WE ALL KNEW CELEBRITY IN CHIEF BARRY O COULDN'T BOWL BUT IT TURNS OUT HE CAN'T GOLF EITHER. RUMOR HAS IT, HOWEVER, HE'S REALLY GOOD WITH BARBIE FASHION SHOW! This is no time for jokes or trivial banter. The stakes are getting higher by the nanosecond. As tensions are inflamed at health care town hall meetings across the country, a dangerous trend of Hitler comparisons, Stalin comparisons, and all-around dictator comparisons to President Barack Obama is taking shape. The most probing question at this juncture might be uncomfortable to some, but it must be asked: Do conservative, hard-right demagogues, whose hatred for President Obama has hardly ever been subdued, secretly hope for--and are hard at work toward--the assassination of the nation's first Black president.
SIT YOUR FREAKY ASS DOWN, TOLU AND TRY TO OPEN A DAMN BOOK, YOU FOOL. HILTER? HE WASN'T ASSASSINATED, YOU DUMB ASS. YOU MORON. YOU IDIOT. WHAT AN UGLY DUMB ASS. TOLU NEEDS TO STOP TRYING TO WRITE AND START TRYING TO READ.
IN ADDITION, PUNK ASS TOLU, YOU MIGHT WANT TO PERUSE THIS DECADE. YOU'LL FIND THAT WE ON THE LEFT FREQUENTLY COMPARED BUSH TO HITLER. IN FACT, THE FOLLOWING ALL APPEARED IN 2003 AND 2004 AT DEMOCRATS.COM:
Bush's Biggest Rally - a White Supremacist Triumph? It is chilling that the largest rally Bush has been able to stage was pulled off in the heart of NeoNazi territory in Butler County, Ohio. Not only does Ohio lead the Midwest in the number of white-supremacist groups, according to a 2001 study, but Butler County in particular has a grim recent history of being a white supremacist stronghold. Bush's rally was held in a stark, post-industrial-park site called "Voice of America Park" in West Chester, Butler County Ohio, just 25 miles from Hamilton, where for a time, the Aryan Nations had their national "clubhouse." It is disturbing indeed that Bush's team felt certain they would be able raise the largest number of rally attendees in his entire campaign here in hate group country. Bush Mocks Kerry (and the American People) for Being Duped into an Illegal War Actually, this quote describing Hitler's tactics sums Bush's manipulations up nicely: "Naturally, the common people don't want war, but after all, it is the leaders of a country who determine the policy, and it is always a simple matter to drag the people along, whether it is a democracy, or a facist dictatorship, or a parliament, or a communist dictatorship. Voice or no voice, the people can always be brought to the bidding of the leaders. This is easy. All you have to do is tell them they are being attacked, and denounce the pacifists for lack of patriotism and exposing the country to danger. It works the same in every country." - Herman Goering speaking at the Nuremberg trials after WWII (thanks Howard Stern - who has this on page one of his site) Bush Ignores Plea from Anti-Defamation League to Remove 'Offensive, Demeaning and Inappropriate' Hitler Video ADL.com: "The Anti-Defamation League today expressed disappointment that Nazi images are still prominently featured in a video on the official re-election campaign Web site of President [sic] George W. Bush. Abraham H. Foxman, ADL National Director, issued the following statement: We are disappointed that the Bush-Cheney campaign has not removed Nazi images, including Adolf Hitler, from the President's re-election Web site. The campaign's rehashing of what had appeared on the MoveOn.org site, which was removed after outcry from ADL and others, is inappropriate and offensive. Using images of Hitler and terminology from the Nazi regime in campaign attacks is offensive and demeaning to the memory of the six million and others who died in the Holocaust. ...We urge the Bush-Cheney campaign to immediately remove the Hitler imagery from the video." CHILLING DEJA VU: The Original Bush-Hitler Comparison (You'll See why the GOP is Frantically Trying to Redirect the Parallel!) "When this essay comparing Hitler's rise to power with Bush, and the tactics of the present GOP with the 1930s Nazis and Stalin's communist regime was first published in July, 2001, the author was the recipient of a flood of hate mail and even a couple of death threats from militant rightwingers. But the comparison hit home: the article has been been circulating all over the world, reprinted in at least five languages. Unlike the lame, even bizarre comparisons rightwingers try to make between Clinton, Dean, et al. and Hitler, the similarity between Bush's regime and the rise of the Nazis is REAL and has evoked a shock of recognition in readers - or, as the title says, a "Chilling Deja Vu." Nazi Justification for Torture Was Just Like Bush's Here is one more important comparison between the Busheviks and the Nazis. Digby blogs, "It's interesting that the crack lawyers who devised this new immunity from war crimes evoked the Nuremberg defense. Aside from the obvious fact that the Nuremberg defense failed spectacularly, it is also interesting because one of the war crimes the Nuremberg defendents, which included the SS, SA and the Gestapo as well as individuals, were tried and convicted of were using what they believed to be a legally prescribed interrogation method they called 'the third degree.' I'm sure you've all heard of it." Bush Brownshirts Terrorize Gallery Owner for Abu Ghraib Painting This is so much like 1930s Germany when Hitler's thugs (known as the "Brown Shirts") roamed at large, physically assaulting any Nazi dissenters or vandalizing their property. "Lori Haigh began receiving threatening phone calls soon after she displayed Guy Colwell's painting 'The Abuse', depicting Abu Ghraib, in the front window of her gallery. A few days later garbage was strewn outside the building, which was also splattered with eggs. Although Haigh removed the picture from the front window the harassment continued, with about 200 hostile voicemail and email messages, including six death threats, during the next week. Last week a man wearing a fisherman's cap and a fatigue jacket walked into the gallery, pretended to look at the pictures and then suddenly walked up to Haigh and spat in her face. Two days later another man knocked on the front door of building and then punched her in the face, knocking her out and breaking her nose." Will Bush's Baghdad = Hitler's Stalingrad? Daily Brew writes, "Hitler's biggest blunder was, of course, invading Russia... The war with England wasn't yet won, but Hitler's hubris was sufficient that he went against the advice of his generals. In a very similar manner, Bush ignored the advice of scores of military and civilian