Edgewise

"There is on the face of it a pattern."

The human rights group Amnesty International said it had warned U.S. and British authorities.... "We have talked to ex-prisoners, who say when they were taken into custody they were hooded and beaten, sometimes numerous times and subjected on some occasions to psychological torture and acts of sexual humiliation," Amnesty's Neil Durkin told Sky News.
"They (the provisional authority) simply have not acted on these reports. There is on the face of it a pattern."
[Article]

In neat, handwritten block letters, the son wrote a journal about his Iraq experience and sent a copy to his father. ...."MI [Military Intelligence] has also instructed us to place prisoners in an isolation cell with little or no clothes. No toilet or running water, no ventilation or window for as much as three days."
[Article]

"A year ago, I did give the speech from the carrier saying that we had achieved an important objective, that we had accomplished a mission..." [Bush] said "there are no longer torture chambers...in Iraq."
[Article]

Please welcome

Briggs Nisbet, cowriter of True Dirt, has joined the contributing staff of Edgewise, writing an occasional column called Hellmouth. (Two back entries have been imported from Briggs' former standalone blog of the same name.)

Please welcome Briggs to our family.

The real John Kerry

The right sure has found their swing when it comes to Kerry bashing this week. Turns out, and here's a huge surprise, John Kerry has a problem with the truth. Wow. That came outta left field.

Can't these yahoos at least come up with a new line? What Gore must be thinking right about now....

The Fox Attempted-Smear-Disguised-as-Profundity of the day (it's always so hard to choose just one) comes from the master of the art: Sean Hannity. Says he: (paraphrase) 'I think we've found the real John Kerry. The real John Kerry is the JK of '71 who....' And it goes from there.

Put aside for a moment that I actually like the John Kerry of '71....

I'm ready to cut these guys a deal. Time freezes, right? That's what Hannity's saying. No one really changes after their mid-20s. OK. Alright. I can live with that. So then on the one hand, JK still has that 100% upper-class accent. And on the other hand, GWB still likes to drink till he passes out.

Got it. Good to know. Cast your votes accordingly.

Which all-new Kerry smear should the right adopt as their talking point? Take the Kos poll here.

Undecided?

I'm actually pro-Kerry (despite the unpleasantness of him beating my candidate in the primaries), but this John Kerry is a Douchebag but I'm Voting for Him Anyway .com site is probably not too bad a way to reach out to the undecideds who aren't wowed by his persona.

(Pardon the French.)

No to Reinstating the Draft!

Now the US Army is floating the idea of reinstating the draft. That is sooo typical of the Army. Sure they are concerned that the best prospects are going to the prestige services like the Marines and the Air Force. They should be concerned.

But how about stepping up to the challenge? How about making themselves a little more competitive? Take on those neat Flight Suits with something creative of their own. Isn't that what Free Agency was supposed to be all about?

Hold the carburetors!

Maybe I just don't get it. Did there used to be like all kinds of dangerous carburetors in all our food? I don't think so!

But, wow, the agribusiness conglomerates are rushing to protect us (like they really care!), so every package of anything in the store just has to let us know--in great big letters--how free of carburetors it is!. Oh, Thank you, Thank you, Thank you, Mr. Agribusiness!.

Give me a break! I really feel they are underestimating my intelligence.

LOGIC WARNING!!

Never ask yourself, "What would I do in this situation?"

Buy New for Our Troops

Reuters, 4/23/04
[A] U.S. general said on Thursday the rebels had "days not weeks" to turn in their heavy weapons.... Lieutenant-General James Conway, commander of the 1st Marine Expeditionary Force...said the weaponry handed over so far was unusable "junk."
Complete article

This is totally outrageous. This is no time to be cutting corners on vital equipment!

Of course, the weapons the Iraqis contribute are going to be "unusable junk"! What did we expect? This is a poor country, with a ruined economy. We should be giving them stuff, not the other way around.

Most Iraqis cannot afford to give us the best of their used equipment. They were bound to choose the funkier stuff to give away. There are probably many who don't even want us to have the best. Did you ever think of that?

I say later for the penny-pinching, hand-me-downs! We should just spring for brand new equipment, fresh out of the box, and covered by solid manufactures' warranties.

No Comment Required

"Early Thursday, Marines launched a major assault on the village of Karma...."

Complete article.

