| the talking dog |
| APRIL 2003 POSTINGS |
|
Well, Democratic Veteran Jo Fish writes in to tell me I &^%$ed again; Jo is NOT in San Diego, at all, but in Ohio. JO WAS in San Diego as an aviator, but now...Ohio. Otherwise, no complaints. Yet. Jo is also kind enough to suggest the newest member of the dog run:
Brief Intelligence Weblog, the work of Tiger Lily, who I understand has a boyfriend
who is a Marine Corps sniper. Needless to say, I won't
be pissing off Tiger Lily! TL's take is to the left of,
ahem, me; the blogroll is solid left gold, and the
positions are supported by both fact and energy.
Certainly, the perspective on matters military that
would blow the *&&^ out of some of the guys on CNN
(except General Clark, for whom Tiger Lily would like
you to vote...I'm with the program!)
Let's give a big dog run welcome to...
Democratic Veteran,
the work of blogger Jo Fish (not, that is NOT a game to
be played with your new deck of Iraqi-villain playing
cards...or is it?) who, I'm surmising, is a veteran of
the United States Navy and resides in sunny San Diego,
on the Left Coast, and except for two links, has a
blogroll (which is cleverly called the Fish Pond!)
devoted to us political feller' travelers. The posts
convey the appropriate tone of righteous indignation and
moral outrage -- not quite bomb throwing -- but
compelling and passionate, dare I say it, persuasive
even... And from Democratic Veteran, one of the two "conservative" links (the other already being on our dog run) we give you:
Tacitus
is the work of pseudonymous conservative blogger Tacitus
(named after Roman orator Cornelius Tacitus). Tacitus
does not whine, or name-call; he lays it out and tells
it like it is, from a cogent, sensible,
factually-detailed perspective (whose only problem is
that I often disagree with it), something I'd like to
see more of in blogging. Hence, Tacitus appears as a
"token rightie" on many lefty blogs, and a mainstay of
many, many more blogrolls everywhere else. The blogroll
leans right, but not exclusively, and consists of
majors.
The Unseen Editor and I have been discussing "big changes" coming soon, perhaps for May Day (no, that's tomorrow; seems too soon...) or Cinco de Mayo or something. Well, when we make them, they will be obvious, and will make you all love the site, and tell all your friends, and join my secret army of followers... Well, the Cogent Provocateur proves cogent and provocative with this piece called "Operation Desert Snipe". A brilliant, detailed discussion of the snipe hunt for WMDs, now playing in a theater near you (if you happen to be near Iraq). (Thanks to our friends at Unqualified Offerings for the link). Not deterred in the least from yesterday's suicide bombing that killed at least 3 at Mike's Place on the boardwalk in Tel Aviv, Fearless Fosdick Bush (no wait, Dick is Cheney...I'm so confused) has delivered the "road map for peace" to both Israeli PM Sharon and new PA PM Abu Mazen. I fear we are looking at "Tenet to Mitchell to Oslo" all over again, but there is a possibility, albeit a weak one, that there will be consequences to the removal of Saddam Hussein. Finally, I made a snide notation on somebody's comment string (most likely Matt Yglesias) that yesterday's incident where 15 Iraqis were killed by American soldiers was not going to be the last of its kind in this "Intifada on the Tigris" and I said it wasn't going to be the last of its kind THIS WEEK. I don't enjoy being right about this, but 2 more demonstrators were killed (and over a dozen wounded) at...you guessed it…Fallujah, in a second day of clashes there. When our national leadership stops patting itself on the back for "winning", it might want to consider the fact that significant expense in blood and treasure remains to be expended. As the Israelis will tell you (and as some Marines based in Beirut in the '80's might also tell you), a prolonged occupation in the Middle East...sucks. And a prolonged occupation in the Middle East (some politely suggest 5 years, the length of our post-war presence in Japan) seems to be what we just bought ourselves.
Any occasion seems to cause the Palestinians to break out the fireworks; today's (as always, in the horrifying and inhuman form of a suicide bomber) killed at least 3 and wounded at least 40 in Tel Aviv, near the American embassy. Yasir just keeps telling us that you can keep him locked in Ramallah, but you can't stop him from facilitating THIS sort of thing, until he is absolutely removed. Saddam, or no Saddam, it’s the same old Middle East as far as Yasir and his homies are concerned. Good to see that Sharon's stepped up repression and the Liberation of IraqTM are paying dividends vis a vis the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. Oh wait, they're not.
Its a day just chock full of stuff happening in the Middle East: Abu Mazen has just been confirmed by the Palestinian Legislative Council as its new prime minister along with his proposed cabinet. This is a step in the right direction. I will express cautious optimism, and hope that there really is a "new Middle East" in which positive developments are more than just a fantasy.
