Roger L. Simon: Josh Marshall and the Mafia

Is it even worth commenting on Josh Marshall's overheated post about McCain's supposed "gaffe" about the relations between Iran and Al Qaeda in which he informs us McCain is "Unfit to Serve"? I don't read Marshall much but have not noted him to be a Middle East scholar so I am not surprised he is not up to speed on the intricacies of the shifting Iran/Al Qaeda connections that don't always track with conventional Sunni-Shiite dichotomies. He may learn a few things here. But I am surprised he hasn't learned the basic lessons of that great American classic - The Godfather. Al Qaeda and the Iranian Mullahs behave very much like Mafia families. When it's convenient for the families to ally against their enemies, they do. When their enemies are vanquished, they kill each other. Is that too much for Marshall to understand - or shall we buy him another ticket to Pacino? [Somehow I think he doesn't want to hear it.-ed. Somehow I think you're right.]

Comments

Comments require registration through TypeKey. Abusive remarks may be deleted. Opinions expressed do not necessarily reflect the views of Roger Simon.

For McCain to misidentify precisely which group of crazed Islamic loonies is allied with Iran is unforgivable. Every Presidential contender should understand that Hezbollah,Hamas,Al Qaeda and the like always operate in non-intersecting Venn diagrams. Since these groups are always attired in appropriate battlefield garb ("we are all Hezbollah" teeshirts, for example),it is inconceivable how anyone could ever confuse these issues.

How can McCain confuse Al Qaeda and Iran when they are clearly so far apart from each other?

Some people were so confused they said AQ was in Iraq when clearly AQ and Iraq are two different tribes of people. You might as well be talking about Martians and Earthlings getting together. I don't even think AQ speaks the same language as Iraq or Iran.

Does McCain even know how long it takes for a camel to travel from AQ to Iran?
I don't know either, but it must be far; there is no possible way for these people to communicate with each other let alone plot to kill Americans.

Just because they happen to coincide about wanting to kill Americans does not necessarily mean they might want to do it together. AQ are loners, they stick to themselves in caves and dont talk much.

They are two different and distinct enemies separated by thousands of miles of desert.

Just because you got a few Iranians training insurgents in Iraq and you have a few AQ training insurgents in Iraq does not necessarily mean they have crossed paths. I'll give you tree good reasons

#1 Five years since operation Iraqi freedom started is not enough time for them to have come together. They both meet in secret so it's impossible for them to know about each other.

#2 Hello? AQ has weapons systems that do not match Iranian weapon systems. A QA/QC nightmare.

#3 They cannot travel together to Mecca and while at Mecca they stay in separate hotels. Don't ask me why.

I've just finished scouring Google Earth Iraq and Iran, Al Qaeda is no where to be found in or near Iraq nor Iran ;)

The enemy of my enemy is my friend concept has long held sway over Middle Eastern politics. It also influenced our own actions during WWII. The United States fought along the side of the Stalin's Soviet Union. Josh Marshall and his buddies, at the end of the day, are dishonest pacifists. They don't "believe" in war. Conflicts can always be resolved through peaceful means. Those dark skinned groups who are enraged at America are most assuredly victims of our nefarious imperialist policies. "Barry" Obama is presumably the hope to lead American out of the wilderness. The war monger John McCain will only "get them angrier at us." At the end of the day, the United States is the true threat to world peace.

Give it up guys. At this point, even John "Johnny" McCain has acknowledged that he was wrong, and that he "misspoke." (Of course, the fact that he's made the same mistake four times sounds a little more like ignorance than verbal miscues.)

Extra credit, though, for creativity. Pegging your case to an 11-year-old Iraqi intelligence -- always reliable! -- memo that talks about Algerian-Iranian links takes real imagination and chutzpah.

Eh, Rog, if you think McCain was correct about Iran -- I assume that's why you wrote "supposed" -- why, then, did the great man correct himself at the behest of Joe Lieberman?

Pegging your case to an 11-year-old Iraqi intelligence -- always reliable! -- memo that talks about Algerian-Iranian links takes real imagination and chutzpah.

Sometimes it seems like Al Qaeda and the enemy States of the US get a benefit of the doubt usually reserved for juveniles at their first time offence misdemeanor hearing.

'Everybody knows those kids that broke that window were from another neighborhood; our kids don't hang out with those hooligans.'

Right now, because Al Qaeda is on the run and on the verge of getting its ass kicked, I wouldn't be surprised if Iran has divested themselves of all unofficial contacts with Al Qaeda fighters. But a year or so ago, before the drastic change brought about by the McCAIN-backed surge? My money would be betting that Iran was helping everybody who was fighting the U.S. then, and that's including the Al Qaeda fighers. That's just human nature, enemies joining hands temporarily to fight a common enemy. It is incredibly naively stupid to think that an unofficial collaboration between Iran and Al Qaeda had not occurred during the war's hey days. One could split hairs over whether the Al Qaeda fighters actually crossed into Iran or whether the Iranian teams had provided the assistance (i.e. training) within Iraq's borders, but it's the same difference.

Sorry to bother you. Iran, Iraq, Sunni, Shia, Persian, Arab, Kurd -- I know this stuff is complicated for you and Senator McCain.

Look it. Not so long ago, the US was selling arms to the Mullahs. By the Weekly Standard's logic, we should now be worried that the US is secretly backing Iran in Iraq. Is it really so hard to understand why aa 11-year-old Iraqi intelligence memo claiming Algerian terrorist/Iranian ties is hardly dispositive on the issue of Iran's current relations with AQ in Iraq? Listen to Senator Lieberman on this point. He knows what he's talking about.