planners to attack Iraq, when the war against al Qaeda was not quite over... [After invading Afghanistan,] the United States and coalition partners were mostly successful in putting al Qaeda on the defensive. This balance began to change when the military and intelligence resources devoted to Afghanistan were redirected towards Iraq in the winter and spring of 2003. While the initial attack in Iraq proceeded with stunning speed, in the aftermath, the United States found itself bogged down as an occupying force at an enormous cost in both men and materials. Al Qaeda was able to regroup and retrench, and the results are now evident in the blood of Spanish citizens." McAuliffe Demands GOP Chair Gillespie Repudiate Comparison of Senate Democrats to Nazis "Terry McAuliffe said he would be personally monitoring the Republican National Committee's website anxiously waiting for Chairman Ed Gillespie to repudiate comments made by a right wing columnist comparing Senate Democrats to Nazis. Gillespie recently took to the airwaves to express outrage over an ad posted at the Moveon.org web site that used images of Adolph Hitler. Despite giving the ad more play on the RNC web site than it had in its entire existence on MoveOn's site, Gillespie called it: 'the worst and most vile form of political hate speech.' National Review writer Timothy Carney in a column on Friday, compared Democrats on the Senate Judiciary Committee to Nazis and Senator Orrin Hatch to Neville Chamberlain... The Nazi charge stems from a decision by Hatch and the Republican leadership to allow the Senate Sergeant-at-Arms to investigate Republican theft of Democratic documents for more than a year." Are Parallels to Nazi Germany Crazy? Harley Sorenson of the San Francisco Chronicle Doesn't Think So "'Dear Mr. Sorensen -- My father was a Nazi soldier and he realized during the war what he and most of his generation was led into. I have learned from him that a nation can be guilty and that we must stop the arrogance of the powers at the very beginning. To me, America is becoming truly scary and the parallels to the development in Germany of the thirties (although the reason behind it are totally different) are sickening. Thank you for writing about this development. The world is waiting for signs of opposition in the Unilateral States of America!' [This] is typical of a half dozen or so I've received over the past year from people with intimate knowledge of Nazi Germany. I respect experience, so I'm inclined to believe what these people are telling me. Perhaps their memories help explain the attitude of Germans toward the Bush administration these days. They've been there, they've done that. They know what a corrupt government smells like." Read the 'Rise and Fall of the Third Reich' for Frightening Parallels to Bush TheLeftCoaster.com recommends "William L. Shirer's Rise and Fall of the Third Reich, easily one of the most frightening books I ever read... the parallels a reader can draw between Adolph Schicklegruber Hitler and George Warmonger Bush aren't just mentioned - they leap off the pages like GOP 'protesters' at a Florida vote recount. Shirer was there. He interviewed Hitler more than once, along with many of the major Nazi officials. He also knew high ranking officials of the various governments of Europe, and could read many of the major newspapers in their native languages. Ergo, he was an intelligent man who could not only notice, but interpret, what the events of his day portended... So please - it's your country too. Read up on what Hitler did to his nation, and note what Bush is doing to yours - then work on your Republican brother-in-law who's still looking for a real job. There's everything to gain - and even more to lose." Where Were Nazi-Comparison Critics When Pat Robertson Attacked Liberals? In 1993, Pat Robertson declared: "Just like what Nazi Germany did to the Jews, so liberal America is now doing to the evangelical Christians. It's no different. It's the same thing. It is happening all over again. It is the Democratic Congress, the liberal-based media and the homosexuals who want to destroy the Christians. Wholesale abuse and discrimination and the worst bigotry directed toward any group in America today. More terrible than anything suffered by any minority in history." As Bryan Oberle writes, "It's hard to imagine any clear-thinking adult insisting that those nasty old liberals are worse than Nazis. That the defenseless, oppressed evangelical minorities' fate is worse than the European Jews during the Holocaust. It's the sort of statement that gets you jailed in Germany." We demand that Ed Gillespie, the ADL, and the AJC condemn Pat Robertson! 'I'm Afraid of a Reign Far More Barbaric than the Nazis' SL grew up in the shadow of Hitler. "Why have I drawn a parallel between the Nazis and the present administration? Just one small reason -the phrase 'Never forget'... Anyone who compares the history of Hitler's rise to power and the progression of recent events in the US cannot avoid the parallels. It's incontrovertible. Is Bush another Hitler? Maybe not, but with each incriminating event, the parallel grows -it certainly cannot be dismissed... Just as Hitler used American tactics to plan and execute his reign, it looks as if Karl Rove is reading Hitler's playbook to plan world domination - and that is the stated intent of both. From the Reichstag fire to the landing at Nuremberg to the motto of 'Gott Mit Uns' to the unprovoked invasion and occupation of Iraq to the insistence that peace was the ultimate goal, the line is unbroken and unwavering. I'm afraid now, that what may still come to pass is a reign far more savage and barbaric than that of the Nazis." BuzzFlash Challenges GOP's Attack on Moveon "We are wondering where [GOP Chair Ed] Gillespie was when Republican supporters were running ads in SD linking pussycat Tom Daschle to Saddam Hussein. We are wondering where Mr. Gillespie was when the Bush Cartel circulated rumors in the 2000 SC primary that John McCain had a black child and was a traitor during his captivity in Vietnam. We are wondering where Mr. Gillespie was when the Bush Cartel openly lied America into war. We are wondering where Mr. Gillespie was when the White House outed a CIA operative specializing in WMD. We are wondering where Mr. Gillespie was when Bush's religious comrades-in-arms said America had 9/11 coming to it. We are wondering where Mr. Gillespie was when de facto lead policy strategist for the Bush White House, Grover Norquist, compared the estate tax to the Holocaust? We are wondering