Afghanistan is Lost

Afghanistan; you remember that place, don't you? It's where the 9/11 hijackers trained or received support. It's where al Qaeda - protected by the Taliban - was based, where BushCo. struck out with the support of the world and where they quickly lost interest as they turned to their long-lusted for invasion of Iraq.

It's long been on a slide back towards complete Taliban control. That long slide is mostly complete:

The gunmen came at night to drag Mohammed Halim away from his home, in front of his crying children and his wife begging for mercy.

The 46-year-old schoolteacher tried to reassure his family that he would return safely. But his life was over, he was part-disembowelled and then torn apart with his arms and legs tied to motorbikes, the remains put on display as a warning to others against defying Taliban orders to stop educating girls.

Afghanistan is lost.

Can Iraq be far behind?

Through the Woods and Over the River

Vacation is nearly over.

It's been warm and wonderful here in sunny Florida. I've had my share of turkey, I've had a great time with family, but now it's time to head back to the great white North.

Back to work. Back to the news - not that there's been all that much happening. Back to blogging!

I hope that all of you had a great Thanksgiving.

Over the River and Through the Woods

I've almost forgotten what the word vacation really means. But this coming week I'm sure going to do my best to remember.

My wife and I are flying out of Rochester on Monday morning, headed for Florida. All of my family still lives there, on the mid-Gulf Coast, in the town of Bradenton. This Thanksgiving will be the first holiday of any sort I've spent with my family in over 6 years and I'm really looking forward to it.

The fact that there will be sunshine (which we haven't seen here in - I'm not making this up - over 7 days) and temperatures in the 70s and perhaps the 80s only makes it all the sweeter.

Unfortunately - or maybe fortunately - not only will I not have regular access to a computer, but I probably will not keep up with the news. I probably will not post until I return on the 29th.

So I'll take this chance to wish you all a happy Thanksgiving. We have lots to be thankful for and we should take all the chances we have to celebrate those things and those people who make our lives happier.

Be Afraid

The rumors have flown for years, the deployment of two carrier groups to the area have fueled the speculation, but I think most people didn't really believe that BushCo. would attack Iran.

But the rumors have not died down. The carrier groups remain in the Persian Gulf.

In yesterday's post at Altercation, Eric Alterman linked to a series of articles by William R. Polk, an author who "was the member of the U.S. Policy Planning Council responsible for the Middle East from 1961 to 1965. Subsequently, he was professor of history and director of the Center for Middle Eastern Studies at the University of Chicago and later president of the Adlai Stevenson Institute of International Affairs."

See the articles here, here and here.

Polk has laid out the background, current status and the ideas and ideology driving this idiocy. His arguments seem cogent and well informed and he certainly has the CV to back his claim to expertise.

What is most chilling is the final section of the third article where he describes the probable fallout of an attack on Iran. There are chilling echoes of the current debacle in Iraq with the potential for a much worse outcome.

Please read these articles, please talk about them, please write or call your members of congress to let them know how much this scares you.

Failure May Be the Only Option

I am not surprised that top military commanders do not want Democrats to impose a timeline for withdrawal from Iraq. And honestly, I don't blame them. Right now, to them, withdrawal looks like failure on their part. It's too soon for withdrawal from the battlefield without a clear victory for these commanders, most of whom are Vietnam veterans.

Mostly it won't matter how often they will be told that they and their men fought honorably; and that it was the politicians who sent them on a fool's errand. I know how military people think - and they all want to complete the mission. They all want to win.

Unfortunately for them and unfortunately for the new Congressional leadership, there may be no way for us to win.

While American commanders have suggested that civil war is possible in Iraq, many leaders, experts and ordinary people in Baghdad and around the Middle East say it is already underway, and that the real worry ahead is that the conflict will destroy the flimsy Iraqi state and draw in surrounding countries.

Whether the U.S. military departs Iraq sooner or later, the United States will be hard-pressed to leave behind a country that does not threaten U.S. interests and regional peace, according to U.S. and Arab analysts and political observers.

"We're not talking about just a full-scale civil war. This would be a failed-state situation with fighting among various groups," growing into regional conflict, Joost Hiltermann, Middle East project director for the International Crisis Group, said by telephone from Amman, Jordan.

So not only have the neo-cons and their puppet President lied their way into a war, not only have they bungled the execution of that war, not only have they plundered the nation's treasury to the tune of $8 billion per month, not only... that list could go on and on. But not only have they done all of that, but they've put us into a no-win situation with the possibility that we could wind up being responsible for igniting a regional conflict that could kill millions and keep the region in a state of war for decades.

And when we wind up withdrawing at some point in the near future - and we will have to withdraw - our politicians will have burdened our military once more with the albatross of an unwinnable war and a peace with no honor.

