Written by Dr. Firpo W. Carr, (Columnist), on 07-10-2008 00:00
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The McCain Camp Complaints of “Inconsistency”
Senator John McCain, the presumptive Republican nominee for President, attacked his democratic rival over alleged inconsistencies in his stand on the war in Iraq. Obama, on the other hand, countered by responding: “I wasn’t saying anything that I hadn’t said before. That I didn’t say a year ago; or when I was a U.S. senator. If you look at our position, it’s been very consistent.” He didn’t stop with the Republican rabble-rousers. He politely rebuked the media for apparently acting as willing mouthpieces for the McCain camp.
“I am surprised at how...the press...I’m not trying to dump on you guys, but I’m surprised at how finely calibrated every single word was measured,” Obama said. “The notion that we have to get out carefully has been a consistent position,” he continued. His sentiments were not just directed at Fox News, disparagingly called “Fix News” by some liberals. The conservative media in general were discretely put on notice.
Fresh from his suppression of what some perceived as the start of an American gynecocracy (see “Word for the Week” below for definition) spearheaded by Hillary Rodham Clinton, Obama elaborated on his consistent stand: “The belief that we have a national security interest in making sure Iraq is secure, I’ve been saying consistently.” This was a retort to what many see as McCain’s calamity howling about the possibility of genocide should US troops exit Iraq abruptly.
“And what has been the result of Uncle Sam’s abrupt presence in Iraq since 2003?” asks one anti-Bush commentator? To date, as of this writing, 1,236,604 Iraqi deaths have occurred since the US invasion according to the antiwar.com Web site. And the iraqbodycount.com Web site notes that from 85,795 to 93,594 documented civilian deaths have occurred due to violence since US troops landed in ‘03. Looting by American soldiers, who are special targets of the Iraqis, is said to continue. British troops, I was told when I was in the Persian Gulf, show empathy. There has been 312 Coalition troops killed, a fraction of American troops.
On one occasion, British troops unexpectedly encountered armed Iraqi “insurgents.” The British commander ordered his troops to remove their helmets, which they reluctantly did. This gesture showed respect for the Iraqis, indicating to them they the British knew they were on foreign soil. What happened next? A soccer game broke out between the two groups!
Of course, with regard to genocide, the Iraqis and other Muslims in the region say the tribal wars and infighting among the country’s inhabitants is no different from what is happening in the US. As has been mentioned before in this column, former US “War on Terror” “detainee” Moazzam Begg, in his book Enemy Combatant: My Imprisonment at Guantánamo, Bagram, and Kandahar, wrote regarding America:
“You fight for the right to bear arms, in a country that is plagued by firearms violence: juvenile college killings, shopping-mall snipers, serial killers, Hollywood-style shoot-outs with the cops, gang violence from all your races—Latino Lords, Mexican Mafia, Crips and Bloods, Aryan Brotherhood, Ku Klux Klan; highest crime figures in the world, especially murder in your capital city.”
“Genocide!?” asked another observer. “You mean like what the US did to the Indians?” He paused for effect. “You mean like what they’re doing to African Americans on several levels?” he continued. “Take the infamous Tuskegee experiment that was conducted on innocent, unsuspecting Black men. Sure, the government will issue an insincere formal or informal apology, and then do something else similar to it again that we may find out about later, issue another apology, and on and on.” I thought he was through, then as I was about to say something he said:
“Don’t you see what’s happening with the HIV/AIDS debacle?” He didn’t allow me answer. “The powers that be corner us as Black people by either denying us education, or making it difficult for us to move up the corporate ladder, or by getting our sons in the legal system. And what do we do?” I didn’t even attempt to answer. “We turn to drugs, sex, music, sports, and violence. And the White man is only too please to accommodate us by introducing HIV/AIDS to a depressed population that’s using sex as the primary form of escapism. Any money we make while dying a slow death we spend on drugs (HIV/AIDS again), music, the latest sneakers, and violence. It all adds us to carefully orchestrated GENOCIDE.” “Whey,” I say to myself. “Oh, I forgot something,” he said. I just look at him. “White people are the first to say, ‘Well, you know those people are doing it to themselves.’”
Again, regarding the bogus Republican concern for genocide sweeping throughout the country, in 2004 a royal family member from the region told me when I was reclining next to him at a banquet table in his Persian Gulf palace not far from Iraq, “The Iraqi civilization is 5,000 years old, whereas America is a few hundred years old. How do you think they managed to survive just fine for thousands of years before America, and the United Kingdom too, was even thought of?” Meanwhile, after Republicans fired off what CNN called “attack e-mails,” the exchanges between Campaign McCain and Camp Obama heated up as the running gun battle continues.
