Matthews: War in Iraq United ‘the Disparate Pieces of Shia Radicalism into a Frankenstein Monster’
Matthews: War in Iraq United ‘the Disparate Pieces of Shia Radicalism into a Frankenstein Monster’
Chris Matthews, at the conclusion of his Sunday morning talk show explored the impact of the U.S.-led invasion of Iraq. Matthews said that Iraq used to be “a country which has fought revolutionary Iran for eight years to a bloody stand still.” Now, it’s a “Shia dominated ally of Iran.” Matthews concluded: “Our brave soldiers have fought, died and been dismembered in Iraq only to connect the disparate pieces of Shia radicalism into a frankenstein monster that has come to life right there on our TV screens.” Watch it:
Transcript:
MATTHEWS: Two years ago, King Abdullah of Jordan warned me of what was coming in the mideast. His prediction was dead. He spoke of his fears and what the United States was doing in iraq, toppling one government, electing another, was creating what he called a shi’ia crescent, from Tehran through Baghdad to Beirut that threatened to dominate the Arab world, challenging modern Sunni governments in Egypt and Saudi Arabia and others with an axis of Shia power based in Iran.
When I look at the map today, that Shia crescent the King foretold has come to light. It is hard for us westerners to understand the internal politics of another region when we can’t predict whether the Democrats will take congress from the Republicans three months from now, how could we see the Shi’ia grabbing the high ground from the Sunni in the mideast three years ago? That’s what happened. We converted Iraq from a country which has fought revolutionary Iran for eight years to a bloody stand still to a Shia dominated ally of Iran and created a boulevard of common religion and common regional politics.
Did you hear the new Iraqi leader take sides with Hezbollah in a struggle with Israel? This is the emerging threat, not just to the moderate Sunni countries including Egypt and Jordan who formed and honored treaties to Israel and us. Our brave soldiers have fought, died and been dismembered in Iraq only to connect the disparate pieces of Shi’ia radicalism into a frankenstein monster that has come to life right there on our TV screens and worse yet in the vicarious mideast where young arabs found a hero named Hezbollah.
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Well if Bush attacks Iran, then he will create an alliance of every last Shia Muslim worrldwide!
July 30th, 2006 at 12:27 pmMy my, my. It begins.
July 30th, 2006 at 12:39 pmThis issue should be front and center on our television screens. If they want to also the Israeli/Lebanese/Hezboolah War, fine, but Iraq should take precedence. After all, our soldiers are concentrating on Bagdhad during this unstable time in a last-ditch attempt that could well lead to a massacre of U.S. soldiers. The MSM is NOT supporting our troops right now, and they should be called to task for it.
July 30th, 2006 at 12:43 pmLike I said, SITTING DUCKS!
July 30th, 2006 at 12:46 pmDon’t think for a moment Matthews is having a crisis of conscience here. The core subtext of his statement is this: “we have a new enemy and it must be defeated - MORE WAR!!!”
NEXT UP for the right wing-ers on this one is to come out with that tired old Iraq slogan: “Well, we broke it, now we have to fix it.”
God help us.
July 30th, 2006 at 12:48 pmNo f’ing shite Sherlock! Where was he 3 years ago when this outlook, which was obvious to many of us, could have been more useful? This guy’s worthless.
July 30th, 2006 at 12:50 pmi think you’re close to it, jp… if not right on…
July 30th, 2006 at 12:50 pmyes, god help us…
Were the US a parlimentary system, this Bush adminstration would have fallen long ago.
July 30th, 2006 at 12:54 pmHasn’t Matthews been fawning all over this Administration for the past 3 or so years?
July 30th, 2006 at 1:00 pmWhat’s made him change his tune now?
My oh my! Even Chris Matthews is begining to get that the Perfidious Monster led us into a morass of wars and occupations that we cannot sustaion!
We’ve had more than enough of Republican mis-rule, isn’t it time someone else tries to give it a go for a decade or so?
July 30th, 2006 at 1:00 pmMatthews is highly untrustworthy. He’s no Walter Cronkite.
July 30th, 2006 at 1:01 pmThe MSM is NOT supporting our troops right now, and they should be called to task for it.
Comment by midwestblue — July 30, 2006 @ 12:43 pm
July 30th, 2006 at 1:08 pm———————————————————————————————–
You blame the media and give the drunken AWOL coward and the five deferment coward along with all the chickenshit chickenhawk cowards in the PNAC, and all the rubber necked GOP cowards in congress a pass? Get real…this entire fiasco could have been prevented with some real leadership and diplomacy. This is a freaking failure of greatest proportions. The GOP has been hijacked by nazis and our nation is on the brink of failure because of the ignorance in the White House. Vote Democrat and take our country back.
It’s alive! ALIVE!
Dr. Frankenstein was a much better monster creator than George Bush. His monster had a brain. Bush forgot to put one in his. Maybe that’s because God forgot to put one in Bush.
July 30th, 2006 at 1:11 pmWho knows? The Shadow knows! He knows that the Bush administration has gotten their tit caught in a ringer and is now crying about it. They forgot that addage; He who forgets the past, is doomed to repeat it. We’ve been down this road so many times, it’s not even funny. We the (United States) created Saddam Hussein (Frankenstein) and then we had to destroy him. Well if you recall the movie they ended up destroyed half the village in doing so. Because of course the monster always gets loose and walks around killing innocent people.
Bush tried the “Cowboy” approach and it didn’t work, now he looks like a dime store cowboy with no plan to win the war or peace. You can’t make people want democracy when they live to fight each other and hit the first innocent bystander who tries to break it up. What Bush has done is open up a can of worms and now the damn worms are crawling all over and Condi is standing there going, Eew gross, look at those worms. Let’s face it, these morons have started a chain of events they can’t control and now we are even less safe than we were 9-10-01.
The only thing left for us to do it declare victory and go home. The military option has failed miserably and Dubya has no plan to win it by force. It’s time to bring in a real General like retired General Swartzkaft so he can get us out of the mess Tommy Franks and his stupid plans got us into. He (Swartzkaft) needs to look at Franks and say; “That’s another fine mess you’ve gotten us into”, “now I’ve got to get us out of it”. Seriously, only a no-nonsense General can lead us to a declared victory at this point. This dime cowboy novel approach never had a chance of working and can only lead to what Newt Gingrisch is calling WWIII.
It is clear that that little pigmy in Iran is out thinking Dubya at every turn and it’s about time Dubya bring in someone who isn’t a yes man and can tell him what the facts are. No President can make good decisions if the yes men around him are telling him things are going great. If President Kennedy had listened to his General during the Cuban Missile Crisis; half the world would have been destroyed. Sometimes a President needs to take a step back, call in outsiders and get a fresh perspective on things. Unfortunately for us, this President doesn’t trust anyone except Mr. Cheney and a few other people who can’t see the forrest for the trees. So wake up Mr. President this is not a nightmare, Iran is trying to develop Nuclear Weapons and the entire Middle East is about to erupt into all out war.
July 30th, 2006 at 1:11 pmChris Matthews is trying to save his job now that he knows Bush will most likely be impeached. Chris did everything he could on his shows to support Bush policy and the GOP he even out right lied. He has made his money from the GOP by pushing Bush’s propaganda and yes he was paid big time. Now that Nov. looks like the end of this Administration and the lies have come out Chris is doing what he does best saving his ass. He sounds like he never said those other support words of the Corrupt Leader stay the course, we’re winning the war on terror, we don’t torture, we don’t have secret prisons. Chris passed that information on to the public now he wants to act like he has always been on the public’s side. Chris better hope Bush doesn’t call up the draft is so his son will go to a war zone and Chris will be in line to impeach Bush.
July 30th, 2006 at 1:12 pmBetter late than never with Matthews.
I saw him on the Charlie Rose show right before the invasion of Iraq.
He said to Charlie Rose that this plan to strike Iraq pre-emptively was “un-American.”
On his show, however, it was “Softball” with Chris Matthews.
Matthews: “Will we be greeted as liberators, Mr./Ms. Right Wing Person of the Day?”
