http://www.thestranger.com/seattle/say-yes-to-war-on-iraq/Content?oid=12237 Comments On: Say "YES" to War on Iraq by Dan Savage en-us Copyright 2013 The Stranger. All rights reserved. This RSS file is offered to individuals, The Stranger readers, and non-commercial organizations only. Any commercial websites wishing to use this RSS file, please contact The Stranger. webmaster@thestranger.com (The Stranger Webmaster) Tue, 21 May 2013 00:00:01 -0700 Tue, 21 May 2013 18:45:00 -0700 Foundation http://blogs.law.harvard.edu/tech/rss Posted by calling all toasters]]> Sat, 30 Mar 2013 09:42:19 -0700 The Stranger
His arrogance is breathtaking.
Posted by Bill2]]> Mon, 25 Mar 2013 16:00:19 -0700 The Stranger Posted by migratingbats]]> Mon, 25 Mar 2013 11:47:44 -0700 The Stranger Posted by Zdneal]]> Fri, 22 Mar 2013 15:40:32 -0700 The Stranger
I wonder if we still seem as stupid
Posted by feizai]]> Thu, 21 Mar 2013 21:11:44 -0700 The Stranger
" I see that Andrew Sullivan was asked to list what he got wrong about Iraq for the five year anniversary of the invasion, and since I was as big a war booster as anyone, I thought I would list what I got wrong:

Everything.

And I don’t say that to provide people with an easy way to beat up on me, but I do sort of have to face facts. I was wrong about everything.

I was wrong about the Doctrine of Pre-emptive warfare.
I was wrong about Iraq possessing WMD.
I was wrong about Scott Ritter and the inspections.
I was wrong about the UN involvement in weapons inspections.
I was wrong about the containment sanctions.
I was wrong about the broader impact of the war on the Middle East.
I was wrong about this making us more safe.
I was wrong about the number of troops needed to stabilize Iraq.
I was wrong when I stated this administration had a clear plan for the aftermath.
I was wrong about securing the ammunition dumps.
I was wrong about the ease of bringing democracy to the Middle East.
I was wrong about dissolving the Iraqi army.
I was wrong about the looting being unimportant.
I was wrong that Bush/Cheney were competent.
I was wrong that we would be greeted as liberators.
I was wrong to make fun of the anti-war protestors.
I was wrong not to trust the dirty smelly hippies.

I mean, I could go down the list and continue on, but you get the point. I was wrong about EVERY. GOD. DAMNED. THING. It is amazing I could tie my shoes in 2001-2004. If you took all the wrongness I generated, put it together and compacted it and processed it, there would be enough concentrated stupid to fuel three hundred years of Weekly Standard journals. I am not sure how I snapped out of it, but I think Abu Ghraib and the negative impact of the insurgency did sober me up a bit.

War should always be an absolute last resort, not just another option. I will never make the same mistakes again."


Posted by BarrywhycantI post]]> Thu, 21 Mar 2013 16:26:37 -0700 The Stranger Posted by Seorsa]]> Wed, 20 Mar 2013 10:51:55 -0700 The Stranger I am still surprised at the depth of my anger toward Savage and Criss Frizelle for their shameless huksterism, stirring up 'controversial' topics to sell ad space and get more self promotion. It was a winning strategy for them during the AIDS crisis, they kept trying to find that edgy angle to appeal to the contrarian nature of the average disaffected hipster, and took a gamble on Gulf War II, thinking that if Criss Hitchens was for it, it can't be that bad.
I'd really like to read the citation where he apologized for this stand. Frizzelle wrote a rambling piece about his brothers (both gulf war vets) and their sad homecoming back when the surge was unraveling, like Savage he was a conditional war booster who said he supported it "if it doesn't turn into a quagmire" as if he really believed there was some kind of Marshall plan brilliance to the post war strategy. Part of me things they really didn't believe the half assed support they gave, just wanted to be on record as some kind of non-conformist to conventionally held liberal beliefs.
I did not buy into the war then but like they say " I told you so just doesn't seem to cut it now".
Posted by pdonahue]]> Tue, 19 Mar 2013 22:22:52 -0700 The Stranger
aAnd Savage never apologized. He wrote that he was not in favor of how Bush was prosecuting the war. And that, in fact, he felt Bush hadn't gone far enough in also invading Syria and Saudi Arabia. He siad he was anti-war on the eve of the war (way too late) "for now." But that we was eager to export—through war, death and destruction—fixing what he believed was a mess made "by the West." As if there we're not a myriad of ways to help atone for the West's meddling in the ME other than more murder of innocent children.

Look. I'm a fan of the It Get Better project. However that does not make up for his loud and proud call for the murder of tens of thousands of people.

If he was serious about apologizing he would've stepped the fuck down from his position as editor of a paper.

