Is Hugo Chavez having a tinfoil hat moment?
I guess Ward and Cindy were busy this week.
By AcademicElephant Posted in Contra Tyrannum — Comments (5) / Email this page » / Leave a comment »
In honor of the fifth anniversary of 9/11, Venezuelan "president" Hugo Chavez helpfully proposed that the Bush administration masterminded the attacks in New York, Washington and Pennsylvania. Mr. Chavez had apparently watched a TV program in which Venezuelan comedian Carlos Sicilia joked that the World Trade Center had been dynamited from the inside, and found Mr. Sicilia's theory plausible. Mr. Chavez also darkly hinted that the Pentagon explosion was a set up since, as he asserted, "no trace" of American Airlines flight 77 had ever been found.
Is he having a tinfoil hat moment?
Or is he up to something?
Read on...
Now I'm not asking Mr. Chavez to come and stand on the front lawn of the White House to show his solidarity against terrorism, but I must say that promulgating conspiracy theories on the fifth anniversary of 9/11 is taking anti-Americanism a little far, even for him. At this rate, he's making Bashar al-Assad look good. But I have found that Mr. Chavez' little flights of fancy frequently telegraph a more serious purpose than their apparently extreme rhetoric suggests, and in this case, I think he's both taking a swipe at the Bush administration and expressing solidarity with the terrorists who have been the "victims" of "imperial" American aggression in the Middle East. Mr. Chavez finds evidence in our own mainstream media that peddling such theories has become a standard means to discredit Mr. Bush's attempts to prosecute the Global War on Terror. Furthermore, I wonder if we are underestimating the ties between Mr. Chavez and the terrorists he seeks to exonerate. There have been rumors swirling lately of Islamic fascists using Margarita Island of the northeast coast of Venezuela as a base of operations. I'm sure they find the tropical beach resort a pleasant change from the mountains of Afghanistan and the slums of Baghdad, and Mr. Chavez may well prove a more welcoming host these days than Hamid Karzai or Nouri al-Maliki. Furthermore, as the global situation evolves, Margarita Island may prove a far more strategic base of operations for those whose mission it is to attack the United States. How about a map?
As always, Mr. Chavez bears watching.
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Is Hugo Chavez having a tinfoil hat moment? 5 Comments (0 topical, 5 editorial, 0 hidden) Post a comment »
Right after 9/11, he pretty much said that we had it coming because of our imperialist ways.
GARCIA-NAVARRO: By most standards, there is freedom of expression in Venezuela, but this is a country divided. According to Chavez, you are either with the revolution or against it - opposition or pro-government. So at least in terms of rhetoric, Chavez has a lot in common with his arch nemesis, President Bush.
From Monday's segment of NPR's "All Things Considered" series on Latin American populist-leftist movements. A laughable bit of white-washing. The two critics Garcia-Navarro (roll those rrrrrrrs) quoted were a young communist and an unemployed women. Only a vague implication of the possibility that Chavez was a loon, e.g. his messianism -- he's a Christian! -- and variety-show schtick.
(Tuesday's segment was on Bolivia. Ridiculous. Apparently NPR has a whole stable of Herbert L. Matthews wannabes at work.)
Remember Ms. Sheehan went down there for a group hug...
"Took the nickname Troll long before BlogTrolls existed..."
Except to say that Hugo loves it when a plan comes together.
Why the US is not going to lob a couple of nukes at the "Non-Aligned" meeting in Havanna? You will have the single highest concentration of America haters in one spot...including the heads of terrorist states (Iran) and WMD seeking [or possessing] dictatorships [NK]). In one fell swoop, we could solve a whole lot of our present and future problems.
"Everybody needs money! That's why they call it money!"