Mr./ Ms. Right Wing Person of the Day: “Why, yes Chris. I think we will be.”
Matthews: “Thanks for coming on the show.”
Day after day, over and over again.
I waited for the classic Chris Matthews ” but what about this ???!!! and what about that??? !!!” type of questioning that he is known for.
Zip. Nada.
I don’t know whether to be frustrated with Matthews or his “handlers” or both.
My current theory is that he gets pointed in the direction of the polls by his management.
At the time - prior to the invasion - most people were still under the spell of the White House imminent threat hype. So the polls for the invasion were apparently high enough to support ( or at least not aggressively challenge ) the invasion on the show at that time.
Years later, the polls on support of the war head south and the “this is a bad war volume” gets cranked up.
I don’t know.
Just giving the people what they want to hear is not a good news model. It is like feeding a child their “favourite food” all day and every day. You end up with a pretty unhealthy kid.
Anyway - Good for Chris Matthews. At least for now.
July 30th, 2006 at 1:12 pmWe got some moron that wrote into my local right wing paper, THe Orange County Register, who actually said that he can’t figure out why Isreal is always being attacked by the Muslim states, because they took “a useless piece of desert” and created a state just for the Jews to live.
Useless piece of desert? Are you kidding me? The Crisitans, Jews and Muslims have been fighting over that same piece of useless desert for 1,400 years. While I may think it is pretty stupid to fight over that useless piece of desert, the religious leaders around the world would all disagree and think that millions of deaths for this little piece of useless desert is worth it.
July 30th, 2006 at 1:14 pmChris Matthews = rat leaving a sinking ship
July 30th, 2006 at 1:15 pmWell, Matthews is singing a different tune these days because he sees what is unfolding before his eyes and the eyes of the world.
July 30th, 2006 at 1:15 pmOur shortsighted administration has created a monster, that’s certain — the unintended consequences of what we have done in Iraq gave birth to this - and there is no end in sight.
I don’t give Matthews credit for anything - because I think he is an opportunist and has become a shill for the Republican party - but in this case, he is correct in his assessment.
The King of Jordan predicted this long ago, and I heard him at the time and I believed him — I think the people from the region have a better understanding of the region — unlike BushCo who think they know the answers to everything and “don’t need no stinkin’ opnions” from anyone else.
The situation is so out of control now that it’s hard to even imagine what a solution might be.
Contrary to popular neocon propaganda, I hate that we were right about the Bush Regime.
This situation is appalling.
July 30th, 2006 at 1:17 pm#19
Hi Zooey.
Thanks for the kind words back on the other thread ( global warming ).
:)
I think I remember you saying that you have started a new job recently. Hope it is going well for you.
btw - very good and elegantly to the point post on Matthews.
July 30th, 2006 at 1:22 pmIs that the same Chris Matthews who was just this Friday blowing sunshine up Ann Coulter’s ass? What a hack. Matthews was a little giddy schoolboy when Tom DeLay was able to lie his way through a half hour of time Matthews could of spent grilling DeLay and ALL Republicans for the one thing they are divorced from–the truth.
July 30th, 2006 at 1:24 pmMatthews is highly untrustworthy.
Comment by George — July 30, 2006 @ 1:01 pm
just the other day he was fawning over coulter…
He’s no Walter Cronkite.
were are you, walter…where did you go?
July 30th, 2006 at 1:25 pmwe sure do need us a “walter cronkite”…
If I hear this “not supporting our troops” talking point once more I’m going to explode! (well, not really, but…)
What is wrong with the media (MSM and others) or everyday people simply saying that the current administration’s agressive war policies are total BS but that they/we still do support those troops?
What makes me sick are the pundits on TV (FNS especially) who seem to push the administration’s war stance - and they do this from the comfort of their studios and cushy 6-7 figure salaries.
Supporting the troops means providing them with the best equipment to do their assigned jobs - that is something this administration hasn’t done. Supporting the troops also means helping them when they rotate back to the US - something this administration also hasn’t done.
So, you can wave the flag all you want, but unless you put your money were your mouth is, keep quiet - something this administration hasn’t done.
/rant
Now, back to your regularly scheduled programming.
July 30th, 2006 at 1:26 pmThat’s right Chris, now America must begin the healing process by holding those responsible accountable for their war of choice.
America needs to purge itself of the current illegitimate leadership, then imprison them and offer them up to international authorities for charges of war crimes.
These actions on behalf of America and Americans may help reestablish the view of America as a fair and just country.
July 30th, 2006 at 1:27 pm#22 - Thanks, Killer Whale.
You were being a gentleman, and that’s always appreciated. ;)
The job is going well and I love it. Thanks!
July 30th, 2006 at 1:29 pmSlightly OT here, but noteworthy from the WaPo today:
July 30th, 2006 at 1:39 pmA key section of a long-awaited congressional report on prewar intelligence in Iraq, that some Democrats have been counting on to use as a campaign issue, probably won’t be released until after the November elections, according to an article in Sunday’s edition.
So much for Sen Roberts and his claims that the report was nearly finished (last November, when Reid and the Dems shut down the Senate). Lying bastard.
Any observer of the scene saw this scenario coming if the US invaded Iraq. That’s why Reagan allied the US with Saddam and why Bush One didn’t want to take down Saddam. The ascendancy of Hezbollah reveals the utter failure and tragedy of this policy with all the useless death. Our young men and women have died to make the world a more dangerous place. Chris Mathews, the number one finger in the wind ass-kisser to power, now sees it coming and wants to shift directions. When the corporate media sees the failure and acknowledges it, then you know the tide has turned.
July 30th, 2006 at 1:41 pmThis is the same Matthews that called Bush’s foreign policy genius.
July 30th, 2006 at 1:47 pmMarie,
For that reason, I believe the Democrats are in bed with the Republicans. If not, they would have shut down Congress again and again, but they aren’t. I think they did it for a show to get points, but then let it drop. Like they do every other issue in front of them. What do they do all year. Fund raising? Collect money from lobbiests?
July 30th, 2006 at 1:48 pmThe picture has the shape of the crescent wrong. It should include all of Iran, all of Iraq except maybe Kurdistan if that breaks off, then through all of Syria to Lebanon. Pointing downward and kind of surrounding from the North the Arabian peninsula, Israel and Jordan.
One major problem for Jordan’s king Abdullah is that if the Jordanians ever get the vote, they are going to run, not walk to join the crescent. (Same with Egypt)
July 30th, 2006 at 1:53 pmSpudge - that’s pretty cynical - but it also makes a lot of sense. They have never fought as hard as Republicans, never taken advantage events that have been given to them by the corrupt asses in the administration. When Dems like Clinton, Lieberman, and many others continue to shy away from taking a courageous stand that represents those of us out here in the country, it makes your assertion even more credible.
July 30th, 2006 at 1:53 pm[…] Matthews: The War in Iraq United the Disparate Pieces of Shia …Think Progress, DC - 1 hour agoMatthews said that Iraq used to be a country which has fought revolutionary Iran for eight years to a bloody stand still. Now, it sa Shia dominated … […]
July 30th, 2006 at 1:53 pmIf Bush attacks Iran. The fat lady has sung. It would be hard to give a damn about the power of the Shi’ia or any other group with Nukes going off around the world. I fear attacking Iran would pull the nuclear trigger.
July 30th, 2006 at 1:55 pmWill
P.S.
Matthews is a bombastic Bu-shit-e wingnut.
#35 - I agree, William. One of my first comments on TP over a year ago was voicing a fear that if GWB attacks Iran it would be the end of all of us. I was slapped down immediatley.
The possibility of nuclear was seems more likely every day. Thanks to George W. Bush and his asinine policies and ideology. All of the arguments in the world will mean nothing when we’re watching each other die of radiation sickness — those of us who were not lucky enough to be vaporized.
July 30th, 2006 at 2:11 pmSorry Marie. I try and stay positive, but find that I am turning into a grumpy old man who doesn’t believe one word that comes out of the mouthes of the righties and don’t believe 95% of what comes out of the mouthes of lefties.
