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Only Half-Wright

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Posted on May 1, 2008

By Mr. Fish


   


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By Marshall, May 8, 2008 at 5:50 pm Link to this comment

Manson - I’m aware of our history.  But Wright didn’t claim that the U.S. provided “supplies” - he claimed that we provided “chemical weapons”.  He is flat wrong.

And the problem with all the claims that the U.S. supplied so called chemical “precursors” to Iraq, is that there’s no evidence that Iraq ever weaponized anything they got from the U.S. - which were primarily insecticides.  Iraq never used bio weapons, and the chemical weapons they used weren’t based on anything supplied from the U.S., so the entire argument collapses into conspiracy bunk.

If you have evidence that the U.S. govt. assisted Saddam in his chemical weapons programs, then please do post it.

We did indeed provide some conventional weapons and intelligence.  All perfectly legal and justified by our backing of Iraq over Iran.

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By Marshall, May 8, 2008 at 5:37 pm Link to this comment

I suppose you can consider anyone to be a “terrorist” if your definition is as loose as yours apparently is.  That doesn’t make them one, but you’re entitled to your opinion.

As to the war being illegal, there’d need to be a court with jurisdiction over the U.S. which has ruled the war illegal.  Since that hasn’t happened, your claim is baseless.

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By SteveL, May 4, 2008 at 3:11 pm Link to this comment

CBS, NBC, ABC, Fox, Cnn, and all the papers love Reverend Wright stories.  They can destroy Obama without going after him directly.  Obama has managed to out perform the Clinton machine that started with a lead in the pools money and two national elections worth of experience.  At the end of the day all the media outlets would never let Bush or McCain run any of their businesses to a total lack of qualifications for these two.  For some strange reason the media feels that we need these unqualified types for the Presidency of the country.

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By Leefeller, May 4, 2008 at 7:29 am Link to this comment

A grain of truth, I felt the same way when Obama and Hillary and Edwards ignored Gravel’s comment of truth about the military complex during the first debate. I remember the blank looks on their faces like they had their hand in the cookie jar.

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By Manson, May 4, 2008 at 7:10 am Link to this comment

I understand your point, but you should check your history.

The U.S. as well as other countries did provide supplies for the creation and distribution of both chemical and biological weapons to Iraq during the Iran/Iraq war.  The U.S. specifically removed Iraq from the list of terrorist states so that Bell helicopters with chemical distribution mounts could be sold and delivered to Saddam’s regime.  At the same time, the U.S. military provided satellite intelligence to the Iraqi military about Iranian troop locations and movements when both conventional AND WMDs were knowingly being used against the Iranians.

From wikipedia.org:

“Despite the removal of Saddam and his regime by Coalition forces, there is deep resentment and anger in Iran that it was Western companies based in the Netherlands, West Germany, France, and the U.S. that helped Iraq develop its chemical weapons arsenal in the first place, and that the world did nothing to punish Iraq for its use of chemical weapons throughout the war.”

The U.S. government itself may not have FedExed the stuff care of Saddam, but knowingly lifting the ban on WMD supply sales and know-how to Iraq while continuing to provide direct U.S. military intel all the while knowing he was using CWs on the Iranians was about as direct as it gets.

Again, I understand your point.  But your use of the Saddam / chemical weapons example is misleading.

References:
http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2002/dec/31/iraq.politics
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chemical_warfare

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By Leefeller, May 4, 2008 at 7:08 am Link to this comment

Some of us know the Mass Media is bought and paid for by the elite.  Most of the public do not know, or do not care.

Obama offers the most positive agenda of the three picked for us by the Mass Media, for what it is worth. When push gets to shove who is selected by the Supreme court will make little difference in the grand scheme of things.

Guess on got up on the pessimistic side of the bed this morning!

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By Margaret Currey, May 3, 2008 at 12:17 pm Link to this comment
(Unregistered commenter)

Wright did not say anything any more incidinary than these T.V. pastors who damn the gays and lesbians but Media does not really care about truth and justice, they are not in the likes of Edward R. Morrow and others who stood for truth and integraty, the world has changed, the news is more about who wears what and who needs to go to rehab. and these people (Rush Lambaugh) who comden people who take drugs and he himself took so many drugs that he lost his hearing.

MAYBE IF PEOPLE LISTEN TO OBAMA THIS COUNTRY MIGHT GET BACK ON THE RIGHT TRACK.

