“Make no mistake, the US will escalate the situation with Iran.”

I agree. I may be an ignorant, uneducated simpleton, but even I can see that our political “leaders” (both parties) use war as a tool for their own re-election campaigns. They (politicians) have become the exact thing they sanctimoneously swear to protect us from.

It’s more of a default position Matt. Until it’s proved otherwise, I believe every black op is planned and executed by the US.

Here’s an idea, sic the IRS on Israel – why aren’t we collecting tax revenue from them,

I agree, Matt. Make Israel the 51st state. Not that the US Gov or Israel would prefer this. They both have a pretty sweet deal right now.

Joe wrote:

And if we just pulled back to bases I doubt things would get better, but worse.

Joe, when you use terms like “better” and “worse” I suspect they mean something completely different to me than to you…or to the people in those areas.

We should be doing nothing in Iran. Iran has a sizable revolution going on and it is their battle to win. The absolute last country in the world that should be involved in Iran is the USA.

I am not going to sit here and promote “Democracy” and “Freedom” as mandatory goals for every people on the planet. When it means enough to them, they will fight for it.

So, this convicted drug dealer gets sent into the heart of the largest heroin producing nexus on the planet, to do…what? Blow up Hindus? Something seriously wrong with this picture…

oops!

anslinger, nixon, and meese are all smiling up from their little suite in hell…

Meese hasn’t finished making us miserable here on earth yet.

Is everyone else also getting as sick of all this as I am?

#32 | Aaron | November 9th, 2010 at 11:18 pm
The Islamic fascists

Isn’t “Islamic totalitarians” good enough. “Fascist” is far too specific. They don’t, for instance, generally believe in corporatism, a merger of state and corporate power. (No, religious bodies aren’t corporations in the relevant sense.) They’re evil and nasty, but that’s not synonymous with “fascist”.

+0

We can quibble, but what al Qaeda desires is both totalitarian and fascist. I agree evil and nasty does not, in itself, equate to fascism. But the vision of Islam that al Qaeda envisions, comingling state, business and military power into an all powerful caliphate, is not all that much different than other fascist movements. Instead of traditional nationalism, the focus is on Islam as a unifying force and the Ummah as the people.

But whether you call it fascism or totalitarianism, in the end, just like communism and other collective movements, the individual is completely crushed and the system takes priority over all.

All due respect, but the article specifically states, “Warnings about his radicalism were apparently not shared with the drug agency that made use of his ties in Pakistan.” Whether this “drug agency” was the DEA or a Pakistani group is, I suppose, open to interpretation, but the article shows that the DEA, FBI, and CIA were all involved and that the FBI investigated the radicalism concerns at least once. And if the “drug agency” was the DEA, then the article actually exonerates them from the most serious accusations.

So I would submit that your thesis (drug warriors win over counterterrorism) is not entirely supported by the article. Certainly, it’s a monumental screwup, and I’m not suggesting that his aid to the DEA didn’t play a part in getting him sent to Pakistan, but singling DEA out seems to be premature at this point. Someone in CIA, FBI, or DEA is to blame, but even the NYT reporters seem unable to pin down the correct agency.

The Islamic fascists

Isn’t “Islamic totalitarians” good enough. “Fascist” is far too specific. They don’t, for instance, generally believe in corporatism, a merger of state and corporate power. (No, religious bodies aren’t corporations in the relevant sense.) They’re evil and nasty, but that’s not synonymous with “fascist”.

Nice Dr. Strangelove reference.

Disagree on the “quietly assisting forces of democracy in Iran”.

Not because I think the Mullahs don’t deserve a kick in the madrassah, but because if any link between the US and the Iranian democratic movement were ever discovered, it would be a kiss of death for the latter.

I’m not sure exactly what that tells us, but it’s probably not a good sign w.r.t. our government’s handling of personnel.

As for Iran–maybe Obama is lookng for a game changer? I do not see it happening, but who knows. The opportunity for such an attack seems long gone for Israel. Hell, we could not even get sanctions to stick with the Germans, let alone the Russians. We should be quietly assisting forces of democracy in Iran to take on the Mullah oligarchy.

@ Cynical: Huh? You think the US plotted the Mumbai massacre?

Masshole, I have not stated that as a fact, but as a policy. Unfortunately I have paid attention and seen we have fallen well short of that in the past. But I note General Petraeus has promoted that policy and I believe he is doing so in good faith.