Latest horror could destroy President of divided nation

[kskiska]

By Andrew Gumbel in Los Angeles

Is this the horror that will finally undo George Bush's presidency? First Nicholas Berg, now Paul Johnson: in two months and in two different countries, two US civilians have been kidnapped and beheaded by their al-Qa'ida-affiliated captors, becoming not only pawns in a deadly geopolitical game but also symbols of the complicated feelings of revulsion unleashed by the Bush administration's "war on terror".

It is hard not to think back to earlier acts of defiance against the might of the United States and wonder if we are not seeing a parallel erosion of presidential authority: the steady drip-drip of casualty figures from Vietnam that proved the undoing of Lyndon Johnson's presidency in 1968, or the corrosive effect of the Iran hostage crisis on Jimmy Carter 12 years later.

We have now witnessed four similar killings of Western civilians in the conflicts unleashed by the attacks of 11 September 2001, starting with Daniel Pearl in Pakistan in January 2002 and including the Italian Fabrizio Quattrocchi in Iraq in April. Even in our jaded, news-saturated age there is something about these cases that bespeaks almost bottomless horror, in a way that the deaths of more than 800 US servicemen in Iraq or the violence and death visited upon thousands of Iraqi civilians have not.

The fact that the images of ritual slaughter have been posted on the internet has only made the brutality more vivid, more palpable - even to those who have not had the stomach or the inclination to watch. This is a propaganda war, fought with images as much as with guns and knives.

more…
http://news.independent.co.uk/world/americas/story.jsp?story=533087

[saigon68]

1. That guys family needs to Blame the CHIMPANZEE

[saigon68]

2. OR THE chimpanzee's BEST FRIEND BANDAR the billionaire

that guy

[ZR2]

4. or the Al Quada assholes

that actually did it.

[Piperay]

16. No disagreement there

apparently you are expecting some. :shrug:

There's plenty of blame to go around.

[saigon68]

18. Or the monarchy in saudi who supports bin ladin

you know bush's millionaire friends

[clydefrand]

5. I will admit that

I have been calling him a chimp, too, but I find that an insult to chimps! I love those little creatures.

[clydefrand]

3. I would like for him

to be removed from office, but I'm afraid Bush's supporters have their collective heads in the sand and can see no wrong that he does.

[BeHereNow]

7. Welcome to DU!

And I'm with you on that point...
BHN

[ZR2]

9. as much as the * haters

have thier collective heads in the sand and can see no right in anything he does.

[Mikimouse]

11. OK, name one significant positive thing he has done...

with references, please.

[Piperay]

13. List the correct things he has done...

I can't think of one but I am open to seeing a list.

[Journeyman]

22. Oh, c'mon now, let's give Shrub his due. . .

he's credited by some with helping get the "No Call List" act passed against telemarketers. That has to count for something.

(Parenthetically: I've heard Smirk helped get that law passed, but does anyone know how much -- if any -- he did to see it through to passage? And are there any reports yet on its efficiency? I'm still getting calls. Not as many, and certainly not from the little guys -- the carpet cleaners and tree trimmers -- but I do get calls from the financial people and the telecom schmucks.)

[devinsgram]

15. Maybe that's because

he hasn't done anything right.

[AndyTiedye]

17. Not True.

I liked what Bush* said about a base on the moon and going to Mars.
(just not at the expense of the Hubble Space Telescope! Keep that beauty running!)



http://www.windows.ucar.edu/tour/link=/the_universe/images/NGC6543a_image.html

Don't worry about the costs of the space program. It's a fantastic deal really.
We can do it all for a small fraction of the cost of even one minor war.
It keeps the military-industrial complex fat and happy so nobody needs
to get bombed, shot, or tortured.

Most of all we need room to grow.

[frylock]

20. still waiting........................................

must be a long list to compile. :eyes:

[Demeter]

6. America thrives on horror diet

To expect to wean Joe Six-pack from the abominations on TV, in theaters, and on DVD with a couple of executions is absurd. The Bush regime, like the Reagan one, produces horror after horror, and not enough people care to see that the GOP is at the heart of it all. The message must be--throw out the GOP, and I don't care who it is!

[Gloria]

8. I doubt any US paper will run this sort of "questioning" of Bush's

New World.

And the TV/ radio echo chamber will never examine this, let alone it's own preoccupation with all things "war"

[Momof1]

10. I just got off the phone with my mom.

My 79 yr old father was watching the news earlier. AND he completely blames this on Bush.

I am trying to get him to go to the movies with me next friday night...lol.

[President Jesus]

12. Breaking news?

I'm going out on a limb to say this may qualify as an opinoin piece.

[modrepub]

14. Doubt it

This is a fight to the finish. Neither side will back down and there are no rules to this conflict.

What amazes me is the lack of understanding the neocons have for these people. The idea that the people of the ME would welcome us with open arms and hail us as liberators was laughable when I first heard it. These people for the most part don't share our history, values or religion (though they probably understand us better than the neocons understand them). They people fought the Russians with donkeys and rifles, and won. What makes us think they would back down from a fight with us. But hey everything is honky-dory over there, further evidence how well this mis administration grasps the situation.

[jayfish]

19. Whats The Big Deal,...

I mean more people are murdered every day in Washington D.C. than this. Just ask the right-wing media, they'll set ya straight.

Jay

[Moderator]

21. Moving to Editorial/Other

[myopic4141]

23. To defeat them, we must be like them.

That is the neocon viewpoint on how to win this war. It is the wrong viewpoint for that is how the terrorists wish the world to view us and they are succeeding. Americans in general are viewed to be as unprincipled as the leadership and the leadership has been shown to be corrupt to the core. Shrubby (I like chimps too) and company have espoused high moral values while failing to adhere to them at every turn. The apologist cry against blaming America now rings hollow for all are to blame for this mess. Conservatives are to blame for not upholding to principles and holding down the few Liberals who rally against them. Most Liberals are to blame for not being assertive in taking the Conservatives to task. Shrubby and company are self evident as examples of disregarding principle. The effort to ban Michael Moore's film and example of holding down the Liberal voice, and the lack of voice of Liberal leadership against the holding down of Moore's film an example of non assertiveness. Moore speaks out and few rally to his cause. I see no news on how many are calling the movie chains to show the film and only hear about the outcry against it. It is time to once again raise up and have our voices heard so that the world understands that we are not like our neocon leadership.