I don’t feel that I have any representation in Congress or Washington for that matter.
Back in the good old days, people would throw good old fashion revolutions over the way I feel, but I think these days, it would fall under “If you through a war, what would happen if knowbody showed up.”
We live in very sad times.
There may be delicious butter cream icing on the cake, but the cake itself is rotten and festering.
July 30th, 2006 at 2:12 pmThe middle east is much like the Balkins. Many different ethnicities scattered across multiple nations, resulting in instability due to oppressive regimes that refuse to assimilate the disparate peoples. These things can be resolved peacefully. Germany seemed to reunify without armed conflict, and the Chech Republic and Slovokia worked out fine. Unfortunatley, too many outside players with strategic and economic interests in the area prevent “local solutions”.
July 30th, 2006 at 2:14 pmThe middle east is much like the Balkins except American soldiers aren’t dying there for the lies of their leaders.
July 30th, 2006 at 2:19 pmWow, Jason M. Hendler. That is the most coherent thing I have ever read you post. SO, then you agree that the United States, as na outside player should get its nose out of the Middle East? That’s great. That means we should get the hell out of Afgahnistan, get the hell out of Iraq and not sell any more weapons to Isreal.
July 30th, 2006 at 2:23 pmhttp://www.thewashingtonnote.com/archives/001568.php#more
July 30th, 2006 at 2:27 pmSen Chuck Hagel’s Speech re: Israel/Arab war
“the Disparate Pieces of Shia Radicalism into a Frankenstein Monster’”
ahahahha, i wonder how large a percentage of bush supporters would have no idea what that sentence (or even most of the words in it) mean…
uhm. does that mean “saddam bad, bush good”??
July 30th, 2006 at 2:43 pmThanks TrueBlue for the Sen. Hagel speech link. Much easier to handle than the Jason, PHT, Hedler.
July 30th, 2006 at 2:49 pmYou’re welcome!
July 30th, 2006 at 2:55 pmHe’s (Jason) already destroyed the Rumsfeld thread.
“Our brave soldiers have fought, died and been dismembered in Iraq only to connect the disparate pieces of Shia radicalism into a frankenstein monster that has come to life right there on our TV screens.”
How dare Matthews!
Asswipes like him followed the script and created this frankenstein monster on our TV screens by brainwashing the American public with his enthusiastic dissemination of all matters of propaganda the Bush administration was feeding him. This is HIS monster!
He insults all of us by now trying to make himself look like a concerned citizen.
Never forgive these guys, never.
July 30th, 2006 at 3:01 pm[…] from Think Progress Matthews: War in Iraq United ‘the Disparate Pieces of Shia Radicalism into a Frankenstein Monster’ Chris Matthews, at the conclusion of his Sunday morning talk show explored the impact of the U.S.-led invasion of Iraq. Matthews said that Iraq used to be “a country which has fought revolutionary Iran for eight years to a bloody stand still.†Now, it’s a “Shia dominated ally of Iran.†Matthews concluded: “Our brave soldiers have fought, died and been dismembered in Iraq only to connect the disparate pieces of Shia radicalism into a frankenstein monster that has come to life right there on our TV screens.†[…]
July 30th, 2006 at 3:09 pm“It is hard for us westerners to understand the internal politics of another region when we can’t predict whether the Democrats will take congress from the Republicans three months from now, how could we see the Shi’ia grabbing the high ground from the Sunni in the mideast three years ago?†This is the question Chris Matthews put forth and it is a stupid one. The answer is very simple: we screw up in Iraq so why not the rest of the Middle East? That’s should be the question. As for whether the Democrats will win on the up coming election: Matthews is worry about his position at MSNBC. Since the beginning of the Iraq war which he supported with his own “analysis†Matthews proved himself be brained-dead wrong and a paid monkey for MSNBC. Now he’s running for cover, tail tuck between his legs, hoping no one will notice.
July 30th, 2006 at 3:20 pmI would have thought that that the ‘who knew, who could’ve predicted’ excuse would have been so throughly denounced by now and so much scorn heaped on those using it that no one would still dare to use it. But leave it to clueless Mathews to claim ignorance of a ighly likely outcome that was patently obvious 3 years ago to anyone with a functioning brain. But of course the brain dead corporate media and enabler pundits happily skipped and sang along with the neocon/cult of republicanism fantasies.
July 30th, 2006 at 3:29 pm.
#13 please, please, please quit referring to the bush administration as nazis. all nazis are fascists, but not all fascists are nazis. i think by calling bush a nazi, you’re clouding the issue with inaccuracies, and people will be less likely to take you seriously. i do think that bush is a corporate fascist, and these wars have everything to do with resources, ie. oil . big business controls our government right now, and that, by definition, is fascism.
July 30th, 2006 at 4:13 pm#40, spu,
The US and its allies are there, because Islamo-fascists, French, Russians and Chinese are meddling. As I stated in another post, for reasons not perfectly apparent to me, BOTH Democrats and Republicans will intervene on behalf of Israel whenever they need, so we will never be out of there.
July 30th, 2006 at 4:20 pmI remember Chris Matthews usually enjoying himself moderate and debate with different political “entrepreneurs” back a couple years ago, but now since he seems to be acting a little more independent from big media’s push to “Bush it up”, he realizes how serious this is. He better watch out though, I could just see big media trying to “adjust” him if he really get heated about how deplorably BushCo has handled everything. We need leaders, not corporate associates running the White, but damned House!
July 30th, 2006 at 4:22 pmEat the rich!!!
Comment by dixie blood
…The Poor Are Tough and Stringy…!
July 30th, 2006 at 4:45 pmtest
July 30th, 2006 at 4:47 pm[…] for the vid) Think Progress for the transcript Filed Under: Uncategorized Trackback Permalink postCount(’10019294′); | EMail ThisPost […]
July 30th, 2006 at 4:58 pmRegardless of whoever was on the wrong side with their ideology or in ignorant and naive support there of, is there anyone other than those who still cling to the wrong side who would wish others to remain on the wrong side? There has been a notable shift in the way the press is questioning the end reality as a direct result of the Bush administratoins policies. Is there anyone who doesent welcome change from those who were previously wrong in their thinking or should we all just look to the heavens and plan on being there to spend the rest of eternity with Bush and the neocons?
July 30th, 2006 at 5:01 pmHad Matthews, and his like, not made such a magnificent effort of goring Gore prior to the 2000 election, and consequently denying the US of the superior candidate, the country would not be in this mess.
Shame on him and his like forever!
July 30th, 2006 at 5:09 pmHow refreshing to read all these comments! They are troll free today!! Where are they? Have they too started to realise that bushco has become indefensible??
July 30th, 2006 at 5:12 pmI am with the John Hopkins University scientist that say Bush is suffering from grade 3 syphillus, and, he did not get it from giving Merkle a back rub!
July 30th, 2006 at 5:19 pmWho could have predicted an emergence of the Shiite crescent three years ago? Try more than a dozen years ago, when the first Bush administration nixed a military overthrow of the regime because of the risks of destabilizing this region. As for voices loudly warning of the dangers of going to war against Iraq–and putting 140,000 American targets inside a killing zone–you need only count up the mnay critics of Bush II’s preemptive war of choice from the get-go, among them actual Middle East experts such as Juan Cole. Matthews (who at least has been against the war all along) and the rest of the bobbleheads (most of whom played cheerleader to Bush II’s insane crusade either out of conviction or ratings), America’s pundit class needs to examine its role in covering the conflict. Rounding up the usual suspects among the neocons and pitting them against critics of the policy in some kind of on-air food fight is what passes for analysis. The result is a lot of hot air and no light.
July 30th, 2006 at 5:48 pmBush lover trolls today are in an emergency meeting with Karl Rove to try to figure out what to say on TP and other blogs > they will be back on here tomorrow like flies on sewage > lol.
July 30th, 2006 at 5:53 pmOthers have said it, I know.
But Matthews was head cheerleader of the non-Fox talking heads. He was awed by shock and awe. And now he is shocked. TOO LITTLE, TOO LATE Matthews.
