They are there because they can help bring to a group of people that don't understand it. Also, they are doing the job most of the NGOs claim they want to, but they bugged out because they were morons and didn't think they needed security.

One of those men killed in Iraq is worth more to this world than a million clones of Kos.

I challenge Mr. Kos to tell us what he does for a living to pass such moral judgement on people who died protecting food convoys.

bring peace...

preview is your friend...preview is your friend...

bad days, headaches and morons don't mix.

Mr. Kos, for what reason what Saddam in Iraq? eeehhhmmm, PRRROFIT?

Kos passes the PETA moral equivalency test.

What a douchebag. His commentors too. The real, ugly face of left wing politics.

Better than the repercussions of passivity. This is a partisan fight with Iraqis on both sides. Who does Kos support? He feels nothing, perhaps putting it mildly.

May a curse be laid upon Daily Kos for these words, until his eyes are opened...his incredibly callous statements about his fellow Americans are un-be-liev-a-ble.

It's all about the peace, baby!

Maybe in Iraq these Blackwater spooks were guarding food convoys, but in Azerbaijan they are propping up the loony nepotistic fascist regime. I don't think Blackwater really cares one way or another about who they serve or where they send their people. It's always a shame when good people die badly, but it would have been a worse shame if good people had died for a bad cause.

lovely (not)

I'm fuming about this, I can't find the words to express my utter disgust. Those men had families that loved them and Daily Kos says, "screw them". Screw you, Daily Kos, you're a disgrace.

Scan some of Kos' posts. He's just like Atrios, stooging for the Democratic Party without knowing what they fuck they stand for. Not Bush could be any number of evils.

Actually, the title's not for his post, his is just a comment under that post

Not that that's any better.

Corpses on the Cover

Once again, thank you, Charles, for bringing this sort of disgusting depravity to our attention. We won't see it on CNN/ABC/NBC/CBS/MSNBC/PBS (My satellite TV guide lists them as separate channels, for some reason...).

This is a sharp poke in the eye of those useful idiots who say that the left is just like the right, with somewhat different opinions on important matters.

Apologies in advance for those with tender sensibilities, but I really couldn't be bothered to piss on them were they burning.

Feh.

Azerbaijan...

Blackwater spooks? So you think that these people escorting a food delivery were there as spies?

I don't think I like where you are coming from. Your implication is harrowing. Any chance of modifying your exposure?

Wow.

Does Daily Kos, the bitter little pill, live in the US? Anyone know?

The only complaint I have about Charles's post is that someone who reads it and isn't blog-savvy might think Kos is some fringe lunatic howling into the void. This cocksucker gets 95,000 hits a day. Got that? 95,000 people a day tune in to watch him take a leak on the graves of the people who got dragged through the streets of Fallujah yesterday.

And by the way, dummy, it's M-E-R-C-E-N-A-R-Y.

What a vile individual. What a bankrupt ideology. Hater.

Ya know, the UN employees killed by that car bomb were also drawing salaries -- does that make them mercenaries and (in the eyes of moral midgets like Kos) their murders a morally neutral occurence? Or does he ennoble them because they weren't armed?

What about our soldiers? They also draw salaries, and also wage war -- does Kos therefore shrug when they die?

What about the soldiers who died in the Pentagon when flight 77 was crashed into it? Their jobs were to "wage war", and they certainly drew a salary -- does Kos sniff disdainfully at their memories?

God, I am deeply sick and tired of this type of person. They're so dedicated to their ideologies they've dropped all connection to the human race.

zulubaby-sure, he's even in your state. San Franfreakshow.
Don't worry, I can be ashamed of him too. He was born & grew up in Chicago.

As offensive as his comments are, I welcome them. I would rather leftists show their true faces like the seat sniffer did than pretend sympathy. Thanks for the profile Kos.

Send in the Daily Kos and his band of Merry Men and give the troops a few days off. This is a job for Colonel Kos and the Peace Corps arts, crafts, and vocational training brigade. Kos and his Krew will have the Sunni Triangle looking like a pentagram in no time. They are going to have the time of their lives proving how right they are and how wrong everyone else is. Maybe.

Oh, and remember what we learned in the previous story -- these people were veterans. Does anyone think that will change Kos' "opinion"?

And this scum is one of the biggest liberal blogs out there. They're all a bunch of vile traitors, and there aren't enough buses in North America for them all to be hit by.

The reality of it is Fallujah will soon have a lot of dead people or living sorry people.

The US military will take the place apart, carefully and thoroughly.

We're not leaving Iraq.

The Fallujahians are stupid, and the US military is not the IDF.

NUKE FUBAR.

They are there to wage war for profit. Screw them.

And where is the U.N.? The NGO's? The international humanitarian groups? Being cowards, most of them buggered out long ago. Altruism can only accomplish so much. When the final history of the Iraq campaign is tallied, it will be the private companies, so reviled by the Left, that will have done more good for Iraq than all the preening, infantile posturing of ignorant leftists asshats like Daily Kos. The fact that the most progressive, liberalizing, liberating forces in the world today are the armed forced of democratic western states and the private corporations who work with them has so confused the Left that we end up with grotesque nonsense like this. F*ck you, Kos.

#20

Hatred of the aquisition of wealth is axiomatic among the likes of Kos. Ths same mentality will deny that artists who work for money are really artists. Nevermind that all the great masters worked on commission. It is a pathologic animosity buried deep in the psyche of the leftists. Their entire moral framework is based on hate and envy. He is just another pathetic example.

evariste, which shit country is he from?

Kos is Arabic for pussy. No joke!

One of the important signs of a primitve society is the celebration of the death of your enemies. By that standard, the Arabs are one of the most primitive societies in existence today. They are a depraved and immoral people that should be converted to Christianity. That is the only way to solve the problem of their bloody barbarism and psychically backward society.

I saw this quote from Kos on Tacitus' blog, where I had gone to further detail my complaints about Tacitus' use of the abusive term "mercenaries", among other things.

Now every dickhead in cyberspace has seized on the term. Instant dogma.

I decided not bother with complaining to Tacitus. For the record, he says he meant no disrespect, and he certainly isn't crowing over their dead bodies, like these other depraved lackwits are.

What should we expect? In the past we've seen major figures in the Democratic party (during one of their periodic "let's reinstate the draft" idiot-fits) refer to the men and women of our all-volunteer Armed Forces as mercenaries, just because they serve willingly.

Robert Crawford: You know. I wonder if Kos' opinion changes when the dead are missionaries that went to Iraq to help Iraqis with basic needs only getting paid with love. Is love the currency that would drive Kos to the same emotion?

Someone should ask Kos his opinion on General Patton.

Oh fubar just shut up.

#27

At least the knuckle dragging subset at this site knows which side of the war they are on.

About one-fifth of 'our' local Knight-Ridder-owned newspaper was a color photo of the flaming ambushed vehicles. Same size photo in black and white with a body hanging from the bridge on the continuation page. This rag would never consider missing an 'opportunity' like that.

fubar, get off your own high horse, you pompous ass.

Screw them.

No, screw you.

Ugh, the transparency of these people is sickening. EVERYTHING is to be used politically. Nothing is out of bounds.

In the struggle for the soul of our country there are those who know they are on the left, those who know they are on the right, and an unknowable slice who don't know where they are. The goal for the left is to win the sympathies of that middle slice without sacrificing one gram of the conviction and compassion that defines us as lefties. We can't win this thing by ourselves, we need to convince others to join us, and not by watering down the discourse and looking for some mushy middle or some select few topics to be right-wing about (cf. the many successful capital-punishment-loving democratic politicians). We need to bring them over to our side by being the best, most convincing, passionate, and persuasive lefties we can be.It's deeply troubling that some shady private paramilitary firm has operatives wandering unescorted around Iraq. There is definitely a story behind Blackwater that (a) would deeply embarass the Pentagon and (b) we will never ever know. Because of that, I'll venture that these 4 unfortunates will not even reach the American culture recognition threshold of Micheal Spann, the world's first canonized CIA goon.Having said that -- Kos, your comment works against the goal. These 4, whoever they are, were still people, just like the stone-throwing 14 year old Iraqi kid who gets shot by a Marine. Until we have some inkling of the story behind Blackwater, comments like "screw them" only serve to relocate the great wedge in our bipolar country a little closer to our side, when we'd rather be pushing it the other way.

