A Tougher Peace Corps?

"Post-war pacification in Afghanistan and Iraq is a tough job, but somebody's got to do it. So the question is, who?"

Thus begins a very interesting column by Jay Bryant of The Optimate. He has some suggestions regarding the Peace Corps, suggestions that are apparently under serious consideration in Washington. In fact, this proposed model has already been used successfully. Where, and by whom? You'll never guess...

read the rest! »

The Few. The Proud. The Sensings.

I little while ago, I noted that a couple of my friends' children were considering enlistment in the U.S Armed Forces. Yesterday, I received this from Donald Sensing:

"As a retired military officer (Major, U.S. Army), I am empowered to administer the oath to persons enlisting in the Armed Forces. Today I had the privilege of enlisting my son, Stephen, into the United States Marine Corps. To see it online, click here. "

Stephen has signed up to be a tank crewman. A big day at the Sensings, needless to say... and all of our best wishes and congratulations from the team here at Winds of Change!

Dan's Winds of War: 2003-07-31

Welcome! Our goal is to give you one power-packed briefing of insights, news and trends from the global War on Terror that leaves you stimulated, informed, and occasionally amused every Monday & Thursday. Today's "Winds of War" is brought to you by Dan Darling of Regnum Crucis.

TOP TOPICS

• As Andrew noted on Monday, there was recently a coup attempt in the Philippines. While the actual plot was foiled, about 70 of the plotters (members of the Filippino equivalent of the Special Forces) managed to escape and then proceeded to seize control of a major commercial center in Manila, holding the Australian ambassador and 2 Americans hostage. The plotters finally surrendered, but are claiming a moral victory. It appears that the renegade soldiers had some significant backing within elements of the Filippino government, as at least one cabinet member has been detained in connection with the plot.

• Something extremely weird took place recently took place in Malawi. First, five al-Qaeda operatives, including a member of the Saudi royal family, were arrested by the CIA and the Malawian National Intelligence Bureau, as they were on a watch list of people linked to Fazul Abdullah Mohammed. A judge initially tried to block the deportation order, but all five suspects were placed in US custody and presumably en route to Guantanamo, prompting a riot in Blantyre that got so far out of hand that the government had to call in the army to restore order. But no sooner are things back to normal in Blantyre than do the five individuals in question turn up in Sudan, claiming that they have been cleared of all charges.

• RFE/RL has a fairly thorough analysis up of Iran's relationship with al-Qaeda and a plausible explanation why the nation is behaving in the manner it is.

Other Topics Today Include: Iraq and Iran updates; President Bush's press conference; more possible hijackings; thwarted attack against the US Embassy in Ottawa; seiges underway in Monrovia and Buchanan; battles against the Taliban and warlords in Afghanistan; al-Qaeda's brain trust, terrorist training camps and shoot-outs in Saudi Arabia; a raid on al-Muhajiroun; Equatoria Guinea's new god, a peaceful transition of power in Sao Tome; Australia's planned deployment in the Solomon Islands; an update on the kidnapped Algerian tourists; and a satire by Mark Steyn on how today's BBC might take the news of Mussolini's death.

read the rest! »

The Too-Friendly Skies

Dragging their feet on arming pilots, the Administration is also moving, as an economy measure, to reduce the number of armed Air Marshals.

The Transportation Security Administration wants to reduce the number of air marshals to save money, even as the government is warning about the possibility al-Qaida may try more suicide hijackings.

The TSA is seeking approval from Congress to cut $104 million from the air marshal program to help offset a $900 million budget shortfall. It's unclear how many of the estimated several thousand air marshal jobs would be affected.

Not to suggest that they don't have good plan, or anything...

Emperor Palpatine Comments on Planet Zongo

Back on Saturday July 26th I meant to post something I saw over on Little Green Footballs, but mindful of Joe's "No Politics on Saturday, only good news" I put it off.

The something was House Majority Leader Tom Delay's recent speech before a group of College Republicans talking about how far off the trolley Democratic Presidential campaigning has gone. For partisan Republicans and independents, the speech was a corker, but what I really liked was the way LGF posters compared Delay to the Senator and soon to be Emperor Palpatine in the first episode of the Star Wars movie series. If I knew how, I would include a side by side picture comparison of them with a tag line "Twins seperated at birth?" for this post.

read the rest! »

An Email From New York

Tenacious G just forwarded me this email which is making the rounds in her legal circles. Snopes doesn't disavow it, and Christy Ferer is in fact the Mayor's liason to the 9/11 Victims' families.

Subject: A Request From Baghdad

Christy Ferer is a 9/11 widow who recently was a member of a group of celebrities (including Robert DeNiro and Kid Rock, among others) that took an Armed Forces Entertainment Office and USO-sponsored trip to Iraq to show support for the soldiers, sailors, airmen and Marines still over there. Following is an e-note she sent her escorts about the experience. In her cover note, she said she intends to submit it to the NY Times for publication. It is really powerful, and very moving, and will make you proud that you have chosen to serve your country, and proud to be an American. Enjoy...and thanks as always for all you do for America's Air Force!

[s]
Brig Gen Ron Rand
----------

When I told friends about my pilgrimage to Iraq to thank the US troops, reaction was under whelming at best. Some were blunt. "Why are YOU going there?" They could not understand why it was important for me, a 9/11, widow to express my support for the men and women stationed today in the Gulf.

read the rest! »

Central Asia "-stans Summary": 2003-07-30

Winds of Change.NET Regional Briefings normally run on Tuesdays & Wednesdays. This Regional Briefing focuses on Central Asia and "the -stans," including Afghanistan.

TOP TOPIC

• Political analysts in Turkey are pessimistic about the country's relationship with the USA, some going so far as to pronounce the long-standing US-Turkish alliance dead. The souring of relations has prompted a vigorous debate in Turkey on the country’s strategic priorities.

Other Topics Today Include: al-Qaeda's new Afghan offensive; Afghanistan/Pakistan ties strained; The new Afghan Army; "aid" workers; Preserving Afghanistan's cultural heritage; Azeris in Iran push for change; Russian-led rapid reaction force in Kyrgyzstan; Chechnya - a lesson for China?; 'Oil curse' for Kazakhstan and Azerbaijan?; Central Asia's water crisis; The Agonist cheats death in Tibet.

read the rest! »

Carnival of the Vanities #45 is Up!

The Carnival has arrived over at Lies, Damn Lies, and Statistics. My personal favourites:

read the rest! »

Open-Source Litigation

Check out Groklaw, a weblog that seems most focussed on the business and legal issues underlaying current SCO-storm in the open-source world. I have a feeling that the outcome of these cases is going to be damn important in the next decades.

UPDATE: See comments.

