July 20, 2005
THEM IS US (via Kevin Whited):
Mayor blames Middle East policy (BBC, 7/20/05)
Decades of British and American intervention in the oil-rich Middle East motivated the London bombers, Ken Livingstone has suggested.The London mayor told BBC News he had no sympathy with the bombers and he opposed all violence.
But he argued that the attacks would not have happened had Western powers left Arab nations free to decide their own affairs after World War I.
It need hardly be pointed out that implicit in Mr. Livingstone's comments is the idea that the attacks were carried out by Arabs, not Englishmen. Posted by Orrin Judd at July 20, 2005 12:35 PM
Typical liberal. Making excuses like a battered wife.
Posted by: Ali Choudhury at July 20, 2005 1:00 PMThey would have better behaved as Soviet client states? The mayor is an idiot.
Posted by: at July 20, 2005 1:16 PMBeing against all violence is part of the problem. There is just and unjust violence. Only the former can eradicate the latter.
Posted by: Robert Duquette at July 20, 2005 1:43 PMThis guy isn't against all violence. He has explicitly called the suicide bombers in Israel, heroic. He also has endorsed IRA terrorism on several occasions. And I believe he also engaged in physical violence against a Jewish reporter from the Daily Mail.
NYC has elected some clowns like Dinkins and Lindsay and more than a few crooks, like Beame, O'Dwyer, Walker, Wagner, but at least it has never elected someone as purely evil as Red Ken for its Mayor.
Posted by: bart at July 20, 2005 1:58 PMSince when exactly are Pakistanis Arabs ?
Posted by: Peter at July 20, 2005 2:17 PMExcellent question.
Posted by: jim hamlen at July 20, 2005 4:35 PMinteresting metaphor, ali. talk about justified violence, there may be none moreso than that of a battered wife.
Posted by: lonbud at July 20, 2005 4:56 PMIraq was a Soviet client state, and look how that turned out.
Posted by: Michael Herdegen at July 20, 2005 6:45 PMWife-beating is OK but defending America from terrorists isn't? I guess that means our friend lonbud is a radical Muslim.
Posted by: bart at July 20, 2005 8:51 PMlonbud: In case I was being unclear, I meant somebody who'd consistently blame themselves for the violence inflicted on them rather than the perpetrator.
Posted by: Ali Choudhury at July 22, 2005 5:51 AMI thought one of them was some sort of Jamaican? Or did that not pan out?
Apparently, the feds have arrested a couple of alleged Muslim terrorists in LA who joined the religion while in stir. I'll assume, though the report did not say, they are African Americans. (Wild guess).
I don't buy Arab irredentism even by Arabs, and I sure don't buy Arab irredentism by proxy.
It's the religion.