Josh's (TPM) 's "fill in" Ackerman shoots down Tinfoilhat Theories/Johnson

[KoKo]

Reading Josh's "fill in" for his TPM while he's on vacation about Johnson's beheading and the US relationship with Saudi Arabia, pretty much shoots down my :tinfoilhat" and others theories that Johnson story smells to high heaven of Rove/Bush intervention for political purposes.

Ackerman's interview with "Anonymous" a high "Official in Intelligence" seems to say that Saudi Arabia is on the brink of destabilization because of radical Ilamists amongst it's population. I get the feeling he discounts what some of us feel about the Johnson assassination.

Frankly, because I'm :tinfoilhat: I got very annoyed with Ackerman's interview with "Anonymous." I thought "Anonymous" would expose more about Bush connections and cooperation with Saudi's, but instead I find that "Anonymous" seems to be saying it's true that beheadings are all legit....

Here's a snip...but one needs to read the whole thing to get what I'm talking about. I hope I read this blog thing wrong..but I don't think so..:-( Seems like more "terra alert" to me. And verification for more troops to stabilize SA and the ME.

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http://www.talkingpointsmemo.com/

TPM: So what has that led to in terms of cooperation with the United States?

ANONYMOUS: From what I can tell, including what I see in the media, it's much better than it used to be, but I'm not sure what that means in terms of progress because we're faced by a community that is by and large sympathetic and familiar with the arguments bin Laden makes about the responsibilities of religion. I would say there has been improvement but I think the Saudis really are in a Catch-22 situation, and that will have a limiting effect on their cooperation not only with us but with any other country.

TPM: What should we be asking them to do?

ANONYMOUS: I think we're focused on what we want them to do. We want to control al-Qaeda within the kingdom. We want them to continue to produce oil. We want them to do any number of police-type, and intelligence-type cooperation, and I'm sure they'll be willing to do that. But what we want them to do, as I wrote in the book, I don't think is going to happen: people argue that we should force them or pressure them to change their curriculum and their education system, and that is very unlikely to happen. The al-Sauds, when they came to power, made a deal with the Islamic establishment: the al-Sauds would take care of the economy and foreign policy, and the religious establishment would take care of education. I'm not sure they're terribly eager to adopt a curriculum of Islamic education as it’s proposed by the United States. …
It's a system that's not prone to reform at a pace that would satisfy us. A pace that would satisfy us would completely destabilize the country. We're going to watch them do as much as they can, and they'll do as much as they can that's

http://www.talkingpointsmemo.com/

[vi5]

1. You know despite all the political implications of things...

These guys are crazy. They are extremists. And they do mean business. It doesn't take away from what bushgang does or how they do it or how bad they are in spades. But not every barbaric, evil act (such as this one, such as Berg) that comes from islamic extremists is tied to bush. And if we keep thinking that and demand that every pundit, blogger, politician, candidate, whatever lend creedence to every single half-cocked theory then that is one reason why we will lose this bigger struggle and not be taken seriously when we NEED to be taken seriously..

There are enough actual, fact based, non conspiracy things happening and going on to get riled up about and that it will take a lot of effort to clue people in on that we don't need to demand our bloggers and pundits find conspiracy where none exists. Being dissapointed that a tinfoil hat theory doesn't get lent merit by someone who in all likelihood probably knows a lot more about the subject and the specifics and the details than yahoos like us sitting on the internet.

[KoKo]

2. But, what about the "Stolen Election" and "9/11?" Are we Tinfoilhatters

wrong about both? Without the efforts of those who "dug deeper" wouldn't we all be cheering Bush as a strong, decisive President who did more to push America forward in dealing with the "Real" threat of terror than any other President since WWII?

Should we disount our suspicions faced with evidence from their past actions and believe what we are told even when so much is peculiar?

:shrug:

[Elidor]

3. I'm not familiar with Ackerman

Because I refuse to read TNR, but he seems to be doing a good job covering for Marshall. In fact, he seems like an extension of Marshall so far; calm, credible and thoughtful. His posts have been good.

There were (and still are) a number of good reasons to regard Berg's death with a :tinfoilhat:. But it's still pretty early as regards Johnson's death. The only thing that has roused my suspicion so far is the speed with which the alleged killer was claimed to have been killed. It also doesn't help that the headless body has walked off into the night, but I think both of these reflect on the Saudis. There is enough evil in the world that we don't have to ascribe it all to Bushco.

[troublemaker]

4. Ackerman's IRAQ'D posts are excellent

Almosy everything else on TNR is utter crap.

[KoKo]

5. But....he does seem to support our "strong presence in SA." And, shoots

down theories of Bush manipulation in timing "beheadings" when bad news comes his way...which is too much of a "gulp" for me...but, what the hell, if you guys think Ackerman is an excellent reporter, then maybe I need to "gulp/gack" and just believe what he says....

I wouldn't have posted this if I wasn't trying to be fair.

[Elidor]

7. Never just believe what they say

Get the story from enough different sources to form an educated opinion. Even excellent reporters get it wrong sometimes.

Put down the tinfoil and back away slowly...no one wants to hurt you :evilgrin:

Yes, the 2000 election was stolen. As for 9-11, I favor an interpretation somewhere between gross incompetence by the maladmin madmen and malicious glee by the neocons that it happened.

[Elidor]

6. I'm thinking I may have to read him more often

Thanks for weighing in. I may just check out IRAQ'D. I think I've seen this posted elsewhere, perhaps at Smirking Chimp.