@CP – one wonders who is more surreal, The Israeli politicians or the JPost commentator …

Posted by: b | Nov 20 2006 16:46 utc | 4

@b
When did “newsdump” become a dirty word…? I picked the phrase up from you. I do agree that these open threads are valuable resources (it wasn’t a stellar time for me that I linked to, but it did light a fire under me to submit an article instead of complaining about an apparent lack of interest, so I have no regrets), so in that spirit… um… here’s news:
ARMY GIVES RUMSFELD DOCTRINE A REWRITE

Rumsfeld’s critics generally have pointed to summer 2003 as the period when the most important misstep was made in Iraq. American forces were drawn down, and the military did not react quickly to confront a rising insurgency.

Seems to me to be a pretty arbitrary lesson to pick up from all of this. How about: “The most important misstep was manufacturing a case for violating international law and invading a country in which computer simulated models from the previous four years demonstrated you have no chance to occupy”?
If you want to offset the ledger sheet, though, you can always declare victory in situations in which there is already a de facto peace:
Bush says willing to enter into security arrangement if N.K. gives up nukes

The United States on Saturday emphasized the carrots it has to offer if North Korea abandons the pursuit of nuclear weapons rather than the sticks it has often brandished.
Officials from U.S. President George W. Bush on down went out of their way to highlight the incentives they are dangling – from economic cooperation to a formal end to the Korean War – if Pyongyang gives up its nuclear weapons programs.
White House spokesman Tony Snow said on Saturday the list of what the United States might do includes “a declaration of the end of the Korean War and moving forward on economic cooperation, cultural, educational and other ties.”
The 1950-1953 Korean War ended with an armistice, rather than a formal peace treaty.

That’s the best you’ve got? They’ve got catastrophic food shortages and you’re willing to offer them an official nod? Silly as it sounds, it’s probably the only way the Bush White House can wrangle a “military victory” into it’s record in the next two years.
And while we’re on the subject of leaders making meaningless offers involving mid-20th century grudges, Syria apparently is willing to join the “coalition of the willing” against Iraq for a price: Namely, the Golan Heights.

Ayman Abdel Nour, a leading reformer in the ruling Ba’ath party, told the Times that Syrian President Bashar Assad wants America and Britain to use their influence with Israel to raise the return of the Golan Heights, seized by the Israelis in the 1967 war.
“It will be the top demand,” he was quoted by the newspaper as saying.
According to the report, Assad has ruled out cooperating with the Americans in return for the promise of unspecified benefits.
“The Syrian leadership is fed up with the Americans and does not trust their word when it comes to future aid for Syria,” Abdel Nour told the Sunday Times.
“Syria will not do anything unless it has secured guarantees from Washington and London that every action Damascus takes to help them will be reciprocated. It will be a step by step scenario: These actions for those actions,” he said.

And I’d like to finish off with a tip of my hat to all the armed guards and police who are making America safe from all those hardened students and assorted miscreants. Now, please, put away the damned tasers already.

Posted by: Monolycus | Nov 20 2006 18:16 utc | 6

I thought I was pretty much inured from feeling heart thumping outrage at just another of today’s world’s outrages. But this one has really created that visceral feeling of heart thumping in me.
Swedish human rights worker viciously attacked by Jewish extremists in Hebron
I have an old friend who tells me that feelings and expressions of outrage trigger some neural pleasure center. I sometimes wonder if some humans are devoid of empathy.

Posted by: Juannie | Nov 20 2006 19:58 utc | 8

outrage/pleasure–isn’t that David Brin’s thang about outrage addiction, that Uncle $ posted a while back? He specifically addresses self-righteous indignation or outrage, aka sanctimony.

I want to zoom down to a particular emotional and psychological pathology. The phenomenon known as self-righteous indignation.
We all know self-righteous people. (And, if we are honest, many of us will admit having wallowed in this state ourselves, either occasionally or in frequent rhythm.) It is a familiar and rather normal human condition, supported — even promulgated — by messages in mass media.
While there are many drawbacks, self-righteousness can also be heady, seductive, and even… well… addictive. Any truly honest person will admit that the state feels good. The pleasure of knowing, with subjective certainty, that you are right and your opponents are deeply, despicably wrong.
Sanctimony, or a sense of righteous outrage, can feel so intense and delicious that many people actively seek to return to it, again and again. Moreover, as Westin et.al. have found, this trait crosses all boundaries of ideology.

