My Response to an Iraq War Supporter

Danimal recently felt compelled to write a post to an Iraq War supporter -- yes, Virginia, there still are a few of those left -- who calls himself imjustbigboneddammit. Danimal's post featured a hyperlink to the excellent article by Professor Juan Cole which pretty much blew Christopher Hitchens' rosy take on the Iraq Debacle out of the water and into orbit.

Anyway, I wrote a comment to that post regarding Professor Juan Cole's credentials. And here is imjustbigboneddammit's response to Danimal's post and to my comment:

Are you kidding? Sorry, Dan, but I long ago closed my mind to the pompous, vile idiocy of Professor Uninformed Comment. Reasons why will follow when I am not at work. Oh, and Harold, your post (if that's you) hardly establishes Cole's credentials. Was it his admission that he lacks experience in Iraq that convinced you he was credible? Or was it the fact that the Right doesn't like him? I think I know the answer to that.

Interesting, though, that you saw the need to preempt any attacks on his credentials. The lady doth protest too much..

Oh yes -- that was me, and I don't even know where to begin, except maybe to ask whether or not imjustbigboneddammit really believes what he is saying. I mean, Ann Coulter doesn't even write like that anymore. Obviously he's playing the Devil's Advocate here, but that's OK -- because I'll play along. I live for this shit.

I mean, for Christ's Sake, imjustbigboneddammit, do you think that maybe I anticipated your attack on Cole's credentials because, after five years of all the radical right-winged extremist bullshit, maybe I'm pretty much used to the standard operating procedures of BushCo and its apologists? So no -- I'm not surprised that the radical right hates Juan Cole. Indeed, I'd be surprised if it didn't.

Let's face it -- every time someone states the obvious about the Bush Regime -- i.e., that nobody in that clueless administration would know their backside from a hole in the ground -- every time that happens in a more or less high profile way, a Reichsführer Rove-type discrediting attack is launched upon that person.

You're aware of that, right? Do you want me to give you some examples? How about this for starters: General Shinseki, Paul O'Neill, Joe Wilson, Richard Clarke, The Dixie Chicks (sorry, I couldn't resist), Juan Cole, and, most recently, Army Lt. Col. Anthony Shaffer (more on him later).

These people all have two things in common: (1) all of them were right on the money in what they had to say, and (2) all of them were attacked by RoveCo for having the guts to come forward and speak the obvious. Given the neo-fascist circumstances we currently find ourselves in, I consider them patriots.

Are there other people in the world who might have more Iraq-related experience in the Middle East than Juan Cole? Well, yeah -- how about Hans Blix and Scott Ritter. [BTW, those are two more individuals you can put on the above list.] But my question to you is this -- are you saying that someone like, say, the idiotic Condi Rice has more experience than Juan Cole does in the region? Or the moronic Rumsfeld?

Oh, I'm sorry -- the image of Rummy shaking Saddam's hand just popped into my head. Obviously, Rumsfeld has been to Iraq -- to give Saddam nerve gas. You remember that, right?

You dislike Juan Cole because he's right and you resent him for it. After all, you have obviously spent so much time and effort supporting All-Things-Bush that it is too late for you to turn around now. Wouldn't be prudent.

By the way, do you blame anyone for that monumental clusterf@#k we are currently experiencing in Iraq (besides Bill Clinton, of course -- yeah, I anticipated that one as well), or is everything over there just going fine as far as you are concerned? Look! Isn't that a brand new school behind that blown-up humvee and the sixty-two dismembered bodies?

Take off the blinders, buddy. To paraphrase your hero-in-chief, you -- and people who think like you -- are part of the problem, not part of the solution.

And speaking of that dry drunk -- well, maybe not so dry these days -- you know, that coke-addicted piece of dreck in the White House whom you obviously thinks farts rainbows, what is the deal there? Why do you like that guy so much? Wait, I know what you'll say -- you liked the way he stood on the rubble of the World Trade Center with his bullhorn.

Well, I liked that too. I liked it a lot. But tell me -- what has he done lately?

So, to sum up, I believe that your thinking on all this is wrong, and if you don't agree with me, then I'LL SEE YOU IN . . .

. . . Las Vegas -- in about a month. Bring lots of money for craps.