Stein supporters. Wow. Questions?

Yeah its the Free Beacon but has also been picked up by Drudge et al.

Stein: ISIS Isn’t Going to Attack US

http://freebeacon.com/national-security/jill-stein-isis-isnt-going-attac...

Green Party presidential candidate Dr. Jill Stein insisted that the Islamic State wasn’t a threat to the United States on Wednesday night at a CNN town hall.

U.S. Marine Corps Veteran Alexander McCoy, who is leaning towards supporting Hillary Clinton for President, asked Stein whether she thought that ISIS is a threat to the U.S. and whether she would use allies in the Middle East to defeat them.

Stein responded by saying that there are international rules of engagement and that a country needs to be an “imminent” threat before attacking them.

“Clearly, that threshold has not been met. ISIS is not about to launch a major attack against our country,” Stein said.

Wow. Just Wow.

ISIS is not a threat?

ISIS conforms to the Geneva Convention? ISIS is a "country"? They haven't deployed their subs to our coasts. Their long range bombers are not flying sorties on our borders. Their ballistic missiles can't reach us. Really? What the hell are you talking about.

ISIS launches no attacks in the US? Orlando? San Bernadino, etc.

Have we spent to much $ and human life on these wars? Yes. Should we do something different? Yes. JS gives a policy to go forward? Nope.

I'm supposed to support this just because she's not HRC or DJT?

Really?

Someone help and explain these crazy statements.

Thanks

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Ken in MN's picture

...because I think the GWOT is nothing but a diversion to keep the rubes afraid and to keep them from paying attention to the fact that the neoliberal and neoconservative elites are robbing us blind and eroding our Constitutional rights, all in the name of "safety"...

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I want my two dollars!

edg's picture

I'm not a Stein supporter but I sure as hell support what she says. ISIS is just another convenient excuse to keep funding perpetual war and keep enriching the MIC. ISIS wouldn't even exist if Bush/Obama/Clinton hadn't invaded Iraq and subsequently set up the conditions that allowed them to flourish.

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Ken in MN's picture

...Much as I'd love to see a real liberal win, there is no way that's happening this election. The money boys have already seen to that. That said, I'm not convinced that either a President Clinton or a President Trump will be the end of the world. Climate change has all but assured that we're fucked either way. At worst it's four more years of gridlock and nothing getting done, with circus sideshow investigations and impeachments. My current running joke is that Hillary Clinton will be the first president impeached before she takes the oath of office. And I'm only half joking when I say it. Trump as president will make President Camacho look like one of the greatest statesmen in American history, if if that history is purely fictional:

[video:https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sGUNPMPrxvA]

As for the Supreme Court, we'll get Wall Street-friendly judges either way, so whatever...

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ChemBob's picture

that we don't have four or eight years to ride out either of these two horrors.

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If either of them gets in, we need to just start agitating towards impeachment immediately. Or maybe we should just start now. "Impeach Trump AND Clinton" would be a fine bumper-sticker.

I have a RW friend that got all bent about ISIS beheading people. I checked, and counting three Japanese as "Westerners", it was 15 at the time. I pointed out to him that we were in far greater danger of being shot by the police. -And in far greater danger than THAT, of dying from a slip or fall in our homes. ISIS is, for an American, like the chance of being struck and killed by a small meteor, or some other such statistically insignificant risk.

Climate Change has already far surpassed ANY body count from ISIS, beheading or otherwise. -And it is going to increase, until anything ISIS has done, or will ever do, becomes a bloody yawn.

This is about that gnawing, un-American "sense of proportion". Fortunately, we have the MSM to protect us from that!

OH, GOD! JILL STEIN HAS NO IDEA HOW TO PROTECT US FROM BEING STRUCK AND KILLED BY SMALL METEORS! HOW CAN ANYONE TAKE HER SERIOUSLY?

Worrying about ISIS when faced with global ecological melt-down is like stopping to remove a hangnail before seeking help for your sucking chest wound. The Greens are the only ones willing to get serious about the real problem here, and the only party with an actual plan.

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"Capitalism is the extraordinary belief that the nastiest of men for the nastiest of motives will somehow work for the benefit of all."
- John Maynard Keynes

A President Clinton might be the last time you have a vote and ant semblance of a social safety net.

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[video:https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lIPu31PHIHo width:640 height:480]

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ISIS didn't commit San Bernardino or Orlando. Even if they did, so what? There are still rules we are bound by, whether through the Geneva Conventions or not, by our own law and treaties otherwise.

You seem to suggest that because ISIS isn't a country or doesn't recognize or conform to the Geneva Conventions that therefore we should not hold ourselves to the standards of the GC when engaging them.