where Mr. Gillespie was when every Republican leader with a nickel in his pocket was comparing Bill Clinton to Satan...well, the list just doesn't stop, does it?" Drudge Attacks Bush-Hitler Satire The Busheviks are terrified of the enormous grassroots power of Moveon, so they are doing everything they can to destroy it. Now Matt Drudge is attacking Moveon because one of the "Bush in 30 Seconds" finalists - Symbolman of TakeBackTheMedia.com - previously produced a satirical comparison of Bush and Hitler. This Bush-Hitler comparison stuff is REALLY driving rightwingers insane - because it cuts so close to the truth. The Bush-Hitler Comparison: The First Warning Bell Was Rung Right Here at Democrats.com Months Before 9/11! Cheryl Seal writes: "When this essay comparing Hitler's rise to power with Bush, and the tactics of the present GOP with the 1930s Nazis and Stalin's communist regime was first published in July, 2001, I was the recipient of a flood of hate mail and even a couple of death threats from militant rightwingers. But the comparison hit home: the article has been been circulating all over the world, reprinted in at least five languages. Unlike the lame, even bizarre comparisons rightwingers try to make between Clinton, Dean, et al. and Hitler, the similarity between Bush's regime and the rise of the Nazis is REAL and undeniable and has evoked a shock of recognition in readers - a chilling deja vu - that has been steadily growing." That Pesky Bush-Hitler Thing Marc Ash satirizes, "Here we go again. Another bone-head with a Bush-Hitler analogy... Just because his grandfather Prescott Bush financed Hitler's rise to power, do they think that means George W. Bush has Nazi tendencies? That's absurd... And who are these bloody Europeans who keep comparing Bush to Hitler? Take that German Justice Minister, Herta Daubler-Gmelin, who compared Bush's dealings on Iraq to those of Hitler. That really takes the cake, now doesn't it? What do the Germans know of Hitler anyway? Why should they feel empowered to warn the world of such impending dangers? Why couldn't they just shut-up and help us kill the Iraqis? The worst has to be Newsweek's Poland bureau. The story they published titled 'The Bush Family and Nazis' was completely out of left field. Who cares that the story states 'The Bush family reaped the benefits of slave labor in the Auschwitz concentration camp'?" 'My Moveon Ad Ticked Off The RNC' Todd Mattson writes, "I think my Moveon.org ad was one of them that ticked off the RNC and boy does that make my day. Thing is, I didn't really state that Bush is Hitler, nor do I believe that. I do, however, know that he has said some rather scary stuff, and his administration is hell bent on turning America into a police state. Here's the copy from my ad... 'There ought to be limits to freedom.' - George W. Bush... 'If this were a dictatorship, it would be a heck of a lot easier, just so long as I'm the dictator.' - George W. Bush... Don't let George W. Bush run roughshod over our constitutional freedoms.' So George, if you don't want to be compared to Hitler, then quit saying crap like that, learn what patriotism REALLY means and quit mixing up nationalism with it, and call off Ashcroft and his anti-freedom dogs. Otherwise, we Americans are going to get the idea that you have other motives in addition to being the most corrupt president ever." Rightwing NH Paper Demands Dean Denounce Bush-Nazi Ad The Manchester (NH) Union Leader is infamous for its right-wing extremism. Now they are viciously attacking Moveon and Howard Dean. "How out of touch are the radicals at the now famous left-wing Web site Moveon.org? While the majority of Americans say they support the War on Terror, the war in Iraq, President Bush, and President Bush's tax cuts, the crackpots at Moveon.org are sponsoring political ads that compare Bush to Hitler. Moveon.org has provided the tinder that fueled the fire under Howard Dean's campaign. These people helped make Dean the front-runner in the Democratic primary, and they think President Bush is comparable to Hitler. The absurdity of the comparison ought to be self-evident. That so many left-wingers see it as plausible does more than call into question their sanity." Hey Union Leader: we challenge you to debate the question: "Is Bush in 2004 Like Hitler in 1939?" You're not afraid to debate, are you? NewsMax Attacks Democrats.com Again (Yawn) Rightwing zine NewsMax attacked Democrats.com for the umpteenth time, this time because we denounced GOP censorship of a "Bush in 30 seconds" ad proposed by a Moveon member. The ad compared two remarks by Hitler to those of Bush. As always, we received a few letters from NewsMax's "enlightened" readers. Hey NewsMax - do you ever read the letters from your own readers? If our readers were so clueless, we'd immediately shut down our site and get a life! Of course, we're sure the NewsMax letter-writers would welcome informed replies from Democrats.com readers - so don't be bashful! GOP Demands Censorship of Moveon Ad Comparing Bush with Hitler Once again, the comparison of Bush with Hitler strikes terror in the hearts of Republicans - because they know how close it cuts to the truth. A proposed TV ad submitted by a Moveon member had RNC chair Ed Gillespie spitting bullets. According to Drudge, Moveon removed the ad from its contest - one more victory for GOP censorship, bringing us ever closer to a Nazi dictatorship. Image: Pictures Of Hitler Voice: (In German) Subtitle: We have taken new measures to protect our homeland, Image: Pictures Of Hitler Voice: (In German) Subtitle: I believe I am acting in accordance with the will of the Almighty Creator, Image: Pictures Of Hitler Voice: (In German) Subtitle: God told me to strike at al-Qaida and I struck them, Image: Pictures of President Bush Voice: (In German) Subtitle: and then He instructed me to strike at Saddam, which I did. Bush-Nazi Charges Sting Because Bush's Policies Resemble Hitler's "Blood ties and shallow images were not what Sen. Byrd's comparisons between Bush and Goering were about: they were about Bush's actual behavior. Like Senator Byrd, tens of millions of Americans are deeply worried that this administration has waged an unprecedented assault on American civil rights and liberties. It has shredded the Constitution and the natural environment as none other in US history. Its unprovoked attacks on Iraq have prompted thoughtful comparisons to the unprovoked Nazi invasion of Poland in 1939. Its illegal detainment center at Guantanamo and its cavalier use of the drug war, the prison system