iraq was also an incompetent one that needlessly and recklessly destroyed American lives as well as Iraqi ones.
This should be enough to kill his claims to credibility among even those people who agree with his overall vision.
Didn't Cheney say it was unpatriotic, even treasonous, to criticize the president's war strategy?
That's funny you mention North Korea. When I get in stupid arguments with right-wingers, I often recommend it as a place to live where their ideals would be more accepted.
The goal shouldn't be to fester on Cheney, et.al. but to improve the U.S. political system to make the rise of demagogues less likely.
Unfortunately, it may take a Great Depression or a war that hits home with everyday Americans to get this point across.
Juan,
I have a hard time believing the claim that al qaeda recruits are drying up, just because cheney is receding into history. our policies have not changed sufficiently to make any difference on the ground in the M.E. or africa. or sw asia. we are now more active militarily in more countries than we were under cheney. Gaza is being walled up like a zoo. god knows what we're doing in yemen, or somalia, but it is clear we're doing something.
With that background, why on earth would it make sense that al qaeda recruitment would be drying up? I don't believe it.
href="http://www.nytimes.com/2009/12/31/opinion/31thu2.html?_r=1&ref=opinion">NYTimes Editorial urges getting deeper into Yemen to stop al Qaeda. While acknowledging that the country is approaching failed state status, unemployment is at 40%, and "Yemen’s government is corrupt and repressive", that's all secondary to the destruction of al Qaeda.
Of course the usual if-pigs-could-fly crumb is tossed out:"Administration officials say that for several months they have been working on an economic development plan for Yemen with Saudi Arabia, Europe, the World Bank and others and expect to hold a meeting in six weeks to agree on a framework. They need to speed up the process." Sort of a repeat of the Somalia miracle we've been working on forever.
But in the meanwhile bring in the cavalry:"Washington is providing $70 million over the next 18 months to equip and train Yemeni security forces for counterterrorist operations. And it has provided targeting intelligence and additional firepower — possibly cruise missiles and drones — for attacks on Al Qaeda bases."
The relevance to Cheney is that the "mainstream" NYT is fully aligned with the Cheney doctrine. Screw the 23 million people in Yemen, screw the poverty, kiss the ass of the corrupt and repressive (and line their pockets), and by all means don't worry about collateral damage. Killing al Qaeda is all that matters.
I suspect that Obama would agree strongly with this editorial. Its the new American value system.
Al Qaeda knows us well enough to understand that the Dick Cheneys of this world are their last, best hope. They know their natural allies are the demagogic, jingoistic Republicans and our sensationalist, idiotic level of media discourse. They know how fragile the Dick Cheneys and his allies make us.
Excellent article.
Dick Cheney: 2010 terrorist of the year.
He is as evil as our enemy.
Dick Cheney is the thorn in the paw of our enemy. Nobody else is doing more to destroy our international relations than this anti-humanitarian.
It's all about MONEY. Cheney's Halliburton stock went up, what 1300 percent? The way I see it, Cheney figured the Iraq war would go a lot smoother and help the economy a lot more. When everything turned to sh*t, Americans turned on him. The question Americans have to ask themselves is, what if the Iraq war HAD gone better, and we HAD cheaper gasoline, and our economy HAD improved? Would we be singing Cheney's praises? Would we be happy even though we invaded a sovereign nation and caused the deaths of hundreds of thousands of innocents because the end justified the means? I suspect that many Americans would not view Cheney in such a negative light if the U.S. economy came out of it in better shape. I'm not trying to justify anything Cheney did, just sayin'...
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