The Cruz Team: Abrams, Gaffney, Boykin and Ledeen

"Cruz has given audiences a preview of just how extreme his administration would be.  When speaking to an Iowa audience before the caucus, he got turned to the topic of military action against ISIS.  “I don’t know if sand can glow in the dark.  But we’re sure going to find out.” – referring to possible usage of nuclear or indiscriminate carpet bombing.  Evoking images of sand, was clearly a ploy at riling up his base at fighting what they consider an existential war against desert peoples.

On the subject of Israeli aggression against the Palestinians, Cruz co-sponsored the Senate resolution justifying Operation Protective Edge, which eventually killed over 2,000 Palestinians.  Even though he has no power to do so, he continually states that he would “declare Jerusalem the eternal capitol of Israel” on his first day in office.  This is clearly aimed at resonating with a base that relishes the dehumanization of Arabs and Muslims, as evidenced by this posting by a purported Cruz supporter.

http://mondoweiss.net/2016/03/new-ted-cruz-national-security-advisors-are-leaders-of-the-islamophobia-industry/?utm_source=Mondoweiss+List&utm_campaign=e554819276-RSS_EMAIL_CAMPAIGN&utm_medium=email&utm_term=0_b86bace129-e554819276-398535769

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Oddly, I know all these men.  Where did I go wrong?  Ah, too much time inside the Beltway!  What kind of man says he would be willing to destroy whole populations with nuclear weapons?

These four men collectively summon up images from the history channel, and they are not good images.   pl 

 

Comments

[oofda]

Colonel,
Yes, and they all are certifiable. Remember Gaffney railing about the new logo for the Missile Defense Agency was purportedly designed by the Obama Administration to resemble his campaign logo- and to incorporate the Islamic crescent? He got a lot of mileage over that - and a lot of ridicule as well when it was disclosed that the logo was actually designed and used before 2008 (i.e., during the Bush Administration) and had nothing to do with Islam. As the Brits say, Gaffney and Boykin are barking mad.

http://thinkprogress.org/security/2010/02/25/83953/missile-defense-logo-conspiracy/

[BabelFish]

"What kind of man says he would be willing to destroy whole populations with nuclear weapons?"

Someone who scares me far more than Trump does.

[William R. Cumming]

Anyone but Trump now the battle cry of many?

IMO Trump as developer more conservative than other forms of market exploiter.

[rjj]

Ecce Homo. http://farm6.static.flickr.com/5236/5889127376_1ea67fa10d.jpg

[ked]

Cruz is Dominionist, and we ain't talk'n ole Virginny.

[Nancy K]

The whole group scares me much more than Hillary and her Blackberry. I didn't think anyone could make Trump look good but Cruz does.

[LeaNder]

"What kind of man says he would be willing to destroy whole populations with nuclear weapons?"

Yaron Brook, the "'Objectivist' CEO" famously did in an O'Reilly interview on Dec. 17, 2004:

"O’R: You’re going to create more enemies.

YB: How did we end World War II, by dropping atomic bombs on Hiroshima and Nagasaki. We did not create more enemies, we actually created friends and we created ultimately a free Japan. We brought the Japanese people to their knees and that is the only way you can establish a democracy in a culture which is so opposed to freedom, is bring their culture to its knees. As long as we continue to appease them we are not going to be successful. We cannot win a war by trying to buy their love. They do not love us, they hate us. What we want to achieve is—"

*****
I basically support copyright laws, but sometimes they are in conflict with our legitimate demand that matters don't get flushed into the big black memory hole.

[HDL]

Re: "We brought the Japanese people to their knees and that is the only way you can establish a democracy in a culture which is so opposed to freedom, is bring their culture to its knees"

"We're going to teach these people democracy if we have to kill every one of them"-- the colonel in "Teahouse of the August Moon"

[alba etie]

All
Maybe HRC with all her flaws is better then the Clown Car over at the GOP Hoedown . I voted for Senator Sanders in our primary now am just going to duck & cover I guess ,,,,

[Emad]

Colonel,

Among these men I'm interested in Ledeen. His fascination with fascism and "Italian connections" are interesting. Could you tell us more of what you think of him?

