Letters to the Editor
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Conclusion
Bring back in the draft in the United States. It is the only way for everyone to feel the pain of war, not just the poor and minorities of this country.
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So
When do we get to be a true democracy, where people can freely speak out against our leaders, even at their support rallies, without being shouted at for being traitors?
Excellent post, Glenn.
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What was the title of this post?
"How Would a Government Act?"
As opposed to a "cabal" I mean.
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This is off topic...
Glenn - did you hear that the NYT will no longer be participating in the White House Correspondent's Dinner? I think that deserves some comment... and kudos, if true...
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They Are Losing
I agree that the neocons, ultra-conservatives, and right wing bullies will remain in fantasyland until they are in a box underground.
But the republican party is paying a price for catering to these freaks.
My father is a retired doctor and lifelong republican. Not the jihad variety, but moderate. He's voted republican his entire life.
He is absolutely fed up. With the incompetent war, the intransigence, the non-stop playing of the troops and patriotism card, and even the fiscal policies. I've been shocked by some of what he has been saying lately.
He's just one guy, but I'm sure he represents a growing segment of todays GOP.
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Lebanon the model
Since reality is still anathema in this administration, this might be a good time to remember that Cheney and Elliot Abrams were solidly behind Israel’s war plans and as Seymour Hersh reported, saw it as the precursor to what they were planning in Iran:
The Israeli plan, according to the former senior intelligence official, was “the mirror image of what the United States has been planning for Iran.” (The initial U.S. Air Force proposals for an air attack to destroy Iran’s nuclear capacity, which included the option of intense bombing of civilian infrastructure targets inside Iran, have been resisted by the top leadership of the Army, the Navy, and the Marine Corps, according to current and former officials. They argue that the Air Force plan will not work and will inevitably lead, as in the Israeli war with Hezbollah, to the insertion of troops on the ground.)….
Cheney’s point, the former senior intelligence official said, was “What if the Israelis execute their part of this first, and it’s really successful? It’d be great. We can learn what to do in Iran by watching what the Israelis do in Lebanon.”
Did the administration learn anything by watching Israel fail? I’m not sure, but it’s not too hard to believe that the answer might be found in the last sentence of Hersh’s article:
"The definition of insanity is continuing to do the same thing and expecting a different result.”
http://www.newyorker.com/printables/fact/060821fa_fact
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Israel's Response Is Not Unusual
Israel has always been far more realistic militarily than it's US "supporters." So everything cited, while laudable, is neither new nor astonishing--for Israel.
What is new is that Israel engaged in the war in the first place. After the disasterous invasion of Lebanon in 1982--which resulted, most notably, in the creation of Hezbollah--Israel seemed to have learned its lesson, that war against the civilian population of Lebanaon was terribly counter-productive, regardless of anything that it's American "friends" might say.
Apparently, however, Ehud Olmert felt the need to prove he wasn't a wuss, just because he was slightly to the left of Likkud. And so he drank a special blend of the neocon kool aid, forgetting, it seems, that Israel is not the US, and the margin of error there for miserable failures is far, far less than it is over here. Quite literally, they can't afford the magnitude of mistakes that we take for granted.
No, I take that back. They can't survive the magnitude of mistakes that we take for granted. Perhpas we can't either. But at least the Israelis know it.
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Powerful post
If Israel acted with the consistent arrogance that the US does they would have ceased to exist long ago. We are protected by a couple of oceans, large population and huge wealth from our own stupidity, but that may not last forever.
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The Scary Thing
Is Guiliani. He's another reincarnation of John Wayne and if he wins he'll have to do something to show how tough he is even if it fucks things up even worse.
And it looks like he has a real shot to win.
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We're so rich
...we think we can have our wars without disrupting our lives. And, to a considerable extent, we can maim and murder wantonly, often using proxies, and get away with it.
In an Armed Forces Journal article recently, Lt. Col. Paul Yingling, said "Armies do not fight wars; nations fight wars. War is not a military activity conducted by soldiers, but rather a social activity that involves entire nations."
The Bushies sent the military to war, but knew they couldn't really take the nation. So U.S. soldiers are getting killed in a failed piratical adventure, for no national purpose whatsoever. That's a crime.
And internationally, agressive war, in Iraq, Afghanistan, and now Somalia is also a crime. These thugs ought to end up like Mussolini, but they'll probably retire in great comfort to bitter reminiscences while the country burns.
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I Think The Locution You're Looking For Is...
bamage:
What was the title of this post?
"How Would a Government Act?"
As opposed to a "cabal" I mean.
"What Would A Government Do?" --- "WWGD?"
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Who makes our foreign policy?
Mature societies do not make decisions by wondering what the Bad People want and then automatically doing the opposite. That is the mindset of a child.
The anti-bush administration talking point to all the childish "That will embolden the enemy", needs to be "Since when did we allow the enemy to make our foreign policy?".
The idiots making our foreign policy have allowed bin-laden to make make our decisions for the last six years.
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Rudy
I cleaned up New York City and now I'm going to clean up the Middle East.
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Glenn - please clarify or get your facts straight
Glenn,
I understand the purpose of your post is not to debate the Israeli/Lebanon war of the past summer but this line from your post bothers me:
During the invasion of Lebanon, missiles continuously landed deep in Israeli territory, killing hundreds and forcing hundreds of thousands to flee their homes or live in bomb shelters.
I don't know if this is your intention or not, but the above makes it sounds like hundreds of Israeli civilians were killed in Israeli terriroty as a result of the missiles Hezbollah was firing into Israel. If that was the intent, your numbers are incorrect. According to this BBC report (http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/middle_east/6431637.stm), and I quote, the casualty figures are as follows:
About 1,000 Lebanese, most of them civilians, died in the 34 days of fighting along with 116 Israeli soldiers and 43 civilians.
As you can see, most of the Israeli casualties were Israeli soldiers and not Israeli civilians. The Israeli civilian casualties was hardly in the "hundreds" as you stated above.
If you don't believe the BBC report I have linked to above, you can confirm the casaulty figures yourself through various other news sources.
If the "hundreds" of Israeli casualties you cite in your post is supposed to include the Israali soldiers, then I suggest you clarify your sentence so it doesn't appear you are claiming hundreds of Israeli civilians died in Israeli territory.