Edit: And this is even granting that ISIS is a threat to the US. I don't believe ISIS is. I think they threaten our sociopathic "leadership"'s interests in certain regions of the world, but they aren't a threat to us.

Seems to me you're the one making crazy statements. Seems to me that you're as dangerously unhinged as Hillary if you actually think we should be attacking ISIS (directly or by proxies). Seems to me you should explain yourself before asking anybody else to explain a third-party's statements.

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Ken in MN's picture

...the third paragraph. You can criticise somebody's statements or ideas without insulting that person or questioning their motives...

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I don't know nor care what EdMass's motives are.

The statements stand on their own: they contain assertions that are divorced from reality and imply ISIS' lack of adherence to the GC is significant (in that it means the US isn't bound by any "rules of engagement", such as the use of torture, recognition of other countries' sovereignty, etc.). That's as unhinged as Hillary's foreign policy rhetoric. If that's insulting, so be it.

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Ken in MN's picture

...as it implies insanity. Secretary Clinton's foreign policy rhetoric is not insane. It is malevolent. It is most sanely delivered in support of a worldview where the elite lead and the rest of us STFU. You only diminish your arguments against it by implying insanity, when everyone can clearly see that Secretary Clinton is in complete control of her faculties...

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EdMass's picture

I said, JS did not offer any solution except platitudes regarding "international law and rules of engagement" which of course ISIS doesn't care or conform to.

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Prof: Nancy! I’m going to Greece!
Nancy: And swim the English Channel?
Prof: No. No. To ancient Greece where burning Sapho stood beside the wine dark sea. Wa de do da! Nancy, I’ve invented a time machine!

Firesign Theater

Stop the War!

Why do we have to "solve" ISIS?

When you start from the controversial assertion that ISIS is a threat to the US or a problem we have to (help) solve, you start several steps beyond the boundaries of what the data support. Hence my description of your comments as being as unhinged as Hillary's.

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Ken in MN's picture

...respect for international law and the rules of engagement, not ISIS. That's just silly. WE should follow the law, even when our "enemies" do not, lest we slide down the very slippery and very short slope to tyranny in the name of "security". I'm sure you remember Nixon infamously saying something to the effect of, "when the president does it it's legal". His rationalization was roundly mocked at the time, a mocking that still applies today...

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She basically said, maybe not during this question but at another time, that if we'd stop killing people maybe we wouldn't have so many people killing us.

And she pointed out that we've created these radical groups in the Middle East, going back to at least the mujaheddin in Afghanistan back in the Cold War days.

And you know, in the 80s we had 240+ killed in the marine barracks in Beruit and we didn't start a 15 year war. Maybe we should give reagan's approach A try since bush's isn't working out so well.

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Citizen Of Earth's picture

is the number one recruiting tool that makes disenfranchised young Muslims want to strap on a suicide vest. We go away and the threat against Islam goes away.

ISIS is just another excuse to keep plowing money into the MIC smokestacks.

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Donnie The #ShitHole Douchebag. Fake Friend to the Working Class. Real Asshole.

We will be at 100% renewable energy by 2030 and we won't be having any wars for solar power.

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Beware the bullshit factories.

and organization of this Century has the Sauds and all the Gulf States (except maybe Oman) as Father and Grandfather. And that's on every continent. You can break up ISIS militarily, and they will go home, with the aid of the terror-backing states, to continue their mission as best they can.
The certain thing is that US military action and aid in the No Africa / Mid East region always strengthens the jihadis. And we supply the terror states that supply ISIS!
Let the Rus deal with the problem. In the meantime give up your fear that armadas of jihadis ships are going to land hundreds of thousands on our shores.

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Orwell: Where's the omelette?

EdMass's picture

The perpetrators of those events all stated and documented their allegiance to ISIS prior to committing the acts.

I do not "suggest." A terrorist organization is not a country.

Guess you just choose to ignore the genocide of Christians and enslavement of Shia because that is inconvenient to your world view.

Perhaps you should explain yourself why your just all okay with this situation.

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Prof: Nancy! I’m going to Greece!
Nancy: And swim the English Channel?
Prof: No. No. To ancient Greece where burning Sapho stood beside the wine dark sea. Wa de do da! Nancy, I’ve invented a time machine!

Firesign Theater

Stop the War!

Ken in MN's picture

...right before taking a giant shit on the 50-yard line of the new Minnesota Vikings' stadium, but that doesn't actually make me a member of the Green Bay Packers...

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with "documentation" and it wouldn't mean FSM was plotting or committing terrorist actions in the US.

Didn't say anything about "genocide of Christians or enslavement of Shia" in any of my comments.

