Saturday, 19 July, 2003Another look at the case for warThe opening leader in this week's Economist takes another look at the case for war, this time in retrospect, and comes to pretty much the same conclusions as it did before. Like many folks who were in favour of removing Saddam, but no big fans of Bush's foreign policy, I've been troubled by doubts, and I'm happy to say the piece does a good job of dealing with most of them. But the piece also gives a couple of caveats; the war may have gone better than expected, but the rebuilding of Iraq got off to a bad start, and may yet end in disaster. Needless to say, this is an outcome which is to be avoided. There's also an article on political devolution in Iraq, prompted by the appointment of the new Iraqi Governing Council. Update: Henry Farrell over at Crooked Timber takes issue with The Economist's leader. I can't say I agree with him. posted 0135 Z-8 [more..] Friday, 18 July, 2003Bevvies all roundThere are moments that I thank my parents for giving me a name which, no matter how unpronouncable it might be to speakers of the English language (and damn near every other language), is at least unique. There are many voices in the realm of internet political opinion, and I'm having an increasingly hard time telling the various Pollacks apart from the Pollards. Via 'arry, I understand than some bloke named Stephen Pollard (not to be confused with, say, Neal Pollard) is quitting his job reviewing books for the New Statesman. Ho-sodding-hum. posted 0431 Z-8 [more..] In which objectivity goes out the window Via 'arry 'atchet I came upon Tony Blair's speech to Congress. Harry has some fine commentary, but it rather pales next to some of the extremely powerful language in Blair's speech. posted 0241 Z-8 [more..] Operation Northern Exit There's an risk inherent to blogging while also frequenting online discussion fora, which is that one's train of thought on a particular topic tends to switch between two sets of tracks, only one of which is visible in either arena. In plain language, I've had ideas come to me while discussing Iraq over on 3WA which I've neglected to express on No Cameras. But luckily, I ran into something which jogged my memory. The something in question was this entry by Oliver Kamm, and in particular this passage: The anti-war campaigners were fond of claiming there was no connection between September 11 and Saddam; but September 11 demonstrated that containment of Saddam, quite apart from being a cruel policy, was also a strategically futile one.Oliver's further illustration of links between al-Qaeda and the Ba'athi régime is, to put it charitably, tenuous in the extreme, but it reminded me of a thought which had occurred to me regarding the link between the influence of both factors on US foreign policy. posted 0137 Z-8 [more..] Thursday, 17 July, 2003The Secretary's chariot is definitely on fireTwo weeks ago, I wrote an entry contending that US Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld was channelling the spirit of General William C. Westmoreland. From the Washington Post article "No Iraq 'Quagmire,' Rumsfeld Asserts" (01-Jul-2003): One reporter quoted the Pentagon's own definition of guerrilla war -- "military and paramilitary operations conducted in enemy-held or hostile territory by irregular ground indigenous forces" -- and told Rumsfeld, "Seems to fit a lot of what's going on in Iraq."From today's edition of the Olympian, an AP article "Iraq attacks escalate": The new commander in Iraq [General John Abizaid] admitted for the first time Wednesday that U.S. forces are facing a "classical guerrilla-type war situation" against foes ranging from members of Saddam Hussein's Baath Party to non-Iraqi fighters from anti-U.S. groups.Emphasis underlined and in bold mine. A more complete (and unpraphrased) quote can be found on ITV.com: At a Pentagon briefing [Gen Abizaid] admitted the attackers were becoming better organised: "Certainly we are fighting Baathist remnants throughout the country. I believe there is mid-level Baathist Iraqi intelligence service people, special security organisation people, special Republican Guard people who have organised at the regional level in cellular structure and are conducting what I would describe as a classical guerilla-type campaign against us."I didn't go far enough in my earlier post. I should have just called Rumsfeld the fucking liar he is. posted 1430 Z-8 [link] Insecurity in Iraq Diane links to an extremely disturbing article in the New York Times regarding rape in Iraq. In over three years of dealing with war crimes, I developed a pretty warped sense of humour as a self-defence mechanism to deal with the stuff I was handling. But the one thing I could never joke about was rape. This is hardly a trivial problem; it needs to be addressed, swiftly and forcefully if at all possible. Human Rights Watch has just issued a report, titled "Climate of Fear," concluding that the failure of Iraqi and U.S.