But No. Instead he got promoted. Like every other Chicken Hawk media lackey. While opponents of the war were crushed - careers ruined.

He only changed his tune slightly when in was politically expedient to do so but he adored and capitalized on the attention being in favor of the war garnered on the talk show circuit. In fact I bet IGB would not have even left the nest if it wasn't for the media attention he got from being FOR the war.

Fuck Savage for his stumping for the war. And fuck his hypocritical silence on it now.

Posted by tkc]]> Tue, 19 Mar 2013 18:20:20 -0700 The Stranger
2. Like him, I was fooled back in 2002. Unlike him, I did not and do not have a national media platform, so I am spared the embarrassment and bear my shame in private.

3. Far more to blame were the New York Times, CNN -- the media corps with the money and staff to do investigative reporting, and supposedly an objective / liberal point of view, who we now know were complicit with the neocon hawks. Fool me once... oh, but right, I studied history and this happened before (Vietnam) and sadly will probably happen again.

4. Savage did make some valid points back in 2002, Islamo-fascism is a concern, and Bin Laden got exactly what he wanted -- to stir up the hornets nest that benefits his brand of radical extremism, creates over-reactive aggression against moderate Islam, and further creates feedback loops of hate wherein the thugs (on both sides) win.
Posted by delta35]]> Tue, 19 Mar 2013 17:55:19 -0700 The Stranger
Yup. And. Not a single comment about the 10 year anniversary of the Invasion of Iraq from the Stranger or SLOG.
Posted by tkc]]> Tue, 19 Mar 2013 16:15:40 -0700 The Stranger
The real problem here is not that Savage somehow forgot his brain in the day he wrote this, but that it exposes the basic ideological underpinnings of his entire "liberal" project, which is basically conservative, accommodationist, and assimilative. If we can just make every deviance normal, the world will be saved! And anyone who still doesn't fit our shared idea of normal, i.e., "Islamo-fascists" (a term invented by neoconservatives), deserves to be bombed into our enlightenment. What a hero.
Posted by DanSavageisDickCheneysHomeboy]]> Sat, 16 Mar 2013 16:09:38 -0700 The Stranger Posted by pesky go-about]]> Sun, 10 Jun 2012 08:22:36 -0700 The Stranger http://www.thestranger.com/seattle/Conte…
Posted by BlackRose]]> Fri, 29 Jul 2011 02:36:55 -0700 The Stranger
Let's go through it shall we!

First, Japan was NUKED and forced into total and complete surrender in the face of a nuclear holocaust.

Then Japan was put under more than a decade of US military dictatorship, which turned the country essentially into a brothel for US serviceman (with massive incidents of rape).

Then Japan became a US protectorate for several decades more while it developed semi-democratic institutions.

Today, Japan is a semi-democratic, semi-occupied, somewhat sovereign state. To this day, the people of Okinawa complain about the US occupation of their island, which has lead to a number of incidents involving drunk American serviceman raping or killing Okinawans.

This is what Savage envisioned when he thought of democracy coming to Iraq? Seriously?
Posted by Poyani]]> Mon, 04 Jul 2011 12:46:14 -0700 The Stranger Posted by 5000927]]> Fri, 01 Apr 2011 02:25:41 -0700 The Stranger Posted by ashwin]]> Sun, 24 Oct 2010 11:30:25 -0700 The Stranger Posted by Yawgmoth]]> Thu, 19 Aug 2010 11:33:04 -0700 The Stranger Posted by Lucas Barton]]> Wed, 18 Aug 2010 12:25:49 -0700 The Stranger Posted by FGFM]]> Wed, 31 Mar 2010 09:47:41 -0700 The Stranger
He's an excellent writer, the best advice columnist out there, probably an excellent editor, probably a great parent, but here he simply did not understand the big picture. What we spend to travel and to exist in this country props up these mainly middle eastern governments. Every time we get in a plane, car, train, or bus its more money in their pockets. The more traveling and purchasing we do the more power they get--riding your bike, taking the train and taking the bus are very small first steps and writing about these issues is probably the last thing someone who does not understand them should be doing.
Posted by foreign oil worker]]> Fri, 13 Mar 2009 11:59:59 -0700 The Stranger Have you finally gotten the taste of Dick Cheney's cum out of the back of your throat on this one yet?

Seriously man, what the fuck were you thinking? More Importantly are you still thinking that bullshit. If so, you are a straight up dumbass.
Posted by Jeff]]> Mon, 02 Mar 2009 16:38:24 -0800 The Stranger Posted by Jaya]]> Sun, 18 Jan 2009 21:16:09 -0800 The Stranger
Maybe the military could invade the ghettos soon too!
Posted by ps]]> Thu, 01 Jan 2009 13:23:09 -0800 The Stranger Posted by ps]]> Thu, 01 Jan 2009 13:15:27 -0800 The Stranger