Billmon:

I could go on and on, but really, what’s the point? Only that Ricks is as responsible as anyone for leading the American people (and the military itself) to believe the war was being won — quickly and decisively. That being the case, why should the generals have bothered to remember the lessons of Vietnam?

Department of the Bleedin’ Obvious

Billmon:

Old War Criminals Never Die

Billmon:

This is the closest thing I’ve seen yet to a flat-out admission that the Iraq War was a disastrous strategic mistake. Or conversely, if you’re a true Orwell disciple, it’s simply another meaningless switch in an endless war whose real purpose isn’t to defeat the enemy, but to keep the prols docile and the ruling party firmly in power in this country.

Another Oceania Moment

Dershowitz:

The German army has given well-publicized notice to all Jews to depart those areas of the Warsaw Ghetto that have been turned into war zones. Those who voluntarily remain behind have become complicit. Some — those who cannot leave on their own — could be counted among the innocent victims of the need for German living space.

Apologist for War Crimes? It Depends

Yesterday, 60 years ago, Zionist terrorists killed 91 people – 28 British, 41 Arab, 17 Jewish, and 5 other. The underlying mindset has not changed:

In the 60 years since the attack at the King David Hotel, Israel has hurt some two million civilians, including 750,000 who lost their homes in 1948, another quarter million Palestinians who were forced to leave the West Bank in the Six-Day War and hundreds of thousands of Egyptian civilians who were expelled from the cities along the Suez Canal during the War of Attrition. And now tens of thousands of Lebanese villagers are being forced to abandon their homes, and air force pilots are once again bombing Beirut and other cities. Hundreds of civilians have been killed. Regrettably. It’s all in the spirit of the King David Hotel.

Cont. reading: The Spirit of the King David Hotel

Billmon:

We’re talking, on other words, about a potential debacle — the worst U.S. military defeat since Pearl Harbor. Not because the Iranians are brilliant strategists or tough fighters (although they may be; we really don’t know) but because the Iraq occupation has left the U.S. Army dangerously overextended, given its massive supply requirements.
…
I don’t know whether the Cheney administration wants to start the next world war by attacking Iran or not. At the end of the day, it’s all up to our ignorant man child of a president, and I don’t know if he even knows at this point. But what does seem apparent, however, is that if Shrub and company do want a world war, they may not be any better prepared to fight one than the guys in charge at Pearl Harbor on the morning of December 7, 1941.

II. Losing an Army

I. Midwives

News & views …

Billmon:

Birth Pangs

Billmon:

I suppose I should welcome these refugees to reality, and let them be useful idiots for the Left Opposition for a change. But they don’t actually bring much to the table — just lots of wishful thinking and a water-down Wilsonian idealism that bears absolutely no relationship to the modern Middle East — or the old one, for that matter. And so far that kind of misplaced idealism has only helped the neocons (who generally know better) get a lot of people killed.

Useless Idiots

Billmon:

Band-Aids

Billmon:

II. The Hirohito Effect

I. Mental Case

Frontpage of today’s Independent

Hat tip to Cloned Poster

Other news & views …

Billmon:

Outside of Iraq the social and political cement hasn’t dissolved yet (although the Palestinian territories are getting close and Lebanon is always vulnerable) but the strains are enormous and growing.

It’s been the neocon habit to pooh-pooh stability as a false comfort. But if something isn’t done to restrain the hatreds and keep them from multiplying, one of these days soon the region (and all who depend on the region’s oil) may find out what it feels like to trade in a false comfort for a real nightmare.

The All Against the All

Billmon:

I doubt the family resemblance (so to speak) is because the neocons actually have been swiping ideas from Dr. Goebbels. I think it more likely a reflection of the fact that in pursuing their own modern propaganda goals the neocons seek to play upon the same sentimental bourgeois stereotypes (and fears) that had such a grip on the middle-class German imagination.