You're being incoherent, here.

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Ken in MN's picture

...bringing up Christians and Shia was a non sequitur...

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boriscleto's picture

Instead of 72 grapes...

Although in their case the beer would have been flat and the strippers would have VD...

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" In the beginning, the universe was created. This has made a lot of people very angry, and is generally considered to have been a bad move. -- Douglas Adams, The Hitch Hiker's Guide to the Galaxy "

Dhyerwolf's picture

ISIS in and of itself lacks the ability to attack the US. Lone wolves already in the US are a different story. We can bomb the Middle East into oblivion and it still won't stop the types of attacks that have happened recently in the US. These attacks would be less likely if we followed Jill Stein's FP plans instead of the ones we follow now.

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CIA: No connection between Orlando gunman, terror group

ORLANDO, Fla. (AP) — CIA Director John Brennan says the agency has found no connection between the Orlando gunman and any foreign terrorist organization.

"It ain't what you don't know that gets you into trouble. It's what you know for sure that just ain't so." - Mark Twain

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"We've done the impossible, and that makes us mighty."

Still No Evidence Linking San Bernardino Shooters To ISIS, FBI Says

FBI Director James Comey said Wednesday that there is still no evidence that the San Bernardino, Calif., shooters had any contact with a foreign terrorist group like ISIS.

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"We've done the impossible, and that makes us mighty."

riverlover's picture

But I believe the FBI would have made any connections to ISIS, if there were. ISIS followers are the latest version of a troll under the bridge.

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Hey! my dear friends or soon-to-be's, JtC could use the donations to keep this site functioning for those of us who can still see the life preserver or flotsam in the water.

Pluto's Republic's picture

…of Shia in every corner of the Middle East as far as the border to Iran, including the Palestinians, of course. The US defends the desires of its chief allies in the region, Israel and Saudi Arabia (our last foothold in protecting the value of the US dollar). ISIS is committed to the same goal, which is reason they are so successful and well-funded. They don't care about the US. Thats a boogyman du jour.

US domestic terrorists who invoke ISIS — to them, ISIS are comic book super heroes. It's like invoking Green Lantern or Watchman while your friend videos you jumping off a building.

See it through the eyes of those who manipulate us.

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____________________

The political system is what it is because the People are who they are. — Plato

It's WatchmEn, a group, there was no WatchmAn. But even if there was a Watchman, invoking him would be just as meaningless.

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On to Biden since 1973

Pluto's Republic's picture

The fact is, Alan Moore popped into my head and I envisioned Rorschach, and then I fumbled the whole thing. I should have stuck to DC.

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____________________

The political system is what it is because the People are who they are. — Plato

They were radicalized in the US. In San Bernadino case by the views of the wife. Either way the whole exchange on CNN was ridiculous. The question involved the generic military protecting us from ISIS considering a 50% reduction. Her response revolved around US not being attacked by a conventional force from ISIS. She also addressed the main problem facing the US in the world which is 70 years of economic, political and military involvement in the vast majority of the world. If you are involved in promoting US economic interest through interfering other nations markets, economic systems, regime change and military action you will not win hearts and minds.

None of the 4 candidates have military experience.
To single this out on Stein is not a credible criticism.

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Pricknick's picture

that ISIS is a threat to this country is exactly what the elite and those who serve them want you to believe. "Look over there"........that's the real threat they say.
I, for one, will not fall for their hyperbole.

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Regardless of the path in life I chose, I realize it's always forward, never straight.

I am very impatient with Stein and with the Green Party for reasons I need not detail. (It's as though they insist on never becoming a viable party.) However, I will gladly vote for Stein in November for the same reason I supported Sanders in the primary. However, for Sanders, I also worked, donated and fundraised. I don't know if I will be doing that for Stein, but what ever I do, I will do gladly.

I am voting for Stein to have my vote say that I want someone well to the left of Hillary, Trump and Johnson on both economic and "cultural" issues. I want my vote to say that I want the bleeding country to stop going further and further right, as it has since Carter. I think that is the best possible use of my vote I can make this go round. I hope that, in the next four years, we can unite and turn the Greens into a truly great and viable party. Even then, I would not expect it to be my dream party. However, this go round, we're out of time.

Stein is not going to become President anyway, so her every statement and position does not matter all that much to me, unless she starts advocating genocide or something else that is horrific.

If you do not vote for Stein, for whom will you vote? Trump? Hillary? Johnson? No one? And what message will your vote send? (These are rhetorical questions, just for your consideration. I am not prying. For whom you vote is your business.)

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Pluto's Republic's picture

It's what you vote AGAINST.

It 2016, that's all that matters.

After that, all these uppity loopholes will be closed for good.