30 million people took to the streets one weekend in the lead up to the invasion so it is not like there were only a handfull of people who had a very good idea of what the outcome would be. Too bad Matthews was downplaying the widespread opposition to the invasion. This consequence, after all, should come as no surprise if only you (Matthews) were paying attention.
July 30th, 2006 at 6:01 pm#64 yep.
I’m not forgetting that the talking heads are a big reason why we are where we are in the first place.
July 30th, 2006 at 6:23 pmI came upon this site by accident and have been reading from it for about a week.
I don’t think there are many people as far right as I am. And yes I have voted for every Republican lyining pansy coward (excepting Goldwater - Reagan).
After Bush I will never vote again, for many reasons, including the fact that we no longer have a gov’t for the people.
I read a dozen or so replies to the Matthew comments and agree with those bitching about us (and if you’re a citizen it could be US). going into the mid-east and every where else we don’t belong.
All you ignorant fools who want to blame Bush, get beyond your bitter misinformed selves. Face it there isn’t a politician who will or could do better.
We that means all of us are seeing the end of a country and for the most part we can’t or won’t do anything about it - except blame-blame bitch and lead our false comfortable lives.
Wake Up What’s Done Is Done.
July 30th, 2006 at 6:43 pmCertainly the politicians who voted against giving Bush the authority to go into Iraq would have done better had they been listened to.
July 30th, 2006 at 7:36 pmThe red zone in the map above is the smile of the devil. Just to add more fear…to the Frankenstein analogy.
July 30th, 2006 at 9:12 pmWow, Jack C. Thanks for the ridiculous, meandering post that was almost unreadable with its incredible lack of logic and your complete about face. You made sense up to about the halfway point. From there it just went downhill.
July 30th, 2006 at 9:32 pmWelcome to reality, IDIOT MATTHEWS! How long did it take for you to figure this out, genius? The progressive world has been trying to SPELL THIS OUT for you idiots since Bush invaded Iraq. We were trying to tell you what you finally concluded while you were calling us “leftist whackos” and describing Bush as having a “golden aura” about him. In other words, you are just another ass kissing, opportunistic parasite.
July 30th, 2006 at 10:41 pmHey “Jack C.”
Your smart ass remarks about how no other politician would or could have done anything better than Bush might make you sleep better at night, but you are just a typical Republican punk who now realizes just how WRONG you were to pull the lever for Bush, and can’t own up to your idiocy in supporting his crowd. You say there is no other politician that could do better? WRONG. There was a WHOLE GROUP OF POLITICIANS that would have been installed in 2000 who would have done a HELLUVA lot better if the SUPREME COURT hadn’t given us Dear Leader and Darth Cheney, and their PARADE OF INCOMPETENT NEO-CONS tryiing to remake the world via their ridiculous ideological paradigms. Just because YOU BOUGHT INTO IT doesn’t mean you are any more right about deciding no other politician could have done better. The only solace we have is you’ve decided never to vote again. GOOD RIDDANCE and how about talking a few more idiot Republicans into not ever voting again? The world would be a better place.
July 30th, 2006 at 10:47 pmComment by cowboyneok — July 30, 2006 @ 10:47 pm
WOO HOO! and a big YEEE HAW!
July 30th, 2006 at 11:17 pmAll I want is all of those bigtime operator neocons to suit up their spoiled brats and ship ‘em out to Iraq or Israel . Don’t know much about Tip O’Neil but I bet he’s turnin’ over in his grave with the disgustin’ actions of his former employee Chris Matthews. All these alleged pundits are full of ####! Not one of ‘em would stand up and fight for America. I wanna know who gave them the right to urge on a war that the wont get off their asses to fight? Ya wanna have a war ,fine, then have a draft . Don’t want a draft? Then shut up and stop sending peoples children to die.
July 30th, 2006 at 11:20 pmWelcome to reality, IDIOT MATTHEWS! How long did it take for you to figure this out, genius? The progressive world has been trying to SPELL THIS OUT for you idiots since Bush invaded Iraq.
July 30th, 2006 at 11:26 pmThat’s great!!!
First of all…Iraq was never a homogeneous “country” as such.It was a collection of ethnic, tribal and religious groups, cobbled together into a semblance of a country by the British. (I thought everyone knew that).
Also- the only force holding the thing together was Saddam Hussein. (I thought everyone knew that too).
It’s true that Saddam made Iraq into his personal fiefdom, but under his rule it was always a secular country…women never needed to be veiled or hide their hair…and most of the Iraqi bureacracy kept religion at arms length. It was secular and…anyone who was there when he ran the place will tell you that you felt safe, day and night. (As long as you didn’t criticise Saddam of course).
Brave American soldiers have died…but none of them knew what they were dying for…neither do the men who sent them.
You make it sound as if you’re revealing some amazing truth but anyone with half a brain has known all along that the power of Shi’sm was there…it was just kept under control by the anti-religious Saddam.
July 31st, 2006 at 12:00 am2, 6, 10, 11, 16, 17, 19, 20, 29, 30, 46, 48, 49, 53, 64, 65, 69, 73, 74 - you are apparently not aware that Matthews has opposed war with Iraq for over three years, almost solo among national market TV chatterers. Come to think of it, his actually has been a solo performance. Check the tape/transcripts.
http://www.dailyhowler.com/dh020906.shtml
Facts matter.
July 31st, 2006 at 12:14 am-
#76 - Agreed, facts matter.
But your site does not link to specific references so the argument is very weak.
Yes, Matthews has from time to time been critical but he very frequently fell back in line. It has only been in the last couple of months that Matthews has had any follow-up on opposition to the stay the course message.
I know a little bit about this because I have e-mailed Matthews a number of times calling attention to his false reporting. (He has never responded).
July 31st, 2006 at 12:29 amI support the troops. I support them packing up their shit and getting a plane or a boat back
July 31st, 2006 at 12:56 amhome. And not just from the Middle East. Bring them back from the 700 odd bases we have strung out all over the globe. And when they get here I want them to ask, “Where is my job, my benefits, my family?” We need them here to help take back the country from the sorry SOB’s
that sent them on those fool’s errands in the first place.
77, this thing is easily provable - the Hardball transcripts are available at MSNBC.
Here’s a Salon interview from February 2003.
http://dir.salon.com/ story/ news/ feature/ 2003/ 02/ 14/ chrismatthews/ index.html
“Well, Ted Kennedy wants the president to come back to Congress for approval before we invade.
But they voted for the resolution before the election. And I can’t explain that — I can’t explain Dianne Feinstein’s vote. I can’t explain John Kerry’s vote. I can’t explain Chuck Schumer’s vote. This was a blank check for war
Though some of them tried to spin it differently.
This was worse than the Gulf of Tonkin. It was, “Whenever you get around to it, here’s your hall pass, Mr. President.” The Democrats just don’t have a foreign policy that they’re willing to defend, that they’re willing to use to take down the president’s. We’re dealing with the power of suggestion here. Once it was suggested that Saddam Hussein might give his weaponry to terrorists, or might use weapons himself in the region, then it became hard for the Democrats to say, “Well, that can’t happen.” They were unable to stand up and say: “Here’s our policy. It’s ‘Unite the world against terrorism.’”
Unity is the most important thing on the road to stamping out terror. You need global rules of law and order, and they have to be enforced. Start with that principle. Certain arms agreements have to be enforced. There has to be respect for multilateral action. Then you use all that force to stop certain things from happening.
You don’t say, like the Bush crowd, “I got this guy over here and I don’t like him and I’m gonna get him, whether you back me or not.” That’s like what’s-his-name, the guy who shot the kids in the subway
Bernard Goetz?
Yeah, that’s what it reminds me of. It’s that kind of foreign policy. We just go after the guys we don’t like. I think we were on the road to greatness at the end of 2001. You had Germans picking up all kinds of terrorists in their country. The world was united behind us. Even Iran was helping out. There was an active effort to stop al-Qaida.”
etcetcetc
‘Worse than the Gulf of Tonkin, Bernard Goetz foreign policy’ - I could not say it better myself - and I don’t see it said as well anywhere above incidentally, which I find disquieting.