Yeah, buddy, your really helping your cause by calling Spann a "goon". You've just exposed yourself. Quick! Cover up, before us stupid average joes recognize you for the America-hater that you are!

el salvador, zulubaby. Him and his countryman Camilo Mejia, the conscientious objector Momma's Boy .

It appears that Azerbaijan is the hit and run type.

Freaking terrorist.

Kos means food in Afrikaans. Nothing nourishing about him though.

#9 Azerbaijan

AND

#15 really grumpy

Hold up there guys. Before this thread turns into something else altogether, let's try to stay focused on the enemy here.
I know you both feel badly about the 4 Americans who were murdered and mutilated. Kos is the real bad actor here.
Four of his fellow citizens were murdered and treated like that and HE APPROVES - I read just enough of his and his commentators bs to know that. Mind you not that he says "screw them" as if to say I don't care about them. He approves. The mf scumbag.
I just hope that the poor families of those 4, who saw the photos/video of what hapened (before they knew who they were) must be going through absolute hell now. I pray to God that they never hear Kos and his cronies comments.

Wow. I could see a hot moment where someone says something stupid, but this POS turns on the victims and on his own. Creep.

HA Fubar. First mention of sand ___ I've heard at LGF come from you. Dope.

An open letter to Kos:

I just watched FrontLine, the Rwandan genocide that occured under President's watch.
I watched as State department spokeswoman used Chombsky speilspeech to avoid using direct communications as to the non interference that Clinton ordered. I listened to the asst Sec. of State Moose talk about how they were ordered to NOT use the term genocide under any circumstances.
I watched as the UN failed and deserted the commander of the small unarmed troops he was left with as the genocide began.
I watched as the Red Cross rep called his headquarters in Geneva and told them of the horrific killings that were happening every day. He broke the code of silence and neutrality they have always operated under in reporting the
killings.
Clinton repeated his firm decision of noninterference in the genocide. More died. No one heard their cries. No one at the United Nations blinked. Koffi asked 80 nations for troops to send to Rwanda, there were NONE.

This is your type of peace Kos. The decayed and stinking bodies of children, women, and men is your kind of peace. This is the kind of peace you have wished upon the Iraqis. The peace of death, because you and your ilk believe in nothing. Only death in it's eternal peace is your answer of non interference.

Maybe there will come a day Kos, when someone somewhere will wish this kind of peace on you.

#40 Great catch. Charles, I'd amend this post to add Kos' opinion on Mike Spann. Reminder, Spann was the CIA agent that was killed in Afghanistan during the fire fight that captured John Walker Lindh.

Grrr. Just when I thought the LLL couldn't sink any lower.

#33 Scorpio "people that should be converted to Christianity"
I think they should be converted to dead.

me-

Kos is Arabic for pussy.

zulubaby-

Kos means food in Afrikaans.

We have much to discuss. Have some wine!

I would like to meet this motherfucker face to face. I really, really would.

Excuse me realwest,

But if Azerbaijan is going to call the Blackwater people "spooks", you have to expect me to respond in my appropriate way.

Azerbaijan is just pissed because his personal Muslim society got their asses kicked by the Armenians, and they still don't have a life.

His or her complaints CANNOT even compare to those of the Armenians, among the most persecuted and annihilated societies on this planet.

But of course, most wouldn't know this...

Kos and his gang of scumbags have me almost as pissed as I was the day I saw the pictures of those animals gloating over the mutilated bodies of our fellow citizens. Can anyone here have ANY fucking doubt that "mainstream" leftist opinion was standing on that bridge in spirit, screeching and capering at the sight of dead Americans hanging from the crossbeams?

That being said, I hope fervently that lots and lots and LOTS of people read what filth like Kos and Hesiod really think about those who fight for this country, and those (like these four) who directly support the war effort...and I hope like hell Mr. Rove's minions are monitoring the lefty blogs, preparing to pin their sickass opinions to Jean-Francois Kerry's fucking liver.

While I'm in full rant-and-splutter mode, I might as well get this off my chest, too...I also hope that, once GWB beats Jean-Francois into the ground headfirst, that the LLL's get violent. Really violent. Torching-the-cities violent. Because if they do, there's going to be a long-overdue "philosophical cleansing" in this country. Make no mistake, assholes. There are a lot more of us than there are of you. And we are MUCH better armed.

zulubaby,

according to his blog, kos was born in Chicago, moved to El Salvador as a child, came back to US as a preteen, eventually served in the US military ('89-92 in germany in artillery) then went to college, eventually earned a J.D. (wow! a lawyer, he must be smart! /s) and moved to sanfrancisco...

oh yeah and kos was his army nickname-its pronounced to rhyme with rose. Now isn't that special?

evariste, LOL! I'd prefer champagne ;-)

#52

That has got to be the shortest thing you have ever written. But no less eloquent.

quark2maddernhell (#47)

I just watched that. I was shocked - really - that the depiction of Clinton was so real.

While GAZING at the troll, it dawns on me that these people think that third-world victims of US military action are worth more than US victims of third-world barbarism.

Guess what, lefties, all people everywhere are depraved. We 'Murcans may be in danger of hellfire for wanting to nuke our enemies. Our barbaric enemies are undoubtedly already halfway there for dismembering our countrymen limb from limb. What about the leftie who fancies themself the judge between the two, and chooses the barbarian? Is their judgment not an identification...empathizing with and apologizing for the barbarism?

I say let them live the consequences of their philosophy...tear the leftie limb from limb and dance on their torn body. After all, that is the "justifiable" position.

#41 - evariste

No kidding? Kos is from El Salvador, the Garden Spot of Central America?

Soccer wars, grotesque overpopulation, death squads, and now Kos. And I thought the Palestinians were Cursed of God ...

del (#55)

Yes, too precious for words. What a scumbag. Why do people find him so interesting? I don't get it.

del: The worst part about the Kos' bio is that he lists Archbishop Romero as one of his personal heroes. Archbishop Romero was against ALL KILLING and he certainly would never have gloated over the death of any man.

For a choice of hero this poseur knows absolutely dick about AB Romero.

48 Axiom...

It was a commenter, not Kos himself. Doesn't matter significantly...same stripe.

Seeing that he went to school in Boston and then moved to San Francisco I think it's safe to say his politics are too progressive for the left of the Northeast.

Any bets that he's a National Lawyers Guild lackey?

@58 JD

Did you see the recriminations that were laid on his doorstep by his own administration? It made me ill. I
could feel the sadness and pain welling up inside.
Then he and Albright had the nerve to make "contrite"
apologetic visits to Rwanda. I wanted so BAD to bitch slap the both of them. And the woman from State, the lying
conniving amoral quisling that she was...I can't even describe what I felt as I watched her spin her lies.

My G-D, how can anyone who had knowledge of that
who had influence and power to stop it live with themselves.
And now we are being cursed by even americans for making the decision of stopping the savagery in Iraq.

To those who failed us and the Rwandans, may fate mete to you the same.

(#60) Glen Wishard

Kos is from El Salvador, the Garden Spot of Central America?

Soccer wars, grotesque overpopulation, death squads, and now Kos. And I thought the Palestinians were Cursed of God ...

Interesting that you would make that comparison:

El Salvador race coming down to two Palestinians

USULUTÁN, El Salvador — One is an aging communist guerrilla leader. The other is a young sportscaster and businessman. Yet the leading candidates in Sunday's presidential election share a remarkably similar heritage: Palestinian families that migrated from Bethlehem, birthplace of "El Salvador" himself.

"It's unusual that there is one Palestinian candidate for president," said John Nasser, an activist in the Arab-Salvadoran community. "It's much, much more unusual that there are two."

The worst has yet to come.

del:

kos was born in Chicago, moved to El Salvador as a child, came back to US as a preteen, eventually served in the US military ('89-92 in germany in artillery) then went to college, eventually earned a J.D. (wow! a lawyer, he must be smart! /s) and moved to sanfrancisco...

All of which could probably be proven by a careful study of average IQ scores. Sudden spikes in the sale of necrophiliac pornography might also be used to establish his migration. I wonder if Interpol keeps statistics on that?

Abu babaloo #54,

isn't that jean-francois kerrier?

zulubaby #61,

my guess is that some people find him interesting because he is provocative, but as Axiom points out, he is mostly a poseur.

