M.J. Rosenberg on that piece of filth, Charles Krauthammer:
Lay aside, for the purposes of this argument, the destruction this war has delivered to Lebanon. Krauthammer has never in his career expressed a word of sympathy for an Arab, anywhere. He hates them all. For him, the only good part of this war is the damage done to Lebanon.
But here's the beauty part. Krauthammer doesn't care about the Jews either. He wants a ground war and if it kills 500 Israeli soldier boys, so be it. Can you imagine. Usually, you can count on Krauthammer to weigh in about Jewish losses at every opportunity. In fact, the mean-spirited Krauthammer only cares about Jews. Or so I thought.
Actually I should have known better. About three years ago, I saw Krauthammer flip out in synagogue on Yom Kippur. The rabbi had offered some timid endorsement of peace -- peace essentially on Israel's terms -- but peace anyway. Krauthammer went nuts. He actually started bellowing at the rabbi, from his wheel chair in the aisle. People tried to "shush" him. It was, after all, the holiest day of the year. But Krauthammer kept howling until the rabbi apologized. The man is as arrogant as he is thuggish. Who screams at the rabbi at services? For advocating peace?
Indeed, who does that? Only a man for whom war is a grand exercise in cleansing those dirty A-rabs. The fact that this conflict features especially high leveles of brutality and suffering is a bonus to people like Charles Krauthammer.
Add in this trenchant comment by Rosenberg:
I think they want Israel and the US to crush the Arabs together. Following the victory, Israel will serve as America's eyes and ears in the region. This is very different from what Israelis want for themselves. Although they differ on policies that will get them there, most Israelis (not the settlers or the religious fanatics) want to make money, have a nice place to live, eat ice cream by the beach and not have to got to war. The neocons dream for Israel is Sparta. The Israelis dream for Israel is West Los Angeles.
http://www.tpmcafe.com/blog/coffeehouse/2006/aug/09/krauthammer_other_enemies_of_israel
Posted by mike at August 9, 2006 02:35 PMSo you find Charles Krauthammer uglier than Al-Zaraqawi, Al-Zawahiri, and Hassan Nasrallah? By that inverted measure Bin Laden could pass for a beauty queen.
Now, I can't imagine that you do honestly consider Mr. Flith -- in his unwavering advocacy of Israel’s self preservation through military action -- to be worse than people directly responsible for the implementation of terrorist acts. But, all the same, it would be heartening if you were to acknowledge some level of culpability within the "Arab World" for the current state of affairs.
Posted by: Cam on August 11, 2006 01:35 PMCam - I still can't figure out what the hell your "inverted measure" system means.
You also have a weird tendency to float the names of varios boogeymen as they become trendy. Hassan Nasrallah, eh? Did you have any idea who this guy was before last month?
Krauthammer has been a cheerleader for every misbegotten US/Israeli adventure for the past two and a half decades. He is a piece of shit, and I'm not going to play this silly game where you challenge me to denouce assorted bad guys. The thing about all those characters you cite is that nobody outside of a few fanatics takes them seriously. Krauthammer, however, writes for the Washington Post. You tell me who has more influence in this country.
And your characterization of this war as "self-preservation" is war propaganda and is rejected.
Posted by: Mike on August 16, 2006 03:22 PMRegarding Nasrallah, a more pertinent question would be: how can you post ostensibly about the situation in Lebanon and not mention Hezbollah? It's not a state secret that Nasrallah is a major power broker in Lebanon and that his organization has antagonized Israel for years.
The immense destruction wreaked in Lebanon is especially troubling and warrants serious discussion. Krauthammer at least has focused upon these issues. To attack the man rather than his ideas is uncompelling.
Posted by: Cam on August 22, 2006 07:00 AM