Stats

Comments Posted By AdLib

Displaying 2,341 To 2,370 Of 19,504 Comments

Baghdad, Blowback and Bush

monicaangela, thanks for the additional background on ISIS.

It is a bit bewildering that what appears to be a group only in the thousands can just plow through one town after another. It sure looks like there is cooperation from the Iraqi Armed Forces to stand down and give them free passage. The payoff to Iraqi officials from the plundering of banks could be contributing to that.

Sorry I haven’t researched this yet but…doesn’t Iraq have an air force or at least attack helicopters they could send into towns being attacked?

This just doesn’t smell right.

» Posted By AdLib On June 13, 2014 @ 4:28 pm

monicaangela, it will work out for the oil companies just fine, they’re always in pounce position and need the tiniest excuse to jack prices up.

Though I think the timing is ideal for the oil companies, my thought is that ISIS is more interested in taking over all the oil revenues in Iraq to finance themselves. They just robbed the banks too…hmm…I’m now wondering if they’re not backed by Wall Street!

» Posted By AdLib On June 13, 2014 @ 3:58 pm

Thanks exfanofariana!

I’d be grateful enough if the World Court tried Bush and Cheney for war crimes but the idea of them being held in a Guantanamo type camp by ISIS and given a “military” trial would be so ironic.

When one considers the amount of killings and cruelty done in their names, it might be hard to accept but the ones who have been the most deadly to innocent human life so far, have been the Bush Admin and not ISIS (but give them time).

What distinguished company to be in.

» Posted By AdLib On June 13, 2014 @ 3:51 pm

Kalima, a great series of links (H/T Morning Blog!), will read them all!!! See you later!

» Posted By AdLib On June 13, 2014 @ 3:45 pm

Beatlex, I was always for bringing Bush and Co. to trial for violating The Constitution and for War Crimes, it really disappointed me when Nancy Pelosi stated in 2006 that if they won back the Senate, they would not prosecute Bush.

Meanwhile, the Repubs are itching to impeach Obama for things that never happened (what is the crime in Benghazi?).

I agree, as the years pass, Bush’s Iraq War may be seen as the most disastrous action taken by a world leader in the post WWII era.

But at least he’s painting and cheering on his brother to become our next President.

» Posted By AdLib On June 13, 2014 @ 3:43 pm

CityGardener, the Repubs always rant about the nation putting everything on a credit card, sure wish Bush was forced to actually use a credit card to run up the Iraq War costs so we could file a dispute now to have the charge reversed by claiming, “We didn’t get what we paid for…in fact, we didn’t get anything!”

Good to see you here, CityGardener!

» Posted By AdLib On June 13, 2014 @ 3:34 pm

KT, I think the dream of the Islamic extremists is to recreate an Islamic empire that can have the power to force the rest of the world to follow their beliefs or be attacked.

I don’t think any nation, even one controlled by Islamic extremists would be so self-destructive as to attack the U.S. in a severe way…and not expect to have their cities and infrastructure destroyed.

So, as long as it is a more general plot, I do think ISIS’s goal is to take control of Iraq and make it their nation then use it as a springboard to expand.

» Posted By AdLib On June 13, 2014 @ 3:31 pm

Harleigh, great point. Looks like the mega-embassy is now an ISIS party house and all the contractors are being hired by ISIS using the billions they’ve stolen from the banks.

So, mission accomplished!

BTW, welcome to The Planet!

» Posted By AdLib On June 13, 2014 @ 3:26 pm

Hey WowJones, welcome to The Planet!

Yes, I had that interview in mind while writing the above article. Some can rightly question as to whether they knew they were lying or not but I think that such aggressive ideologues create propaganda that they need to believe themselves.

We knew they were lying, it all sounded so ridiculously rosy but gather all those idiot neocons into the same room and they’ll all validate each other’s BS until they’re all believing it.

And what a coincidence too that after American troops marched on Baghdad, only the oil ministry was protected from looting and destruction.

A war over oil is now a war over terrorist control of the same country. Thank Bushness we invested trillions, American lives and our economic stability in going to war in Iraq, what geniuses these neocons are…in Bizarro World.

» Posted By AdLib On June 13, 2014 @ 2:17 pm

Well said, kevinbr38.

I was so enthusiastic in the Spring of 2008 when I imagined all that Obama could accomplish if he won in November. Then when the economic crash hit, all the biggest aspirations seemed moot.

Yet, with the ACA at the forefront and the end of DOMA and DADT, there has been a great deal accomplished by Obama. Granted, had he not have to spend the majority of his presidency cleaning up after Bush’s disasters, he could have accomplished so much more but then again…I consider how much we needed him to clean up after Bush. It wasn’t the fate he sought but it’s been a very critical one, having someone of Obama’s ability and perspectives as President when so much could have pushed us off a cliff.

