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Editorial See other Editorial Articles Title: Jack Bauer for president There's a reason Fox's "24" is the most popular show on television. It's not just the suspense. It's not just the action. It's not just the great premise, the great writing, the great performances and the great production values. It's because America loves Jack Bauer. We recognize we need him. If you have watched even a few episodes of "24," you realize it's not decisions by the president of the United States that save Americans from disaster after disaster. It's individual initiative and courage displayed by Jack Bauer – the man we're constantly reminded is "expendable." Viewers understand Jack Bauer is the one indispensable character. They recognize without him, or others like him, all is lost. Presidents come and go. Jack Bauer remains – and, as long as he remains, there is hope the bad guys will continue to be foiled in their efforts to kill Americans and destroy their country. To say Jack Bauer's methods are "controversial" would be an understatement. Quite frankly, his methods would be illegal in the real America – and not only in the way they are employed inside the country against citizens, but even on America's battlefields and in foreign places with names like Abu Graib and Guantanamo Bay. Back in the real world, President Bush is hoping to win his war in Iraq by sending in 20,000 more U.S. troops. But what he needs, figuratively speaking, is Jack Bauer. He needs new tactics. He needs intelligence. He needs information extracted from captives on the battlefield and enemies picked up on the streets of America. Actually what he needs is a dose of common sense – not really anything new. He needs to turn our brave fighting men loose. He needs to free their hands of the restraints he and the Congress of the United States have placed on them with regard to interrogation techniques. He needs to return to the rules of engagement that made the American military the envy of the world. Prior to November 2004, there was little question anywhere that America was accomplishing its mission in Iraq. It was destroying the enemy and transforming the country into a U.S. ally in the Middle East. But what happened in November 2004 changed all that. It wasn't a victory on the battlefield by al-Qaida. It wasn't a spontaneous uprising by America's enemies. It wasn't any failure by U.S. troops. It was a public-relations disaster called Abu Graib. That media coup for the enemy set off a chain of events that ultimately led the politicians in Washington to handcuff our troops – ensuring the quagmire that followed. Abu Graib spelled the end of coercive interrogations. Now enemy captives know they don't have to talk. They know exactly what U.S. interrogators will and won't do to get information. They have no fear. They know Jack Bauer isn't coming. That's why Bush's plan for more troops won't work. It's not more troops we need. It's taking the handcuffs off the troops already on the battlefield that is needed. When we stopped performing coercive interrogations, we no longer had the ability to prevent attacks before they happened. We no longer had the human intelligence we had prior to November 2004. What we get from prisoners now is nothing, nada, zilch, zip … bupkiss. Does anyone in Washington watch "24"? Does President Bush? Does Nancy Pelosi? Does Harry Reid? What do they think of it? Do they cheer on Jack Bauer? Or, do they scream at the television: "Arrest that man!" I really wonder. Because America needs Jack Bauers. We will lose Iraq if we fail to recognize war is a dirty business that must be waged with the understanding that anything short of victory is unacceptable. There will be a presidential election in 2008, God willing. I hope there will be a Jack Bauer among the candidates.
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#2. To: SmokinOPs (#0)
Wow- I am not sure what to pick on first- his belief that Federal police state bureaucrats "keep us safe" or his call to make to make the US army one big SS Death Heads unit - complete with classes on how to torture and murder people. I also love his claim that the war was being won- until Abu Gharib was exposed and the torture stopped. Farah claims to be some sort of "Christian". He is a diseased evil man.
He's a Lebanese-Christian so maybe he holds some personal animosity toward Arab-Muslims. He is a diseased evil man. Most certainly. And the disease is quite prevalent, at endemic levels even. I also love his claim that the war was being won- until Abu Gharib was exposed and the torture stopped. We know it didn't stop. In fact it probably accelerated at it was moved more underground. But Farah doesn't even have his chronology straight. He tries to assert that Abu Ghraib tied the hands of the military somehow starting in November 2004. I believe this is a deliberate lie on his part. Abu Ghraib broke in April of 2004 and Farah knows damn well that no hands were tied in the razing of Fallujah that November. I also want to know what these cretins mean by "hands being tied". How many foreigners should the US military kill a day? 100, 200, 5,000? And in how many countries? Somalia, Iraq, and Afghanistan aren't enough? Should there be a kill quota imposed on the Marines like a Sheriff's Department does for traffic tickets?
SO: He's a Lebanese-Christian so maybe he holds some personal animosity toward Arab-Muslims. Burkeman: He is a diseased evil man. SO: Most certainly. And the disease is quite prevalent, at endemic levels even. Farah is quite a hate-monger whatever ethnic/religious background he may have. He claims he's a Christian of Lebanese and Syrian descent yet he knocks Arabs every chance he gets and the war mongering views he spouts are hardly mainstream Christian. Farah must be one of the few Arab holy rollers that those type of fundie churches ever attracted into their fold. Quite unique old Joe is, I would imagine. He's not just against Arabs - Joe spreads his "contempt" around to cover other groups too - Democrats, liberals, gays, working moms, etc etc. It's not like he's a one trick pony. http://www.counterpunch.or g/heard01112005.html http://www.answers.com/topic/joseph-farah http://discuss.washingtonpost.com/wp- srv/zforum/03/sp_books_farah031203.htm
Oye! A self hating Arab?