I wonder how Markos Zuniga would feel if that was his son,father,or brother mutilated,charred corpse being beaten and descrated in front of the whole world.In all honesty,I wonder if he would even care because just the fact that he made the cruel,hateful remarks about the brutal murders of these 4 poor souls shows me he has no heart or no conscience.I am usually not so harsh like this,but personally I wouldn't mind seeing him beaten up and then kicked out of this country and never allowed to return.What an evil,disgusting person he is.

To quote the late Phil Ochs...

Love me, love me, love me, I'm a liberal.

#66 SoCalJustice

Holy Palestinian State, Batman!

I think Honduras is going to need some Merkavas, plus fence-building supplies. And the International Solidarity Movement is going to need lots of insect repellent.

69 Anne

I wholeheartedly agree. It's a very dangerous moral & philosophical position Kos places himself in.

quark2maddernhell (#62)

I was embarassed for us when Clinton was President.
I hated that.

quark2maddernhell (#47)

Just saw it myself. Absolutely riveting and very disturbing. I hate the way the phrase 'Never Again' gets bandied about so lightly. It would be a wonderful sentiment, if we meant it at all.

(#71) Glen Wishard

lol

At least the El Salvadorians will now get tons of U.N. and E.U. aid and programs, develped solely for them, for no apparent reason.

They could do worse.

*shiver* I just got the heebie-jeebies thinking I could get sued by some whacko for my ambiguous comments above. I totally deplore the use of violence against Kos. Was simply trying to show a moral equivalence between him and the Fallujans...

BS"D

Excuse the rather tasteless comment, but I am very pleased to note that in Farsi (the language of Iran..and the few surviving Parsi) kos is the word for the most vile, disgusting, mysoginistic moniker for the female generative organ.

Somehow fitting that his "e-rag's" name literally means the daily c*nt.

What a pig this git is .

Kos is retarded. This was a lynching, followed by gratuitous corpse mutilation-- not the result of "war".

Would he feel the same about lynchings in the 1930s? Truck dragging deaths? that sort of thing? Sort of a "they were black, they should have realized that the South was dangerous once they started asking for civil rights"

Kos is no differnt from a lyncher. I think we should forward his name to Blackwater Security Consulting. They have Ex-Seals there.

#2 Dar ul Harbarian

I'd challenge Kos to meet me on the field of honor at dawn, if I thought he had any honor and if there were a snowball's chance in hell of him getting up that early...

OT

Not sure if this has been posted - but as i mentioned a few days ago looked possibloe, Michael Grade has now been offered the chairmanship of the BBC :

[Link: news.bbc.co.uk...]

Meanwhile as previously posted, some of the arch-LLL BBC interviewers are threatening to take the BBC off the air - Bring It On !!! :

And unsuprisingly, he requires registration to post comments there. Chickenshit cockbite.

#54  Ricky bin Ricardo (Abu Babaloo) 

And we are MUCH better armed.

Heheh :)

With the exception of LLL's like Rosie O'Donnell, who want to ban guns yet have personal armed bodyguards.

"screw them"?

Fuck you, Kos. And the camel you rode in on.

@74 Jabar abu Grand Vizier

The whole time Clinton sat in the Oval office I hated it.
But I had no idea of how badly he failed and betrayed us.
The sins of his failure just keep outting themselves. He was
incredibally incompetent and way over his head as CiC.
His wasted 8 years has wrought global grief and violence.
He will go to his grave covered in shame.

I was riveted in watching FrontLine. It was one of the most brutally honest reports they've ever made. The report was spot on about the uselessnes and irrevelance of the UN.
The people who were interviewed were understandably bitter.

All those people. No one cared.

Kos is what he always has been... it's actually refreshing to see him in the light of day...

Never forget.

84 quark2

Actually I was in awe of the harrowing stories of the few peacekeepers that remained at least somewhat effective, in the face of overwhelming odds. It gave me a new respect for peacekeepers, though the obvious underlining (and unexplored) point in the program was how the peacekeepers were given no mandate by their superiors, and as such were compelled to do precious little. That the Belgians cut and ran after ten of them died was a pathetic disgrace. What say we hire UN mercenary peacekeepers? At least they wouldn't cut and run.

Hey I've a great idea...hire Blackwater Security.

Kos's website is a small step up from Democratic Underground. Scan the rest of his thread by clicking on the link "Corpses on the Cover" at the top of his page. His commenters express similar opinions.

But point out what they're doing, and they get pissed off that you "question their patriotism." I wish someone would teach him a lesson. Can we put to rest the idea that the left cares about soldiers fighting in Iraq, let alone civilian contractors trying to rebuild the country?

The most disturbing thing is that the vicious nature of the attack... the mauling of burnt dead bodies, the poking of charred flesh, and the way that the young boys made sport over the ash-covered remains of those Americans... all of that doesn't disturb Kos at all.

He is truly satanic.

"They are there to wage war for profit. Screw them."

Okay, you passed Tired F-ing Rhetoric 101, now what?

Concerning the two Palestinians running for the presidency of El Salvador: a crucial detail of the story that never seems to be mentioned is that they're both Palestinian Christians. I'm not 100% sure of this but seeing as they are both from Bethlehem (where most Pal Xtians used to live) and that a large number of P.X.s fled Pal to Central Amercia after a bit of religious cleansing by their Muslim "brethren", it seems very likely that they're Christians. Plus, I find it exceedingly unlikley that a highly Catholic country like El Salvador (the only country in the world named after Jesus) would even dream of electing a Muslim president. This detail completely changes the picture -- most Palestinian Christians live abroad and have little or no affection for Islamic culture.

Gentlemen, direct your attention here:

kos@dailykos.com

Okay, I'm depressed enough now.

I'm off to beddy bye, maybe my dreams will at least be sweet.

Charles, thanx so much for the efforts and work of getting out this much needed to know news.

F him. They were American citizens.

I hope Kos is at ground zero of the next terrorist attack. Then he can gladly preach how we are waging a war for oil, and how everyone would love us if we only caved to terrorists.

M***F*** makes me sick.

I wonder how long before he teaches his son how to hate?

[Link: www.fishyshark.com...]

I wouldn't mind having Kos over for dinner. I make the best Headcheese.

I saw part of the beginning of the Frontline show. The canuck UN general in charge said this about being in Rwanda, "It was like being in another continent."

Huh?

No Sh*t Sherlock!!! You are in another continent.

The UN is totally useless and should be disbanded before they allow another atrocity like Rwanda to happen.

zombie:

most Palestinian Christians live abroad and have little or no affection for Islamic culture.

They still hate the Jews, though.

"Get off your high horse Charles.

Take a close look at the comments on your blog and you will find far more perverse sentiments expressed.

Nuke Fallujah! Nuke Mecca! Kill all muslims! Sand niggahs have to die!"

Certainly there is overboard rethoric on both sides.
The most interesting thing here is rather against who the rethoric is directed. On the lefter side of things, it's usually the US, or US allies who take the flak. On the right side of things, it's the real or percieved enemies of the US who are on the recieving end.

The conclusion? Simple - the left are traitors and the right are patriots. I can live with that.

RoP:

That the Belgians cut and ran after ten of them died was a pathetic disgrace.

That the Belgians tried to drag as many other nations as they could out with them, so they could mask their own cowardice, was a double and triple disgrace.

I thought that the program was very good, but I noticed that the advertisements for all used the segment which appears to blame the United States for what happened in Rwanda.

(Ever notice that when bad things happen during the Bush administration, it's Bush's fault? But when bad things happened during the Clinton administration, they say it was America's fault.)

We all know the Left is morally bankrupt and prone to treason. Thus, the fact that The Daily Kos is a contemptible piece of shit shouldn't be a surprise to anyone.

Tacitus sent me an e-mail asking about my gripe with the word mercenary, so I sent him this reply:

***
What makes "mercenary" so offensive is the association with men who are simply willing to kill people for hire, no different from assassins.

Secondarily, the term is associated with international outlaws, men who lend their assistance to repressive regimes around the world, or men who engage in dirty covert work for dubious causes. (You hinted at as much with your speculation about the murdered men being assassins on their way to a hit, which annoyed me the most.)

Now, you can argue that there are, or have been, many mercenaries who do not fit the above definitions. Switzerland has a history of (at least) semi-respectable mercenary activity. Technically, the Vatican Swiss Guard is composed of mercenaries. And so forth ...

