Hume Argues Persistent Violence Helps Iraq Make Political Progress
Hume Argues Persistent Violence Helps Iraq Make Political Progress
With the exception of a few key posts, Iraq has formed their government. There is some concern, however, about the ability of the government to function effectively in a country still beset by persistent violence. Just today, a “spree of bombing, mortar rounds and a drive-by shooting…killed at least 18 Iraqis and wounded dozens.â€
On Fox News Sunday, Brit Hume dismissed those concerns, suggesting violence helps the Iraqis move forward politically. Hume did not elaborate.
Transcript:
HUME: This is going to — this is a test of the idea that Bill [Kristol] expressed, which is that you can’t really have a successful formation of a government and move forward while this threat of violence and the actual violence is going forward. I don’t think that’s true. I think everything we’ve seen so far has shown that the Iraqis continue marching on politically down the road toward democracy in spite of the violence and perhaps to some extent…
WILLIAMS: Well…
HUME: … excuse me — perhaps to some extent because of it. And you listen to people like General Abizaid and the others who are over there. The last thing they want to do now is introduce more troops.
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so does each Iraqi and American killed show how much progress has been made?
May 21st, 2006 at 5:40 pmHume is a bitch who’s afraid to say that his White House screwed up the MIddle East.
What a joke.
May 21st, 2006 at 5:48 pmIs Hume attempting to say basically what Jon Stewart is fond of saying, which is that the area is being “democraticized” while civil war has all but broken out in the region? If “the Iraqis continue marching on politically down the road toward democracy”, as Hume puts it, there will not be too many Iraqis left to reap the benefits of their supposed democracy. As retired General William Odom has pointed out, in an article last October from Neiman Watchdog, “Iraqis are already fighting Iraqis. Insurgents have killed far more Iraqis than Americans. That’s civil war. We [the United States] created the civil war when we invaded; we can’t prevent a civil war by staying”.
May 21st, 2006 at 5:57 pmIf violence is assisting the march toward democracy then shouldn’t Iraq be a democratic utopia by now… you know one with sectarian violence, roadside bombings, mass executions, and shallow graves.
May 21st, 2006 at 6:15 pmFrom the American Conservative magazine, 2003:
Flirting with Fascism
Neocon theorist Michael Ledeen draws more from Italian fascism than from the American Right.
By John Laughland
On the antiwar Right, it has been customary to attack the warmongering neoconservative clique for its Trotskyite origins. Certainly, the founding father of neoconservatism, Irving Kristol, wrote in 1983 that he was “proud†to have been a member of the Fourth International in 1940. Other future leading lights of the neocon movement were also initially Trotskyites, like James Burnham and Max Kampelman—the latter a conscientious objector during the war against Hitler, a status that Evron Kirkpatrick, husband of Jeane, used his influence to obtain for him. But there is at least one neoconservative commentator whose personal political odyssey began with a fascination not with Trotskyism, but instead with another famous political movement that grew up in the early decades of the 20th century: fascism. I refer to Michael Ledeen, leading neocon theoretician, expert on Machiavelli, holder of the Freedom Chair at the American Enterprise Institute, regular columnist for National Review—and the principal cheerleader today for an extension of the war on terror to include regime change in Iran.
Ledeen has gained notoriety in recent months for the following paragraph in his latest book, The War Against the Terror Masters. In what reads like a prophetic approval of the policy of chaos now being visited on Iraq, Ledeen wrote,
“Creative destruction is our middle name, both within our own society and abroad. We tear down the old order every day, from business to science, literature, art, architecture, and cinema to politics and the law. Our enemies have always hated this whirlwind of energy and creativity, which menaces their traditions (whatever they may be) and shames them for their inability to keep pace. Seeing America undo traditional societies, they fear us, for they do not wish to be undone. They cannot feel secure so long as we are there, for our very existence—our existence, not our politics—threatens their legitimacy. They must attack us in order to survive, just as we must destroy them to advance our historic mission.”