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____________________

The political system is what it is because the People are who they are. — Plato
lotlizard's picture

and so on — of all of which, a Clinton win would be the ultimate endorsement.

Done deal or not, the thought of voting to hand supreme power to Hillary just has that Ermächtigungsgesetz or Enabling Act–type feeling, an air of finality to it.

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Pluto's Republic's picture

…in front of the American people. It would have been a done deal already if the Republican party establishment had not been overthrown by an outsider, offering an opportunity to do the same to the Democrats, and seize control.

I imagine the nation will remain in a state of uncertainty up to the elections. Generally, all other things being equal, the Neocon candidate candidate is destined to win. (In recent elections, they both candidates have been Neocon-friendly. That was the plan for 2016.)

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____________________

The political system is what it is because the People are who they are. — Plato

I am voting for the most visible* candidate who is to the left of Hillary, Trump and Johnson; and I am voting against three Republicans, all of whom I find repugnant and scary.

*Not so much purely visible as someone for whom my vote will show up in the voting statistics relative to this election. The number of votes the Green Party candidate gets are reported and reported as being for that particular candidate. A vote for a Green candidate is not likely to be interpreted as indicating a desire to have this country go right (or as satisfaction with our current "representatives"). A write in vote does not get reported and not voting at all can be spun as apathy or even satisfaction with the status quo.

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Cassiodorus's picture

And were you able to raise your voice and be heard at the convention in Houston?

Have you tried to be heard at any of the Green Party's state plenaries or retreats?

People not in the know treat the Green Party as some sort of private club, closed to them. That's not what it is at all. You can actually go to their events, and participate.

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"The most revolutionary thing one can do is always to proclaim loudly what is happening." -- Rosa Luxemburg

Seems like you infer much based on a clip that obviously clips Stein off toward the end. Don't know why you think Drudge has more credibility than free beacon.

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Hawkfish's picture

So when ISIS sets up a multi-level marketing scheme for their brutal agenda and uses it to attack us we have to freak out and bomb the crap out of them and anyone unfortunate enough to be nearby, but when Fox News, Operation Rescue and the Tea Party attacks us via stochastic terrorism, we just give them a pass?

I'd rather have someone in charge who doesn't overreact to these threats. Americans are far more likely to kill themselves with guns, cigarettes or cheeseburgers than random ISIS whack jobs are. Plus, the root cause of a lot of the violence in the middle east can be traced to carbon pollution, climate disruption, military intervention and economic imperialism - all of which Stein, Baraka and the Greens oppose.

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We can’t save the world by playing by the rules, because the rules have to be changed.
- Greta Thunberg

Cassiodorus's picture

Our government is not planning to do diddly-squat about a problem (abrupt climate change) which will make large portions of Earth unsuitable for agriculture in two or three decades. But let's worry about ISIS y'know.

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"The most revolutionary thing one can do is always to proclaim loudly what is happening." -- Rosa Luxemburg

The Obama administration claims self-defense as a justification for waging war on ISIS, stretching the October 2001 AUMF to the breaking point because Congress hasn't bothered to declare war on ISIS.

  • ISIS has not attacked the USA (although there has been some bold talk)
  • ISIS did not exist in 2001
  • We do not have any collective security agreements with the governments of Syria and Iraq
  • The U.N. Security Council has not authorized an attack on ISIS

In all fairness, if Jill Stein believes that it's OK to launch a military assault on somebody simply because they pose an "imminent threat," then she doesn't get international law. Where was she during the Cold War?

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"We've done the impossible, and that makes us mighty."

elenacarlena's picture

nation has the right to self defense to protect against an imminent threat. http://www.un.org/law/counsel/Bethlehem%20-%20Self-Defense%20Article.pdf :

The charter did not therefore affect the scope of the right of self-defence existing at that time in customary international law, which included the right to use force in anticipation of an imminent armed attack.

The problem is that often, the U.S. does not wait until there is a clear imminent threat, reserving the right to attack anyone anywhere at any time, https://www.law.upenn.edu/live/files/1903-doj-white-paper :

The condition that an operational leader present an "imminent" threat of violent attack against the United States does not require the United States to have clear evidence that a specific attack on U.S. persons and interests will take place in the immediate future.

Parse that statement, if you dare.

The Cold War is irrelevant. This is law that has been debated and clarified since 9/11.

Congress is attempting to declare war on ISIL right now, https://www.congress.gov/bill/114th-congress/senate-joint-resolution/29

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I referred to the Cold War because intercontinental ballistic missiles armed with nuclear warheads clearly pose a serious and imminent threat. Yet the USA didn't launch a direct attack on the Soviet Union.

