Getty Images
Former Attorney General Michael Mukasey
I remember when George W. Bush nominated Michael Mukasey to serve as Attorney General in 2007, the announcement was met with some initial relief. Alberto Gonzales had become such a national laughingstock, and was so woefully inept, many believed Mukasey would have to be an improvement, if only because he couldn't possibly be worse than his predecessor.
That feeling did not last. Mukasey soon after endorsed the administration's torture policies and said a president has the power to ignore some laws during wartime. He was confirmed as A.G. anyway., thanks in part to unanimous Republican support.
Several years later, we're still learning more about the man.
"You may not be interested in Islamism, but Islamism is interested in you," warned former Attorney General Michael Mukasey at a Saturday CPAC panel of activists so fringy that they were not technically invited to the conference.
"I want to thank CPAC for making this panel necessary," said the Bush-era attorney general, taking a sarcastic swipe at the organization for frowning on the panelists. "And thank Breitbart.com for making this panel possible."
The "Uninvited" panel, organized by Breitbart media, brought together anti-Muslim activists like Pam Geller and Robert Spencer, and Mukasey fit right in.
Mukasey specifically argued, "The vast majority of the world's 1.4 billion Muslims adhere to a view of their religion that agrees on the need to impose Sharia, or Islamic law, on the world."
Remember, this guy wasn't just some random official in an obscure office in the Bush/Cheney administration; he was the nation's top law enforcement official. He ran the Justice Department.
With the 10th anniversary of the U.S. invasion of Iraq coming tomorrow, there's a fair amount of reflection about the players and personalities that defined the previous administration. Mukasey was not responsible for the war, which preceded his tenure by several years, but I hope as we look back, we don't forget just how ridiculous it was that this man was the Attorney General.
Leave a Comment:
". . . (but) I hope as we look back, we don't forget just how ridiculous it was that this man was the Attorney General."
Or that Wolfowitz (and Feith) were anywhere near DoD.
How about passage on a slow boat to Haifa?
IIRC, Alberto Gonzolas was selected solely for his initials, and his willingness to be a toady.
"I want to thank CPAC for making this panel necessary,". CPAC made this panel necessary because they have to keep the fear up in the Tea Party. It's amazing that the Republican party needs to fear someone to keep operating.
Mukasey may hold fringey counter-factual political ideas, but this is not one of them. It happens to be true. In our zeal to avoid any accusation of reactionary bigotry after 9/11, American liberals declared that we have no quarrel with Islam. And, as a logical extension of that position, any factual assertion that undercuts it is summarily rejected (really, I've never heard a liberal talking head actually justify rejecting the claim). But most Islam scholars agree that Islamism (or "political Islam") is the main ideology in the Islamic world. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Islamism#Influence It may be that most Muslim Americans are content to assimilate and are apolitical with respect to Islam. But even if that's the case, it is clearly not the case in the rest of the world, including in the Muslim communities throughout Europe.
We liberals pride ourselves on being the ones who adhere to the facts, no matter how politically unpalatable. But this is one fact that most of us have been getting wrong for a long time.
Right those evil Moooooooslims are out to take over the world according to right wing christians intent on taking over the world and installing their brand of insanity on the world. Here is a clue don't trust Wekipedia for any information other then a starting point for research. Here is a clue, every since DDE started interfering in the affairs of the middle east all republicans have done is put a target on the US for middle eastern fanatics who want the US to stay out of their countries and affairs. All so oil companies could get rich off oil in the middle east.
I seem to remember George W. standing on a pile of WTC rubble and saying our quarrel wasn't with Islam.
I seem to remember hearing something about 'those without sin casting the first stone'.
Something I keep in mind when the Right WIng Christian cries.
whomitmay, I did review the citations in the Islamism wiki page, and the page is accurate. I should say, Mukasey's statement that the most Muslims want Sharia imposed "on the world" is probably going too far. But maybe not so much. According to this (as far as I can tell reputable) survey, 28 percent of British Muslims want Britain to be an Islamic state. http://www.slideshare.net/brighteyes/attitudes-to-living-in-britain This is a separate question from having Sharia available to or imposed on British Muslims only; this is nationwide. And that's British Muslims, who are among the world's most Westernized/secular.
Look, I reject the right-wing paranoia that the whole Islamic world is one big terror cell plotting against the U.S. But I also reject, with equal force, the idea that the whole Islamic world (save for a few nuts) just want to live and let live when it comes to Western liberal values and no one would bother us if we'd just stop meddling in their affairs. The truth is in the middle, and it's closer to the former than you think.
I've worked in five Moslem countries, Kosovo, Azerbaijan, Egypt, Lebanon and Mali. I can assure you that Mukasey has absolutely no idea what he's talking about and is no more relevant than if some Moslem said the same thing about Christianity based on the drivel of the Reconstructionists and other right wing christianists.
How old does one have to get before they realize whenever they think something can't get worse it does.?
Wow. At the time he came into office, I just sort of thought the guy was some kind of bland suit appointee. So here he was, concealing blatant Islamaphobia in his Senate confirmation hearings?!
Or perhaps he was never asked about his views on the topic... Hmmm.
joseph common - Enter Your Comment:
the CUSTER+CONQUER+KILLER mentality of the repuber rabid maddogs live today never having evolved fropm their neanderthal state. they only changed weapons.