This is not the first time Ledeen has written eloquently on his love for “the democratic revolution†and “creative destruction.†In 1996, he gave an extended account of his theory of revolution in his book, Freedom Betrayed — the title, one assumes, is a deliberate reference to Trotsky’s Revolution Betrayed. Ledeen explains that “America is a revolutionary force†because the American Revolution is the only revolution in history that has succeeded, the French and Russian revolutions having quickly collapsed into terror.
Bwahahahaha! One time’s the charm I guess. I may be a moonbat, but these guys are batshit insane.
May 21st, 2006 at 6:24 pmSo every dead body is a step in the right direction?
May 21st, 2006 at 6:26 pmWe learned this week that many middle class Iraqis are leaving the country. If that continues, the remaining will be poor, hopeless and angry. That must sound pretty good to Hume.
Also, Abizaid said he isn’t planning to bring in more troops, but they have also rescinded their plan to draw down troops according to Rummy.
Perhaps Brit Hume should take his broadcast to Baghdad where he can see the “progress” up close and personal.
Mr. Hume is just plain stupid, here he is sitting on a t.v. show along with his little Ni—er boy Juan William talking about the death of over 2000 young kids is good for IRAQ, while he nor Juan never wore a military uniform for the country they say they love.
May 21st, 2006 at 6:29 pmMoonbat, I agree — these guys are suffering from group insanity.
May 21st, 2006 at 6:33 pmThey all hail from the same school; the all think similarly. They regurgitate the same ideas from the past - the frightening part is that they are so influential in Bush&Co they are dangerous to America as well as the world.
Up is down.
Black is white.
In is out.
May 21st, 2006 at 6:34 pmThe political process marches on. ONLY in the Green Zone. The Iraqi politicians and their American handlers are so insulated from the everyday chaos of the streets. So they finally formed a gov’t. What progress, just one stickler, who is going to run the army and who will run the police (or death squads)? Civil War is happening now and its our fault. Good job Bush, I hope the lives of so many people is worth your legacy of sh*t.
May 21st, 2006 at 6:40 pmSo, by his logic, the network should bomb his studio every night to make him a better journalist?
Clearly, he needs the improvement after spouting this kind of nonsense.
May 21st, 2006 at 6:42 pmBrit Hume: A heavy consumer of GOP Kool-Aid until the bitter end.
May 21st, 2006 at 7:02 pmThe ignorance and stupidity of the right-wing media is astounding. Do they even know what kind of crap is coming out of their collective mouths? Sick and wrong.
http://www.lcoliberal.blogspot.com
May 21st, 2006 at 7:20 pmSundat Talk Buzz: GOP congressman reveals the rights true plan for immigration - and boy is it scary:
Right now on LCL
So, using his logic, if 18 people were killed in Washington, D.C. each day - the USA would become more democratic?
May 21st, 2006 at 7:21 pmNewk Fox Newz. PLEASE.
May 21st, 2006 at 7:29 pmLink didn’t make it…
http://www.culture-of-corruption.net/top10reasons.htm
May 21st, 2006 at 7:51 pmViolence achieves democracy? It sounds like he’s trying to tell us how to win back democracy in this country. He sounds like a traitor.
May 21st, 2006 at 7:53 pmYes SW Bob, I think that’s exactly what he’s saying.
#9:
May 21st, 2006 at 8:13 pmI’m sure Brit had spent time before the show trying to think of an analogy to the United States development. He got on air with some partially formed idiocy which he artfully proceeded to utter fully formed despite Williams’ vain attempt to save him. Only on Fox would Hume theorize that Iraqi democracy is based on the Big Bang theory.
May 21st, 2006 at 8:22 pmhttp://www.rawstory.com/ news/ 2006/ Paper_Powell_aide_key_witness_in_0520.html
read comments
May 21st, 2006 at 8:37 pmConsidering we have seen a steady decrease in crime over the last several yaers http://www.fbi.gov/ ucr/ cius_04/ offenses_reported/ violent_crime/ index.html , why are there more people going to jail?
