Go Patriots. Class and smarts are winning.
Sorry that New Orleans did not win the early game against Chicago. That city deserves this country's attention and if the Saints reached the Super Bowl the over-the-top Super Bowl media would have gotten back to a somewhat forgotten city.
Anyone else out there watching the game?
Just a question: Once the President delivers the Iraq strategy speech who is in charge of making it happen?
The strategy crosses departments, oceans and branches of government so it is one hell of a managment challenge, to put it politely.
With military, political, diplomatic and economic aspects who is the person Bush holds accountable to make it happen?
If there is no one person in charge what is the coordinating mechanism with one very tough, deft leader who will make it happen and have access to the President to get unresolvable conflicts resolved?
Imagine a college semester spent travelling the American West from the Mexican border through Oregon to understand the "political, ecological, and human dimensions of environmental issues" from those on the ground.
21 Whitman College students [Walla Walla, WA]
ventured forth from their manicured campus .... This wasn't a semester abroad. It was a semester alfresco. Call them Roads Scholars
... Semester in the West is all about rocking students off balance a bit with their preconceived notions of what the West is," [Prof. Brock] says, during a stopover in dusty Wells, Nev. "So often the cast of characters out here is divided into two groups: heroes and villains, friends and foes."
Professor Phil Brick, founder and director of the course:
Many people seem to think that the academy is not the place where environmental education -- conceived as activism -- should take place. Nonsense. If you believe this, your understanding of education is pathetically narrow. Education is not about indoctrination or simply imparting information. It is instead about critical thinking and opening the mind to new possibilities.
... they lunched with tribal elders and came to understand why some Navajos reject the trappings of the material world. In Jackson Hole, WY, in contrast, they got a glimpse of the gilded world of the rich.
"I thought I knew the West from watching Hollywood movies and taking hiking trips to Montana and Wyoming," says Greenberg. "But as a region it's far more complicated and confusing than I ever imagined."
Andrew and Adam - I suspect there are some new software problems. Explanation follows:
On Jan 1 I submitted what follows this block as an edit to an old Top Discussion Table post, "Candidates want Iraq to pay US for the Cost of the War". That old post appeared suddently on the Tables main page.
I submitted the edited post for the reasons specified below. BUT not only did the edit fail to go to the Moderation queue but the whole Table post along with the edited version disappeared from the Cafe site, at least to me. So I am using my blog as a parking spot for the edited Table content.
When I pasted the material to form this blog the links for bullets 3 and 4 disappeared.
Update - I have now tried to put the links back in for bullets 3 and 4 below and the posts are gone, even when I go to my history.
Update 2 - I still cannot find the orginal Table post on the site. When I Google it, I get an address (link here) but when I go to that address I get this message: "You are not authorized to access this page."
In Jan 2007 I am editing this old Table post [Candidates want Iraq to pay US for the Cost of the War", published on Jan 14, 2006] because:
(1.) As of around 2:30 1/1/07 it now shows up on the Main Discussion tables page [under the Top Discussions table] although it was first published Jan 14, 2006 and there are no new comments.
(2.) As it is now published in 2007 it is missing the lead paragraphs (the introduction) so makes no sense.
BUT
(3.) If I go back to the list of all my postings (blog and Tables) it does contain the introduction.
BUT
(4.) If I go to the specific table post [to get a specific address] all I get is the post in its abbreviated form.
[ Andrew/Adam -----
Maybe this whole screwup can be linked back to the Cafe software changeover that happened after Jan 14, 2006. If so, then this is one more example of the problem artappraiser has continually raised the since the software changeover. Dropping the introductions to past posts makes Cafe history virtually worthless.]
This is material that is missing from the Candidates want Iraq to pay US for the Cost of the War" post on the Tables main page in 2007:
14 Candidates for Congress are asking Iraq to pay the US back for war and reconstruction costs! Signees include Dems and Reps from GA, IL, IN, MS, MD, MN, NV, OH and TX.
The email being circulated to get others to sign on includes the names and districts of those who are aleady signed up.