and the powers arrogated through the Patriot Act and the Homeland Security apparatus have brought the US to the brink of dictatorship. Given the horrific reality of what the GOP is now doing to America and the world, we should be profoundly thankful that the public is uneasy. If Team Bush objects to being compared with the Nazi elite, perhaps it should act less like it." Senator Byrd, Major Media Spread Coverage of Bush-Nazi Nexus Harvey Wasserman & Bob Fitrakis write: "US Senator Robert Byrd, on the floor of Congress, on October 17, has explicitly compared the Bush media operation to that run by Herman Goering, mastermind of the Nazi putsch against the German people. On the same day, the Associated Press ran a national story linking Prescott Bush to Adolf Hitler. The lead read: 'President Bush's grandfather was a director of a bank seized by the federal government because of its ties to a German industrialist who helped bankroll Adolf Hitler's rise to power, government documents show.' That night, CNN ran a 'streamer' on the bottom of its all-news programming confirming that 'declassified documents show Prescott Bush connections to Nazi finance'... Given the horrific reality of what the GOP is now doing to America and the world, we should be profoundly thankful that the public is uneasy. If Team Bush objects to being compared with the Nazi elite, perhaps it should act less like it.'" Seige Heil: the Bush-Rove-Schwarzenegger Nazi Nexus and the Destabilization of California Bob Fitrakis and Harvey Wasserman write, "George W. Bush's grandfather helped finance the Nazi Party. Karl Rove's grandfather allegedly helped run the Nazi Party, and helped build the Birkenau Death Camp. Arnold Schwarzenegger's Austrian father volunteered for the infamous Nazi SA and became a ranking officer. Together, they have destabilized California and are on the brink of bringing it a new Reich. With the Schwarzenegger candidacy they have laid siege to America's largest state, lining it up for the 2004 election. The Bush family ties to the Nazi party are well known. In their 1994 Secret War Against the Jews, Mark Aarons and John Loftus use official US documents to establish that George Herbert Walker, George W. Bush's maternal great-grandfather, was one of Hitler's most important early backers. He funneled money to the rising young fascist through the Union Banking Corporation." [Dems.com note: We haven't seen anything to confirm the allegations about Karl Rove's grandfather] Bush-Cheney '04 Ad Designer Apparently Attended the Mussolini-Hitler Academy of Propaganda Sure, the proto-fascist character of Bush's residency is blatantly obvious, but he wouldn't actually use it to sell his 2004 campaign, right? Think again. Check out this campaign picture that was embedded in the most recent Bush-Cheney '04 email message. It is truly disturbing. A Kind of Fascism - 'Inverted Totalitarianism' - Is Replacing Our Democracy Professor Sheldon Wolin writes, "Like previous forms of totalitarianism, the Bush administration boasts a reckless unilateralism that believes the United States can demand unquestioning support, on terms it dictates; ignores treaties and violates international law at will; invades other countries without provocation; and incarcerates persons indefinitely without charging them with a crime or allowing access to counsel. The drive toward total power can take different forms, as Mussolini's Italy, Hitler's Germany and Stalin's Soviet Union suggest. The American system is evolving its own form: 'inverted totalitarianism.' This has no official doctrine of racism or extermination camps but, as described above, it displays similar contempt for restraints... Inverted totalitarianism exploits political apathy and encourages divisiveness. The turnout for a Nazi plebiscite was typically 90 percent or higher; in a good election year in the United States, participation is about 50 percent." Germany in 1933: The Easy Slide into Fascism Bernard Weiner writes: "A goodly number of folks wonder if they're living in America in 2003 or Germany in 1933. All this emphasis on nationalism, the militarization of society, identifying The Leader as the nation, a constant state of fear and anxiety heightened by the authorities, repressive laws that shred constitutional guarantees of due process, wars of aggression launched on weaker nations, the desire to assume global hegemony, the merging of corporate and governmental interests, vast mass-media propaganda campaigns...a timid opposition that barely contests the administration's reckless adventurism abroad and police-state policies at home... Of course, America in 2003 and Germany seventy years earlier are not the same, and Bush certainly is not Adolf Hitler. But there are enough disquieting similarities in the two periods at least to see what we can learn -- cautionary tales, as it were." Ritter Says Bush's Crackdown on Civil Liberties and Iraq War are Hitlerian "Scott Ritter, a former United Nations weapons inspector, has compared the invasion of Iraq to Hitler's invasion of Poland," reports the UK Telegraph. Ritter says he believes 130 Americans [now 145] have died "for a lie", adding: "I see no difference between the invasion of Iraq and the invasion of Poland in 1939." Ritter cites Bush and Hitler's false claims of self defense as the excuses for launching their invasions. He also adds, chillingly, that both used "terrorist attacks" on national landmarks (the Reichstag in Germany, the WTC and Pentagon in the US) as the pretext for cracking down on civil liberties, thereby setting the stage for dictatorship. Reporter Michael Wolff Meets Bush's 'Hitler Youth' After days of useless Centcom briefings in Doha, Qatar, NY Magazine's Michael Wolff asked General Vincent Brooks: "Why are we here? Why should we stay? What's the value of what we're learning at this million dollar press centre?" Amazingly, Wolff's fellow reporters applauded. But not the Busheviks: "The next person to buttonhole me was the Centcom uber-civilian, a thirty-ish Republican operative. He was more full-metal-jacket in his approach (although he was a civilian he was, inexplicably, in uniform - making him, I suppose a sort of para-military figure): 'I have a brother who is in a Hummer at the front, so don't talk to me about too much f***ing air-conditioning.' And: 'A lot of people don't like you.' And then: 'Don't f*** with things you don't understand.' And too: 'This is f***ing war, a**hole.' And finally: 'No more questions for you.'" When he told reporters about the run-in, one replied: "You've met the Hitler youth." And then Rush got hold of the question... Operation American Slavery: Film Exec Fired for Comparing Bush's America to Hitler's Germany Zap2It reports, "The executive producer of a CBS miniseries about Adolf Hitler's rise to power has been fired after giving an interview in which he compared the current mood of Americans to that of the Germans who helped Hitler rise to power. According to The Hollywood Reporter, Gernon was fired Sunday (April 6) from Alliance Atlantis, the production company making 'Hitler: The Rise of Evil' for CBS... 