A Response to Armed Liberal

One of the first things you learn as a Federal quality assurance bureaucrat is to challenge an expert badge for appropriateness to the subject at hand. Sometimes as expert badges work across subject fields and sometimes they don't. The key is knowing enough about the field to ask appropriate questions that you know the answers too before you ask them.

That is what I did with Armed Liberal on the subject of formulating American Grand Strategy.

A.L. and I have been having a long running arguement over American Grand Strategy and its salemanship to the American public. The latest round starts in the discussion threads for A.L.'s "Leadership and Challenge" post where I challenged A.L.'s "expert badge" on the subject and pointed out that the creation of Grand Strategy is a highly specialized field that neither he nor I are qualified to comment on intelligently. The difference being I know enough to know that and A.L. doesn't.

How we went from there to Armed Liberal saying I'm "Going French" you will have to ask him. Frankly, what he wrote sounds to close too a Bircher rant about the Council of Foreign Relations (CFR), with comparisons to the French system of governance, for me to comfortably comment. The convergence of Left and Right in opposition to the War on Terrorism still boggles me.

Getting to the point of what I said:

read the rest! »

My Lunch With Sumi

Most of the people - software developers and architects - on the team I'm working with are from India. I took one of them out to lunch today - a new engineer named 'Sumi' (actually it's much longer than that and I'd probably spell it wrong if I tried). She's Telugu, one of he subpopulations of India related to the Tamil, and because she's an intelligent and attractive young woman, she's somehow managed to meet quite a few Americans in the four months she's been here.

At lunch she talked about them, and was asking me in amazement "Why is it that when I talk to these young people, they are ashamed of being Americans and they tell me that they wish they were Indian? Do they know what it's like to be Indian? I am Indian, and I love India, but after being here for a little while I think I love America better."

I asked her why. "Is it the money? I know that you can do better economically here."

"No," she explained. "I actually took a cut in pay to come here. I was a manager back in Bangalore. I like it here because here I am free to be what I want to be, and not what my father or my aunts want me to be. I can follow my own heart and feel like I am making my own life for myself."

Welcome to America, Sumi. Personally, I'm glad you're here.

(note that these are quotes as close as I can remember them from 15 minutes ago)

Trent Goes French

The net assessment of national security requirements and its translation into grand strategy is a highly specialized field of academic study who best practitioners are currently working on or are consultants for the National Security Council and the Department of Defense.

From comments to this post, below

I was kind of astounded to see Trent say this, not because I felt the attack (I have pretty thick skin and only get moderately annoyed when the guests actually puke in the punchbowl), but because it makes my argument regarding Bush's policies for me and represents such a profound misunderstanding of what America is about that I can't let it go unanswered.

And I get the delicious task of pointing out to Trent how parallel his thinking is to his hated French.

read the rest! »

US District Court Judge Young's Verdict

This was forwarded to me at work by my Agency's Associate Council. I post it without comment. It speaks for itself:

US District Court Judge William Young made the following statement in sentencing "shoe bomber" Richard Reid to prison. It is noteworthy, and deserves to be remembered far longer than he predicts. I commend it to you and to anyone you might wish to forward it to.

January 30, 2003, United States vs. Reid.

Judge Young: Mr. Richard C. Reid, hearken now to the sentence the Court imposes upon you.

read the rest! »

The Old World is Gone

The American Prowler has a very good column here titled "We Used to Have a Deal," By Lawrence Henry. It is very much worth your time reading the whole thing, but these exerpts are the high points:

The United States used to have a deal with the world. We would buy things from other countries, confidently assuming that those countries would sell them to us. We would also sell things to other countries, confidently assuming that they would want to buy them. And if some of those countries had a problem or two (dictators, human rights violations, oppressed peasants, etc.), as long as they kept those problems pretty much to themselves, we would leave them pretty much alone.

That deal has historical antecedents. Unlike the colonialist conquerors of Europe, we stayed secure behind our twin oceans, which made a commercial approach to the world appealing to us. And it suited our natures as a people. On our own continent, the two biggest single expansions -- Thomas Jefferson's $15 million Louisiana Purchase in 1803 and Secretary of State William H. Seward's 1867 buy of Alaska for $7,000,000 -- were deals. Of course, America did things wrong in pursuit of that policy. The words "banana republic" come to mind.

But, all in all, it proved a pretty peaceful, if some would say cynical, way to behave.

read the rest! »

The Public Display of Patriotism Test

In conversations with Tom Holsinger, he and I hit on a test that smokes out American haters of all stripes as well as Americans who lack patriotism. It is really simple:

“How does a person react to a public display of American patriotism?”

read the rest! »

So Long, Bob

Surprised there wasn't more about this in the Blogosphere. As most of you know, Bob Hope died yesterday, shortly after celebrating his 100th birthday. Sometimes the good do not die young.

• SmarterCop has some thoughts, and W5 has some personal memories.

• CNN's news report tells you more about this remarkable man

• Oddly, CNN's obituary focused more on Hope's career. Shouldn't it have been the other way around?

• The Sydney Morning Herald has some of his one-liners. LT Smash adds a recent one, from his personal experience.

Goodbye, Bob. You left us more than just memories.

Islam: Between Copying and Thinking

Randall Parker introduced me to Egyptian author Tarek Heggy, a Renaissance Man in the true sense of the term. "A Culture of Compromise" was fascinating reading, not only for its insights into the Arab mind but also for its insight into the Anglosphere. His Canada Day guest blog here, "The Institutions of Democracy are More Important Than Democracy", discussed the 3 key processes democracy depends on for its existence, and insightfully addressed the issue of extremist political groups within it.

The good news is, our Cairo correspondent is back! Not only that, but there are more articles where this one came from. The scholarship is deep, and the topic is hot, and it relates directly to the questions raised in al-Ghazali's Sufi Wisdom story on Saturday. Ladies and gentlemen, we give you Tarek Heggy...

Islam: Between Copying and Thinking
By Tarek Heggy

In the years between 1967 and 1973, when I was studying towards a degree in law and a Masters in comparative law, I acquired a rudimentary knowledge of the principles of Islamic jurisprudence. Later, while teaching at universities abroad, I set out to develop a wider knowledge of the subject. My readings took me beyond the circle of the four Sunni schools of jurisprudence to those of the Shiites (the most important of which is the Ithna’ashariyya or Imammeya), and the four main doctrines of the Khawarij (the most important of which is the Abadeya school prevalent in a small region of Algeria and in most of the Sultanate of Oman), as well as to other schools, such as the eponymous Al-Tabri and Al-Laith interpretations.

Nor did my readings stop there.

read the rest! »

Day By Day Returns!

As I noted on Saturday, Chris Muir's excellent "Day by Day" strip has returned. Glad to see the medical leave was only temporary, and we look forward to more antics from Damon, Jan, Zed, and Sam. Especially Sam!