Posted by: catlady | Nov 20 2006 21:27 utc | 10

Bea, that’s an impressive website–who set it up? Very professional interface.
And the photos–the contrast between the beauty of the children and the thought of how fragile their situation, it’s….so frustrating to contemplate, to feel so far away, to feel emotions arise knowing they will subside. Ah, look at them. Will these images shape my responses in the future? Another flicker. The last photographer on the list, Tahreer, takes photos of the martyrs, and asks why are their fighters called terrorists, but not the Israeli soldiers?

Posted by: catlady | Nov 20 2006 21:52 utc | 12

killing laughter
This morning, I heard the news of the assassination of one of the funniest Iraqi comedians. It seems there is no place for laughter anymore, even when people are locked up inside their houses watching TV.
r’giap, try holding down the press start button for 10 seconds..

Posted by: annie | Nov 20 2006 23:10 utc | 14

annie
no i’ve done that & all th book suggests
have tried to reinitialise
it’s like it’s in ‘sous tension’ – that is it neither closes or opens

Posted by: remembereringgiap | Nov 20 2006 23:30 utc | 16

yes

Posted by: remembereringgiap | Nov 20 2006 23:46 utc | 18

tried that too

Posted by: remembereringgiap | Nov 21 2006 0:50 utc | 20

Bea #11. Thanks. annie #15. Good idea. r’giap #13. Helpless.

Posted by: beq | Nov 21 2006 1:43 utc | 22

Juannie :
Taking catlady’s admonitions to heart I have breathed deeply and examined the outrage that I felt when reading your link.
These “settlers”, for want of a better term, do these things to Palestinians everyday. Yet I am outraged that they would go so far as to hurt this poor,pretty blonde girl from Scandinavia.
These thugs were transprted to Hebron and encouraged in their brutality by American tax dollars, the new kind of “care” package we Americans now send to the Middle East.
Did the description of the “settlers” getting their “trophy” photos taken along with their victim remind you, too, of Americans at Abu Ghraib?
Did the “We killed Jesus and we’ll kill you too!” remind you, too, of the “My god is bigger than your god” quote from the man who now heads the US Defense Intelligence Agency?
The human race is not what it is cracked up to be. There is no bottom to the well of depravity we all have fallen into.
We must stop the flow of American dollars to the wars, or war if you look at it as one war, in the Middle East. These people, Israelis and Americans, would not, could not, be where they are and be doing what they are doing without our funding them.
In what sense is it “political suicide” for the Demoplicans to cut off funding for these routine atrocitites? The only reasonable answer is that the portion of the funds they appropriate for these atrocities that is routinely diverted to finance their reelections would also dry up and, unelectable without such funds, they would lose their positions.
When I first saw Alan Greenspan perched in the back row of Billmon’s Anglo-American War Crimes Tribunal photo, I thought he was there as a joke. But in a very real sense he is the man that enabled all of this.
And in a very real sense it will have been his policies that bring the curtain down now as the Goetterdammerung plays out in the USA.

Posted by: John Francis Lee | Nov 21 2006 2:12 utc | 24

r’giap- the mac I have now (I’ve only had macs since 93) has had the most problems. the site for the plug is crooked, and I replaced two power cords before I discovered the problem was in the computer, not the plug. it came that way…the first day I started it up the plug couldn’t recharge the battery.
so check that.
did you run disk repair, or whatever it’s called?
you should first save things on your computer to cd-roms or an external hardrive (don’t have one myself, but should) before doing anything.
if you need to start up from the software disks, you have to hold down the “c” key while it starts up. you’ll have a different screen, with little disks on it, or something like that…I shouldn’t be telling you this without seeing what’s what, but once you’ve saved EVERYTHING you need (documents, pictures, music files) you can reinitialize from the disks…if I’m remembering correctly…
go to the help section on your toolbar and see if you can get information off the computer itself.

Posted by: fauxreal | Nov 21 2006 2:47 utc | 26

going back to read what you said, r’giap.. I would assume, if I were you, that you’re either having problems with the plug or with the “sleep” function. some new macs, I was told, have a problem “waking up” after they’ve been asleep.
if you can’t get the mac to respond when you hit the shift key, hold down the power key until the computer shuts down.
count to ten and then restart (reboot).
see if that helps before you do anything else.

Posted by: fauxreal | Nov 21 2006 2:54 utc | 28

R’giap:

Important, so I’m putting it up here: once you have the computer running again, run Software Update (check the Apple menu). There are two firmware updates for the Macbook, and one of them is related to power management, so you need to install them. Don’t put it off!

The first thing to look for, when this sort of thing happens, is the possibility that the computer’s battery is dead and that the power hookup isn’t working. (Much though I love the magsafe power adapters, they are the first Mac power cables I’ve ever seen where two otherwise identical attempts to plug in can result in one connection and one failed connection.)