Selections from the email to to candidates: "We, the Coalition for National Referendum, are writing to you as a Congressional Candidate. 14 Congressional Candidates are now in support of the "statement" contained below..... The issue we are writing to you about is Iraq repaying the United States for the expenditures that have been made in Iraq" .... http://www.scoop.co.nz/stories/HL0601/S00025.htm
****************************
From here down is the abbreviated posting as it appears in 2007 on the Tables page:
email continues:
"US has spent over $250 Billion ($1,967. from every American Household) to aid in the reconstruction and defense of Iraq. Iraq has the third largest proven oil reserve in the world, 115 Billion barrels, worth over $6 Trillion. ....
We are not suggesting that this repayment from Iraq be done in a harsh way. Rather we are stating that the repayments occur over a period of time so that Iraq can continue to rebuild and grow economically. Repayments form Iraq would encourage the Iraqi people to quicken the pace of providing for their own security. Thereby bringing the war to a successful conclusion and allowing American troops to return home safely.
We have found through "focus groups" that over 70% of the people support this proposal, regardless if they are Republicans or Democrats, for or against the war"...
List of 14 candidates at the end of the email
I did not know enough about the military plans prior to the start of the war in 2003. With the decreasing probability of withdrawal in the near term, I want to understand at least 2 things: what does this "Surge" strategy mean and what might be the thinking behind a different military strategy, Counterinsurgency.
The scariest is this Surge strategy, a significant increase in troops. Pat Lang [blogger, retired intelligence and special forces] provides a 52 page presentation from an AEI/military group chaired by Frederick Kagan. [Link for pdf file]. Lang's commentary:
... cast of contributers at the end reads very much like one of the great neocon "papers" ... military men listed among the supposed authors are a mystery to me ....
The paper urges a "surge" of many thousands more US troops into Baghdad beginning in March, 2007 for one more grand roll of the iron dice. The concept seems to be based on the notion that Shia militias exist because of Sunni violence against them rather than as expressions of a Shia drive to political dominance in Iraq. Based on that belief the authors seem to believe that if the additional US and Iraqi forces to be employed in the Capital area defeat (destroy?) the Sunni insurgent groups, then the Shia militia armies will "wither away" from a lack of need. I do not think that belief is justified.
... This concept is a recipe for a grand and climactic battle of attrition between US and Iraqi forces on one side and the some combination of Sunni and Shia forces on the other....
President Bush may well accept the essence of this concept. He wants to redeem his "freedom agenda," restore momentum to his plans and in his mind this might "clear up" Iraq so that he could move on to Iran.
The carnage implicit in this concept would be appalling...
U.S. military's new counterinsurgency doctrine takes issue with some key strategies that American commanders in Iraq continue to use, most notably the practice of concentrating combat forces in massive bases rather than dispersing them among the population ... field manual ... seeks to bring together the best practices in fighting sustained insurgencies that the [US] has learned during the Iraq war. It also lists tactics that have tripped up American forces,
Link to the manual. [If you have trouble go to the bottom of the article for a link.]
... subject headings, just how radically Petraeus believes the military needs to reexamine the way it fights a war without conventional battlefields or an obvious end. Consider these headings in ... Chapter One titled "Paradoxes":
The More You Protect Your Force, the Less Secure You Are
The Best Weapons for COIN Do Not Shoot
Sometimes Doing Nothing Is the Best Reaction
Most Important Decisions Are Not Made by Generals.
Counterinsurgency warfare is ... "war at the graduate level," where every unit commander must be a kind of "strategic lieutenant" calibrating the right balance between soldiers' killing power and the exercise of restraint that can turn potential enemies into allies....
What is the cause of the violence, the radical terrorism in Iraq, Lebanon, Horn of Africa? If the following analysis is true, currently the US and the West are solving the wrong problem.
The outlines of the emerging "new direction" for Iraq that combines economic reconstruction with continued military presence will exacerbate a reality the decision makers do not understand. The linked article is well worth reading, it is clear the near term tactical fixes only address symptoms.
In A Matter of Pride: Why we can't buy off the next Osama bin Laden, Peter Bergen and Michael Lind look at the bigger picture:
Reducing poverty in the Middle East and around the world is a laudable goal in itself, for humanitarian reasons. But it would be a mistake to treat prosperity as a universal solvent that can deprive jihadists like bin Laden of allies and sympathizers in populations that feel humiliated by foreign domination or frozen out of politics. Ultimately, both foreign occupation and domestic autocracy are political problems that must find political, not economic, solutions. The campaign against jihadism and the campaign against global poverty are both justified. But they are not the same war.
