Every now and then I am amazed at how stupid certain people can be, especially people who as supposedly among the intelligentsia of our culture.
Enter retired General Merrill McPeak. Normally, I wouldn't write anything to disparage a member of our military, but sometimes, you have to look past the uniform and take note of other things.
In this case, General Merrill McPeak said that President Bush was the reason for Iran's anti-Americanism. Such a statement is simply ignorant of history and of reality. To believe General McPeak means you have to believe that the American Embassy in Tehran was overrun and hostages taken because the Iranians looked into a crystal ball and saw George W. Bush being elected President in 2000 and 2004. That is how ignorant General McPeak is with this claim.
Ed Lasky at the American Thinker has more:
| Does McPeak remain unaware of any of these aspects of history: 1) The American Embassy hostage crisis during the Carter years; some have linked the current Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad to this hostage-taking. 2) Years of state sponsorship of terrorism by Iran-that preceded the election of George Bush; Bill Clinton signed the Iran Libya Sanctions Act in 1996 because of the anti-Americanism and terror sponsored by Iran and Libya 3) Iran's role in the bombing of the US Marine barracks in Beirut in 1983 that killed 241 American servicemen during the Reagan years; the hostage taking and killing of Americans in Lebanon by Hezbollah-a terror group sponsored and supported by Iran. This included the kidnapping, torture and killing of Colonel William Buckley in 1985; 4) Iran's role in the Khobar barracks bombing in Saudi Arabia in 1996 that killed 19 American servicemen during the Clinton years; 5) All the broadcasts over the years that have shown state-sponsored crowds of Iranians burning American flags as they chanted anti-American propaganda and slogans? 6) The sermons, radio broadcasts, and textbooks that teach anti-Americanism to Iranians? |
And this is why we should be very concerned about statements like this coming out of the Barack Obama Campaign:
| Senator Obama's senior military advisor seems to display a shocking ignorance of history -- a history that includes the deaths of many American servicemen. One would think a retired General would at least honor those of our servicemen killed by Iran. This is one more senior adviser that calls into question Senator Obama's judgment and his ability to assume the duties and responsibilities as Commander-in-Chief. |
You can access the complete article on-line here:
Obama Senior Advisor Blames Bush For Iran's Anti-Americanism
Ed Lasky
The American Thinker
March 5, 2008
Tim Novak, in a blog over at the Chicago Sun-Times, notes that the connection between Barack Obama and indicted real estate developer Tony Rezko had become a very hot issue in late January. It is likely to grow hotter over the next few weeks.
Here is what we need to know about this case:
| 1. They met in 1990. Obama was a student at Harvard Law School and got an unsolicited job offer from Rezko, then a low-income housing developer in Chicago. Obama turned it down. 2. Obama took a job in 1993 with a small Chicago law firm, Davis Miner Barnhill, that represents developers -- primarily not-for-profit groups -- building low-income housing with government funds. 3. One of the firm's not-for-profit clients -- the Woodlawn Preservation and Investment Corp., co-founded by Obama's then-boss Allison Davis -- was partners with Rezko's company in a 1995 deal to convert an abandoned nursing home at 61st and Drexel into low-income apartments. Altogether, Obama spent 32 hours on the project, according to the firm. Only five hours of that came after Rezko and WPIC became partners, the firm says. The rest of the future senator's time was helping WPIC strike the deal with Rezko. Rezko's company, Rezmar Corp., also partnered with the firm's clients in four later deals -- none of which involved Obama, according to the firm. In each deal, Rezmar "made the decisions for the joint venture," says William Miceli, an attorney with the firm. 4. In 1995, Obama began campaigning for a seat in the Illinois Senate. Among his earliest supporters: Rezko. Two Rezko companies donated a total of $2,000. Obama was elected in 1996 -- representing a district that included 11 of Rezko's 30 low-income housing projects. 5. Rezko's low-income housing empire began crumbling in 2001, when his company stopped making mortgage payments on the old nursing home that had been converted into apartments. The state foreclosed on the building -- which was in Obama's Illinois Senate district. 6. In 2003, Obama announced he was running for the U.S. Senate, and Rezko -- a member of his campaign finance committee -- held a lavish fund-raiser June 27, 2003, at his Wilmette mansion. 7. A few months after Obama became a U.S. senator, he and Rezko's wife, Rita, bought adjacent pieces of property from a doctor in Chicago's Kenwood neighborhood -- a deal that has dogged Obama the last two years. The doctor sold the mansion to Obama for $1.65 million -- $300,000 below the asking price. Rezko's wife paid full price -- $625,000 -- for the adjacent vacant lot. The deals closed in June 2005. Six months later, Obama paid Rezko's wife $104,500 for a strip of her land, so he could have a bigger yard. At the time, it had been widely reported that Tony Rezko was under federal investigation. Questioned later about the timing of the Rezko deal, Obama called it "boneheaded" because people might think the Rezkos had done him a favor. 8. Eight months later -- in October 2006 -- Rezko was indicted on charges he solicited kickbacks from companies seeking state pension business under his friend Gov. Blagojevich. Federal prosecutors maintain that $10,000 from the alleged kickback scheme was donated to Obama's run for the U.S. Senate. Obama has given the money to charity. |
Stay tuned. I'm sure more details will come out later. But as for Obama's claim to be "fresh" and "different" than other Washington pols, that stinks more than Rezko.
You can access the complete blog-entry on-line here:
8 Things You Need To Know About Obama And Rezko
Tim Novak
Chicago Sun-Times
January 24, 2008
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