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Fifth Column
Ted Rall: First, A New Kind Of Draft. Then Attack The Kurds!
2006-12-20
This is what it looks like in the terminal stage.
How America Can Make Penance to Iraq
LOS ANGELES--It's over. We're pulling out of Iraq. It's a question of when.

Don't get me wrong. To paraphrase Richard Hell, I said we should get out of there before we even went in. And to paraphrase Katrina and the Waves, the fact that 91% of Americans agree with me feels like walking on sunshine. (My solemn pledge: There will be no more music references in this column.)

The inimitable Ted.
I am vindicated. More than that, I love that good sense has prevailed and that the end of this unprovoked, nightmarish conflagration is finally drawing nigh. The day that the last occupation soldier leaves Iraq will mark the beginning of our country's opportunity to redeem itself, to prove to the world that the United States can become a force for good. Even so, I can't shake the feeling that cutting and running from the inferno of Iraq--and the misery we chose to create--is reprehensibly irresponsible.

The U.S. military has slaughtered at least 600,000 Iraqis--twice as many as Saddam, who ruled seven times longer. We've begun the political disintegration of Iraq by allowing the creation of a Kurdistan that's an independent state in everything but name. Our bombs have destroyed schools, ministries, museums, bridges and billions of dollars worth of infrastructure; our laissez faire approach to security has ruined the economy. About 10% of Iraq' prewar population has fled into exile. Imagine the level of chaos that would have to be present here to turn 30 million Americans into refugees!
Posted by:.com

#12  Nothing Ted Rall has ever said has even remotely suggested logical or intelligent thinking.

I keep trying to picture the thought process of whomever gave him a job: "Let's see: you can't draw, you're not funny, and your writing sounds like a badly done parody of someone on an acid trip. You're hired!"
Posted by: xbalanke   2006-12-20 20:49  

#11   Our bombs have destroyed schools, ministries, museums, bridges and billions of dollars worth of infrastructure;

Looks like the wheels have come off ol' Ted's psychotropic supply truck. What?! No Mosques? Maybe we should have started there......
Posted by: oYVey1   2006-12-20 16:42  

#10  ...NOTHING - in this piece that even remotely suggests logical or intelligent thinking...

Erm? I gather you aren't familiar with Our Ted. Ted went over to Afghanistan and nosed around, and concluded that the war there was solely for the purpose of building a pipeline across the country. Oh, yeah, that whole 9/11 thing gave a sort of cover of legitimacy to the whole operation, but it was all about the pipeline. A pipeline which was considered and abandoned (by chief villain Unocal, anyway) in 1998.

Nothing Ted Rall has ever said has even remotely suggested logical or intelligent thinking.
Posted by: Angie Schultz   2006-12-20 12:20  

#9  I'd like to think that this is some sort of twisted attempt at sarcasm or humor, but then I look at the author's name and his past such hit pieces and I can only think that he's entirely serious.

Go ahead, Ted. Try your lottery. What will you do when those 6oo thousand simply say "Sorry, ain't goin'"?

Posted by: FOTSGreg   2006-12-20 10:42  

#8  Operating in the vacuum of his mind . . .

My favorite: Given the sectarian divisions and dozens of armed militias, only a strongman--a brutal, despotic dictator--will be able to pull Iraq back together. Only one man has the experience for the job: Saddam Hussein. We have to put the Butcher of Baghdad back in charge (and promise not to overthrow him anymore.)
Posted by: ex-lib   2006-12-20 10:18  

#7  ...Ya know, I like to think that I will at least sit down and have a reasonable, no raised-voices debate on the subject of the war with just about anybody. I had a conversation the other night with a young man who started the conversation with "Bush should be hung!", and when we left, he was quietly and seriously reconsidering his stance.

On the other hand, I cannot imagine even talking to Ted Rall - just shaking my head in despair at his utter and complete BDS/HAF (Hate America First) syndrome.

Let's look at what he's proposing:

*That America leave a nation to homicidal terrorists who daily commit mass murder in the name of their God.
*Replace a duly elected government with a condemned mass murderer who killed at least a million of his citizens, not to mention the hundreds of thousands he killed in ILLEGAL WARS (Iran-Iraq, GW I....and if those weren't illegal under the international law Rall and his friends often seem so devoted to, I'd like an explanation, please) and the tens of thosuands of civilians he killed in indiscriminate bombing and missile raids on Iranian cities.
*The forced expatriation of 600,000 American citizens.
*Invade a region whose citizens are not only innocent of any hostility or belligerence towards us but who are allies in that region second perhaps only to the Israelis.

I'd like to think that Mr. Rall intended this to be a shock piece to get us to think about what he believes are American injustices and crimes in Iraq. He is entitled to his beliefs, and I will unhesitatingly lay my life down to defend them - I swore to do so six times in my life and as far as I'm concerned, that vow is still binding. But there is nothing - NOTHING - in this piece that even remotely suggests logical or intelligent thinking, or reasonable suggestions for alternative actions. This is free speech but it is the free speech of a deply disturbed mind that happens to have access to a soapbox.

Mike
Posted by: Mike Kozlowski   2006-12-20 09:22  

#6  Where has this slug been? Who allowed him out from under his rock?
Posted by: tu3031   2006-12-20 08:34  

#5  Remember Julius Streicher, Turd. Follow his path, share his fate.
Posted by: Atomic Conspiracy   2006-12-20 05:45  

#4  I suggest he start our atonement personally, with as painful a suicide method as possible.

From what I read on the 'burg, torching yourself to protest the eeeeevvilll Bushies is rather trendy, Ted. It's the new black! Give it a shot and see if it's right for you. I'll spot you the match and fuel....
Posted by: Swamp Blondie   2006-12-20 04:18  

#3  OS, I simply cannot force myself to refer to this deranged delusional entity otherwise than "that piece of excrement".
Posted by: twobyfour   2006-12-20 03:30  

#2  I challenge him to go over there and make those comments in front of US troops, or better, Iraqi troops and police. The ones that have suffered more casualties than we have, the ones fighting for a decent government.

No need to worry about him picking up the challenge - in addition to being an asshole, and delusional, Ted Rall is a rank coward.
Posted by: OldSpook   2006-12-20 02:50  

#1  If I were the violent type, I'd shoot Rall on sight. Like you'd do with a rabid dog. Put him of his misery.


aside from that, "The U.S. military has slaughtered at least 600,000 Iraqis"?

He's been hitting the pipe WAY too hard.

Did someone actually publish this bilge in print?

Posted by: OldSpook   2006-12-20 02:47  

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