Intifada on the Tigris? At least 15 Iraqi civilians (I guess they're ALL civilians now) opened fire on a U.S. Army (82nd Airborne Division) position in a school in Fallujah, Iraq, protesting and demanding that the Army withdraw from the school. As is customary, the Army fired back and a gun battle ensued for hours, with 15 Iraqis dead and more wounded. I really have no further comment, other than suggesting that those who insist we "won the war", "it was easy" and "aren't we just the best damned country?" consider carefully the implications of the necessarily prolonged police and stabilizing action we have just bought ourselves. As I said before, today, Iraqis killed, tomorrow more, maybe the next day, Americans. Who knows? Are we now manufacturing the next generation of terrorists? Perhaps. In what I consider good news, it was announced that the American presence in Saudi Arabia will be greatly reduced as operations at the Prince Sultan Airbase there are moved to Qatar. One collateral benefit of the Iraq war is the reduced need to be as close to the Saudis, or to base our people there. The Saudis really do run a horror show themselves that certainly rivals the Taliban in its nastiness, and the less we have to do with the Saudi regime the better, IMHO, even if it’s just a force reduction. But for the fact that the White House has recently been given itself plaudits for its prowess at LYING, I would also consider this story of the President assuring Iraqi-Americans in Dearborn, Michigan (one of them key swing states Karl is so concerned with) that we will not impose a government on Iraq, but allow the Iraqi people to select their own, to be good news. A flat-out American puppet government in Iraq would, ultimately, be a disaster, the poster child for movements opposing American imperialism everywhere. On the other hand, a truly democratic government of the Iraqi people may not be as pro-American as we would like. This will call for finesse and skill, something that has not been shown in getting us to this point. One of General Garner's most important missions in the transitional administration will be winning the hearts and minds of the Iraqi people, and persuading them somehow that their interests lie in forging a modern, Western-leaning state, rather than some sort of Iranian-style theocracy, or another classic Arab-world dictatorship. It seems difficult to persuade people living under generations of one form of tyranny or another to suddenly embrace modernity in not a generation, but a matter of months, but that's what has to happen. Let me repeat that: that's what HAS to happen.
TD "Happy Birthday" Extra, 4-28-03. On the off chance he is around to accept them, birthday congratulations would seem to be in order on the occasion of the 66th birthday of...Saddam Hussein. Indeed, still being around at all would warrant congratulations, in his case, as the United States military ultimately mandated that 65 was to be his retirement age, probably permanently. Not the kind of celebration Saddam's used to, I suppose. Representing the United States at the region's festivities is Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld.
A dollop of free ice cream right now, as the duties of a deposition call. Remember those 55 gallon drums found in Northern Iraq that allegedly tested positive for being a mixture of sarin, mustard gas and whatever other Bush Administration WMD fantasies-in-a-drum you might want? Yup. Further testing proved that the initial assessment was incorrect -- these drums do NOT contain nasty WMDs -- or anything else of note. Either Saddam hid his WMDs really, really well, or he actually had disarmed prior to the war, making our military action, while morally laudable, quite possibly, illegal. Recall that the inspectors were there to VERIFY that Saddam's Iraq had actually disarmed of chemical and bio-weapons. We ain't found any yet. Time will tell. Or maybe it won't.
Let me be among the last to comment on THIS story from ABC News whereby White House officials "confided privately" (as if such were possible) that the Bush Administration was well aware that it was grossly overstating fears of Iraqi weapons of mass destruction to gain a "legal" and more importantly, domestic political justification, for a smackdown of Iraq (thanks to Media Whores Online for the link). The actual reason for the Saddam smackdown was (according to the unnamed White House sources speaking privately) surprise, surprise, September 11th, and the perceived reality that the Middle East had changed and two messages had to be sent: (1) the United States was not the pussy that bin Laden played it to be based on responses to WTC I, embassy bombings, the Cole, etc.; and (2) the Arab Middle East was capable of having a liberal democracy, and Iraq was the best candidate for it. WRONG! September 11th was perceived as an opportunity of a unique nature by the Bush Administration: a political opportunity to avenge Papa Bush by achieving the one thing he always wanted and never got: a second term. How? By using 9-11 as an opportunity to play to the crowd, Roman gladiator style, Bush could play the defining moment (that Bill Clinton, paraphrasing CALIGULA, wished HE had when HE was President) into that intangible, "leadership". Papa Bush lost this, by playing the wimp in refusing to finish off Saddam, that, believes the Bushies, and not the miserably failed economy, cost Papa. (Of course, going back on the "no new taxes" pledge is probably also at the forefront of their thinking.) So, Dubya asserts his leadership. "Leadership" in passing the USA Patriot Act, locking up non-citizens (and occasionally citizens) purely on whim, rolling back this nation's traditions of welcoming immigrants with arbitrary detentions and deportations, increased domestic surveillance, and a myriad of other measures that no one in their right mind thinks will enhance security, though they will clearly increase inconvenience and actually hurt our economy (travel and tourism is down, largely because our "security" concerns make it much harder and inconvenient to enter our nation, even from many "friendly" countries). And what better "leadership" role could their be than commander in chief? The Afghan "war" (if you call a deployment a fraction of what we sent to Kosovo a "war") went wonderfully, but too fast. Too many opportunities to quickly forget the commanding