Plug the thing in, and make sure that the little light on the power cable’s plug actually turns on. (It will be either green or amber.) If it wasn’t plugged in before, and now is, give it about ten seconds (in case the battery was so low that the computer is trying to avoid using any power at all) and try turning it on again.

If that didn’t help, the next step is to see if the computer is actually on (and awake) but has the screen black and the hard disk spun down for some reason. (It has happened to me a few times, usually when a program that uses the whole screen is running when the computer tries to go to sleep.) Hit option-command-escape, then return. That will force-quit the frontmost program; if that fixes the problem, go install those updates. If nothing happens, then the computer is really off, and you should skip to the next paragraph. If the computer beeps, but nothing else happens, then the thing is trying to go to sleep or wake up, but something is preventing it from completing the process and is also eating your keystrokes instead of letting them get through. (Nasty, but possible.) In that case, next try holding down Control-Command-Power, which restarts the machine. (You lose anything that was open, as usual with reboots.) If even that doesn’t work to get the machine running again, but you’re sure it’s turned on, hold down the power button for about ten seconds and the machine will really turn off. Then let go of the power button, and tap it again to turn it back on. (Then run those updates!)

If you’re at this paragraph, then the machine was genuinely turned off. Assuming that you can’t just turn it back on by hitting the power button again, or even by holding it down for 10 seconds, letting go, and then tapping it (go ahead and try — the worst that can happen is that the machine was running and you lose any unsaved work, but that’s going to happen by this point anyway, so it can’t hurt), then the next step is to reset the power management. This is supposed to be the last resort in this sort of case. The steps are, in order:
1) Disconnect the power cable.
2) Close the machine, turn it over, and take out the battery.
3) Turn the machine right-side-up again, open it up, and hold down the power button for five seconds.
4) Close it up, turn it back over, and put in the battery again.
5) Turn it right-side-up again, and hook back up the power cable.
6) Turn the machine on normally.

At this point, if all these instructions have failed, there is one last suggestion: let the thing sit unplugged for a few hours, then plug it back in and try one more time. It’s voodoo — there’s no reason why it should work — but I’ve had various devices (never a Mac, but there’s a first time for everything) which responded to a little time off.

If everything fails, then it’s time to take it in to an Apple Store or a repair center or whatever. Murphy’s Law being what it is, if you take it in, the problem may miraculously vanish by the time you get it there (and will reappear the minute you get home). If that’s the case, then get those updates installed the minute the thing is working; it may be that the problem is fixed by the updates, so you’ll be set.

Posted by: The Truth Gets Vicious When You Corner It | Nov 21 2006 4:03 utc | 30

This might well kill Hilary’s run for president – good.
Clinton Won Easily, but Bankroll Shows the Toll

Since 2001, when she took office, Mrs. Clinton has spent at least $36 million on her re-election. For 2005 and 2006 through Oct. 18, she spent $29.5 million; a final tally will not be available until next month.
At that level, she spent nearly twice as much as Senator Charles E. Schumer, her Democratic colleague from New York, did in his 2004 re-election campaign, when he spent $15.5 million and won 71 percent of the vote, four points more than Mrs. Clinton won this year.
For her money, Mrs. Clinton also won a slightly smaller percentage of the vote in New York this year than did Eliot Spitzer in his successful race for governor. Mr. Spitzer, who raised nearly $41 million for his campaign, won 69 percent of the vote.
Mark Penn, Mrs. Clinton’s pollster and longtime adviser, received at least $1.1 million. Mandy Grunwald, her longtime communications strategist, received more than $930,000. Hudson Media Partners, an offshoot of the Glover Park Group consulting firm where two prominent Clinton advisers, Howard Wolfson and Gigi Georges, work, received nearly $200,000.
Campaign aides said much of the consulting work went toward building a donor list that would be vital in a presidential race. But they did not specify the work done by each of the consultants or say exactly how much of the money they received went to preparing for a presidential run rather than Mrs. Clinton’s Senate re-election. And the figures have raised eyebrows among the people who raise money for her.
“We’re not in this business to make consultants rich,” said one fund-raiser for Mrs. Clinton who was granted anonymity in order to speak freely about the direction of the campaign.