The central role of communal humiliation in inspiring terrorism is the key finding of University of Chicago political scientist Robert Pape’s study of suicide bombers, Dying to Win. According to Pape, two factors have linked Tamil, Palestinian, Chechen, and al Qaeda suicide bombers. First, they are members of communities that feel humiliated by genuine or perceived occupation (like the perceived occupation of the sacred territory of Saudi Arabia by virtue of the presence of U.S. bases, in the eyes of bin Laden and his allies). Second, suicide bombers seek to change the policies of democratic occupying powers like Israel and the United States by influencing their public opinion–in a sense making the occupying power suffer the same level of humiliation they have felt.[Source: Democracy A Journal of Ideas, Issue #3, Winter 2007]
With all the attention on the ISG now I was interested to read how it started since I didn't notice it at the time. The Christian Science Monitor starts off:
Rep. Frank Wolf (R) of Virginia has traveled to the most difficult war and civil war zones on the planet - from Chechnya and Bosnia to Sudan and Algeria. He had visited Iraq twice before, both times without a military escort. On his third visit, in September 2005, he had an epiphany.
He was about to tour a maternity ward in Tikrit when armed security guards were called in. Noting the mothers' and nurses' reaction, he recalls, "I said: 'We've got to get out of here. We can't walk through a maternity ward with guns like this scaring people." He concluded then that the US needed "fresh eyes" on its Iraq involvement.
From that small beginning has sprung one of the most-anticipated blue-ribbon commissions in recent years - the Iraq Study Group, which began deliberating over final conclusions this week.
How an obscure panel became a policy touchstone for Republicans and Democrats is a story in itself. More important, it illustrates those rare moments when a crisis reaches such a point that official Washington temporarily loosens hold of the reins. It's in those moments that experienced outside voices - think the 9/11 and Warren commissions - can make themselves heard. The Iraq panel, in particular, may prove particularly influential because of the escalating chaos in Iraq.
It is well worth reading the rest.
Without experience as a public executive candidates for the Presidency need not apply. Experience governing is critical to being succesful once in office. It is more critical than legislative experience and philosophy. Those with only legislative experience are unprepared to govern.
A likely candidate with very interesting experience is Bill Richardson (D NM). Some backround: In the news as Democratic Governors Association chair and an article about how he operates.
In addition to Richardson's professional credentials, he would be fun to watch. What makes him an interesting human being however may also be his downfall. In this era we say we want authentic candidates, not cardboard cutouts, and then torch anyone who commits a one sentence gaffe.
To once frequent Cafe voices, who have been in hiding in recent weeks, "Ally ally in free. Come out, come out, wherever you are!"
In honor of the funny names of the missing, one of my favorites from Dr. Seuss' Sneeches:
Did I ever tell you that Mrs. McCave
Had twenty-three sons, and she named them all Dave?Well, she did. And that wasn't a smart thing to do.
You see, when she wants one, and calls out "Yoo-Hoo!
Come into the house, Dave!" she doesn't get one.
All twenty-three Daves of hers come on the run!This makes things quite difficult at the McCaves'
As you can imagine, with so many Daves.
And often she wishes that, when they were born,
She had named one of them Bodkin Van Horn.
And one of them Hoos-Foos. And one of them Snimm.
And one of them Hot-Shot. And one Sunny Jim.
And one of them Shadrack. And one of them Blinkey.
And one of them Stuffy. And one of them Stinkey.
Another one Putt-Putt. Another one Moon Face.
Another one Marvin O'Gravel Balloon Face.
And one of them Ziggy. And one Soggy Muff.
One Buffalo Bill. And one Biffalo Buff.
And one of them Sneepy. And one Weepy Weed.
And one Paris Garters. And one Harris Tweed.
And one of them Sir Michael Carmichael Zutt.
And one of them Oliver Boliver Butt.
And one of them Zanzibar Buck-Buck McFate . . . .
But she didn't do it. And now it's too late.
[Edited to show source, copied from here, and to remove the spurious link that was behind Zanzibar.]