-led occupation authorities to provide public security in Iraq's capital lies at the root of a widespread fear of rape and abduction among women and their families.That's not an unfair assessment, but it's important to bear in mind that this failure on the part of the occupation forces is caused in no small part not only by the fact that public order in Iraq is FUBAR, but that it was intentionally made to be so. And for that latter point, no blame can be ascribed to the Coalition. posted 1417 Z-8 [more..] Wednesday, 16 July, 2003Vicarious thrillsJackie D got quoted in the Guardian! Not only that, but with one of the sharpest observations on the nature of blogging that I've seen all year (the Grauniad does print some stuff worth reading on occasion). Mind you, it helps that they've got her insights following some total pratt called Tom Donald who's copping a classic "so jaded" attitude, and who emphatically states his page is not a blog, because [sloanie voice] "[b]logging is a way for unoriginal people to throw their ego at the world," okay, yah?[/sloanie voice] posted 2342 Z-8 [more..] Odd searches II Okay, so I already had a hit from someone Googling for "no mercenary porn." Now I've had someone Googling for "masturbation marines iraq." Am I attracting uniform fetishists or something? Update: Tom writes in to remark that the person conducting that search may have been looking for info on the misbehaviour of British troops (see this entry), which makes sense. It hadn't occurred to me because the allegations of misconduct have all been levelled at British Army personnel, not Royal Marines, but it's possible the searcher in question didn't know that. posted 0303 Z-8 [link] Monday, 14 July, 2003Sci-fi/fantasy and libertarianismContinuing on the topic of underming the trias politica, I finished Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix last night. I've been noticing assertions in various blogs that the book has libertarian overtones, or refuting same. Having read it, I have to say I can see why one might see libertarian tendencies, but I don't agree that this is the case. (No spoilers, I promise.) posted 0114 Z-8 [more..] A not entirely satisfactory pledge While I'm on the topic of the ends versus means regarding the "War on Terror," June 26th was Torture Victims Recognition Day on the UN calendar. President Bush took the occasion to proclaim that The United States is committed to the worldwide elimination of torture and we are leading this fight by example.The previous day, William J. Haynes II, general counsel of the DoD, declared in a letter to Senator Patrick J. Leahy (D-VT) that the United States does not use torture, use "cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment" falling short of torture, or transfer people to other countries to be tortured. Mr. Haynes also stated on June 26th that anyone who might be found to have broken the law regarding the deaths of two Afghan prisoners at Bagram airbase, which occurred last December and were classed as homicides in March, would be prosecuted. (See "U.S. Pledges to Avoid Torture", Washington Post, 27-Jun-2003; and "The pledge", The Economist, 03-Jul-2003) posted 0002 Z-8 [more..] Sunday, 13 July, 2003...What military music is to musicThe Economist devotes its front cover and its opening leader this week to the planned military commissions to try suspected terrorists. The title alone—"Unjust, unwise, unAmerican"—leaves little doubt as to the editorial position regarding this issue. The main beef the editors have with the scheme is the way the executive seems to be doing all in its power (or more correctly, beyond its power) to keep the legislature and the judiciary cut out of the matter, thereby undermining the principle of "checks and balances," which is the cornerstone of the US Constitution. (Indeed, it undercuts the trias politica, cornerstone of modern democracy.) posted 1606 Z-8 [more..] Encounter in broad daylight I mentioned my little encounter with little miss cherry-picking raccoon a couple of weeks ago. Well, she was back yesterday, only she showed up around 1835 local time, i.e. while it was still quite light. Initially I thought it was the neighbour's cat coming though the garden, until she started climbing the cherry tree and I saw the tail. So I nipped outside with the digital camera and managed to snap a picture. Having helped herself to a meal of cherries, she then curled up on a convenient branch, napped until dark and went on her way. Carolyn & I have nicknamed her "Cherie." Here she is:  posted 0053 Z-8 [link] Collaborative blogging Henry & Maria Farrell, the fine minds which brought us Gallowglass, are shifting their efforts to a joint project with Chris Bertram, Kieran Healy, Brian Weatherson, and possibly some others. Crooked Timber, as this blog is known, has only been up since last Tuesday, but already it promises to be a very interesting read. (Note to self: update blogroll.) Scott Martens commented on Wednesday that the "superblogs" format makes good sense for a variety of reasons, though he added that he's unlikely to get involved in one himself. I have reason to suspect he may change his mind on that score, but to elaborate would be to give the game away. posted 0036 Z-8 [link] |
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