July 31st, 2006 at 12:58 am-
I wonder what might happen in Lebanon today? Would be nice to hear of NO deaths for a day or two or longer please!
July 31st, 2006 at 1:18 amThat graphic is a little misleading.
They left out Afghanistan.
July 31st, 2006 at 1:37 amObsession: Radical Islam’s War Against the West
By Patrick Poole
July 28, 2006
If there’s a documentary that you need to purchase and invite all of your friends and neighbors over to watch, it’s Obsession: Radical Islam’s War against the West, a new film from HonestReporting.com. This follows up on their previous documentary, Relentless: The Struggle for Peace in the Middle East, an equally excellent film that chronicled the long history of failed international diplomacy concerning the conflict between Israel and the Palestinians.
But Obsession, their most recent effort, couldn’t be more timely, as it seeks to help its viewers better understand the religious, social, and political forces at work behind the current events in the Middle East. This movie is shocking, but in a way that avoids gratuitous scenes of dismembered body parts and heavy-handed polemics, which would seem to be temptation for anyone dealing with the (pardon the pun) explosive subject of radical Islam. The movie progresses at a quick pace and keeps your attention for its full 73 minutes.
The power of Obsession is its clarity and balance. From the very outset, the producers make it clear that the focus of the film is not to impute the violence of radical Islamists to most Muslims. The movie immediately qualifies that Islam itself and its overwhelming majority of peaceful, law-abiding adherents worldwide are not in view. In fact, in the first segment of the movie, Daniel Pipes makes a very important point:
The Islamists hate everything other than what they are themselves. They killed, for example, over 100,000 Algerians who disagreed with their brand of Islam. These are [their] fellow Muslims.
The message is hard to overstate: not only are Westerners being killed by the violence fueled by the virulent and toxic ideology of radical Islam, but so are Muslims who reject that ideology. In a recent article for the Weekly Standard, Olivier Guitta discussed the ongoing violence in Algeria, with dozens of Muslims being killed monthly by Islamist groups. One would only have to read the daily body count of the dozens – sometimes hundreds – of Muslims killed in Iraq by insurgents every day to get a sickening sense of the slaughter being driven by an ideology that has no reservations about killing its own.
The overriding theme of the film is that radical Islam is a greater threat than most everyone in the West will really admit, and that the West is in denial that. The first few minutes of the movie poses a challenge to any viewer who would dismiss or diminish that threat, recounting a litany of terror attacks against the West or Westerners. As the attacks of 9/11, Madrid, Bali, Istanbul, Beslan, London, and others are quickly revisited, it is hard to avoid coming to terms with the scale of the conflict; and that the West, regardless of what a particular country’s political leanings, has been put in the crosshairs of this extremist worldview. Regardless of what the West is willing to admit, war has been declared on us by a determined enemy prepared to fight to the death to advance their ideology to every corner of the planet. And our very existence is an obstacle to that goal.
The second and third segments of the movie identify the critical elements of the radical Islamic worldview. Rooted in pretended grievances against the West mixed with rabidly anti-American sentiments, framed by bizarre conspiracy theories (many shared with the fringe constituency of the moonbat Left in the West) and outright paranoia, radical Islam has transformed its mother-religion by synthesizing these elements through the filter of Western revolutionary thought to create an ideological system for actuating Sorelian apocalyptic violence.
To help dissect this ideology, the film enlists the help of several former adherents, including Walid Shoebat, a former PLO terrorist, and Nonie Darwish, the daughter of a high-level Egyptian Fedayeen unit commander who was killed by Israeli forces. They help explain the culture of jihad that is the heart of a program of indoctrination that many Muslims in the Middle East encounter at a very early age. Adherents of radical Islam are taught to intentionally equivocate on their usage of particular terms for apologetic purposes, like “jihad,†when talking to Westerners. While many imams will preach about jihad, when questioned about it, they describe it as an internal, subjective struggle with oneself. As Shoebat notes, however, the “dual usage†terminology cannot mask the unavoidable consequences of such language:
People think about it, yes, jihad does mean self-struggle, struggle within. But so does Mein Kampf. Mein Kampf means “my struggle.†But what struggle? Nazism had a struggle against what? What did the Jews do to tangle with Nazi Germany? Jihad is being used in the Middle East with struggle with the Jewish people, struggle with the West.
This deconstructive terminology and methodology are the practical elements for concealing from unwitting Westerners the culture of hatred that is engendered by the religious, educational, government and media institutions where radical Islam dominates. Beginning with an antithetical view that divides the whole of humanity into camps of Dar al-Islam (the House of Islam) and Dar al-Harb (the House of War), and through a process of dehumanizing and demonizing the West, added to an inflated sense of the cultural superiority of Islam, radical Islamic ideology not only justifies violence against their designated enemies, it makes violence a religious, moral and social obligation.
This culture of hatred has a counterpart in the West – the culture of self-loathing and morbid introspectionism that is endemic to Western academia, media and “progressive†politics. Questions that dominate their discourse are very familiar: “Why do they hate us†and “How are we to blame†automatically assume that the guilt for the violence and hatred of radical Islam should be placed entirely on the West, portraying the rage as a rational response to “Western occupiers.â€
The most effective element to Obsession is that it allows radical Islam to speak for itself. Using a number of clips recorded and translated by MEMRI and Palestinian Media Watch, along with clips taken directly from a number of Middle Eastern television networks, there is no way to avoid the violent messages and images that are all part of the theatre of radical Islam. Seeing thousands of Hezbollah fighters chanting “Death to America†in Lebanon, hearing an Iraqi cleric preaching a Friday sermon about cutting the heads off the infidels, or watching a three and a half year-old Palestinian girl questioned on a children’s TV program about how Jews are apes and pigs, more than adequately communicates how widespread and how dangerous this worldview has become.
A point clearly made in Obsession is that radical Islamic ideology is fueling a global jihad movement. Caroline Glick, Senior Fellow at the Center for Security Policy, states:
Ever single country is dealing with this on one level or another. You see that the Thais are dealing with it, the Philippinos are dealing with it, the Europeans are dealing with it in Madrid, the Russians are dealing with it in Chechnya, the British are dealing with it in London and Manchester. And of course you see it in the Middle East, whether it is in Iraq, Iran, Syria, Lebanon, Egypt, and of course, Israel and Saudi Arabia. And then you go to Africa, and you see that jihadis are operating from Djibouti to South Africa. All of these areas that we refer to as separate wars, the Palestinian war in Israel, the Iraq war – they see all of these not as specific wars but as fronts in a global jihad.
But according for former federal prosecutor John Loftus, who was directly involved in many high-level terrorism cases for the U.S. government, many political and cultural leaders in the West have deliberately chosen to ignore the overwhelming evidence of the global jihad movement operating amongst us:
The infiltration of radical Islam is so deep, it’s shocking. And everyone is in denial about it. The minute you say this is an extremist group, all of a sudden it’s “Oh, you’re not being politically correct.â€
As the movie demonstrates through statements made by radical Islamic leaders, the Islamists make no bones about their willingness to turn the values of our pluralistic society against us. They don’t believe in our pluralistic values and they want to destroy those values, but they readily admit that they are useful tools to make it easier for them to undermine the West and accomplish their goal of global domination.
What is disconcerting is that the Western media is very receptive to the duplicity offered by radical Islamic leaders. The media’s lack of attention to this issue transcends mere negligence. In the movie, for example, we see a 2002 interview with British Al-Muhajiroun leader Anjem Choudary, who denounces the 9/11 attacks as acts of terrorism. And yet in September 2003 he is recorded at an Al-Muhajiroun event praising the “Magnificent 19†– that is, the 9/11 hijackers.
Western governments are complicit in this duplicity, as well. Al-Muhajiroun disbanded in 2004 before the British government could designate it a terrorist organization, but Choudary reappeared representing a new organization, Al Gurabaa, which was also designated a terrorist organization just this month. An article in the Guardian this past weekend states that Choudary and his associates are redirecting their efforts to dozens of other radical organizations, but the Blair administration is reluctant to deal decisively with Choudary and his cultural combatants.
