Well, yes your first thought was Bibi Netanyahu, who received so many standing ovations from his rapturous Congressional audience (minus a sensible Ron Paul, who ducked the opportunity), that they might as well have remained on their feet the entire time. But who else is lovin’ Congress to death? Try Muamar Qaddafi, who wrote some very nice things to members of Congress like John Boehner for attacking U.S. policy toward Libya. Qaddafi knows a friend when he sees one and Boehner is it:
Col. Muammar el-Qaddafi has written to members of Congress thanking them for criticizing President Obama last week over his involvement in the NATO-led military campaign in Libya.
“I want to express my sincere gratitude for your thoughtful discussion of the issues,” Colonel Qaddafi wrote in the letter, a copy of which was supplied to The New York Times by a person seeking to defend the administration’s policy. “We are confident that history will see the wisdom of your country in debating these issues.”
…“We are counting on the United States Congress to its continued investigation of military activities of NATO and its allies to confirm what we believe is a clear violation of U.N. Security Council Resolution 1973…
What’s quite funny is that Boehner’s spokesperson calls Qaddafi’s letter “incoherent” (it’s anything but) and then spouts this nonsense:
…This incoherent letter only reinforces that Qaddafi must go. There’s no disagreement about that,” said the spokesman for Mr. Boehner, Brendan Buck. “That’s why so many Americans have questions — which the White House refuses to answer — about the administration committing U.S. resources to an operation that doesn’t make his removal a goal.”
So, the point of the Republican attack on U.S. policy toward Libya is to criticize our committing resources to the NATO attack on Qaddafi, which isn’t designed to remove him. Got that? I wonder if that’s what Qaddafi believes as he’s holed up in his bunker waiting for those NATO bombs to fall again on him and his entourage?
But let’s get back to my main point (I was having such a good time bashing John Boehner’s cluelessness I almost forgot why I wrote this post) which was Bibi. He now joins the ranks of foreign potentates, dictators and Middle East strongmen who’ve cheered and been cheered by our jolly good fellows of the U.S. Congress. With a record like this, Bibi may receive an honorary membership in the Middle East Tyrant’s Hall of Fame being established in the remains of Hosni Mubarak’s villa in Sharm.
dear Richard.
i think that there is a “slight” between those two.
from the next reasons:
a. Bibi is an elected prime-minster and not the “king of the kings”.
b. Bibi is not bombing his own citizens only because they protesting ( kasam missiles are not legitimate protestation)
c. how you can compere Israel with Libya, Egypt or Syria and etc… i can understand criticism on Israel policy but i think that when you connect it with Qaddafi, Mubarak, Mussolini and such… that’s a little bit impassioned and childish
excuse me for my poor English
Bibi is bombing the citizens of neighboring countries & Palestinians seeking to return to their homeland, Israel. Plus, he’s oppressing his own fellow citizens who don’t enjoy the privilege of being Jewish.
As for comparing the political oligarch Bibi to Arab oligarchs, if the shoe fits…
I think that you might like to consider another similarity between the two.
I am in regular contact with family in Tripoli who tell me that what Gaddafi is doing there amounts to a foreign occupation – he is using mercenaries from Algeria and sub-Saharan Africa to police the citizens of Tripoli.
In a similar way, Natanyahu oppresses not only the non-Jewish inhabitants of Israel, but also many Jews (who do not represent the crazed fringe that produced him) by enlisting the help of foreigners – Jewish (AIPAC and the rest) and non-Jewish (Hagee and the rest) – in legitimizing his policies (see the fifty standing ovations he got from Congress in a display that could have come from Ceausescu’s Romania or Assad’s ‘Parliament’). I’m sure as well that it hasn’t escaped anyone’s notice that American Jews are healthily represented in Israeli settlements.
Looks to me that much Israeli policy is made by fair-weather Likudniks comfortably getting on with their lives in the States without consideration for what their chauvinism means for people on the ground in the Holy Land in the long term.
Absolutely, excellent points all.
i don’t remember any military campaign which lunch by Israel in the last two years. so Bibi not bombing “citizens of neighboring countries”
If the Palestinians will return to their “homeland” Israel cant exist any more as “Israel”
by definition Israel as Jewish state is “oppressing” non Jewish citizens . and yet the most oppressed non Jew citizen in Israel ,or even the west bank have more civil wrights than any off the citizens of our neighbors.
Since when do we use two years as an interval that determines whether Bibi is bombing Israel’s neighbors???
False & nonsense. It just can’t exist as a state that privileges Jews over Muslims.
Well, at least this dude admits Israel is a racist state. But what about the “democratic” part of Israel? I guess he’s abandoned that pretence.
More non sequiturs, delivered here for about the 25th time by a right wing pro Israel apologist.
Shaul, first let me state unequivocally that I am inno way comparing Bibi to Hitler, so don’t even go there. But if you’re going to justify Bibi’s actions by saying he is the “elected prime minister” of Israel, then maybe the Germans 70 years ago might have looked the other way initially because after all Adolf was an elected chancellor of Germany. For that matter Hamas and its leaders were elected by their people too. Bibi, like a lot of leaders before him, doesn’t get a pass on criminal behavior just because he was elected to office.
Hello Mary,
Just two links here on how Hitler was never an elected chancellor of Germany. The highest percentage of the vote he ever got was 37%. Moreover, his popularity was dropping when a backroom deal was presented to him, handing him the position of chancellor.
http://democraticpeace.wordpress.com/2008/12/16/what-hitler-was-not-elected/
http://www.huppi.com/kangaroo/L-hitlerdemo.htm
I must say (in a bit of a huff), that the ensemble Qaddafi is wearing in that photo is something no self-respecting dictator should be caught wearing. And he has such a sad expression on his face, to boot!
It distresses me greatly to see the once-proud, fashion plated peacock reduced to dressing more like his “Amazonian Guard”.
Meet The Amazonian Guard – http://www.mediaite.com/online/meet-the-amazonian-guard-qaddafis-all-female-security-force/