presence of our President's "leadership". (That, and we seem not to have gotten EITHER bin Laden or Mullah Omar, but mind your own damned business.) No, by early '02, we were in a position to declare victory in the Afghan theater, and let the country go back to its slumber. Over two years to the election, a mid-term coming, and "leadership" might be forgotten. UNACCEPTABLE. Well, hunting down bin Laden would be boring -- more "law enforcement" than "war" -- not much action for a "leader". Something else was needed. Lots of candidates, of course (I might start with the Saudis, for example, although even I could come up with about 300 problems with that, even without the REAL reason of unnatural ties between the Bush family and the Sauds). But Iraq was perfect in every way. It would take very little to convince most of the American people that Saddam Hussein himself was operating (via remote control) the aircraft used on 9-11. And so, as of last summer, the war drums began beating, and were played magnificently for the benefit of not merely the "leader", but the leader's entire PARTY (coupled with a fortuitous plane crash, the second of its kind in two years). So the Party of the Wimp managed to play itself as the Party of the Leader (as in Dear Leader or Great Leader), and the other party as just "too soft", and the Grand Old Party scored big in mid-terms. It was also helped by feckless members of the now minority party, some with the cojones to later argue against the war, while voting for its authorization, almost proving the Leader's point that they ARE too soft, more afraid of offending their constituencies than their consciences. So, Iraq it was. This COULD be played absolutely straight: Saddam's continued presence in the Middle East presented a continued destabilizing force keeping the Saudis and Kuwaitis off balance (and forcing us to base troops there) and helping to allow the Iranians and Syrians to sponsor terrorism; plus there were arguable links between Saddam and the attacks on the World Trade Center, the FIRST attack, however, back in '93. Or it could be played a la Kosovo: Saddam presents a threat to HIS OWN PEOPLE, the Kurds and Shiites, and must be removed as a humanitarian measure. But these reasons were not perceived as consistent with "leadership": too complicated. Saddam has bad shit that he will give to terrorists -- nice, basic, understandable. THAT'S what we'll go with. Plus, I understand that this reason had the advantage that many in the defense establishment actually believed it to be true (or at least said that they did). This is the part that confuses me, of course. The Bush Administration is now letting it be known that it would rather be thought of as bald-faced LIARS than of simply being, or even guessing, wrong. Honestly, it’s OK with me: we had intelligence (here it is!) that showed WMDs; we didn't share it with Blix because he kept leaking it to Iraqis, who would move it and frustrate the inspections. OK. Fine, our intelligence was wrong. It happens. Too bad. We still managed to topple one of the worst dictators in history. BUT NOOOOOOO. We get stories of Saddam moving or destroying his WMDs on the eve of war, which are not only illogical, but the movement destruction on such a scale should have left SOME evidence of same. The President has telegraphed that WMDs aren't going to be found, ever. He and his people have now decided that "Leadership" means that a perception of outright deceit is preferable to the "weakness" of admitting an honest mistake (even one that had a great collateral benefit, so far, of course). Maddening? Well, infuriating. The worst part is that the little *&^% is likely to play this into the coveted second term (he is already preparing to campaign on the backs of 9-11 victims, by launching his reelection sprint 9-11-04). It’s been said that nobody ever went broke underestimating the intelligence of the American people. We'll see if that includes elections.
Oh hell...more blog reviews. You KNOW you want it...
High Desert Skeptic is a brand new blog by Roger, who I'm guessing lives in the high
desert (which usually means somewhere in the
Far West). Roger has assembled a group of lefty
superstars on his blogroll (including...you know who),
and his posts are pure southpaw high heat (what else
would you expect?). Roger is a fireballer, and he hits
the strike zone consistently.
Well, its Saturday night. Mrs. TD and I took Baby TD to a friend's 3rd birthday party, and needless to say, we are exhausted! I could put my two cents in one some of the more popular blog memes, like the homophobic statements recently of Senator Santorum, or perhaps comment on the likely murderer-of-his-wife-and-child Scott Peterson, but then, why would you read ME for that? No...I know what you want...more...blog reviews! So...we have an Agonist and an Agnostic, so now we will add...
The Agitator,
is the work of one Radley Balko (Bradley Ralko?), a
freelance writer living in Alexandria, VA, working for
Fox News and the Cato Institute; a libertarian, he lives
with a Sharpei/Lab mix (and you all know what THAT
means). Radley's blogroll leans a bit to the right of
his commentary, which I would describe as "classic
libertarian government-skeptical"; too many so-called
libertarians are just closet righties, but Radley
strikes me as the real deal.
Notes from the Lounge comes to us from Julian Sanchez, a freelance writer for the Cato
Institute living in greater D.C. Julian is another
straight-out libertarian (who studied philosophy and
poli. sci. at dear old N.Y.U.). The blogroll is short,
but eclectic and inclusive in orientation, as are the
posts. A government skeptic, and proponent of individual
rights, Julian's posts are crisp and defensive of
liberty (wherever possible!)
The Perpetual Three Dot Column, or Jesse Walker's eponymous blog, is the work of Mr. Walker, an
associate editor of Reason magazine. Mr. Walker
produces an intellectually fascinating blog, focusing on
the underlying facts which form the basis of the memes
that the rest of us spout off about, from a distinctly
libertarian (or even out and out, dare I say it, honest,
non-judgmental) perspective. The blogroll features many
intellectuals (a good many I have, ahem, never heard of)
and promises fascinating reading. Reading for people who
want to now higher truths, rather than to enforce their
preconceived ideologies.