I think that's relevant.

Obviously, the so-called doctrine of "anticipatory self-defense" is a slippery slope leading to an illegal war of aggression -- as demonstrated by the Obama administration's criteria for drone attacks. It opens the door to phony justifications, such as the infamous "dodgy dossier" that made the bogus claim that Iraq could launch an attack on the U.K. within 45 minutes. Therefore I doubt its validity.

If this Congress finally authorizes a war against ISIS they will be more than two years too late.

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"We've done the impossible, and that makes us mighty."

elenacarlena's picture

opposite. Listen to more of Jill Stein, I think you'll like her. I actually transcribed her anti-war speech here, http://caucus99percent.com/content/video-news-open-thread-jill-hill-trum...

She wants to launch a "peace offensive," including a weapons embargo, unilateral if necessary, meaning US weapons manufacturers would no longer be allowed to sell weapons over there. She says we have created this problem. We created ISIS and we created their enmity, and I looked everything up and she is correct. We are the flamethrower.

What I'm saying is, IF she were to attack ONLY in response to credible evidence of an imminent threat, that would be significantly LESS than what we are currently doing, as well as less than what any other candidate for President is thinking of doing. And all of what we are currently doing has been self-righteously justified by the Bush and Obama administrations, while the rest of the world has rolled over, the UK and the UN and everyone else saying, "Sure, US, you go right ahead and launch preemptive strikes in order to 'prevent terrorist attacks'. We'll even help."

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I'm voting for Jill Stein this year, and voted for her in 2012. But I do reject pre-emptive war, and even more so the Bush administration's doctrine of preventive war. I wish Dr. Stein hadn't cited anticipatory self-defense as a standard.

I think recent history has proved that "credible evidence of an imminent threat" can't be relied upon to justify military action.

[Note: Before anyone goes there, I hope it's clear I would never say, for example, that you couldn't apprehend the 9/11 plotters ahead of time. Zacarias Moussaoui actually was arrested.]

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"We've done the impossible, and that makes us mighty."

elenacarlena's picture

is imminence, and saying "this is not even imminent".

It is a difficult puzzle, or would be if TPTB gave a rat's rump about due process: How do you prevent attacks when we don't arrest people for acts that might occur in the future?

At least I think she'd be trying to arrest someone if there were credible evidence of a plot; not shoot them and dump them in the ocean.

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for Russia and for Europe than it does for for the USA. And the ISIS head-choppers are very bad dudes, there's no doubt about it. But our neocon overlords insist upon "getting rid of" Assad, one of ISIS' strongest enemies. They also insist upon opposing Russia's and Iran's efforts at every turn - two more of ISIS' principal foes. US militarists are standing firmly behind ISIS' main backers KSA and the Gulf States, and looking the other way when Erdogan (NATO hero and closet Islamist) plays footsie with them... all the while yammering about how dangerous ISIS is, for the benefit of a brainwashed American public.

To me. the whole charade looks like hypocrisy on steroids, and it's making our situation worse, not better. Stein's proposals may be simplistic, but at least they are not as dangerously schizophrenic as our current foreign policy seems to be.

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native

CS in AZ's picture

to have a "solution" regarding ISIS? I'm seriously not trying to attack your post or be snarky. You raised some questions for discussion, no problem, that's what we're here for. So let's discuss.

The questions appear to be based on a premise that the US president/government/military have to have a "solution" regarding ISIS. Which it seems is based on the idea that because a few individuals who purportedly believe in their "philosophy" (or religion, or whatever you want to call it) committed acts of violence, the entire United States is under an immediate threat as a nation, such that it justifies war (unless there's another "solution" you have in mind).

Do you really think that? Is ISIS on the verge of, or even remotely capable of destroying or invading or causing crippling damage to our country?

There have been individuals who believe in or subscribe to many different ideologies who have committed acts of violence based on their beliefs. For one example, Christianity, which has inspired far more shootings and murders and violence in this country and elsewhere than ISIS. Christians have launched attacks on abortion providers, gay people, witches and pagans, etc., all based on their religion/ideology. If ISIS is an imminent threat to the United States because of a few individuals who committed violence in their name, should we also demand a "solution" to Christian-inspired violence, and deem their adherents a threat? Only those who preach rhetoric that inspires these types of attacks, of course, which still includes a large swath of Christianity. Do you begin to see the problem with going down this road?

We are being sold a bill of goods that ISIS demands a solution - in particular a military one - because they are a threat, and the entire framing of the question "what will you do about them?" requires buying what they are trying to sell. It seems you have bought it wholesale. I'm suggesting you examine your purchase, and consider rejecting it.