But in common usage the term "mercenary" is an insult to professional soldiers. "Mercenary" and "professional soldier" are NOT equivalent terms. The fact that DoD contract employees have previous military experience does not make them mercenaries, and the fact that they worked for Blackwater (to whom you impute sinister motives) does not change that fact.

You express doubts about Blackwater, and about the validity of the mission to provide food convoys. I don't care about the first and I don't agree with the latter, but regardless of whether you are right or wrong about Blackwater, the kind of speculation you engaged in requires more evidence than you offered.

- Best,
Glen Wishard

***

I think Tacitus is on the right side of this issue, in spite of his objectionable post, but I think he passed out ammunition to the people who are on the wrong side.

Which was kind of irresponsible, like letting a chimp play with an Uzi.

They use the term mercenary but the word does not mean what they think it means.

I'm curious as to how the death of the military liason and contractors is interpreted as opposed to the death of that other famous unarmed US citizen, R. Corrie.

Or indeed the attack on the Cole is seen to differ from the attack on the Liberty.

The last comment I saw here mentioning Corrie was calling her "St Pancake".

I'm curious as to how the death of the military liason and contractors is interpreted as opposed to the death of that other famous unarmed US citizen, R. Corrie.

It's simple really. The military liason were there to protect innocent civilians, to distribute food and to protect their personal liberty. Rachel Corrie died protecting a smuggling tunnel used to bring weapons from Egypt in order to kill free, innocent Israeli civilians, while protecting the very people responsible in keeping Palestinians under an anarchy with various terror groups maintaining power through force.

St. Pancake was an America-hating terrorist sympathizer. If you saw her mentioned on another thread you would know that. If you haven't figured that out you are immune to fact and reason.

If that was one of my family, I would hunt this "KOS"
down and choke the bastard.

Did he dance on the grave of UN victims too?

Interesting how fast the "they were mercenaries" and "it was no worse than a racist lynching" memes spread through the lefty hive-mind.

No, wait, --- not lefties, through-and-through America-haters. Embracing leftist dogma is just a means to an end. What motivates these people is America hatred. They only embrace collectivism it as the opposite of what America stands for. Kos and his ilk are heartless, soul-less, bloodless creeps who hate and seek to destroy everything that is good and decent. America can do no good, her enemies can do no wrong.

This hatred fuels them. Why else disinter the dusty, dessicated bones of the racist past America has worked so hard to overcome, except to spew more hatred? Why else gloat and giggle over the deaths of good men, who were only trying to help the Iraqis rebuils their countries and earn a living for their families?

Kos is a vile creep, and his cheering commentors are no better.

More doublespeak from a Muslim cleric!

Iraq Cleric Vows to Denounce Mutilation

FALLUJAH, Iraq - A senior Islamic cleric said preachers in mosques across this defiant Muslim city would use weekly prayers on Friday to condemn the mutilation of four slain American contractors, but he did say if that would include their deaths

Senior Fallujah cleric Sheik Khalid Ahmed said Muslim preachers would tell their followers that the mutilation of the bodies was wrong.

He did not say whether they would condemn the killings of the Americans, whose charred remains were dragged through the streets for hours after insurgents ambushed their SUVs on Wednesday.

An Arafat in the making! ;-(

My take on infamous, "evil bitch" Corrie? St Pancake? Relief that people in the US would never spit on the dead or mock other peoples suffering. As Scorpio said, "One of the important signs of a primitve society is the celebration of the death of your enemies.".

I'm glad that such a thing would never happen here.

the daily Kos has alot in common with the DU,
it eventually reverts to it's hate america roots.

One moron posted how the media was controlled by the ruling party and compared it to Geobbels. truly disgusting.

These idiots fail to realize that if America was anything like Nazi Germany, they'd be cooling their heels in a concentration camp instead of freely spewing their vitriol against America.

Instead, they're probably sitting in some wifi cafe busily typing away, sipping their lattes and wondering how long daddy's money will last this semester...

Rachel Corrie was an America-hating terror-groupie who died helping terrorists smuggle weapons that would be used to kill women and children.

The four who died in Fallujah were there to help former enemies reconstruct and rebuild.

Morally equivalent --- only if you're just looking for an excuse to bash.

#104 War Department

Rachel Corrie was an ugly little twerp who died as a result of her own rabid hate. An ineffectual idiot who did absolutely nothing to further the cause of peace. In life as in death, she was/is merely a pawn of the ivory tower Chomsky-parroting set. Her twisted parents are ultimately to blame for her foolish behavior and subsequent passing. To compare the greasy red stain that was once Rachel Corrie to these heroes who died bringing freedom to an ungrateful godforsaken people is intellectually dishonest. St. Pancake's death was an ACCIDENT anyways. Also St. Pancake's pale lifeless body was not burned, torn apart and hung from a fucking bridge either - asshole.

Remember that to the left, killing is okay as long as it's against americans who support the US and it's friends..

Rachel Corrie hated america and it's friends and was facilitating terrorism against America's friends. It's unfortunate that she died, but it was her own fault.

The 4 murdered Americans were trying to help the Iraqis and died for their country...

Rachel Corrie was trying to help destroy Israel.

Please leave the Daily Kos wife and kids out of this discussion. That's really taking discourse to a really shitty and despicable level.

NPR's morning edition had a story on these 4 men, well 3 of them because the 4th's name has not been released. You'd have a hard time coming away from that listening experience with a belief like "they deserved it". One of the victims was a Serbian immigrant that was raised in Ohio. He volunteered to join the most power army in the world in 1991. What a savage asshole he was to VOLUNTEER. Sort of, well, you know, like MR. MARKUS ZUNIGA.

After the Serbian left the military he wanted to go back to Iraq working security. Like a lot of ex special forces, rangers, etc, private security work is a lighter side to their military expertise. A lot of members of the military leave the forces to join the highway patrol, state police, city police and other security and law enforcement related services.

"Get off your high horse Charles.

Take a close look at the comments on your blog and you will find far more perverse sentiments expressed.

Nuke Fallujah! Nuke Mecca! Kill all muslims! Sand niggahs have to die!"

Certainly there is overboard rethoric on both sides.
The most interesting thing here is rather against who the rethoric is directed. On the lefter side of things, it's usually the US, or US allies who take the flak. On the right side of things, it's the real or percieved enemies of the US who are on the recieving end.

The conclusion? Simple - the left are traitors and the right are patriots. I can live with that.

its the true bottom line of many leftists, america is allways wrong and we probably deserved it... boil anything they say down and this will be at the botttom of the pot.

BTW, if you like watching the LLL get pummelled with facts and the use of their own tactics then you will love the Showtime show with Penn and Teller called "Bullshit". It's your basic libertine expose into the insanity mission of the environmentalist and animal rights brigades. It airs every Thursday at 10P EST.

"Daily Kos" = brown-shirted useful idiots.

sorry Döbeln forgot to credit you for your post

Here's some background on one of the men among the four private security contractor victims.

Jerko "Jerry" Zovko
- 32 years old
- Born in Cleveland, raised in Euclid
- Inspired to join the Army after a visit to his grandparents in war torn Croatia
- Fluent in English, Spanish, Croatian, Russian, Arabic and studying Japanese(Wow, remarkable)
- Former member of Special Forces attached to the 82nd Airborne Division at Fort Bragg

Jerko's family tried to talk him out of going to Iraq. They were worried that the war would not go well but Jerko wanted to go because his skillset and honor to men wanting to be free was more powerful than the caution of his own parents.

#112 War Department

> My take on infamous, "evil bitch" Corrie? St Pancake? Relief that people in the US would never spit on the dead or mock other peoples suffering. As Scorpio said, "One of the important signs of a primitve society is the celebration of the death of your enemies.".

I'm glad that such a thing would never happen here.

Yup. Saying we're glad that schtoopid bitch is dead is exactly the same thing as ripping apart charred corpses with our bare hands and feeding them to the dogs. Bush=Hitler too, right? Fucking idiot.

Well I would like to thank him for writing that because now all I have to do when I hear about how decent the antiwar people are and how all those who supported the war are evil is link to that.

#112 War Department

No one here is spitting on Corrie's grave, and from all accounts she didn't suffer much, if at all. That's what happens when you play chicken with a bulldozer.

On the contrary, most here feel that Corrie was a damn fool with a filthy ideology, so sympathy is in short supply for her. But, the bottom line?