Bush and the UN: Crocodile Cheers

The Bush administration came into office with a grievance in foreign affairs: We're not getting "ours." We are acknowledged to be the world's only superpower. So where are the fruits of arrogance, avarice, and venality to which we are now so abundantly entitled?

Hence, unilateralism and preemption--and a new style of swift, lean, cost-effective, technologized, high-altitude warfare.

Given this strategic vision, there were two alternative lines of development that would be considered catastrophic:
1. Effective international non-military interventions, such as United Nations' sanctions and inspections. Those might obviate American muscle.
2. Effective international military interventions, such as United Nations' controlled multilateral armed forces. Those might reduce American muscle from a power-base to mere grunt-work at the service of an international consensus.

Well, both of those developments have now begun to eclipse the original Bushian vision. Problems with Libya, Iran, and North Korea seem to be skipping the war-phase in their resolution. And no one is asking any more which intervention will be next on America's ebullient military wish-list.

In a way, Bush has already lost the big one. Even if he wins the election, it will only be by recklessly spending down his ideological patrimony. The Bushies' public eagerness for a United Nations' solution in Iraq is no more than desperate Crocodile Cheers. They are certainly crying inside.

Little-Noted Distinctions

A spokesman for the Sunni Muslim assembly [said] the situation regarding the Italian hostages, who were armed when they were abducted, was different to those of the Japanese and other nationals who had been released.... "They are trained escorts of the coalition led by the Americans. In truth they are like soldiers, the same as the invading soldiers of the American army," al Dari said.

(see full story: here)

Let's see, then.

According to C. Rice, an American soldier captured in battle is a "hostage" who has been "kidnapped"--not a POW who might be swapped for POWs that we are holding.

All the more so for such "civilians" as the 10,000 heavily-armed private-enterprise soldiers who are doing things like guarding convoys, etc., that used to be carried out by soldiers. They would certainly to be classified as "kidnapped civilian hostages."

Of course if they had been captured by us, out of uniform, they would have been "enemy combatants."

Any questions?

A friend of mine once pointed out the US forces are organized into "brigades and regiments," while Asian armies we encounter are organized into "hordes and waves."

Sharon's parting shots?

The latest assassination of a Hamas leader, combined with Sharon's legal troubles and the real possibility that he may soon be forced to step down, has me wondering if he's getting in a few last hits before leaving office.

Homeland defense, four years down the line

Oft disturbing conversation on Kos today about alleged attrocities by US forces, here. Two posters made a connected point worth reflecting on this week -- that Tim McVeigh and DC sniper John Muhammad were both vets of the first Persian Gulf war. And that today's little seen, presumably unfilmed violence in Fallujah has the potential to unleash forces on the home front that won't easily be contained.

Interesting Dilemma for Bush Policy in Iraq

-The interim authority that was fashioned by the US and the Iraq Governing Council was to be headed by a triumvirate (Shiite, Sunni, Kurdish) that could act only when unanimous. This was intended to head off leadership by the Shiite majority (i.e., democracy).
-Ayatollah Sistani allowed Shiites on the Council to vote for the plan, but said that part provided for minority rule and must be changed--or he would declare the interim authority illegitimate.
-This is one reason why we have not been able to say to whom we are transferring power on 6/30.
-Now the UN mediator Lakhdar Brahimi has made the change Sistani wanted: there would be a president and two vice-presidents (and a prime minister). So the US will either have to yield to Sistani or reject the UN plan. If they reject it, the differences between Bush and Kerry over Iraq will become stark--and, for Bush, unsustainable.
-What's next?

Deep thoughts on tonight's presidential press conference

Any time you ask this guy a question, he tries to make you feel bad.

Q: Is Iraq another Vietnam?
A: The people posing that question are endangering our troops. And should feel bad. As should you.

Q: Will there be greater international burden sharing in Iraq?
A: That question is demeaning to the good folks from a variety of countries currently on the ground. And you should feel bad for asking. I need a hug.

What a noodge.

Also, is it just me or has he developed a thick, curving, and all-too-obvious seamline on his forehead, where (I'm just guessing now) they opened up his brainbox and inserted some kind of electro-thingy that causes him to keep looking down when answering questions, almost as if, you know, he's reading a teleprompter, or trying to focus on the sound of a tiny William Kristol in his right ear.

Or something like that.

