yurbud
yurbud's JournalNeocons Urge Embrace of Al Qaeda
I'm having a hard time keeping track of which terrorist group we are supposed to be afraid of, which are now freedom fighters, and how much it depends on what our government thinks of the government they are terrorizing.
But since al Qaeda is supported by our close ally Saudi, there's no way neocons were tempted to use them for a little terror here in 2001 to give Americans an attitude adjustment in favor of war.
As Rashid puts it: Unlike ISIS, which demands absolute subjugation of the inhabitants of any territory it conquers (surrender or be executed), al-Nusra is cooperating with other anti-Assad groups and recently joined the Army of Conquest alliance of rebel militias in northern Syria. Moreover, in contrast to ISISs largely international and non-Syrian fighting force, al-Nusras fighters are almost wholly Syrian, making them both more reliable and more committed to Syrias future.
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This is dramatic stuff. After all, Rashid is not taking aim at some minor doctrine, but one that has been a cornerstone of U.S. foreign policy since 9/11. Moreover, hes not the only one talking this way. Since Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan flew to Riyadh in early March to meet with Saudi King Salman and discuss ways of upping support for the Syrian Islamist opposition, there has been a veritable boomlet in terms of calls for a rapprochement with Al Qaeda.
Within days of the Riyadh get-together, Foreign Affairs went public with an article arguing that even though the United States is the closest it has ever been to destroying al Qaeda, its interests would be better served by keeping the terrorist organization afloat. Lina Khatib, director of the Carnegie Middle East Center in Beirut, wrote a few weeks later that while not everyone likes Nusras ideology, there is a growing sense in the north of Syria that it is the best alternative on the ground and that ideology is a small price to pay for higher returns.
https://consortiumnews.com/2015/06/26/neocons-urge-embrace-of-al-qaeda/
TOON: How to tell a terrorist from a wacko
Why is it we forced "de-nazification" on Germany but not the equivalent on Confederates?
In some respects, Lincoln was too kind to Southern leaders, wanting a gentler, conciliatory reconstruction rather than bringing their leaders low and root out violent racists the way Ulysses S. Grant later did as president--but too late to have the public behind him.
As Dylan Roof lamented, the Klan and other racist groups never quite recovered from Grant's work in South Carolina.
It seems a little reminiscent of the Wall Street bailout. Wealthy Southern planters profited mightily from the labor of slaves, started a war that damaged the entire country, and Lincoln was most concerned about bringing those very enslavers and traitors back into the family.
That soft approach seems to have led to Jim Crow and the lingering injured pride of Southerners, whose heroes were allowed to keep their honor.
What will happen if mainstream media tries to take down Bernie like it did Howard Dean...
with the "Dean Scream" and it doesn't work?
I have suspected that a day will come when the mainstream media and its manufactured conventional wisdom would not influence enough people to change the course of events.
With Bernie's poll numbers in spite of being a dreaded "socialist," it looks like that day is getting a lot nearer.
How will the financial and political elite control the game then?
on Confederate Flag in SC: who killed more Americans, al Qaeda or Confederates & their admirers?
Americans killed by al Qaeda:
1993 World Trade Center bombing: 6
1998 embassy bombing: 12
2000 USS Cole bombing: 17
9/11: 2,977
You could give them credit for every American killed in the Middle East since 9/11 too, and it would still be a fraction of those killed by the pro-slavery Confederacy and their various racist descendant groups.
Northern troops killed in Civil War: 364,000
Southerner troops killed (a self-inflicted would) 300,000
Lynchings, 1882-1968
You don't even have to add hate crime murders since 1968 or cops killing unarmed blacks with impunity for racist Americans a hundred times the body count of the terrorists our government and the right are constantly telling us to wet our pants over.
We can't root out racist thoughts, but we can stop allowing the symbol of racial terrorism and mass murder to fly on state property at state expense.
It's time to end welfare for the Confederate flag.
Take it down.
Have REPUBLICANS called the attack in Charleston TERRORISM yet?
The squishy response of the GOP South Carolina governor makes it sound like they are SOFT on terrorism and possibly even sympathetic to white supremacist terrorists.
Jeb Bush Among Conservatives Criticizing Pope For Climate Change Encyclical
Source: Huffington Post
GOP presidential hopeful Jeb Bush criticized Pope Francis on Tuesday after a draft of his encyclical on climate change was leaked by an Italian newspaper.
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During a town hall event in New Hampshire, Bush said he thinks religion "ought to be about making us better as people and less about things that end up getting into the political realm."
I hope Im not going to get castigated for saying this by my priest back home, but I dont get economic policy from my bishops or my cardinals or my pope, Bush said, according to the New York Times. And I'd like to see what he says as it relates to climate change and how that connects to these broader, deeper issues before I pass judgment."
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While many haven't yet spoken out about the pope's views, several Republican presidential hopefuls have question climate change and its origin. Sen. Marco Rubio (R-Fla.) has said humans are not responsible for climate change in the way some of these people out there are trying to make us believe. Business mogul Donald Trump has called global warming a "hoax." Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Texas) has compared climate change activists to "flat-Earthers."
Read more: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2015/06/17/jeb-bush-pope-climate-change_n_7603160.html
The Republican Party is actively trying to be less enlightened than a 2,000 year old church.
Or put another way, when God and money conflict, Republicans say, "SHOW ME THE MONEY!"
re Rachel Dolezal, what do African Americans think of white kids who act like black rappers?
That was one of the first things I thought of when this issue blew up.
Is it complimentary, like a minstrel show, just odd, or what?
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