She died stupidly, and infamously. She literally "raged against the machine" and lost. Clearly, she's a Darwin Award candidate and the blame for her death lies squarely on her 2 dimensional shoulders. That's kinda funny. So is the fact that her comrades sainted her for being a martyred nitwit. We just added the pancake.

Corrie got what she deserved for being really, really stupid. She is the embodiment of the term "Too stupid to live." The Americans in Fallujah were murdered and ripped apart by savages. If you can't discern the difference between trained individuals going to a foriegn country to protect civilian supply lines and a psuedo-idealistic college girl going to a foriegn country to protect criminals and arm wrestle a Caterpillar D-9, then you should find someone to beat you with a Clue Stick. FOAD.

Has anyone else noticed that these "mercenaries" who were in Iraq to "war for profit" failed to kill a single one of their attackers? 4 "killers for hire", and not one of them put a bullet in an Iraqi head even while thier lives were in extreme danger.

That is illogical.
/Spock

Thanks Evariste -

I will never be able to eat Kuskus again. :)

Markos Moulitsas Zúniga

Is it just me, or does anyone else think that name is, just a little bit, uh, "contrived"? (Greek + Spanish - I guess it's possible, but then there's the little matter of what happened to the Ladino-speakers in Salonika...)

To paraphrase Golda Meir (with a little bit of Ayn Rand thrown in)...

When they love the potential that their lives could have more than they hate America...

#124 --- Exactly what I was thinking. Kos has done us all a service by showing us what a stinking load of crap their stated devotion to "peace, love and understanding" is.

Axiom -

Penn and Teller are Liberatarians, G-d bless 'em.

zombie (#89)

most Palestinian Christians live abroad and have little or no affection for Islamic culture.

Hanan Ashrawi is a Palestinian Christian, a vile Jew-hater and a great supporter of terrorism.

Sorry, delete the extra "a". My neologism sounds like a Cafeteria for Libertarian Librarians.

(Now that I mention it, are there any Libertarian Librarians out there? All the ones I've seen are dayglo Pinko Moonbat.)

Sorry for the digression...

Mostly college students, probably a few from Evergreen State no doubt. New age communist, nazies and frustrated Deaniacks. Same people who attend all the "peace" demonstrations.

129 zulubaby

You remember Walid Shoebat?

This is what he says about Ashrawi:

Walid attended two elementary grades at an Anglican Lutheran school. Even Christians there perpetuate and legitimize Jew hatred, he said. Their “liberation” and “replacement theology” call for Israel’s destruction. Fatah propaganda incorrectly portrays the Jewish Jesus as a Palestinian revolutionary, he noted. For the crown of thorns, PLO churches substitute barbed wire adjoining refugee camp fences. He said Hanan Ashrawi and George Habash—one a prominent Christian member of Arafat’s PLO, the other a terrorist and founder of the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine—graduated from schools that foment Islamicized Christian Jew hatred.

#130 Frank IBC, Abdu-'l-Mumit

Yes, there are libertarian librarians. They just don't work for the state funded, regulated, indoctrinated libraries. I'd have to imagine that the means trump the ends for them.

papijoe (#132)

The Palestinians can't get away from Jew-hatred, they're reared on it. Hanan Ashrawi is the perfect mouthpiece for Palestinian propaganda, she's more sophisticated and eloquent than Arafat but they share an agenda. I absolutely despise her.

Axiom -

They just don't work for the state funded, regulated, indoctrinated libraries

Uh, that's the only kind I've ever known - where are these "other" libraries? I'm really eager to go to one.

#134 zulubaby

And we have the European replacement theologians to thank for her.

OT Is anyone having internet problems? I can get to LGF fine, although my last post mysteriously disappeared, but all the other sites I try to hit are hanging.

It's already been pointed out, but Charles' title for Kos' post is incorrect. The original post was labeled "Corpses on the Cover" and was posted by "gregonthe28th." Kos' comment is titled "Every death should be on the front page."

This is just the little kind of niddling thing that lets others jump on you for your accuracy.

And it should also be noted that there are some commentators (Daily Kos regulars, mind you) who are ripping him for the comment (and he hasn't addressed them).

#104 war department

If you're from the war department, you must have had a dishonorable discharge.

The United States military investigation officialy concluded that Israel was not guilty in the attack on the Liberty.

#27 Hey Fuckbar, I mean Fubar, Dude you left out Syria, Iran, S. Arabia, Jordan, Egypt, N.Korea, Anyone else feel free to add to the list. Cuz we damn sure don't want to leave anyone out.

C.orrieites

A.gainst

T.ractors

Comments like this always amuse me. How many people like him showed pictures of tortured rape victims and the bodies of those Saddam murdered so that we might fully appreciate what 'peace' is like?

"Let the people see what 'peace' is like. This isn’t an Xbox game. There are real repercussions to pacifism."

I think Markos Moulitsas Zuniga has the perfect a.k.a. "Daily Kos" It represents his character and beliefs. I wonder if he knows what "KOS" means in Arabic? I do, and it fits what he is!!!

Somebody still trying to kill Spanish train riders

I'd think the RoP would give the Spanish a hudna for being good dhimmis, but ETA and whatever terror groups out there might have learned their lesson that the Spanish will roll over and cower in the face of terrorism.

Of course, could be RoP, as apparently a lot of Spaniards go to Sevilla for the Sagrado Semana processions there, so blowing up the train would kill people who might tend to be observant Christians.

# 127 V the K:

Kos has done us all a service by showing us what a stinking load of crap their stated devotion to "peace, love and understanding" is.

Which is why we must not post similar stuff like the few cherrypicks on the Bullomia thing.

I see that Spanish surrendering hasn't gone quite to plan

http://uk.news.yahoo.com/040402/325/eq62s.html

I wonder how that will be Bush's 'fault'?

Look for me Sunday at noon Texas time* (except El Paso metro area, where I'll be on 11 am local) on your local Fox affiliate. I'll be 14 rows up from track between turn 4 and the start-finish line.

#141 Snoopy

Shhh! He was given that name by a Muslim chaplain when he was in the Army as a title of the regard Islam has for it's el cubo supporters

Tjw -

"Let the people see what 'peace' is like. This isn’t an Xbox game. There are real repercussions to pacifism."

A gem. Brilliant.

I wonder which one is KOS holding this sign

I don't know...
Maybe KOS is a tad hyperbolic..but seems like a totally reasonable sentiment to me.
These fellas are there for their own profit. This shouldn't excuse the savagery. But one wonders exactly what these mercenaries were up to...

one wonders exactly what these mercenaries were up to

Um, distributing food.

Providing security.

Assisting in the reconstruction.

Earning a living to support their families.

But, hey, have a good smug laugh at their expense. They did more human good in the months they were in Iraq than you will probably do in your entire arrogant, self-satisfied, hatred-filled life.

#149 Harry

> But one wonders exactly what these mercenaries were up to...

They were protecting a food convoy.

#149 Harry

That's right Harry. If I am discharged from the service, and I become a State Trooper, I'm only doing it for profit.
Even missionaries get paid something Harry. Does that make them mercenaries?

#149 Harry

That's a legitimate question to ask. "What were they doing in Falluja? What was their purpose?".

If you read my post with some background bio on Jerko Zovka you might not come away with Marko's sentiment. Any rational jurist has to consider the fact that private civilian contracting is a huge part of reconstruction in the modern age. In any conflict there are personel in conflict zones by their own free will. Some are there without pay and others are there with pay.

If one were to observe the facts and still come away with the generalizational emotion "they deserved it" then one would be an irrational humanist. Even in applying the rhetoric "through no fault of their own" it is impossible to assess the situation and still conclude "they deserved it". The extent to which information about these 4 men has reached the daily reading public does not provide the details to respond "they deserved it".

As an attorney, albeit a questionable practictioner of the law, Markos should be above his own words on mere educational background.

jeez. i'm just trying to share my thoughts. i dont deserve your vitriol. you don't know me.
and i think their are doubts about the food convoy thing.
again...the savagery is inexcusable..but i think it is reasonable to question what we are being told about what happend.
i'm not in iraq..i'm only speculating.

#149 Harry:

These fellas are there for their own profit.

Oh, good lord... not for profit?!! Heaven forfend!!!

Hey Harry--what do you do for a living? Do you do it "for profit"? I know that's at least part of the motivation of why I do my job. I'm guessing you're the same. So if somebody walks into your workplace right now, shoots you, burns your corpse, dismembers the charred remains, and hangs the parts from a bridge, should we just shrug and say, "well, after all, he was there for his own profit"?

