I watched an interview of a Maj. General of the US army and I was pretty shocked by how blunt the guy was in his criticism of the war. The guy is certainly no hippy. Both his grand-fathers and his dad served in the army. He’s about as American as applepie and has an immaculate record during his 31 years carrer in the military.
Last year, he realized that he wasn’t serving the interests of the american people by participating in the war and resigned when he was offered a promotion to become the 2nd highest-ranking officer in Iraq. Highly recommended watch.
[i]Major General John Batiste was offered a promotion to become a three-star general, the second-highest-ranking military officer in Iraq. Instead, he quit over the war. After he appeared in a commercial for VoteVets.org, CBS News fired him as a paid news consultant.
MoveOn.org collected 230,000 signatures on a petition demanding he be rehired. In a wide-ranging interview, Maj. Gen. Batiste discusses the Iraq war, calls for the closing of the US prison camp at Guantanamo Bay, says private security firms like Blackwater USA should be investigated and says President Bush has failed by surrounding himself with “like-minded, compliant subordinates.”"[/i]
It’s pretty hard to dismiss such a prominent figure who knows a lot more about the war than the rest of us (and certainly more than Bush and his minions). Any thoughts? Is he on Al-Qaeda’s payroll? Is he not qualified enough to understand the situation? Let me know.
You won’t be seeing any opposing viewpoints on THIS Venezuelan TV station:
"Chavez closing private TV station
Sunday, 20 May 2007 08:37
Tens of thousands of Venezuelans have rallied in the streets of their capital, Caracas, to protest against President Hugo Chavez’s plans to close a private TV station.
The head of the RCTV station, which is allied to the opposition, addressed the marchers, urging them to defend freedom and ‘free independent media’.
President Chavez has said he will not renew a licence for the RCTV network which is due to expire on 27 May."
Confiscates private property and silences opposition…still want to praise this prick, Lixy?
[quote]Headhunter wrote:
You won’t be seeing any opposing viewpoints on THIS Venezuelan TV station:
"Chavez closing private TV station
Sunday, 20 May 2007 08:37
Tens of thousands of Venezuelans have rallied in the streets of their capital, Caracas, to protest against President Hugo Chavez’s plans to close a private TV station.
The head of the RCTV station, which is allied to the opposition, addressed the marchers, urging them to defend freedom and ‘free independent media’.
President Chavez has said he will not renew a licence for the RCTV network which is due to expire on 27 May."
Confiscates private property and silences opposition…still want to praise this prick, Lixy? [/quote]
The TV station supported the 2002 coup against the elected government. I’m not saying what he did is OK, but it certainly wouldn’t have taken that much time anywhere else. AFAIK, it’s always been the prerogative of the government to grant licenses in Venezuela.
It’s a sad day for freedom of speech, but they sure had it coming.
Can we get back to the Major General now? Liberal media and all…
Gen. Batiste strayed from the White House narrative… that there’s magically going to be political solution in Iraq because America bumped up the military presence.
Just remember, the next six months are the crucial period (ad infinitum). Rinse and repeat. It’s always the next six months that will matter the most.
And the ‘terrorists’ in Iraq are going to bump up the violence in order to sway America’s resolve, because there’s an election coming up somewhere, or one just finished somewhere, or maybe just to get more horrific violence stories into the US liberal media. So don’t be swayed, no matter what, because it’s definitely not a civil war.