Toward A Real Palestinian Solution

Michael Totten's excellent article "The Globalization of Gaza" is up on Tech Central Station. Suicide bombing is spreading, he says, and it's time to ask ourselves honestly: Is it possible to support a Palestinian state without encouraging terrorists elsewhere?

"There is a moral case to be made for a Palestinian state. There's a strategic and "realist" case to be made for it, too. But it is trumped by the need to contain a fast-spreading barbarism. No country on Earth should appease or surrender to terror. Peace at any price has a price tag too high. A devastating wave of suicide attacks in Moscow, London, New York, and Bombay is a real possibility and would distort and deform our societies beyond recognition."

He thinks a 2-state solution is possible, but the "Roadmap" isn't the way there. As Totten notes, and this really is the crux of the whole issue:

"The trouble with the road map isn't that Palestinians won't cooperate. The problem is there's no punishment if they don't."

Instead, Michael proposes a sequence that's far more likely to produce serious results. He makes a powerful case on an important subject... perhaps the best-made case I've yet seen re: The Roadmap and what should replace it.

UPDATES:

· Fierce Highway, an excellent and under-appreciated blog, comments.

· Calpundit also comments. As I noted in his comments section, I think he has completely mischaracterized Totten's argument.

RFID Tags & Radio You

When people think of science and technology that changes the world, they tend to think of big things, dramatic things. Atom bombs, vaccines for dread diseases, and the like. As James Burke could tell us, however, big changes often come from developments that seem minor at the time and lack drama. Most of the time, it's the unexpected combinations and connections between discoveries that really change our world.

Here's one from that category. What do you get when you combine miniaturization, wireless networks, a planetary Internet, embedded sensors in most devices, progress in computing capacity and storage, and Radio Frequency I.D. (RFID) tags?

The answer may be a very different society, and effects that stretch far beyond our corner of the world.

read the rest! »

Andrew's Winds of War: 2003-07-27

Welcome! Our goal is to give you one power-packed briefing of insights, news and trends from the global War on Terror that leaves you stimulated, informed, and occasionally amused every Monday & Thursday. Today's "Winds of War" is brought to you by Andrew Olmsted of AndrewOlmsted.com.

TOP TOPICS

• The U.S. is adopting more aggressive tactics in Iraq. MSNBC does a very good job of describing the tactics, the adjustments from both sides, and the results: 300 Iraqi fedayeen dead, rewards for U.S. troops up over 1500% to induce cooperation, more intelligence, fewer 'contact' incidents of fire. I'm not big on body counts etc., but the tactical descriptions tell us a lot. The Toronto Star adds more first-hand accounts.

• Bring 'em on? Apparently terrorists are taking President Bush at his word. U.S. commander Ricardo Sanchez reports that Iraq has become a magnet for foreign terrorists looking to attack Americans. In the long run this will be a good thing, but it also means a higher casualty rate for the foreseeable future.

• JK: Andrew won't link to this, but I will: his initial thoughts about the 9/11 Congressional Report. Matt Yglesias, meanwhile, notes some interesting things about Afghanistan, and the Saudis. Just ask Omar Bayyumi.

Other Topics Today Include: WMD updates; Japan to Iraq; al-Qaeda in Iran; FBI & TTIC; Israel releases 200 terrorists from jail; Syria; Phillipines aftermath & implications; Malaysia warns Burma; America marks the 50th anniversary of the Korean War armistice as NK prepares for a nuclear test; and the humourous "Ig Nobel" prizes.

read the rest! »

In the Kingdom of the Ball-less, the One-Balled Man is King

Felicitations, Lance Armstrong, for winning the Tour de France!

Congratulations, also, to Jan Ullrich, who lost by just by 61 seconds after 2,1125 miles staged over 23 days. Lance had never won by less than six minutes in his previous victories.

As Armed Liberal has noted, our well-wishes wouldn't be complete without mentioning Tyler Hamilton, who logged exactly the same number of miles and came in 4th (full standings here | pictures here)... with a broken collarbone! Extraordinary.

N.B. Headline inspired by Amish Tech Support's July 13 post. The French version can be found in the Comments section, courtesy of Gabriel Gonzalez.

Laying on a Brag -- Baker to Head Up Iraqi Reconstruction

I said the following in a the discussion thread of my post titled "U.S. Military -- Back to the Future!"

Rumsfeld's malign influence in Iraq is his resistance to establishing a McArthur-like "Shoganate" that is directly responsible to the President. This is what we did with both Japan and Germany.

These "Governors-General" were overseen by the Joint Chiefs for day-to-day policy and operations questions.

Rumsfeld's problem is that he does not trust the Joint Chiefs to do this job and won't let anyone else do it.

This issue can only be resolved by President Bush.

Bush should appoint a Governor-General answerable to him and establish an oversight board made up of Jim Baker as chair , VP Cheney, one or more retired generals Rummie trusts, and a senior level State Department official Collen Powell trusts.

This would answer Bush's problems of getting them mission done without to much impact on his limited span of control.

Well, now it looks like the Bushies have taken at least part of my advice. The Washington Post had an article titled "White House Wants Baker to Head Iraq Reconstruction" that said the following:

read the rest! »

Submarines: Growing in Value

Melana Zyla Vickers has a very good article up called "No Subs for Subs." Their stealthiness and ability to work undetected in coastal areas, plus advances in technology and capabilities, have moved their role beyond just anti-shipping and ballistic missile launch. Covert land attack, intelligence gathering, and special operations are all becoming more significant roles in their repetoire, especially in light of the conversion of 4 Ohio-class ballistic missile submarines to SSGNs carrying cruise missiles, pilotless drones (UAVs & UUVs), listening equipment, and 60-100 Special Operations troops.

Carriers are the focus of the U.S. Navy's deployments, and their role will increase in value as the USA transforms its military into more of an expeditionary force. Those with a serious interest in the military, however, would be well advised to pay equal attention to 2 other areas. One is a concept called "seabasing" (more technical document). The other is the evolution of the submarine and its missions.

Leadership and Challenge

I've been discussing the need for Bush to articulate and sell his plans in order to build and maintain the public support that will be essential to winning this war. Trent has responded, disagreeing.

Calpundit posts on the same subject, and says:

I most definitely don't accept Steven Den Beste's crude view that the president shouldn't tell the American public about his larger goals because "They don't need to know, and can't be trusted to know." This is not a specific operational aspect of war that needs to be kept secret from our enemies, it's an argument about the overarching principle behind American policy and America's place in the world for the next several decades. If the American public ... and the world ... can't be trusted with that, we should just pack up and go home. Steven should be ashamed of himself for writing such a thing.

read the rest! »

Good News and Drama From France

More good news for Joe...tomorrow, unless something incredible happens (and that's not likely) Lance Armstrong will win his 5th consecutive Tour de France, and Tyler Hamilton will finish 4th, having ridden for three weeks on a broken collarbone.

