Endorsement – Moon of Alabama

October 18, 2004

Endorsement

Together with Putin’s endorsement for Bush today, a qualitative equivalent testimony by Abu Musab ~~Goldstein~~ al-Zarqawi emerged today.

An Arabic written message was posted on several Islamist websites and message boards and is said to be Zarqawi endorsing Osama bin Laden.

“We announce that the Tawhid wal Jihad (One God and Holy War) Group, its prince and soldiers, have pledged allegiance to the sheikh of the mujahideen Osama bin Laden,”

[The Islamist websites do not use Christian Web Hosting and real Christian IP addresses. As General Boykin explained, the IP addresses used were “only idols” and the postings could therefore not be tracked back to the poster.]

With today’s announcement there is now final proof for the prophetic abilities of George W. Bush and his administration.

Powell soothsaid to the UN on February 5, 2003:

We know these [Al Queda] affiliates are connected to Zarqawi because they remain, even today, in regular contact with his direct subordinates

Three days ago, anticipating today’s evidence, Powell even put Zarqawi on the State Department’s terror list.

Now Zarqawi’s connection to Al Queda is proven beyond doubt. The statement is in Arabic, posted on the Internets, it includes his name and, most conclusive, US officials say it is credible.

Endorsing Mr. Zarqawis help in the election process White House spokesman Trent Duffy said in Washington:

“This underscores once again why Iraq is the central front in the war on terror,” .. “It’s also proof positive of why the president’s firm resolve to fight terrorists overseas so we don’t face them in America’s neighbourhoods is the only clear way to prevail.”

The flypaper theory, now officially endorsed as No. 10 on the List of Iraq War rationales cited by Bush administration.

UPDATE:
Atrios asks what Kerry’s response to Bush capturing Zarqawi should be.

The build up of Zarqawi as the current Goldstein and now his connection to AlQueda could be the hint that they already have someone they can present as a captured Zarqawi.

CNN has a picture with this recent article of a man supposed to be Zarqawi. The picture has the copyright notice of AP/Department of State. It is significant different from the picture in Powells UN presentation.

Where does this new picture come from, why has it not been in the UN presentation and how do they know it is Zarqawi?

Posted by b on October 18, 2004 at 17:41 UTC | Permalink

Comments

Found this on another blog.
Intelligence doesn’t come wrapped up like a Tom Clancy novel with a beginning, middle and an end. Intelligence comes in bits and pieces, from numerous sources. It is collected by thousands of agents and analysts in numerous agencies over prolonged periods of time. These thousands of scattered tidbits must be pieced together to form a coherent picture.
Before the 9/11 attacks, an FBI agent in Minneapolis discovered a suspicious Muslim taking flying lessons but not wanting to know how to take off or land. That was an intelligence success. Another FBI agent in Phoenix uncovered several Muslim suspects in flight schools. That was an intelligence success. Their discoveries were ignored. That was a leadership failure.
There were numerous analysts in several intelligence agencies who had concluded that Iraq did not possess “weapons of mass destruction.” That was intelligence success. They were ignored. That was leadership failure.
Others knew Iraq was not a partner in the 9/11 attacks. That was intelligence success. They were ignored. That was leadership failure.
Ambassador Joseph Wilson was sent to Africa to check out stories that Iraq was seeking processed uranium for a nuclear-bomb project. He found no truth to the stories. That was intelligence success. The administration ignored him and launched a character-assassination attack against him. That was leadership failure.

Posted by: Cloned Poster | Oct 18 2004 21:27 utc | 1

Just seen the update.
You could be right Bernhard……….. a proxy Zarqawi………. but what’s new?

Posted by: Cloned Poster | Oct 18 2004 21:29 utc | 2

How long before the lightbulb blinks and we figure out that this is all a setup, from the beginning.
As long as our beloved gang of criminals owns all the planes and tanks and troops, we have no way of saying, “wait a minute, where’d you get that?”
While we’re on the subject, isn’t it a bit cute that Saddam was caught in a hole, all drugged up and cruddy-lookin? Do we have any credible confirmation that this body is really him? Or that the real Saddam is not in a fine safehouse somewhere?
For the record, I believe NOTHING said by the govt.

