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Left Surrenders, Film at 11
2005-03-08
Was Bush right after all? From The In-dupe-ndent

They're only beginning to get it. The events of today are the direct result of September 11th. When we as Americans said that 9/11 changed us, it was traumatic, it was searing, but most of all it was motivating: we weren't going to sit down and ask why everyone hated us. We knew why. We knew why a nation of quarrelous, cantankarous, bawdy and religious people had achieved such extraordinary success. We knew why nations full of otherwise ordinary Joes and Joans had nothing to show for themselves. We were successful. They were failures. They knew it. That's why.

We could have easily waved it off, fired a few missiles at a camel in a desert and held high a squirrel pelt. We could have said that it was too difficult, that minds couldn't be changed, that whole peoples didn't want what we had and didn't believe what we believed.

Instead, we set out to change hearts and minds. We did. And this past November, we affirmed that we had the right strategy, the right leadership, and the right plans. What we understood, what Afghans, Iraqis, Lebanese and others have openly acknowledged, is the power of personal liberty. Freedom, in a word. That which makes people succeed when they have it. Oh yes, let us tip our hats to our own opposition, because the valuation of liberty is made in part by the tolerance of dissent; thanks Kos and Mikie and John Kerry, you figured that part out just fine.

But personal liberty is more than that. Courage. Sacrifice. Respect. Tolerance. Decency. And most of all, the subliminal factor, the giving factor, the will to extend one's own blessings to those we've never met, to those who have said over the ages that they 'hate' us. That willingness to bring freedom to ordinary people who've never met us defines the unique American vision of liberty.

George Bush didn't conjure up the idea of bringing liberty to the Middle East recently. It wasn't born in his state of the union speech a few weeks back. It wasn't a campaign promise. The doctrine that personal liberty would break the hold of thugs and despots wasn't born yesterday. It's not an after-the-fact excuse for going into Iraq or Afghanistan, and it's not a justification for oil.

It's been the mission since about September 12th. The Independent doesn't yet see that. But they're closer today than they were.
Posted by:Sobiesky

#42  rather conserve our children and treasure

This 'un is all kinds of confused. First we get 'it's all the Saudi Arabia's fault' and 'a secular Saddam weren't so bad'.

Then it's 'let's invade Saudi Arabia/Iran'.

Now it's 'Democracy isn't breaking out all over. It's all a fake. Let's stay home, ignore them and count our pennies'.

Go play elsewhere. You're wasting bandwidth and annoying the grownups.
Posted by: Pappy   2005-03-08 7:58:05 PM  

#41  I'm a card carrying atheist and I suspect we may be a majority of the regulars

Probably no card carrying agnostics, Phil. But it's a guess, nothing more. I don't consider one's religious affiliation, including yours, that important, except for moon-god cultists.
Posted by: Sobiesky   2005-03-08 7:24:11 PM  

#40  Ima Native-America church here. Think hard at me towards North Florida if you need a clue.
Posted by: Shipman   2005-03-08 7:19:15 PM  

#39  Good for you 2b! I bet you save a lot of money in December. I only ranted about christianity because LLL love to preach on it when they are losing an argument (such as the experts they are). Usually it starts out on what Fawell or Robertson said on some show that outraged just about everyone and how I must agree and follow their thinking. The fact that you are a atheist and I am not proves that not all conservatives walk in lockstep, and that we can (and do) think for ourselves. Wonder if rantburg ever ran a demographics survey? that would be interesting to see.
Posted by: Cyber Sarge   2005-03-08 7:04:54 PM  

#38  You guys are the radicals. Bingo! He gets it. We are the people who want to fix some serious problems before they get any worse. The Left are the conservatives wishing things wouldn't change.

I'm a card carrying atheist and I suspect we may be a majority of the regulars.
Posted by: phil_b   2005-03-08 6:40:32 PM  

#37  Left Surrenders, Film at 11

Sure it's worth viewing?

I'm inclined to say no....
Posted by: Bomb-a-rama   2005-03-08 6:27:09 PM  

#36  LOL DB! And I agree with respect to the Christianity angle the EVERY LLL seems to grasp when they feel the argument slipping. It's always about Jerry Fawell or Pat Robertson or pedophile Priest, never about the teachings of Jesus christ and what that means. I have never met Falwell or Robertson and probably couldn't pick them out of a crowd. I am a practicing Catholic (can't seem to get it right) and I know the difference from right and wrong. I don't consider myself hollier than the next man and I don't like any LLL trying to tell me what they think is 'unchristian' or 'christian' in nature. Also (without knowing) I would put up the credentials of everybody at Rantburg against any group on the left. If Ward Churchill (Chief spouting Bull), Ted Kennedy, Nancy Polosi, Babs Boxer, and Howard Dean are their 'Smart Leaders' then I feel pretty good about our 'Dumb' Leaders. Keep up the good work Counselor maybe you can lose twice as many seats in 2006.
Posted by: Cyber Sarge   2005-03-08 4:06:25 PM  

#35  Juriseqs: Well, I *AM* a Christian. I never made any bones about that, and I'm sure the long-timers on this board know it too.