What the treatment of Choudary demonstrates is the lengths to which Western governments (the Bush administration would just as easily qualify here, as well) will go to avoid confronting the domestic threat from radical Islam by allowing well-known organizations and personalities advancing an extremist worldview to operate openly and without hindrance, despite any direct ties they might have to terror organizations. In America, one example will more than suffice to prove this point: the Council for American-Islamic Relations.
The final segments of Obsession draw a historical parallel between the failure by the West to confront the threat from Nazism in the 1930s and the current failure to come to terms with the global threat from radical Islam. We have many Neville Chamberlain’s today proclaiming “Peace in Our Time†and arguing for appeasement of radical Islam’s demands. But capitulation didn’t work for Chamberlain, and it is unlikely to prove more successful today.
As historian, Sir Martin Gilbert, Winston Churchill’s official biographer, notes during the documentary, the real problem is with those who fail to recognize the problem, and those that do, yet who choose to do nothing:
In the 1930s, the danger of Nazism was there, it was in everything Hitler wrote and said, and everything Nazi authorities did. In the corruption in a whole generation of German youth through the propaganda of Nazism in schools. But people thought, “Well, this is a German problem, it is a limited problem. We have our own problems, we have our unemployment.†And I think the same is true today. They don’t connect the dots. They don’t connect the acts together. They don’t see that Islamic fundamentalism is a global network and a global problem…People don’t want to feel that this is part of a single threat, because if you come to that conclusion, and I’m sure it is the true conclusion, then you have to do something about it.
The intent of Obsession is to challenge viewers in the 21st Century to begin to do something in the face of as grave a threat as Nazism posed to the world in the 20th Century. The movie both begins and ends with a quote from 18th Century British parliamentarian, Edmund Burke: “The only thing needed for evil to triumph is for good men to do nothing.â€
Since the rise of radical Islam in the 1970s and 80s, the West has really done little to respond to the escalating threat. In the 1990s, the Clinton Administration and the Republican-led Congress were perfect examples of “do-nothing†government in response to the repeated terrorist acts against our country during that decade. The 9/11 attacks were the result of that failed “do-nothing†policy. As with Nazi Germany, all the signs were there: Osama bin Laden had already openly declared war on the United States and launched several attacks, and radical Islamic terrorists had already tried to bring down the World Trade Center. What more evidence did we need? And yet America slept and continued to do nothing.
Since 9/11, America has finally responded. It eradicated al-Qaeda’s Taliban haven in Afghanistan and took down Saddam Hussein’s regime, which had been one of the most active sponsors of state-supported terrorism directed at the West. But still that is far from enough. In many respects, we are still following many of the same “do-nothing†policies of the past three decades. Regardless of any successes in Afghanistan and Iraq, the threat is not only growing internationally, but inside the United States as well, without any response whatsoever.
There are additional observations and elaborations I could make based on the film about how the Western media distorts what’s really going on; how radical Islam perceives its conflict with the West as a religious war; how institutionalized the extremist worldview is within the Islamic world; and how the culture of death and violence is taught in their schools, preached in their mosques, supported by their leaders, and broadcast by their media; but I’ll let the movie speak for itself on those points.
The last comment I would make, however, is that this movie puts the current conflict between Israel, Hamas, Hezbollah, Syria and Iran in context. What Obsession establishes beyond any reasonable doubt is that the conflict between Israel and radical Islam is a proxy war by Islamic extremists against the West. In recent days, critics of all stripes put the blame on America’s foreign policy towards Israel, but what exactly is it that they have a problem with? When we leaned on Israel to withdraw from Gaza and the West Bank, did the attitude of radical Islam worldwide suddenly change? No. What then is their real problem with our policies towards Israel? Their real beef with America is that we have cooperated in Israel’s continued existence.
As George Santayana once said, those who forget the past will be condemned to repeat it. In a cosmic historical twist, the Jews in Israel are faced again with extinction for the religious and cultural values they represent, and the West is forced to consider what to do. During the 1930s, the West did nothing, and the world was inflamed with war and tens of millions of innocents died at the hands of Nazism. As Nazism spread and the concentration camps were filled (and emptied), denying that there was a conflict became a moot issue and those who choose to do nothing became irrelevant. And this time, the threat is not confined to nation-state. The battlefield for radical Islam is the entire world.
Whether you are a skeptic or a believer in the global threat of radical Islam, Obsession is a film everyone needs to see. It should be shown in churches, mosques and synagogues; Lion’s Club meetings and Kiwanis lunches; corporate board rooms and cafeterias; public libraries and legislative offices. And the reason it needs to be seen is for no other reason that in light of the immediate danger posed by radical Islam, each one of us is going to have to decide, what will we do? This will not be a battle in which anyone will be able to sit on the sidelines. The silent witness of the 3,000 Americans killed on 9/11 bears testimony to that. The obsession of radical Islam to destroy the West and to impose their ideology globally will not allow anyone to remain untouched. The question stands: what will you do?
You can view a trailer or purchase a DVD of Obsession: Radical Islam’s War against the West by going to the movie’s website.
Patrick Poole is an author and public policy researcher. He also maintains a blog, “Existential Space,” where he writes on a number of cultural, political and religious issues.
July 31st, 2006 at 2:24 ampeople do you really think that by shuting down my hotmail accounts i am going to stop exposing you as the criminals you are?…are you really that stupid RAW STORY? …UH?…LARISA ARE YOU REALLY THAT STUPID? OR TOBY? OR JOHN BYRNE? YOU PEOPLE ARE IN TROUBLE WITH THE LAW! AND MY NEXT STOP IS THE D.A. OFFICE IN CHICAGO TO TELL THEM HOW I GOT THE PLEAUSURE TO MEET YOU AND THE GUYS AT THINK PROGRESS AND THE DAILY KOS!….NOT TO TALK ABOUT THE OBSTRUCTION OF JUSTICE WITH ALL THE LIES BY LARISA ON THE BOARDS!!! IT’S ILLEGAL FOR ONE PERSON ONLY TO WRITE ALL THE MESSAGES WITH SO MANY DIFFERENT NAMES TO CUNFUSE AND LIES TO THE READERS!!! IT’S CALLES PSYCHOLOGICAL WAREFARE!!! OR ARE YOU TOO STUPID EVEN TO KNOW THAT?!!! …NOW I KNOW IT’S WAR!….OR HELL!….WELCOME TO MY PLEASURE DOME!!!!
July 31st, 2006 at 2:45 amThat was a good friend of mine!!!
July 31st, 2006 at 2:47 amAnd now for a brief musical interlude.
Actual lyrics from “Kinky Sex (Makes the World Go Around)” (J. Biafra) on Give Me Convenience or Give Me Death by the Dead Kennedys (1987):
Greetings:This is the Secretary of War at the State Department of the United States.
July 31st, 2006 at 6:26 amWe have a problem.
The companies want something done about this sluggish world economic situation.
Profits have been running a little thin lately and we need to stimulate some growth.
Now we know there’s an alarmingly high number of young people roaming around in your country with nothing to do but stir up trouble for the police and damage private property.
It doesn’t look like they’ll ever get a job.
It’s about time we did something constructive with these people.
We’ve got thousands of ‘em here too. They’re crawling all over.
The companies think it’s time we all sit down, have a serious get-together–and start another war.
The President?
He loves the idea! All those missiles streaming overhead to and fro,
Napalm,
People running down the road, skin on fire,
The Soviets seem up for it:
The Kremlin’s been itching for the real thing for years.
Hell, Afghanistan’s no fun.
So whadya say?
We don’t even have to win this war.
We just want to cut down on some of this excess population.
Now look. Just start up a draft; draft as many of those people as you can.
We’ll call up every last youngster we can get our hands on, hand ‘em some speed, give ‘em an hour or two to learn how to use an automatic rifle and send ‘em on their way
Libya? El Salvador? How ’bout Northern Ireland?