Does ISIS promote a violent and horrible belief system? Yes! Do some of their adherents act on those beliefs and cause harm? Yes. Does that make them such a special or "imminent threat" to the United States that it calls for war? I don't think so. Not unless we're going to wage war on every wacky group who believes dangerous things and causes harm.

In which case, let's start with declaring war on corporate greed, which has been and continues daily to cause far, far more death and destruction than any other group or belief system on earth.

The plutocracy really do pose an imminent threat to all of us. Let's start asking our politicians what their solution is to that threat.

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And good luck getting most people to take that step back and look at the dance they bought tickets to.

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When someone can point out the Navy ISIS has with which to mount an invasion of US soil, I will start to get concerned.

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If you don't know what you want, you deserve what you get.

Pluto's Republic's picture

That was the firm that al Qaeda was dealing with.

And, Saddam Hussein was holding a reservation with them, which was the evidence shown to Congress. It resulted in the vote to "attack Iraq or wherever."

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____________________

The political system is what it is because the People are who they are. — Plato
lotlizard's picture

As with Netanyahu's Wile E. Coyote–type bomb diagram, the leaders of the “Free World” — for reasons known only to them — pretended to find that vewwy vewwy convincing, in an “ironclad proof of official conspiracy theory” kind of way.

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Pluto's Republic's picture

written to Tony Blair and George about this and other cocked-up schemes to convince their respective governments to vote for war with Iraq?

It was one of the first documents yanked from Hillary's server and published by the BBC, etc. Didn't make the news in the US, of course.

The UN as a body of nations were disgusted by the obvious forgeries and lies; they had observers and investigators inside Iraq. They roundly rejected the US and its Poodle.

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____________________

The political system is what it is because the People are who they are. — Plato
joe shikspack's picture

in the evening blues. here's a link to the smoking gun.

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mouselander's picture

cross-posting on Daily Kos. I guarantee they will eat this shit up.

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inactive account

detroitmechworks's picture

Why am I not surprised they went with the usual "Hippie" smear.

Totally ignored the fact that we fund em indirectly, and Dr. Stein specifically called out for us to stop supporting the governments that fund em.

Glad to know the MSM did everything they could to restrict access to the party's message, then when they couldn't get proper smear soundbites went right back to their old calls of "Weak On Defense".

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I do not pretend I know what I do not know.

Alex Ocana's picture

Colonel James Steele. Torture, Murder, Death Squads, Extrajudicial Executions, Disappearances and Whole Villages Massacred. The goal is to foster permanent instability that justifies a permanent US military presence in the Middle East and Central Asia... a policy to foster religious war.

And thats how the seeds of hatred and resentment were sown for the birth of Daesh (so called ISIS).

This is no conspiracy bullshit... this comes from the leaks by Chelsea Manning. Jill Stein will pardon her.

https://www.theguardian.com/world/2013/mar/06/el-salvador-iraq-police-sq...

"US Army Special Forces Colonel James Steele trained Iraqi Shi'ite Jihadi Death Squads to torture and kill thousands of Iraqi Sunni Muslims..." "... It mattered not which side the CIA and Pentagon backed as long as the result was terror and more chaos."

-- F. Wlliams Engdahl in The Last Hegemon (2016)

More than a million USA troops deployed to Iraq, nearly 5000 killed, 34,000 wounded.. and that doesn't count the hundreds of thousends of Iraqis killed and maimed, or the millions of refugees created.

Gen Wesley Clarke said that the role of the US military was to start conflicts, not prevent them. -- Washington Post March 11, 1992.

None of this would have happened if the USA had stayed home. What is being supported by the author of the essay is the Clinton version of the Bush Doctrine, you know the one formulated by Wolfowitz, "preemption": strike first to eliminate even theoretically possible threats, UNILATERAL AGGRESSION.

Note: "Wolfowitz said he has serious concerns about Clinton’s foreign policy but will probably vote for her." -- LA Times

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From the Light House.

elenacarlena's picture

will do nothing to save us from nuts in the US is correct. See http://abcnews.go.com/WN/fullpage/isis-trail-terror-isis-threat-us-25053190

ISIS primarily focused its attention on its regional ambitions prior to the U.S.-led bombing campaign. But as the U.S. and others continue to bombard ISIS targets, the group has repeatedly called on its followers in Western nations to conduct deadly attacks at home.

Gee, ya think it might be something we did? And yet they're busy establishing a caliphate in the ME, not coming here. Anyone who would harm us on their say-so is already here.

Also, a non-state actor does not have to be a country. We are required to act according to the rules of war. The UN charter, article 51, makes it clear that attack is only approved as self defense. This has been interpreted to extend beyond actual attack to imminent threat, but not "we don't like those guys". See my comment above in response to another poster for more. I'll reproduce the links here. Enjoy!