In the penultimate time trial (an individual race against the clock), his only potential challenger, German Jan Ullrich, crashed on a rainslick roundabout. Reading the live Internet feed as they started, it was obvious that at the starting ramp, Ullrich was anxious and Armstrong collected. Both raced at record-breaking speeds; they covered 49km in well under an hour.

This has been a Tour full of crashes, drama, and exciting events, as well as magnificent athletic performances by all the participants. Lance said: "We're very lucky to be in a position like that. It was an eerie Tour. The mixture of physical problems, tactical errors and just bad luck, having crashes and near-crashes, it gives you mental stress and physical stress."

Lance joins Miguel "Big Mig" Indurain as the only winner of five in a row, and no one - not even the great Merckx - has won more than five, period. See you all next year...

Sufi Wisdom: The Sterile Woman

As militant Islam does its level best to discredit the religion, it's important to remember that there are other voices within the faith. One such is the Sufis, a branch of Islamic mystics who live islam (submission), iman (faith) and ishan (awareness of G-d, "to act beautifully"). Every Saturday, therefore, we spend some time with the Sufis' "crazy wisdom."

This week's entry comes from the 12th-century scholar and Sufi El-Ghazali (a.k.a. al-Ghazali):

"A man went to a doctor and told him that his wife was not bearing children. The physician saw the woman, took her pulse, and said: 'I cannot treat you for sterility because I have discovered that you will in any case die within forty days.'

When she heard this the woman was so worried that she could eat nothing during the ensuing forty days. But she did not die at the time predicted.

The husband took the matter up with the doctor, who said: 'Yes, I knew that. Now she will be fertile.'

The husband asked how this had come about. The doctor told him: 'Your wide was too fat, and this was interfering with her fertility. I knew that the only thing which would put her off her food would be fear of dying. She is now, therefore, cured.'

The question of knowledge is a very dangerous one."

So, use the comments section and tell us: what might al-Ghazali be trying to tell us, especially re: his view of knowledge?

UPDATE: See "Islam: Between Copying and Thinking," a follow-up from Egyptian writer Tarek Heggy. Next week's Sufi Wisdom continues the discussion.

Calvin & Hobbes

"It's a magical world, Hobbes old buddy...let's go exploring!"

Calvin and Hobbes remains my favourite cartoon of all time, and Clubbeaux seems to feel the same way. He has a couple of strips up to remind me why it's my favourite, then throws in a link to a page that holds many of Waterson's glorious "Calvin's snowmen" tableaux.

To this day I kick myself that as a kid, I did not think of any of those snowman ideas.

P.S. Speaking of worthy cartoonists, I'd be remiss if I didn't throw in a bit of advance notice that Day By Day returns on Monday! Also on the "way to go" front, cartoons like this are why I love Cox and Forkum. Molon Labe!

G-d & Man, Knowing & Understanding

This one comes via an article by Joshua Claybourn that offers some thought-provoking tidbits about Man's relationship with G-d, the limits of knowledge, and the realm of spirit. He begins by quoting Lileks:

"But who civilizes the dog? Man. And it's so very easy to do; it requires only connection and the will to do good. Which is why I've often said, half facetiously, that the relationship between man and dog is the same as man to God. Dogs don't understand our books or physics or spacecraft or lawn mower engines or flat-screen monitors or 99.8% of our world. They do not know what it is that they do not know. They don’t even know how to pose the question, frame the argument, find their way into to realm of the human mind. The connection to the human being is sufficient.... I find no more empirical proof of God than my dog finds proof of satellite TV. But at night when we're on the sofa he sees the inscrutable stories flickering on the box in the corner. I note his disinterest: one of those things, whaddagonna do. But the fact that he doesn't get the story doesn't mean there's not a story being told."

Iraqis Getting Talkative

Well, well. The USA just rounded up about 10 members of Saddam's personal security team near Tikrit, based on intelligence "from local Iraqis". (Hat Tip: Damian Penny, who also has interesting information from a former bodyguard about how Saddam spent the war, and how close we came before)

Meanwhile, Maj. Gen. Ray Odierno, commander of the 4th Infantry Division, said in a video-teleconference from Iraq with reporters at the Pentagon that information from Iraqis has been "flowing in" in the past 24 hours, and that the military continues to gain more and more information about the ex-dictator's possible whereabouts.

Gee, wonder what changed? No I don't. Guess a picture really is worth 1,000 words. Saddam, on the other hand, is worth $25 million. Who wants to win the Powerball lottery, become a rich man, and move to America with your family? But you gotta buy a ticket. Step right up...

Mel's Melodrama: The Crucifixion

I normally refrain from commenting on a movie before its release, and I'm sticking to that policy re: "The Passion". Diana's reprint of Paula Fredriksen's article, however, is worth reading for its discussion of historical details et. around Jesus and the Crucifixion.

Yes, I am a bit concerned about the film. Still, it's a long way from the previews to the theaters. We'll see what happens then.

Guest Blog: A Happy Liberal Speaks

I had a great response to the "Happy Liberal Blogger Scavenger Hunt," held in the wake (and we do mean WAKE) of recent events in Iraq. The full list is up at our "Carnival of the Obituaries" today, but this one was definitely the most interesting. It came direct from a U.S. soldier, who will remain anonymous per request. People like these are liberals, too.

Date: Thu, 24 Jul 2003 19:36:00 +0200
From: "Gimpy"

Joe, How are you.

I'll take the bet, but I'll lose. I didn't blog the deaths of the Dynamic Duo. I was too busy punching the air in joy. Tried, in my humble ways, to do my piece when I thought, wrongly, that we had gotten Sadman Insane himself, when we struck the convoy over by the Syrian border.

By way of introduction, I maintain a mostly private, collaborative blog [deleted]. It's purpose? My friends and I are spread from some very bad places (Balad) to some very nice places (Europe and America). For us, the GWOT has been like a college graduation: something we have prepared for, trained for and were ready for, but now necessitates our separation.

We've had good times, among good friends. But we all agreed, when we signed, that one day, we had to be prepared. Afghanistan was the beginning. Iraq, perhaps the end of that beginning. There is more to be done.

read the rest! »

Guys, I Get It

In the comments sections, it's being pointed out to me that we'll ultimately win whatever war comes our way, so my concerns about faith and endurance are misplaced.

That's not news to me. Read this and I hope you'll understand what I'm really afraid of.

"...here’s my fear. I don’t want to be a part of a society that eradicated another culture; I don’t want to commit genocide."

