Backtalk! - Antiwar.com

Hi Justin,

I myself am a left-wing antiwar activist, but I must say that I love reading your blogs, which I generally agree with wholeheartedly, and I have now gained a great appreciation for the conservative antiwar advocates like yourself.

I actually was enamored with Obama back in the spring, having been taken in by his more peaceful rhetoric about "changing the mindset which leads us to war." Of course, as you note in your article, he has since made it clear that he intends no such thing. Indeed, his hawkish attitude on Pakistan has exceeded that of the Bush administration and has appeared to goad Bush into his current aggression there. So, while I still hope Obama wins, because I see McCain/Palin as more nakedly aggressive and possibly willing to use nuclear weapons, I agree with you that, regardless of who wins, we will have our work cut out for us.

~ Dan Kovalik

Al-Qaeda in the Caucasus

I'm glad to see Justin Raimondo point to a connection between al-Qaeda and America's foremost ally in the Caucasus, Georgia.

In fact, how surprising would it be if some elements of the U.S. clandestine apparatus were not directly working with al-Qaeda against Russia?

It is no secret that the Chechen rebels included a significant al-Qaeda element. Throughout the 1990s, and until the September 2001 attack on the U.S., the U.S. government openly supported the Chechen rebel cause – as did the U.S. media. This almost certainly implies that there was some direct support at some level, whether operational, monetary, intelligence, or advisory. In other words, U.S. support of Chechen al-Qaeda is almost a certainty.

Only after 9/11 and the Beslan school massacre in Russia, did the U.S. tone down its support for the Chechens. Even then, the U.S. media continued to downplay the obvious link between al-Qaeda and the Chechen rebels.

It is also well known that Chechen rebels have operated out of Georgian territory – the Pankisi Gorge – for years. An article in today's (Oct. 7, 2008) Christian Science Monitor ("Georgia's Chechens Relive Own Russian War") confirms this well-known fact: "Many guerrillas also used [the Pankisi Gorge] as a haven from which to launch operations into Russia."

So we have Chechen rebels, many of whom are al-Qaeda, operating out of Georgian territory for years. We have the U.S. supporting the rebel cause for many years, and now staunchly supporting Georgia in a conflict with Russia. Does two plus two equal four?

The American people and their press need to ask their government this question: Is the U.S. working with, or supporting, al-Qaeda, in whatever context or region?

Naturally the American puppet media is never going to make this a "talking point," in the nation's political dialogue. In fact, even the alternative media has been slow to pick up on this. Kudos to Raimondo for identifying this very important issue – alone, among all the members of media, it seems.

~ Gordon Arnaut, Ontario, Canada

VP Debate an Exchange of Disinformation

Why is quoting an ayatollah's remark of decades past that the regime that governs Israel should (or will) vanish from the page of time "an extreme and deplorable statement"? The passing of a regime, whether hoped-for or by intention, is not in itself violent, much less genocidal. For many years I wished for the passing of the Thatcher regime in the UK, of the Reagan regime in the U.S., and the Yeltsin regime in Russia from the page of time. I did all that from my living room in Madison, Wisc., without spilling a drop of blood.

~ Alan Bickley

The Bubble Boys

Please don't address the connection between money and war in "another venue." The engineered disconnect between war and profit, and death and disenfranchisement, relies on silence to keep the war machine up and running.

Eisenhower warned of the the danger of the "military-industrial complex." Smedley Butler before him was more to the point and just called it what it is – "war is a racket."

The kind of article you wrote today is the kind I want to circulate to draft-age young men.

This is the problem. Keep talking. This is exactly what politicians won't talk about.

~ Frances Campbell

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