The world is our permanent military base

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Playing the roles of the Quiet Americans today are Michael O’Hanlon and Omer Taspinar:

Time for Kurdish Realism

[…]

Why would the United States even want bases in Kurdistan? If it ever goes to war against Iran, numerous other countries are better positioned, being adjacent to international waterways and airspace. Those countries may not all be as pro-American as Iraq’s Kurds, but if the threat posed by Iran grows, some will probably make common cause with the United States.

Yep, sorry there Kurds, but we’re going to deny you the honor of being America’s official airstrip for our future war with Iran! We promise that once we get around to hitting Syria, though, we’ll give you a second look.


Gavin adds: So if this ‘threat posed by Iran’ were to ‘grow,’ it would ‘probably’ make ‘some’ countries out of the ‘numerous other countries’ over there join forces with the US in blowing Iran up?

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This is why we need O’Hanlon of the Brookings Institution — for clear-eyed, liberal-leaning counsel in assessing today’s complex geopolitical landscape.

Oh wait, when I said ‘O’Hanlon of the Brookings Institution,’ I meant ‘a momentary and distracted Google search.’ O’Hanlon is the other one — the one who tends to gets things flip-ass backwards time after excruciating time.

[Hanx! ifthethunderdontgetya™³²®©]


Gavin also adds: So okay, wait a second. O’Hanlon is veering from the received narrative that the permanent bases in Iraqi Kurdistan are supposed to help ensure the security of Iraq, not to help launch new invasions hither and yon across the Middle East. Meanwhile, he’s teamed up with a Turkish Peter Lorre who’s being all like, “Sa-ay, I’ve got an idea to advance US interests: If Kurdistan doesn’t play nice with Turkey, why not — indeed, why not — abandon those no-good and useless US bases, leaving the area totally free of any, you know, [cough-cough] foreign military presence?”

Is O’Hanlon freaking high on drugs here? I mean, Jesus.

 

Comments: 38

 
 
 

They will, however, get a special deal on Amway products.

 
 

Didn’t anyone tell these chucklefucks that they don’t have to share every single thought they have with the world? That goes for wingnuttia in general too,dear god,could they just stfu for a day?

 
 

but if the threat posed by Iran grows, some will probably make common cause with the United States.

What threat is that, again?

Quick! Sign up Bahrain for FoxNews!

 
 

It’s a waking nightmare that people like O’Handjob are taken very, very seriously and held up as the model of serious foreign policy thought–by the deluded dipshits who actually run our country.

 
 

For a Quiet American, O’Hanlon never seems to be at a loss for words.

 
 

The fact is, it is liberals who are deluded dipshits. To imagine that America will be strong with gay power, abortion, and no God and No Military bases. Besides, we are an empire now, and if you don’t like it or have the stomach for it, leave.

 
 

Beats me why the Washington Post doesn’t interview the local subway loon expecting the Neptunian invasion. That guy is as grounded in reality as O’Hanlon, yet his deep insight into the fleet massing around Triton is ignored.

Why a Heritage Foundation sinecure makes one lunatic newsworthy and one not escapes me.

 
 

Too much overt hate, fake Gary. Tone it down a notch and throw in more adjectives.

 
 

If we were looking out for world peace, and our national interest, instead of doing what passes for “foreign relations” in the Chimperors crowd, we would be telling the Turks to eat a collective dick, and supporting a free Kurdistan. It’s sad. Not sad in the way that K-Lo can never get a date, and not sad in the sense that K-Lo has never seen a real penis (unless you count that hobo on Tenth Street)…but sad nonetheless.

The airstrip would be lagniappe, as they say in Louisiana.

 
 

Being a diluted dipship and all, I have to admire Rosie O’Donnell’s package and my collection of aborted chicken fetuses (I buy ’em by the dozens!) because I traded my bases and Gods for these kicky lavender hotpants as part of my new defense strategy.

Actually, I made the trade in 1963 and for 45 years, it’s kept me free from attacks by Commies, terrorists, muggers and insurance agents. The only negative side effect I’ve noticed is a massive infestation of neoclowns driving forever in circles in their clowncars, but other than a bruised knee or two, they mainly victimize women and babies and young rabid men, rarely causing harm to any sentient being over the age of 30.

As a member of The Empire, I have plenty of stomach extruding over the top of my hotpants and plenty of bug-repellent to keep the neoclown colonies at bay while they do their annual lemming dive into steaming piles of pigpoo.

