ACT ONE (The Setup): Prominent Democrat Joseph Biden writes an op-ed in the Washington Post suggesting a broad outline for withdrawal of troops from Iraq: "Over the next six months, we must forge a sustainable political compromise between Iraqi factions, strengthen the Iraqi government and bolster reconstruction efforts, and accelerate the training of Iraqi forces." ACT TWO (The Knee-Jerk Reaction): … Read More
The Suicide of Col. Ted Westhusing
Col. Ted Westhusing, 44, . . . was no ordinary officer. He was one of the Army’s leading scholars of military ethics, a full professor at West Point who volunteered to serve in Iraq to be able to better teach his students. He had a doctorate in philosophy; his dissertation was an extended meditation on the meaning of honor. In … Read More
That Word Doesn’t Mean What You Think It Means
Redstate asks a stupid question — well, two of them. When the history of the decision to go to war in Iraq is written, there’s one fact that I have to believe will get more attention than it does today: the fact that Saddam Hussein hired terrorists to murder George H.W. Bush…. Put yourself in Bush’s shoes: if you were … Read More
Iraq: The Movie
Bruce Willis wants to make a pro-Iraq war movie, and the right wing blogosphere is all excited because there hasn’t been a good realistic war-is-fuckin’-awesome movie since the "Rambo" series. Sadly for the wingers, there’s been much technological innovation since the "Rambo" series, and it seems that anybody can make a war movie these days, downloadable from the Internet: A … Read More
AIDS Relief in Africa: Strings Attached
AIDS in Africa could reach pandemic perportions: The HIV/AIDS scourge on the African continent could worsen in 2006 if developed nations do not deliver on their financial pledges, the U.N.’s top AIDS official in Africa said on Monday. Stephen Lewis, U.N. special envoy for HIV/AIDS in Africa, said treatment, prevention and care programs on the continent will start losing out … Read More
Bush Was Against Troop Pullout Before He Was For It?
It was only a week or two ago when Bush/Cheney were labelling war critics, who were advocating troop withdrawal from Iraq, as a bunch of "cut and run" cheese-eating surrender monkeys (or words to that effect). But now, the Los Angeles Times writes that Bush will give "a major speech" on Wednesday "in which aides say he is expected to … Read More
U.S. Border Patrol Uniforms Are Made In Mexico
AP: WASHINGTON — The labels inside the U.S. Border Patrol uniforms have been making many federal agents feel uneasy. It’s not the fit or feel of the olive-green shirts and pants, but what their labels read: "Made in Mexico." "It’s embarrassing to be protecting the U.S.-Mexico border and be wearing a uniform made in Mexico," says T.J. Bonner, president of … Read More
Boot’s On The Ground
Max Boot, writing in the LA Times, says: WHEN IT COMES to the future of Iraq, there is a deep disconnect between those who have firsthand knowledge of the situation — Iraqis and U.S. soldiers serving in Iraq — and those whose impressions are shaped by doomsday press coverage and the imperatives of domestic politics. In support of this, Boot … Read More
Bush Kept Intelligence From Congress — The List Grows
From The National Journal: Ten days after the September 11, 2001, terrorist attacks on the World Trade Center and the Pentagon, President Bush was told in a highly classified briefing that the U.S. intelligence community had no evidence linking the Iraqi regime of Saddam Hussein to the attacks and that there was scant credible evidence that Iraq had any significant … Read More
Easongate
Back in February, CNN executive Eason Jordon made comments to the effect that the U.S. military targeted journalists. The rightwing blogosphere went ballistic, decrying Jordon’s comments as absurd and unsubstantiated. The whole thing was dubbed "Easongate", and within days, Eason Jordon resigned. Turns out Eason Jordon wasn’t far off the mark: US President George W. Bush planned to bomb pan-Arab … Read More
A Spit-Take Moment
John O’Neill, head of the "Swift Boat Veterans For Truth" (the group that circulated unfounded rumors about Kerry’s Vietnam service) is back at it, engaging in more historical rewrites. Just read this sentence from O’Neill’s op-ed in The New York Sun (subscription required): Are the politicians like Mr. Kerry who led the campaign to send our kids to war (when … Read More
And Now, The Iraqis Weigh In
From Bloomberg: Iraqi leaders, meeting at a reconciliation conference in Cairo, urged an end to violence in the country and demanded a timetable for the withdrawal of coalition troops from Iraq. In a final statement, read by Arab League chief Amre Moussa, host of the three-day summit, they called for "the withdrawal of foreign troops according to a timetable, through … Read More
The Pushback Strategy Debunked
Conservative blog Protein Wisdom summarizes the Bush "Pushback Strategy": Clearly, the important administration arguments are beginning to coalesce: 1) Criticism of the war is not by itself unpatriotic 2) Similarly, answering anti-war critics is not challenging their patriotism 3) But opportunistic and cynical anti-war critics who are trying to walk back their own votes and level spurious charges at the … Read More
Curveball
For those who haven’t heard it yet, the story of Curveball is an important component of the whole pre-war intelligence issue. I’m going to turn the mike over to Pat Lang, retired senior officer of U.S. Military Intelligence and U.S. Army Special Forces, who served as “Defense Intelligence Officer for the Middle East, South Asia and Terrorism" for the Defense … Read More
Bush Hearts Dissent
After all the GOP soldiers took turns taking potshots at Murtha, Bush said some odd words in China on the entire thing: People should feel comfortable about expressing their opinions about Iraq. I heard somebody say, well, maybe so-and-so is not patriotic because they disagree with my position. I totally reject that thought. This is not an issue of who’s … Read More