I agree, as history is recounted, Obama’s deeds and accomplishments will look remarkable…as will Bush’s failures.

And kevinbr38, welcome to The Planet!

» Posted By AdLib On June 13, 2014 @ 1:46 pm

Kes, wow! Hadn’t heard that yet, this is starting to make even more sense. The ease in which ISIS has swept through town after town, with no resistance…the pieces sure fit together well if there is collusion within the Al Maliki government who saw the opportunity to steal billions then flee the sinking ship as multi-millionaires or billionaires.

This all feels wrong, it’s all too fast and easy, it sure feels like an arrangement.

And all the money and military resources these extremists have now…all this dangerous weapons in the hands of “madmen”…wasn’t that just what Bush said was the reason we had to go to war to prevent? And instead his war has armed madmen far more dangerous than Saddam.

Will Republicans ever learn the long term dangers of the short term gratification they get from war? Surely John McCain will never learn. Imagine though, if he was President, we’d be in a variety of wars now AND restarting war in Iraq. How much more insane might things have been at this point in time?!

» Posted By AdLib On June 13, 2014 @ 1:30 pm

Miles, indeed, an ignorant and frightened public is easy to manipulate and the wealthy behind the GOP, who are accustomed to scaring and misinforming the public to buy their corporations products and support their agendas, know this very well.

I agree with monicaangela too that the corporate owned MSM is a sneaky collaborator on this, spreading BS as “the other side of the debate” and stating that it’s not their job to inform the public about the lies they’re conveying to them on their broadcasts.

College enrollment is dropping as tuitions rise swiftly and younger students see the huge debt burden and minimal job prospects of many college grads.

Add that to the anti-intellectualism of the Repubs and you have an affirmation of “Dumb is good!”.

In that kind of environment, all nature of awful things can be slid right past the majority. Those who know better just have to be loud and louder.

» Posted By AdLib On June 13, 2014 @ 1:19 pm

Nirek, it’s like trying to fix the legs of a table by shortening one then the next then the next until the table is destroyed. We may want to “fix” the horribleness that’s going on there because of the US under Bush but then we’ll need to fix the blowback from that fix and on and on.

I would predict though that Obama will launch air strikes on ISIS for a variety of reasons including…this is an election year and being blamed for “losing” Iraq has got to be on his mind.

It is a mess and if we started air strikes, how does it ever end? You can’t stop feet on the ground without having feet on the ground…and we know the Iraqi Armed Forces will just turn tail and run so who’s going to have soldiers on the ground?

Can’t be us!

» Posted By AdLib On June 13, 2014 @ 1:11 pm

Thanks DimBulb2!

» Posted By AdLib On June 13, 2014 @ 1:05 pm

The Weekend Music Thread-Come Rain or Come Shine

Nice one, Smot!

Then of course there’s the literal song about Bush:

» Posted By AdLib On June 14, 2014 @ 11:45 am

I’m in trouble!

» Posted By AdLib On June 14, 2014 @ 11:43 am

Sunny Afternoon – Kinks

» Posted By AdLib On June 14, 2014 @ 11:42 am

A Hard Rain’s Gonna Fall – Bob Dylan

» Posted By AdLib On June 14, 2014 @ 11:35 am

Heh, the George W. Bush theme song?

» Posted By AdLib On June 14, 2014 @ 11:32 am

Here Comes the Sun – Beatles

» Posted By AdLib On June 14, 2014 @ 11:29 am

Wow, that takes me back!

» Posted By AdLib On June 14, 2014 @ 11:26 am

Black Hole Sun – Soundgarden

» Posted By AdLib On June 14, 2014 @ 11:25 am

No Longer Lost: Finding a New Home at Daily Kos and PlanetPOV

brothers3, your previous comment was removed because you launched into an insult of the member who wrote a post and the rest of the members here. Please read our Terms of Use, members are not permitted to attack or disparage other members.

You can express opinions on any issue whatsoever but when that entails denigrating other members, such a comment will be removed. As you quoted, we do not suffer trolls or troll behavior and frankly, your disparaging of the entire membership and site was just that.

The sensibility here is that we are like a neighborhood diner where everyone gathers to discuss the issues of the day but show a modicum of respect to their “neighbors”, sparring on issues but never making it personal or judging others to be lesser people.

Your arrival here was similar to someone being invited into a neighbor’s home then proceeding to insult the house, the hosts and the rest of the guests gathered there. Then you apparently expected the mud you threw on the walls to be left there.