'Hitler' has caused controversy ever since CBS announced its intentions last summer. In an interview with TV Guide about the four-hour film, scheduled for May, Gernon compares many Americans' acceptance of a war in Iraq to the fearful climate in post-World War I Germany, of which Hitler took advantage to become its ruler. 'It basically boils down to an entire nation gripped by fear, who ultimately chose to give up their civil rights and plunged the whole nation into war,' Gernon said in the interview. 'I can't think of a better time to examine this history than now.' " Another Bush-Hitler Parallel: Forging Evidence to Justify Conquest Rightwinger Paul Craig Roberts writes, "Will Bush be impeached? Will he be called a war criminal? These are not hyperbolic questions. Mr. Bush has permitted a small cadre of neoconservatives to isolate him from world opinion, putting him at odds with the UN and America's allies... The administration's use of forged evidence opens Mr. Bush to unflattering comparisons that his enemies will not hesitate to make. They will point out that it was Adolf Hitler's strategy to fabricate evidence in order to justify his invasion of a helpless country. He used S.S. troops dressed in Polish uniforms to fake an attack on the German radio station at Gleiwitz on Aug. 31, 1939. Following the faked attack, Hitler announced: 'This night for the first time Polish regular soldiers fired on our own territory.' As German troops poured into Poland, Hitler declared: 'The Polish state has refused the peaceful settlement of relations which I desired, and has appealed to arms.'" Bush Wants to Remake the World - Like Hitler and Tojo Robert Steinback writes, "Pre-Dubya America placed its faith in peacefully exporting the ideals of democracy, liberty, capitalism and self-determination, concepts that inspired lovers of freedom the world over to accept the risks of challenging oppressors. Now... the US in Iraq will be an invading army bent on reshaping a foreign land to suit our own purposes. Hawkish syndicated columnist Charles Krauthammer ... argues that post-Sept. 11 America should use its military power to reshape troublesome parts of the world: 'A de-Saddamized Iraq ... would provide friendly basing not just for the outward projection of American power but also for the outward projection of democratic and modernizing ideas'...: 'It's about reforming the Arab world ... We haven't attempted it so far. The attempt will begin with Iraq.' This is the same reasoning used by such notables as Adolf Hitler and General Tojo, who used military invasion to reform Europe and the Pacific to suit their own purposes." Bush Takes the Theory of 'Permanent Revolution' Beyond the Dreams of Hitler, Stalin, and Mao Ted Rall writes "Bush's biggest cribbing from the Hitler playbook is 'permanent revolution.' Developed by socialist theorist Leon Trotsky in 1915 and applied by [totalitarians like] Hitler, Stalin and Mao Tse-Tung, permanent revolution is the pinnacle of the art of mass distraction - one continually changes the subject of debate by striving for new goals that are always just beyond reach. The idea is diabolically simple: by the time people start grumbling about the problems [you've created, you're causing new difficulties with your next revolution.] Opposition takes time to materialize; taking the nation from one crisis to the next neutralizes your enemies by focusing them against initiatives you've already abandoned... In a blizzard of legislative and regulatory activity, virtually everything on the right-wing wish list is now being proposed... The more legislation he throws at the wall, the more he'll get passed - and the more people will forget that his is an illegal regime." Was the Bush-Hitler Comparison Unfair? Hardly Martin Kettle writes, "The sudden depths to which relations between the Bush administration and Europe's most important nation have plunged this week are a remarkable testament to the way that the rightwing Republican government in Washington now does things. But this is not a traditional American administration. It believes, according to the new White House national security strategy document it published at the weekend, that this is a world where there is just 'a single sustainable model for national success.' And that model is certainly not the German one. What is striking about the former German justice minister's famous remarks is not how ill-judged they were, but how restrained.... the point that Daubler-Gmelin actually made was not such an unreasonable one. Bush, she argued, 'wants to divert attention from his domestic problems. It's a classic tactic. It's one that Hitler used.' And Bismarck too, she might have added." Bush Provocateurs Think They Can Suppress Bush-Hitler Comparisons By Inciting Ire against Daubler-Gmelin There's nothing sadder than a person trying to make the truth go away by punishing the person who points it out. That's exactly what Bush and his rightwing Christian coalition pals in Germany are trying to do by creating a ridiculously out of control "incident" over Herta Daubler-Gmelin's comparison between Bush and Hitler's methods. All this infantile performance is proving is that her statements hit way too close to home. Now, by trying to cut off the head of the messenger, Bush is merely calling the world's attention to the comparison and making them pause and reflect and, quite likely, conclude" "By God, she's right!" Bush v. Hitler: Is the Comparison Fair? Before the German election, German justice minister Herta Daeubler-Gmelin said "Bush wants to divert attention from his domestic problems. It's a classic tactic. It's one that Hitler used." Her comparison of Bush to Hitler set off a firestorm in the US. Is it a fair comparison? Debate and discuss with members of Democrats.com. Chilling Deja Vu: Democrats.com Was the First to Publicize the Parallel Between Bush and Hitler - Long Before 9/11 Sometimes it really sucks to be right. Back in April of 2001 in a Democrats.com commentary, Cheryl Seal presented a well-researched