A Mythic Reality. NYT, Krugman.

[necso]

http://www.nytimes.com/2004/09/07/opinion/07krugman.html

"Iraq, in particular, is a slow-motion disaster brought on by wishful thinking, cronyism and epic incompetence."

I find this statement infinitely amusing too... it is so obviously true and yet so (apparently) little perceived that it seems a wonder!

And I suppose that if anybody has a right to give Kerry some advice, then that old fighter, Mr Krugman, does. --- He has earned that right by being one of the few people to consistently and clearly speak the truth in such a public forum.

This editorial has been up for a while!

[BootinUp]

1. Uses Chris Hedges- War is a Force...- to analyze the chimp

Awesome editorial...again! Thanks Paul Krugman.

[TA]

2. Krugman is always a good read

He and Molly Ivins are the "do not miss" editorialist's.

[Sugarbleus]

3. Speaking of Iraq...I'm watching some footage on CNN just now

Shocking, I know...rarely see anything about Iraq anymore. After viewing the Iraq and Tommy Franks piece, I'm sick to my stomach.

Indeed, Iraq is a disaster. Franks admitted a few things but back peddaled on the rest, as it pertains to his taking any blame, for NOT SPEAKING OUT earlier, OR NOW, about the total miscalculations ..the whole damn thing for that matter.

I watched as CNN actually had Iraqi "leaders" and journalists and others say--out loud--that it is AMERICA'S fault that the country isn't in better shape by now. This one person implied that it was a huge mistake for Bush to insist upon disbanding the Iraqi army, when it was that army that was the only thing that was holding the society together. He went on to say, that besides the UN cheating the people out of money (food for oil program), these folks talked openly about Haliburton getting mountains of money but doing NOTHING over there. They built nothing(I'm assuming nothing substantial for the Iraqi people's welfare); according to this one Iraqi fellow.

The film showed soldiers and Iraqi citizens walking and creeping around, some carrying weapons...each on one side or the other in a dirty, blown apart city. IT'S ATROCIOUS.

[yardwork]

6. We need to demand more televised footage from Iraq

The news media tries to sugar coat this and hide the truth.

[Sugarbleus]

8. Yes they do.. that's why I found it astounding that this piece of

info was allowed to be aired. It was right there, live and in color, in your face, telling it like it is, testimony by the Iraqi leaders and citizens!! WITH PICTURES/film.

I also recall a piece by Bevalqua<spelling? (former special ops guy) ON FOX NEWS *choke*, several months ago,maybe last year, telling almost the same thing. I didn't see him on Fox again for quite awhile, still haven't seen him come to think of it. He said that dismantling the army was the dumbest thing that could have happened..the Iraqi army was already trained! Hello?? He also said RIGHT ON FAUXRNC News, ahem, that there wasn't any plan to secure the place after they "won the war"--no one guarding cities and that museum and other special sites. They needed people who KNEW the culture etc etc.......He REAMED the administration ON THEIR OWN RW PROGRAM. LOL

Gawd, I wish I had been taping this stuff all along! Would be a kick for someone to put together a running montage of all the "smarter than a box of rocks" officers, aides and others who tried to advise this cracker in the White House... Run the footage at a huge anti-bush or Kerry rally with media in attendance
:evilgrin:

[pinkpops]

4. Kerry needs to call him on this "War President" stuff

9/11 was a criminal act just like Oklahoma City. The "war" is a tool Bush's maniacal ego is using to maintain power.

[Snellius]

5. Krugman's instincts have become almost clairvoyant

He is so smart and so horrified at what's going on, he goes unerringly right to the heart of the matter every time. I still go back to something he wrote in his book Fuzzy Math, way before 9/11, after Bush had been in office only a few months:

There's something about the tax cut crusade that gives the crusaders a disdain for petty concerns, like telling the truth about their own proposals. Maybe they feel that the end justifies the means, or maybe they feel that white lies don't matter in the service of a higher truth. Whatever the reason, the arguments made for tax cuts have been startling in their intellectual dishonesty. One might dismiss the untrue things Bush said during the campaign as par for the political course—though I don't know of any campaign in modern times that has been quite so cynical in this misrepresentations. But what has happened since Bush moved to Washington—is, as far as I know, unprecedented in the history of American economic policy. It would be a shame if this style of governing succeeds, because it will set a precedent for future administrations.

And this:

I do wish sometimes there was a Limbaugh on the left who would play these kind of stupid and revealing gaffes over and over again, analyzing every syllable for hidden meaning. Those who have followed Bush closely know them by heart -- "who cares what you thing", "please don't kill me", "easier if I were dictator", etc. -- but the general 83% Galluping majority think this is the nicest guy since Mr. Rogers and wouldn't even believe this kind of viciousness if you showed them the tape.

His advice today for Kerry is equally on target. Here's an economist telling him that talking about the economy, in a crazed atmosphere of war hysteria, is like trying to teach math to a stampeding herd of cows. It's not the economy, stupid.

[Martin Eden]

7. Kick for Krugman

Destroying the myth (fraud) of dim son is essential to re-defeating him.

[jab105]

9. I saw Chris Hedges on Bill Moyers and got the book...INCREDIBLE!!

I recommend it to anyone, I read it with a highlighter in hand...a must read and must qute, it really explains what is happening nowadays...as a followup to that, Hedges was the guest speaker at a college graduation in May of 2003 when the war was seen as "Mission Accomplished" and got booed...kinda prooved his point, huh?

when I heard Krugman mentioning it, I was impressed...people NEED to be reading this book!

[PA Democrat]

10. Wow! Last week I pulled out my copy of Hedges' book to re-read

I had seen him on Now with Bill Moyers in early April, 2003, and read his book cover to cover the following weekend. This passage really struck me:

"Patriotism, often a thinly veiled form of collective self-worship, celebrates our goodness, our ideals, our mercy and bemoans the perfidiousness of those who hate us. Never mind the murder and repression done in our name by bloody surrogates from the Shah of Iran,to the Congolese dictator Joseph-Desire Mobutu, who received from Washington well over a billion dollars in civilian and military aid during the three decades of his rule. And European states- especially France- gave Mobutu even more as he bled dry one of the richest countries in Africa. We define ourselves. All other definitions do not count.

War makes the world understandable, a black and white tableau of them against us. It suspends thought, especially self-critical thought. All bow before the supreme effort. We are one. Most of us willingly accept war as long as we can fold it into a belief system that paints the ensuing suffering as necessary for a higher good, for human beings seek not only happiness but also meaning. And tragically war is sometimes the most powerful way in human society to achieve meaning."

I highly recommend this book. It has helped me to understand why so many people supported the Iraq war in the first place, and why so many are reluctant to blame Bush, because in doing so they are also accepting some part of the blame.