In your comment, you also complained about our supporting Free Expression here and permitting our members to post articles and you used that as a launching pad to judge all of the members and the site as inferior.

Not exactly a display of good will towards the members who contribute here and keep The Planet spinning.

And if your reference point is HP, the site of sideboobs and Kardashians as being more substantive, we’ll have to agree to disagree on that.

If you are looking to simply criticize the folks and admin here, then it would seem self-evident that this is probably not the right site for you.

Otherwise, if you want to discuss your point of view on issues and have substantial conversations with some very clever and witty people…and be able to post your own articles, you are very welcome to post here.

» Posted By AdLib On June 13, 2014 @ 3:07 pm

The Republican Encyclopedia of Hindsight Deals

Reagan financed the Mujahideen as opposition to the USSR in Afghanistan which did indeed include Bin Laden and the Taliban:

Under Operation Cyclone from 1979 to 1989, the United States provided financial aid and weapons to the Mujahideen through Pakistan’s ISI. Bin Laden met and built relations with Hamid Gul, who was a three-star general in the Pakistani army and head of the ISI agency. Although the United States provided the money and weapons, the training of militant groups was entirely done by the Pakistani Armed Forces and the ISI.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Osama_bin_Laden#Mujahideen_in_Afghanistan

» Posted By AdLib On June 13, 2014 @ 11:45 am

Hi phoenixdoglover, welcome to The Planet!

I remember reading that study you describe and it does shed light on what thoroughly confuses and frustrates many non-Repubs, why do they vote against their own interests and aggressively oppose the programs that they personally rely on to get by? Why are they so closed to facts and history and why must they believe in their party based on blind faith and pronouncements of “fact” by their party’s authority figures?

Because that’s how many of them have their brains wired.

Anyone know a good electrician who could create some short circuits?

As to asking if the TP is conservative, political views can be similar to a clock, when you go too far into day or night, you end up in the opposite one. The TP has gone so far in pursuit of being conservative that you’re right, they are now radicals who pursue enormous changes…just the opposite of the definition of being “conservative”.

I agree, they are anarchists, many are in Congress solely to sabotage the workings of our government.

There is another word for that and it ain’t “patriot”, in fact, just the opposite.

» Posted By AdLib On June 11, 2014 @ 11:14 am

Murph, I suppose that the long view is that with such hateful extremists being periodically energized in the GOP, they will never regain the Latino vote and will continue to lose national and local elections because of it. So it’s kind of like Superman tying a chunk of kryptonite around his neck, he’d be doing it to himself, only taking away his own power.

As Latinos make up more of the voting public, even in red states, their opposition to the racism of the GOP will eventually hand over many now-red states over to the Dems.

So though I hate hearing the cheering on of racism, the more exposed it is, the dimmer the future of the Tea Party GOP looks and that’s a good thing.

» Posted By AdLib On June 11, 2014 @ 11:04 am

Kalima, what the Repubs are practicing as a party is one agenda. The Big Lie, just repeat big lies over and over and eventually, just because of their familiarity, some people will believe them.

Such a corrupt mindset acknowledges that what they’re saying may be the opposite of what they’ve said in the past, absurd or just plain lies but that’s irrelevant. Most people don’t remember who they first heard say the propaganda once it’s coming from all directions, some people will believe anything if they hear it enough (Death Panels anyone?).

Glad you liked the graphic, I didn’t create this one but whoever did really hit the bulls eye.

» Posted By AdLib On June 11, 2014 @ 10:59 am

Beatlex – Eventually, after the next census, I hope this all leads to a long period of the GOP as a minority party that is out of power for decades. If not for gerrymandering and a rigged SCOTUS, they would have scant power nationally today.

» Posted By AdLib On June 11, 2014 @ 10:54 am

Searing, so true about life being the greatest profit…and also the greatest loss when taken so indiscriminately by the top 1% who champion wars, pollution and economic oppression.

» Posted By AdLib On June 11, 2014 @ 10:52 am

Kes, you’ve actually identified the reverse of this situation which is just as common, being against “it” before they became “always for” it.

As you point out, Repubs originally opposed SS, Medicare and now the ACA. As they became taken for granted as an inarguable good to most Americans, the Repubs changed their tunes to, “We’ve always supported SS and Medicare (and one day, the ACA), we just want to make sure it’s there for future generations…which is why we originally tried to keep them from ever existing.”

If the elderly, ill and poor who support Repubs doesn’t expose that politics is now faith-based in the rural and conservative areas, as opposed to being based on people wanting what’s in their best interests, I don’t know what would.

» Posted By AdLib On June 11, 2014 @ 10:51 am