Jail, prison populations rise 2.6 percent
Justice Department says 56,428 inmates added in one year
Sunday, May 21, 2006; Posted: 4:31 p.m. EDT (20:31 GMT)
WASHINGTON (CNN) — More than 1,000 inmates were added to the nation’s prisons and jails each week from June 2004 to June 2005, according to a report issued Sunday by the U.S. Department of Justice.
The 56,428 new inmates — including both convicts and those awaiting trial — added to the system over the 12-month period account for a 2.6 percent rise in the U.S. prison and jail population, according to a synopsis of the Bureau of Justice Statistics report.
Two-thirds of the nearly 2.2 million total inmates were in state or federal prisons, and the rest were in local jails.
http://www.cnn.com/ 2006/ LAW/ 05/ 21/ incarceration.rate/ index.html
May 21st, 2006 at 9:04 pmMore bodybags = progress? That’s like saying we have to annihilate the entire world in order to preserve it.
May 21st, 2006 at 9:12 pm#14: Yes, if the 18 people per day were republican Senators…(Just kidding, Agent Smith. God bless the NSA!)
May 21st, 2006 at 9:17 pmThe only progress that can be made is when this administration is Impeached and they are taken out of power. Then we will be able to start reconstructing the devestation created by Bush, Cheney and Rove.
May 21st, 2006 at 9:36 pmhume is dangerous, because he doesn’t have that john gibson ‘i’m obviously a nutcase’ look about him — and he doesn’t go as far out on the limb with rightwing whackjob statements.
normally.
this, however, is just ridiculous, as he appears to be inferring that abizaid wants to keep troop levels low because the violence actually helps the democratic process move forward.
he may as well have said “bush’s seemingly unending incompetence actually energizes the conservative base”. just another one of those fnc just-because-we-say-it-makes-it-so moments.
May 21st, 2006 at 9:42 pmAnd you listen to people like General Abizaid and the others who are over there. The last thing they want to do now is introduce more troops.
More Troops Being Deployed to Iraq
Some 1,300 Soldiers Moving From Kuwait
May 19
http://abcnews.go.com/ International/ story?id=1982958
May 21st, 2006 at 9:44 pmSo I guess a bit of social unrest would be great for out lost country too then. Let’s raid the public offices and start flipping police cars. That should get some attention.
May 21st, 2006 at 10:01 pmFOX News whores like Hume are brain-dead, so do not act surprised whenever they spew baloney! Violence and mayhem never lead to progress!!!
May 21st, 2006 at 10:09 pmWhat a tool!
Next up, Bush signing statements that insist the Iraq War never happened, isn’t happening now, and … Iraq? What’s Iraq?
Brit Hume will insist there’s a big lake between Iran and … what exactly is on the other side? If you’re one of millions of Americans, you don’t know, do you!!!
Syria, Jordan or Turkey would have been correct answers. Of course, if you’re watching Brit Hume, you probably didn’t know that. You do know what GREAT PROGRESS we’re making “over there” though, dontcha.
Fox News, where Roger Ailes seeks out those with only brain stem function.
May 21st, 2006 at 10:12 pmI love Brit Hume. If you look in the dictionary, under “stodgy” you’ll find Brit Hume. I guess growing up with a girl’s name all your life makes you stodgy.
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May 21st, 2006 at 10:35 pmIf violence is a sign of progress, then Detroit is a Utopia!
May 21st, 2006 at 10:35 pmYes, well… everyone knows that ultimate political progress has been achieved once you’ve killed off every last constituent.
Freedom: ‘Tis on the march!
May 21st, 2006 at 10:36 pmViolence helps political progress???? WTF?
Is that like Violence helps …Political Progress - Like Canibalism is nutritious?