Posted by: rapt | Oct 18 2004 22:05 utc | 3

Goldstein?
Who is Goldstein?
If this is a hint of anti Semitism, I strongly disapprove. Not all Jews support the madness in the Middle East. I take exception to your assuming that a Jewish person was posing as Zarquawi (if he is alive, and exists.)
Shame on you for damning when you have no proof. You are just as bad as the people you are decrying.

Posted by: albatross | Oct 18 2004 23:59 utc | 4

@albatross,
A little behind on your reading assignments? I suggest a visit to Room 101.

Posted by: biklett | Oct 19 2004 0:13 utc | 5

Shame on you for damning when you have no proof. You are just as bad as the people you are decrying.
Albatross: You might at least try looking it up before indulging in wild, irresponsible accusations of pseudo-anti-semitism. (What made you assume “Goldstein” was automatically Jewish??) A simple Google search would have got you the following as the first match:
Emmanuel Goldstein
As for the rest, talk about rapid, sequential leaps of logic! That clincher above was certainly a FAR cry from the initial “IF this is a hint of anti Semitism …”.
Now aren’t you thoroughly embarrassed?

Posted by: JMFeeney (USA) | Oct 19 2004 0:48 utc | 6

Berhard: The “Goldstein” tag certainly fits. Zarqawi has been blamed for virtually all the evils of Iraq by this fraudulent administration. Personally, I suspect he’s being “groomed” by the Bush Regime as Bin Laden’s replacement bogeyman, possibly because it’s lookng ever MORE unlikely that US troops in Afghanistan will be able to capture UBL.
The AP / State Department photo indeed looks only loosely like an AFP photo I have — close, but no booby prize! (I’ll see if I can re-locate the link.)

Posted by: JMFeeney (USA) | Oct 19 2004 0:57 utc | 7

Here’s the link to actually TWO additional photos from a BBC News Profile on Zarqawi.
I certainly wouldn’t be willing to swear the same guy was depicted in all three.
Note: I have mirrored the images, as well, just in case one had been reverse-printed. (Faces are generally asymmetrical.) But no difference. The nose and forehead in the AP/State Department pic look quite wrong, compared to the other two.

Posted by: JMFeeney (USA) | Oct 19 2004 1:22 utc | 8

A little behind on your reading assignments? I suggest a visit to Room 101.
And it definitely ain’t the reading room.
IMO, the picture of Bedouin Zarqawi in JMFeeney’s BBC link looks somewhat like the State Department picture. If I recall, he spent some time in Europe, so maybe he was trying to blend in.

“It’s also proof positive of why the president’s firm resolve to fight terrorists overseas so we don’t face them in America’s neighbourhoods is the only clear way to prevail.”

Thanks to Dear Leader’s “firm resolve”, increasing numbers of Iraqis are joining al-Tawhid, something that could not have happened under Saddam, according to Juan Cole. And makes ol’ Duffy so sure the terrorists won’t just ignore the bait and slip across the border to attack a less well defended American target?

Posted by: Harrow | Oct 19 2004 4:20 utc | 9

Not everyone sees things in the same light
as the Moon of Alabama habitués, not even
those capable of writing a cogent statement
of their position. An extreme case is
that of Spengler
while
Venik who previously gave interesting
postings on the early engagements in the American military campaign in Iraq, now offers some insight regarding Putin’s endorsement of the incumbent puppet.

Posted by: Hannah K. O’Luthon | Oct 19 2004 5:11 utc | 10

Goldstein… ROFL! That’s excellent, Bernard.
And Albatross, have you never read George Orwell’s “Nineteen Eighty-Four”? Are you pretending to be silly? I hope that’s the case, but if not… Emmanuel Goldstein is the brute wholly-invented enemy of Big Brother. Never dead, always threatening the “security and safety” of the people of Oceania. His photo, big and ugly, is played prominently for the weekly Four Minutes Hate, so all the outer party members can get their needed patriotic catharsis.
Read the book. You’ll like it. 😉
Okay everyone. Back to your cubicles.

