The Shoe's on the Other Foot Now.

Reuters is running a story about bush condemning Iran for detaining American citizens on allegations of spying.

CommanderGuy is quoted as saying, "I am disturbed by the Iranian regime's refusal so far to provide any information on Robert Levinson, despite repeated U.S. requests," and, "I call on Iran's leaders to tell us what they know about his whereabouts."

I presume this would not be the same george w bush who claims a God-given right to "disappear" anyone he wants, in the name of national security. This would certainly not be the george w bush whose administration called the Geneva Conventions "quaint", or whose Veep referred to Constitutional rights as "delicate sensibilities," nor would this be the same bush whose administration engages in waterboarding, extraordinary renditions, and Lord only knows what other crimes against humanity in the name of his Holy War on Terra.

Any thinking person -- which lets out all of the brain-dead 27% and virtually all rethuglicans -- could have told CommanderGuy that his actions would come back to bite us in the ass.

Of course, CommanderGuy is never, ever wrong; it's just that subjective reality doesn't fit into his scheme of things.

Cross-posted at Watching Those We Chose and Out of Iraq Caucus.

Sgt Kokesh to USMC: "Go F*** Yourself"

Via BadTux, I found out about former Sergeant Adam Kokesh, USMC. Kokesh was busted back to Corporal before being discharged from the Corps. After his discharge from active duty -- during which he served honorably in Iraq -- he became a member of Iraq Veterans Against the War, and spoke out against our presence in Iraq. In retaliation for exercising his freedom of speech -- one of the freedoms for which the Islamofascistmuslimterrists hate us -- the USMC revoked his honorable discharge and is now offering a "less-than-honorable" discharge in a blatant attempt to stifle him.

Kokesh wrote on his blog:

If I accept this “plea bargain,” I would have to allow you to punish me for speaking my mind, allow you to say that it is somehow less than honorable for thousands of IRR Marines to exercise their freedom of speech, allow you to silence the voices of those whose experiences are most relevant in the most pressing debate before the nation, and allow you to say that Thomas Jefferson was wrong. If this is your intent, I would ask to please, kindly, go f*** yourself. I will not allow it.

As I recall, we are in Iraq, in part, to defend our freedoms there so we don't have to defend them here, or something to that effect.

And yet we have the United States Marine Corps -- admittedly the bravest, fiercest, toughest fighters this world has ever seen -- suppressing the freedom of speech of one of their own veterans.

As BadTux put it:

I dunno what kinda love we can give Adam Kokesh, but I'm sure that the only way they'll shut up this PFC ("Proud Fuckin' Civilian") is if they put him in jail. Meanwhile, the Marines ought to be ashamed for trying to shut up a civilian honorably seperated from the Marines by revoking his honorable discharge. That kinda political bullshit acting as political operatives for the Bushevik regime is not what the military is supposed to be about. Our military is supposed to be about killing our nation's enemies dead, not about suppressing free speech within the borders of our country. There's a name for the kind of country where the military is used to suppress free speech within the borders of the country. It's called "military
dictatorship". It's not what our nation is supposed to be about. For shame, General Moore!

I second what BadTux says.

Kokesh doesn't seem to have a donation button on his blog, but maybe a whole shitload of supportive comments will help him out a bit.