If he believes that, I wonder if he will change his toon when the citizens of America retake their country?
May 21st, 2006 at 10:45 pmOff topic, but if dumbya is staying the course while turning the corner….
does that mean that he is going in circles?
May 21st, 2006 at 10:46 pmhume is a sick, failed person to even think like that, let alone express it to the world.
May 21st, 2006 at 10:47 pmBrit Pontificates.To bad he cant think too
May 21st, 2006 at 10:55 pmWhat he meant: “It allows us to divert attention from the building of safer than pentagon embassy and the numerious permanent military bases.”
May 21st, 2006 at 11:11 pmPNAC ain’t gonna leave..
Officials: Iraq violence may forestall U.S. drawdown in Iraq:
May 21st, 2006 at 11:12 pmhttp://rawstory.com/ news/ 2006/ Officials_Iraq_violence_may_forestall_U.S._0227.html
Suit the PNAC agenda just fiiiine.
This is just more of the rights’ “Glass is half fullspeak” in my opinion. I think they actually are very, very smart. They meet in closed meetings to discuss the matters at hand and form talking points that are dissiminated throught the mass media thru outlets like rush, hannity and fox and they all talk on the same page. They also find out what the hot points are and spin them very eloquently, even though they are very wrong.
Again, what bothers me is that we have no unified voice to check them. The “sheeple” of America drink this right wing kool ade as the gospel because it is being rammed down thier throats. We, as the truthseekers we are must continue to call them to the carpet by emailing, calling and blogging as we do. Brit is just doing what his evil masters want and collecting a check. If he has any soul, he has to go home each night, shirt wet from crying because his lies are leading to the destruction of the America we all know and love. Or, the could go home and delight in the fact that he is helping his side take over the world with a demented pinky and the brainleading him…
May 21st, 2006 at 11:17 pmGeorge bush being pinky and Gunner six shot cheney being the brain of course.
George bush being pinky and Gunner six shot cheney being the brain of course.
Comment by GODWARRIOR — May 21, 2006 @ 11:17 pm
DON’T CONFUSE BRAIN WITH SH*T BUDDY!!!….AND YOUR NAME LET ME TELL YOU IT
May 21st, 2006 at 11:43 pmJUST PLAIN SUCKS!!! …..REMOVE THE FIRST 3 LETTERS!!!…AINT FOR YA!!!
Brit, is a suave fellow. Too bad he has no brain.
May 22nd, 2006 at 12:18 amI was referring to the Animaniacs cartoon…”Pinky and the Brain.”
May 22nd, 2006 at 12:22 amwhat a wonderful concept. maybe the american people should try this against the united states
May 22nd, 2006 at 1:24 amHume is just another FOX mouth piece, whose expertise includes his ability to repaint an issue in another color. In addition to this reasoning about the war, he has also been instrumental in the successful repainting of the reason we went into Iraq in the first place. I don’t recall anything about “taking democracy to Iraq” during the run-up to the war. It only become a position of this administration when the WMDs and imminent threat theories were de-bunked, cherry picking of intelligence was uncovered, the Downing Street revelation that the war was intended from the git-go, etc., and the administration had to come up with a new rationale for leading this nation into an unnecessary war! Hume and his ilk, along with Fox new’s resources, have been a God send to the administration in repainting the issues and successfully feeding it to much of the American people.
May 22nd, 2006 at 7:11 amNote the way he plants the weasle clause for Bill Kristol. This idea Bill expressed. Mr. Kristol actually having a plan involving post war details, bring it on. Mr. Kristol is still suffering from his last comments about the poor execution of the war 3 years after it’s start. Moonbat, thanks for the info on Mr. Ledeen, as I have always mentioned this is the same guy who writes made-up interviews with a dead CIA officer transcribed through a Oiuja board. Anybody seen Richard Pearle lately?
May 22nd, 2006 at 7:11 amIsn’t that something like Rum’s comment about going to a PREEMPTIVE WAR with the “army you got, rather than the army you want”. That statement must go down in history as the dumbest quote ever made.