To paraphrase that smarmy kiss-ass Tim Russert, if its Saturday here at the talking dog, it’s Pravda!. This week, our friends at Pravda give us a HEADLINE that might be more appropriate for The Onion, but in substance, the article is dead on: while our 4-year-old in chief (and his "grown-up" enablers) ponder appropriate revenge against those who dissed HIM -- not our nation or its policies -- but the BUSH FAMILY, reality will soon set in, and one of those countries otherwise deserving of payback for their UN stand, Russia, will have to be reconciled with the United States NOW in the mutual battle to capture Osama bin Laden (who, lest we forget, seems to be alive). While Pravda has it right, the Administration's remarks this week, such as Colin Powell's suggestion that France will STILL be subject to payback (even though France has introduced a UNSC resolution to lift Iraq sanctions, allowing the open sale of Iraqi oil, albeit conditionally), are shall we say, not constructive. This article sets out some of the problems new PA premier-designate Abu Mazen (just one of his names!) faces, mostly from a Yasir Arafat not keen on yielding his autocratic role in PA politics and running his Fatah protection racket. Well, George W. Bush has indicated he would meet with Mazen in Washington after he is confirmed (he has yet to meet Arafat), and get things moving on that road map for peace. Well, maps are written on paper. IMHO, that's all the road map will be, a piece of paper, until Mr. Arafat is removed from a position to interfere with Palestinian affairs of state, one way or another. Why do I love Pravda? "It's all the economy, you silly", as this piece tells us in its wonderful re-translation of the Clintonian mantra that toppled George Bush I in '92. Pravda suggests that the dichotomy between successful war president and miserable domestic economy president may just be deja vu all over again. We'll see, of course. Everyone keeps misunderestimating Dubya (or at least the brilliant machine around him) -- frequently a mistake. And so, writing here in Brooklyn, proud borough of Oceania's most important city, from discussing matters Eurasia, we now jump over to East Asia , where the People's Daily is quite rightly obsessed with matters SARS, as there appear to be nearly 3,000 reported cases in China now. Chinese bureaucrats screwed this one up, but they seem to be moving rapidly to take the appropriate steps to control a possible pandemic. Speaking of contagious diseases and China, the People's Daily reports that a key official suffering from something even worse than SARS -- the now loathsome condition of being French -- as French Prime Minister Raffarin met with Chinese President Hu Jintao in Beijing, to discuss their mutual interests (interests which may now include, more than ever, counterbalancing the United States). So, there you go. No need to comment on the explosion in Baghdad at an American-controlled ammunition dump that killed at least 6 Iraqis and wounded lots of others, and promptly generated some protests. This, boys and girls, is what those of us who RIGHTLY protested against this war were protesting against: not the fireworks that killed a coupla thousand civilians, not even the immediate anarchy that led to looting of irreplaceable antiquities and symbols of Iraqi culture for which we will take shit for generations. NO. THIS PART. An annoying, painful occupation, in which low level shit will keep happening, over and over. Today it’s Iraqis. Tomorrow it will be Americans. The next day... Kind of like what is happening at a much lower level in our rather quiet war in Afghanistan, with a tiny fraction of this deployment. We'll see how long, politically, we can keep this up. We can, of course, cut and run, wash our hands, be content to have removed "The Guy Who Tried to Kill My DadTM", and watch as a second oil-rich Shiite-cleric dictatorship forms in the region. Or, we can stay and spend the blood and treasure necessary to get the place in order. Bets, anyone?
Anxious times (well, we won, but I'M still anxious...what's wrong with me?) call for...more blog reviews! Today, I'm delighted to go down unda' for...
She Sells Sanctuary
is the product of a Sydney, NSW, Australia-based
blogger, the lovely Gianna, who tells us she and her
super-cool hippy-dippy journalist dad and typist mum
emigrated from Germany to Australia in the early 70's.
She in turn has migrated from Melbourne to Sydney, and
now works as an administrative assistant in Australia's
largest city. The blog touches on progressive politics,
and matters international, Australia, cultural, and,
Gianna. The cool blogroll features many sites I
recognize, and many I don't (but now feel compelled to
check out).
In one of yesterday's posts, I noted my quibbling with New York State Governor George Pataki's interesting political stand whereby he favors cutting state school funding (by about 4%) rather than a relatively modest income tax increase (7/10 of 1% on income OVER $100,000), which has gotten the Unseen Editor's dander up, lest I have become a pure doctrinaire liberal. The basis of my position is simply that the governor has asserted that such a tax increase -- this one -- will "hurt New York by costing it jobs and economic growth". My point is that this is nonsense. No single individual or company will make a decision on whether or not to do business in New York based on such a small difference in tax rates; New York is already perceived (rightly) as a high tax, high expense area to do business. On the other hand, a perceived weakening of public schools (and likely program cuts would be after school activities, music and art, PRE-SCHOOL PROGRAMS) WOULD affect the decisions of many people on whether to live, work, or do business in a state with perceived weak schools (especially one ALREADY perceived as high tax and high expense). I hope that clears it up for everybody! Let's hear it for the BBC, which has kindly given us this "who's who in post-war Iraq". Apparently, our esteemed Secretary of Defense has not read it too carefully, because he states that Iraq will NOT (under any circumstances?) be led by clerics in the manner of Iran. This, of course, conflicts (rather glaringly) from President Bush's statements that the IRAQI PEOPLE will decide amongst themselves how they are governed. The fact is, if they vote for Mullahs, or even the local Taliban, that would, of course, be the choice of the Iraqi people, would it not? It’s one thing to "restore the legitimate government" (such as in Kuwait), but this is a harder process. I'm reminded (too much) of Tom Lehrer's "Send the Marines", specifically, this paragraph:
For might makes right
OK, time for another blog review (Why? I don't know).
