Palau

Riverbend at Baghdad Burning neatly demolishes Thomas Friedman’s shallow and ill-informed NYT rumination on the complex and tense situation vis a vis Iraqi Sunni and Shiites:

“One thing I found particularly amusing about the article- and outrageous all at once-was in the following paragraph:

“Religiously, if you want to know how the Sunni Arab world views a Shiite’s being elected leader of Iraq, for the first time ever, think about how whites in Alabama would have felt about a black governor’s being installed there in 1920. Some Sunnis do not think Shiites are authentic Muslims, and they are indifferent to their brutalization.”

Now, it is always amusing to see a Jewish American journalist speak in the name of Sunni Arabs. When Sunni Arabs, at this point, hesitate to speak in a representative way about other Sunni Arabs, it is nice to know Thomas L. Friedman feels he can sum up the feelings of the “Sunni Arab world” in so many words. His arrogance is exceptional.

It is outrageous because for many people, this isn’t about Sunnis and Shia or Arabs and Kurds. It’s about an occupation and about people feeling that they do not have real representation. We have a government that needs to hide behind kilometers of barbed wire and meters and meters of concrete- and it’s not because they are Shia or Kurdish or Sunni Arab- it’s because they blatantly supported, and continue to support, an occupation that has led to death and chaos. [My emphasis]

The paragraph is contemptible because the idea of a “Shia leader” is not an utterly foreign one to Iraqis or other Arabs, no matter how novel Friedman tries to make it seem. How dare he compare it to having a black governor in Alabama in the 1920s? In 1958, after the July 14 Revolution which ended the Iraqi monarchy, the head of the Iraqi Sovereignty Council (which was equivalent to the position of president) was Mohammed Najib Al-Rubayi- a Shia from Kut. From 1958 – 1963, Abdul Karim Qassim, a Shia also from Kut in the south, was the Prime Minister of Iraq (i.e. the same position Jaffari is filling now). After Abdul Karim Qassim, in 1963, came yet another Shia by the name of Naji Talib as prime minster. Even during the last regime, there were two Shia prime ministers filling the position for several years- Sadoun Humadi and Mohammed Al-Zubaidi.

In other words, Sunni Arabs are not horrified at having a Shia leader (though we are very worried about the current Puppets’ pro-Iran tendencies). Friedman seems to conveniently forget that while the New Iraq’s president was a polygamous Arab Sunni- Ghazi Al-Yawir- the attacks were just as violent. Were it simply a matter of Sunnis vs. Shia or Arabs vs. Kurds, then Sunni Arabs would have turned out in droves to elect “Al Baqara al dhahika” (“the cow that laughs” or La Vache Qui Rit- it’s an Iraqi joke) as Al-Yawir is known amongst Iraqis. “

Read the whole thing.

Not An Animal?

Via Crooks and Liars comes this excellent catch by the folks at Virtual Pus of a Yahoo News photo:

May 25, 2005
Less human than human
Filed under: War Machine, Vast Rightwing Hypocrisy ? PusBoy @ 3:30 pm

Yahoo! News Photos

“A U.S. Marine writes an identification number on the forehead of an Iraqi man detained during a search in Haditha, 220 kilometers (140 miles) northwest of Baghdad, Wednesday, May 25, 2005.

Has our military learned nothing from Vietnam? Are we so goddamned arrogant that we cannot see that people don?t take too kindly to things like dehumanization and humiliation? Do we have to fucking write on a POW?s fucking forehead with a fucking Sharpie?

Here?s an idea. Sticky name-tags. You could write the number on the name-tag and STICK IT ON THIS DUDE?S FUCKING SHIRT OR ARM!

Goddammit, what?s wrong with us?”

Well I might hazard a guess. Let me see… is it that your government is a bunch of amoral, inhuman, sadistic, ill-educated thugs and you don’t care enough to overthrow it? Or is it just those damned liberal atheists again, blaming our brave god-fearing troops and pissing on the flag?

You decide.