Pictures matter.
The Democrats should "recolor" the US map with a topography of change. Show the strength of the change vote as a darker color, the equivalent of moutains of increasing height. Democratic votes are altitude with a decreasing amount of color as Republican votes increase.
Country and voting lines should be dropped. The red blue map is polarization and shows identity by state.
The topographical map shows the Democrats as strong - increasing amounts of color to represent the strength of Democratic voting with decreasing color for Republican, a less strong image.
Just a thought, a picture is worth a 1000 words but just in case Democrats should drop red-blue from their vocabulary.
Contrary to conventional wisdom George Bush woke up this morning with more power because he has one less restraint on the Presidency.
We are about ready to watch George Bush govern without legislation and in spite of Congress. He will show that he doesn't need a rubber stamp Congress, he will just work around Congress. He will increase the numbers of executive orders, recess appointments, and signing statements that redefine legislation passed by a non-rubber stamp Congress.
With bipartisan words in public Bush will work with Cheney, Rove and other believers to continue to work to achieve what they want.
More from Peter Wallsten, LATimes:
[anti-tax activist Grover Norquist] predicted that Bush would now govern largely through executive orders rather than working with Congress on legislation. The president could, for example, use orders to lighten the load of capital gains taxes by changing how they are calculated...
Nearly three decades after coming to power behind the barrel of a gun, Washington's Cold War-era nemesis Daniel Ortega has joined hands with former battlefield enemies, changed his campaign colors from revolutionary red to peace-loving pink, and could be on the verge of an electoral comeback.
New packaging:
The bold red-and-black stripes of the Sandinista flag have been replaced by a soothing pink and turquoise motif on campaign posters, and John Lennon's "Give Peace a Chance" blares from speakers at his campaign rallies ...
Substance:
Ortega's election prospects, detractors maintain, say less about his genuine transformation since that painful era than about the desperation and enduring fault lines in Nicaraguan society.
1980s, [US] saw Ortega as a proxy for Cuban leader Fidel Castro and the Soviet Union, and backed the anti communist Contra forces against the Sandinistas, who had toppled rightist dictator Anastasio Somoza in 1979. The Contra war that followed killed 30,000 people, destroyed agricultural and livestock production and, along with a US-imposed embargo, left the economy in shambles.
I just could not resist posting this for those who want to stand back and laugh:
... Trading A-Rod [3rd baseman Alex Rodriguez] would lead to a disaster in the American League East. It would embolden other teams and threaten future Yankee clubs. To cut and run is not an option.
Neither is “Stay the course.”
Not once has the Yankee brass said, “Stay the course.” That’s never been the plan!
We need an A-Rod exit strategy. Getting him was always a mistake. We were told the Yankees would greet him as a liberator. After three years, it’s a fiasco — yes, a fiasco. Against the Tigers in the playoffs, he went 1-for-14, struck out with the bases loaded and made a critical fielding error. Each day, the news reports worsened. ...
In a world replete with chatter, the best thing you can say may be nothing ... I reaffirm my support of this notion on quiet mornings while standing at the kitchen sink, staring out the window.From Jeffrey Shaffer, in the CSMonitor a while back, and most relevant with the current cacaphony of political ads. More,
... If excess words were corn, we could fill millions of giant silos with America's annual production. I'm trying not to add to that surplus. And if you disagree with anything I've said, feel free to offer a rebuttal. Just try to keep it as brief as you possibly can.
conflict in Iraq is drawing fewer foreign fighters as Muslim extremists aspiring to battle the West turn their attention back to the symbolically important and increasingly violent turf of Afghanistan...
... suggests that Al Qaeda and its allies, armed with new tactics honed in Iraq, are coming full circle five years after U.S.-led forces ousted the Taliban mullahs.
Foreign fighters are predominantly Sunni. They increasingly prefer fighting alongside the Taliban to getting embroiled in the Sunni-versus-Shiite bloodshed in Iraq,
The policy debate underway in the US does not address this complexity.
Where does the US military leadership find the experienced, fresh troops to be ready for the Administration who likely will want to increase forces in Afghanistan? Don Rumsfeld wanted his legacy to be the Transformation of the military to a lighter and more effective force. He will now have to prove he has done what he said.
