By now readers are probably aware that Christian activist Tom Fox’s body was found, shot and showing signs of torture, in a Baghdad suburb. Tom’s group, Christian Peacemaker Teams, was abducted several months ago by an insurgent group and held hostage in exchange for the release of Iraqi prisoners held by coalition forces. Tom was the only American in the group. He leaves behind two children. A video aired recently on al-Jezeera showed the other hostages still alive.
In a world where “moral clarity” amounts to giving rein to the animal instincts of predation and revenge, it may not count for much that a few people were willing to fight hate with love and violence with peace. To be honest, I can imagine situations where I’d pick up a gun. In any case I don’t want to cheapen their their actions by wrapping myself in their bravery. But Tom and his comrades only put their own lives on the line, not those of others, and did so for a radical faith that most of us pay only lip service to. And for that attention must be paid. Read more
How on earth did this Op Ed get published? That is what I want to know.
Here is Edward Luttwak, a fellow at the Center for Strategic and International Studies and a member in good standing of the Washington foreign policy establishment, all dues paid up, (which probably answers my opening question), speculating in this morning’s New York Times about the security implications of an Obama presidency, for Obama himself and for the country, unembarrassed to tell us that Obama’s conversion to Christianity makes him ripe for punishment by beheading, no less, or at best, by stoning or by hanging. Read more
Like it or not, our next president will have to deal with conflicts all over the world. The nature of warfare has been changing (a lot of ink has been spent on this already) but obviously, this administration did not read the memo. Read more
The global proceeds of the Afghan drug trade is in excess of 150 billion dollars a year. There is mounting evidence that this illicit trade is protected by the US military.
MJ: Why do you think Mxzlplck and Washington should talk with Hoominnyhoo?
EH: Hoominnyhoo has, unfortunately, demonstrated that they are more credible and effective as a political force inside Grebular society than The Gnutish, the movement founded by [former Gnutishi president] Mootang Wibbleford, which is now more than ever discredited as weak, enormously corrupt and politically inept. […]
It makes sense to approach a possible initial understanding including Hoominnyhoo—but not exclusively Hoominnyhoo—at a time when they are still asking for one. No side will gain from a flare up leading to Mxzlplck re-entering Little Grebula in strength to undo the ill-fated unilateral disengagement of 2005. […] Read more
I was in a tiny minority back in 2001, believing as I did then that a bombing and strafing campaign that sent Talib leaders running for the safety of the hills of Warzistan was not the right response to 9/11. And even if it was, there’s this thing called “follow through.” Something most Repubicans no nothing about. More proof that we really need some adults in charge soon, because the dead of 9/11 must be wondering when, if ever, they will be avenged:
MONTREAL, Jan. 17 /CNW/ - Reporters Without Borders is very worried about the pressure being placed on the authorities by conservative religious leaders in the case of Sayed Perwiz Kambakhsh, a young journalist in the northern province of Balkh who has been detained since late October on charges of blasphemy and defaming Islam. The Council of Mullahs says he should be
sentenced to death.
“The calls for the death penalty for Kambakhsh highlight the growing influence of fundamentalist groups on intellectual debate,” the organisation
said. “The blasphemy charges are an ill-disguised attempt to hide the desire of the local authorities to restrict press freedom.”
A reporter for the newspaper Jahan-e Naw (“The New World”) and ajournalism student at Balkh university, Kambakhsh, 23, was arrested on
27 October. Articles on the role of women in Muslim society were found at his
home. articles about women and Islam!!! the horror! Read more
Bush travels to the Middle East and speads his message of hope and democracy war and terror. This was his recent comments at The Emirates Center for Strategic Studies and Research in Abu Dhabi.
“Iran’s actions threaten the security of nations everywhere. So the United States is strengthening our long-standing security commitments with our friends in the Gulf and rallying friends around the world to confront this danger before it is too late. Read more
Look, baby, you know I love you. Your dark hair and swarthy good looks called out to me—I wanted you in the worst way, which is the best way I want things. When I want something, I take it, and I slap it around and punch it and go to town, you know what I mean? And I wanted you, baby. You. It was always you. Read more
msnbc.com just had a no-link-yet breaking-news headline about the U.S. arresting an Iranian officer for abetting terrorism in Iraq.