To be sure, Mr. Obama is struggling with problems of Biblical proportions when tackling the Iraq issue. Modern-day Iraq is ancient Babylon all grown up. By the seventh century B.C.E., ancient Babylon was a secure fortress. Before it ascended to glory, prophet Isaiah foretold: “Babylon...must become as when God overthrew Sodom and Gomorrah. She will never be inhabited, nor will she reside for generation after generation. And there the Arab will not pitch his tent, and no shepherds will let their flocks lie down there.” (Isaiah 13:19, 20) Sure enough, Cyrus the Great, many centuries prior to the birth of Islam’s Prophet Muhammad, overthrew Babylon on the night of October 5, 539 BC. This was only the beginning of the prophecy’s fulfillment.
A few hundred years later the Parthians ran Babylon. Shortly thereafter, Jewish historian Josephus said that “a great number” of Jews lived there. One source says that, “According to The Cambridge Ancient History, Palmyrene merchants founded a prosperous trading colony in Babylon in 24 C.E. So, as late as the first century C.E., Babylon was still not completely desolate; yet, Isaiah’s book had been completed long before then.” (See 1 Pet. 5:13) The fulfillment of Isaiah’s prophecy outpaced him. He didn’t live to see Babylon become a mere “piles of stones.” (Jeremiah 51:37)
Jewish scholar Jerome, who lived a few hundred years after Christ, wrote that “by his day Babylon was a hunting ground in which ‘beasts of every type’ roamed.” Presently, Babylon is still in shambles, despite Saddam’s promise to rebuild it. God is quoted as saying of Babylon, “I’ll bulldoze it out of existence.” (Isaiah 14:22; Message Bible) Ultimately, God will bless The Iraqis, and persons from all nations. Amen!
Word of the Week (or is it “Weak”?): gynecocracy—political rule by women. The related word, “gynecology,” means the study of women.
Dr. Firpo Carr n can be reached at 800.501.2713 or
Your article in the July 10, 2008 Los Angeles Sentinel was a challenge to read and relate to. I would appreciate your clarifying several statements for my understanding:
"The conservative media in general were discretely put on notice." My question---were Fox and other media warned to clean up their act? Become less of a spin mill? Stop their constant efforts to trash democrats? I believe in the principle of free speech, however, I also believe radio and T.V. outlets, and other media should be held to a higher standard of responsibility of correctness and accuracy than an individual because of their powerful position to affect the lives of individuals within a society and/or its direction---degradation or improvement.
History is filled with the causes for the rise and fall of different civilizations. Their destruction were perpetrated by internal and/or external enemies in quest of wealth, power and control. Your article referred to "the HIV/AIDS debacle". What does this mean? I immediately thought of the Tuskegee experiment. I have read other articles that allege drug presence in black communities that has almost destroyed a generation of our young black men represents a conspired plan activated just for that purpose. Restrict our education, job opportunities, create frustration that lead to drugs then implement the "justice system" to complete the job. I believe each individual must take responsibility for their acts and this principle should be drilled into our youth. I also believe that the parents, teacher, and leaders of our youth can do a better job when they know the source and cause for some of their opposition. The facts should be known to inspire and validate the effort. What are your thoughts Dr. Carr?
Bill Carper
Posted by Dr. Firpo carr, on 07-14-2008 20:34,
Dear Brother Bill Carper:
Regarding the media being discreetly put on notice, I interpret Sen. Obama’s comments as doing just that. Which comments in particular? These: “I am surprised at how...the press...I’m not trying to dump on you guys, but I’m surprised at how finely calibrated every single word was measured.” Translation: “You guys show your bias by scrutinizing every single word I say, and then spin the way you want. I want you to know that I know this. I’m watching you, and I would like it to stop.” Now, whether they stop or not (which they probably won’t), he still put it out there.
The “HIV/AIDS debacle” that my interviewee referenced is indeed interesting. As I understand him, he’s pointing out that it’s curious that HIV/AIDS supposedly started in Africa (he believes certain agencies of the US government arranged to experiment on the continent just as in the case of the Tuskegee experiment). Related to this is the fact that HIV/AIDS is disproportionately rampant in the America’s Black Community (ABC). This, too, he says, is also suspect.
Also, the forces responsible for coordinating the introduction and proliferation of guns and drugs in ABC across the country are the same forces, he alleges, that are behind the explosion of HIV/AIDS in these areas. As you know, Blacks neither have the sophisticated manufacturing capabilities to produce drugs and guns, nor the elaborate transportation networks to transport and distribute these items across the country. They are, for the most part, exclusively end-users.
(Cont'd on posting below)
Posted by dr firpo carr, on 07-14-2008 20:37,
Insofar as this is concerned, you’re absolutely right that they’re responsible for ‘just saying no’ to these destructive items when presented with an opportunity to ingest and engage. I’ve preached this for years, long before Bill Cosby preached his version of it. I used by own family as an example of how the freedom of choice can be used or abused. All four of my brothers, raised in the same household as me, have abused drugs, been shot, stabbed, incarcerated, and one murdered, largely due to the choices they made. I chose differently; and so far, none of these things have happened to me. Doesn’t make to better. Just makes me alive and well. I love them dearly, and my heart bleeds for them.
So I see two wrongs in the big picture. (1) The powers that be that pump drugs and guns into ABC; and (2) The irresponsible souls in ABC that use and abused these.
