Inflaming the Issue

From Moon of Alabama:


Malaysians burn U.S. flag to protest Koran issue
Lebanese Muslims Protest Over Alleged Desecration of Koran
Islamists rally on Koran issue in Pakistan
Egyptians protest against Koran abuse, government
Kashmir shuts down to protest Quran desecration reports
Jordan
Muslims in Indonesia protest Quran report
Waves of Rage Against 'Insult to Quran' Hit Palestine
5,000 Bangladeshis rally against alleged desecration of Quran in Guantanamo

And on "our" side:

No worse enemy

It's nice to see Bu$hie's Dominionist owners and major shareholders the Saudis are getting the War on Terra they paid for.

Bernhard also brings up this point- "our" side can't even agree on insisting for an exit strategy from Iraq:

Representatives considered an amendment offered by Representative Lynn Woolsey (D-CA) calling for an exit strategy from Iraq. Amendment No. 26 simply stated:

"It is the sense of Congress that the president should—
(1) develop a plan as soon as practicable after the date of the enactment of this Act to provide for the withdrawal of United States Armed Forces from Iraq; and
(2) transmit to the congressional defense committees a report that contains the plan described in paragraph (1)."

...

In the end the amendment failed—by a vote of 300 to 128 with 5 not voting. Because Rep. Woolsey insisted on a roll call vote we now know who needs to be convinced. There were some disappointing votes including the Democratic leader, Nancy Pelosi, as well as members generally seen as liberals, including Rep. Cardin (D-MD), Rep. Stenny Hoyer (D-MD), Rep. Sanchez (D-CA) and Rep. Udall (D-CO).

As Atrios notes, the liberal hawks are basically strutting phonies:

One shouldn't underestimate the value of being a strutting phony, of a bit of macho swagger upping the Dem's ability to attract voters. But, one doesn't improve your party's chances by talking about how all those other non-strutting phonies are a bunch of wimps.

Go be tough guys Biden and Beinart (the latter, of course, could be very tough indeed by filling out an enlistment form). Fine by me. However, which serves our (assuming it's the same) cause more - talking about how Democrats are big wimps for being insufficiently enthusiastic about bombing whoever George Bush wants to bomb that day or pointing out that Iraq was a disaster and President "Bin Laden Was Determined to Strike memo not important" Bush was in fact asleep at the wheel on September 11 and hasn't bothered to wake up since?

The Democratic liberal hawks may not be on the same side as the rest of the progressive world, Duncan.

When Carlyle bankrolls both "sides" of the issue in Washington, you can be sure there is only one real interest being taken care of there.