Liberal Contest Winners: Carnival of the Obituaries

The results of our contest to find liberals who were actually happy about Uday and Qusay Hussein's death are in, and I'm pleased to report that many self-identified liberals did indeed have worthy things to say. Winner of the contest, with 4 first sightings, is Kathy K. of On the Third Hand. Take a bow, Kathy!

A couple of observations. First, I'm really glad I ran this content. As you can see from the list below, lots of folks had stepped up. I must confess, it cheered me considerably after seeing the stuff referenced in the link from my contest post and on Den Beste's site. Always do the research.

The other observation is that here are some of the people A.L., Michael Totten, Dean Esmay et. al. are looking for. It's easy to focus on the barking loonies at Democratic Underground and Indymedia, not to mention bloggers like Hesiod and Daily Kos who painted big and deserved bulls-eyes on their foreheads. Thing is, opinion surveys have been done of the Democratic Party that show an astonishing split between rank-and-file party members and activists, to the point where the Washington Post said that "Democratic activists and rank-and-file might as well have come from different parties." Guess which type the blogosphere is filled with?

Whichever type these bloggers may be, they deserve and receive my appreciation:

read the rest! »

Selling Grand Strategy with a Disloyal Opposition

I was just alerted to A.L.'s post here on Winds by reader Tom Holsinger who laid out his thoughts in A.L.'s post in the discussion thread.

Since A.L. took this public here, I am going to respond publically here. By way of background, Armed Liberal and I have been having a series of e-mail exchanges based on a a STRATFOR column Joe Katzman sent out to a blogger 'list of suspects' who have been in this Winds post and discussion thread. The STRATFOR column talked about the political problems Bush was having with the war. It contended that the lack of a debate on American Grand Strategy, and the lack of a P.R. campaign to sell it to the public, might collapse public confidence in the Bush Administration as the couple of soldiers dead a day 'meat grinder' in Iraq drags on.

Personally, I thought the STRATFOR arguement was another DEBKA level "pay attention to me, I am important" article aimed at attracting more media eyes and money to its subscription service by feeding them what they want to read. (The CIA isn't the first or last intelligence outfit to shade the truth for its customers.)

Anyway, the exchange between A.L. and I went on and centered on the need and scale of a public debate on American Grand Strategy and its political and military policy implications. I have been arguing against having the debate because of the certain warning it will give our enemies and the additional costs in lives, treasure, and time that would impose. The "Axis of Weasel's" actions in the run up to Iraq show that our enemies cooperate when given warning. So don't give them any more than is necessary.

Since Armed Liberal thinks that issues of public trust trumph issues of public policy and international diplomacy. Let us engage the debate on that point. Why should the Bush Administration trust the Democrats to debate, and the media not to distort for the Democrat's partisan advantage, American Strategy? Too date, Democrats have been a DISLOYAL OPPOSITION in this war. The "Vietnam at the 1968 Democratic Convention, Ho Chi Min is going to win," faction has been in control of the Party's stance on the war 24/7.

read the rest! »

Gephardt's Speech

I know this guy posts a lot of comments here. but trust me...it's not backscratching...go click over and read his analysis of "Gebhardt's" (I couldn't resist) recent speech on the war - good, bad, & ugly.

If I didn't have a job, and sons, and a relationship, and I wasn't spending all my time scribbling in a copy of Rawls, I could do as good a job as he's doing. Really. No, really.

Faith and the Force of Arms

For someone who doesn't go to church (except once in a while to hear my sweetie sing), I do seem to talk a lot about faith. I do because I believe that on a fundamental level, it is the intangible that really drives people; it is their faith in the future and each other that makes them willing to step up and shoulder burdens, take risks, accept loss, to move out of present comfort into pain in order to move to a future about which we can't be certain.

I flippantly mentioned this below, in talking about Tyler Hamilton's incredible performance in the Tour de France this year - riding with the leaders and even winning a stage with a broken collarbone. He could have withdrawn with no damage to his career, but some intangible drive...some inner fire, some commitment, some faith...kept him on the bike.

We've been having an e-mail conversation about this post on Stratfor:

The Bush administration's continued unwillingness to enunciate a coherent picture of the strategy behind the war against al Qaeda -- which explains the war in Iraq -- could produce a dangerous domino effect. Lurking in the shadows is the not fully articulated perception that the Iraq war not only began in deception but that planning for the Iraq war was incompetent -- a perception driven by the realization that the United States is engaged in a long-term occupation and guerrilla war in Iraq, and the belief that the United States neither expected nor was prepared for this. Ultimately, this perception could erode Bush's support base, cost him the presidency and, most seriously, lead to defeat in the war against al Qaeda.

(emphasis added)

This is congruent with some of the critical things I've said about Bush; specifically that he hasn't articulated or sold his plan. I think it is necessary that he do so, because ultimately this war will be won by the side with the stronger faith; we are matching our faith in our vision of the future against our opponents'.

read the rest! »

Famine, Lies & Justice

Dean Esmay's site has one of the finest guest blogs I have ever seen. It's about the Ukrainian Holodomor (rough translation: "famine-genocide") in the 1930s, which killed between 4-10 million people on Stalin's orders. It's also about a Pulitzer Prize winning reporter named Duranty, who covered for that genocide at the time by reporting from Russia and the Ukraine that it wasn't happening.

Why read Don Pesci's piece? First, for the reality of it. For the humanity of it, as Don describes the demeanor of survivors he's met; and for the journalists who had their lives changed by the simple choice not to lie. For the justice of it, too - it's time to get that blood-drenched Pulitzer revoked.

Finally, you should read it for its current relevance. Duranty's spirit lives on at CNN, which covered for Saddam and appears to have similar arrangements now in Iran (Hat Tip: M. Simon). They're probably not alone - I didn't see much coverage of the Hong Kong demonstrations recently on Murdoch's networks, for instance. Caveat viewer.

UPDATE: water, one of the Typepad beta testers, comments and turns the topic to Chairman Mao.

Dan's Winds of War: 2003-07-23

Welcome! Our goal is to give you one power-packed briefing of insights, news and trends from the global War on Terror that leaves you stimulated, informed, and occasionally amused every Monday & Thursday. Today's "Winds of War" is brought to you by Dan Darling of Regnum Crucis.

TOP TOPICS:

• JK: In the aftermath of Uday & Qusay Hussein's death, Bigwig's post from Saddam Hussein's point of view is one of the better blog bits I've ever read. Bonus points for the French title.

• Iran says it's holding top al-Qaeda leaders. Meanwhile, the U.S. is skeptical and wants Iran to keep its word in regards to captured al-Qaeda leaders, especially those involved in the Riyadh bombings.

• The Asia Times have a long article on the history of political movements in the post-colonialist Arab world and in particular the role of the Iranian Revolution.