Path of the Paddle,
or "Canoe" as it sometimes shows up on blogrolls, is the
work of Ikram Saeed, with tagline "As Canadian as
possible, under the circumstances". The fascinating
focus of the blog seems to be matters Canada and matters
Middle East (as reflected in the small blogroll,
featuring blogs concentrating in...matters Canada and
matters Middle East!). Ikram's perspective is, well,
pretty damned sensible. We could use FEWER people like
that in Canada (they're ALL so damned sensible, damn
them) and more of them in the Middle East (where
sensible is a dirty word).
TD It's a Mad, Mad, Mad World Evening Extra III, 4-24-03. Tariq Aziz, Iraq's Deputy Prime Minister and its most familiar figure internationally besides Saddam Hussein before the war (when the Information Minister dubbed "Comical Ali" did the spokes-personing), is now in American custody. Elsewhere in the Axis of EvilTM, talks with North Korea taking place in Beijing ended a little early. And North Korea confirmed it HAS nuclear weapons. This is, apparently, not a surprise. Having just finished reading an article about North Korea, whose Dear Leader's birthday, February 16th, is the same as my friend "Mr. Naughty", I am beginning to fear that maybe astrology IS fate. North Korea has built its entire nation around its paranoia against the United States and fear of our attack; leave it Dubya to play into that. I fear the "negotiators" we are sending may be doing the same. It’s tough, because there are 20,000,000 human beings imprisoned by the regime in the North, and more than that living in South Korea, and over 100,000,000 in Japan, let alone a lot of Chinese and some Russians, all within easy range of North Korean nuclear weapons (assuming California IS NOT). This one will take a fair amount of finesse: our precision-guided GPS munitions will not get us through this one. Maddening.
TD Local Interest Extra II, 4-24-03. One of my many loyal readers tells me he thinks I don't cover "local interest" stories enough; my pleas that I have an international readership did not impress him. Well, here's a story that concerns my own beloved home county, the County of Kings, where Supreme Court Justice Gerald Garson seems to be in a %^*$load of trouble for having allegedly participated in a scheme to facilitate divorce actions, for the right price. If these allegations check out, this would likely land Justice Garson in the same place as former Justice Victor Barron: incarceration. In Brooklyn, we don't tolerate corruption, we seem to insist upon it. And one of these days, maybe someone will get me started on our beloved governor, and why George Pataki thinks that it is anathema to raise taxes seven-tenths of 1%, that is to say, $700 per $100,000 ONLY on income OVER $100,000. The governor would rather cut school aid -- SCHOOL AID -- by 4% across the board. It seems pretty clear that, with stands like this, the governor is probably not going to run for another term. If only we could convince Governor Pataki's friend in the White House that similar priorities at the national level also reflect a poor choice of priorities. Not likely.
Hmmm. We won the war (keep repeating that!) A resulting lull in traffic...best get back to my particular claim to fame...you all know what I think about most things...MORE BLOG REVIEWS!
Carl With a K,
"political hipster, urban socialite", tells us he may
live in Hollywood, but is no starving waiter, is the
work of KARL (get it?), who tells us he is a political
professional (like that OTHER Karl), 25 or thereabouts,
and gives us, well, progressive politics (Karl likes
Howard Dean), and more progressive politics. A proud
member of the vast left wing conspiracy from the Left
Coast (blogroll to match).
How to celebrate the seeming acquiescence of Yasir Arafat with PA prime minister-designate Mahmoud Abbas' selection of a new Palestinian cabinet? Exactly: fireworks. Sadly, in the Palestinian context, that means a suicide bombing, which has left an Israeli security guard dead, and at least ten wounded at a train station in central Israel. The bomber was believed to be from Fatah (code name for Arafat himself) and the Al-Aksa Martyrs Brigade (I certainly believe it). It's been about a month since the last fatal suicide bombing, but the message from Arafat (as I read it) to the incoming PA premier (as well as to Israel and the world) seems pretty unmistakable: you got what you wanted, buddy, so now don't expect any help from me or my homies. This ALSO says to me that the grand vision of neo-con hawks that the removal of Saddam Hussein was somehow a lynchpin in resolving the Israeli-Palestinian crisis was, like their visions of Iraqi WMDs (and perhaps curing the common cold), hyperbole. Saddam or not, for Yasir, it seems to be business as usual. [Some solace might occur if Yasir decides to hang it up soon, as he is, after all 6 or 7 years older than Saddam was at the time of his death/disappearance. Then again, Arafat is 6 or 7 years YOUNGER than Fidel Castro. Apparently, being a corrupt old tyrant is, absent the occasional assassination or "regime change", often helpful to longevity.] And it seems we are moving full speed ahead toward some stabilizing over in Baghdad, as General Garner is proposing to have Iraqi government ministries, staffed by Iraqis, open by the end of next week. Let's all hope that this is a precursor of continued good news on the rebuilding front.
A tough day of work related activities has delayed my posting for the day. Take a peek at the Carnival of the Vanities over at Kitchen Cabinet. Just as we thought things had calmed down in the Middle East, amidst a massive outpouring of religion from our former friends the Iraqi Shiites, the President NOW sees fit to move on the next member of the Axis of EvilTM, Iran, at least rhetorically. (The other remaining Axis member, North Korea, meets with U.S. and Chinese officials in Beijing, which, had you been reading me regularly, you would have learned was coming last week as reported by the People's Daily). Dubya just can't help but talk tough. Maybe tensions with Iran will cool (just as they seemingly have with Syria). Who knows? I sure as hell don't. The enemy of my enemy may be my friend...but what happens when we knock off our mutual enemy? With respect to a bunch of Shiites, I suppose we're about to find out...