Posted by: b | Nov 21 2006 7:25 utc | 32

Israel’s Domestic Political Game Raises the Danger of a U.S.-Iran War

Even if the Democrats could be relied on to hold the line against insane military adventurism against Iran — and, frankly, listening to their leading lights I have my doubts — that’s unlikely to make any difference to the question of whether or not Iran is attacked. That’s because nobody even among the hawks is talking about a full-blown ground invasion; they’re talking about a series of air strikes that will supposedly destroy Iran’s nuclear facilities. And you only have to go back to President Clinton’s 1998 cruise missile strikes on an aspirin factory in Sudan and a patch of dust Afghanistan to remember that the first Americans hear about such attacks will be after the fact.
By then, of course, it will be too late.

Gee… I guess nothing can be done. We’re “doomed”, or is it “destined”, or “fated”, or “condemned” to endless war in the Middle East. It’s a “Clash of Civilizations” its… its… all bullshit is what it is. If we got up off our bellies, stood on our hind legs and simply named greed and agression for what they are and stopped allowing to be led by the loops in our noses we could have peace just as quickly as we wanted it. In the proverbial “New York minute”.
But we don’t want peace. Not enough to stop the war we all know is coming.

Posted by: John Francis Lee | Nov 21 2006 13:33 utc | 34

@annie
Gaza Strip is in my DVD collection. Excellent, moving documentary.

Posted by: ran | Nov 21 2006 14:12 utc | 36

Juannie:
No criticism of any feeling of yours intended. We are all outraged. The point is not indulge one’s outrage. The thrill of righteousness coursing through one’s veins… I remember it personally during the Viet Nam years when I habitually, and righteously!, referred to cops, one and all, as pigs. Some of them were, and are, of course. It finally dawned on me years later that what I had felt was a kind of moral Schadenfreude.
I was not imputing any of this to you… I was just happy to see catlady’s admonition about the same.

Posted by: John Francis Lee | Nov 21 2006 14:50 utc | 38

So if you’re part of a military force illegally occupying another country and you get your ticket punched the ticket puncher is a “terrorist”?

Gnr Thornton, 22, who was fatally wounded by terrorist gunfire while on patrol in Basra on Sept 5, wrote of poor morale, bad equipment and the hostility of local Iraqis.

Posted by: ran | Nov 21 2006 16:06 utc | 40

Despite 4 Million Deaths, the Congo’s War Remains Largely Ignored:
According to a recent Reuters poll of over 100 humanitarian professionals, media personalities, academics and activists, the civil war in the Congo is the most important crisis “forgotten” by the mainstream media.
With over four million casualties since 1998 – more than 10 times as many as killed in the Asian tsunami – John O’Shea of Ireland’s GOAL relief agency has branded the Congo conflict the worst humanitarian disaster since the Holocaust.
Although the conflict officially ended in 2003, violence has continued in most parts of the country. According to one BBC report, mass rape has been a tactic employed “as a weapon of war; a means of humiliating and controlling civilian populations.”
link

Posted by: Noirette | Nov 21 2006 20:15 utc | 42

It’s voodoo — there’s no reason why it should work — but I’ve had various devices (never a Mac, but there’s a first time for everything) which responded to a little time off.
In my experience when something acts like that what you have is a problem with overheating. But then again sometimes it is just magic.

Posted by: a swedish kind of death | Nov 21 2006 22:01 utc | 44

Remember this, next election (you know the big one) the one that counts…
Hero pleads guilty

He’s the guy who worked for Jones-Day, the attorneys for Diebold. In the course of his duties, Heller uncovered documents indicating that Diebold had installed uncertified machinery and software in California. Heller went public with this find.
Our society ought to give a medal to guys with that sort of public spirit. Instead, Heller was sued for revealing privileged documents. Even though those documents provided evidence of a conspiracy to break the law, Heller was finally forced to plead guilty pursuant to a plea bargain.

The ultimate in blame the victim hypocrisy…

Posted by: Uncle $cam | Nov 21 2006 22:43 utc | 46

To me these Open Threads are not newsdumps but newsstorages – unsorted for sure and as messy as my real-life toolbox. But there is always just the thing one needs in there.)
dang. I thought these were threads were we got to be frivolous in that Beaumarchais kinda “I am frivolous (okay, I laugh sounds better) so that I will be cry” way.
And, since it’s nearly thanksgiving, in that maudlin tradition of noting what you’re thankful for… I want to say that I am thankful that b is crazy enough to let 5 or so women visit him for a week or so.
oh yeah, and I’m also thankful for the work he does to keep moa going. 🙂

Posted by: fauxreal | Nov 21 2006 23:45 utc | 48

Protester shot in the face, and cops laugh
Cops: Man shot self in cop car

A man who was stopped for a routine traffic violation somehow managed to shoot himself in the back of the head while handcuffed in the back seat of a police cruiser, cops said.