Other Topics Today Include: Iraq and Iran briefings, incl. the nonviolent script for Iran; two new rants from bin Laden; a Saudi fatwa authorizing the use of WMDs against the US; more on the Saudi connection to 9/11; Mauritania coup fall-out; the leader of the Chechen suicide bombers revealed; comebacks for al-Qaeda affiliates in Uzbekistan and Kashmir; Mugabe's latest threat; and an Australian intervention force in the Solomon Islands.

read the rest! »

Special Report: Who Is Omar al-Bayyumi

by Dan Darling, of Regnum Crucis

Of course, the big story today is the release of the Congressional 9/11 Report, with the exception of the censored bits about Saudi Arabia. On which topic...

Omar al-Bayyoumi, a suspected Saudi government agent, assisted two of the 9/11 hijackers, Kaled al-Mihdar and Nawaf al-Hamzi, both of whom were alumni of the Kuala Lumpur meeting in Maylasia (where they were photographed by the CIA) that was chaired by Tawfiq Attash Khallad, the mastermind of the U.S.S. Cole attack and a top al-Qaeda leader. With the exception of Mohammed Atta and the Hamburg cell, which were in direct touch with Mohammed Atef (al-Qaeda's top military commander, killed in November 2001 by the CIA in Afghanistan) through Abu Dahdah, al-Mihdar and al-Hamzi were the only members of the 9/11 hijackers that were in direct touch with al-Qaeda's central leadership.

I did some digging and discovered that this isn't Mr. al-Bayyoumi's first appearance. He also surfaced last winter in connection with the scandal involving Princess Haifa (the wife of the Saudi ambassador to the US) giving money that wound up in the hands of the 9/11 hijackers. Al-Bayyoumi being a Saudi agent certainly makes this earlier scandal a lot more interesting.

Special Analysis: Osama's Audiotapes

by Dan Darling, of Regnum Crucis

Osama bin Laden, or someone who sounds like him, has a new audio rant that was posted on several websites and forums sympathetic to al-Qaeda and its cause. In it, he references the fall of the Taliban, which would seem to make the earliest date possible for this speech to have been recorded as being late December 2001 or January 2002.

My own analysis is that this rant was made at some point in early 2002 but was not distributed for reasons unknown. That the speaker is still calling for a massive Muslim uprising against their own governments is also indicative of the date in which it was recorded, as most statements from al-Qaeda's leadership after the summer of 2002 have mentioned Iraq.

There is also evidently another bin Laden audiotape out, though this one was posted on different websites than the previous tape and demonstrates the enormous degree of radicalization that has occurred among Islamists since 9/11 - to the point where they are essentially ready to scrap the traditional foundations of Islam in order to further their agenda.

I Tip My Hat...

I've been busy with work and family (interesting meeting with an Air Force 'officer recruiter'), and drafting some blog comments on the existing Democratic candidates and why I don't yet like any of them, but I had to put this up:

Tyler turns bad break into big win

...Hamilton shook off lingering pain caused by his fractured right collarbone and held onto a solo breakaway win on what compatriot Floyd Landis called "the toughest stage in this year's Tour."

Tyler Hamilton, an American riding in the Tour de France for CSC, has not only ridden some 2,000 miles with the world best bicycle racers - and a broken collarbone - but he's freaking won a stage - with a broken collarbone. I'm in awe at his demonstration of grit and determination.

Bicycle racing is only a sport; one hopes we can all find similar determination to persevere in arenas that matter far more.

Carnival of the Vanities #44 Is Up

CotV #44 is hosted by Da Goddess, who decided that a hospital theme was a good way to organize the links. When you're dealing with large numbers of bloggers, I must admit it's a pretty compelling metaphor.

Contest: Happy Liberal Blogger Hunt

After reading this account from Baghdad, then hearing disturbing reports from Michele, Spoons, Mind of Man, and Sgt. Stryker, I'm going to keep this short and sweet.

If any of our readers can find posts by Liberal bloggers who are celebrating the demise of Saddam's sons, and show genuine happiness about it - regardless of what else is in their post - please drop me an email (joe. I'm at windofchange.net) or leave a note in the Comments section. It's important to a future post, so please include a link or URL. Thanks!

UPDATE: I mean Liberal, of any shade. If they're actually anti-war but genuinely happy, then that's worthy of special note and please so indicate.

Stupidity, Thy Name is Abu Hamza al-Misri

When he isn't inciting supporters to combat their humiliation with arms and martyrs (and then accidentally blowing his own limbs off with home-made explosives), Abu Hamza "Captain Hook" al-Misri casts a blind eye to the resolve of those "soft, weak" Brits who do not subscribe to his mad delusions of grandeur:

Hamza is said to have been so convinced by a British undercover investigator posing as an extremist website operator that he allegedly sent him several secret propaganda films designed to attract new recruits. The videos were used, say investigators, to convince British Muslims to undergo jihad training at camps in Afghanistan and Bosnia.

The tapes and e-mails were obtained by Glen Jenvey, a 38-year-old freelance counterintelligence investigator from Wiltshire, over a period of more than a year. As the evidence flowed in, Jenvey forwarded it to the FBI, which is now building a case to extradite Hamza to America.

Ah, these plucky infidels and their personal home computers. This is playing dirty, and I advocate it strongly.

read the rest! »

Gweilo's Hong Kong Freedom Briefing: 2003-07-23

Winds of Change.NET Regional Briefings run on Tuesdays & Wednesdays. This Regional Briefing focuses on China, courtesy of The Gweilo Diaries.

Today we focus on recent political protests in Hong Kong: their story, and their repercussions. These important events have been almost ignored thanks to the brouhahas in Iraq and Iran, but we need to pay attention. The protests in HK and circumstances with other bloggers left Conrad as almost the only local blogger on post, so I specifically asked him to do a synopsis even if that meant lots of links to his own site.

July 1, 2003: The Hong Kong Freedom Story

• On July 1st, 500,000 peaceful protestors took to the streets of Hong Kong ostensibly to protest the proposed Article 23 anti-subversion legislation but equally to express discontent with the Beijing imposed Tung Che-hwa administration and to express their desire for increased democratization. Mr. Tung's usually reliable allies the Liberal Party (pro-business, pro-Beijing) bolted, and their chairman James Tien Pei-chun resigned his cabinet position and called for withdrawal of the legislation. Tung and Beijing backed down and pulled the bill.

• English-language expat bloggers in Hong Kong and China covered the unfolding story extensively:
  - July 2nd: Can you count?
  - Burnt Flag, Burnt Folks
  - Hemlock's rolling coverage from June 29-July 5
  - July 4th: Hong Kong Batting 1.000, America 0.00, and
  - July 7th: Fallout.