Or a “moderately repressive regime” in South America?
We’ll just cook up a good Soviet threat story in the Middle East-we need that oil
We had Libya all ready to go and Colonel Khadafy’s hit squad didn’t even show up.
I tell ya,
That man is unreliable.
The Kremlin had their fingers on the button just like we did for that one…
Now just think for a minute–we can make this war so big–so BIG!
The more people we kill in this war, the more the economy will prosper!
We can get rid of practically everybody on your dole queue if we plan this right.
Take every loafer on welfare right off our computer rolls!
Now don’t worry about demonstrations-just pump up your drug supply.
So many people have hooked themselves on heroin and amphetamines since we took over, it’s just like Vietnam.
We had everybody so busy with LSD they never got too strong.
Kept the war functioning just fine,
It’s easy.
We’ve got our college kids so interested in beer they don’t even care if we start manufacturing germ bombs again.
Put a nuclear stockpile in their back yard, they wouldn’t even know what it looked like
So how ’bout it?
Look–War is money.
The arms manufacturers tell me unless we get our bomb factories up to full production the whole economy is going to collapse
The Soviets are in the same boat.
We all agree the time has come for the big one, so whadya say?!?
That’s excellent. We knew you’d agree!
The companies will be very pleased.
Finally caught that episode late last night. Matthews does have good episodes from time to time. His explanation of Jordon, Saudi Arabia and previously Iraq being Sunni controlled, which is important to keep the Shia in check, was enlightening.
The best part though was Andrew Sullivan stating that NO anti-war democrat could be elected president during a world war, so all the progressive jockeying has wiped out the democratic field for 2008.
July 31st, 2006 at 8:53 amChris Mathews is a blithering idiot and a frankenstein in his own right. It’s hard to imagine anyone would listen to him. He spues contradictions. Oh, he is just a republican.
July 31st, 2006 at 8:55 amI rarely agree with Chris Matthews pompous and inaccurate comments on national and world events. But on the creation of the Shia Crescent Mathews is dead on. By placing the Shia’s in control of Iraq, any fool should have foreseen that the Shia’s of Iraq would be close allies of the Shia’s in Iran and the Shia’s in the rest of the muslin world. DUH!
Could this have been the goal of the Neocon’s?
July 31st, 2006 at 9:44 amMatthews said that Iraq used to be “a country which has fought revolutionary Iran for eight years to a bloody stand still.â€
That quote shows that Matthews still doesn’t know jack about the Middle East.
Iraq attacked Iran in 1980, not the other way around. Iran was the weaker force. Saddam thought it was a great opportunity to seize some land and got support from Reagan, via Rumsfeld in the effort.
Iran fought Iraq to a standstill, not the other way around.
July 31st, 2006 at 9:59 amCompare Matthews and Zakaria
I posted yesterday that Zakaria does not look as a flip-flopper to me. I also complemented Zakaria for his professional honesty for his consistency.
Matthews is a quite different story. He used to talk about the “Arab Street†for about 4 years before 9/11.
And what does he say now – that he is anti-Shia?
Then logically it would make him a pro-Sunni. So, the “Arab Street†he used to talk about for him is a “Sunni Streetâ€. I’m just curious: would Matthews actually confess to that?
July 31st, 2006 at 10:02 amemailers2
“By placing the Shia’s in control of Iraq, any fool should have foreseen that the Shia’s of Iraq would be close allies of the S”hia’s in Iran and the Shia’s in the rest of the muslin world.”
… and maybe, just maybe, “with a little hope” - help Shia of the World to grow politically which in turn bring Shia up from the shadows of terrorism?
You do not think Shia of the World deserve a second chance?
July 31st, 2006 at 10:15 amObsession: Radical Islam’s War Against the West and “Sam’s posting, link to the website of the producers of this film, and also check out who their’ staff is. This is an Israeli media and propaganda site. (The long article Sam provided for us sounds uncomfortably like the rants used by the Nazis about the Jews PRIOR to the atrocities carried out against the Jews in Europe).
http://honestreporting.com/
July 31st, 2006 at 10:31 amEven when he finally ‘gets it’ Mathews is a slobering, narcissitic, sycophantic IDIOT.
>
SOMEBODY *SLAP* that stupid g-d Mathews! “HOW COULD WE SEE..?”?????
Well, to begin with, you could go back and look at the statements by THE ENTIRE Bush Sr. team when we left Saddam in power in 1991 after ‘we,’ the genuine coalition led by the United States, decided not to invade Iraq. Including a certain Dick Cheney repeating then President Bush’s line about how the US army invading Baghdad would certainly tie us down in an insurgency… in a nation with a Shitte majority. Then there is the little “incident” of how the US high command (Powell, Bush Sr., Cheney, commanders in the region) did NOT extend to the Shia’s (”Shiite” and “Shia” are synonyms) the protections we afforded the Kurds in North Iraq with our “no fly zones”; in the south, we WITHHELD aircover, and ALLOWED Saddam’s helicopter gunships and death squads to “eliminate’ 300,000 rebels. “Ha ha ha… to bad Saddam didn’t get ‘me all” you could practically hear the Republicans (and their obedient press and Dem. “opposition”) chuckle.
Clearly, right now bush, condi, dick and their sycophants are trying to have their cake and eat it too… play “statesmen” and “leaders in the war on terra” while pouring gasoline on Shiite (and all Arab) rage and resentment… play “leaders for democracy” as they despise the public here in America, much less abroad; and talk about “freedoms” as they turn one victimized region after another (Afghanistan, Iraq, now Lebanon… Egypt next?) into autocratic, mysoginistic regimes which beat women for going out in public, much less having the right to a higher education or influential positions, as women in Iraq and Lebanon have had in the recent past. (uhh.. women comprising 50% of the population, only in bushland are you bringing “freedom” to a country where you enslave as chattel property 1/2 of the women.)
And finally, this “pour GASOLINE on the fire” agenda and policies BROUGHT TO America and the world BY THE DEMOCRATIC PARTY, whose senior leaders - Lieberman, Schumer, Hillary, ad naseum - will expend cubic meters of breath on the “right” of Israel to drop bombs, anywhere, anytime, but not one of them would sign on to the Black Congressional Caucus’ demand for a congressional investigation into massive Republican VOTE FRAUD way back in 2000… and in the SIX YEARS SINCE, the cowering, AIPAC-toading Democrats STILL won’t even mention Diebold or vote fraud (much less “stolen elections”).
July 31st, 2006 at 10:35 am#79 - It is not what Salon says about Matthews but what Matthews says.
Unity is the most important thing on the road to stamping out terror. You need global rules of law and order, and they have to be enforced. Start with that principle. Certain arms agreements have to be enforced. There has to be respect for multilateral action. Then you use all that force to stop certain things from happening.
I hardly see where Matthews is saying anything different from what Bush was saying at the same time. The other Matthews points were to attack Democrats for not having backbone. While that is a subject for another post, it represents anything but opposition to Bush. Kennedy even has a point about needing a second vote. The Senate Resolution for use of force was to get the UN inspectors in. That is why Bush says to this day that Saddam wouldn’t let the inspectors in (a July ‘06 interview with Larry King). To concede that point would be to undermine his authority to have invaded in the first place.
July 31st, 2006 at 11:27 amOKAY ALREADY!!!!
Israel has a couple hundred nukes! Not like waiting for Iran to make 1 that works, Israel has a couple HUNDRED!!!! Why don’t they threaten the SHI-ITE out of these Islamo-facist and threaten to blow them out of existence and then maybe we can wrap this crap up. Why arre we so afraid of Muslims having 1 or a few nukes when we have thousands at our disposal? Do we think they are stupid enough to triger their own destruction? Or is all this angst a pretext for higher energy prices (profits) and political manipulation??? Someone with common sense TELL ME PLEASE!