Posted by: Kate_Storm | Oct 19 2004 5:16 utc | 11

And so I wonder, why has’nt there been the smallest peep or even a squeak over the continued bombing of Christian churches in Iraq? One would think the religious right here in the US would be foaming at the mouth over this, I would have thought that General (torture advocate & Christian) Boykin would have assumed at least some tokin defense posture on behalf of the Iraqi Christians. Funny how they turn their allegence away, when there is no political gain to be made. Or maybe it is, because they are, Iraqi.

Posted by: anna missed | Oct 19 2004 8:22 utc | 12

Point taken. Yes, I read 1984, AND “Brave New world” and was not pretending to be silly. I AM highly stressed and very worried about what is going on.
There has been a significant increase in Anti-Semitism lately due to the continued obscenities in the Middle East. I’ve gotten worrisome reports from some European friends on what is going on there. I forgot about the literary ‘Goldstein’ and assumed that this was a story akin to the ones I’ve been reading about “Mossad agents” being captured in New Zealand and Savannah, Georgia.
I don’t know if reading 1984 right now would be a comfortable experience. I know that we are living it.

Posted by: albatross | Oct 19 2004 8:27 utc | 13

Oh, sure, Europeans are already setting up concentration camps, that’s pretty clear, isn’t it? As Sharon said, the only safe solution is for every European Jew to flee to Israel, huh?
Hannah: Is it me or is Spengler bordering psychotic? Yeah, 20th century would’ve been great if Europe had been ruled by Prussia from 1906. Doesn’t he realise that the US would’ve been at war with Prussia sooner or later, and would’ve probably lost, because the 2nd Reich would’ve been more powerful and the US would’ve had fewer allies?
Oh well, I’m gonna do like Terry Jones in an old Guardian article, complaining that my annoying neighbor is a threat to my security, and pre-emptively attack him. In fact, I’ll follow Spengler’s advice that everyone who may in the future be a risk to me is a legitimate target, and I’ll kill every single person I’ll ever meet for the rest of my life. That makes just as much sense…

Posted by: CluelessJoe | Oct 19 2004 8:55 utc | 14

Clueless Joe
No, it’s not you. Spengler is psychotic – not even borderline.
I don’t have enough time to deconstruct what this guy is on about – he is either a composite or someone who has spent his life in esoteric study to justify his xenophobia and deep-seated racism.

Posted by: DM | Oct 19 2004 12:16 utc | 15

@ Clueless Joe and DM
Well, at least Spengler isn’t dishing out the usual pious mush. As one who invariably “misses the point” I can’t help wondering
if Spengler is engaging in an extended display of irony, and laughing up his (or her) sleeve at all those who take it seriously.

Posted by: Hannah K. O’Luthon | Oct 19 2004 12:46 utc | 16

Re Spengler:
Isn’t it Thai?
“shuak gai hi ling do” == “Cut the chickens throat and let the monkeys watch”
Here are some of my Chinese proverbs:
“If a son is uneducated, his dad is to blame.”
“Lift a stone only to drop on your own feet. ”
“How can you put out a fire set on a cart-load of firewood with only a cup of water? ”
“Even a hare will bite when it is cornered.”

Posted by: MarcinGomulka | Oct 19 2004 13:08 utc | 17

Brooks, today: “The truth, however, is that voters are not idiots.”
Sadly, and how frequently we forget, Americans on average are pretty dull-witted when it comes to ‘reality-based reality.’

Posted by: slothrop | Oct 19 2004 15:57 utc | 18

Ha, and here I was thinking that al-Zarqawi had a wooden leg, a Jordanian accent, and was dead. He was killed around my last birthday, March 2004. The death was caused by a combination of US bombs and the leg: the one causing a murderous blast, the other preventing rapid movement.
Corpses still carrying out their duties, too cool.
But then, I haven’t tracked this latest terrorist montage, perhaps the news of his death was false. All I remember is that Zarqawi was announced as a member of the team that killed Nick Berg, but he cannot have been present as his artificial leg, the tatoo on his hand, and his Jordanian accent were not discernable on the video tape. It is quite unlikely that he would have put an American trainer shoe on his false foot and managed to move the leg in a life-like fashion. Max Factor CoverAllUp on the hand seems rather odd as well.
The US has not been able to produce a live Khalid Sheik Mohammed, reportedly being held at a secret location in Jordan according to recent news (existence of secret prison denied by the Jordanians, ha ha.) The 9/11 report quotes KMS on many points. Reading parts of it my conviction that the info therein actually came from Ramsi Bin al-Shib (held in Gitmo) grew.