I don’t have the exact wording, because when I refreshed the browser, the new breaking-news headline was “Bush to hold press conference at 10:45 a.m. ET today.”
Oh, and a look further down the page says Bin-Laden is declaring war against Pakistan’s president Musharraf, keeper of the world’s most unstable nuclear arsenal (unless you count ours).
If there were a threat level on the possibility of war with Iran, it might have just gone up to orange. Barnett Rubin, the highly respected Afghanistan expert at New York University, has written an account of a conversation with a friend who has connections to someone at a neoconservative institution in Washington. Rubin can’t confirm his friend’s story; neither can I. But it’s worth a heads-up:
They [the source’s institution] have “instructions” (yes, that was the word used) from the Office of the Vice-President to roll out a campaign for war with Iran in the week after Labor Day; it will be coordinated with the American Enterprise Institute, the Wall Street Journal, the Weekly Standard, Commentary, Fox, and the usual suspects. It will be heavy sustained assault on the airwaves, designed to knock public sentiment into a position from which a war can be maintained. Evidently they don’t think they’ll ever get majority support for this—they want something like 35-40 percent support, which in their book is “plenty.”
Boilerplate: There is a legitimate resistance to theocracy in Iran, but I very much doubt those are the people getting our taxdollars. Charles:
The study was made available by Larisa Alexandrovna of Raw Story (via Avedon and Chris Floyd). The authors are Dan Plesch and Martin Butcher of the University of London. They state that:
Some form of low level US and possibly UK military action as well as armed popular resistance appear underway inside the Iranian provinces or ethnic areas of the Azeri, Balujistan, Kurdistan and Khuzestan. Read more
Ian does all the hard work, so just go read his excellent recap about drugs and why there is only one answer in the drug “war.” Legalization, in some form or another, is going to happen. It’s simply a matter of time. No matter how entrenched the Drug War MIC establishment, eventually it’s going to be so ugly, corrupt and not effectual that taxpayers around the world will say, “enough.” I think I’ll begin to see it in this country in my lifetime; kids today really don’t care about that Great Evil in the same way as folks my age and older have been brainwashed to be.
I just had a conversation with a friend, and I reminded him: it’s always a good time to advocate sensible drug policy/legalization. Always. That is, as far as that political battle goes, our side is always going to lose. Pushing for drug legalization is a guaranteed no-go, as far as causes are concerned. Until that day that it is not. Read more
Are there really people left who believe, with confidence, that Bush is going to leave office without commencing or provoking a military confrontation with Iran?
hrough April 2006, DOD has reported about $273 billion in incremental costs for GWOT-related operations overseas—costs that would not otherwise have been incurred. DOD’s reported GWOT costs and appropriated amounts differ generally because DOD’s cost reporting does not capture some items such as intelligence and Army modular force transformation. Also, DOD has not yet used funding made available for multiple years, such as procurement and military construction. GAO’s prior work found numerous problems with DOD’s processes for recording and reporting GWOT costs, including long-standing deficiencies in DOD’s financial management systems and business processes, the use of estimates instead of actual cost data, and the lack of adequate supporting documentation. As a result, neither DOD nor the Congress reliably know how much the war is costing and how appropriated funds are being used or have historical data useful in considering future funding needs. Read more
Yeah, it’s like Kremlinology back in the day, isn’t it? Where a bunch of dour-looking** hatchet-faced old guys all in ruthless bureaucratic infighter costume would line up on the missile-reviewing stand in Red Square, and we’d try to figure out what was really going on by who was smiling, and who stood next to who. Good times. Why is that?
What happened to General Petraeus on his way to the war zone? From having written a textbook on the importance of negotiation over battle, from writing a textbook on the diversion of our energies into diplomacy in order to defeat an insurgency, this person has been turned into yet another administration sockpuppet.
The actual truth of this wrongheaded nature of our war keeps leaking out through the bumper sticker communications. Read more
Burt Lahr in “Waiting for Godot” (Explained after the jump)
So what’s David Ignatius’ excuse? He may be stupid, but “criminally insane” is a reach, as it is not for Bush/Cheney and all who have drunk of the cool-aid.
The singular purpose of Ignatius’ latest column, out today in the welcoming pages of the Wa Po opinion section, is to make sure that Democrats get a good portion of the blame for all the bad things to come in Iraq.