First Impressions Are Lasting Impressions…

Karen Hughes and George W. Bush Host Pig Roast For Arab Leaders

Unconfirmed Sources* report that Karen Hughes, the newly selected under secretary for public diplomacy, has made a strong start at mending frayed relations between the US and the Arab World. Hughes, a long time Bush operative, hosted a Texas style pig roast at the Bush Ranch and invited several influential Arab leaders to the table for talk and a heartily helping of roast pig.

The media was only able to view the event from a distance, but White House officials stated that while the event ended early it went well. Hughes feels that it is important to target the moderate leaders of the Middle East if she is going to convince the Arab world that the US is not a force of evil. Hughes decided to start at the top by inviting Husni Mubarak, Momar Kadafi, Bashar Assad, and the newly elected Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas to the Bush ranch for a get to know you event.

More

*I shouldn’t have to. but I point out, for the braindead, that this is satire.

Non, Non and Thrice Non

Dear Kitty reports on Dutch reaction to the French EU constitution NO vote:

The Dutch Socialist Party, who advocate a No vote for wednesday in The Netherlands put a picture of fireworks on their site to celebrate the French victory.

“French TV says thousands of people go to the Bastille in Paris, the starting point of the 1789 French revolution. They celebrate the victory of the No vote.

An orator at the Bastille shouted: Down with [European Commissioner] Barroso! Down with Blair! Down with Raffarin [French Prime Minister, who may resign soon now due to his referendum defeat]!

Someone in the audience advised Dutch voters to vote no as well, as the people should decide, not the professional politicians.

Dutch Prime Minister Balkenende kept calling on Dutch voters to vote Yes. Suddenly, in anti French Dutch nationalist tones.

While, before the French no, he had kept saying The Netherlands as a small country should not isolate themselves from big countries like France who would probably say yes … What rank hypocrisy.

Yesterday, there was the Dunya music festival in Rotterdam. Dutch Government Minister Ms Agnes van Ardenne (ab)used the occasion for a Vote yes speech.

When Mr Willem Bos, chair of the Vote no committee, tried to say what counter arguments were, police arrested him and kept him in jail for over an hour. This says something about the quality of democracy which the Yes supporters want.

In his concession speech, French President Chirac, who had campaigned for a Yes vote, had to admit the French people had expressed themselves democratically.

French TV said that 56%, even more than the 55% of the exit poll, had voted No. 60% of Green Party voters had voted No, contrary to their party leaders.

There were No majorities all over France. With some exceptions, like Strassburg where many jobs depend on the European parliament: there, 62% voted Yes. Even this was a lot lower than the 72% Yes vote there for the Maastricht treaty referendum, narrowly won nationally by the Yes vote.”

How long before the Eurocrats get it into their thick, corrupt, nepotism-addled skulls? Europeans are in favour of Europe; we just don’t want the Europe they do, one modelled on the US free-trade-or-be- damned system, with zero democratic accountability ; a fortress Europe in which we all are numbered, listed and treated as nothing but tax-paying fodder for a political and financial elite.

I don’t think so. Go back and think again, and this time ask us what we want.

Hmmm, not sure how I can squeeze this to fit into the ‘best of the left’ remit, but it’s so funny I had to reproduce it wholesale.

From The Register via Raw Story:

The following cautionary tale must surely rate in the top five of “most embarrassing things that can happen to you in public – ever”. According to UK tabloid the Sun, a 33-year-old Welsh housewife ended up in hospital after wearing Ann Summers vibrating Passion Pants to her local Asda supermarket in Swansea.

Unfortunately, she became “so aroused by the 2?-inch vibrating bullet inside that she fainted” then “fell against shelves and banged her head”. This prompted the attendance of the paramedics who “found the black leatherette panties still buzzing”. Having disabled the orgasmatronic underwear, they then whisked the senseless shopper to hospital where she made a complete recovery. Staff handed her back the Passion Pants upon discharge, discreetly concealed in a plastic bag.

To its credit, the Sun does not name the woman. We assume, however, that she will be shopping at her local Tesco for the next ten years or so, or until everyone in the Asda who witnessed her ordeal is dead or has succumbed to total amnesia – whichever comes soonest.

For the record, Ann Summers notes that Passion Pants are “Not for internal use”. Now we know why. ?

Waaahahahahahahahahahaha.