A hearty mazel tov to J. Fielek who some of you may recognize as the proprietor of the Blog of Xanadu, we give you a brand new blog:
Man Meets Baby
comes to us from J. Fielek of the
Blog of Xanadu. The new blog lets us read about the
story of the Fieleks' new baby, quite literally as he or
she develops. This is the sort of "happy stuff" we'd
all like to see more of in the blog world, and I'm
damned glad to see it here. Go. Share the joy. NOW!
I am shocked, SHOCKED, I say, to hear that Hans Blix contends that the United States undermined the work of United Nations weapons inspectors. As long-term readers (both of you) know, I have had, shall we say, mixed feelings about the work of Dr. Blix and company, but overall, it was President George W. Bush on or about 12 September 2002 who took it upon himself to appear before the United Nations and demand the resumption of weapons inspections. Saddam Hussein seemed to enjoy playing games with the inspectors, and the inspectors proved to be able enablers. But, after setting the inspection process in motion, it was President George W. Bush whose government systematically (according to Dr. Blix) undermined the work of those inspectors, largely so that, politically, war drums could be beaten, and ultimately, war it was. Of course, the stated casus belli had been Iraq's failure to come clean on its WMDs. Over a month since hostilities, and a fortnight since the apparent fall of the Saddam Hussein regime, not one jot of evidence has been found that Iraq has any – ANY – of the chemical, biological or nuclear weapons feared. Further, there is a theory out there that this may mean, without Saddam's tight grip, terrorist organizations have had an easier opportunity getting their hands on the bad stuff than if the Saddam Hussein regime remained in place. Although WMDs have not been located, American forces HAVE managed to locate a cache of...cash. American currency in the range of $600,000,000 has been discovered. This should be just about enough to pay Bechtel's contract.
Gee, it seems that we had a Monday morning just last week. Well, whoever thought that crushing Iraq first would be a good way to get North Korea off the schnide (admittedly, I didn't think it was all that good an idea) seems to have been vindicated, as North Korea seems ready to talk to South Korea, a sign that tensions are down. Meanwhile, the President has softened the tone on Syria, which leads one to conclude that Syria must be playing ball. Well, George W. Bush can add his own slogan to the lexicon; there was Teddy Roosevelt's "speak softly and carry a big stick". We'll be working on Dubya's slogan for a while (speak inarticulately, carry a big shtick?) as I'm sure we can come up with something better (feel free to e-mail me with good slogans.) General Garner is off to Baghdad, Saddam might be alive, the Palestinians are having a feud over their cabinet... Just another manic Monday!!!
Happy Easter! Another beautiful Sunday here in Brooklyn. Perhaps we'll go plant shopping. At around a month past the start of hostilities, it’s time for the CNN-style hagiographies (for those who don't know, that means "blow jobs") of the American military and its war planning and execution. Let me just say this: absent some really obvious fuck-ups (looting of the national museum and library, assassination of key religious leaders, delays in restoration of infrastructure services), this has all gone swimmingly. Relatively low numbers of Iraqi civilian casualties, around 100 American military deaths (mostly at our own hand), and for the most part, we have left Iraq largely there. Saddam and a regime that just looks nastier and nastier the more we learn of it, ousted (the man himself presumably dead, even if he does keep popping up in pictures). Hurray for the good guys. If we do the reconstruction as well as we did the deconstruction, we will have accomplished something monumentally great and wonderful, and may well "transform the Middle East". If we DO NOT (and the President has, thus far, asked Congress for virtually NOTHING to rebuild Iraq, shades of Afghanistan), then we can think of this as job security for future American construction workers, rebuilding American cities destroyed by future terrorists, that is. It really IS that stark and simple.
And, because it’s a nice day and I SHOULD be outside with my young daughter, it’s time for MORE BLOG REVIEWS! As promised (by me) to the Ice Queen, the remaining portions of the blog roll of the Ice Queen not already part of the dog run...
The War Parties Diary
is the work of Dhalia Moore, a Torontonian party (and
blogging) animal, who tells us that his mission is to
give us "War is in. Who's wearing what? Who's going
where? Who's hot and who's not? Details to follow." The
details do, indeed, follow. It’s hip, it’s happening,
it’s:
Crabby Says
is the work of Crabby, a Torontonian blogger (I guess)
who mixes details of her life (including her
self-deprecating humor) and her poetry for a most
interesting personal log/blog. Her tagline: Because I
said so. She would have a future in American politics,
would that she lived here.
Sister Staceypatrick Explains It All For You comes to us from blog-world superpower
Ontario, whose tagline is “Ramblings and ravings from
the not-so-hallowed mind of a scarcely-devout
individual.” She takes us through details of her own
life (with "the Father"), and drifts in and out of
progressive political discussions. No blogroll (yet?).
One post is so good (3-27-03), that in a rarity, I will
reproduce it in its entirety: “Thought for the Day:
‘You know the world is
going crazy when the best rapper is a white guy, the
best golfer is a black guy, The Swiss hold the America's
Cup, France is accusing the US of arrogance, and Germany
doesn't want to go to war.’”