Getting into Iraq was President Bush’s decision, and history will judge his administration harshly for its mistakes in the postwar occupation. But getting out of Iraq is now partly in the hands of the Democrats who control both houses of Congress. History will be equally unforgiving if their agitation for withdrawal results in a pell-mell retreat that causes lasting damage.
Well, at least he makes it explicit.
So what the hell is it that Ignatius is cautioning Democrats they’d better be on board for? Read more
Yes, last night’s debate/forum was a huge improvement on previous outings, and Tavis Smiley and the panel of journalists he had gathered put Brian Williams and the rest of the beltway star interlocutors to shame.
And yet, for those of us who, without hesitation, call ourselves liberals, progressives or otherwise acknowledge our left leanings, something has been missing from this too early campaign for who will be the Democratic nominee for President in the 2008 election.
Well, look no further for someone to define what that missing something is. And irony of ironies, you have the Washington Monthly to thank for this, a publication that has sometimes been less than comfortable embracing the liberalism inherited from the 1960s and 70s, not that Charlie Peters, its editor for many years, wasn’t a genuine liberal. But if you were reading the magazine in the 1980s and 1990s, you’ll know what I mean.
Well, someone at the Washington Monthly had the brilliant idea of asking Theodore Sorenson, John Kennedy’s chief speech writer, whom, as the Monthly points out, Kennedy called his “intellectual blood bank,” to write an acceptance speech for whomever addresses the Democratic convention next year as its presidential nominee.
Sorenson is now retired. Over the years, every appearance of his, every published word of his, has reminded me of what it was like living in an America where “liberal” wasn’t a dirty word. Perhaps that’s why Ted Sorenson has been far less visible as a media presence than we had a right to expect, given his historic role with both John and Bobby Kennedy, his intelligence and knowledge of policy, and the power of his writing.
You will see by the speech he has written that Ted Sorenson has been paying attention.
Here’s his opening paragraph, how he would like the Democratic nominee to frame the kind of campaign that is worthy of the demands of the time we’re living in, and worthy of American voters, and which he or she intends to wage with or without the cooperation of the Republican nominee, whomever that may be. Read more
“To the east there is the Resistance in Iraq, to the west there is the Resistance in Lebanon and to the south there is the Resistance of the Palestinian people. We, in Syria, are at the heart of all these events!” -Basher Al-Assad, 10th President of Syria (April 30, 2007) Full
I won’t write much just thought I’d get everyone ready for the Syrian conflict. Read more
Clemons writes: “Multiple sources have reported that a senior aide on Vice President Cheney’s national security team has been … explicitly stating that Vice President Cheney does not support Bush’s tack towards Condoleezza Rice’s diplomatic efforts and fears that the President is taking diplomacy with Iran too seriously.
“This White House official has stated to several Washington insiders that Cheney is planning to deploy an ’end run strategy’ around the President if he and his team lose the policy argument.
“The thinking on Cheney’s team is to collude with Israel, nudging Israel at some key moment in the ongoing standoff between Iran’s nuclear activities and international frustration over this to mount a small-scale conventional strike against Natanz using cruise missiles (i.e., not ballistic missiles)… .
“The zinger of this information is the admission by this Cheney aide that Cheney himself is frustrated with Bush and believes, much like Richard Perle, that Bush is making a disastrous mistake by aligning himself with the policy course that Condoleezza Rice [and others] have sculpted.
“According to this official, Cheney believes that Bush can not be counted on to make the ’right decision’ when it comes to dealing with Iran and thus Cheney believes that he must tie Bush’s hands.”
CNN is repeating the comment, attributed to “Lebanese government officials,” that the massive fighting that has broken out in Tripoli is the fault of “Al Qaeda”*. By eerie coincidence our friend Juan Cole has some very profound observations just today, about this “organization” we call Al Qaeda:
Another important impetus to al-Qaeda’s survival is that it has taken the place of the Communist Party as radical response to the status quo. Al-Qaeda’s top leadership is rich, not poor, and it is a movement of the Right, not the Left. But it is a radical, populist Right that can attract the dispossessed.
This cannot be too often repeated, because it is one of those say-whaaa?? sort of things that takes many repetitions and a good deal of thought to soak in. But look at the longer version of Cole’s post on the subject and it’s really been there in front of us all along: Read more