Well Farah wasn't always that way. In fact when he was younger growing up in New Jersey surrounded by a strong Jewish community he was very much pro Arab and resented that he was a minority voice in the midst of alot of pro-Israel cheerleaders. It was later when he got older that he experienced his pro-Israel epiphaney. I suspect that because Farah is not too talented in business ( Sacramento Union and Los Angeles Herald Examiner went into bankrupsy soon after Joe became editor-in-chief), he morphed into an Israel-centric Arab "identity" that could earn him and his wife big bucks from the usual suspect "investors." Btw, Farah co-wrote a book several years ago with a guy who had connections to none other than Jack Ambramoff. Hmmm.... The following article gives some insight to the timeline of Joe morphing into a self-loathing Arab - or rather a self serving Isreal-centric media punk. http://chri >http://stia nactionforisrael.org/isreport/jan02/farah.html Arabian Knight; Farah 'best friend Israel ever had' By Aliza Davidovit - January 2002 ...Farah is by no means a self-hating Arab American. He is very proud of his Syrian and Lebanese heritage. He has even named one of his daughters Jihan, after Anwar Sadat's daughter. As much as he supports the Jewish state, he would not be pleased if any of his daughters married a Jew. But as a veteran reporter of 25 years, who worked as editor-in-chief of the Sacramento Union and as executive news editor of the Los Angeles Herald Examiner, Farah is committed to accurately conveying the unfolding of history, not tapping into the agenda of those trying to reinvent it. ...In his effort to debunk falsehoods that have taken on a life of their own, on Oct. 11, 2000, Farah published an article on his newssite entitled "Myths of the Middle East." The article was reproduced in the Jerusalem Post, the Jewish Press and the Chicago Sun-Times, publications for which Farah now writes on a consistent basis. Coinciding with the onslaught of the now year-old intifada, the article was positively received by Israel's supporters around the world. He received 15,000 emails from Israel alone from those both on the left and right of the political spectrum. The article also earned him thousands of death threats and other nefarious utterances from Arabs all over the world. He was accused of being a Mossad agent, a propagandist for Israel and a covert convert. ...Farah’s beliefs have greatly diverged from those of his childhood days when both his family’s and his own sympathies were aligned with the Arabs. Born and raised in Fair Lawn and Paterson, New Jersey, he was 13 years old during the 1967 Six Day War – and he wanted the Arabs to win. “To me it was a football game and the Arabs were my team,” Farah recounts. “You can’t imagine how I felt growing up with many Jewish friends and watching how excited they were as every day brought Israel a new victory.” ...Farah’s eye-opening journey began when he was a young journalist. His two beats as a reporter, Hollywood and the Middle East, could not have been more different, except in one regard: You just can’t believe what you see on TV. When Farah came back to the United States, he tried to network in the Arab- American community and write for the local Arab newspapers. Although he was not the staunch supporter of Israel that he is today, the editors would nonetheless cut the conclusions in his articles that they did not like. ...Farah must be doing something right, because WND is a highly visited newssite running neck and neck with The New York Times and USA Today Internet sites. He anticipates that in the next five years it will be the No. 1 newssite. It is hard to doubt Farah in the face of his ambition, seeing that he and his wife Elizabeth created and built up WorldNetDaily from their bedroom each night after putting their four daughters to bed. And so, despite the threats and lawsuits, Joseph Farah is not afraid. As an evangelical Christian, he believes each man has a divine mission to tell the truth, come what may. He also believes that Israel has a divine mission: to be a light among the nations. ***Aliza Davidovit is a Middle East reporter for Lifestyles magazine and free- lance journalist. This feature story is reprinted from the January issue of international Jewish Lifestyles Magazine.*** Here's a rebuttal to Joe's evangelical screed about Israel and its divine mission. The author has a B.A. from Harvard and a PhD from Columbia and he's a professor of history so I think his academic credentials/knowledge base eclipse Joe's more than a tad bit. http://www.lewrockwell.com/ woods/woods17.html "The Gospel According to Joe" by Thomas E. Woods, Jr.
#22. To: scrapper2 (#21) Farah is an embarassing low brow. Taking a trip through his archives about Iraq is pure entertainment. Most people- having said and believed what this fool believed (and he was a believer in every souped up reichwinger third tier propaganda lie) would have the sense to effing shut their dope mouths by now. Not this clown. He just keeps on going making an ass out of himself.
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