comparison between Bush and Adolph Hitler, and between Bush and Joseph Stalin and suggested that Bush and the "new" GOP were headed in the same disastrous direction. She even made it a point to mention the infamous Reichstag fire. Now over a year later, the rest of the world, including German justice minister Herta Daeubler-Gmelin, are feeling the "Big Chill." Here is our article as it appeared in reprint at another site, which added a poignantly dark cartoon and preface. German Justice Minister Compares Bush's Tactics to Hitler's German justice minister Herta Daeubler-Gmelin says Bush's Iraq saber-rattling is wagging the dog. "Bush wants to divert attention from his domestic problems. It's a classic tactic. It's one that Hitler used." Bush is outraged - because Daeubler-Gmelin has said out loud what everyone in Germany (and the world) believes. Daeubler-Gmelin denied comparing the two men, but did not deny comparing their tactics. "I didn't compare the persons Bush and Hitler, but their methods," she said. The Germans have learned the tragic lessons of history. Will Americans rise up in opposition to Bush's imperialism, or will we follow Bush into mass murder and destruction like "Good Germans" - as demanded by Bush's propaganda and the corporate media? Like Bush, Hitler Once Had 90% 'Approval' - Thanks to Media Propaganda On 8-20-1934, the NY Times reported that "89.9% of the German voters endorsed in yesterday's plebiscite Chancellor Hitler's assumption of greater power than has ever been possessed by any other ruler in modern times. The German people were asked to vote whether they approved the consolidation of the offices of President and Chancellor in a single Leader-Chancellor personified by Adolf Hitler... The endorsement gives Chancellor Hitler, who four years ago was not even a German citizen, dictatorial powers unequaled in any other country, and probably unequaled in history since the days of Genghis Khan. He has more power than Joseph Stalin in Russia, who has a party machine to reckon with; more power than Premier Mussolini of Italy who shares his prerogative with the titular ruler; more than any American President ever dreamed of" - until George W. Bush. Bush-Powell Policy Towards Iraq Is 'Hitlerian' Chris Floyd writes, "The Bush Regime crossed another moral Rubicon last week, carrying the once-great republic they have usurped deeper into the blood-soaked mire of international criminality. The move commit[s] the USA to a policy of Hitlerian military aggression... The Bush Regime still 'reserves its options' to do anything necessary, including military invasion, to effect a 'regime change.' Bush himself has already acknowledged that nuclear force is among those 'options.' ... The US now openly claims the right to launch an all-out attack on any nation in the world whose regime it doesn't like - even if that nation is not engaged in active military aggression or terrorism - and even if the mere threat of aggression has been defused by UN monitoring. No provocation necessary. No legality required. Just a thuggish elite raining death on the world, for profit and power, sowing hatred for the once-great nation they have hijacked - and ensuring more death and terror for its people."
HEY TOLU, WHO'S YOUR DADDY, PUNK ASS, WHO'S YOUR DADDY! Bombings rock Iraq today with mass fatalities in Baghdad and just outside Mosul. Ernesto Londono and Qais Mizher (Washington Post) report that Khazna, outside Mosul, houses a population of approximately 500, at least 35 of which died today, with many being Shabaks. The reporters label them Shi'ites which is what most Shabak's self-identify as; however, the Shabaks have affinities with Kurds as a result of campaigns against them during Saddam Hussein's reign including the Al-Anfal Campaign. The United Nations funded Aswat al-Iraq reported in November last year on the Shabak protest in Ninewa ("hundreds of Shabak people") "calling to incorporate them into the Kurdistan region on the basis that they are Kurds, not Arabs." Shabaks live in over 30 villages in northern Iraq and practice a religion which blends Islam, Christianity and other faiths. Londono and Mizher note comments from Sunni officials (blaming the Kurds for the bombings) which may strike some as rather insulting since the Sunnis have been accused of committing genocide against the Shabaks -- Sunni groups in the region have claimed credit for multiple beheadings of Shabaks and threats aimed at them (leading some Shabaks to become external refugees). Sam Dagher (New York Times) labels this bombing "the most devastating attack" today: "a pair of large flatbed trucks packed with bombs exploded simultaneously shortly after dawn". Richard Spencer (Telegraph of London) states of the bombs, "They left huge craters and levelled 35 homes. More than 130 people were injured, out of a village population of 3,000." Mujahid Mohammed (AFP) quotes nurse and eye witness Falah Ridha stating, "Eleven people in my family were killed when their house collapsed. All of them woke up after the first bomb, but the second bomb was very close to my house, it was like an earthquake. No one else escaped, just me." Jamal al-Badrani, Mohammed Abbas, Muhanad Mohammed, Waleed Ibrahim, Yara Bayoumy and Jon Boyle (Reuters) quote survivor Umm Qasim asking, "What have we done for terrorists to kill innocents in their sleep?" The reporters note she was "covered in blood . . . holding her wounded son. The bodies of four relatives, including her husband and sister, lay nearby." England's ITN adds, "Police say the death toll could rise further because people are buried under the rubble of their own homes." BBC News has a photo essay of the aftermath. UK's Channel 4 News (link has text and video) notes today's violence is "raising fears of a return to sectarian violence." Jonathan Rugman: The plains beneath the Kurdish mountains are becoming Iraq's most dangerous region. Two truck bombs exploding east of the city of Mosul today, destroying scores of homes. 