May 22nd, 2006 at 7:12 amCorrection to the above statement. Hume’s and Rum’s statements must go down as the two dumbest statements ever made.
May 22nd, 2006 at 7:14 amYou do all realize that Brit Hume is completely insane, right?
Btw, I have Paul Krugman’s article right here. I’ll get to Bob Herbert when I get back from work.
May 22nd, 2006 at 7:44 amThe best offense is a strong defense. That being said, I turned Faux News off months ago. I even blocked out channel 39 on the remote. It is very healthy. Faux News is the Republican / Bush network. I like neither so I watch none of it.
Hume and O’Liarly and Pannity are not worth the time I took to even type this note. As a pretty decent First Lady once said, “Just say no (to Faux News)”
May 22nd, 2006 at 8:10 amTerminal Big Brother Bush DOUBLETHINK!
May 22nd, 2006 at 8:19 amFrom an AP article:
“I’m Saddam Hussein, president of
Iraq. I am above all,” Saddam shouted back.
“You are a defendant now, not a president,” the judge barked.
Gonna love hearing something similar to the above when Bubble boy is sitting in the small chair.
May 22nd, 2006 at 8:27 amI guess people here don’t read so well. Hume wasn’t arguing that violence was a positive thing, just that its continuation was a strong motivation to the Iraqis to press forward. That strikes me as obvious and apolitical.
I suppose moonbat lefties have some counterpoint to that? I just can’t find it in this thread.
May 22nd, 2006 at 8:40 amLet’s use the same philosophy to rebuild our government. Let’s tear down the Republican majority machine violently and then rebuild using Democratic leaders as the base. Ought to work just fine according to Hume.
May 22nd, 2006 at 8:46 amHe just wanted to sound cool.
Bono is Brian Peppers!
May 22nd, 2006 at 9:02 amI do hope he’ll elaborate on the distinction, if there is one, between good violence and bad violence, so we’ll know what we can justifiably be upset about.
Hume and Bush have the same problem– years of airtime with nothing left to say.
May 22nd, 2006 at 9:12 amViolence helps the Iraqi people move forward? A believably stupid comment from Hume, the empty head that serves as the unofficial second spokesman for the White House. When Hume has the courage to drive around Iraq without an armed guard in an unarmored vehicle, then his opinion might be worth more than a nickle.
May 22nd, 2006 at 10:34 amShit Hume should be swinging from a lampost in DC along with Tweety and Pumpkinhead, honest to Christ!
May 22nd, 2006 at 10:43 am“Black is white and good is bad and we are all together.”
He’s lying.
May 22nd, 2006 at 10:48 amOh, I see. Violence is good, because it means progress. Well, then, civil war is great! Why don’t we increase the violence ten fold by withdrawing? I mean, according to Hume, that’s a good thing!
Moron.
May 22nd, 2006 at 11:56 amI’m no big fan of brit hume (though he wears great ties) but commentators on all sides have said they need to keep spilling their blood to figure it out. I didn’t think anything of this when I saw it yesterday. I think David Brooks said it too a few weeks ago, he’s a bit left wing, more than Hume, anyway.
May 22nd, 2006 at 12:24 pmIf we withdraw right now a civil war would erupt! Oops, too late. These idiots are now trying to “spin” civil war. Incredible.
May 22nd, 2006 at 12:34 pmDon’t you think Brit Hume’s hometown could do with a little “progress?”
Or would it be mean-spirited, cruel, and inhuman to say that?
May 22nd, 2006 at 12:40 pmWith all this U.S. led illegal immoral war I can’t help but think that the song artists need to remake the song “one tin soldier”…
Perhaps the Dixie Chicks could remake “one tin soldier”.
Peace on earth was all it said.