I'm So Proud

If you're bemoaning the fact that we are no longer the shining beacon of democracy that we used to be, there always this...

U.S. top arms supplier to developing world

Who Said There Was No Plan for Post-Invasion Iraq?

Based on observations of the chaos that broke out after "Mission Accomplished," just about everyone who didn't have their heads in the sand.

Now we know for sure:

There is no one on the Joint Chiefs of Staff who has visited Iraq more often than Gen. Mike Hagee, whose term as Commandant of the United States Marine Corps ends Monday.

[snip]

Hagee says he asked his boss again and again who would take charge of those cities. He wanted to know what the plan was for Phase IV — military terminology for the phase that follows the end of major combat operations. Phase IV is, in other words, what comes after "mission accomplished." Hagee says that he sent his questions up the chain of command, as they say in the military — and never heard back.

Never heard back.

The Commandant of the Marine Corps asked a question. And never heard back.

Subpoena.

Investigate.

Impeach.

The Rehabilitation of Judith Miller

Maybe spending a little time in jail did her good.

Miller said many Americans don't understand how their access to information and the freedom of the press have been affected in the past few years.

"We are less free and less safe," she said, explaining that there is a "growing secrecy in the name of national security."

But then again, maybe not.

The blurring of entertainment and news and the relaxing of journalistic standards can be seen in online bloggers who are critical of people without giving them an opportunity to respond or who don't post corrections when they learn that what they have posted is wrong, she said.

"I'm worried about bloggers," she said. "(A post) starts as a rumor and within 24 hours it's repeated as fact."

While she advocates a federal shield law to protect mainstream journalists from divulging their sources, she doesn't favor extending that to bloggers who don't follow the standards and ethnics [sic] of the journalism industry.

Pot, meet Kettle.

I wonder if she's in favor or shield laws being extended to so-called journalists who don't follow the standards and ethics of the journalism industry?

Feeling Better

I've always found it amazing what the body's attempt to expel something foreign does to us. Not only can an infection knock us down for varying lengths of time, but the recovery process can be amazingly fast in most cases.

Anyway, I'm feeling better - although very tired - today. Thankfully I didn't have to go to my doctor.

But thinking about going to the doctor got me to thinking about our healthcare system and by coincidence today's news had a story about the "Big Three" automakers meeting with BushCo. today. High on the list of topics to be discussed under the general heading of competitiveness, is the cost of health insurance that the car manufacturers have to carry in the US that their competitors operating overseas do not. They claim that their portion of medical insurance coverage for employees adds about $1,000 to the cost of each vehicle.

This would be a great opportunity for Bush to do something that might add the slightest of luster to his shredded legacy. A Republican making a start towards a single payer system in the US would be an incredible way for Bush to help level the competitive landscape for all US manufacturers as well as to rid us of the stigma of having so many citizens with no access to health care.

But there's no way that will happen. Perhaps it was just my fevered mind playing tricks on me.

Feeling Like Crap

I've come down with a wicked cold somehow.

Sneezing, coughing, runny nose, itchy and watery eyes; the whole works.

Stay back, I don't want to give this to anyone. Please go visit someone in my blogroll, hopefully I'll be feeling better tomorrow.

Bleh.

11:11/11/11

It seems inconceivable to me that with soldiers dying in Iraq and Afghanistan every day that Veterans Day - for most people - is still just an excuse to have a day off from school and, in rare instances, from work. The lessons of past wars seems to be lost on people today.

Maybe I'm just more sensitive to it than most considering that nobody in my circle of friends has ever served in the military and very few of their parents did either.
Much like our illustrious Vice President, they had other priorities.

Young men and women are struggling to recover from the most horrific of injuries incurred in what will probably prove to be this generation's Vietnam and all around me today and yesterday were signs touting "Veteran's Day Sales" and people who were mindlessly taking advantage of some early November warm weather and a day off. Everywhere I went the atmosphere was more holiday than memorial.

I stopped by an American Legion Post this afternoon - a final stop for a funeral for a friend's mother whose husband had been a member. Other than family and friends, there were few members in sight and I wondered what they must think of the situation we find ourselves in.

Maybe I'm just more sensitive to it than most.

But I remember what it's like to miss holidays and birthdays and my daughter's first steps while far away. I remember what it's like to mourn the loss of brothers-in-arms when something goes awry in peace or war. I remember what it's like to ring the doorbell of a fellow soldier's wife so that I could tell her that her husband wouldn't be coming home any more.

Maybe I'm just more sensitive to it than most.