You are A FAKE. Someone PRETENDING to be a Christian to gain cheap talking points.

If there is anything more Christian that happened in this decade, it was the liberation of Iraq by Americans. We indeed spent lots of money, treasure, and blood to free a people who were propagandised by the SAME sources from which YOU drink, to hate us. We did so to FREE them, and give them the SAME blessings of liberty that we, INCLUDING YOU, enjoy.

You selfish, self-centered, I-am-the-center-of-the-world FAKE. Only SELFISHNESS made you side with A TYRANT, and AGAINST the long-suffering people of Iraq.

Christians have a SEMBLANCE of principle. To complain that we were bad for propping up a tyrant, and THEN to complain when we REPENTED of such a belief and PULLED HIM DOWN is to reveal a LACK of INTEGRITY, PRINCIPLE, CONSISTENCY, and FAIRNESS. You are to America what the Pharisees were to Jesus: willing to twist principles and laws to condemn the blameless, only to wind up creating a situation that condemned themselves.

Either go into your closet and repent, or just GO AWAY.

YOU are the hypocrite the non-Christians of this board cite as a reason not to consider Christianity.

I'm sure to be very misunderstood when I say the following: Bad crap is coming down the pike for you, Juriseqs, and you'll need help to haul your ass out of the fire. This is a WARNING, not a threat. My natural man wants me to say nothing about it, so you'll just thrash around with no clue as to how to get out of it, but I guess the same Spirit that approves of giving liberty and freedom to the Iraquis, at the cost of one's money and children, insists that I throw you this lifeline on the possibility you'll grab it and save yourself a lot of heartache.

Email me when you've had enough pain...
Posted by: Ptah   2005-03-08 3:51:24 PM  

#34  Juriseqs, I don't know what branch of Christianity you claim to speak for, but you sure don't speak for me.

Also, looking at your handle, may I make the assumption you are a lawyer? If so, please have your paralegal spell and grammar check your posts before hitting the "submit query" button. If your legal briefs are anything like what you have posted here, you are single-mindedly bringing down the intelligence level of the bar every time your words hit paper.
Posted by: Desert Blondie   2005-03-08 2:12:40 PM  

#33  What's this we Christians nonsense, Kemo Sabe? I'm not at all certain, if we did a hand count, that Christians of whatever flavour are even a simple majority on this site. I know I'm not, nor is .com (who, poor darling, is living off the obscene wages he earned those endless years in Saudi Arabia), nor liberalhawk, nor Master of this pocket universe Fred. That's of those posting to this thread that I'm sure of. And certainly this has never claimed to be a Conservative or Republican site. We've got bigger fish to fry.

You owe us an apology, juriseqs.
Posted by: trailing wife   2005-03-08 12:54:55 PM  

#32  

Patrick Henry March 23, 1775: "...Gentlemen may cry, Peace, Peace-- but there is no peace. The war is actually begun! The next gale that sweeps from the north [Middle East] will bring to our ears the clash of resounding arms! Our brethren are already in the field! Why stand we here idle? What is it that gentlemen wish? What would they have? Is life so dear, or peace so sweet, as to be purchased at the price of chains and slavery? Forbid it, Almighty God! I know not what course others may take; but as for me, give me liberty or give me death!"

juriseqs 2005-03-08: Run away! Run Away!

Posted by: Hyper   2005-03-08 12:46:24 PM  

#31  It' not just The Independent:

Even Le Monde Al-Jazzera on the Seine is asking the question. Things are moving in the Middle East: should we thank Bush?


But after We are All Americans headline did not agree w/the body of the article, bah!

Juri? After the 2nd plane hit the WTC, it was not complicated.

You don't get it, and most probably the Jacksonian America.

You also don't write like an American. You don't get US, dude, never did, never will. You cannot isolate or ignore them.