I see no point in leaving during intermission as the grand finale promises the ultimate entertainment of watching the buggies bugger themselves in the name of Jayzus and Moises Alou, ayman.

As for the Kurds, let them pay for their own seats and popcorn. They have plenty of dough from the Bushcrony Market and all they ever talk about is dead Turkeys, which gets rather boring halfway through the trailers.

Has anyone else noticed how cute Muggles McCain’s dimples are? (swooooooooooon)

 
 

Maybe if Obama wins, it will help, but I fear he will pull out prematurely, unlike the couple in this song:

Squeezebox

Dr BLT featuring mystery artist C.A. (Not Christina Aguilera)

http://www.drblt.net/music/SqueezeBoxDemo2.mp3

That being said, if it were a personality contest, I would vote for Obama, and I must admit to having said the following in my Obama blog:

“This is an exciting campaign season, and that excitement is coming from a Democratic near-presumed front-runner. That’s something that’s hard for a Republican to say. But Obama has breathed life into this election season by putting the squeeze on old-style Washingtonian politics. Obama’s style, heavily influenced by the likes of JFK and Martin-Luther King Jr., brings to old-style politics the squeezebox. “

 
 

Can somebody please shut Michael O’Hanlon the fuck up?

 
 

It’s amazing how the people of Iraq, like, totally owe us! We liberated them! And those Kurds are like the French – gladly taking our help when they need it, but telling us to fuck off when we desperately need their support against the NewHitler(tm). It’s good that we have patient head teacher-types like O’Hanlon explaining all this to the savages in a way even they can understand, despite their backwardness.

That is, I agree: why don’t the O’Hanlons just stfu for once? Can’t we get just one weekend per year as an imperialism free zone?

 
 

I think the next president needs to make decisions based on a Kristol ball.

Here’s how that would work: for any policy decision, the president should wait until Bill Kristol weighs in with his advice, and then the president should do exactly the opposite of what Bill Kristol says is the best thing to do.

And then he should kick Bill Kristol in the ball.

 
 

uh, that last sentence should have read, “And then he or she should kick Bill Kristol in the ball.”

 
 

You know like bush says: “The stakes in November are high. This is an important election. Prosperity and peace are in the balance”

We might not need any bases anywhere.

 
 

… if you don’t like it or have the stomach for it, leave.

Don’t you love the way that, no matter how upset they get about gay marriage, the Clinton presidency, welfare, business regulation, abortion, busing, growing secularism, etc. and no matter how much they bitch about it, nobody ever suggests that conservatives should leave if they don’t like it?

I think the reason is that liberals can take the heat of disagreement, but conservatives just want you to agree with them. They realize, subconsciously, that their justifications are lame, pathetic and make them look stupid and intolerant. So that’s why they keep asking us to leave and screaming, “Love it or leave it!” as if you don’t love America just because you think Ronald Reagan was a piece of shit.

 
 

Iran is the greatest threat to American and Western National Security. Either America or Israel or both of us should consider an airstrike to take out Iran’s nuclear reactors and while where at it we should bomb their air fields and fleet and destroy both Iran’s air force and navy. We wouldn’t even need any ground forces. Once Iran’s nuclear reactors and destroyed as well as their air force and navy they will be impotent and no longer a threat towards anyone.

 
 

Iraq is the greatest threat to American and Western National Security. Either America or Israel or both of us should consider an airstrike to take out Iraq’s WMDs and while where at it we should bomb their air fields and fleet and destroy both Iraq’s air force and navy. We wouldn’t even need any ground forces. Once Iraq’s WMDs are destroyed as well as their air force and navy they will be impotent and no longer a threat towards anyone.

Iran is the greatest threat to American and Western National Security. Either America or Israel or both of us should consider an airstrike to take out Iran’s nuclear reactors and while where at it we should bomb their air fields and fleet and destroy both Iran’s air force and navy. We wouldn’t even need any ground forces. Once Iran’s nuclear reactors and destroyed as well as their air force and navy they will be impotent and no longer a threat towards anyone.

Syria is the greatest threat to American and Western National Security. Either America or Israel or both of us should consider an airstrike to take out Syria’s [insert noun here] and while where at it we should bomb their air fields and fleet and destroy both Syria’s air force and navy. We wouldn’t even need any ground forces. Once Syria’s [insert plural noun here] are destroyed as well as their air force and navy they will be impotent and no longer a threat towards anyone.

