"Whether or not this moral dwarf (Tenet) ever redeems himself isn't that important, however. More to the point is that we shouldn't waste any more time listening to him. That has been one of the major problems of the US in the 21st Century. Both the national government and the public political discourse have been dominated by people who are so utterly worthless they make one appreciate Paris Hilton all the more for the qualities of her incisive mind.* C&L has the Tenet 60 minutes interview. (with any luck, Noise will have a book review for us shortly)
It's high time that those who were right all along about Iraq have a significant national voice. The country should be listening to - ie, the networks should be running numerous interviews with - Brady Kiesling, Jessica Tuchman Mathews, and many, many others. And no one should be bothering to pay attention any further to the likes of Peter Beinart, Kenneth Pollack, George Tenet, Francis Fukuyama, Willaim Kristol, Rich Lowry, George Will, David Brooks, Tom Friedman, Christopher Hitchens, and Michael Ledeen. Whether or not they now recognize they were wrong, the fact is that they were when it counted most. Time to listen to those who got it right from the start.
Fat chance. But I thought I should mention it."
* amy:
"Audit: 7 of 8 Touted Iraq Projects “Crumbling”
In other news, a new audit has found more bad signs for U.S. reconstruction projects in Iraq. The New York Times reports American inspectors looked at eight initiatives the Bush administration had hailed as signs of progress there. Seven were found to be no longer operational and were described as “crumbling.”"
* amy:
German Prosecutors Drop Rumsfeld War-Crimes Case
In Germany, prosecutors have dropped a war crimes suit against former Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld and other U.S. officials. The New York-based Center for Constitutional Rights filed the complaint on behalf of a dozen victims of torture in U.S. custody. Germany’s laws on torture and war crimes permit the prosecution of suspected war criminals wherever they may be found. But German prosecutors say they’ve dropped the case because it has no ties to crimes committed on German soil. Michael Ratner of the Center for Constitutional Rights called the decision political, not legal, and said the case could be re-filed in Spain.
* amy:
Man Arrested for Bomb Plot at Texas Abortion Clinic
In Texas, a potentially major attack was avoided this weekend at an abortion clinic in Austin. Police say they arrested a man who placed an unexploded bomb containing nearly two-thousand nails, a propane tank and a device similar to a rocket outside the clinic’s doors.
notaterrorist
* OGM has the Jon Stewart interview with Moyers. must watch.
* xymphora (in full):
"Protecting the 'deep state' under the guise of secularism
As was the case in the Ukraine and Lebanon and Venezuela, we’re going to be seeing a lot of anti-democracy demonstrations in Turkey which purport to be pro-democracy demonstrations. The particular Turkish spin is promoting a ‘secular’ government, but the real point is to protect the establishment/military/‘deep state’/Zionist/organized crime interests that have been running Turkey for so many years. How much money do you figure the National Endowment for Democracy is spending on protecting the ‘deep state’?
In the recent international poll on the perceived positive and negative influence of various countries, the poll where the two most positive were Canada and Japan, and the most negative was Israel (with hugely negative views of Israel practically everywhere – must be the anti-Semitism!), it was the Turks who had the smallest percentage of positive views of Israel, the same country that has been leading its politicians around by the nose for years. All the contradictions in the odd Turkey-Israel alliance are coming to a head in the Kurdish problem in Iraq."
5 comments:
Okay, I can go along with Xymphora's statement that the recent demonstrations in Turkey are "purported" pro-democracy demonstrations. For one thing, there is no democracy in Turkey. But it's correct, too, that these demonstrations are pro-Pasha and nothing more.
In fact, I would not be surprised if the Pashas i.e. the military, encouraged these demonstrations, just as they encouraged the pro-democracy, pro-secular demonstrations in the wake of the Council of State attack last may. Anyone remember Hilmi Ozkok calling for those demonstrations? It's ridiculous; I mean, here's the Turkish military which pretends to be the sole defender of the Turkish state, and they're calling on the people to defend them.
I guess that goes along with the fact that the current constitution is a legal fraud in which the state is protected from the people. It's also a legal fraud because the writing of said constitution was overseen by Pashas.
However, there is a murky area that Xymphora fails to realize here, as well as in the Saturday post, and that is the implied, simple, black-and-white implication that the Pashas are actually secularist. Who was it that brought about Turkish-Islamic Synthesis? That synthesis never would have come about without the permission of the military and, in fact, it didn't.
