I have complete faith that the US military, along with the help our allies are providing, will wind up dislodging Saddam Hussein from power, hopefully sooner rather than later. When that happens, the aspirants to American empire who have sunk their claws into the current administration will no doubt crow about their general brilliance. Before [...]
Entries from March 2003
Let’s remember
March 25th, 2003 · Comments Off
Sayyid Qutb and Paul Berman
March 25th, 2003 · Comments Off
Salon has a timely interview with Paul Berman, who wrote the New York Times Magazine article that I linked to this weekend. They also have a Berman’s book, Liberalism and Terrorism, which I’ll probably pick up.
Berman’s critique of President Bush, is, sadly, dead on:
Q: So you think the way he’s presenting this war to the [...]
Brain drain
March 24th, 2003 · Comments Off
Another member of the foreign service, Mary Wright, has resigned her post in protest of the Bush administration’s policies. I applaud the bravery of someone who’s willing to give up their career and the service to their country that they seem to very much cherish based on their principles. I don’t agree word for word [...]
Our future plans
March 24th, 2003 · Comments Off
Worth reading is this American Prospect article that talks about the neocon agenda for the Middle East. It does a good job of illustrating some future scenarios hoped for by the Richard Perle acolytes that infest Washington these days. Do I think that the neocon agenda is going to catch on? Not necessarily. [...]
Professional grade war analysis
March 23rd, 2003 · Comments Off
Bruce Rolston is doing a better job of analyzing the hazy news of war than anyone I’ve seen on network TV. You can read his thoughts at Flit.
Sayyid Qutb
March 23rd, 2003 · Comments Off
The Philosopher of Islamic Terror: this week’s New York Times Magazine has a lengthy review of the writings of Sayyid Qutb, an Egyptian philosopher whose writings underlie the political and theological philosophies of al-Qaeda. One of the great struggles I’ve gone through since September 11, 2001, is trying to figure out what motivates Osama bin [...]
Why Colin Powell Should Go
March 22nd, 2003 · Comments Off
In The New York Times, Bill Keller says Colin Powell should resign. I do find it amazing that Colin Powell’s basically internationalist views have been completely subsumed to the unilateralist bent of the neocons that seem to be running the circus at the White House. And on a related topic, is it just me or [...]
Donald Rumsfeld
March 21st, 2003 · Comments Off
Could there be a more smug bastard than Donald Rumsfeld? Things seem to be going well in the war, but Rumsfeld is over the top in every way. If I were an enemy soldier, I’d die before surrendering to him. Considering all of the great gestures, and eloquent speeches from coalition troops, [...]
On a war footing
March 21st, 2003 · Comments Off
I just wanted to post a little bit about how I’m going to handle the ongoing war with Iraq on this weblog. Mostly, I just wanted to say not to expect a lot of posts about what’s going on in the war itself. The news reports from the war are vague and all too often [...]
Paul Boutin on the case
March 20th, 2003 · Comments Off
A bunch of people have sent me the links to Where is Raed?, a weblog written by an Iraqi who lives in Baghdad. I’ve had this in my bookmarks for awhile, and check in occasionally. Anyway, Paul Boutin is doing some legwork to determine whether “Salam Pax,” the author, is a real Iraqi.