MORE ON THE LUNATIC FRINGE

"Just look carefully, I only want you to look carefully. Do not repeat the lies of liars. Do not become like them. Once again, I blame al-Jazeera before it ascertains what takes place. Please, make sure of what you say and do not play such a role." ~ Mohammed Saeed al-Sahaf, Iraqi Information Minister.

Okay, a couple of items today from the I-Told-You-So Department.

First of all, I love it when I find out I'm not alone, that there exists, somewhere out there in the blogosphere, someone else who can speak Rastî. I came across this opinion piece at a place called Blogcritics.org. It's an opinion article about the Iraqi blog, IraqPundit, and our IraqiPundit is of the distinct impression that the Lunatic Fringe is, well, lunatic. He even thinks the Nutty Professor from U of M (Juan Cole, for those of you who are not aware) doesn't know what in the hell he's talking about! Bijît IraqiPundit!

I could not believe my eyes as I read Dave Nalle about IraqPundit. I was thoroughly dumfounded and then I almost fell out of my chair, I was laughing so hard. Check this out:

In analyzing a comment by Juan Cole he says:

Speaking of morally challenged hectoring, the inimitable Juan Cole has this to say about Iraqi support for the insurgents:

"Too many Sunni Iraqis support them by now, and hate the US and its Iraqi allies. And, the new Iraqi military is too listless and sectarianized to make something like this work over the long term."

Izzatso? Where did Prof. Cole get these insights? Do they show up along with his bill at his Ann Arbor kabob house? The central issue about insurgents is this: The terrorists kill Iraqi civilians. They kill Sunnis. They kill Shiites. They kill Christians. They kill Sabeans. They kill Kurds. They kill everybody. Bombs and bullets don't check lineage. If Iraqis who know of terrorist hideouts aren't telling the authorities, it's because they are afraid. Fear ruled us for decades and it's hard to recover from that mind-set. So my informed comment is that no, most Sunnis don't support the killing of their fellow Iraqis. And most Shiites don't support the killing of their fellow Iraqis. Most Iraqi civilians want to live normal lives without the imminent threat of random slaughter.

No kidding.

Apparently, IraqPundit goes after other members of the Lunatic Fringe as well, proving, once again, that none of these little emperors have any clothes on at all, and he does so neither from the right nor from the left. A guy after my own heart.

My second item for your perusal is in the same vein. I discovered another member of the Lunatic Fringe, this one in the UK, proving that American Lunatic Fringers have not yet cornered the market on stupidity. Allow me to introduce Steph. Steph is a Kurd-hater. Steph is also blond, which probably explains a lot about what she has to say. She's also got that diffuse-lens thingy going, which probably means that her best years were the ten between 28 and 29.

Steph is upset that the American and British media put a good spin on Jalal Talabanî and the Kurds. Can anyone tell me when was the last time they saw or heard any video or mention of Kurds in the American media? Mam Jelal does not count, because he is the Iraqi president. The last time I saw any Kurds on American news was at the end of January, 2005, during the elections. Other than that, I saw Mohammed Ihsan on the PBS Frontline production of Saddam's Road to Hell. Do they have Kurds crawling all over the British media, or what? We count ourselves lucky if the media on this side of the pond even mentions the dreaded K-word, or if some talking head says "Sulêmanî" instead of "As-Suleiymaniya," and I would have a heart attack if I heard any of them say "Hewlêr" instead of Arbil/Irbil/Erbil. So what the hell is going on in the British media that has Steph's panties tied up in knots?

Steph believes the Turkish and Arab propaganda which says that the pêşmerge committed genocide. This is news to me. Would Steph have any evidence of that? Evidence as in the kind of stuff that Mohammed Ihsan brought back to Kurdistan from the southern desert? Evidence as in the kind of stuff brought against Turkey in the ECHR? Evidence as in what journalists and a few brave Kurds managed to smuggle out of Mullahland last summer? Or out of Syrian-occupied Kurdistan in March, 2004.

Steph never heard about Arabization either, or she wouldn't be so upset at the whole question of Dilê Kurdistan. On the other hand, Steph is a good Turk/Arab/Persian wannabe, because she says there's no such thing as Kurdistan. Steph thinks PKK murdered 40,000 Kurds in Bakur and that KDPI and PJAK murdered thousands in Iranian-occupied Kurdistan. Steph thinks Kurdistan will be a second Israel. Steph thinks Ja'afari got screwed for going to Ankara when the fact is that Ja'afari screwed himself by going to Ankara. After all, he wasn't the prime minister at the time, was he?

Steph thinks that Kurds are responsible for many genocides and that all Kurds are "terrorists." Steph says that Kurds aren't secular because they are majority Muslim. By Steph's twisted thinking, this means that the US and the UK are not secular either, especially not the US. Neither is Turkey, Syria, Iran, Iraq or any of hundreds of other countries on the planet.

Steph thinks there is a sizeable Jewish population. Now, since Steph is obviously not the sharpest knife in the drawer, I wonder where this sizeable Jewish population is located, because she doesn't say specifically. Is it in New York City? Israel? The planet Neptune? Or does Steph really mean to say that there is a sizeable Jewish population in Kurdistan? But Kurdistan doesn't exist according to Steph, so does she really mean to say that there's a sizeable Jewish population in Iraq? Syria? Turkey? Iran? Strange, isn't it, that I didn't see any Jews in Kurdistan Bakur or Başur when I was there last year.

Steph thinks that most Kurds love being Turks, Syrians, Iraqis and Iranians. Steph thinks that the pêşmerge "sold" oil contracts that they don't own--whatever that means. Steph thinks the Americans are launching terrorist attacks against Iran, Lebanon, Syria and Basra. . . Basra? I guess she got that info from Iran Daily or the Islamic Republic News Agency, but I'm only guessing, since Steph doesn't bother to quote a single source for anything she says. She must pull all of this stuff out of her ear, just like good old Juan does. I'd also like to know when Steph was last in Kurdistan, or Iraq, or Syria, or Turkey, or Iran.

I am sure that all of you have had enough of Steph. Besides, it's time that Steph the Kurd-hater is off to the salon, to get a little touch up on her roots.