It’s been a while, and some of you, I'm sure, are de-toxing bad over it, so, your time is now. MORE BLOG REVIEWS:
Food for Thought
is the delicious intellectual and political banquet
served up by MC Masterchef, and is a relatively recent
addition to the blog world menu. The food world conceit
is just the appetizer for deliciously laid out political
commentary that seems to geared to my peculiar
culinary-political tastes. Nice links section to fellow
travelers, AND various do-gooder orgs.
One Man's Opinion is the work of One Man a/k/a Dustin M. Wax o.k. whoever he (or
she) REALLY is. What he (or she) writes is some
diabolically clever good-guy agitprop (wait a
minute...can the good guys produce agitprop?) A solid
lefty blogroll, most of whom are already dog run
denizens (and the rest will be soon), and in one
talking dog's
opinion, over the plate commentary from a left-handed
fireballer.
Its Saturday morning again (looks like a nice one here in Brooklyn), so it’s time for our brief peep at... Pravda. We'll look at this article noting that the motivation for the United States to attack Syria (if any, as the article thankfully in my view concludes it won't happen) is that Israel wants it to. Of course, the article also notes that Israel wants to look hawkish, without actually expecting the United States to do that which it asks. Who knows? If we DO finally turn on Syria, just between us, it will be for motivations that will not likely be made public. In a report I haven't seen elsewhere, NATO will, commencing in the late summer, be placed in charge of Afghan peace-keeping operations. Pravda hints at the provocative nature of NATO operating so far outside of its usual area of operation. I don't know what to make of it, other than, I would like to see corroboration from, say, our government. And Iraq's neighbors have stated that production of oil by the occupying force (that would be the United States) would be illegal until the U.N.S.C. lifts sanctions against Iraq. Can you say, "com-pe-ti-tion?" One of my original premises for believing (wrongly) that this war might not take place was that it was in the Saudi national interest (the only national interest near and dear to the hearts of George W. Bush and George H.W. Bush) to keep Iraq boxed in and not producing oil at its full potential. Just keep repeating: this isn't about oil, this has NOTHING to do with oil, this was always about liberating the Iraqi people, etc. And from Eurasia, we move over to East Asia, where the Chinese People's Daily reports that Ahmed Chalabi has already taken himself out of the running to be interim regent of Iraq. Good move. Chalabi found his support was weaker than he thought. Being front and center in a place where assassination attempts will be likely amidst years of score settling seems, at a personal level, to be a bad idea. Of course, if not him, then who? And the People's Daily reports a Chinese government spokesman as saying that direct U.S.-D.P.R.K. (North Korea, of course) will take place "soon", hosted by Beijing. Query whether having direct bilateral talks IN CHINA makes this the "multilateral" talks the United States government insisted were necessary? One thing is clear: the Iraq experience has changed the landscape on both sides, everybody has to play ball now. Kim Jong Il has seen the light: the Bush Administration is now even ornerier and more mercurial than HE is. Best to have those talks! Finally, as a construction lawyer by trade, I should note (at least in passing) the no-bid award of a $680 million reconstruction contract in Iraq, to be borne by the United States taxpayer, to the fabulously-well-connected-in-GOP-circles Bechtel Corporation, based in body (though not in spirit) in San Francisco. Bechtel is just about the largest construction company IN the United States, and does an awful lot of gigantic public jobs, and I have no doubt, is absolutely qualified to do this relatively (in the context or rebuilding Iraq) small project ($680 million would barely be enough rehabilitate one of New York City's bridges, let alone an entire country the size of California). Few of Bechtel's contracts, however, have been awarded in as murky and suspicious a manner as this one. The Bush Administration long ago gave up the premise of even trying to make things LOOK good, having discovered that the American people don't seem to care anymore. Actually, the Bush Administration is COUNTING on this.
A happy Good Friday to those to whom it applies, and a Zissen Pesach to those to whom that applies. Well, SOME repercussions for a bad thing we done: three White House cultural officials have resigned in protest over the failure to take better precautions to protect the Iraq National Museum in Baghdad; there was also damage at a museum in Mosul and the Iraqi National Library. Fair is fair: no one is saying that we could have a war with no collateral damage or no civilian casualties, and only people who just aren't credible would argue that the Saddam Hussein regime was superior even to the current anarchy (just today, Kurdish forces found what appear to be mass graves resulting from the charming Saddam Hussein regime's killings of Kurds in the 1980's), BUT, this particular museum looting event was hardly a surprise. Apparently, few or NO measures whatsoever were taken to guard against the looting of these museums and the loss of these treasures of antiquity to ALL MANKIND, while extensive precautionary efforts were made regarding matters petroleum. In less rarified news from Baghdad, thousands (apparently) took to the streets to denounce the American occupation of their city and nation. This only highlights just how imperative it is that we restore electricity and telecommunications services to these people so that they have something else to do besides going out protesting, and looting. And many people would like to hear that their family and/or friends are o.k.; in blogland, that means you know who, silent since 24 March, around which time phone service went down in Baghdad. And in what some are contending is a sign that Syria is tightening its grip on Lebanon so that it can better focus on matters to its east rather than Lebanon, Lebanese premier Rafik Hariri (on how many other blogs will you see THAT name?) named a new 30-member cabinet. As I said, Syria is not a nice place and it is led by a not nice ophthalmologist dictator son of the former dictator. BUT...Syria has cooperated in the War on TerrorTM; admittedly, I wouldn't have ASKED for its cooperation, but our esteemed government did. Syria even helped us out by voting for UNSC 1441 (the purported "legal basis" of our current invasion of Iraq). Colin Powell says we won't invade or attack Syria, though other voices in Washington say different things. In my gut, I think Syria is a nasty dictatorship that sponsors and hosts more terrorist groups than just about anyone else, is incorporating Hizbollah elements into ITS OWN ARMY, is occupying one neighbor and perpetually trying to destabilize its other, is developing and stockpiling its own chemical and bio-weapons, and is certainly not our friend. BUT, it is in the United States' interests to have an orderly world. As messy as Syria is, toppling it would just lead to (IMHO) too many unpredictable consequences. And besides, at the end of the day, regardless of what we do or don't do with Syria, Osama will still be out there.
