Salon's Joe Conason: "Get out of Baghdad"

http://www.salon.com/opinion/conason/2005/07/08/london/print.html

Get out of Baghdad

The London bombings should spur Bush and Blair to pull out of Iraq and renew the fight against our real enemies.

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By Joe Conason

July 8, 2005  |  Responding appropriately to the atrocities in London means mourning the dead and caring for the wounded, declaring defiance to terrorism, and proclaiming support for every effort to find and punish the perpetrators. On those matters we should all be able to agree and unite, just as we did on Sept. 11, 2001. But this isn't Sept. 11 anymore. Americans and our traditional allies have come a long way since then, at great cost in blood and money -- while the unity that sustained us after the 9/11 attacks has been squandered in a dubious war and partisan politics.

George W. Bush and Tony Blair will understandably try to bolster their waning popularity with rallying cries against acts of terror. Their initial reactions to the London bombings were simple expressions of resolve, but we may soon hear them claim that this sickening assault proves the wisdom of their decision to invade Iraq.

The president, prime minister, and their surrogates will remind us that the war on terrorism is a global struggle with an enemy that respects no borders. Their sonorous phrases will be intended to silence those of us who believe that the war in Iraq is, at best, a distraction from the war to extirpate al-Qaida, and, at worst, an incitement of new terrorists.

Such tactics will no doubt resonate on the authoritarian right, where questioning the commander in chief is tantamount to treason. But sooner or later the hard questions will have to be answered, and when they are, the hollowness of the arguments used to justify the war in Iraq will be exposed.

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courageous voices on the Left. And, he's a wonderful writer. We on the Progressive side of things are lucky to have him with us.

I love Joe!

TC

Every single time I see him on some TV talk show with an opposing party he pretty does the demolishing. The GOP hit men are afraid of him. They can not intimidate him because he knows what he is talking about and able to express himself well. He pretty much calls them on their BS each and every time.

The Al Franken Show

http://www.airamericaradio.com/

Today on The Al Franken Show, George Packer, a staff writer for the New Yorker and author of many books including, "The Assassins' Gate: America in Iraq" stops to chat with Al and Katherine about the terror attack in London, the war in Iraq and other issues. Don't miss today's Wait, Wait Don't Lie to me Show, with judge Joe Conason. Joe is a columnist for Salon.com and The New York Observer and the investigative editor at the American Prospect magazine.

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Carry on Joe Conason!!!

:yourock:

Talking about the above Salon column.