But one wonders exactly what these mercenaries were up to

I'll be honest; I actually DO wonder if these men weren't fulfilling some function other than guarding food shipments. I wouldn't be surprised if they weren't also involved in helping to hunt down Ba'athist and islamist killers. So how does this excuse anything?

i'm only speculating.

Bullshit.

You are using the loaded, moonbat appellation "mercenary," thereby betraying your opinion that these were soldiers for hire. You didn't put scare quotes around the word, thereby indicating you buy this rendering.

Second, the only people who have expressed "doubts" about what these contractors were doing are America-hating whackos. If you refuse to believe what every reliable source has said about them, and instead rely on the rantings of moonbats, then you can pretty much believe anything you want. Maybe the food they were protecting was radioactive green Jell-O designed to make the Iraqis glow and thereby make it easier for the giant space laser frisbees to target them.

#154 Harry

i'm just trying to share my thoughts. i dont deserve your vitriol.

Your cavalier use of the term "mercenary" deserves at least one whack with a clue-by-four. Don't throw a rock and hide your hand Harry. It's not very becoming, and doesn't earn you any credibility points

and i think their are doubts about the food convoy thing.

..i think it is reasonable to question what we are being told about what happend

OK, based on what?

Try posting more facts and less innuendo and whining.

#156 V the K:

Second, the only people who have expressed "doubts" about what these contractors were doing are America-hating whackos.

[ahem.]

Not necessarily.

Imagine you're Paul Bremer. You've got these guys on your payroll; they are not just glorified security guards, they're highly experienced operators. Your regular troop strength is stretched thin. Wouldn't it be pretty reasonable to look into using the Blackwater guys for some extracurricular activities? Hell, I'd jump at the chance.

And if there were doing this, it changes nothing in the moral analysis. They were still there to help a country rebuild and become a decent place to live. And certain of the intended beneficiaries of their work repaid them with this savagery.

Harry (my namesake),

Honestly, what is so evil about profit? When someone goes to work every day, he tries to profit from his/her work. Your salary is profit.

When a business man tries to sell a product, that someone likes, and he makes a profit on that product, how is that such a bad thing?

You may just be a product of your environment - heaven knows that the media and entertainment in this country saturate us with the idea that profit is evil. But understand something - the profit motive itself is not evil in and of itself, if both parties are gaining something out of the transaction.

The people that post here are understandably upset that some left-wing asshat is happy American soldiers died. Mercs or not, they're Americans, and they deserve better from their own countrymen. This tends to get people angry.

TV (Harry)

#158 --- OR, that's still speculation. Not unreasonable speculation, necessarily, but speculation as yet unsupported by anything other than suspicion.

Gloating over the death of human rights activist Rachel Corrie leaves you in a poor position to impugne KOS's insensitive comments about the killing of soldiers-for-profit.

Harlan Pepper:

Yup. Saying we're glad that schtoopid bitch is dead is exactly the same thing as ripping apart charred corpses with our bare hands and feeding them to the dogs. Bush=Hitler too, right? Fucking idiot.

That wasn't actually what I was talking about, though I'm sure that given the right candidate, a great many people both in and out of the US would be capable of the same, given a suitable candidate.

What I was interested in was the difference in the reaction between the news of Corries death and the deaths of our four dearly beloved mercenaries. Suddenly a group of people who were full of nothing but mockery and scorn have become saints, full of respect for human life and disgust that someone could poke fun or be callous towards another human beings suffering. Not that they would ever do that. No sir!

I'm talking about this communities reaction to Kos' statements, as opposed to their own on Corries death. Not about a bunch of people pulling apart charred remains. This seemed pretty obvious in the post that I wrote, but then, it's always so difficult to get through to fanatics.

That said, you should cheer up.

One St Pancake for the leftists - pfft! - what does that matter when you have four St BBQs? That'll give Kos something to chew on. With sauce.

Help me stick it to Kos's political advertisers.

See http://michael-friedman.com/archives/000311.html.

"Im interested in how power relates to bla bla bla capitalism bla bla bla military industrial complex bla bla bla"

As silly as his comment is, the most offensive thing about this retard and his sychophants is their stupifying unoriginality.

For once in your life, lefties, come up with some ideas that arent co-opted from someone else!!!

My impression of these dopes prior to the first time they whacked off to Chomsky:

"duuuhhh"

#160 V the K:

OR, that's still speculation.

Agreed. But as you point out, it's reasonable speculation. If Harry had phrased this point differently, I'd find it completely unobjectionable. But with his phrasing of "what were these mercenaries up to", he showed his colors, methinks.

#156 V the K

I understand why you get so riled about this "mercenary" meme. There is such an obvious differenct between the soldier of fortune type and these contractors. If you spoke 4 languages, had years of military training and believed in what this country was doing in Iraq, would you want to be working in a cubicle (like me) right now?

#161 lordoftheflies

Gloating over the death of human rights activist Rachel Corrie leaves you in a poor position to impugne KOS's insensitive comments about the killing of soldiers-for-profit.

Now I'm confused. Was there a human rights activist by that name also?

#27 was deleted because it used a nasty racist epithet.

And for the record, I've never had to delete a comment from an LGFer for using this epithet. It invariably pops up only from the lefties who try to put words in our mouths.

War Department ---

What I was interested in was the difference in the reaction between the news of Corries death and the deaths of our four dearly beloved mercenaries.

Corrie died helping terrorists bring death and suffering to innocent people and in support of a brutal and corrupt regime.

The four "mercenaries" died trying to aid in reconstruction and in building a democratic state in place of a brutal dictatorship.

But I guess your smug, morally equivocating superiority can't see the difference, can you?

I just think this its possible that this is an isolated incident involving specific people.
Take into consideration that this kind of thing hasn't happend to any regular uniformed soldier.

I'm not excusing what happened. Not at all.

#162 War Dept.:

Know what? Once upon a time, I thought that joking about Corrie's death was also unseemly. It seemed beneath us. But then I saw how the hate-America left (and the hate-the-Jews Arab world) turned her into this perfect little "peace activist" who was bravely trying to protect a physician's home, when she was purposefully run down by a demonic Jewish bulldozer driver. A campaign of pure lies, in other words. And it pissed me off. So now I join in the mockery of Rachel Corrie, precisely because it pisses off all the right people.

There are times in history when you have to choose sides, WD. We're living in one of those times. I'd have cheerfully danced on Lord Haw-Haw's grave. I'll do the same with genocide-enablers like Rachel Corrie.

If you spoke 4 languages, had years of military training and believed in what this country was doing in Iraq, would you want to be working in a cubicle (like me) right now?

Only three languages, can't serve as a matter of public policy, and have an office ... not to mention two junior V the Ks, but I like to think that the business I'm in contributes to the war effort in some significant ways.

OT

More Bomb-Grade Uranium Found in Iran. What will it take for the IAEA to condemn this. Where is the U.N. resolution.

Waiting...
link

evariste:
Kos is Arabic for pussy. No joke!

Ali Al-Beheshti:
I am very pleased to note that in Farsi (the language of Iran..and the few surviving Parsi) kos is the word for the most vile, disgusting, mysoginistic moniker for the female generative organ.

Interesting. Since Farsi and Arabic have no genetic relationship, I'm wondering which language the word originated in. (Presumably, the flow of loanwords between the two tongues has overwhelmingly been in the direction Arabic ---> Farsi, but there are always exceptions.)

evariste, does Arabic kos lack the negative connotations that Ali attributes to the Farsi word? (I.e., is it closer to "pussy" or "c*nt"?) And naturally I'm curious to know the corresponding word for a fellow's wang.

#172 V the K:

can't serve as a matter of public policy

Hey, remember, you don't have to "tell"... and you can buy our silence!

but I like to think that the business I'm in contributes to the war effort

If you don't mind saying, what business are you in?

"Corrie died helping terrorists bring death and suffering to innocent people and in support of a brutal and corrupt regime."

you mean she secretly supported sharon?

While we're talking about the meaning of kos--is it pronounced like the semolina-based dish that Frank referred to? Because if so, I thought its meaning was a verb related to what evariste and Ali said. The only two Arabic swears I know are koos imak and koos akhta, which I was told meant "behave inappropriately with your mother/sister" (or words to that effect).

Did everyone in the class notice lordoftheflies' use of "irony" in #176? Wasn't that clever?

