A Storm Arrives

Putsch’s slogan should be, "Presque moi, le deluge"

by Bryan Zepp Jamieson

09/19/03

http://www.zeppscommentaries.com/Sociology/stormfront.htm

Isabel wasn’t the only storm to hit Washington, DC this week. Rather than run that metaphor into the ground, let’s look at what made Isabel, a category five hurricane, different from the other storms.

Isabel came from a specific direction, and only one direction. The winds within Isabel were predictable in terms of ferocity and direction.

Isabel weakened as it neared Washington.

Everyone knew that in 24 hours, Isabel would be gone.

The other storms are those seen much more frequently in the DC area, political storms. Although like Isabel at her peak last week, they stand to reach higher levels of intensity than what we usually see.

For two years, Putsch had been trying to tie 9/11 to Saddam Hussein’s tail. While carefully never saying that there was a link, he made a point of mentioning Saddam and 9/11 in the same sentence as frequently as possible, and let his more gullible followers, already eager for an excuse to wade in and slaughter a bunch of ragheads, form their own associations.

Which they did. A poll that came out in early August showed that 70% of Americans believed Saddam had something to do with 9/11. Given the general level of stupidity shown by these people, it’s legitimate to wonder how many knew who Saddam Hussein is, or, for that matter, what 9/11 was.

There’s nothing like polls to show the utter idiocy and willful ignorance the typical American voter likes to parade around. For example, a recent poll by some outfit calling itself "Public Opinion Strategies" (if that doesn’t sound like a collection of professional spin artists, I don’t know what does) asked the public about Genetically Modified foods. The first statement was, "Companies should be required to submit safety data to the FDA for review, and no genetically modified food product should be allowed on the market until the FDA determines it is safe." 89% of respondents agreed with that, and only 9% disagreed. The remaining 2% were the usual wet ends who, for some reason, like to take polls just so they can say they don’t know or they don’t care.

The number surprised me. I knew there was a lot of concern, and a lot of people were suspicious of the technology, but 89% is nearly unanimous.

But then the same people were fed this one: "Companies should be encouraged, but not required, to let the FDA review data regarding the safety of a genetically modified food before that product goes on the market." 51% thought that was a good idea, and 45% didn’t.

In other words, a minimum of 4 out of 10 respondents thought simultaneously that GMO companies should be required and should NOT be required to submit data to the FDA for study.

35%, including at least 24% who were part of that 89%, believed that the FDA shouldn’t even be allowed to study it, that the companies should determine the safety of their profitable products.

How’s that for irrational and stupid?

So it’s no big surprise that 70% said they believed Saddam was responsible for 9/11.

It might have gone on that way for months, especially with the far right media, free of constraints of journalistic integrity (Faux News: We sued for the right to lie to the public!) doing what the admin didn’t dare try, and just barefaced lying, insisting that Saddam was involved in 9/11. Even though the CIA, the NSA, and every intelligence agency in Europe and even Israel agreed that Saddam had no involvement whatever in 9/11, and five minutes’ reading on the middle east would be enough to convince anyone of normal intelligence that Saddam, a secular, would not get along well with the religious zealots of al Qaida.

So a reporter asked Rumsfeld flat out about it. As reported by AP military writer Robert Burns (no, really) "‘I've not seen any indication that would lead me to believe that I could say that,’ Rumsfeld said. He added: ‘We know he was giving $25,000 a family for anyone who would go out and kill innocent men, women and children. And we know of various other activities. But on that specific one, no, not to my knowledge.’"

The same reporter noted that two days earlier on one of the Sabbath Gasbag shows, Dick Cheney had said "democratizing Iraq struck a major blow at the geographic base of the terrorists who have had us under assault for many years, but most especially on 9-11." Further, the administration front on it had already begun to crumble, with Condoleezza Rice saying, "We have never claimed that Saddam Hussein had either direction or control of 9-11."

The whore media decided the time was ripe to stop pretending the Saddam/9-11 link made any sense. Apparently once a president’s approval ratings drop below 55%, the so-called free press considers it safe to criticize him.

Well, somewhat safe. They have, so far, downplayed the fact that Putsch himself admitted on Wednesday, for the first time, that there was "no evidence that Hussein was involved with the September 11th attacks."

But it hasn’t gone unnoticed, hence the storm metaphor. In quick succession today, the following events transpired in Washington: Representative John P. Murtha of Pennsylvania, a decorated Vietnam veteran who had been one of the most strident hawks going into Iraq, said that he had "been misled into voting for the war by incorrect information from top administration officials and that the president had also been misled." You’ll have to excuse the president, folks – the poor boy is a pure-d fool and is often misled.

Congress suddenly decided it wanted to take a much closer look at that $87 billion that Putsch wanted for the continue rape ... er, rebuilding of Iraq.

Hans Blix flat out accused the president of lying, and opined that Saddam had probably gotten rid of his weapons of mass destruction several years ago. WMDs were the other big rationale for attacking Iraq, and had the advantage of being credible to intelligent observers until we got in there and found out that there were . . . er . . . no weapons of mass destruction.

Retired General Wesley Clark entered the presidential race. Clark is a war hero, a decorated veteran, and thinks it’s a disgrace that a president would dress up in a military costume and strut around, noting that no president ever had before, and certainly no draft-dodger who had never worked a day in his life.

Tip for George: if Clark becomes the candidate next summer, don’t wear the stupid flight suit if you try to debate him. He’ll tear you apart.

Finally, Iraq provided a reminder that things aren’t going well. The London Guardian reported about 24 hours ago that there had been an ambush outside of Baghdad, and as many as eight American soldiers had been killed.

After 10 hours of utter silence, the American media admitted that there had been some sort of incident, and there were reports of a couple of injuries, but that the military hadn’t confirmed it. It took about three more hours for the media here to admit that it appeared that three soldiers may have been, er, well, um, ‘nullifed’, and two injured. And that’s where we stand, with the media saying they can’t say for sure because the Pentagon still hasn’t confirmed anything. In the meantime, the Guardian is still reporting as many as eight killed.

I think I know who to believe, and it isn’t the whore press who needs permission from the Pentagon to admit anyone got killed.

There’s a reason for this, and it goes beyond the gutless timidity of the corporate news outfits.

Thanks to the magic of the Putsch administration, America is now ashamed of its war dead. Bodies come home in the dead of night, with the required ceremonies held inside hangers away from any cameras. The subsequent funerals are downplayed, and even local stations don’t give them much coverage.

Putsch hasn’t attended a single funeral of any of the military personnel he’s gotten killed with his reckless lies and greed.

This administration is ashamed of its war dead.

And Americans are beginning to figure that out.

Unlike Isabel, this storm is only just beginning.