They say a picture's worth a thousand words. . .
. . . like 'excessive', 'hair product', 'Iron Cross', 'sadist' and, uh,... 'shloop'.
This is Debra Cagan. She's a Deputy Assistant Secretary for Coalition Affairs to US Secretary for Defence Robert Gates. There is a great little newsbreak here in the Daily Mail about how she told a group of visiting British MPs that "I hate all Iranians". Strangely, this hasn't received the coverage and twisting that might happen if, say, an Iranian official commented that the current regime in charge of Israel should be removed from the pages of history.
"She seemed more keen on saying she didn't like Iranians than that the US had no plans to attack Iran," said one MP. "She did say there were no plans for an attack but the tone did not fit the words."
Another MP said: "I formed the impression that some in America are looking for an excuse to attack Iran. It was very alarming."
Also amusing is the observation that
Tory Stuart Graham, who was on the ten-day trip, would not discuss Ms Cagan but said: "It was very sobering to hear from the horse's mouth how the US sees the situation."
I would suggest that he actually is discussing Ms Cagan, but he would have surely referred to 'the horse's ass'. . . and even then that would still be an insult to horses.
And although some people complain that mainstream media really have their priorities wrong, I'm glad that this time - in australia at least - that has not been the case.
Because it is far more important to damn Beyonce for 'snubbing' Malaysia by cancelling her concerts because of Islamic fundamentalists intent on regulating her clothing and choreography choices . . . than to report that US military operations on the Iranian border are being run by a sociopathic bigot.
And although I'll obviously be one of squillions of Australians voting in almost any manner likely to eject our current Board of Detractors and install a government more closely resembling a group of people with souls, Opposition Leader Kevin Rudd has really done damage to his credibility today for anybody willing to really think about it.
The Oz reports that while campaigning in a heavily Jewish Sydney electorate, Rudd committed to trying to bring charges of incitement to genocide against the Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad if Labor is elected at the next election.
This is the most outstandingly stupid thing that Rudd has yet committed to.
1. it's obvious pandering to a boutique interest group
2. it displays a lazy attitude toward fact-gathering (maybe he should consider this reportage of what Ahmadinejad actually said about Israel, this Islamic discussion of what he said in Farsi, this detail of the use of bogus human rights groups to generate anti-Iranian propaganda, this detail of how America is gearing up for another slaughter, or even just Wiki it)
3. any serious legal action against Iran will undo much of the good work that Rudd could achieve through aggressive diplomacy with China because of the Iran - China oil relationship.
4. this legitimises rather than challenges the current US propaganda line which is in effect for no other reason than justifying another illegal attack that has already been planned.
5. it suggests that some important lessons made available by decades of globally disastrous Western policy on Middle Eastern affairs really haven't been learnt.
6. and the idea of Australia pointing the genocide stick at anybody is a stretch, but at somebody who hasn't actually committed or actively encouraged genocide is just tragic.
Perhaps the final wonderful words should go to Professor Gary Leupp in his clarifying discussion of US foreign policy, media, and political values.
If you hate all of them (and are grotesquely ignorant of their vast contribution to human civilization), why not nuke them, and their monuments and treasures, and destroy their 3000 year history, and "wipe them off the map"? Why not prepare public opinion for that shattering scenario, and grind those boot heels into the brains of any sympathizers of those you call "sand-niggers" as you try to spread Bush's gospel of hate?
Thank the Lord for our free trade deal with Uncle Spam - we get 'gospel of hate' at 22% off!
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