Scumbag Markos "Kos" Zuniga is reaping the exact whirlwind he deserves for his outrageous and hideous comments about the dead American security guards in Fallujah the other day.
Blogger Hugh Farrish responds to Kos, and wonders aloud (ablog?) if maybe the Democratic political candidates who advertise on DailyKos wouldn't be interested in Zuniga's death fetish.
And here's blogger Michael Friedman, who is also contacting Zuniga's political advertisers: Joe Donnelly, Jane Mitakides, Martin Frost (who has already severed ties with Kos) and Joe Hoeffel.
Michael also has a screen capture of the original Kos post, just in case.
Frankly I'm sure that all of the candidates will receive e-mail regarding the DailyKos foot-in-mouth problem. Those campaigns don't need my input. But at about 5:00 this morning I made up my mind that I would contact the campaign of South Dakota candidate Stephanie Herseth personally. Herseth has also received the financial benefit of being plugged at Daily Kos.
As a kid born and raised in South Dakota I would be deeply offended if Herseth's campaign didn't contact Markos Zuniga to voice their displeasure in his insane post on the deaths of brave Americans. I may disagree with her politics, and the politics of her family, but collectively the Herseths have worked too hard for South Dakota to have their name associated with the worst of the American Left.
And last but not least, Markos now has a post up where he tries to "explain" his decision to say "Screw them" when Americans are murdered and their bodies horrifically mutilated.
There's been much ado about my indifference to the Mercenary deaths in Falluja a couple days ago. I wrote in some diary comments somewhere that "I felt nothing" and "screw them". My language was harsh, and, in reality, not true. Fact is, I did feel something. That's why I was so angry.
I was angry that five soldiers -- the real heroes in my mind -- were killed the same day and got far lower billing in the newscasts.
Markos was mad at the news, so he said "Screw them" when four men were murdered, burned and mutilated. Gotcha.
I was angry that 51 American soldiers paid the ultimate price for Bush's folly in Iraq in March alone. I was angry that these mercenaries make more in a day than our brave men and women in uniform make in an entire month. I was angry that the US is funding private armies, paying them $30,000 per soldier, per month, while the Bush administration tries to cut our soldiers' hazard pay. I was angry that these mercenaries would leave their wives and children behind to enter a war zone on their own violition.
Angry enough to gloat over their deaths.
So I struck back.
I sure hope that the families of the murdered men will never be subject to witnessing someone like Markos Zuniga or the posters at Democratic Underground "striking back."
Unlike the vast majority of people in this country, I actually grew up in a war zone. I witnessed communist guerillas execute students accused of being government collaborators. I was 8 years old, and I remember stepping over a dead body, warm blood flowing from a fresh wound. Dodging bullets while at market. I lived in the midsts of hate the likes of which most of you will never understand (Clinton and Bush hatred is nothing compared to that generated when people kill each other for politics or race or nationality). There's no way I could ever describe the ways this experience colors my worldview.
Markos grew up in a war zone, watched human beings be murdered, and now says "Screw them" when men and women go to Iraq to help secure a life without tyranny for the people who live there.
That's some dern good logic, folks.
Back to Iraq, our men and women in uniform are there under orders, trying to make the best of an impossible situation. The war is not their fault, and I will always defend their honor and bravery to the end of my days. But the mercenary is a whole different deal. They willingly enter a war zone, and do so because of the paycheck. They're not there for humanitarian reasons (I doubt they'd donate half their paycheck to the Red Cross or whatever). They're there because the money is DAMN good. They answer to no one except their CEO. They are dangerous, hence international efforts (however fruitless they may be) to ban their use.
All together now, "SCREW THEM!"
Good job! Y'all are right with the Kos program!
So not only was I wrong to say I felt nothing over their deaths, I was lying. I felt way too much.
Markos, it would personally delight me to one day be able to say "Fuck off," right to your face.
Nobody deserves to die.
Markos is still missing the part where hundreds of posters at his site and DU are disagreeing with that statement.
But in the greater scheme of things, there are a lot of greater tragedies going on in Iraq (51 last month, plus countless civilians and Iraqi police). That those tragedies are essentially ignored these days is, ultimately, the greatest tragedy of all.
Markos, where the hell have you been? Who's ignoring them? Not the hundreds if not thousands of people who are e-mailing you and (hopefully!) pulling their ads off of your site.
You're a sick wretch, Markos.
Update: The gutless Kos no longer has the original post available on his site, although you can still find a screen capture of the post itself here.
The reason I'm wondering is because there were some frickin' choice "liberal" (and progressive!) comments going on in there. One poster even gave a response (and I'm paraphrasing from memory here) that what do you expect from the four Americans, since they obviously had only high school diplomas.
Update II: Heh, nevermind the above update. The Kos "explanation" post for his "Screw them" comment is gathering its fair share of stupidity.
Some examples:
Jaime Schulte:
That clears it up for me. I agree that although any death is regrettable, the mercenaries are the last people we should be concerned with in Iraq.
The above comment is made without one single shred of proof that these four men were doing anything that could be called "mercenary" work.
a gilas girl:
The job these men had in Iraq was "private" (that's the meaning of privatization) meaning they weren't there on behalf of us as a nation they were there on behalf of their employers and the stockholders of their employers companies. That means any mourning for these folks should also be "private". They have no claim on my grief as anything shared or public in that matter. I don't know about you but I identify with "ordinary folk" but I don't identity with war profiteers and mercenaries. Their deaths are sad for their friends and relatives, but their deaths are also a part of the context of their employment and are foreseeable and private.
What the idiot named "gilas girl" means is that everything about this should be "private" except for the gloating on a political weblog that has thousands and thousands of visitors and rakes in thousands of dollars for Democrats.
ogre:
Saddam's family probably grieves the deaths of Uday and Qusay, too. But anyone over there sucking up big money is... well. Everyone has a price. Or so they say.
I have only the minimal human sympathy for their deaths and their treatment... and the pain that their kin are in.
These guys are like Uhaul and Queasy, and greedy too.
BrooklynBoy:
They were risking their lives and willing to kill for a big paycheck, thats as morally reprensible as one can get in my book. Doesn't mean they deserved to die, but does demand the question as to why the media hyped their grisly deaths and daily ignores the deaths of our underpaid and underprotected cannon fodder.
That's the liberal spirit, BrooklynBoy! We don't want any pretense of compassion any more, just outright hatred of the "cannon fodder" and the "mercenaries."
Keep reading for more. I'm sure the nuttery will last long into the night (or until Kos has to hide the post again or something.)
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