What the Heck was I Thinking!?

In an article at CNN.com - Oliver Stone: ‘I’m ashamed for my country’ - Sep 29, 2006, Oliver Stone is aghast and ashamed that we are still thinking about the worst attack on the US in our 230 year history:

 

"From September 12 on, the incident (the attacks) was politicized and it has polarized the entire world," said Stone. "It is a shame because it is a waste of energy to see that the entire world five years later is still convulsed in the grip of 9/11.

It certainly has polarized the entire world - you’re either with us in the war against the islamo-fascists, or you’re against us.

 

Mr. Stone goes on to add that,

 

"It’s a waste of energy away from things that do matter which is poverty, death, disease, the planet itself and fixing things in our own homes rather than fighting wars with others. Mr. Bush has set America back 10 years, maybe more."

Of course, we’re not doing anything about death and poverty and disease in Afghanistan or Iraq.

 

Mr. Stone thinks we should be more mature and measured in our response to the attacks. Because, in his words, "And I fear that fanaticism is the result of our overreaction to 9/11," said Stone."

Hat tip to Michele Malkin. 

History News Network reports that al Qaeda has lost the propaganda war in Iraq. You would think this was news! Where is it in the American Missed Something Media? Do they not think this might be of interest to their readers and listeners?

I’d bet my next paycheck that if it were so strongly the other way, it would be in 72 point type on the top of every major paper in the country - major here being a euphemism for liberal. Maybe that’s why the Mildly pSychotic Media has been losing readership and viewership over the past 20 years - a lack of balance in their presentation of the news

Robert Kagan in his article More Leaks, Please - washingtonpost.com does a very good analysis of the faulty logic behind the conclusions drawn by both the newspapers reporting and the NIE itself - at least based on reporting about it.

or not. He posts at The Corner on National Review Online regarding the NIE leak and subsequent release.

 

"If the source lies to you or uses you for his own personal motives, then you are released from the pact."

That may be true, but it’s only operative if the reporter and the leaker don’t share the same political agenda.

 

What? Reporters have political agendas!? Say it ain’t so! (h/t to Instapundit)

Thomas Sowell at RealClearPolitics writes about the self-delusional obsession with being "above" all that tawdry brutish behavior we are fighting against by the Left. He concisely and succinctly points out their erroneous thinking throughout his column.

One thing that pops into my mind when I read about their irrational belief systems - look at what Lindsay Graham says about us winning the war because we’re better people - is just what drives an apparently normal human being to think such delusional thoughts? What makes one of these people think that, for example granting Geneva Convention rights to barbarians, is going to get them to change, or get others in the world to think more highly of us? This isn’t a 10-round, Marquis of Queensbury, referee’d bout. These bastards want to kill or enslave us. This stuff is for real! Get a grip, people!

 

I just checked The Fourth Rail today after several days off. I count four entries relating kills or captures in the war against the Islamofascists:

One - al-Qaeda’s Emir of Anbar Province Killed (The Fourth Rail)

Two -

Three -

and Four! 

A good week for the good guys! 

I must confess that I’m startled that the NY Times didn’t print the whole truth about the latest leaked NIE. In fairness, I guess I’d have to allow that the reporter went with what they were shown. Although you’d think a crack reporter from the newspaper of record would try to find out if there were more facts, or an agenda from the leaker… Here’s the link to "In From the Cold, who has more: More of What You Won’t Read in the NYT

(h/t The Anchoress 

The Anchoress posts a link to an article from the NY Post that describes Secretary of State Rice’s response to ex-President Clinton’s disingenuous defense of his job performance. 

Go get ‘im, Condi! 

In a post today at Gates of Vienna: US Intelligence Report: Japan War Breeding More Kamikazes, Baron Bodissey also questions the logic of the allegations made by the MSM about the most recently leaked National Intelligence Estimate. 

Well put! 

At The Corner on National Review Online there is a post by Mario Loyola that looks at the suspicious timing of the most recent leak from the CIA. It has gotten to the point that almost no one believes these leaks are just giving away critical information that the public needs - no, has a right - to know. The attempt at political influence in these leaks raises the issue of CIA meddling in politics as a national security issue. I wonder why the Department of Justice hasn’t started more investigations into the torrent of leaks at least in part simply to defend the American political process.

And, on a parallel topic - who can believe that this naked political agenda in an intelligence agency will help that agency provide sound advice and warning to national policy makers in a time of war? With such an agenda, whether a Democrat or a Republican is elected President, how can one believe that the intelligence product provided that administration hasn’t been cooked one way or the other? If a political opponent to these people is in office, wouldn’t the partisans tend to want to cause the opponent to fail - at the cost of American lives and property? If the partisans’ favorite is in office, wouldn’t the estimates and reporting be molded to show them in the best light, regardless of the true nature of the intelligence? A politically biased intelligence agency would be much like a politically biased polling agency in politics, only on a much more serious and dangerous level. We’re not dealing with winning and losing a political race. We’re dealing with winning and losing a war - a clash of significantly different cultural views of the world.

This inside influence operation has to stop and soon to protect the American people!