Letters to the Editor
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Mike Gravel and the Tonkin Gulf
"I voted for the Viet Nam war because we were mislead about intelligence".
Echo's of stupidity.
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Think Like a Monkey
Why did Bush invade Iraq? Payback time, that's why.
No, not for 9/11. It is for exactly the same reason Carter won the presidency, the oil crisis. A latent,long running, tit-for-tat, followed up with the Iranian hostage crises and culminating with the bombing in Lebanon, the Cole, and finally, 9/11.
The oil crisis, it was the ultimate act of war, the ultimate national insult. By definition, it couldn't even be considered an act of war or of aggression. America was brought to it's knees though, deprivation was sudden and universal, and then, just as it was on 9/11, there was no retaliatory target.
But, there must be a retaliatory target, it is human nature – that's the (natural) law! I was going into high school around then, people hated the Arabs for this (and it was directed at Arabs), there were no shortages of dumb songs and racial slurs. The thing that made everything crystal clear for me is when Jimmy Carter, while running for the Democratic nomination came on TV to say (paraphrasing, of course), “As president, I will make sure the nations of the Middle East know that they cannot embargo us!”, I'm sure his campaign managers had figured out exactly what everyone wanted to hear from our president. Personally I thought, “How exactly does he propose to do that?”.
Anyway, a generation later, America has just elected the first monkey as president – a monkey who was formed by the oil crisis, one who had been given the insult of 9/11 without a (big enough) clear retaliatory target. What would the average monkey do? Attack the weakest of his perceived enemies, that's what! Clear enough?
Taking a slightly different tack, I'd like to compare France's response to the oil crisis and ours. Theirs was to build nuclear power, nearly 80% of their electrical power is nuclear – ours was to invent the SUV.
...Dan
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Council of Elders--Weikuboy
Republicans want a more powerful executive which is in line with their authoritarian impulses. Maybe what we need is a national debate about LIMITING the powers of the president.
It has really never made sense to me why one man or woman could be given such enormous power over the fate of an entire planet. The past six years have demonstrated beyond any doubt the disaster that results when one human being is given such power over life and death.
Checks and balances simply don't do it. The president has the power to do what he damned well feels like doing and the Congress can go to hell. We see that in operation right now.
Maybe it's time to revisit the Constitution, which was written during a time of horse and buggies and muzzle loading rifles, and update it to modern circumstances.
A council of elders is possibly the only thing that would contain an incompetent and possibly mentally unstable individual and prevent him/her from creating a catastrophe such as we are now witnessing.
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error in van Creveld quote
Gary: In your interview with Horne, you use the following quotation:
One Israeli historian, Martin van Creveld, said that Iraq was "the most foolish war since Emperor Augustus in 9 BC sent his legions into Germany and lost them."
You quote Martin van Creveld correctly -- but in doing so, you perpetuate his error: the Roman legions were lost in 9 AD, not 9 BC. The tale is told in two recent books, "The Battle That Stopped Rome" by Peter S. Wells (Norton, 2003) and "The Quest for the Lost Roman Legions" by Tony Clunn (Savas Beatie, 2005).
Since you seem rather fond of this quotation (you used it in an article for Salon published on Sept. 21, 2006), I'm sure you'll drag it out again. The next time, could you at least insert "[sic]" into the quotation to alert readers to the error? I know that doing so would detract from the power of the remark, but in articles citing famous events it would be nice to get the simple facts right.
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the chaos argument
Precipitate withdrawal will cause chaos, a bloodbath..... so say the proponents of continuing the US occupation of Iraq.
I would be much more comfortable with this argument if those making it would acknowledge that our STAYING in Iraq is causing chaos and bloodshed of insane proportions.
Their silence on THIS point makes me wonder about their alleged concern for the welfare of the Iraqi people. This goes for Mr. Horne as well.
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The illiterate president
A small point, but I find it impossible to believe that President Bush read any of Alistair Horne’s books. If anything, he was briefed on these books by an aide who may have read them. Again, this is a small point, but it is as clear as bogus intelligence that President Bush is pushing his reading list only because he has no reading list. Once again members of the media are falling for a line without the least bit of inquiry.
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Muslim democracies
"There were many attempts, in Egypt, in Iraq and elsewhere, where Arab countries attempted to create constitutional democracies that were squelched," I went on. "I'm not saying they were advanced movements, but they were effectively suppressed by the colonialist powers because they didn't want them to gain independence. This is not a blank-check excuse for the backwardness of the Muslim world, but it plays a role as well."
Kamiya fails to mention the Muslim democracy subverted by the west that has the most direct relevance to the situation in Iraq. (A curious omission to be sure. I would have liked to hear what Horne had to say about it.)
In the 1950s the CIA overthrew the democratic secular government in Iran because its PM, Mossedegh nationalized British Petroleum in the country. And we blame mideast autocracy on their religion. We ought to be ashamed of ourselves. That argument ought to make us blush-- or puke.
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Alistair Horne--I smell racism!
Screw political correctness. This old fart's opinions are just plain stupid and racist. The idea that we should bring Indian mercenaries to fight in Iraq is the most preposterous, not to mention racist, and just plain stupid notion I've ever heard. I can't believe this guy is a historian. It is not just that Muslims view Indians as pagans but such a boneheaded move would stir the jihadists in Pakistan, already poised to overthrow Musharraf, to rise up against India. I don't have to remind you these countries both possess nuclear weapons and, if the jihadists took over Islamabad, these weapons would fall into bin Laden's hands. The only sense I can make of this idiotic notion is that this old fart figures 'why not let the darkies have at it with each other.'
Alistair Horne's racism becomes even more apparent in this comment which follows his assessment that the only hope for the Middle East is in prosperity and "To persuade young Muslims that there's a better life than blowing themselves up by running casinos and whorehouses and hotels and what have you." As if that is all 'young Muslims' are capable of and as if every street corner in Europe doesn't have a "whorehouse" on it!
This crusty, old bugger is past his prime. It's time to retire him.