French card deck names 'most dangerous' U.S. leaders

[NightTrain]

French card deck names 'most dangerous' U.S. leaders
Friday, September 26, 2003 Posted: 3:00 AM EDT (0700 GMT)
CNN

The caption reads: "Head of a baseball club and director of Salem bin Laden's oil company (brother of Osama). Designated President of the United States by friends of his father at the Supreme Court before the vote count showed that he lost the elections."

PARIS, France (AP) -- The ace of spades? Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld gets the honor in a new French deck of cards. President Bush is the king of diamonds and Osama bin Laden the joker.

The game takes a jab at the famous deck of cards created for U.S. soldiers hunting down ousted Iraqi leader Saddam Hussein and other leaders from the deposed regime.

"I found it completely indecent to present a manhunt as a game," said Thierry Meyssan, the man behind the French deck. "We thought this card game would allow us to ... explain why we consider the government of George Bush a threat to international security."

Meyssan is the author of a one-time French best seller, "9-11: The Big Lie," claiming that no plane ever crashed into the Pentagon on September 11, and that the attacks were plotted by a faction within the U.S. military.

Now, Meyssan said in a telephone interview, he wants to expose "the 52 most dangerous American officials."

Meyssan heads the Voltaire Network, a left-wing association that put the cards on its Internet site.

A little over 2,500 decks a la francaise have been sold, at $9.20 each, on the Internet in recent weeks, Meyssan said. There are plans to sell the decks in stores soon and translate them into 10 languages, he said.

Each card carries a photo of the official and a text explaining the choice. Bush, as the king of diamonds, is described as "the president of a baseball club."

 

[eric]

Hey NT, why does this not shock me ?

 

[NightTrain]

I think they're still pissed about :

How many gears does a French Tank have?

6.

5 reverse and one forward in case they're attacked from behind.

 

[Bry]

I think it's funny as hell. I've already bought two decks. How is it that Americans weren't offended by the original deck? This only seems an appropriate response.

-Bry

 

[jimnyc]

Originally posted by Bry
I think it's funny as hell. I've already bought two decks. How is it that Americans weren't offended by the original deck? This only seems an appropriate response.

-Bry

What's to be offended about? Should we have looked at any of these terrorist scumbags as anything other than targets?

 

[Amras]

There was also that "Axis of Weasels" card deck...

 

[Bry]

What's to be offended about? Should we have looked at any of these terrorist scumbags as anything other than targets?

What's to be offended about OTHER than converting something presumably as serious as the leaders of a country into a game of poker? To start with, it is symptomatic of the swaggering, shoot from the hip and ask questions later, wild west style that characterizes this innane administration, in the same way as "wanted dead or alive", and "bring them on" were offensive in their High Noon approach to international politics. Making a deck of cards that does the same with the current administration, beside the original, only seems good clean burlesque. What is funny is that it provokes responses like Eric's seemingly self-righteous offering of "why does this not shock me ?" But maybe I read him wrong: maybe he really just wanted to point out that the French version of the deck of cards is not shocking precisely because it is so mind numbingly appropriate. But I doubt it.

And for the record, most of the Iraquis in the original deck were NOT terrorists, but rather state officials, claims to scumbaggery not withstanding.

-Bry

 

[jimnyc]

Originally posted by Bry
And for the record, most of the Iraquis in the original deck were NOT terrorists, but rather state officials, claims to scumbaggery not withstanding.

-Bry

And as "Man of 1951" liked to point out, look up terrorism in a dictionary! These "officials" were collectively involved in terrorizing their own citizens. Yep, that makes them scumbags.

 

[Creek]

...I don't own that deck of cards..but the majority do stand as toilet tissue in my view........Why the deck of Iraqi Scumbag cards was brought up..I didnt bother to read what propted this post...Didn't need too....but will add that the French can sit and make remarks...and have a more sicker sence of humor than we do...They didnt start as a whole people using asswipe till the 60's..(A fact)......I'd also be willing to bet more French are playing with those decks than the U.S...of course with shitty fingerprints stained into them......What a world we live in~~~

 

[lilcountriegal]

In my opinion, the original deck of cards made of the original Iraqi leaders was a "good idea". All of those pictures on the original deck of cards were wanted for one thing or another (and no, "wild west style that characterizes this innane administration" ~ I disagree with that remark ~ they were not pictures with black cowboy hats, a big chew of snuff, and a hefty 6 shooter on their side).

They were pictures of various Iraqi officials wanted for anything from terrorism to their knowledge of WMD. A typical soldier serving in Iraq doesnt work an 8 hour shift with two day weekends. They have very little "down time". Some of those soldiers choose in the "down time" they do create to play a game of cards. By putting the pictures of Iraqi "wanted" on cards, they were able to enjoy both down time while at the same time 1) not forgetting their objective and 2) learning the faces of those needed to be found. Those cards were originally only made available to service men/women until the internet picked them up and made copies for sale to the general public.

If you think about it, how many milk cartons of missing people do you stare at? How many of those people's faces would you remember if you passed them on the street? How many posters hanging in Post Offices/Police Stations would you remember once you left the building? Not many.

