Latest horror could destroy President of divided nation

Is this the horror that will finally undo George Bush's presidency? First Nicholas Berg, now Paul Johnson: in two months and in two different countries, two US civilians have been kidnapped and beheaded by their al-Qa'ida-affiliated captors, becoming not only pawns in a deadly geopolitical game but also symbols of the complicated feelings of revulsion unleashed by the Bush administration's "war on terror".

It is hard not to think back to earlier acts of defiance against the might of the United States and wonder if we are not seeing a parallel erosion of presidential authority: the steady drip-drip of casualty figures from Vietnam that proved the undoing of Lyndon Johnson's presidency in 1968, or the corrosive effect of the Iran hostage crisis on Jimmy Carter 12 years later.

We have now witnessed four similar killings of Western civilians in the conflicts unleashed by the attacks of 11 September 2001, starting with Daniel Pearl in Pakistan in January 2002 and including the Italian Fabrizio Quattrocchi in Iraq in April. Even in our jaded, news-saturated age there is something about these cases that bespeaks almost bottomless horror, in a way that the deaths of more than 800 US servicemen in Iraq or the violence and death visited upon thousands of Iraqi civilians have not.

The fact that the images of ritual slaughter have been posted on the internet has only made the brutality more vivid, more palpable - even to those who have not had the stomach or the inclination to watch. This is a propaganda war, fought with images as much as with guns and knives.

http://news.independent.co.uk/world/americas/story.jsp?story=533087

How can you wage war against an idea? We fight ideas with ideas not soldiers. We hope our ideas or ideals are more to the people's liking than thiers.

So sayeth the revisionist net posts that I have seen in the last couple days. No terror attacks on America's shores since 9/11! And the S.A. royals which will do whatever possible for their Bush family friends.

speaking of which

gas went from 1.89 on wed. morning to 1.85 by thursday morning, and as of this morning it was at 1.79

bandar is doing what he can to help bush* - just like he said

bush* didn't even know Paul M. Johnson Jr.'s name --- does bush even care that he couldn't take the time to find out or couldn't be bothered to remember what the name was?

I mentioned this before in another post and it bears mentioning again -- during that brief statement regarding Paul M. Johnson Jr.'s death - bush didn't stammer, he didn't ummmm, he didn't errrrrr, he didn't do the shifty-eye-where's-the-teleprompter look

he spoke very clear and looked right into the camera.

so why is it that the only time this man can speak clearly and look directly at the camera is when he's talking about blood, guts, death and destruction?

meanwhile Paul M. Johnson Jr.'s body is still missing

Reputed Saudi al-Qaida Leader Said Killed in Shootout
http://aolsvc.news.aol.com/news/article.adp?id=20040618051109990004
Body of Kidnapped American Still Not Recovered
By SALAH NASRAWI, AP

RIYADH, Saudi Arabia (June 19) - Saudi TV broadcast pictures Saturday of four bloodied bodies of four suspected militants, including the al-Qaida chief in the kingdom, who were shot to death hours after killing American Paul M. Johnson Jr.

Saudi officials said Johnson's beheaded corpse still has not been found, contradicting earlier reports that it was dumped outside the capital, Riyadh.

--snip--

He said initial reports from Saudi officials that the militants were traced after a witness saw them dumping Johnson's body were incorrect.

''We haven't found (Johnson's) body yet,'' al-Jubeir said, adding that security agents were searching the northern outskirts of Riyadh. ''We think we know the area where it is,'' he said.

in a snippet of * on the news that he was saying "Paul" like he was his best friend. Why not Mr. Johnson? or Paul Johnson? Sickening, isn't it? :puke:

that Bush initially forgot Paul Johnson's last name the first time he mentioned it because he said "Paul...." and paused a few seconds before continuing. Later he refered to to him haltingly as only "Mr. Johnson", as if he forgot the "Paul" part.

:shrug:

;-)

"why is it that the only time this man can speak clearly and look directly at the camera is when he's talking about blood, guts, death and destruction?"

Because it was not a surprise? It was in the script for a long time? Because he had lots of time to rehearse?

'scuz me, there are agents at the door wanting to talk to me about my attitude...

it wasn't rehearsed enough because he forgot Paul M. Johnson Jr's. name...

actually I don't think this little answer was rehearsed... if you are able to go back through clips where he talks about terra-dying-bombs etc. he speaks quite clearly

when he lies or tries to fudge an answer you get the errrrs, ummms, stammer stammer and the darting eyes looking for help from handlers

"Paul Johnson" is a tough name to remember! He wanted to be sure he didn't call him "John Paulsen" or something. Besides, he'd just gotten up to level 23 on Nintendo when they interrupted him to say he had to go out and talk to a bunch of stupid old reporters.

will Paul M. Johnson Jr.'s death effect them?


http://www.pollingreport.com/

The Harris Poll. June 8-15, 2004. N=991 adults nationwide. MoE ± 3.
"How would you rate the overall job President George W. Bush is doing as president: excellent, pretty good, only fair, or poor?"
http://www.pollingreport.com/BushJob.htm
Excellent/Pretty Good..... Only Fair/Poor...... Not Sure/Refused

6/8-15/04 ....50 49 1
4/8-15/04 .... 48 51 1

Pew Research Center for the People & the Press survey conducted by Princeton Survey Research Associates International. June 3-13, 2004. N=1,806 adults nationwide. MoE ± 2.5.
http://www.pollingreport.com/BushFav.htm
"Now I'd like your views on some people and organizations. Would you say your overall opinion of George W. Bush is very favorable, mostly favorable, mostly unfavorable, or very unfavorable?"

Very Favorable.... Mostly Favorable.... Mostly Unfavorable.... Very Unfavorable.... Never Heard Of.... Can't Rate

6/04 19 33 23 22 - 3
2/04 21 32 19 25 0 3

When the polls dip and ther is especially bad news for the junta, someone loses their head.

when Nicholas Berg was beheaded

which surprised me -- I had expected them to get a bump from people getting p.o.'ed at the terrorists who did it

instead - they got p.o.'ed at bush*

Johnson's death may give bush* a bump because Johnson was abducted and killed is S.A., whereas Berg was killed in Iraq -- this might make the difference between a bump and a dump for gump

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Those three words sum up his idiocy. There has never been a president as cold and evil as *.