Yesterday, as I listened to NPR reporting on the Israeli arms build-up on the Lebanon border and the bombing of Beirut, I had a cynical thought. If there were adults in charge of the United States government, the adults would have already brought the Israelis, the Hezbollah, to the negotiating table. The Secretary of StateContinue reading “On Public Policy and the Middle-East”
Tag Archives: Iraq
On the President's Early Morning Speech
I awoke this morning, fixed a cup of coffee, sat down at the computer, and turned on NPR’s “Morning Edition,” only to discover that President Bush would shortly be giving a speech on the death of Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, a high-ranking al-Qaeda leader in Iraq. Listening to the speech, without the President’s image, to distractContinue reading “On the President's Early Morning Speech”
On Why Republicans Can't Criticize the President, Either
Jane Smiley, the novelist, wrote an article at The Huffington Post on the recent Republican criticism of and distancing from the President. Her thesis? Democratic opponents of President Bush and his policies have been arguing for years that the President’s policies are misguided and flawed all to no avail. But several Republican commentators and theoristsContinue reading “On Why Republicans Can't Criticize the President, Either”
More on Bush and al-Jazeera
David Keogh and Leo O’Connor go on trial in London on January 24th. Their crime? Violating Britain’s Official Secrets Act by passing around a top secret memo about a meeting between Prime Minister Tony Blair and President George Bush. This is a story that has received very little traction in the American press–first, because theContinue reading “More on Bush and al-Jazeera”
More on Writing Letters
Today, Christmas Day, the Raleigh News & Observer published my letter on the President’s illegal domestic spying program. Color me happy. 🙂 Among the other letters published in today’s paper I do like this quote from Randy Balot: “We are fighting a two-front war. In the Middle East are the Islamofascists. In the United StatesContinue reading “More on Writing Letters”
On Writing Letters
Yesterday I mailed off a letter to my Congressman, Representative Brad Miller. As I mentioned a few days ago, Representative Miller has sent me e-mails on occasion, and I decided to write to him about the recent revelations regarding the President’s decision to flaunt the courts and the Constitution and institute illegal wiretaps on personsContinue reading “On Writing Letters”
On Bush's Stupid Remark
First, from the Daily Mirror: President Bush planned to bomb Arab TV station al-Jazeera in friendly Qatar, a “Top Secret” No 10 memo reveals. But he was talked out of it at a White House summit by Tony Blair, who said it would provoke a worldwide backlash. A source said: “There’s no doubt what BushContinue reading “On Bush's Stupid Remark”
On Unintended Consequences
Over on TPMCafe Larry Johnson writes an article entitled Endangering America which looks at the unintended consequences of Bush’s Middle-East policies. His three main points are these: Instead of reducing terrorism, Islamic terrorism is spreading dramatically. Instead of winning new supporters for democracy, the war in Iraq is spurring the recruitment and training radical jihadists.Continue reading “On Unintended Consequences”
On Iraq and the No-Win Scenario
There’s not really an argument here, more of a statment—Is Iraq our own Kobayashi Maru? Iraq is fast becoming the Kobayashi Maru for the United States. If we stay, suicide terrorism will continue to rise. If we go, the civil war is practically inevitable. On the surface this Kobayashi Maru framework for Iraq seems toContinue reading “On Iraq and the No-Win Scenario”
Recent Ramblings
Pocket’s Strange New Worlds contest for this year closes on Tuesday, and I made four submissions this year. I liked this year’s batch of stories. One I’ve mentioned before, about Wesley Crusher and the man he replaced at the Enterprise-D’s conn. Another was about Robin Lefler and her nightmares. The third story was about EzriContinue reading “Recent Ramblings”