Harry: specific people dressed like civilians? The treatment of the dead was unacceptable even if there were 4 Hitlers in the truck. That's not the way you treat the corpse of any man. Hell, even the Mafia treats the dead with more respect.

If we want to reach for straws weren't these men attacked because they were white?

If you don't know, then you don't know. Phrase a question about something in the form of..a..question.

you mean she secretly supported sharon?

Wow, the wit and originality with this one is impressive.

yawn

Lord, grant me the serenity to ignore the trolls,
the courage to debate with honest opponents,
and the wisdom to know the difference.

Pater Noster...

170 Harry

- you're wrong. This is what happened to seven Spanish soldiers back in November:

Fox: journalists for Sky News, Fox News' sister network in Britain, saw bodies in the road and a jubilant crowd of Iraqis kicking them. Sky News gave an eyewitness account of a mob of 20 to 30 people rejoicing over the bodies. One correspondent saw a child of eight or nine pretending to kick a body. Another person was seen with a foot on the chest of one of the bodies. Shouts of "Praise to Saddam!" were heard.

CNN: The Iraqis reveled in the killing. They danced around the bodies of the dead Spaniards. They put their foot on them, kicked the bodies and looted them, according to eyewitnesses. Actually, the Iraqis thought they had shot Americans, [and] some even were ... thinking they had shot and killed Israeli Mossad agents. In the end, all of them gloated, shouting pro-Saddam Hussein slogans, and delighted in saying they were going to throw out the foreign occupiers of their country.

Another day, another Mossad corpse to mutilate. Gotta love Sunniland.

#175 --- Generically, I work as a defense analyst. (Yeah, I know that on the internet, nobody knows you're a dog, but Charles's IP-tracking skills could blow my cover if I were posting from, e.g., the "Linens N Things" corporate server.)

Throbert -

And naturally I'm curious to know the corresponding word for a fellow's wang.

Hanan Ashrawi.

And naturally I'm curious to know the corresponding word for a fellow's wang.

Someone once told me the word in Farsi was "dole," but this was during the 1996 election, so, I'd take it with a grain of salt.

so, I'd take it with a grain of salt.

[begins to make crude joke]
[thinks better of it]

Someone trying to find a moral equivelance between St. Rachel the flat and these, latest civilian victims of premeditated murderous intent?

I escaped the left just in time. These people must be unaware of what they are saying.

Kos is as sick and debased as the animals who perpetrated this atrocity and deserves the same fate.
He should be thankful I don't live in SF( I sure am! ).

#187 DG

I escaped the left just in time.

That comment actually cheered me up. I can't imagine still being a liberal and having to justify the poison coming from the left. Glad you made it to the escape pod too, brother!

And so why we're on the subject, where the f#$% is that "overwhelming" response we were promised? Why is it still business-as-usual in Fallujah?

#119 Axiom:

you will love the Showtime show with Penn and Teller

I saw parts of that last night, and was pleasantly surprised. I had always had the impression that P&T were standard-issue Hollywood left sorts (although I never followed their work closely). So I was astonished when, in particular, they absolutely eviscerated PETA. And then went on to show up that dippy environmentalist spokesgal in a way that would make Protest Warrior proud.

#185 V the K

Khaaswat = Penis

Arabic Curses and Dirty Words

#191 Barking Pumpkin:
Thanks--it seems I was slightly misinformed (but not by much).

Note the advertisers on Kos's site, especially the Democrats running for office.

Maybe someone should ask these candidates why they advertise on a site that exults in the deaths of American civilians. Talk about handing Republicans an opportunity on a silver platter!

I have only made it to about Post #175, so i'm not sure if anyone has brought this up:

One difference between the Iraqi thugs' rejoicing over the death of the four Americans and the rejoicing over Rachel Corrie (which I for one have not participated in):

Americans are still perceived by many over there as the enemy. Many LGFers perceive Corrie as worse than an, enemy: a traitor, since she is an American abetting anti-Americanism abroad, either directly (mock flag-burning, too cheap to buy her own) or by proxy by condoning hatred of Israelis.

I may not be phrasing this too elegantly, but that's all I have to say about that.

/Gump

Does Arabic have a word for assclown?

seriously now,
What were the mercs doing there?
Can't believe you guys buy the "protecting food convoys" line. First off, there aint any food shortages requring convoys. Secondly, you dont hire $1000/day heat to protect such convoys even if they existed.

And my momma always told me that mercs were evil, by definition. Was she wrong?

#55 del

Well, now knowing what kos means in Arabic, I wonder if when he got that he thought, "Cool, what an honor! I feel welcomed."

Reminds me of that old Far Side cartoon, that was captioned: "Fifty years later, the Lone Ranger makes a discovery" and has him reading a book and thinking: "What? Kemosabe: ancient Apache word for horse's rear end!"

#197

Your prima facie acceptance of the term "mercenaries/mercs" already tips your hand.

For the sake of fairness, lets hear what Kos has to say today:

There's been much ado about my indifference to the Mercenary deaths in Falluja a couple days ago. I wrote in some diary comments somewhere that "I felt nothing" and "screw them".
My language was harsh, and, in reality, not true. Fact is, I did feel something. That's why I was so angry.

I was angry that five soldiers -- the real heroes in my mind -- were killed the same day and got far lower billing in the newscasts. I was angry that 51 American soldiers paid the ultimate price for Bush's folly in Iraq in March alone. I was angry that these mercenaries make more in a day than our brave men and women in uniform make in an entire month. I was angry that the US is funding private armies, paying them $30,000 per soldier, per month, while the Bush administration tries to cut our soldiers' hazard pay. I was angry that these mercenaries would leave their wives and children behind to enter a war zone on their own violition.

So I struck back.

Unlike the vast majority of people in this country, I actually grew up in a war zone. I witnessed communist guerillas execute students accused of being government collaborators. I was 8 years old, and I remember stepping over a dead body, warm blood flowing from a fresh wound. Dodging bullets while at market. I lived in the midsts of hate the likes of which most of you will never understand (Clinton and Bush hatred is nothing compared to that generated when people kill each other for politics or race or nationality). There's no way I could ever describe the ways this experience colors my worldview.

Back to Iraq, our men and women in uniform are there under orders, trying to make the best of an impossible situation. The war is not their fault, and I will always defend their honor and bravery to the end of my days. But the mercenary is a whole different deal. They willingly enter a war zone, and do so because of the paycheck. They're not there for humanitarian reasons (I doubt they'd donate half their paycheck to the Red Cross or whatever). They're there because the money is DAMN good. They answer to no one except their CEO. They are dangerous, hence international efforts (however fruitless they may be) to ban their use.

So not only was I wrong to say I felt nothing over their deaths, I was lying. I felt way too much. Nobody deserves to die. But in the greater scheme of things, there are a lot of greater tragedies going on in Iraq (51 last month, plus countless civilians and Iraqi police). That those tragedies are essentially ignored these days is, ultimately, the greatest tragedy of all.

MERCS was a cool video game, but I liked Heavy Barrel better back then!

#200 --- I don't know, smells more like "CYA" then remorse.

KOS you are SHIT
Don't you feel anything for them, for their parents, their wives, their children? You have just crossed the line, to me you are as despicable as a paedophile. I hope other left wingers who connect to his blog, disconnect from this heartless animal and kick him and his site into cyber oblivion.

(I doubt they'd donate half their paycheck to the Red Cross or whatever). They're there because the money is DAMN good.

Leftist disdain that a workingman should be able to do whatever he damn well pleases with his own paycheck --- CHECK

while the Bush administration tries to cut our soldiers' hazard pay.

Distortion of fact in order to slam Bush --- CHECK

Nobody deserves to die. But

Standard leftist spologist formulation --- CHECK

My language was harsh, and, in reality, not true. Fact is, I did feel something.

Weaselish apology for language used coupled by defense for vile thought expressed --- CHECK

Say what you will, the man has not lost his touch.

#205 is not a troll - he's a lefty.

LOL ... I called myself a lefty!

I hate when that happens

Just realised that Mr. Kos still has some ads from candidates for congress and senate.
Any chance anyone wants to e-mail Kos's edited quote right back at them? Ask them if they think Americans guarding food delivery services are mercenaries?

By e-mail:

info@mitakidesforcongress.com
webmaster@hoeffelforsenate.com

"The only way to fight terror is to fight funding of terror", in this case his webads

The name "researcher" is promising.
So I ask you...
What makes you believe that they were actually there to guard food?
Does that really make sense to you?
Is it not something to research?
And in what sense were they not mercenaries?