Posted by: Blackie | Oct 19 2004 17:31 utc | 19

Anti-Semitic racism, Switzerland.
In years 95 – 02, 218 complaints were filed under the ‘anti-racist’ law. The pop. of CH is around 7 million.
56% were “classed”, that is, interrupted – complainant never showed or gave up, Judge threw it out, etc. – or lead to acquittals. Only 93 cases lead to some sort of mild punishment.
One quarter of complaints concerned verbal insults (e.g. You filthy *** etc.), and these don’t really fall under the anti-racist propaganda law. The acts have to be public, have to incite to hatred, have to be addressed to a large audience in some way (e.g. radio speech, pamphlet), have to have some kind of weight or permanent nature, etc. – it is all very vague and I don’t know the exact terms of the law, and more importantly, how it is interpreted by the courts.
Certainly, calling someone “a bloody wog” when that person stole the parking place you were aiming at – picking something rather old fashioned and innocuous on purpose – has no chance of leading to reparation for the insultee or jail time for the perp!
The groups targetted, and symmetrically the complainants, concern:
1) about 25 % Jews and/or Israelis; 2) Refugees and assorted or any foreignors (13%); 3) Blacks (11%); 4) Unspecified right-wing neo-nazi kind of stuff (9%), and then, all for very small percentages:
People from Eastern and Southern EU (“Albanians”, “effen fish eaters” – the Portuguese, though the stats. don’t specify that), Muslims and/or Ay-rabs, Whites, the Swiss, Gipsies, and Asiatics.
In about 31% of complaints it was not possible to identify a target group. (e.g. Scr** you all!)
In CH, discrimination is rampant, and it affects, not in order: foreignors (institutionalised, legal racism), young people (modern times), women (traditional, but regulated by different legislation), refugees and asylum seekers (also institutionalised), homosexuals (much violence towards then, while many laws protect them), and subtly and insidiously, people from the “fourth world” – le quart monde, that is, the lower-class unemployed or uncooperative.
The 218 cases brought have not made even the tiniest dent on any real issue.

Posted by: Blackie | Oct 19 2004 17:40 utc | 20

Putin stikes me as the same as Bush, a greedy authoritarian oligarch, perhaps totalitarian. What did he get from the US administration in exchange for repeating the neocon crap about the terrorists wanting Bush to lose? Bush is the terrorists’ best recruitment tool.

Posted by: gylangirl | Oct 20 2004 1:56 utc | 21

gylangirl: easy, he got the oil barrel at 55$, twice as much as when W came to power. That means billions more for Russia. Same goes for Iran, who openly endorsed Bush yesterday.

Posted by: CluelessJoe | Oct 20 2004 10:23 utc | 22

He can beat the Chechens up with impunity and keep their oil for Mother Russia.

Posted by: Blackie | Oct 20 2004 16:57 utc | 23

@gylangirl
Careful and don’t take all this stuff at face value. Putin may be a dictator, etc. but I am sure he is a Bush enemy in the ways that matter. They are fighting over the scraps of oil and hegemony left lying about, a serious fight.
It has been said today that our beloved CIA was instrumental in the recent school massacre. Who supposedly calls the shots there? Um it is your very own Dub, although I doubt he had much to do with the decision.
I hear often that Russia is standing by Iran and its oil contracts, etc, as a buffer against wild neocon attack plans.
Bush and Putin are not buddies; of this I am quite certain.

Posted by: rapt | Oct 20 2004 17:21 utc | 24

Bush relatives for Kerry – because blood is thinner than oil

Posted by: Fran | Oct 20 2004 18:08 utc | 25

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