[turcopolier]

Emad

Ledeen is IMO an Israeli in his loyalties. IMO he is a faux American and altogether a Zionist agent of interest. David Frum once asked me if I did not think Ledeen an honorable man. I do not. pl

[steve]

If is Trump who wins the nomination and gets elected, how many of these would change their allegiance and join a Trump administration?

Steve

[Dale E]

You obviously haven't followed HRC's comments about foreign policy, AND you are unaware of her actions at DoS. Trump is a no-brainer for us paleos.

[Dale E]

Trump is like Bobby Fischer at his zenith. Fischer took on the the Soviet chess establishment titan and won soundly. Trump is seriously outwitting the GOP and neocon establishment. He throws out names like Richard Haas and John Bolton as a head fake while privately being advised by Lt. Gen. Michael Flynn.

[Jack]

The team straight from neocon central casting.

It makes perfect sense why they're all freaking out about Trump. I can't believe that they are putting out front page stories in the Pravda on the Hudson about how they are plotting to steal the nomination from him. They are seeding the meme that Trump condones violence by disrupting his rallies.

The Democrats have taken the route of status quo by nominating the Borg queen. The Republicans on the other hand have primary voters with a large number of rebels that no longer are prepared to believe the propaganda. If they are openly thwarted by the party Borgistas it could get downright ugly.

[gemini33]

They're baaaaack.

[Klaus Weiß]

Pat, wasn't it Ledeen who recommended Sterling's "The Terror Network" to Reagan as a standard book of reference for foreign policy?

[turcopolier]

Klaus Weiss

I do not know. pl

[sillybill]

So is retired Delta Force General Jerry Boykin.

[LeaNder]

Mr. Faster Please Ledeen ('let's first take Syria and then Iran', was among the first matters that caught my attention), no doubt may be the most colorful characters on the set, not least since he also has this Quija board which seems to allow him to communicate with James Jesus Angleton. ;)

In other other words he established a brand out of something that did not catch only my attention.

What happened to Richard Perle? It feels he didn't make it onto the list.

[alba etie]

Dale E
What is a paleo ? I recently saw a paleo conservative bumper sticker here in Spicewood Texas is that the same as being a paleo ? Also I am well aware of HRC 's many liabilities especially in neocon foreign policy .What I am mulling over is whether the Devil I do know( HRC ) is better then the Devil I do not know ( Trump ) . For example Trump has repeatedly said paraphrasing ' we need to get the oil back from Iran' - exactly how will he do that ? Further Trump bashes the Iran Nuclear Deal - do you also believe that the Iran Deal was as bad as Trump says it is ? Finally why is it important that Lt Gen Flynn is advising Trump on foreign policy . Truly I am mulling over my vote in the general election so why Trump ?

[turcopolier]

AE

"we need to get the oil back from Iran" I don't think Trump has ever said anything like that. You are writing your own material and creating facts. he has said things about Iraqi oil that don't make any sense but not Iranian oil. As for Flynn he is becoming IMO a sell-out to the neocons. He has a book deal to let Michael Ledeen ghost write a book for him. Ambition and bitterness over his treatment by Obama has IMO warped his values. pl

[LeaNder]

If you allow me to descend into popular culture?

"There is no way out of here said the joker to the thief".

Is a line by Bob Dylan, that found its own best musical expression in Jimi Hendrix's version of 'All along the Watchtower', if you ask me.

Not too long ago, a tune in the BBC crime series "Peaky Blinders" caught my attention. As a matter of fact, I wondered if this was a tune that a former neighbor a French musician seemed to love to such an extend he played it all over again. In any case others around here did, he never did.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dxkUK3SQlWI

[Tyler]

AE,

Stop swallowing the media narrative. Trump is the nationalist everyone around here has been banging on about since GWB days.

[Tyler]

AE,

Trump's contention with the Iran deal isn't that a deal was made with Iran, but that we have prisoners over there that weren't released as part of the deal, and that we are giving them money when we are "broke", as he puts it.

Paleo is short for "paleocon", contra neocon.