What makes you believe that they were actually there to guard food?

What --- apart from hatred, suspicion, and uninformed speculation --- makes you think otherwise?

This Daily Cos person shares good company with the other heartless leftists of history: Stalin, Pol Pot, Lenin, Mao, etc.

You from San Francisco ranmar?

Friends remembered Scott Helvenston as a dedicated athlete who was just as comfortable having fun with his children as he was helping Hollywood stars go through grueling training.

Neighbor Fred Atkinson said Helvenston was a devoted father to his children, Kyle and Kelsey, and often took them camping or surfing.

A close friend, Garth Estadt, said Helvenston led a successful life, despite growing up in the foster care system.

"For him, everything was passionate," Estadt said Friday in a television interview. "If you have a couple friends like that, you're a rich man."

Just a reminder that the "mercenaries" ranmar sneeringly dehumanizes were living human beings with families, friends, and (unlike some people) hearts and souls.

"What --- apart from hatred, suspicion, and uninformed speculation --- makes you think otherwise? "

Oh, I dont know. Maybe just a general suspicion with what I hear in news reports. Anything wrong with that, or I am supposed to be a blind believer?

And as I asked before - since when do you hire $1000/day warriors to guard food convoys? And what are these food convoys anyway? THis isnt starving people in Africa y'know...
Just sounds suspicious to me.

Some other clown writes:
"You from San Francisco ranmar? "

???Now what the hell does that mean?

#212 : "sneeringly dehumanizes ..."

Huh? I said that mercs are evil, not subhuman. And I wasnt sneering as I said it.

GAZE is so appropriate.

Perhaps when the children of the torched and butchered American "mercenaries" (employees) grow up, they will pay a visit to "Kos."

Perhaps they will express THEIR sentiments.

ranmar, are you one of those nuanced liberals that thinks all-volunteer military = mercenaries?

Just askin'.

Hey guys. RU all a bunch of rednecks or what? The proper response to the Daily KOS rant was to do what I did all day: call and write all of the advertisers on that site and get them to pull their ads. I personally had success in removing $3600 per month in revenue from the bastard's coffers.

Now Jane Mitakides and the DNC are still up as of 1AM on Saturday Pacific Time. Maybe instead of warning them, you will all find and write the Ohio newspapers and TV stations and nail that Democratic Congressional candidate. Then go after the DNC by emailing and calling the national media.

Posts here should provide help with this in the form of email addresses, etc.

That DailyKOS rant didn't need all the above "arguments" against it. Democrats won't argue with you on that one. The entire issue is only whether advertisers will EVER go back up on Daily KOS after we succeed in scaring them off like cockroaches exposed to sunlight.

You guys are going to lose this election if you just hang around telling each other what Fheads the Liberals are. We all know that. Start posting letters to the media and organizing debates with leftists at universities. I would love to have "debate teams" discuss the Iraq War in front of audiences.

But for Heaven's sake: When a Liberal shoots himself so inexcusably in the foot like this, get that cockroach under a sunlamp damn quick. Don't let him get away.

I will be burning up the phone lines to the Ohio media in the morning, before going after the DNC. I suggest you do the same.

Example:

Ohio University Public Radio: radio@ohiou.edu
Ohio University Public Television: tv@ohiou.edu

By the way: LGF should post screenshot images of the offending document so you can provide the media with them.

OK Folks,

Gather the ammunition about the offending KOS comments at [Link: michael-friedman.com...] and then go to the following website for a list of the Ohio media email addresses:

[Link: www.otse.org...]

Go after the Democratic Congressional candidate Jane Mitakides for arrogantly leaving her ad up (LGF: post a screenshot of her ad in case she takes it down Saturday morning before the media see it).

This Ohio media page comes courtesy of a leftie website. Those lefties are so much more organized than we are.

Why doesn't LGF have a complete compendium of US media email addresses and phone numbers?

Let us blog smart.

Maybe just a general suspicion with what I hear in news reports. Anything wrong with that,

Basically conceding my point, you have no proof, no evidence, just hatred and ignorance informed by paranoia. I guess in your world, smearing the names and memories of good people based on nothing more than your own hatred and paranoia is okay. Thanks for making it clear you have no interest in things like facts, reason, or logic when they conflict with your paranoid fantasies. No sense in wasting any time on you. I'll leave you alone with your conspiracy theories.

One final thought, ranmar --- the four men who died brought more good and humanity into this world during their time in Iraq than you and all your anti-American budies will do in your entire bitter, stinking, wasted lives.

ranmar, are you one of those nuanced liberals that thinks all-volunteer military = mercenaries?

Just askin'.

No. Au contraire. I think that the all-volunteer military represents the finest part of our population. Brave men and women who serve their country, not for the money, but for their love of the country and its people.

That is, and always has been, the distinction between the military and mercenaries.

V the K,

You are a complete failure as a persuader, y'know...

"you have no proof, no evidence"

Thats right. Neither do you.
And the response of the two of us, to the fact that we have no real evidence, just news reports from interested parties, is...

I ask a question.
You make assertions.

And then you dredge up all manner of vile accusations against me for the great crime of asking a question.

You seem to be an intellectual thug. I dont find you very persuasive.

#224 ranmar

Guess who just arrived?

Guess who's coming to dinner?

Kids (though this may be considered abusive),

as for the mercenaries, here's one prime problem.

some of these guys, for a few weeks work, make $1000 or more a week. they do a specific job, and then are back out again.

if they get caught up in a firefight, and enlisted guys also get involved, where do the private contactors' loyalties lie?

they're here for the paycheck, and to survive for the few week period they'll be around.

there's no mystery about any antagonism between them and enlisted guys, who have different priorities, missions, and commanders, not to mention compensation.

another strong point is that a lot of these enlisted guys signed up for guard or reserve duty, and then ended up going halfway across the world for the furtherance of American power and influence, some dying.

they get paid miniscule, and their families are suffering, and suicide rates are high, while morale is low.

whine about kos all you want - he's really brought attention to an issue that deserves consideration, and he never meant anything personal towards these particular individuals.

just a classic antagonism between enlisted guys and paid private warriors with differing missions and ultimate loyalties.

enlisted guys have to look out for each other. who knows what the private guys will do...

don't know much about this KOS guy, but i say, if your over there making money off of bushs power/oil grab, well, BUY THE TICKET, TAKE THE RIDE!!! YEE-HAAA!!!

#227 Jimm

another strong point is that a lot of these enlisted guys signed up for guard or reserve duty, and then ended up going halfway across the world for the furtherance of American power and influence, some dying.

Gee, I thought it was because they loved their country. How naïve of me.

Markos Moulitsas Zúniga, also known as “Daily Kos,” couldn’t restrain his joy over the gruesome deaths of four of his fellow citizens yesterday, and expressed one of the ugliest sentiments I’ve seen yet on the lefty blogs...

LGF readers had the choice of Michael Moore -- or anyone else alive and under 70, for that matter -- to make your idiotarian of the year. Instead you chose to follow up the retired Jimmy Carter with a dead girl.

You are cowards because you choose the easiest targets, then you hide behind principles you've long since abandoned.

Mike (#230)

We don't discriminate based on age. I actively campaigned for George Soros for Idiotarian of the Year and he's 76.

Mike: you're spamming.

Here's my response to your dumb comment, which you have now posted 9 times:

Rachel Corrie was a terrorist enabling member of the International Solidarity Movement, a group funded by the PLO that has been busted harboring Islamic Jihad terrorists in their offices. She was photographed burning an American flag in front of Palestinian children with a look of sheer hatred on her face. She died from her own stupidity, "protecting" smuggling tunnels that are used to bring weapons, drugs, and prostitutes into Rafah.

To compare this creature with the Americans lynched in Fallujah is the absolute height of idiocy. But nothing surprises me about the left any more.

"My only regret with Timothy McVeigh is he did not go to The New York Times building."

- Ann Coulter, The New York Observer, 08-26-02

"Because if they do, there's going to be a long-overdue "philosophical cleansing" in this country. Make no mistake, assholes. There are a lot more of us than there are of you. And we are MUCH better armed."

ah yes. hypocritical moral outrage is the best kind.

Nothing says 'courage' like commenting on a five-day-old comment in a dead thread.