This is just incredible (warning; do NOT click link before breakfast – while the comments are nauseating enough, the article also has a picture of Ms. Cagan that will be a shocker this early):
Britsh MPs visiting the Pentagon to discuss America’s stance on Iran and Iraq were shocked to be told by one of President Bush’s senior women officials: “I hate all Iranians.”
And she also accused Britain of “dismantling” the Anglo-US-led coalition in Iraq by pulling troops out of Basra too soon.
The all-party group of MPs say Debra Cagan, Deputy Assistant Secretary for Coalition Affairs to Defence Secretary Robert Gates, made the comments this month.
And apparently, the comment was not out of context – recall that body language convey much more information than the verbal:
Although it was an aside, it was not out of keeping with her general demeanour.
“She seemed more keen on saying she didn’t like Iranians than that the US had no plans to attack Iran,” said one MP. “She did say there were no plans for an attack but the tone did not fit the words.”
Another MP said: “I formed the impression that some in America are looking for an excuse to attack Iran. It was very alarming.”
The article is well substantiated:
The Pentagon denied Ms Cagan said she “hated” Iranians.
“She doesn’t speak that way,” said an official.
But when The Mail on Sunday spoke to four of the six MPs, three confirmed privately that she made the remark and one declined to comment. The other two could not be contacted.
I admit to never having heard of her before, but a quick google brought me to The Newshoggers which reports that she had the patronage of Richard Armitage since early this decade (scroll down for their ‘Update’).
So there we have it – foreign policy being set by irrational emotions and extreme prejudice. This place is getting truly scary.
Wow – “she” looks like a “he” – with a Third Reich penchant for jewelry! Obviously a very confused individual.
Yes, the “medal” appears oddly familiar, doesn’t it?
Not to mention that red vinyl went out with the ’80’s. Egads, what kind of outfit is that to be meeting with politicos in?
Honestly, I feel so bad for my many Iranian acquaintances. Just the other day, I was filing a patent application for one our clients and I had to ask him his citizenship. He said he was Iranian, but was quick to point out that he is going through the citizenship process and would be a U.S. citizen soon. Of course, I didn’t bring up the current political current, but shit, I felt so bad for him. I can’t imagine having to live each day knowing the US might destroy my home country any day.
the red plastic makes perfect sense. It’s a cheap, even MORE tasteless imitation of her spiritual forebears’ penchant for wearing black leather trenchcoats and big iron crosses when spewing this crap…
(and I feel for your client. Some of the people I cover here know not only that el Shrubbo could destroy their homes and families, and also worry that a fair number of el Shrubbo’s idiot followers might well decide to start wiping out the “enemy” here, too. As one of them told me, “I came here to get my family away from the fundamentalist crazies. Where do I go NOW?”)
cheap, and sorta, kinda red-orange…this one is definitely in fashion:
clik image to get yours
lTMF’sA
It does look like a cross-dresser straight out of Luchino Visconti’s The Damned.
the Commander’s Cross Order of Merit.
And another photo of Ms Cagan.
From this cached link (live wouldn’t open) (and this one opened eventually: LINK),
I wonder where that Commander’s Cross Order of Merit of the Republic of Hungary comes from? The Republic of Hungary was founded after the collapse of the Austrian-Hungarian Empire with the end of World War I of course, and, like most Central European countries in the interwar period, it had a fascist government until it came under Soviet occupation. So the Commander’s Cross Order of Merit could literally be a fascist symbol.
I did a quick bit of searching to see if anything came up on the medal, but couldn’t find anything …
There’s more likely to be something about it on the Web in Hungarian than other languages of course, but hardly anyone speaks it other than Hungarians, since Hungarian doesn’t belong to any of the major language groups.
But there are one or two Hungarians at the European Tribune…
jezeus, ask….what’s the paraphrase of the old adage?
“beauty’s skin deep, but ugly’s all the way thru”
this woman personifies it.
lTMF’sA
EEEEKKKKK gads, yes that is nauseating for sure!!!!!! This would even scare my animals!….let alone me! I am sure glad I do not have to work with her on a daily basis. Now I am loving my job more…wink wink.
That medallion around her neck sure does look auspicious. Like an advertising mark, if you ask me. I am so very glad the FEDERAL GOV is an EEOP agency….whew!!!!!
And John Bolton is at it again – the Brits aren’t biting this time, though…
The US once had the capability to engineer the clandestine overthrow of governments. I wish we could get it back.
What a stupid asshole. Blunt though. Of course, the first clandestine overthrow of a democratically elected government that the US engineered was of the very country under discussion, Iran, in 1953, getting the US into this habit.
The idiot can’t understand that the US’s not having this capability any more reflects a loss of soft power, and one of the reasons it has lost soft power is the belligerence of the Bush regime, its compulsive use of hard power.
Bolton’s remark is an admission that the US’s launching wars in the Middle East is a symptom of a weakening of the American empire.
…the clandestine overthrow of governments…
they’ve done a pretty good job of it here.
lTMF’sA
And I have to wonder if her and Condi go shopping for dominatrix boots together?
Good morning ask,
what disturbs me as much as what she said is the overall power play that’s made by the Americans against their allies that recalls the Nazi’s strongarming of their allies. That she can even feel entitled to make such ignorant and base remarks is disheartening because it reveals the complete lack of leverage, whether intentional or not, of the British to affect the direction of this next push for preemptive attacks. I can’t understand why it is that they allow themselves to be bullied and marginalized this way…still, knowing how disastrous their inaction was for them in 2003.
Good morning, super.
I think the fact that these stories are leaked to the British press is encouraging. Many MPs have had enough of the crap and pressure will mount on Brown to publicly distance himself. Might still be too late, though.
Oh, damn – you didn’t tell me not to click the link before lunch! What a mess…
This is a joke, you’re pulling my leg. Anyway I laughed.
almost makes you think Dood abides has been photoshopping again??
Of Cagan.
And some people laugh when I say…quite seriously…ghat one of the few semi-metaphors that make any sense about the forces that have taken over America is that they are quite litIerally “alien” in some degree.
From another star?
Another dimension?
Another time?
A genetic mutation of some sort?
Pure evil in human form?
I do not know.
But there is something REALLY wrong with themn, and every once in awhile you can actually see it.
Yup.
Bet on it.
AG
Ms. Cagan would fit right in with the antagonists in that film.
I’d also bet a month’s salary that she has the same sorts of ‘repression’ issues many male conservatives seem to be having trouble with lately.
SEE it?
We are living it.
A great movie. No bullshit radical mythmaking. No polish, no liberal, intellectual foolishness…just a simple movie that says what it means.
They live.
Among us.
Just as they always have.
A classic.
AG
.
The disappearance/defection of a high ranking Iranian intelligence officer Ali-Reza Asgari in Istanbul last December has been tied to Israeli/US Operation Orchard. On September 6th, the Israeli air strike of a Syrian facility with either North Korean nuclear materials or chemical weaponization program for NK build missiles. The US gave the Israeli fighter planes air cover.
This may explain the capture and detention of British naval personnel on March 23 by the Iranians and the imprisonment of US citizens in Teheran as retaliation earlier this year.
Iranian Defector Ali Reza Asgari…
"But I will not let myself be reduced to silence."What makes your comment very relevant is the Iran “spin” being talked about on MSNBC Dan Abrams. The first “spin” was Iran had nuclear weapons which the American public refused to buy as being stale., now the spin is Iran is supporting Shia militants…as a reason to bomb Iran.
I would suspect the General, if he is spilling his guts will give W and Dick more spin to goto war with Iran.