UK legal counsel on UN article 51, http://www.un.org/law/counsel/Bethlehem%20-%20Self-Defense%20Article.pdf

2011 DOJ white paper on why it's OK to go after any "imminent" threat, https://www.law.upenn.edu/live/files/1903-doj-white-paper (we don't adhere to imminence all that well, but the claim is sprinkled all over the place)

Original AUMF, 2001, https://www.gpo.gov/fdsys/pkg/PLAW-107publ40/html/PLAW-107publ40.htm

New AUMF not yet passed, https://www.congress.gov/bill/114th-congress/senate-joint-resolution/29

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SnappleBC's picture

is thinking that something like ISIS could present an existential threat to the United States. But hey, if you want to go down the crazy route, let's try this on for size.

Here's my crazy idea. How about if we stop blowing up their school children and flooding the area with weapons and then wait to see how motivated they are to keep attacking us. Try to remember, we are the original aggressors here.

In the meantime, you can't just declare some 4 letter acronym then decide unilaterally that international law no longer applies because of reasons. We are bombing something like 7 countries right now... without provocation.

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A lot of wanderers in the U.S. political desert recognize that all the duopoly has to offer is a choice of mirages. Come, let us trudge towards empty expanse of sand #1, littered with the bleached bones of Deaniacs and Hope and Changers.
-- lotlizard

detroitmechworks's picture

Extremely Conservative site, that has been described as "decadent and Unethical".

Oh and the founder believes all Liberal bloggers are basement dwelling Dungeons and Dragons Players.

Don't think we want to be believing their spin, since it's dedicated to knocking down anybody who questions neoliberal ideas.

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I do not pretend I know what I do not know.

elenacarlena's picture

Tell me more, baby.

Is this like Death by Chocolate decadent? Yum!

Death by Chocolate-002[1].JPG

Or creepy Josh Duggar decadent? Ew.

So who's up for some D&D? Dibs on the magic Elf!

I think it's okay to look at RW sites. Stopped clockism. Just don't buy in without substantial non-RW proof.

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Hawkfish's picture

You made me think about Josh Duggan and Chocolate cake at the same time. That was cruel!

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We can’t save the world by playing by the rules, because the rules have to be changed.
- Greta Thunberg

elenacarlena's picture

moist, like a frosted brownie. Better than mere cake!

But "conservative decadence" is such an oxymoron I had to inquire.

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lotlizard's picture

I think it's okay to look at RW sites. Stopped clockism. Just don't buy in without substantial non-RW proof.

In fact, it’s more than just okay. To be well-informed, a person pretty much has to include RW sites in their reading now.

Why would I say that? Well, I think of all the supposedly non-RW sites and sources that I used to trust. Sites and sources who, as if a switch had been thrown, suddenly were all in for Hillary, parroting every anti-Bernie lie — quickly proving themselves to be as unprincipled, ideologically blinkered, and unworthy of trust as anyone on the other side.

And then I remember that, come to think of it, the same thing happened with Obama and criticism of his continuation of right-wing Bush administration policies; the same thing happened with Democratic pundit putdowns of Occupy Wall Street — how many times do I have to go through this before I learn?

Democratic party diehard loyalists are functionally RW, just like the “best and brightest” Democratic Cold Warrior elite of the Sixties who sold us the Vietnam War under LBJ.

John Pilger: Silencing America as it prepares for war

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elenacarlena's picture

with a wink and a nod, "Here's what you're supposed to do. Now go sell out."

Diving through the crap for nuggets of truth gold. What fun.

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EdMass's picture

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Prof: Nancy! I’m going to Greece!
Nancy: And swim the English Channel?
Prof: No. No. To ancient Greece where burning Sapho stood beside the wine dark sea. Wa de do da! Nancy, I’ve invented a time machine!

Firesign Theater

Stop the War!

because the rest of them suck really bad. I'll take "ISIS is not a threat to the US" Jill any day over Artillary clinton. If tomorrow we pulled out of the Middle East, Central America and any other country where we have our unwanted noses, it would still take a generation or 2 to clean up our imperialistic name. My Dad taught me when I was a little shaver to stay out of other people's business. And let's face it. The only reason we're involved in other countries business is because of a handful of ultra-rich greedy psychopaths.

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Hawkfish's picture

Or maybe just Artillery (capitalised) is enough?

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We can’t save the world by playing by the rules, because the rules have to be changed.
- Greta Thunberg

detroitmechworks's picture

long and honorable service.
Besides, Hillary wouldn't bother with using us, when the Drones have a precedent.