30 dead and over 150 wounded. This crater destroying an entire Shi'ite village. All this after a similar attack on local Shi'ites killed 37 only last Friday. The pattern emerging here is one of minorities being deliberately targeted in the north of Iraq. A foretaste perhaps of a long feared Kurdish-Arab civil war. Mark Kattuner (Minority Rights Group International): Well I think through most of Iraq, including from Baghdad, the Americans have withdrawn from patrolling the cities. But in Mosul they're still patrolling in cooperation with the Iraqi army because they realize just how dangerous the situation is. The city is still contested. In particular, the land all around it in the Nineveh Plain is contested between Kurds and Arabs. And therefore everything that's happened in the last month hasn't happened just because the Americans have left. It's happened while they are still there. And it shows that they are incapable of protecting the minority communities on the ground. AGI states the population is "mainly . . . Shia Muslims" with Shabaks a secondary population and they state the target most likely was a mosque. The village was not only area rocked by bombings. Ann Barker (Australian Network News) notes, "In Baghdad two car bombs targeting labourers killed 16 people and wounded 81 in another Shi'ite area in the city's southwest." Sam Dagher (New York Times) notes two of the Baghdad bombings "struck lines of workers who had gathered to look for jobs as day laborers, one in the Amil district, the other in Shurta al-Rabiaa, both of which are mainly Shiite areas." with the first blast claiming 7 lives and leaving forty-six injured and the second blast claiming 9 lives and leaving thrity-five injured. Eye withness Jabir Abid tells Laith Hammoudi and Adam Ashton (McClatchy Newspapers), "A big ball of fire went up in the air, and there was a very big bang. Suddenly, I couldn't see anything because a black cloud of smoke covered everything." Sahar Issa (McClatchy Newspapers) notes that in addition to those two Baghdad car bombings, Baghdad was rocked by seven roadside bombings resulting 2 deaths and nineteen people injured, while a Baghdad sticky bombing on a mini bus resulted in 1 death (the driver) and three injuries, a third Baghdad car bombing claimed 2 lives and wounded eighteen and a Tikrit bombing claimed the lives of 2 "little brothers" while 2 police officers were shot dead in Mosul. Reuters adds a Mosul home invasion resulted in the death of 1 woman and a man being wounded. Today's violence follows weekend reports of 8 deaths and seventeen injured in violence and, as noted already, Friday's Mosul bombing which claimed at least 38 lives and left two-hundred and seventy-six people injured while other reported violence on Friday resulted in 15 deaths and 58. Adding all of the deaths reported on Friday and since together results in 124 dead and 624 injured. Interestingly, today's fatalities is approximately the same number as Friday's and the wounded toll on both days is also similar. BBC News reports, "The BBC's Natalia Antelava in Baghdad says the Iraqi government is keen to show its troops are fully in control and capable of doing their job without the help of US forces." Jane Arraf (Christian Science Monitor) refers to Nouri speaking to "a gathering of Iraqi security commanders" today and repeating his b.s. about the "coming election" (scheduled for January); however, I've got two reporters telling me on the phones that Nouri was speaking live on Iraqi state television, hence to the Iraqi people and not just to security commander. Arraf does a good job of describing the Shabak's (better than I did above) and she also notes that the Sunni Arab governor is blaming the pesh merga for the attacks if only in a 'they failed' kind of way which, naturally, leads him to just happen to suggest/insist that the Iraqi military should control the area. This is a disputed region and, again, the Shabaks have publicly demonstrated to be part of the Kurdistan Region. Apparently the Shabaks aren't people, they are a political football (or cannon fodder) to be used to win territory. While some attempt to use the violence to secure land, Ali Sheikholeslami (Bloomberg News) notes that there has been "no immediate statement of responsibility for the blasts". Minority Rights Group International issues a statement on the violence which quotes Mark Lattimer (noted earlier in the snapshot) stating, "The bombings of minority communities near Mosul and Kirkuk are more than just an expression of religious hatred. They are a deliberate attempt to grab control over contested territory in northern Iraq by puhsing out the minorities who live there." CNN reports that Iraq's Interior Ministry, via their spokesperson, is going with the blanket culprit: al Qaeda in Iraq. Yesterday an Australian contractor (Darren Hoare) and a British contractor (Paul McGuigan) were shot dead in the Green Zone and, in the incident, an unidentified Iraq was injured with British contractor Danny Fitzsimons arrested in the shootings. The two deaths and the wounded Iraqi are included in the earlier count of deaths and injuries in the last four days, FYI. Ernesto Londono (Washington Post) speaks with a spokesperson for Iraq's Internation Ministry, Abdul-Karim Khalaf, who "said Fitzsimons got into a dispute with colleagues as they were drinking. 'They got into an argument and he started shooting his colleagues,' Khalaf said." The Minneapolis Star-Tribune features a news round up which quotes an Iraqi military spoksesperson, Qassim al-Moussawi, insisting the incident "started as a squabble. The subject is facing a premeditated murder charge." Oliver August (Times of London) reports that British contractor "fled the scene with a pistol, was held after a shootout and handed to Iraqi police." (He was held by US troops who turned him over to the Iraqi police.) August speaks with an unnamed witnesses who sketches out the contractors all drinking and getting into a skirmish which turned increasing violent. At some point, August says 4:00 a.m., the not so surprising feature to a drunken, aggressive squabble among armed people took place: Fitzsimons pulled out a gun and waived it around. Iraqis have mentioned execution. Jay Price (Raleigh News & Observer) adds, "According to AP, the gunman could be the first Westerner tried for murder under Iraqi law since an agreement that took effect Jan. 1 between the U.S. and Iraq ending the immunity Western contractors had enjoyed since not long after the war began in 2003." August files a report where he focuses just on the drinking and the skirmish and contains more details from eye witnesses with Fitzsimons allegedly waiving the pistol and others attempting to disarm him when, apparently, the shooting began. August adds, "Consular officials from the British Embassy have visited Mr Fitzsimmons, as well as a second British national, believed to be another ArmorGroup employee, who was being held there but not considered a suspect and has now been released." Deborah Haynes (Times of London) offers a commentary which includes, "It is also a huge embarrassment for Britain at a time when Gordon Brown