Thursday, 11 September, 2003In memoriamWell, it's the second anniversary of the attacks on the WTC and the Pentagon. Remember those attacks were indiscriminate, the perpetrators didn't care who was in those buildings. Those attacks could have killed any one of us had we had the misfortune to be visiting the WTC that morning; it's not like the perpetrators gave a shit. Accordingly, nous sommes tous Américains, and those who planned, carried out, and applauded or equivocated about the attack are the enemies of us all. I'll reserve the bad language regarding said individuals for another day. posted 0718 Z-8 [link] Doubt It's rather silly that I rejoiced at Ted Hinchman's return to blogging, and then promptly forgot to read diachronic agency for over a week. Ahem. Ted has a couple of good entries which should appeal to those of us—like me—who supported the invasion of Iraq, but are now struggling with the doubt inflicted particularly by the higher echelons of the DoD (i.e. Rumsfeld and Wolfowitz). These start with "Bushilateralism" and continue with "Without a plan and without international cooperation" and "Flypaper phooey." posted 0700 Z-8 [more..] Tuesday, 9 September, 2003Werewolves? In Mesopotamia?Well, it's quite the pile of bedside literature I have these days: Kanan Makiya's Republic of Fear (the writing style can be a bit impenetrable), Kenneth Pollack's The Threatening Storm and I'm re-reading Antony Beevor's The Fall of Berlin 1945 (non-US title Berlin: The Downfall 1945). Saturday afternoon, I was kicking back on the couch with the newly arrived issue of The Economist, when I came across a line in the article "They came to bury him, and many to praise him" on Iraq after Ayatollah Hakim's murder (premium content). It was this: Both inside and outside Iraq, reports are growing that the Baath is reconstituting itself, after melting away before the Anglo-American advance.At first glance, The Fall of Berlin 1945 might seem to have little bearing on Iraq 2003, but the line from the article reminded me of something from the book. posted 0226 Z-8 [more..] |
Navigation: home archives backgrounder Blogs:
au currant Miscellanea:
Care to contribute |
