Category: Politics

For quite some time, England has lived with the reality of IRA terrorists who would like to see various important Brits dead. London knows a lot more about living under that sort of threat than we do. That’s a simple statement of fact; 9/11 was of much larger magnitude, but England’s been dealing with this sort of thing for decades.

In all those years, they have somehow managed to keep the Prime Minister and the Queen safe without shutting down the London Underground. One wonders what sort of a cowboy is afraid of risks the Queen of England takes on a regular basis.

(Via Charlie Stross.)

Because I know I’m going to want to refer to this later.

• The Weekly Standard story on the DoD memo about Al Qaeda/Iraq connections
• The DoD press release explaining that the “memo” was a list of reports, some of which hadn’t been vetted, and that the memo is meaningless
• Glenn Reynolds being an idiot

Let’s be clear on this. The reports discussed in the memo are simply the reports Doug Feith used to make the case for an imminent threat from Iraq. Doug Feith is guilty of politicizing intelligence in the worst way. He has been, in the past, cozened by Ahmed Chalabi. He was in charge of post-war planning — the same planning that has been faulty to the degree that Bush is adopting the French plan.

Feith spent his time picking and choosing the intelligence reports he wanted in order to prove his thesis, ignoring those reports which didn’t support him. Is it any surprise that a list of raw intelligence reports he compiled would “prove” him right?

Juan Cole has the scoop on the new plan for transferring power to an Iraqi government. I could meander on but I think he nails the implications, pros, and cons.

Others have made this point, but it’s a good excuse to link to a funny comic, so I’m gonna make it again. Tom Tomorrow isn’t saying you don’t have the right to comment on war unless you’re enlisted or a veteran. He’s saying — well, read the second panel. “I’m waging war on the Islamofascists — on my blog!” He’s saying that’s a really stupid thing to say.

Now, that might seem like hyperbole. Who says stuff like that? Perhaps the irate blogger is really meant to represent some other class of bloggers. Warbloggers in general, maybe. Maybe he’s saying all warbloggers are stupid.

But, no, not really. It’s not terribly hard to find quotes similar to Tom’s. Here’s the Imperial Kitten pretending his blog is a service to the country :

“Maybe I HAVE found a way of serving my country already and I didn’t even realize it, even though it was staring me right in the face.”

And don’t get me started on the Freepers.

When you think about it, this attitude is closely linked to the idea that anti-war activists are treasonous. If I’m hurting America by saying the war is a bad idea, then someone who defends the war must be helping America. Even waging the war himself, in his own way. Once you get there, you’ve got yourself a nice little positive feedback loop. “I’m doing good, and you’re doing bad.”

What more have we ever needed to validate ourselves than that?

Handy Democratic primary link of the day: Poll Roundup, from a Daily Kos denizen’s diary. There’s a clearer but less detailed version here.

The most interesting thing on television today is the 30 hour Senate debate on judicial nominees. It’s not going to change a thing either way, but both the Democrats and the Republicans are tossing their best speakers up there to chew up time and sling rhetoric. Good for those fascinated by process.

So this means that the RNC is going to be as critical of the Jessica Lynch TV movie as they were of the Reagan miniseries, right?

Wow, those are certainly some attractive jobless numbers there. In fact, they’re so good I stole the graphic so I could stick it up here.

Damn, but that’s good. So good, I decided to reformat it a bit so I could admire it again.

Oh. And I guess employment dropped by 41,000 anyhow. So, uh… what’s unemployment look like, anyhow?

As they say, all this really means is that the rate of increase has decreased.

Edit: on rereading, I’m not sure if I was sufficiently sarcastic in my cries of mock delight, above. Shorter Popone: “The Reuters graphic was manipulated to make the drop in claims look like a big deal, but it wasn’t. Also, unemployment is still rising.”

Bush’s remarks on Middle East Democracy are quite fortuitous, since I wanted to talk some more about that war of civilizations thing. Bush is about to say, or said, that the changes we want to see in the Middle East are not “synonymous with Westernization.”

But that’s really the heart of the matter. The thing we call Western culture (and if ever there was a loose definition, there it is) is immensely viral. It spreads. It is intensely aggressive. Give us a new market, and we’ll shoulder our way into it if it all possible. McDonalds on every corner, etc., etc.

Is our civilization at war with Islam? In the sense that it’s doing its damnedest to spread into the Middle East, you bet. In the sense that we’re directing military activities which include deliberate cultural propaganda, not at all. However, it is wise to remain aware that there’s something pretty threatening about Western culture from the outside.

But this aggressiveness is not characterized as war except by extremists on that side of the fence, in the same way that nobody believes we’re at war with drugs except rhetoricians. (Parenthetically, do you think Stephen King worries about the War on Terror breaking down his door? Probably not.) It’s a conflict, but it’s not a war.

It’s also not one I feel terribly bad about. Free speech is one of my most cherished values. It’s not my job, or anyone’s job, to make people stop watching crap Hollywood movies. If a culture wants to compete, it should take a page from India and Bollywood. If you don’t like what people are reading, write more relevant books.

There’s a pretty fierce argument lurking somewhere around here about the aforementioned McDonalds and Wal*Mart. This is, of course, the monopoly problem. I am going to avoid it on the grounds that “Western culture” was spreading before either behemoth strode the global stage; I am also going to cite the trend of various nations to eschew Microsoft in their governmental software purchases. It is not as easy as it should be to compete with the big American countries… but it’s not impossible, either.

Ordinarily, I’d be pretty dubious about this report, but one of the sources is Richard Perle. If it’s true, Iraq was trying pretty hard to negotiate a peace — including allowing thousands of US scientists into the country to look for WMDs and UN-sponsored free elections.

One could argue that Saddam would have gone back on his deal. But it would have been a lot easier getting international support for an invasion at that point.

Gwen tipped me to the story. Josh Marshall has more wary commentary. If Marshall is right, mind you, it says interesting things about Perle’s willingness to screw the Pentagon and CIA for political gain.