October 13, 2005
THANK HIS SPECIAL PROVIDENCE:
Gore: 'Absolutely no plans' to run again for president (AP, 10/12/05)
Former Vice President Al Gore said Wednesday he had no intention of ever running for president again, but he said the United States would be "a different country" if he had won the 2000 election, launching into a scathing attack of the Bush administration. [...]"We would not have invaded a country that didn't attack us," he said, referring to Iraq.
Yes, in a world where we had a President Gore these folks would still be shredder fodder, Iraq's Shiite Hub Awaits Its Day (Jonathan Finer, October 13, 2005, Washington Post)
Families gather in the festive streets after dark during the holy month of Ramadan, munching sweets after a day of fasting. Iraqi soldiers -- who recently assumed control over Najaf from U.S. forces -- doff their helmets to chat with residents. And throngs of worshipers in this spiritual capital of Shiite Islam, where large religious demonstrations were proscribed under President Saddam Hussein, stroll hand-in-hand under strands of colored lights to pray at the Imam Ali shrine, one of their sect's most sacred sites.Posted by Orrin Judd at October 13, 2005 12:15 PMSuch scenes are impossible to imagine in many other parts of Iraq, where daily violence keeps many people from venturing out except when they absolutely have to.
Since sweeping to power 8 1/2 months ago in the first elections since Hussein's fall, Iraq's long-persecuted Shiite majority has proved all but unstoppable in its quest to remake the country its way. Few places have profited from the ascendancy as much as Najaf, a city of 500,000 awash in reconstruction projects and only intermittently plagued by insurgent attacks. When the country votes again Saturday, this time on whether to approve a draft constitution mostly written by Shiite leaders, Najafis are expected to endorse it overwhelmingly.
"This is my city, my father's city and his father's city, and the golden age will come after the referendum, when we vote yes," said Abbas Moadal, the provincial police chief whose biography parallels his people's difficult rise to power. He helped lead a Shiite uprising that was crushed by Hussein in 1991, then left Iraq as a penniless refugee in 1993. After 12 years of running a dollar store in Detroit, he returned two months ago.
"In Iraq, we are the majority," he said, "and we are finally taking our rights."
speaking of people losing contact with reality:
Tom Friedman mentioned today (in passing, no less) that US tortured prisoners in the GWOT to death (Atl Journal column (10/13)). I think he said 'dozens'.. (it's not in front of me at the moment)
wha??
Somebody needs to get the pajamahadeen going on this !!
"We would not have invaded a country that didn't attack us," he [Gore] said, referring to Iraq.
Hmm, if actuall history of the Clinton/Gore adminstration is any guide, then I'm rather surprised by the above statement. For example: I must have missed the attack on the United States by Serbia. Exactly when did that happen?
One of the stranger aspects of the current controversy over Iraq and the War on Terror in general is how the Left is rewriting / remembering huge chunks of recent history.
Posted by: Pat Phillips at October 13, 2005 1:55 PMPat:
You can't remember actual history and remain a liberal, can you?
Posted by: oj at October 13, 2005 1:59 PMThe Left has no respect for history, it idolizes the future instead.
Posted by: Luciferous at October 13, 2005 2:00 PMUntil the Future happens--then they reject it.
Posted by: oj at October 13, 2005 2:13 PMWe didn't invade Serbia, we just bombed it. Gore never had any problem with bombing other countries. After all, we bombed Iraq numerous times during the Clinton/Gore years. We bombed Afghanistan. We bombed Sudan, for reasons that remain opaque. Gore is like OJ in his love of airpower and his dismissal of infantry.
Posted by: David Cohen at October 13, 2005 2:23 PMthe Sudan bombing worked brilliantly, making them quite compliant in the WoT.
Posted by: oj at October 13, 2005 2:27 PMTo be fair, I doubt Gore shares OJ's attitude towards the use of nuclear weapons.
Posted by: Jim in Chicago at October 13, 2005 4:07 PMJim,
But I'd wager he loves trains, mass transit and gas taxes, though for mostly different reasons than oj.
Gore won't be running? Sorry to hear that.
Posted by: Genecis at October 13, 2005 6:23 PMImgagine! Gore would not have gone to war with Nazi Germany because that country did not attack the U.S.A.
Posted by: George at October 13, 2005 6:48 PMYou won't have Al Gore to kick around anymore.
Posted by: Robert Schwartz at October 13, 2005 9:41 PM