This is only the beginning of the story...

read the rest! »

Iraq Raids: The Genius of Starting Small

MSNBC.com has a great article that sheds considerable new light on both the Special Ops Soldier's Letter From Iraq we published Monday, and our stories yesterday about the op that killed Saddam's sons (yay!!!). Both involve a recent shift in tactics by U.S. forces, and that shift made a big difference.

The MSNBC / Washington Post piece is called "Little targets led to the top", and is proof that there are still some real journalists in theater. The template it offers is worth remembering next time someone talks about combatting terrorism, organized crime with global reach, or other kinds of "4th generation warfare" threats.

UPDATE: Blaster of Overpressure.com makes a very good point about adopting the same approach in official public communications.

Libya Learning

Saif al-eslam Gadhafi, son of Libyan dictator Moammar Gadhafi, tells CNN's Judy Woodruff:

"I would like to send this message to the American people and the American government that we, the Libyan people, we want to have a more constructive and fruitful relationship with the Americans. . . . We don't want confrontation and aggression and, you know, to fight anymore. It's over. It's behind us now. It's dead with the Cold War."

As WSJ Best of the Web editor James Taranto notes:

"Smart boy. He knows what happens to dictators' sons who do seek confrontation with America."

Just in case you had any lingering doubts, Saif.... As for Syria and Iran, another warning from U.S. President Bush to reinforce the concept.

Going Off the Cliff -- Democrats in 2004

Tod Lindberg has a column in the Washington Times today that plays to Armed Liberal's lament about his party in 2004.

The Howard Dean phenomenon in the Democratic Party is now much bigger than the person of the candidate himself. Mr. Dean's success in coming from nowhere and generating a wildly enthusiastic following among the Democratic base is now having the effect of driving the entire field of Democratic presidential aspirants to the left. By now, there is very little political space in which centrist Democrats of the Democratic Leadership Council and Progressive Policy Institute can operate. And so the question now is whether we aren't getting close to something like a national consensus that Democrats should run a "progressive" campaign in 2004, sharpening differences between themselves and Republicans and running boldly and unapologetically to the left.

Like I said before in my posts "The Democrats' Dilemma," "U.S. Democrats: Going Palestinian?!?," and "Dead and Damned -- Democrats after 9/11," Democratic activists and money men have chosen to go off the cliff in 2004. I'm also betting that the Democratic primary voting base will choose to do so as well since they will have no other choice.

Pro-war Democrats will have no candidates to express their view. This has implications...

read the rest! »

Saddam's Sons: Dead and Deader!

Recall this article we ran a while ago about Uday and Qusay Hussein, Saddam's most dangerous biological weapons and living proof that human evil is real. Now there are reports they may have been killed in a major raid near Mosul. Pentagon is using language like "reasonably confident". We'll see.

UPDATE: Well, kiss mah grits... looks like they got the sons of bitches:

"We're certain that Uday and Qusay were killed," Lieutenant General Ricardo Sanchez told a news conference in Baghdad. "We've used multiple sources to identify the individuals."

All just one day after we published that Special Forces letter from Iraq which promised:

"P.S. A couple of you asked me about Curly and his two sons, Dumb and Dumber. I still think we got him and one son, but the slugs may have gotten away. If they are alive, I can't believe they are hanging around here. Even Curly isn't that stupid ... then again. He might be in Syria or Lebanon. If he is, he's too moronic to keep quiet, then we'll get him. I promise."

And Mosul, yet... isn't that kind of like Josef Mengele trying to hide out in a quiet suburb of Tel-Aviv?

UPDATE:
· Our coverage continues.
· The shift in U.S. Tactics that made the difference.

I Want My Party Back

It's tough.

Porphyrogenitus is challenging me with high inside fastballs - his question really can't be avoided any more.

...given the direction you'd like to see the Democrats go in, which would be more catastrophic to you: that the Democrats follow the path they're on and lose?

Or that they follow that path and win?

He knows how unhappy I am with the current state of the Democratic Party, and challenges me both to take a stand on this election and to do something about it. Other people are taking the same position. Max Jacobs:

Yes, Bush's approval rating is falling but in order to be voted out of office the Democrats would actually have to find someone that people would be willing to vote for and I don't think they have come close at all to doing so.

And Michael Totten wraps it all up:

Suicide Watch

...Huh? Wha? says the Democratic Party as it’s found by its friend sprawled on the men’s room floor with a hypodermic needle sticking out of its arm. I don’t have a problem. Whatcha talkin' about?

Get a grip, Dems.

read the rest! »

Hushoor's Korea Briefing: 2003-07-22

Winds of Change.NET Regional Briefings run on Tuesdays & Wednesdays, and sometimes Fridays too. This Regional Briefing focuses on Korea, courtesy of Robert Koehler of the Marmot's Hole.

• China has been either been real busy or real negligent on the Korean diplomacy front, depending on who you ask. South Korean President Noh Mu Hyeon held summit talks with Chinese President Hu Jintao on July 9 - check out Infidel of A Layman's Opinion for his breakdown of the meeting (scroll down the page until you see "Roh's Fault"). China has also recently proposed "five way talks with bilateral US-DPRK talks on the sidelines." By the way, Randall Parker of Parapundit (an excellent source for Korean news and punditry) recently posted an excellent look at China's role in the North Korean crisis, and Kevin of Incestuous Amplification cautions us against overestimating Beijing's leverage over North Korean behavior.

Today's Topics Include: North Korean high explosive tests, Chinese wheelin' and dealin', William Perry's warnings and the "Rummy Plan," funny business at the DMZ, and so much more.

read the rest! »

Latest Iranian Blog Blacklists

According to Hossein Derakhshan, the Iranian government has officially ordered all ICPs (Internet Connection Providers) and ISPs to ban dozens of websites and weblogs. The list include many Iranian bloggers, of course, Hoder.com among them. Here is a list of blocked sites, as well as evidence that blogspot is still being banned.

These measures not only render the specific blogs inaccessible, they render Hossein's Farsi instructions on how to set up a blog inaccessible. That must change. As Pedram Moallemian notes in his recent Iranian.com article: Blogs Shall Set You Free - You need your own.

Mirroring efforts need to get started in a serious way. Beginning with Hossein's Farsi blogging instructions, and spreading to include Iranian blogs generally. If you can help, have ideas to offer, or have pointers to relevant information, please use the Comments sections or get in touch with me directly.

Go see Cal...

Go read Calpundit, on Iraq and the WoT here and here. I have to go earn my keep (i.e. run large unruly meetings) and will comment at length later.

UPDATE: Cal & Joe have a to-and-fro in the Comments section. Round 2 is coming. Stay tuned.