There's no doubt Iran is a bad actor, and it's a shame our mistakes in the region have enhanced their power. Focus on their real transgressions. Making shit up undermines your case.

The point of the memo is to underline the fact that Iran will cooperate with other parties when it suits their interest.

Anyway - To me the example memo shows that if there is a possibility that there was a link 11 years ago it means that a relationship is further along, the relationship is 11 years old. Not good.

Robert Hansen, Aldrich Ames, Elliot Spitzer managed to do what they did right under the noses of the nerve centers of state troopers, FBI and American Intelligence agencies.

It is not impossible for people to meet, plot and execute without anybody knowing anything.

I guess when Marshall screws up or if we disagree with his positions, we can simply say, Josh Marshall: unfit to blog.

I understand that there are no "operational ties" between Barack Obama and Hiliary Clinton either.

Speaking of complicated the 9/11 Commission stated that Iran was assisting AlQaida. I thought that we were supposed to adopt all the recommendations of that Commission, because they were so wise. They even made a point of stating that Hezbellah was supported by Iran and had operational contact with AlQaida.

As far as that is concerned, one can see Iran involved in the Occupied territories assisting Hamas as well.

I think McCain was referring to the fact that our military intel people have made it plain that Iran is causing trouble in Iraq just about anyway they can, including supporting both Sunni and Shia extremists. Maybe Marshall is just so unimaginative that he can grasp the possibility that maybe our intel people are more trustworthy than the mullahs, but that is one reason that liberals tend to be such dunces when it comes to national security.

BTW, I heard that Obama said that we tolerated a lack of democracy in Pakistan in the hopes of getting stability and got neither.

That sounds like something George Bush would say. But then again, we know that Obama does not mean it. The thing I find interesting about progressives is that they are always more willing to give our enemies the benefit of the doubt, than they are to cut our allies slack.

I wonder if Obama would consider Josh Marshall a "typical white person"? I mean if that distinction is good enough for his own grandmother why not an hysterical blogger?

This is what is so absurd about this whole discussion. McCain mispeaks in a pefectly understandable context and Josh goes crazy.

On the other hand we have Obama hanging out with a hate monger year after year and somehow that says nothing about his judgment.

"TerryeL,
Well said in both posts. You saved me the time of writing it myself.
Thanks.

The 'left' is intellectually bankrupt and will now proceed to implode in a really interesting fashion. Obama or Nothing was their sole position.

Obama is finished. He will do the dance foe a long while longer but he is DOA. He literally flushed his own campaign because he could not see the contradictions of it. Half-smart is possibly the worst thing of all to be. Obama thought he was being 'clever' in giving that speech. I think history will demonstrate that he was only fooling himself.

And Hillary cannot win in November. And probably can't even win the Democratic nomination although I think she might just pull that one out as Obama sinks steadily in the polls.

So a perfectly winnable election cycle is about to go 'south' big-time for the progressives.

I think I will treat it as some sort of reality show. Entertaining in a sordid and disturbing way. And most importantly ---- Free.

Now if only McCain can stop being so mellow the deal will truly be sealed. I can't believe that the McCain we see now is the McCain who told the North Vietnamese to stuff it. That McCain needs to make an appearance at some point. He REALLY does.

This is interesting, maybe Roger could check it out ands see if it is worth pursuing. I saw it over at Strata-Sphere

In his July 22, 2007, church bulletin, Wright reprinted an article by Mousa Abu Marzook, identified in the newsletter as a “deputy of the political bureau of Hamas.” A photo image of the newsletter was captured and posted today by the business blog BizzyBlog. The Hamas piece was first published by the Los Angeles Times, garnering the newspaper much criticism.

Marzook’s original piece was titled, “Hamas’ stand” but was re-titled “A Fresh View of the Palestinian Struggle” by Obama’s church newsletter. The newsletter also referred to Hamas as the “Islamic Resistance Movement,” and added in its introduction that Marzook was addressing Hamas’ goals for “all of Palestine.”

Marzook refers to Hamas’ official charter as “an essentially revolutionary document” and compares the violent creed to the Declaration of Independence, which, Marzook states, “simply did not countenance any such status for the 700,000 African slaves at that time.”

Hamas’ charter calls for the murder of Jews. Among its platforms is a statement that the “[resurrection] will not take place until the Muslims fight the Jews and the Muslims kill them, and the rock and the tree will say: ‘Oh Muslim, servant of Allah, there is a Jew behind me, kill him!’”

But then we shouldn't be too hard on Senator Obama and his friends. After all it is hard to tell the difference between Hamas and the Red Cross or the Christian Children Fund or the Salvation Army......all too complicated for those guys.

There is an old saying about not interrupting your enemies when they are destroying themselves, or something like that.

I don't think McCain is being mellow. I think McCain is biding his time. If he gets involved in this brawl too soon, they will simply revert to blaming everything on that vast right wing conspiracy and forget about destroying each other.

It is 8 long months before the election. Plenty of time for McCain to jump in there.

No I agree that he should simply stay out of THIS meltdown. Why throw gas on a fire that already is out of control ?

My complaint is his manner of speaking. ALL THE TIME. He can't or won't speak well.

He sounds as if he only has one tone, and that is sort of a machine-like drone. No OOOMPH at all. Ever.

I don't think it does him any favors and it is almost impossible to listen to with any degree of interest. Against someone like Obama it will not be pretty.

These are critical skills in our appearance / image based culture. If you can't do these things well --- you really can't WIN. They might not be sufficient, as the Messiah is in the midst of proving, but they sure are necessary.

Again bring back the old John. The new John is not going to seal this deal even with self-destroying opponents.

March 19, 2008: Josh Marshall and the Mafia

Comments

Post a comment

Email This Post