Clarification: "There was not a time and place of an attack...."

If somebody had just given the White House the Gate Assignments and scheduled departure times of the 9/11 aircraft, they would definitely have kept a sharp eye out for action-plans that might have filtered up from subordinates.
(OK. Now I'm sputtering.)

"There was not a time and place of an attack...."

"There was not a time and place of an attack...."
Let's be fair. No one could have known to protect against hijacking at airports, before the planes even took off!

Conjectures on the election polls

1. Until recently, the key assumption was that the number of jobs created between now and the election would determine the result. But the context was that, given the Republican edge on security and defense, only a very bad economic picture could turn the vote against them. With that security edge blunted, the Democrats' advantage on economics will now survive even a rather good stretch of employment growth.
2. The same dynamic that made Iraq a strong positive for Bush will reverse polarity into a string negative (i.e., not merely a weak positive). This was--as Bob Scheer said of Vietnam--a Winners' War: the noblesse oblige of a proud, invincible, can-do America. If it becomes a Losers' War, repugnance must replace the pride.
3. Without the Nader factor, Kerry currently holds a significant edge. I'd guess that the Nader vote in closely contested states will collapse to Kerry as election day approaches.

All other things being equal

The National Academy of Sciences says we are currently in an ideal period for conducting experiments that test basic causal relationships.

It is very common for a theory to maintain that a certain condition will produce the same effect with absolute consistency, "all other things being equal." According to the Academy, all other things have been equal for the last several days, and this is expected to hold well into next week--presenting a rare opportunity for scientific researchers worldwide.

New York, New York

Been thinking the last few days about the impact of the latest 9/11 revelations on the campaign. If nothing else, this should put a clamp on future Bush campaign 9/11 TV ads.

Here's a related thought:

Last year, most (me included) figured that a NYC convention would be a source of strength for the Bush campaign -- a reminder of his best moment, down in the rubble, bullhorn in hand.

Now it's starting to seem more likely that a GOP convention in NYC has the potential to be the big ugly -- for New York, for Bush, for the country at large.

The commission releases its report in July.

And if NYers feel the Bush Administration was negligent, they will let their feelings be heard.

Brace for it.

update: Republican columnist James Pinkerton beat me to it with a similar prediction about 9/11 and Bush ads in an interesting column here.

Bush's Vietnam?

I don't think so. I think this is Bush's Iraq. Or maybe Bushes' Iraq.

And there will come some future mess. And there will be parallels.
And the press will say, "Is this President Whathis/hername's Iraq?"
And the papers will ask:

Is President Whatshis/hername at risk of losing their presidency, the way GW Bush back did in '04?

Has President Whatshis/hername made a historically resonant blunder here by snubbing the world right when we need them the most?

Is President Whatshis/hername forgetting one of the most painful lessons of Iraq -- that bringing democracy to a country that's not really a country is something much more than a military challenge?

And they'll send someone down to the ranch. And they'll ask the former President what he thinks of this new mess.

"What do you think?" they'll ask. "Is this the new Iraq?"
And he'll say: "smoke 'em out. smoke 'em out. smoke 'em out."

And: "evil-doers beware."

inflammatory

Washington Post:
"The latest round of tension began March 28, with the U.S. closure of Sadr's al-Hawza newspaper....[which] had printed articles that U.S. officials deemed inflammatory."

--Good thing we nipped that in the bud.

I demand a recount

You are Maureen Dowd! You like to give people silly
nicknames and write in really short, non
sequitur paragraphs. You're the most playful of
the columnists and a rock-ribbed liberal, but
are often accused of being too flamboyant and
frivolous. You tend to focus on style over
substance, personality over politics. But your
heart is in the right place. Plus, you are a
total fox.


Which New York Times Op-Ed Columnist Are You?
brought to you by Quizilla

A swiftly tilting planet

Looks like there's some very big badness taking place in Iraq. Quick takes from two perspectives - one from Tacitus on the right over here and from DemFromCT over on Kos over here.

As the real world intrudes, perhaps the outcry over Kos' post re mercs (discussed ad infinitum on Tacitus, Kos, and a million other sites this week - forgive me if I can't bring myself to offer a thousand pertinent links on this) can now be shelved.

Here's something we can all agree on: this whole mess appears to shifting, under our feet, day by day, in a very bad way.