Thread: The Obama Cult of Personality

Originally Posted by USCitizen

Didn't Powell present some sort of proof to the UN General Assembly, in the form of satellite pictures, to prove Iraq had WMDs?

Yes. And he waved a vial of anthrax around, too.

No one really knows what they had. There was a large convoy of trucks headed out of Iraq before we attacked them. That may be what this whole Syria deal is about.

Originally Posted by OldmanDan

No one really knows what they had. There was a large convoy of trucks headed out of Iraq before we attacked them. That may be what this whole Syria deal is about.

There are more than a few folks that think this very thing... and think that this is why Obama won't go into Syria.

Wouldn't do to have this president find the goods that would destroy 10 years of his party's reason for being...

Originally Posted by tsquare

You've read me writing it here for a long time.

You laughed... maybe a little uncomfortably... when I post this picture:


Attachment 14020


This week the media gives rise to new proof that for them Obama is Christ, with this, the latest messianic-themed Newsweek Obama cover is only online.:

Attachment 14021

Record unemployment, trillion dollar deficits, unsustainable debt... Oh wait... they either don't care about that stuff or actually like it. Start over then:

GITMO still open, Drones killing people all over the world, rendition still taking place, the (hated) Patriot Act re-authorized and strengthened, un-declared wars all over and these liberal idiots in the media are still worshiping this angry radical street thug.

Maybe they don't care about that anymore either.

At least you won’t be insulted with this crap when you stand in line at the supermarket.

Your thoughts?

What I think is that you should spend less time watching FOX.

Originally Posted by USCitizen

Didn't Powell present some sort of proof to the UN General Assembly, in the form of satellite pictures, to prove Iraq had WMDs?

No. Powell presented some photos that he said was evidence of WMDs. He didn't provide any proof and it was obvious that he was not real comfortable presenting the data. Basically, he didn't believe it but he was a good soldier and his Commander and Chief wanted him to do this.

It was obvious that Saddam didn’t have WMDs. Saddam was a brutal dictator but he wasn’t stupid. Looking down the barrel of the US Army was reason for him to make damn sure that he didn’t have any WMDs.

We had no proof and we were asking Saddam to prove that he didn’t have them. How do you prove that you don’t have something when the other side just keeps saying that they just haven’t found the proof that you did. It’s like proving that there aren’t any aliens.

Originally Posted by zip98053

No. Powell presented some photos that he said was evidence of WMDs. He didn't provide any proof and it was obvious that he was not real comfortable presenting the data. Basically, he didn't believe it but he was a good soldier and his Commander and Chief wanted him to do this.

It was obvious that Saddam didn’t have WMDs. Saddam was a brutal dictator but he wasn’t stupid. Looking down the barrel of the US Army was reason for him to make damn sure that he didn’t have any WMDs.

We had no proof and we were asking Saddam to prove that he didn’t have them. How do you prove that you don’t have something when the other side just keeps saying that they just haven’t found the proof that you did. It’s like proving that there aren’t any aliens.

You certainly don't prove it by banning inspectors in particular areas of the country. Again, we don't know what they had before we got there, only what we found after we got there.

Originally Posted by jpn

Were you even sentient during the 2000 election, where the idiotic George W Bush was presented to the public by a fawning media as a genuine, down-to-earth kind of guy that you'd like to have a beer with? (A poor association, considering he was a recovering alcoholic, but still, that was the meme.) Meanwhile, the media slammed Gore for being a stiff, elitist boor who exaggerated his accomplishments, such as inventing the Internet. (In fact, it was the media that exaggerated these stories and even made some up--but it played to the received wisdom, so they got published).

Then the fawning media gave Bush's administration all the credibility it could ever wish for, allowing such over-the-top idiocy as his "axis of evil" speeches to go unchallenged by reality as he drummed up support for a totally uncalled-for invasion of Iraq.
Eventually the media began to realize that our nation was in the hands of a bunch of looney-tunes who had gotten us into an unnecessary war and screwed it up, lying through their teeth all the while, while transforming a surplus into a deficit. So sometimes some of them wrote some less fawning articles about the worst presidency in our lifetimes.
For which the far right will never forgive the "liberal media."

Yes I was sentient back in 2000, but not into politics all that much at the time. Been watching is much closer in more recent years.

Originally Posted by AdamKadmon

In terms of torture, I recall them softballing it. In fact, for a long time The New York Times (!) wouldn't even call it torture, using the Bush administration's Orwellian "enhanced interrogation" euphemism. Abu Grhaib got some play, because there were pictures.
But in the run-up to the Iraq war, Bush was making claims that were... um... dubious, and the media (with very few exceptions) went along with it. Even The New York Times (again!!!) via Judith Miller, actually passed along Bush administration propaganda. This was true even though there was plenty of reason, as the good folks at McClatchy figured out, to question Bush's narrative. Hell, I was originally in favor of invading Iraq... until I did some research on my own and discovered that we were being lied to.