Suddenly A cadence we used to sing comes to mind though... (Suitably modified)

"What's the sound of Hillary?
Boom, Boom, Boom
Lie, cheat and obfusucate!
Boom, Boom, Boom

What's the sound of Hillary!
Boom, Boom, Boom
Droppin Smears on Everybody!
Boom Boom Boom...

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I do not pretend I know what I do not know.

dewley notid's picture

Did I scare you?

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Nature is my religion; the earth is my temple.

Bollox Ref's picture

I don't understand the problem here. Terrorist groups of various persuasions have being doing things for decades. On a quick glance, Jill Stein sounds about right.

Look, my parents lived through London being bombed by the Germans on a fairly continual basis (Blitz and beyond).......... houses down the road being wiped out, etc., etc. That's an existential threat. Wacky, ISIS adherents doing stuff across a vast country is dreadful, but not the end of the world.

(Edited)

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Gëzuar!!
from a reasonably stable genius.

They'd have to talk about issues like climate change etc.

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Beware the bullshit factories.

Pricknick's picture

LOOK OVER THERE!!!!!

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Regardless of the path in life I chose, I realize it's always forward, never straight.

If all else fails, we can always be afraid of Russia. Or China even.

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native

joe shikspack's picture

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Lenzabi's picture

ISIS is a group foisted on the world by the MIC to justify their pigging out at the trough of taxpayer money. a rather disproportionate amount spent on them and their latest toys to the extent we out spend multiple nations combined in comparison. They did not want a "Peace-time" economy as that would have shrunk their fat pay checks from the Gov't.

Welcome to the Corporate States of Oligarchia.

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So long, and thanks for all the fish

We vote for Trump then? He's the only other non-neocon option.

But I did hear Stein once posed for Playboy and had a pole dancing girlfriend. That concerns me greatly.

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Pluto's Republic's picture

He is despised by both parties, and anything he attempted to do would be sabotaged by the House and Senate.

The American people loathe him, as well. They would fire any representative who worked with Trump.

As President, I doubt the permanent White House staff would even give Trump a key to the Executive bathroom. He would be isolated.

He could sign the Bills sent over by Congress. That's it. His appointments and nominations would be rejected out of hand. The seats would remain empty, like they did for Obama.

Once foreign governments learn that the American people and congress won't speak to him, they will ignore anything Trump has to say. As for the military, they work exclusively for the long embedded Neocons who run State, Defense, and Intelligence. They all went rogue some time ago. They'll coddle Trump along and bamboozle him regularly — just like they do with all presidents.

If Trump was elected, nothing would ever happen because of all the government checks and balances that are in place.

We wouldn't want that.

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____________________

The political system is what it is because the People are who they are. — Plato

my invisible snark tag.

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Pricknick's picture

Swooooosh, but in a good way.

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Regardless of the path in life I chose, I realize it's always forward, never straight.

WheninRome's picture

ISIS isn't an imminent threat. If we back off, someone else will see an opening and out ISIS ISIS.

Meanwhile we are being sold a steaming pile I suspect because our unemployment stats would be in the basement. I think that's the real problem, keeping up appearances to paper over the real economy.

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EdMass's picture


Terrorist suspect 'ordered by Isis to launch Rome attacks'

UPDATED: One of the four people arrested in Italy on Thursday was allegedly given an order from Isis extremists to launch attacks in Rome during the Catholic Holy Year, including on the Israeli embassy.

The order was allegedly made via WhatsApp to Abderrahim Moutaharrik, a kickboxing champion who along with his wife, Salma Bencharki, was arrested in the Lombardy province of Lecco, which lies on the eastern shore of Lake Como.

And th UK Gubmint says:

https://www.gov.uk/foreign-travel-advice/italy/terrorism

Terrorism

There is a general threat from terrorism. Attacks could be indiscriminate, including in places frequented by foreigners.

There are isolated cases of domestic terrorism. Attacks carried out by the extreme left-wing and secessionist groups have generally been aimed at official Italian targets, mainly in the form of small bombs and incendiary devices.

There is considered to be a heightened threat of terrorist attack globally against UK interests and British nationals, from groups or individuals motivated by the conflict in Iraq and Syria. You should be vigilant at this time

WheninRome. You're good. Nothing to worry about. It's all islamophobia. Sleep well.

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Prof: Nancy! I’m going to Greece!
Nancy: And swim the English Channel?
Prof: No. No. To ancient Greece where burning Sapho stood beside the wine dark sea. Wa de do da! Nancy, I’ve invented a time machine!

Firesign Theater

Stop the War!

Is this a credible essay? Looks like a concern troll, outrageous statements.

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