It was not "made into a game" by US officials by placing pictures on a deck of cards.... the only game it can be compared with is "Memory".

 

[jimnyc]

Outstanding post, countriegal!

 

[Bry]

and no, "wild west style that characterizes this innane administration" ~ I disagree with that remark ~ they were not pictures with black cowboy hats, a big chew of snuff, and a hefty 6 shooter on their side

mmm, yes, fantastic post. Didn't even catch that i was referring to the jackasses that are currently running the country as cowboys, not the pictures on the cards.

You forgot to add the added benefit of the deck of cards: that semi-literate Americans who have trouble with pronouncing Iraqi names now have only to say "three of hearts" and everyone will know who is being referred to. Give me a break. There are more serious ways of hunting criminals than to stick their pictures on cards like some cheap pornographic gimic. (By the way, that's not a reference, again, to the famous cards produced, but rather a reference to the time- honoured tradition of putting pictures of naked ladies on playing cards.)

 

[lilcountriegal]

Ahhh Bry... such a refreshing reply. Pretty much meaningless, but refreshing nonetheless.

There are more serious ways of hunting criminals than to stick their pictures on cards like some cheap pornographic gimic.

And what do you suppose those more serious ways of hunting criminals to be? From reading some of your posts, I picture you like an ostrich hiding its head in the sand.

Had we chose you're "let them all just take care of themselves" attitude, then I believe Hitler would be ruling the world. Ahh, we'd all be better off that way, eh?

Heil!

 

[Bry]

Pretty much meaningless...

That's funny, coming from you, who are the master of making unsubstantive replies.

I have never suggested a "let them all take care of themselves" policy, in any post. But then, your idea of "reading" seems to be a bit different from the rest of the world. Maybe if I gave you some pictures to look at, and turned it all into a game, you would have an easier time with it.

Now, run along liltrolliegirl. I won't respond to you again until you actually come up with something to say.

 

[jimnyc]

lilcountriegal wrote:

From reading some of your posts, I picture you like an ostrich hiding its head in the sand.

Bry responded:

I won't respond to you again until you actually come up with something to say.

lilcountriegal 1
Bry 0

Well, countriegal, now you did it! Bry is taking his ball and going home! Did you think just because he is demeaning in 90% of his posts that you could do the same to him?



This sounds familiar! Reminds me of when black folks cry foul and refuse to participate in community efforts. Then they'll cry foul that they were not given a fair say in said efforts.

Someone call Reverend Al, time for a march!

 

[lilcountriegal]

who are the master of making unsubstantive replies

I find this rather amusing. I've just begun to post on this board and have very few posts in the top half of this site.. Which replies are you referring to? The one calling your post meaningless? You accused the US of "converting something presumably as serious as the leaders of a country into a game of poker". I simply rebutted your statement offering an explanation as to why the deck of cards were produced in the first place. The very idea of legitimating the deck of cards, in your view, is unheard of. God himself could have come down and handed the deck of cards to GWB and still you would have found fault. Its not the deck of cards you're upset about, its the idea behind them.

I won't respond to you again until you actually come up with something to say

Geez... if that's all it takes, works for me

 

[MtnBiker]

I believe Bry is male, but this sure looks like a catfight.

lilcountriegal 1
Bry o

 

[Bry]

I'm glad you've found your new and reduced responsibilities as moderator include "impartial" scorekeeper and neo-con cheer leader, jim. Just out of curiosity, how do you balance those two responsibilities without running into a conflict of interest? Or are you just still pouting from last night, jim? Oh, if only we could go back to the good old days when everyone here hated muslims and blacks, and no one bashed the president, eh jim? I hear the Pope is looking for some martyrs to canonize, have you checked to see if your name is on the short list?

he is demeaning in 90% of his posts that you could do the same to him?

Now, THAT's funny coming from you! You people take the hypocracy cake.

This sounds familiar! Reminds me of when black folks cry foul and refuse to participate in community efforts. Then they'll cry foul that they were not given a fair say in said efforts.

I think you've really found your niche, jim. Jim, the paladin defender of racist bigots everywhere. Come to think of it, jim, trying to demonstrate your superiority to blacks seems to be one of the few things you actually bother to form a concerted argument about. You must be very proud.

I'm not, by the way, taking my ball somewhere else, I'm simply not going to waste my time (again) responding to people like you who flame for the sake of flaming or people like lilcountriegirl (what the hell is "countrie" anyway? Is there some cute doublemeaning here that I just don't get?) who takes a perfectly constructed sentence, completely misreads it, and tries to make a sensical response out of that misreading. Then, when I point her misreading out to her, she says my response is meaningless. Fantastic, jim. You really know how to pick 'em. You too may now take a seat in the "being ignored" seat (again) until you come up with something to say that's worthy of response. (It's really a shame, 'cause with you, at least I know you're capable.)

 

[jimnyc]

 

[jimnyc]

Originally posted by Bry
Now, THAT's funny coming from you! You people take the hypocracy cake.

Do they sell that particular cake at karvelle?