 
 

The Grand Duchy of Fenwick is taking steps to acquire the Q bomb!

 
 

The stakes in November are high. This is an important election. Prosperity and peace are in the balance.

Would that be the prosperity and peace that we are currently enjoying? Bwahahahahahaha!

 
 

…but if the threat posed by Iran grows, some will probably make common cause with the United States.

Skeptical cat is fraught with skepticism.

 
 

I just have to do this.

Shorter Doughy Pantload on Real Time:

Blerrrrrrrgh, grunt, grunt, grunt, oeeeeeee, oeeeeeeeee, cuckoo, cuckoo, cuckoo, oink, oink.

But seriously, he actually asked Bill Maher what the evidence is that Bush is corrupt, and the asshole from ABC news joined him, too.

That was fucking unreal.

 
 

Shorter US Empire: All your preciousesssss belong to us.

 
 

I used to think “Wag the Dog” was a silly but amusing farce. Little did I know it was the leaked Mid-East policy paper for Georgie and the stooges.

 
 

I clicked on the links. If a Senior Fellow is this fucked up how bad are the Juniors?

 
 

Oh, certainly. With our trillion dollar military budget (yes, that’s annual), our nuclear weapons, strategic bombers, submarines, spy satellites, special forces, airlift and sealift capacity and absolute dominance of the airspace, I can see how a little bitty country halfway around the world with an 8 Billion dollar defense budget would absolutely be a threat to the very survival of america, her way of life and all she holds dear.

Honestly. Do these people ever just stop and LISTEN to themselves?

Sheeshh….

mikey

 
 

moondancer & “Wag the Dog”
The book is magnitudes better.
And, a question for certain commenters: What is the <A href = “http://www.autodidactproject.org/quote/delaney2.html” most important thing in the world?

 
 

No bases you say? It looks like we are winning this big ol’ Risk game, but it sure feels like we are losing.

 
 

To be sure, many Americans admire the democratic, prosperous, resilient Kurds. Americans also feel a moral debt after allowing Hussein to oppress the Kurds so many times in the past.

Not to mention selling him the Mustard gas he used on them. We feel bad about that, though not as bad as one might think.

I agree with many of the comments here, the surrounding countries are unlikely to come to our aid should hostilities erupt between us and Iran. That is why we wanted those forward bases put there in the first place. However, this sounds like good advice to me:

Iraq’s Kurds have a remarkable future almost within their grasp. But they face a crucial choice: They can attain that future by compromising with their fellow Iraqis, forming a partnership with Turkey and strengthening their bond with the United States. Or they can continue to pursue their own agenda in a way that ultimately shatters their country and destabilizes the broader region.

That sure appears reasonable to me because I believe that compromise and “real politic” (in other words, pragmatism) is always to be preferred. But then again, what do I know.

 
 

Is that a reference I spy to the legendary Columbus, OH, garage punk band, the New Bomb Turks, or to the main character of the movie “Hollywood Knights” from which they derived the name?

 
 

Gavin, if you are insinuating that O’Hanlon may have other than American loyalties here, let me just point out that it is the liberals fault. We urgently need more tax cuts, so the rich can afford to trickle down more wealth to these very serious thoughtful types. As it is, they are forced to rely on paychecks from foreign governments for their ideas.

MORE TAX CUTS!
MORE WARS!
MORE TAX WARS!

 
 

So, Iran’s 2006 GDP was about $225 billion. If the conservatives want Iran so bad, wouldn’t it be cheaper just to buy it?

 
 

I’d be in favor of bringing back the draft, with no age limits, for neo-con assholes like O’Hanlon. He looks hale enough to tote a gun.

 
 

[…] Sadly, No! (Everyone at my church goes to this […]

 
Phoenician in a time of Romans
 

Once Iran’s nuclear reactors and destroyed as well as their air force and navy they will be impotent and no longer a threat towards anyone.

The Straits of Hormuz are, what, 30 miles wide?

How many cruise missiles will it take to sink the Asian landmass?

 
 

I think that the error in strategic thinking of these gentlemen is overlooking growing menace from Tuvalu and Kiribati.

Big advantage of such strategic thrust would be minimal risk to oil markets, plus even protracted occupation of tiny islands with good beaches and easy-going population would be bearable. And glory of the Southern Seas! National greatness!

 
 

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