ASK ROSCOE: Dr. Horsepuckey rides again

Dear Roscoe:

Hey, pal. Where do you get off, dissing a good Iranian-American citizen and scholar like Dr. Ismael Hossein-zadeh, just because he doesn’t agree with your right-wingnut world view? (Don’t you dare call him that ridiculous name again.) I did a little checking into Dr. Hossein-zadeh’s writings and found this:

“Perhaps more than anything else, it is this combination of private ownership of the means of warfare and market imperatives of profitability that drives the war today. It is also this business imperative of war that, more than any other factor, underlies the U.S. militarists’ constant search for enemies, or new ‘threats to our national security.’ ”

I think Dr. Hossein-zadeh’s got your number—you and George Bush and all you slimy neo-con chickenhawk warmongers. What do you think? Hmm?

--G. Dean


Dear G.:

You mean Dr. Horsepuckey? (See Aug. 28, “Dr. Horsepuckey.”)

I believe you’re referring to Dr. Horsepuckey’s article, "Manufacturing External Threats to Ensure War Profits." It’s from his book, The Political Economy of American Militarism. The only thing is, you should have also quoted a few lines farther down, to Dr. Horsepucky’s walk-off:

As Brandon J. Snider points out, “Nations like Britain and the U.S. don’t really have to do anything to fight terrorism; they only have to stop doing things that provoke terrorist responses: keep out of the affairs of other nations.”

Golly, G., but that’s a howler! There’s just a whole lot we could say about the sheer idiocy—the horsepuckiness—of that. But I think our friend Robin over at Chickenhawk Express says it best:

Once again - blame America and Americans for terrorist attacks. Once again and I'll say it slowly so even the Libs with their fingers in their ears can hear...

THERE... WAS.... NO... ABU... GHRAIB.... ON..... 9/11...

WE... WERE.... NOT... IN... IRAQ... ON .... 9/11...

THE... TERRORISTS... WERE... AT... WAR... WITH... US... ON... 9/11...

SADDAM... HUSSEIN... WAS.... INVOLVED... WITH... TERRORISM... (and NO I'm not saying he was involved with 9/11).

Or how about this further example of horsepuckery from Jihad Watch:

Swiss charge Pakistani over 'honor killing' of wife

Eurabia Alert from AFP:

ZURICH -- Swiss prosecutors have charged a Pakistani man over the "honor killing" of his wife, according to legal documents published Wednesday [August 23].

Ajmal Butt Aziz, 24, is accused of murdering his 20-year-old wife Khudeja because she refused to follow Islamic tradition and wear a headscarf, according to the charge sheet published by the Corriere del Ticino newspaper.

Aziz's spouse died in July 2005 after he allegedly bludgeoned her to death with a hammer as she slept at the couple's home in Bellinzona, in Switzerland's southern canton of Ticino.

Born in Pakistan, Khudeja Aziz was brought up in Switzerland and was a citizen of the Alpine country.

Aziz claimed that he acted in self-defense after being attacked by his wife.
Prosecutors, however, alleged that he acted because he was opposed to his wife's Western lifestyle and her wish to find a job, and also that she was seeking a divorce.

Moral of the story: Obviously, it wasn’t Khudeja’s responsibility to do anything to prevent her husband’s violent actions; she only had to stop doing things that provoked him. Guess she won’t make that mistake again...

So, G., that’s why we say it—and say it loudly: Horsepuckey. Horsepuckey.

And again, Horsepuckey.