The Pashas have an attitude that's best expressed as follows: "If there will be Communism in Turkey, WE will bring the Communism."
Same thing with Islamism. Same thing with anarchism. Same thing with Presbyterianism. It doesn't matter; it's all about internal political control of Turkey itself. And that is where it comes to the real point, protection of the ruling (military--always) elite.
It seems that Xymphora makes a contradiction between this post and Saturday's, in the fact that the Saturday post states that "The 1996 Susurluk car crash is ancient history," whereas in today's post there is the following statement:
". . . but the real point is to protect the establishment/military/‘deep state’/Zionist/organized crime interests that have been running Turkey for so many years."
Okay, so for how many years exactly? Since 1996? Then how is Susurluk ancient history? Also, since Mehmet Agar is running as a DYP candidate and has been shooting off his mouth right and left for the last several months, AND since he was the Interior Minister (in charge of the national police at the time of Susurluk), AND since very few have spoken, or written, about the fact that his shit still stinks from Susurluk, how is Susurluk ancient history.
Since, after the Council of State attack last May, the head of the parliamentary commission that investigated Susurluk--Fikri Saglar--as well as former IHD head Akin Birdal both stated that the Susurluk scandal needed to be cleared up, brought out into the open and, basically, exorcised, if anyone ever hoped to see democracy in Turkey? See Bianet for more.
Trivia: Akin Birdal (ethnic Turk) underwent a very serious assassination attempt by a member of the Susurluk clique, the notorious assassin "Yesil" for his work with IHD. So when he says stuff about the Susurluk clique, he knows what kind of danger he faces.
Notice that the Bianet article references Veli Kucuk? Name ring a bell? He was named as making threats to Hrant Dink during one of Dink's trials and Dink's whole family knew what that meant. Then, Kucuk was linked to Alparslan Arslan--the shooter at the Council of State--as well as to the handlers of Dink's murderer, Ogun Samast.
In other words, Susurluk is far from ancient history.
Now, although Sibel Edmonds has not mentioned anything about AKP because, I am guessing, that AKP did not come up in any of the classified information that she was privy to, AKP is far from clean anyway. It has it's own people in the ATC, the most interesting of which is Cuneyt Zapsu, someone very close to Erdogan.
Erdogan got himself in a bit of trouble a number of years ago, for reciting an inflammatory Islamist poem in public, and he went to prison for it. Then he comes out of nowhere and becomes the prime minister? Interesting? Well, there's someone behind that too, someone with a worldwide network of his own.
In fact, the guy in question has his own moles in the Turkish general staff, as well as people in the US that are involved in the battle.
This has nothing to do with Sibel's info, but it's still a fact.
As for a "Kurdish problem in Iraq," is that the same as the "Kurdish problem in Turkey," as in, "Kurds exist?" To my knowledge, there is no Kurdish problem anywhere; rather, there are Iraqi problems, Turkish problems, American problems, Israeli problems, etc., but no "Kurdish problems."
Other than that, it's good to see that someone else is paying attention to the Turkish problem.
I didn't mean to put pressure on Noise to review Tenet's book. From remarks published yesterday by McGovern, Giraldi, et al., it is the exact piece of rubbish I expected. The biggest surprise so far is the publisher gave him a FOUR MILLION DOLLAR ADVANCE to say, "it wasn't my fault." I'd have told them that'd be his story for free.
Fascinating insight into Turkish politics Mizgin.
I've been watching all the Tenet coverage. As soon as the torture issue comes up...the interview gets very weird. For some reason he can't just say "I ordered the code red!" He talks about a necessary moral debate the country needs to have...right after saying torture saved lives. To paraphrase an infamous Republican talking point..."What good is morality if you're dead?" Besides, why do we need a debate on the morality of torture if the CIA doesn't use torture?
Robert Baer on Tenet's slam dunk clarification: "So, it is better that the 'slam dunk' referred to the ease with which the war could be sold? I guess I missed that part of the National Security Act delineating the functions of the CIA - the part about CIA marketing a war. Guess that's why I never made it into senior management." (1)
Mizgin - thnx, fp'd
"What good is morality if you're dead?"
Noise - priceless.
Post a Comment