July 31st, 2006 at 12:20 pmplease wake up people….chris matthews as we all know is a shill for this war-mongering administration…the so-called “shia cresent” is a manufactured scare tactic constructed to legitimize the US’s involvement into the area…there is no shia crescent…and there is no war on terror…THERE IS ONLY WAR FOR PROFIT BEGUN BY THE USA…now a message for all liberals…grow some balls and speak the truth about this abuse of power!!!!!!!
July 31st, 2006 at 12:25 pm[…] Also interesting on the same topic is a MSM stalwart that is finally showing some balls and discussing how The Bush/Cheeney Iraq adventure has created a Shia crescent that will extend Shia radicalism across a greater portion of the new Middle East. […]
July 31st, 2006 at 12:29 pmRE: BIRTH PANGS
Secretary of State RICE: “What we’re seeing here, in a sense, is the … the birth pangs of a new Middle East.”
“birth pangs,” indeed.
i am reminded of Mary Shelley’s novel: “Frankenstein; or, The Modern Prometheus“…
=> http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Frankenstein
…where Frankenstein = the creator, not the creature; and, Prometheus being the mythic, forever cursed bringer of the immortals’ Fire to mortal mankind.
The novel (~1831) is almost entirely obscured by 20th Century films’ re-interpretation of Shelley’s original intent and inherent ironies, including: our modern re-naming, and henceforth false association of “the creature” after its creator, Victor Frankenstein; and the “birth pangs” process of creation, written, perhaps as only a woman could ~ interpreted, as somehow “horrible” beyond imagination; the creature, “grotesque” to behold (to the male/father’s psyche?)
“…the creature was not an “evil creation”. It was born an innocent blank slate; it was Frankenstein’s REJECTION of the creature that taught it to be evil.”
We could apply Shelley’s allegory to either “the creature” of Judaism, ISRAEL, or the latest “creatures” of ISLAM ~ with equal facility: both Theocracies, both REJECTED as “evil”, thus…
…the latter, most recent “creatures” being those Islamo-Fundamentalist offspring of Mr. Bush and Ms. Rice’s “democracy,” progenies they now reject as grotesque, evil inherent ~ and seek to destroy…
…the delicious irony (Mary Shelley would have approved) is that Mr. and Mrs. Frankenstein’s infanticide is initiated in the same week that Andrea Yates, convicted of murdering her own children in a bathtub, is found “Not Guilty: By Reason of Insanity.”
July 31st, 2006 at 2:26 pmAs Imus said, Matthews needs a vacation. He enjoys frothing at the mouth and conjuring up his own little personal fantasy reality but nobody takes him seriously - well, except the left when they think it suits their position (which it doesn’t), but that’s another story.
July 31st, 2006 at 3:04 pmThis is all the Zionist plan from the beginning. Look at history. They bombed Lebanon, not because of Hizbullah, but because Lebanon had become a metropolitan democracy. Throughout history, rightwing zionists and Israeli’s have done this time and time again, repress progressive societies growing in Mid East countries.
July 31st, 2006 at 3:31 pmA good place to check out what I’m talking about in regards to history.
http://www.nogw.com/israeliatrocities.html
http://vho.org/ aaargh/ fran/ livres3/ ZionistCoverup.pdf
July 31st, 2006 at 3:33 pm#100, Rick, you asswipe! You use Imus as your source of the truth? He’s the biggest piece of shit on the radio. But that’s another story.
July 31st, 2006 at 5:40 pmIraq fought “revolutionary” Iran to a standstill for 8 years? What are we rewriting history here? Iraq invaded Iran trying to take the Shatt-al-Arab waterway and the main southern oil fields while Saddam thought Iran was weak (the Shah was just overthrown). It was Iran that fought invading Iraq to a standstill! And since when did the governments of Egypt and Saudi Arabia become moderate? I’ve been to both and they are most certainly not moderate. Especially the rather medieval Saudis with their wahabi religious police, the Matawah, on the lookout for hair peeking out from under abbayas and public beheadings! The governments of Jordan, Kuwait and the UAE are “moderate” but only in relation to their neighbors. Nobody would mistake them for Denmark or Japan. Matthews looks like an idiot with this stupid, poorly researched piece. He’s old enough to have seen the daily news stories about the war or if his memory is that bad, 30 seconds on Google could have enlightened him.
July 31st, 2006 at 6:19 pm95 - Comment by DallasNE — July 31, 2006 @ 11:27 am
If you truly perceive those quoted Salon comments by Matthews as voicing his support for President AWOL’s policy toward Iraq, I’m afraid I can’t help you. Perhaps an English tutor?
July 31st, 2006 at 6:30 pm-
For those of you who have forgotten what this country and others are fighting against, perhaps this will remind you. These radicals Islamofacists showed what they are all about. Watch if you have the guts and don’t tell me that the vision of any Islamofacists group is one of peace. There’ll be peace once they are distroyed completely.
http://www.olivetreeviews.org/topics/movies/attack.html
July 31st, 2006 at 6:49 pmIf people haven’t noticed, Matthews came up with his “grand analysis” of the middle east shortly after Thomas Friedman started making the talk show rounds.
July 31st, 2006 at 7:11 pm#103, you idiot. Matthews spazzed out on Imus. I didn’t need to use Imus for anything. Matthews is perfectly capable of showing his mental disorder without the help of anybody else.
July 31st, 2006 at 7:16 pmChris is just setting us up for another attack by our military, this time on Iran. All fingers are now pointing to Iran. He makes numbnutz look like a dumazz, which gets a laugh by the left and justifies the invasion of Iran by pointing the finger. Friedman gave up on Iraq the other night on Russert. The world is going to hell, and Bush is busting the gates open.
July 31st, 2006 at 8:44 pm#106 :”…Watch if you have the guts and don’t tell me that the vision of any Islamofacists group is one of peace. There’ll be peace once they are destroyed completely.”
Nobody thinks that they’re peaceful, just as no one thinks that they can be obliterated completely. It’ll never happen. Adopting the same “they all have to be destroyed before we have peace” attitude wacko Islamic elements have won’t make us safer. Nuts without foresight on both sides are itching for a confrontation, but neither have plans for the day after. For some reason they think that they can make like-minded fanatics surrender, contrary to the lessons of thousands of years of aggression.
August 1st, 2006 at 5:34 am[…] Also interesting on the same topic is a MSM stalwart that is finally showing some balls and discussing how The Bush/Cheeney Iraq adventure has created a Shia crescent that will extend Shia radicalism across a greater portion of the new Middle East. […]
August 1st, 2006 at 8:27 amI got some questions:
Why the MSM keeps counting the number and type of missiles Hezbollah launches into Israel, but no one seems to count the number and type of bombs and missiles Israel launches into Lebanon, what’s the difference?
Why we still have not seen any picture or video of Hezbollah rocket batteries destroyed amongst the rubble of the buildings Israel destroyed?
Did anyone see a Hezbollah rocket launcher at the Beirut Airport? Or the Power plant?
It’s the phrase “the right to defend itself” copyrighted by Israel?
Why everyone has to comply (or else) with IAEA and UN resolutions and inspections, but Israel?
with what type of moral authority the US can ask countries (like Syria and Iran) to stop sending armament to Hezbollah (allegedly) when the US is sending armament to Israel (allegedly)?
Why nobody wants to address the root of the problem: the inhumane conditions in the Ghettos in Gaza and West Bank, and the right to Palestine to exist, and be respected as human beings?
How the people trying to leave the South of Lebanon or the country can do so if almost every bridge and road is bombed and destroyed? I think the flying magic carpet is just a stereotype…
CNN will surely remind us today that it is Day 19 of the Israel-Hezbollah war - now branded as Crisis in the Middle East - but you won’t catch anyone saying it’s Day 1,229 of the war in Iraq.
I hope I am not labeled as anti-Semite, because I am asking these questions…
August 1st, 2006 at 2:58 pm[…] “Our brave soldiers have fought, died and been dismembered in Iraq only to connect the disparate pieces of Shi’ia radicalism into a frankenstein monster that has come to life right there on our TV screens and worse yet in the reality of the vicarious mideast where young arabs have now found a hero named Hezbollah.” – Quotes from Think Progress […]
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