This isn't the 7th century. Even if the world got off of oil, it wouldn't help, it would make things worse.
Posted by: anonymous2u   2005-03-08 11:26:23 AM  

#30  Former CBS News anchor Walter Cronkite suggested Monday afternoon that Dan Rather stayed in the chair too long.

No joke!!!
Posted by: D   2005-03-08 11:07:31 AM  

#29  It's kinda funny listening to Juri talk about propoganda in the western press put forth by the Bushies. I guess he means the pro-Bush outlets of ABC, NBC and CBS. Maybe he means the NY Times, LA Times, SF Chronicle, Wash Post. Perhaps he means all the right wing Hollywood propoganda that make it to the theaters. Too bad the Bushies are losing their biggest propoganda pusher - Dan Rather!
Posted by: Angitle Fleth2925   2005-03-08 10:58:45 AM  

#28  Isn't it fun now that the left has been exposed to be the dupes and fools that we always knew they were. Poor juriseqs and his buddies are left with Michael Moore, Ward Churchill, Howard Dean, Chirac, Castro, Bill (I love the Mullahs) Clinotn (and soon) Chavez et. al, as their vaunted champions of wisdom. Their belief in the UN, that institution whose leaders are $21 Billion dollars richer from stealing food and medicine from the needy and pushes paper over 5 star lunches as women get raped and entire communities slaughtered. But hey, the do watch it all go down - that's something.

The juriseqs of the world like the UN because it allows them to do absolutely nothing for the desperate, yet still claim to be their champions. So ... comfortable.

They say you are as good as the company you keep. The left has got to be looking around these days and feeling just a bit uncomfortable.
Posted by: 2b   2005-03-08 10:22:49 AM  

#27  Juriseqs, you are an illiterate authoritarian wannabe with no apparent knowledge of logic, rhetoric, or argumentation. You have not tried to justify or support any of your claims and pronouncements. It is you, not we, who are deficient in education and knowledge.
Posted by: Atomic Conspiracy   2005-03-08 10:20:37 AM  

#26  Sheesh, juriseqs, your pronouncements should be arrested for violating the fire code. All those moldering strawmen are certainly a hazard.
Posted by: Atomic Conspiracy   2005-03-08 10:15:41 AM  

#25  "conserve" at what price? liberty? life?

This is WW IV, not imperialist hubris. Either we win this and freedom spreads through the Moslem world, or we will have a major nuclear war v.soon.
Posted by: Kalle (kafir forever)   2005-03-08 10:01:44 AM  

#24  Whoops, that should be "hand of peace".
Posted by: Steve from Relto   2005-03-08 10:01:39 AM  

#23  Um, juriseqs? You'd conserve our children by giving carte blanche to people committed to our destruction whatever we do? And you'd conserve treasure by paying it as dane-geld? If we extend the had of peace to al-Qaeda they'll chop it off.
Posted by: Steve from Relto   2005-03-08 10:00:30 AM  

#22  rather conserve our children and treasure
Posted by: juriseqs   2005-03-08 9:57:03 AM  

#21  What's wrong with being a radical for freedom and self-defense?

And what would you rather "conserve"? tyrants and socialists?
Posted by: Kalle (kafir forever)   2005-03-08 9:53:18 AM  

#20  I do believe we have a bona-fide wank-o-matic. Passed all the tests so far... looks promising.
Posted by: .com   2005-03-08 9:49:33 AM  

#19  yea steve you are confused because it is more complex that a flag wave
Posted by: juriseqs   2005-03-08 9:47:20 AM  

#18  ROFL!

Thank you sooo much. Yep. You're the man, or woman, all right. Yewbetcha.

Just wondering, but do you like travel with a warning sign or something? Y'know, like at the pool, to let people know how deep you are? I think that would be a good idea for an expert, such as yourself.
Posted by: .com   2005-03-08 9:46:20 AM  

#17  I am the most conservative on this board. You guys are the radicals.

WTF?
Posted by: Steve from Relto   2005-03-08 9:43:05 AM  

#16  learn something about Islam instead of being just yes men for each other --we Christians got it wrong again --the Crusades are always failures. better to isolate them and ignore than to invade into the middle and surround ourselves. Been to a good flaggelation religious rite. I am the most conservative on this board. You guys are the radicals.
Posted by: juriseqs   2005-03-08 9:41:33 AM  

#15  But you did make the call, lol!
Posted by: .com   2005-03-08 9:27:37 AM  

#14  Indeed they are, bro, lol! ;-)
Posted by: .com   2005-03-08 9:26:50 AM  

#13  You're today's proof of RC's Good News Law. Congrats!