May 22nd, 2006 at 12:46 pmBrit, my man, go stand in the most dangerous, blood soaked part of Iraq for 24 hours without a Kevlar vest and make some progress. You love the war so much, go sacrifice for it. Phat Chance.
May 22nd, 2006 at 12:59 pmso its brilliant Brit “their blood will paint the way to the future” Hume mouthing inanities again?
the guy is dumber than a bag of hammers.
will wonders never cease.
May 22nd, 2006 at 1:08 pmI think David Brooks said it too a few weeks ago, he’s a bit left wing, more than Hume, anyway.
Comment by fairest — May 22, 2006 @ 12:24 pm
He’s about as left as Rove.
May 22nd, 2006 at 1:11 pmEveryone is being too critical of Brit. He only meant that if you were to smash your thumb with a big ole claw hammer right this minute, the healing process would begin immediately and not later.
May 22nd, 2006 at 1:43 pmWe must be falling short of the mark in the good old USA, good buddy, in our attempt to have a functional democracy here. I haven’t heard of any domestic bombs since Timothy McVeigh and Oklahoma City.
Mr. Hume, you are an idiot!,
May 22nd, 2006 at 2:04 pmIt appears that inside the Beltway plus the Green Zone equals the Twilight Zone. If Hume believes what he says, then he should wrap himself up in a flag and walk the streets of Baghdad spreading the gospel…you know just to help push the democracy thing a little bit further down the road.
May 22nd, 2006 at 2:40 pmYO, ADRIEN: The continuation you speak of in your defense of Hume has been going on for better than three(3)years and still festering. Maybe if more of you chickenhawk neocons would bravely enlist to help combat the insurgents, the debacle that the Bush administration has visited upon the United States and the rest of the world would see the light of day. But since this so called “war” has been built on lies and has been mismanaged from its insidious start with killing, maiming and squandering of hundreds of billions of dollars, the violence has become as acceptable as the casual reference to the number of Americans killed and wounded by neocon pundits and Bush supporters as just the price you pay in a war. More people are killed in accidents at home than are killed in Iraq so we should not complain because our losses are minimal compared to other wars and accidental deaths in the US is the usual line. This is an obscene comparison when a soldier loses his life for a blunder. If ignorance is bliss–’Tis folly to be wise.
May 22nd, 2006 at 4:28 pmBrit has to go to Iraq, walk the streets and if he gets shot, then he’ll be adding to the progress in Iraq.
May 22nd, 2006 at 5:05 pmUH? This asshole should be President
May 22nd, 2006 at 6:01 pmIf Hume’s theory was valid, Darfur would be the most democratic region on the planet!
May 22nd, 2006 at 6:19 pmIt’s a sad, sad day when conservatives have the likes of Brit Hume who seems to be channeling George Orwell and Lewis Carroll with his vaguely fascist and ludicrous
assertion that when on the road to democracy, Death equals Progress. Is this the best the right can offer? I know their ship is taking on water, but aren’t there any bailers who can at least feign intelligence and who are somewhat engaged with reality? Who’d have thought the Right would find itself on the Firing Line and the only ammo they’d have would consist of duds and dum-dums?
Mayday! Mayday! Paging William Buckley! Paging William Buckley!
May 22nd, 2006 at 6:53 pmSo I guess Brit’s take on domestic violence is, “He only beats you because he loves you”?
May 23rd, 2006 at 7:20 amNescesity is the mother of all inventions. While it could be true the violence is haveing a far greater negative affect in Iraq then any postive outcome.
May 23rd, 2006 at 9:01 amBrit Hume is the quintessential, right-wing, windbag. His cheeks are starting to flair out to accommodate the “windbaggedness” of his neo-con utterings. He is just an “O’Reilly” who went to good schools, and learned how to speak the King’s English…,but cut the classes on ethics.
May 23rd, 2006 at 9:41 amOh I see, if everyone in Iraq dies, there will be peace. Thanks Brit, you are the smartest man alive. You should run for President……..NOT!!!!!
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