Those Republicans Can Be Sneaky

Gerard Van der Leun, over at American Digest, has a post that suggests a plausible sneaky GOP ploy which would ensure a Reep victory big enough to assure that I have to buy Trent dinner in Texas someplace. I hope Karl Rove doesn't read it...

Speaks For Itself

From Daniel Weintraub's great California politics newsletter:

Some of the San Francisco peace activists who protested to save Saddam before the war have now gone to Baghdad to keep a close eye on the U.S. military occupation forces and the private companies working on the reconstruction, reports the SF Chronicle. "This is a test of our rights --of freedom of speech, freedom of the press, freedom of assembly -- and we will press those to the full extent," San Francisco activist Medea Benjamin tells the Chronicle. Among other things, the activists hope to establish Iraqi labor unions and an organization to work for human rights. Strange. I wonder why they waited until after the fall of Saddam to set up their human rights shop in downtown Baghdad.

(emphasis mine)

Actually, I have an idea on this which came from reading Rawls. I'll try and elaborate in the next day or so.

Anti-Americanism Is Envy

Paul Johnson had a really on-point evaluation of Anti-Americanism in his Forbes magazine column here titled "Anti-Americanism Is Racist Envy." The high points from the article are the following:

Anti-Americanism is the prevailing disease of intellectuals today. Like other diseases, it doesn't have to be logical or rational. But, like other diseases, it has a syndrome--a concurrent set of underlying symptoms that are also causes.

• First, an unadmitted contempt for democracy. The U.S. is the world's most successful democracy.

• Second, anti-Americanism is a function of cultural racism. An astonishingly high proportion of European elites know very little about U.S. history or culture and even deny that they have a separate existence apart from their European roots.

• Third, European elites tend to look at Americans as a subcivilized mass, whose function is to be obedient consumers in a system run by big business.

read the rest! »

Kate's Winds of War 2003-07-20

JULY 21/03: Welcome! Our goal is to give you one power-packed briefing of insights, news and trends from the global War on Terror that leaves you stimulated, informed, and occasionally amused every Monday & Thursday. Today's "Winds of War" is brought to you by Venomous Kate of Electric Venom.

TOP TOPICS

• Newsweek is expected to break a story today on the release of a Congressional report documenting ties between Saudis and the 9/11 attacks.

• Trent Telenko says he has a letter from a Special Forces solider in Iraq. An eye-opening overview of the ongoing shadow war! On a more prosaic note, Chief Wiggles offers his schedule for a day in the sandbox.

• The BBC has acknowledged that weapons inspector David Kelly was the source for Andrew Gilligan's story that claimed Blair's administration "sexed up" an intelligence dossier to provide compelling evidence justifying Britain's involvement in the Iraq war. Kelly, who apparently committed suicide last week in connection with the story, told British MPs that Gilligan's portrayal of their conversation was inaccurate and that he had no doubt in the veracity of the intelligence. Gilligan denies the misrepresentation. The scandal has prompted calls for the Prime Minister's resignation, which Blair rejects.

Other Topics Today Include: advance strikes in Iraq last year; IDF's belief that we'll find Saddam's WMDs; the Iraqi civil defense militia; the discovery of enriched uranium traces in Iran; a possible second nuclear plant in North Korea; and Iraq's answer to the Backstreet Boys....

read the rest! »

Special Feature: Letter from Iraq

Got this through one of the email lists I'm on, sometimes they send interesting things. This letter didn't come to me direct, but I know which list member it came from and believe it's from a Special Forces soldier in Iraq right now. Read and enjoy.

(JK: I've done some backchecking via other sources, and I believe that this does indeed come from a SpecOps trooper.)

Date: Tue, 01 Jul 2003,11:09:09 GMT

Hey Guys, sorry it's been so long since I've sent anything but a quick note to you individually. However things have been pretty hectic since the end of hostilities and the start of the real war. Despite what the assholes in the press like to say over and over:

read the rest! »

Amnesty International -- Ally of Tyranny, Enemy of the USA

Amnesty International has started another round of money grubbing from its leftist mailing lists via this round of attacks on American occupation policy in Iraq.

Yet at the same time "name brand NGOs" and other "transnational progressives" are thwacking at the USA for not intervening in Liberia. Parapundit comments on it here with a link to this Daily Telegraph article here (which requires an unpaid registration).

Like Amnesty International's on-going campaign against Israeli policies in the West Bank and Gaza, both these actions against American policy have nothing to do with real human rights. It is a political money game funded by leftist politicians in the E.U., Canada and Australia with international NGOs being the cut outs for anti-Semitism and Anti-Americanism world wide.

I ran across a several of articles from the AUSTRALIAN FINANCIAL REVIEW and from the LONDON TELEGRAPH that lay out the rules and players in the game.

read the rest! »

Dear Kofi: They're Our Troops

Sometimes I read the paper and grit my teeth. In today's NT Times:

United Nations Secretary General Kofi Annan has called on the American-led forces in Iraq to set out a "clear timetable" for a staged withdrawal, noting that numerous Iraqis had told United Nations officials that "democracy should not be imposed from the outside."

While welcoming the formation last weekend of the 25-member Governing Council for Iraq, Mr. Annan said in a report distributed to Security Council members on Friday that "there is a pressing need to set out a clear and specific sequence of events leading to the end of the military occupation."

This is the same Kofi Annan who is quite willing to put US troops at risk in Liberia:

read the rest! »

Unlike Skateboarding, Terrorism Is Not A Crime

Kevin (Calpundit) pretty clearly delineates the distinction between his position on the War in Iraq and mine here. He says, in summary:

...I guess maybe that's at the core of the schism in America today. Lileks and his compatriots think the terrorists have the power to bring western civilization to its knees, whereas I think of them as simply a threat that we will rather quickly and efficiently dispatch. They may be scary, but in terms of actual power they are the merest flea on the back of the United States and the rest of the western democracies.

I wonder what it is that causes such vast gulfs in instinctive reaction between people who probably more or less agree on the actual nature of the threat itself?

Actually, I've covered much of this already, in a post I did in March, before the war. I said then:

read the rest! »

Rawls and Yugioh

Just back from taking Littlest Guy to a Yugioh tournament at the local toy store; about 15 kids, ranging from 7 (him) to an estimated 25 (guy with his wife and baby) playing a role-playing card game that is just astoundingly popular.

In my spare time, I did addition and scorekeeping while I was reading my way through Rawls, the 'incidental time' book I've been reading.

As might be imagined from the wide discrepancy in ages and abilities, playing involved a number of controversies and adjustments on the part of the players.

And as I sat there reading Chapter 3, I realized that I maybe would learn more about justice and fairness from watching and listening to the kids than I would by reading.

So I watched and listened and learned. And yes, I think Rawls would have learned a lot as well.

read the rest! &raq