Toy Soldier Protest

In Chicago, a woman has come up with a unique way to protest the war. Place toy soldiers in public places with "Bring Me Home" written on their bases.

I've started a new blog, because I think this may have legs... http://greenarmymen.blogspot.com/

Title links to Day to Day NPR story on the woman.

Not so Reality Based

BLITZER: Here's what you write. You write, "Current and former military and intelligence officials have told me that the president remains convinced that it is his personal mission to bring democracy to Iraq, and that he is impervious to political pressure, even from fellow Republicans. They also say that he disparages any information that conflicts with his view of how the war is proceeding."

Those are incredibly strong words, that the president basically doesn't want to hear alternative analysis of what is going on.

HERSH: You know, Wolf, there is people I've been talking to -- I've been a critic of the war very early in the New Yorker, and there were people talking to me in the last few months that have talked to me for four years that are suddenly saying something much more alarming.

They're beginning to talk about some of the things the president said to him about his feelings about manifest destiny, about a higher calling that he was talking about three, four years ago.

I don't want to sound like I'm off the wall here. But the issue is, is this president going to be capable of responding to reality? Is he going to be able -- is he going to be capable if he going to get a bad assessment, is he going to accept it as a bad assessment or is he simply going to see it as something else that is just a little bit in the way as he marches on in his crusade that may not be judged for 10 or 20 years.

He talks about being judged in 20 years to his friends. And so it's a little alarming because that means that my and my colleagues in the press corps, we can't get to him maybe with our views. You and you can't get to him maybe with your interviews.

How do you get to a guy to convince him that perhaps he's not going the right way?

Jack Murtha certainly didn't do it. As I wrote, they were enraged at Murtha in the White House.

http://transcripts.cnn.com/TRANSCRIPTS/0511/27/le.01.html



I wonder if folks in the White House realize that this was what Hitler was doing as WWII was turning against Germany. Bad news was ignored. He mustered and moved armies on maps that didn't exist in the field, couldn't exist due to lack of resources. He was impervious to reality.

This administration has previously suggested a pride in its ignoring of reality in favor of dogma and faith. This is the kind of trauma that results.

Will Bush recognize he should leave office at the end of term (or in response to impeachment) if Iraq isn't 'finished?'

Science Fiction Outcome: If Bush doesn't give up power at the end of this term (or in response to an impeachment), the rest of the world will completely isolate (ostracise completely) the US economically, possibly to the point of declaration of war. Yes, cutting off the US economy will be terrible for the rest of the world, but will be preferable to a nuclear war with the US, which what any World War against the US would entail. They will suffer a lot to avoid it, but maybe necessary.

In all criminal prosecutions, the accused shall enjoy the right to a speedy and public trial

The Justice Department has finally decided to file charges against Jose Padilla after a mere three plus years of confinement in a Navy brig as an "enemy combatant." Alberto Gonzalez assures us that the timing of the charge has nothing to do with a pending Supreme Court ruling on the constitutionality of keeping US citizens in military prisons indefinitely without charges, nor the upcoming Congressional debate about extending provisions of the PATRIOT act. Andrew Cohen of CBS News (linked above) wonders what happened to the original crime John Ashcroft alleged: a plot to explode a "dirty bomb." And more importantly, Cohen wonders what happened for those three years to Padilla's right to a speedy and public trial, in which he has real representation and the right to question the witnesses and evidence against him. Nothing should disturb Americans more than the government's claim that it can lock up a citizen forever, without ever accusing him of a crime. That's the very definition of tyranny. I don't know if Padilla is a terrorist, a wannabe, or an innocent schlump - but now we finally have a chance to find out. One more time, Mr. President: if we want to be the good guys, we have to adhere to the laws and principles for which we claim to be fighting. That's what makes us different from people who chop off heads and bomb weddings.

Dugout Dick

Three cheers for Congressman John Murtha, who has called for a withdrawal from Iraq. Naturally the Bushies immediately started to attack, or as John Kerry phrased it, "Swift Boat" Murtha. But the Marine (there's no such thing as a "former Marine") can defend himself against the likes of Vice President Dick Cheney:

"I like guys who got five deferments and (have) never been there and send people to war, and then don't like to hear suggestions about what needs to be done."

Check out John Nichols in the Nation at the link above.

Bush Didn't Mislead....

Great cartoon at Washington Post.

http://tinyurl.com/d4z8e

Who's in Charge Here?

Here's my favorite quote of the day, from the U.S. Embassy in Iraq, in response to US troops "discovering" some 170 detainees in Iraqi custody, some of whom showed signs of torture:

""We have made clear to the Iraqi government that there must not be militia or sectarian control of Iraqi security forces, facilities or ministries," the embassy said. "We do not tolerate any abuse of detainees in Iraq. . . . The Iraqi government must take measures to ensure this kind of thing does not happen again."" (from "Iraq's Interior Minister Says Reports of Torture Exaggerated," K.I. Ibrahim, Special to The Washington Post, Thursday, November 17, 2005).