Amazing, isn't it? What's frightening is that it works not because I'm particularly perceptive, but that the loons are that predictable.
Posted by: Robert Crawford   2005-03-08 9:24:51 AM  

#12  Whassa matter, juriseqs? Still made because we destroyed your idol, the USSR?
Posted by: Jackal   2005-03-08 9:08:33 AM  

#11  Yeah .com you too poor for tax cuts.
BTW bushitler etc. etc.

aller way with LBJ!
Posted by: Shipman   2005-03-08 9:05:29 AM  

#10  Wow, jurisesq, you are sooo sophisticated! And the Bushies are so good at evilly manipulating the poor idiots in Iraq, Afganistan, Kuwait, Paleostine, Lebanon, Egypt, Morocco, Libya, Soddy Arabia, Ukraine, and various -stans! And all for the oil, too!
Posted by: Spot   2005-03-08 8:46:22 AM  

#9  juriseqs thinks he and the LLL's are smarter than everyone else. I hope they keep the attitude - then they will never win another election.
Posted by: SR71   2005-03-08 8:45:50 AM  

#8  Must be terrible to find out your whole philosiphy is wrong,juri.
Posted by: raptor   2005-03-08 8:42:05 AM  

#7  Where do you get your nonsense, fool? Time toddle off, wanker. You make no sense.
Posted by: .com   2005-03-08 8:21:57 AM  

#6  .com you are too poor to even fully enjoy the tax cut. Go vote against yourself, your mal-education is showing. while you are at it send your child over to Iraq or join the army and volunteer to find roadside bombs. It makes sense. Democracy will flourish.
Posted by: juriseqs   2005-03-08 8:14:29 AM  

#5  Lol! You're supposed to make lemonade when your world-view keeps coming up lemons, juriseq. Need some help there, little one?

You're today's proof of RC's Good News Law. Congrats!
Posted by: .com   2005-03-08 6:49:27 AM  

#4  this is as delusional as western press saying democracy is taking hold in the Mideast. You guys will believe any propaganda put forth by the Bushies. Save this post for a year and see what the spin will be then. Democracy is a pretext for clouding of the minds of you middle class underfunded and moral baited so-called republicans. Read a few history books and a few political sciece texts on propaganda. The concept that there is an eruption of democracy in the middle east is being set up like a soph,ore's work on a propaganda thesis. Democracy in the Middle East is the Willie Horton story of the moment.
Posted by: jurisesq   2005-03-08 6:46:08 AM  

#3  BTW...great post, Steve!
Posted by: 2b   2005-03-08 4:47:05 AM  

#2  The Big Freaking DUH Crowd finally grasps that 2+2 does not equal 5, regardless of what the cool people say.
Posted by: 2b   2005-03-08 4:20:21 AM  

#1  It seems that at least some people on the left are starting to ask that question. Peter Mansbridge, the CBC uber-leftie anchor and political commentator, coincidentally, did comment today:

Maybe Bush was right.

In less than a year, we've seen relatively free elections in Afghanistan and Iraq, a hint of democracy in Saudi Arabia and Egypt, the death of Yasser Arafat and the election of Mahmoud Abbas, the Palestinian who seems bent on finding peace with Israel. And most recently, the remarkable scenes in Lebanon where people power has again stared down the guns of seized power. Is freedom really on the march across the Middle East, as George W. Bush and those who've helped design his foreign policy giddily suggest? Actually, that theory is now gaining support from unlikely sources.

Remember Walid Jumblatt? He was a familiar face in the media of the 1980s as Lebanon went through its agonizing civil war -- a long-time Druze parliamentarian, he was often heard railing against the U.S. for intervening in the mess that was his country. Now, his thoughts have a different tone. Last week, he told the Washington Post: "It's strange for me to say it, but this process of change has started because of the American invasion of Iraq. I was cynical about Iraq. But when I saw the Iraqi people voting, eight million of them, it was the start of a new Arab world." Strange is right, because this is the same man whose visa to the U.S. was pulled after he had called Paul Wolfowitz, the deputy secretary of defence, a "virus," even publicly wished for his death -- all for that same policy that led to the invasion of Iraq two years ago this month.

It is early in this process, but Jumblatt, a controversial figure at the best of times, isn't hesitant with his prediction of where all this is going. To him, what's happening here is similar to those history-making November days 16 years ago. In fact, he made the direct comparison by claiming that the people in his world "all say that something is changing. The Berlin Wall has fallen"
Posted by: Sobiesky   2005-03-08 12:24:37 AM  

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