Saturday, April 19, 2008

Brown and the Elephant

With the suddenly lovable Pope and the never lovable Broon both in America, the air has been thick with big portentous speeches. Is it not strange that neither of them seems to have given so much as a mention (unless I've missed something) to the Big One - i.e. the ongoing threat from Islamic Jihadism in its various forms? The BBC TV coverage of Gordo's big speech was quite bizarre, presenting it as a clarion call for America to end its 'isolationism' (characterised by the deployment of tens of thousands of troops on two far-flung fronts) and engage in some mighty effort of international co-operation that will somehow make things better. This was not just 9/10 (i.e. before the day the world changed), it was pure Kennedyesque retro - and sure enough that old horror 'Teddy' Kennedy was there, stays creaking, to talk up Gordo as the slayer of poverty - according to him, Gordon will have put an end to it by 2010 - way to go! Not a word in Brown's speech about the Elephant in the Room - which must surely have baffled his American listeners. In the US, thankfully, they're taking it seriously - see What Preparations Are We Making? on Michael Burleigh's blog.
And even as I write, yet another released 'innocent' Guantanamo internee is bleating on Radio 4 and being believed...

9 comments:

  1. Nige, never mind the audio, just look at the visuals, man did you see his gesticulations ! (hillary's new pal that is) He must have a new gesticulation doctor, ex BBC maybe, Brown now has an MA in gesticulatae.
    Plus, the new millennia's most vomit inducing sight to date, Sauron and Senator Ted in the same shot, Chappaquidiq meets ditherquidiq

    PS.. re stink, in a telecon from scloss Malty last night junior said the Germans are blaming the Dutch and the French, sounds familiar.

    ReplyDelete
  2. The ones that were released didn't even have a case against them, they were basically just rounded up because they were olive skinned and wearing a beard.
    I don't doubt the majority in there are dangerous but to make such wide sweeping statements that everyone in there is guilty when alot of them don't have the right to a trial is absurd.

    ReplyDelete
  3. No one who uses the non-existent word alot - even anonymously - deserves to be taken seriously. Where exactly were these bearded, olive-skinned folk at the time they were "rounded up"? In a battle zone in Afghanistan perhaps?

    ReplyDelete
  4. "Where exactly were these bearded, olive-skinned folk at the time they were "rounded up"? In a battle zone in Afghanistan perhaps?"

    That's the point of a trial sherlock.

    ReplyDelete
  5. Not so. They are not U.S. citizens and are therefore not protected by the U.S. constitution. Captured in battle, they find themselves in the military legal system. Non-uniformed personnel in such a situation have often simply been shot (as happened in WWII).

    ReplyDelete
  6. It's news to me that US citizens are protected by the US constitution.
    Like Robert Oppenheimer maybe ?

    ReplyDelete
  7. Talking of sweeping statements, Anonmyous, this particular aggrieved ex-internee declared as a matter of fact that '95 per cent' of those in Gauntanamo are/were innocent. Nuff said, I think.

    ReplyDelete
  8. This comment has been removed by the author.

    ReplyDelete
  9. There's an easy way to solve this conundrum: you all get to go to Camp X-Ray in bright orange jumpsuits, get treated as suspected terrorists. After, say, 2 years of 'aggressive interrogation' using techniques honed by the Gestapo, e.g. water-boarding, we'll all be able to make informed judgements on the matter.

    THE INNOCENT HAVE NOTHING TO FEAR.

    ReplyDelete