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By Douglas Chalmers, May 2, 2008 at 11:37 pm Link to this comment

...re-orienting the weekend http://www.ishqrecords.com/Videos/b2n.htm

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By Jon2012, May 2, 2008 at 4:36 pm Link to this comment
(Unregistered commenter)

Typical Barack Obama quote…telling people only what they need to hear.  He seems real good at that.  Now he’s found him self in a lusterless middle ground after completely rejecting Wright’s critisicms.  It’d be nice if he could acknowledge that there may be a grain of truth to some of the Rev’s propaganda.  That our government may be responsible for the black situtation in the cities and prisons of America.  But wait that would be anti-patriotic wouldn’t it?  God-forbid.

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By Judy, May 2, 2008 at 6:21 am Link to this comment
(Unregistered commenter)

Fish hits the nail on the head.

We’ll end up with Hillary or McCain, because the sad fact is that majority of Americans are morons.

Raise the specter that Obama is a scary black man AND save me $50 bucks on gas tax?  You have my vote!

Make me feel safe and secure by spouting off about Muslim boogeymen?  You have my vote!

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By Dr. Knowitall, PhD, PhD, May 2, 2008 at 4:36 am Link to this comment

I realize this is a sensitive subject.  And I guess I don’t care to get deeply into it.  But, in my mind there’s a huge difference between serving your country as a matter of defense and as a matter of aggression.

Everyone serving in the Iraq war volunteered and knew what they were getting into.  When it comes to killing, even gov. sponsored killing, there are alternative occupations.  I don’t doubt a lot of young people are over there simply because “they want to shoot a f****** Muslim.”  At least, that’s what the US military hopes.

Now that Bush is beginning to see this light, we can expect a draft.  That’s when all hell will break loose.  I think it’s the best thing that could happen. Canada should be prepared. Bush is the most myopic CIC and CEO this country has ever had.  I have the fullest confidence that historians will never misconstrue his idiocy, even if Iraq and Iran unite and become the greatest democratic nation in the world 100 years from now.

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By Aegrus, May 1, 2008 at 9:05 pm Link to this comment

I never blame our soldiers on the ground for the policy makers in Washington. I’m sure all of us have held jobs where your boss didn’t know a damn thing about what they were talking about, but you did it anyway while you put up with your employment because it is your job to do so.

Bush has politicized the DOJ, the Pentagon and everything else. You can’t blame the guy from Kansas who enlisted to serve this country for the agenda set by the mover/shakers. Not everyone is given the same opportunities, and the armed services entice many young men and women who feel strongly for this country we all care for.

Don’t divide Americans. It’s hard, but at least give an effort to see things outside of Republican-Democrat, Conservative-Liberal, Black-White, Rich-Poor. We are all in the same boat. The sooner progressives start pounding that message again, seriously, is when we finally get progress in America!

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By Dr. Knowitall, PhD, PhD, May 1, 2008 at 4:02 pm Link to this comment

Marshall, if one believes that the Iraq war is an illegal war of agression, then should it follow that the marines are, at least, complicit, given that they VOLUNTEER?

If complicit, then are they terrorists?

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By ChaxC, May 1, 2008 at 1:02 pm Link to this comment
(Unregistered commenter)

If you want the real story on the beginning of AIDS, listen to the album “Thing Fish” by Frank Zappa.
The lyrics can be found here:
http://globalia.net/donlope/fz/lyrics/Thing-Fish.html#Prologue

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By Marshall, May 1, 2008 at 12:01 pm Link to this comment

The cartoon does a nice reductionist job of avoiding Wright’s actual stated beliefs; that the CIA invented HIV to commit genocide on black culture.  That the U.S. gave chemical weapons to Saddam.  That U.S. Marines are terrorists, and that the U.S. is responsible for 9/11.

These are beliefs deserved of serious therapy and are a bit more important in their delusional significance than, say, where we go after we die.

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By Mayponce, May 1, 2008 at 11:21 am Link to this comment

Great point.

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By DSmith, May 1, 2008 at 11:01 am Link to this comment
(Unregistered commenter)

so…does that mean you’re not buying the virgin birth thing either?

Direct hit Mr. F.

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By Leefeller, May 1, 2008 at 10:28 am Link to this comment

Nothing like politics and religion to make the world go around. Pandering for the votes.

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By C Quil, May 1, 2008 at 9:50 am Link to this comment

Bless you, Mr. Fish, again. I’m not sure where the blessing is supposed to come from, but bless you, anyway.

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