Letters to the Editor
casual_observer
Published Letters: 1253 Editor's Choice: 1
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Iraq: The way to go
[Read the article: Bush's 2001 condemnation of Russia's human rights abuses]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]Iraq: The Way to Go
By Peter W. Galbraith
Very helpful article by Galbraith, Mr. "Soft Partition". I think this article will be widely read in Congress and will be very influential with Democratic presidential field. It will have ZERO impact on the administration, of course.
Below a small piece--link to article below name:
But there will be no Saigon moment in Iraq. Iraq's Shiite-led government is in no danger of losing the civil war to al-Qaeda, or a more inclusive Sunni front. Iraq's Shiites are three times as numerous as Iraq's Sunni Arabs; they dominate Iraq's military and police and have a powerful ally in neighboring Iran. The Arab states that might support the Sunnis are small, far away (vast deserts separate the inhabited parts of Jordan and Saudi Arabia from the main Iraqi population centers), and can only provide money, something the insurgency has in great amounts already.
Iraq after an American defeat will look very much like Iraq today—a land divided along ethnic lines into Arab and Kurdish states with a civil war being fought within its Arab part. Defeat is defined by America's failure to accomplish its objective of a self-sustaining, democratic, and unified Iraq. And that failure has already taken place, along with the increase of Iranian power in the region.
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The Carnival Barker
[Read the article: The Weekly Standard's "9/11 Generation"]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]I think the jist of Barnett's approach is part of a growing trend by the extreme right to blame the american people when things start going poorly for the radical agenda. Perhaps this is borne out of frustration that the American people are simply walking away from the wing-nuts, like a crowd will walk away from a carnival tent once they've seen the trick done once or twice.
When all else fails, the carnival barker will begin insulting the retreating crowd itself. 'Carnies' are famous for this. They'll do anything to stop those feet from moving.
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Re: Update
[Read the article: The Weekly Standard's "9/11 Generation"]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]Great addition to the piece. What I would love to know, but doesn't appear to be data in the linked document to address, is whether the percentage of population serving has been rising, falling, or stable since Gulf War I. This might speak to where the hearts and minds of the american people are, regarding the oil wars.
Also:
And according to the CIA, there are roughly 108 million Americans "fit for militiary service" -- 54 million males and 54 million females who, as the CIA defines it, are able-bodied and between the ages of 18-49.
Mr. Barnett is 40 years old, I believe. There is still plenty of time, Mr. Barnett. Nearly a decade.
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Go to Iraq
[Read the article: Further politicization of the U.S. military's public statements]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]GG,
If traveling to Iraq would guarantee an interview, I wonder if Salon can and would foot the bill. Wouldn't hurt to ask Centcom.
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Consequences
[Read the article: John Yoo -- then and now]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]There are consequences to torture and subjugation by brute force.
Moqtada al-Sadr, Hakim's main rival, comes from Iraq's other prominent Shiite religious family. Saddam's Baath regime murdered his father and two brothers in 1999. Earlier, in April 1980, the regime had arrested Moqtada's father-in-law and the father-in-law's sister—the Grand Ayatollah Baqir al-Sadr and Bint al-Huda. While the ayatollah watched, the Baath security men raped and killed his sister. They then set fire to the ayatollah's beard before driving nails into his head. De-Baathification is an intensely personal issue for Iraq's two most powerful Shiite political leaders, as it is to hundreds of thousands of their followers who suffered similar atrocities.
The American people have no wish to be associated in any way with torture, and view it as an abomination. In the example above (from "Iraq: The Way to Go" by Peter Galbreath) the torture and family deaths experienced by Iraqi Shiite leaders now stands squarely in the way of Iraqi reconciliation, one of the all-powerful all-important "benchmarks", and a prime reason why Iraqi federal government is nacent but dead. And that torture is why no amount of "surging" is going to change the minds and hearts of those who have suffered unspeakable abuses at the hands of a brutal tyrant who did not have to obey the law because he was the law.
It is truly remarkable that we are building, slowly but surely, the same tyranical system here that we are fighting "over there".
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Program or Programs?
[Read the article: What were the pre-2005 "other intelligence activities"?]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]GG--This is still Very confusing. The TSP is said to be re-evaluated and re-approved every 45 days. Comey says that they were doing a re-evaluation and legal check on "a program" that came up regularly for such checks. The senators on record say they knew of only one program.
Putting aside Abu's careful distinctions that strongly smell of multiple programs--just for the moment. Why can't Comey's testimony be interpreted as saying that the program--just one program-- had turned more agressive, and that this was caught by DOJ's periodic review?
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Arne
[Read the article: What were the pre-2005 "other intelligence activities"?]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]"But no matter; let's find out the specifics of the "programs", "projects", "efforts", etc., and then we won't have to worry about the semantics and can start discussikng substance."
Of course. But how. AG Smurf is a complete liar, and a bafoon to boot. Comey was very specific in not being willing to talk about any specific program. The committee could call Comey back, and ask him straight out--how many "programs" are there. I think he'd likely not answer.
I totally agree we are at the mercy of semantic BS and lack of data. And given the reluctance of the senate, are they truly prepared to do what they have to do in order to get the information. The committee is clearly getting angry--but will they ever be angry enough.
Getting a special prosecutor will run the clock out. No way that will bear fruit by the end of the term. Impeachment would not ness. bring more to light than what we have already. It's a real problem as to where that data comes from.
Where are the damn whistleblowers.