Tuesday, May 17, 2005

And another thing... My friend Rayne would want me to remind you that America's image abroad (not to mention Britain's) has also been damaged by the Downing Street memo. 7:36:43 PM     Speak up!  []

A Lot of Damn Gall Scott McClellan has been saying that America's image abroad has been damaged by Newsweek's now-retracted article about the Koran and the toilet.  I'll be honest.  The first thing I thought when I heard about the story was "that sounds about right."  There have been so many stories about demeaning interrogation techniques and even suggestions of desecration of the Koran before this, so there was no surprise.  But then the riots broke out in Afghanistan, and then some smartass at the Washington Post said it was because of this story, and then all hell broke loose. But back to my point.  Scott McClellan is a bag of hot air, and he's got a lot of fucking gall to be calling Newsweek for using a bad source.  The war in Iraq was predicated on rumors of biological weapons that came from a bad source - a guy appropriately named "Curveball," who had been discredited for months before the CIA stopped listening to him.  The war was planned since day one of the Bush presidency, and our image has been damaged by Bush's relentless pursuit of this war, regardless of the facts.  America's image abroad has been damaged by the cowboy war that Bush organized with virtually no support from the world community.  America's image abroad has been damaged by the report that Iraq never had weapons of mass destruction, and that our entire war was based on faulty information.  In other words, bad sources. America's image abroad has been damaged by a president who refuses to accept the results of that report, and still thinks he had a good reason to invade Iraq. America's image abroad has been damaged by the photos from Abu Ghraib documenting inhuman torture.  America's image abroad has been damaged by the shooting of that Italian guard.  That was not the first, nor the last, inadverdent shooting of innocents done by American soldiers over there.  America's image abroad has been damaged by the reports of torture and sexual humiliation used on prisoners.  America's image abroad has been damaged by Halliburton, Bechtel, and other companies connected to the current administration profiteering off the war.  America's image abroad has been damaged by countless incidences that this administration has been responsible for.  They have no business accusing anyone else of damaging their image in the world's eyes.  They have only themselves to blame.  7:42:59 AM     Speak up!  []