I presume this was directed to me.

I'm no fan or supporter of Israeli occupation. But I'm also firmly entrenched in the reality-based community.

If you can give me a historical example of a nation in a dominant military position voluntarily ceding control of their own destiny to those they perceived as their enemies, I'd love to see it.

for one.

from second half of article:

this one so good it needs to be cited in entirety:

"An American official said that an Iraqi who facilitated the militiamen’s travel to Iraq was also captured and confessed that he had been paid by an Iranian. The official summed up the information from the interrogation reports but did not make them available. He declined to be identified because the information had not been released publicly. "

"American officials say"

"American experts say"

"according to American officials"

"The Bush administration, ... has cited "

"Mowaffak al-Rubaie, the national security adviser to Mr. Maliki, said"

"Jalaluddin al-Sagheer, a prominent member of the Islamic Supreme Council of Iraq, a major Shiite political party, asserted..."

"According to American officials"

"American officials say"

[Glenn, from the post]: Worse, despite noting that "there has been debate among experts about the extent to which Iran is responsible for instability in Iraq," the article does not contain a single skeptical word about any of these accusations, nor does it quote a single "expert" who questions or disputes them.

[our resident eedjit]: Well duh, the info is from questioning of prisoners who should know.

Did they get it by waterboarding, or did we send them to Egypt for 'questioning' like we did with al-Libi?

The reason our resident eedjit Sh**ter doesn't 'get it' here is that he's still of the impression that the WoMD were "in the area around Tikrit and Baghdad and east, west, south and north somewhat", and that Salman Pak was everything that Rush Limbot said it was. You know, that bit, "Eh ... uh ... won't get fooled again" has as a prerequisite that you actually figure out that you got fooled the first time.

Cheers,

As an aside, Having a French news agency as a source ....

No comment necessary.

Sh**ter's of the opinion that the U.S. media had performed splendidly as of late ... well, except for that commie-lib-Islamofascist rag, the N.Y. Times, which had the perfidy to recant their previous coverage of the Iraq war buildup.....

Cheers,

Rather a different situation. The whites there were always a small minority in their own territory. And they held on to power for arguably as long as they could.

Israeli Jews, on the other hand, are the substantial majority in Israel proper. Granted, if you count the West Bank it's a different story - but it's my opinion that it is a practical possibility that they would divest themselves of that. It's right of return that I believe to be a practical impossibility.

And at any rate, I'd contend that none of this is "easy" as Rosen asserted.

Anyway, while interesting this is all a side-line to the point of this column. You won't get much argument from me about the lamentable state of understanding at even the highest levels of our government, nor of the fact that our stomping around the region like a bull in a china shop is incredibly destructive to pretty much everybody's interest.

Full right of return would make Israeli Jews the minority in Israel. Now maybe the Palestinians would suddenly forget all those decades of rhetoric about driving the Jews into the sea and suddenly become happy and peaceful partners with their Jewish minority.

Oh, I agree completely. "Majority rule" is soooooo much more fun when you're the "majority". Matter of fact, we could extend that principle: "If this were a dictatorship, it'd be a heck of a lot easier, just so long as I'm the dictator." I was first, I got dibs. You with me?

Cheers,

Israeli Jews, on the other hand, are the substantial majority in Israel proper.

But ordained by God!

Che gave you an example. I can see no difference. I do tend to agree with you that Nir may be oversimplifying or underestimating the ease of the resolution of the Palestinian/Israeli conflict. The reast of his proscriptions for peace in the wider region are as simple as he suggests.

Send a letter to the Times complaining about Gordon's piece:

letters@nytimes.com

The last time Glenn wrote about Gordon's "an American official said" crap, the Times was inundated with letters, and actually changed that article IIRC.

Push back, people. It may not be much, but it's something.

Hudna

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hudna

Isn't the MINIMUM amount of reporting that should be necessary when using anonymous sources is to interview non-anonymous sources for comparison? Anonymous sources can get away with saying many things that a state official, say the office of Condi Rice or Dick Cheney, wouldn't be caught dead saying?

It would make an article about Iran's involvement in the training of Iraqi insurgents seem to have no weight if the counter point to "anonymous sources say x" is "the office of the vice president says they cannot confirm x".

Isn't this basic journalism? Or at least say that they could get no comment from ALL the policy people who should be commenting?

There needs to be a movement from WITHIN journalism (step-up Salon.com) to explicitly outline what a proper journalism process is. This is crucial to getting back to American citizens trusting "news".

without people making all types of erroneous assumptions about what one thinks.

I apologize for trying to consider what is practically possible rather than what would be ideal.

Che gave you [Jan R.] an example. I can see no difference. I do tend to agree with you that Nir may be oversimplifying or underestimating the ease of the resolution of the Palestinian/Israeli conflict. The reast of his proscriptions for peace in the wider region are as simple as he suggests.

I agree with both Che and L.W.M.; South Africa is very much on point.

Yes, Mr. Rosen may have "simplified" things a little, but a single "simple" step is certainly more progress than throwing up your hands and exclaiming "Nothing can be done!"....

Cheers,