In a little prosaic break from the action-packed war news, we'll step back a bit and take a look at what the Pentagon says the war has COST: $20 BILLION, and counting. Throw in 100 lives (so far), and take a guess at future costs, military, reconstruction, and human, and make your own assessments as to whether this was and will be "worth it". Again, regardless of what color scheme Tom Ridge favors (and New York City has NEVER gone off orange alert since 9-11), if the goal was to "make America safer from terrorism", I respectfully submit that we have not. On the other hand, in the ultimate triumph of newspeak, "Operation Iraqi Freedom" has, unbelievably, amounted to exactly that. The Iraqi people have been liberated from a tyrannical regime. We could have done a better job of limiting anarchy in the immediate aftermath (we do seem to be improving rapidly on that score) but there you go. I get the feeling (optimistic, really) that Colin Powell's announced visit to Syria signals that the bellicose talk is, well, TALK, and that Colin is not going to deliver an ultimatum. For the kazillionth time, Syria is not a nice place, Bashar (or Beshar, I can never make up my mind) Assad is not a nice man, and Syria (and Lebanon, which has been under Syrian control for years) would certainly be better off under liberal, democratic regimes. But, Syria DID cooperate in that War on TerrorTM thing, and in the first Gulf War, and... Given that I'm now 40 years old and my only child is a girl, maybe the United States should re-impose an (all-male) draft so that we could make it a policy of "liberating" every oppressed people in the world, easier ones first, of course. Well, actually, as satisfying as that would be to some, I think the downside of the extremely high human and economic costs, and the likely backlash make that a really bad idea; that's why, in theory, we impose this "national interest" thing to war and peace calculations. Saddam Hussein, in theory, threatened world oil supply stability (and "he tried to kill my Dad"), threatened his neighbors, and of course, kept his people in a house of horrors. Neither Mugabe nor Kim Jong Il, for example, sit on oil, and while removing Mugabe would be relatively cheap and doubtless good for Zimbabweans and removing Kim would be good for North Koreans, don't look for either anytime soon. Mugabe threatens Zimbabweans mostly. Kim Jong Il threatens his own people, and not one, but two critical strategic allies. But taking Kim on directly, just because of sheer proximity, he might end up destroying one of those allies and severely damaging the other; hence, the cost of direct action against North Korea is deemed too high. Iraq had the right combination: nasty leader, oil, easy smackdown. Syria? Just doesn't fit the bill (no big time oil); it threatens Israel and sponsors terrorists against Israel, but is in no sense an existential threat to Israel (by itself, anyway). Iraq was a unique opportunity. So...it’s on to the "reconstruction". Well, let's just say, it won't be as easy as the war. Sure, the President vows that we will ensure the Iraqi people have a bright future. He is, logically, calling for the end of UN sanctions. Certainly, the Saddam Hussein regime, being gone and all, is no longer in violation of resolutions calling for it to disarm. On the other hand, with sanctions in place, the U.N. Security Council, via the Oil for Food program, actually controls the disposition of Iraqi oil. So, all the more important to make nice-nice to our traditional friends France and Russia, particularly if we want the Security Council to help us out on this (this wasn't a war about oil, remember?) Lots of issues. I heard vague reports proposed by some Pentagon officials suggesting that the bulk of American troops could be largely gone from Iraq in, oh, 18 months (when a "free and fair election" can be scheduled in Iraq). Of course, as I recall, there will be another election somewhere else at about that time...if I could just remember where...
TD "Yellow Alert" Extra, 4-16-03. I have just received an urgent CNN bulletin (AP reports here) -- America can breathe easier, as we are lowering our alert status from Code Orange to Code Yellow. Mr. Chekhov, plot a course for...Damascus?
I'll say this for the Bellicose Bushies: slow news days are now a thing of the past. Abu Abbas, on the lam for nearly two decades since the murder of Leon Klinghoffer on the Achille Lauro cruise ship that he helped orchestrate to "advance the Palestinian cause", was picked up by American forces in Baghdad. Italy, which has sentenced him to life imprisonment, has asked for his extradition. My understanding was that Abbas' presence in Baghdad was an open secret, although he had been a minor figure in the terrorism game for a long time. Presumably, his capture will help rhetoric about Saddam Hussein's links to "terrorists", but I do not believe Abbas was linked to al-Qaeda. Still, the capture of a murderer at any point to face justice must be constr |