Dissident Veteran For Peace: Free Muntadhar al-Zaidi!

Dissident Veteran For Peace

"I know of no country in which there is so little independence of mind and real freedom of discussion as in America." —Alexis de Tocquevile. Democracy in America, Book I, Chapter XV.

With a nod to the Most Rev. Dom Helder Camara: When I support Palestinians some call me an 'anti-Semite', when I try to explain why I stand in solidarity with Palestinians they call me a Nazi.

"WAR is a racket. It always has been. It is possibly the oldest, easily the most profitable, surely the most vicious. It is the only one international in scope. It is the only one in which the profits are reckoned in dollars and the losses in lives." —Major General Smedley Butler, USMC (ret.)

"... no one ever seizes power with the intention of relinquishing it. Power is not a means; it is an end." —character of O'Brien in 1984, part 3, ch. 3 by George Orwell.

"Every prophet has realized that nobody loves you for being the enemy of their illusions. Every prophet has realized that most of us want peace at any price as long as the peace is ours and somebody else pays the price. That is why the prophet Jeremiah said, ' "Peace, peace," they say, when there is no peace,' ..." —The Rev. William Sloane Coffin. "Not to Bring Peace, But a Sword."

Thursday, December 18, 2008

Free Muntadhar al-Zaidi!

Nothing gives the lie to the notion of "Iraqi democracy" like the fact that Muntadhar al-Zaidi-- wielder of two size 10 'weapons of mass humiliation'--is still in police custody in Iraq. He is charged with "attacking a head of state" and faces up to two to fifteen years in prison. Zaidi's employer, Iraqi television station Al-Baghdadia, demanded Zaidi's release "in line with the democracy and freedom of expression that the American authorities promised the Iraqi people." Meanwhile, on Thursday, the U.S. diplomats in Cairo asked the Egyptian minister of culture to close the Egyptian offices of Al-Baghdadia.

In lighter news, my high score after ~~two~~ three games of Sock and Awe was ~~a pathetic five~~ nine hits.

Labels: Bush, freedom, Iraq, resistance