When will those darn Iraqis learn that only the CIA is allowed to torture detainees?

The President Who Cried Wolf

Click the post title to link to Carpetbagger report for the full article.

The funny thing about presidential credibility is, once it's gone, you can't get it back.

U.S. intelligence obtained what officials said was a stolen Iranian laptop in July. Its contents were reportedly devastating, complete with computer simulations and accounts of experiments that made it clear that Iran was working towards the creation of a nuclear warhead. Americans arranged briefings with officials from Britain, France, and Germany, as well as the International Atomic Energy Agency. It didn't go well.

[...]

In other words, for our allies around the world, the word of the United States is about as reliable as that of Iran. The Iranians' denials are viewed with skepticism; the American intelligence is viewed with equal skepticism. They see a dictatorial theocratic regime with terrorist ties and they see us — and they're not sure who to believe.

Over 40 years ago, JFK dispatched his secretary of state to Paris to meet with DeGaulle to discuss the Cuban missile crisis. Before even being shown photographic evidence, DeGaulle waved the pictures off and said, "No, the word of the president of the United States is good enough for me."

Today, there isn't a country on the planet that will accept our word on faith. How many years will it take for the U.S. to recover from Bush's presidency?

[...]

This Just In: Americans Approve of Torture

According to a Yahoo! news article (http://news.yahoo.com/s/afp/20051113/ts_afp/usattackstorture_051113232322) "Americans at large don't seem to have a clear-cut position on the use of torture. The latest Newsweek opinion poll found that 58 percent of the public would support torture to thwart a terrorist attack. But the same survey showed that 51 percent of Americans believe it is rarely or never justified, while 44 percent said torture is often or sometimes justified to obtain important information."
So...I guess it cannot be taken for granted that a clear majority of Americans think torture is never justified. How willing are we to inflict pain for some supposed good? Just ask Millgram. It's interesting that with torture to prevent terrorism, you are inflicting pain on one individual to stop another individual from doing something. You're looking for a two-fer. It's not good enough that you got one bad guy off the street, but you want to leverage to get at others. The philosophical dilemna is that torture is one word while discomfort and pain is a continuum. There is no bright line separating "this is not torture" from "this is torture." "I know it when I see it" is not good enough. Torture, like every continuum, is a slippery slope. Where do you draw the line? Torture limbo, anyone? How low will we go? Let's watch the poll numbers and our government and see.
Do these numbers change when the population is more anxious, less secure? Maybe the "Torture Quotient," henceforth defined as the proportion of a population willing to torture its enemies, may be inversely correlated with a nation's sense of well-being. But that's just theory; real torture actually hurts...bigtime.

Veteran's Day

On this Veteran's Day, originally Armistice Day, let's salute all those who did their duty as they understood it - even those, and perhaps especially those, who risk their lives in questionable causes. It's not their fault that our leaders are sometimes merely wrong and at other times purposely lie to us for their own twisted reasons.

And thanks to whoever puts up the flag at the end of my driveway, although I'm confused by what message it sends - that my yard is patriotic even if I'm too lazy to fly my own flag?

At any rate, thank a veteran today and buy him a beer.

Revision Thing from Harper's

The link http://harpers.org/RevisionThing.html presents a history of the Iraq War in the words of Bush administration officials.

Is this over the top?

Watching the zeppelin of the neoconservative movement burst into flames, tethered to the mooring mast of George W. Bush's presidency, I experience a shiver of such undiluted schadenfreude it's like to blew my earlobes off. What joy to see these scheming, lubricious barghests come undone, sinking beneath the hubris of their utter assurance that they alone are blessed with the vision to fulfill mankind's destiny: to shovel money into their pockets, regardless of the cost to life, love, or the future of the world. May a trillion satanic parrots empty their fetorous bowels on the sleek Italian suitings of these cruel arch-manipulators throughout a sulfurous eternity.

From the Smirking Chimp (click the post title to see the site)... and, no, I don't think it's over the top. Just colorful, that's all.

The article goes on to suggest that any glee at the difficulties the Bush administration is facing really should be tempered. Without offering a real alternative plan and leadership the Democrats are not guaranteed any gains in the upcoming Congressional elections, much less a win in 2008.

The Forces of Good

I am shocked - shocked! - to discover that our own CIA is operating a mini-Gulag of "black sites" in Eastern Europe and elsewhere (see Dana Priest's article in the 2 November Washington Post). We shouldn't worry about torture or false imprisonment since the Bush administration has assured us that all prisoners are being treated fairly and that should be enough reassurance for any of us. Meanwhile, Dick Cheney's aides are reportedly fighting hard to keep language vaguely forbidding torture (straight out of the Geneva Conventions) from being included in administration policy.

Two nights ago, Michael Reagan helpfully offered this clarification: "We're the good guys. We're the guys in the white hats."

I'm glad to have that cleared up.