But this year there is some hope as well. Hope that wasn't there last year when it seemed that "stay the course" would be the epitaph of our military and perhaps of our country. It remains as true today as it was on Monday before the elections that there is no good or easy way out of the quagmire we've created for ourselves in Iraq.

But it is true now that at least the adults have started taking control of things in Washington. Perhaps next November, while there will certainly be more Veterans that there was today and more dead and wounded as well, perhaps there will not be that dread that more will be joining the ghosts of the past that were all around us today.

But maybe I'm just more sensitive to it than most.

A New World?

Somehow, on our (almost) nightly walk tonight, the air seemed fresher and cleaner; the stars shone brighter, even through the clouds, the coyotes - howling in the valley - sounded freer.

It's Now Official - Both Houses Taken

Details here on George "Macaca" Allen conceding the race in Virginia.

Congratulations to Jim Webb!

Blogger's been up and down all day. Which is okay, I'm taking a break today.

Both Houses

This has been a total BushCo. smackdown.

Rumsfeld GONE!

Breaking on MSNBC.

Ex-head of CIA Robert Gates nominated as replacement.

Democracy Spread at the Point of a... Blog?

While I certainly can't claim to be anything other than a bit player in the blogosphere, it is certainly good to see that all of our efforts, combined, and especially those of the big bloggers whom the rest of us orbit is having a national impact. The 2004 Presidential race was probably too early in the evolution of the "big blog" for there to be a truly national effect, but it seems that this off-year election was perfectly timed to be the first.

What better subject for bloggers and their web of contacts and readers than voting problems?

Here's the NYT on the subject this morning:

Blogs of all political stripes spent most of yesterday detailing reports of voting machine malfunctions and ballot shortages, effectively becoming an online national clearinghouse of the polling problems that still face the election system.

And in a new twist this year, many bloggers buttressed their accounts of electoral shenanigans with links to videos posted on the video Web site YouTube.

And a final feel-good report on the bloggers themselves should make us all feel a little bit better about ourselves, while once again showing the shallowness of the MSM:

Constantine Stavropoulos, the owner of the cafe, said he had closed its doors for the “blog party,” which the network [CNN] periodically broadcast and streamed online. He said he expected the bloggers — an attractive bunch, he said — to linger long after the votes were in.

“Bloggers look a lot better than I thought they would,” Mr. Stavropoulos said.

Bush Talks to Democrats - Through Iraq

If you've wondered how BushCo. would react to the change in Republican fortunes in Congress, you'll have to go to Iraq to get an answer. Before the last votes have been counted, this misadministration has sent this message to Iraqis:

The United States ambassador sought on Wednesday to reassure Iraqis that U.S. policy would not dramatically alter after Democrats seized control of the U.S. House of Representatives in midterm elections.

Not all Iraqis are on board, though.

"I hope this will change the Bush policy in the Islamic world and especially in Iraq," said 48-year-old engineer Suheil Jabar, a Shiite Muslim. "We hope American foreign policy will change and that living conditions in Iraq will improve."

As everyone said last night, and as I wrote in my last post: "now comes the hard part."

A New Day

The House changed hands in a big way with Dems picking up seats at the high end of projections (33 so far). The Senate remains to be called with two races still too close to call (Virginia and Montana). But there's no doubt that things went our way last night.

Now comes the hard part.

But it feels good!

Early Results

So far (10:10 pm), so good.

Keep your fingers crossed, and if you're on the West Coast and haven't voted yet, get out there and VOTE!

I agree with Chris Matthews (something that happens so seldom) that one of the first thing Democrats need to do should this continue to develop so well is to make a clear, unambiguous statement of their plans for the war in Iraq.

Tomorrow we may wake up to a new country, but just because we've supported the Democrats throughout these past several, horrible years doesn't mean we won't hold them to account with as much fervor as we've shown the Republicans

We're still watching.

Can We Get U.N. Election Observers?

Some of the early reports of "irregularities" leave me feeling like I live in some third-world country that can't even hold an election without handholding from the outside world.

In the Washington, D.C., area, NBC affiliate News4 reported on its Web site that it had received e-mail from a viewer in Virginia who said he received a phone call from so-called volunteers threatening voters with arrest if they cast ballots.

[snip]

Meanwhile, programming errors and inexperience with electronic voting machines frustrated poll workers in hundreds of precincts early Tuesday, delaying voters in Indiana and Ohio and leaving some in Florida with little choice but use paper ballots instead.

The FBI is already involved in Virginia, some news outlets are claiming that there will be close races that might not be able to be fully tabulated until Wednesday.

Only Republicans gain by suppressing the number of voters. Only Republicans.

Are we on democracy rations? Did we export it all to Iraq? They were able to vote there with nothing more than paper and pencil and a bottle of ink. What the hell have we become?

Vote for change.