is still waiting for the Iraqi parliament to ratify a new security agreement between the two countries -- somethign that should have happened by the end of May but is unlikely to take place until autumn at the earliest. The arrest comes at a time when the Foreign and Commonwealth Office is trying to secure the release of three remaining British hostages in Iraq, two of whom are thought to be dead." We'll drop back to the August 6th snapshot for background on the British hostages: Jason Swindlehurst, Jason Creswell, Alec Maclachlan, Alan McMenemy and Peter Moore, all British citizens, were kidnapped in Baghdad May 29, 2007. Jason Swindlehurst and Jason Creswell were dead when their bodies were turned over to the British authorities after the two leaders of the group bragging about having done the kidnappings were released from US custody. (The same group, and why the brothers had been imprisoned originally by the US, bragged about their actions in assaulting a US base and killing 5 American soldiers.) The British government considers Alec and Alan to be dead (the families remain hopeful) and it is thought (by the British government) that Peter Moore is alive. The group taking credit for the kidnappings and for the deaths of 5 US soldiers is alternately called the Righteous League or the League of Righteous by the press. The press? They got press this week, see Monday's snapshot, because Nouri met with them to bring them back into the government. As noted in the Tuesday snapshot, the press spin that the group has given up violence is false. Their spokesperson says they will not attack Iraqis but that they will continue to go after US service members. Now, for the 5 US soldiers killed by the Righteous League (they've claimed credit for the assualt) we'll drop back to the June 9th snapshot: This morning the New York Times' Alissa J. Rubin and Michael Gordon offered "U.S. Frees Suspect in Killing of 5 G.I.'s." Martin Chulov (Guardian) covered the same story, Kim Gamel (AP) reported on it, BBC offered "Kidnap hope after Shia's handover" and Deborah Haynes contributed "Hope for British hostages in Iraq after release of Shia militant" (Times of London). The basics of the story are this. 5 British citizens have been hostages since May 29, 2007. The US military had in their custody Laith al-Khazali. He is a member of Asa'ib al-Haq. He is also accused of murdering five US troops. The US military released him and allegedly did so because his organization was not going to release any of the five British hostages until he was released. This is a big story and the US military is attempting to state this is just diplomacy, has nothing to do with the British hostages and, besides, they just released him to Iraq. Sami al-askari told the New York Times, "This is a very sensitive topic because you know the position that the Iraqi government, the U.S. and British governments, and all the governments do not accept the idea of exchanging hostages for prisoners. So we put it in another format, and we told them that if they want to participate in the political process they cannot do so while they are holding hostages. And we mentioned to the American side that they cannot join the political process and release their hostages while their leaders are behind bars or imprisoned." In other words, a prisoner was traded for hostages and they attempted to not only make the trade but to lie to people about it. At the US State Dept, the tired and bored reporters were unable to even broach the subject. Poor declawed tabbies. Pentagon reporters did press the issue and got the standard line from the department's spokesperson, Bryan Whitman, that the US handed the prisoner to Iraq, the US didn't hand him over to any organization -- terrorist or otherwise. What Iraq did, Whitman wanted the press to know, was what Iraq did. A complete lie that really insults the intelligence of the American people. CNN reminds the five US soldiers killed "were: Capt. Brian S. Freeman, 31, of Temecula, California; 1st Lt. Jacob N. Fritz, 25, of Verdon, Nebraska; Spc. Johnathan B. Chism, 22, of Gonzales, Louisiana; Pfc. Shawn P. Falter, 25, of Cortland, New York; and Pfc. Johnathon M. Millican, 20, of Trafford, Alabama." Those are the five from January 2007 that al-Khazali and his brother Qais al-Khazali are supposed to be responsible for the deaths of. Qassim Abdul-Zahra and Robert H. Reid (AP) states that Jonathan B. Chism's father Danny Chism is outraged over the release and has declared, "They freed them? The American military did? Somebody needs to answer for it." So we should all be on the same page: The League of Righteous has claimed credit for the deaths of 5 US soldiers and credit for kidnapping 5 British citizens, at least 2 of whom are known to be dead. In addition, British outlets noted last month that the Iraqi government appeared to be involved in the kidnappings (see the July 31st snapshot if you're late on this story). Gareth Porter (Asia Times) is reporting that recent developments demonstrate how Nouri al-Maliki, puppet of the occupation and US-installed thug, has long been working with the League of Righteous: The history of the new agreement confirms what was evident from existing information: the League of the Righteous was actually the underground wing of the Mahdi Army all along, and the Sadrist insurgents were secretly working closely with the Maliki regime against the Americans and the British - even as it was at war with armed elements within the regime. The contradictory nature of the relationship between Maliki and the Sadrists reflects the tensions between pro-Sadrist elements within the regime - including Maliki's Da'wa Party - and the anti-Sadrist elements led by the Supreme Council of Islamic Revolution in Iraq. The relationship between Maliki and the US was also marked by contradictions. Even though he was ostensibly cooperating with the US against the Sadrists in 2007 and 2008, the Maliki regime was also cooperating secretly with the Sadrist forces against the Americans. And Maliki - with the encouragement of Iran -- was working on a strategy for achieving the complete withdrawal of US forces from Iraq through diplomatic means, which he did not reveal to the Americans until summer 2008. What Gareth Porter is reporting is something news outlets in England and the US should be digging into because, if true, it's a huge slap in the face to both countries. 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Monday, August 10, 2009
It's a Punk Ass life for Tolu Olurunda
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