The Killian Memos was during Bush's re-election campaign against Kerry. The stuff I'm referring to vis-a-vis Al Gore is the internet, Love Canal, etc. Beyond that, there were all the criticisms by the "liberal" media about Gore's campaign style (too stiff!) and clothing (tight pants!) and all sorts of stupid stuff.

Everybody is biased and memory is frighteningly fallible. This is true for all of us. Cognitive dissonance, confirmation bias, these are incredibly powerful psychological forces. I try my best to guard against it, but even so, there have been times here (and elsewhere) when I have disputed a conservative's account of a past event... only to discover that they were right and I was wrong. (And my memory certainly isn't improving as I get older.)

Yeah, initially in the post 9/11 era, pretty much everyone's 'gloves came off' I guess. This would have also been the case for the enhanced interrogation coverage, or lack there of. Much more uproar about that later. (The press trying to have it both ways? First not reporting, and then outrage later when it suits them?)

Oh yeah, Gore did invent the Internet. Forgot about that. That's a dim memory, misspoken I'd wager. Don't remember the Love Canal issue, thought that was cleaned up by then. Isn't that back from the 60's?

I'd have to agree with the bolded. Such is the fallability of humans in general.

Originally Posted by USCitizen

Didn't Powell present some sort of proof to the UN General Assembly, in the form of satellite pictures, to prove Iraq had WMDs?

From what I recall, the reporting and information at that time, from multiple countries intelligence sources, all had indicators that Iraq had WMDs, with the Yellow cake story, many jumped to the conclusion that it was nuclear, but probably it was chemical. Sadaam did in fact use chemical weapons against the Kurds, couple that with some of the left over missles that he had which did in fact reach Israel during the gulf war, and I can see why one would want to go in and clean out that rats nest.

Last that I heard, it was thought that Sadaam shipped all the remaining stockpiles over to Syria. Wondering if they are still around (if they really are there), and when that guy is going to use them on his rebels.

Originally Posted by OldmanDan

No one really knows what they had. There was a large convoy of trucks headed out of Iraq before we attacked them. That may be what this whole Syria deal is about.

Nice try, but Syria has long had its own chemical weapons program.

Originally Posted by AdamKadmon

Nice try, but Syria has long had its own chemical weapons program.

And that somehow means that Sadam could not have trucked loads of WMD's int Syria before we attacked?

Originally Posted by eohrnberger

Oh yeah, Gore did invent the Internet. Forgot about that. That's a dim memory, misspoken I'd wager. Don't remember the Love Canal issue, thought that was cleaned up by then. Isn't that back from the 60's?

Gore didn't invent the internet. The point is, he didn't claim to.

The Love Canal thing was about him (supposedly) claiming to have discovered Love Canal, which he also didn't claim.

This stuff, perpetuated by the "liberal" media, led to the meme (although nobody used the word "meme" in those days) that Gore was a serial liar, which undoubtedly hurt him in the campaign.

I'd have to agree with the bolded. Such is the fallability of humans in general.

Amen, brother.

Originally Posted by OldmanDan

And that somehow means that Sadam could not have trucked loads of WMD's int Syria before we attacked?

If you want to cling to that fairy tale, you are welcome to, but I was responding to your point that this "may be what this whole Syria deal is about." My point is that concern over Syria's chemical weapons would exist, regardless.

Originally Posted by AdamKadmon

If you want to cling to that fairy tale, you are welcome to, but I was responding to your point that this "may be what this whole Syria deal is about." My point is that concern over Syria's chemical weapons would exist, regardless.

Iraq Chemical Weapons Moved to Syria Before 2003 Invasion? | USNI Blog

Many Of Syria's Chemical Weapons May Have Come From Saddam Hussein's Iraq - Investors.com

World Threats » Did Iraqi WMD Go to Syria and Other Countries?

Originally Posted by AdamKadmon

Nice try, but Syria has long had its own chemical weapons program.

So did Saddam.

But where did all of his WMD go once it was clear the inspectors were coming and/or the American troops were coming? We know with surety he at least gassed his own Kurdish citizens ... and our troops found the labs and empty bomb casings. Those things don't just disappear of their own volition: They have to be transported. So, since we can assume the convoys of which Dan speaks weren't carrying food (he was still under an embargo, so not likely he'd be sending food to Syria) or Medicine. It could not likely be expected to have been water or computers.

What was in the convoy and where did his WMD go?