The Aesthetics of Fascism

Billmon:

Flash From the Past

(Billmon and I posted in parallel on the issue. So here is the novelty of a combined thread.)

Billmon:

The Clock is Running

Bernhard:

After a preparing and devastating air campaign, Israel is now entering Lebanon with ground troops.

The strategic target seems to be to clear some 20 miles of Lebanese land of any Lebanese human and to establish and hold a line at the Litani River. This is a repetition of the 1978 Operation Litani which, at that time, was aimed against a Palestinian Liberation Organization (PLO) force in South Lebanon. Israel more or less did win that tactical move, but made no strategic gain and the costs on both sides were high.

Unlike the PLO, essentially refugees not really liked by the Lebanese, Hisbollah is an indigenous force. So the outcome may very well differ this time. In response to Israel’s action in 1978, the UN set out resolution 425, demanding a retreat of Israel behind the international accepeted border. Israel did fullfill that resolution’s demand  – in June 2000 – except for giving up the Sheeba Farms. This, and Lebanese prisoners in Israel’s hands, gave/give Hisbollah a permanent issue to keep the struggle going.

(The Katami river, like the Sheeba farms area, is a major water source in the general arid area. It does have real strategic value. So maybe Lebanon will get it back in 2028.)

In May 2006 Israel assassinated two leaders of Islamic Jihad in Sidon, Lebanon. This led to a few small rockets being fired at Israeli military outposts and responding serious air attacks. The crisis was finally ended through UN mediation. It was, to my knowledge, the first open Israeli action in Lebanon since 2000 and the starting point for today’s hot conflict. (BTW: Did you see this mentioned in any recent MSM article?)

While watching the current developments, in horror, I am sure the big chessboard is set up for an even deadlier game. This is not about a two Israeli soldiers taken POW. This is not about Lebanon or Hizbollah at all.

The current war is a small proxy for the fight between the US and Iran, a third world county by any means, and even bigger, between the US and anybody else about the control of the most important world energy ressources, i.e. direct or indirect control over all of the Middle East.

I have no idea what the next steps in that war may be, but some incident that will lead to a near term involvement of a very, very weak Syria is likely. From there on, your guess is as good as mine.

Billmon:

I’m sure Uncle Karl and the other members of the White House minstrel show were pretty pleased too, almost as much as Atrios even. But all this happiness, and the bullish stock and bond prices it tends to produce, actually increases the risk that Ben and I will both be wrong and inflation will become a serious problem, by and by.

Ben to Wall Street: Party On, Dudes

Beirut, Lebanon, July 18, 2006

The Lebanese people have the right to determine their future, free from domination by a foreign power. The Lebanese people have the right to choose their own parliament this spring, free of intimidation. And that new government will have the help of the international community in building sound political, economic, and military institutions, so the great nation of Lebanon can move forward in security and freedom. (Applause.)

Today I have a message for the people of Lebanon: All the world is witnessing your great movement of conscience. Lebanon’s future belongs in your hands, and by your courage, Lebanon’s future will be in your hands. The American people are on your side. Millions across the earth are on your side. The momentum of freedom is on your side, and freedom will prevail in Lebanon. (Applause.)
President Discusses War on Terror, White House, March 8, 2005

State of the Union: A Strong America Leading the World
White House, January 31, 2006

The outlines of an American-Israeli consensus have begun to emerge, in which Israel would continue to bombard Lebanon for another week or so to degrade the capabilities of the Hezbollah militia, according to officials of the two countries.
…

Israel had made clear that it does not want Ms. Rice to begin a peacemaking effort yet, and the Bush administration has, for the time being, gone along with an Israeli request for more latitude. President Bush and American officials have resisted joining other world leaders in calling for an immediate cease-fire, reflecting the Israeli view that reaching a truce before a significant number of Hezbollah’s missiles have been destroyed would leave Israel vulnerable to more attacks.
U.S. Appears to Be Waiting to Act on Israeli Airstrikes, NYT, July 19, 2006

I am confused. Now who IS leading here?