Torture Inc. Americas Brutal Prisons

Posted by: Uncle $cam | Nov 21 2006 23:46 utc | 50

I’m running late, but had to post these…
Fisher Price Waterboarding?
U.S. Soldiers Taunting Iraqi Children with Bottled Water
Sad is just the only way to describe the feeling I have now, just having seen this video. I can’t even be outraged.
Just sad.
Now this, this makes me rage…
Soldier pleads guilty in Iraq rape, murder case

Posted by: Uncle $cam | Nov 22 2006 0:09 utc | 52

wow

Posted by: beq | Nov 22 2006 2:37 utc | 54

article today at venezuelaanalysis on the release of eva golinger’s latest book

Venezuelan-U.S. Attorney, Eva Golinger, inaugurated her new book during the closing events of the 2nd International Book Fair in Caracas Sunday night. Her book, Bush vs. Chavez: Washington’s War Against Venezuela (Monte Avila Editores, 2006, Caracas), is the highly-awaited update to The Chavez Code, and chronicles US destabilization attempts and ongoing intervention in Venezuela since 2005.
…
The 231 page, Bush vs. Chavez, deals with various issues including a well-established US media campaign, espionage, sabotage, and psychological war against Venezuela. It investigates US monetary support for Venezuelan groups such as the opposition NGO Súmate, through Congressionally funded groups such as the USAID, National Endowment for Democracy (NED), and the International Republican Institute (IRI).

and, maybe even more interestingly,

The 2nd International Venezuelan Book Fair came to a close in Caracas yesterday. Organizers estimated that a total of 700,000 visited the fair during the 10-day long event. President of the National Book Center (CENAL), Ramón Medero, told ABN that next year the theme will be “ The United States: Is revolution possible? ” Organizers plan to invite North American community leaders as well as representatives from the US intellectual community.

Posted by: b real | Nov 22 2006 4:04 utc | 56

War Supporters Must Face the Music

America will have squandered priceless lives and, in the end, over one trillion dollars on their folly. But the neocons will learn nothing. They will lose nothing. The only question is whether the rest of us will know better the next time.
Our soldiers are still at risk. Many believe in their cause. Many understand the situation is out of control. They follow their orders; they put their lives on the line. They deserve our deepest thanks for their heroism. To honor them, we must not fail to hold accountable those that misled them and us into this catastrophe.

Posted by: John Francis Lee | Nov 22 2006 4:14 utc | 58

Spoilers of the World Unite! … Now!

Let us start with the biggest lie of all, that the Democrats cannot end the war, are unable to do it, do not have the power to do it. Big, big, big lie. Bush is now asking for another $127 billion to “stay the course.” If either the House or the Senate refuses to pass that request, the war cannot be prosecuted. It only requires a simple majority in one chamber ­ House or Senate. That is it. The power is there…
But do not expect the Democrats to take such a course. The election was rigged by Rahm Emanuel in favor of pro-war Democrats, and the beating which John Murtha took at the hands of Hoyer, Emanuel and others is evidence that the war party is firmly in control of Dem foreign policy and will do nothing to end the war. In fact Emanuel wants to raise at least 100,000 more troops…
What are we to do, then? Simple. We can work now on mounting a third party challenge to the Democrats in 2008. The platform of such a challenge would be simple. We are against war and the police state; these are the over-arching issues of the moment and we shall not compromise on them for any reason. The current test of these principles is Iraq. If all troops are out of Iraq by November, 2008, then our issue is gone and we cannot expect to win. If the U.S. remains in Iraq, then we may or may not win ­ but the Democrats will have to confront us; we may defeat them or we may spoil the election for them. But either way, we will be a force to be reckoned with…
We must have some nationally known leaders who could start the ball rolling. I can think of Kevin Zeese, Ralph Nader, Ron Paul, Justin Raimondo, Lew Rockwell, Alex Cockburn, Jeffrey St. Clair, Cindy Sheehan, Lila Lipscomb, Patrick Buchanan, perhaps even maverick Democrats like Cynthia McKinney, Maxine Waters, James Webb, Jack Murtha or Carol Shea-Porter – or maverick Republicans like Chuck Hagel, who, Lieberman-like, might declare their independence even while “caucusing” with one of the war parties. There are endless possibilities…
Hopefully many Greens and Libertarians would join in and commit themselves to running a consensus set of candidates in 2008. This is a two-year strategy. But we must begin now…
This will allow the idea to germinate and build as the Democrats show again and again that they are the other War Party. With every sell-out, the movement will grow. Importantly, the Democrats will not be able to say they were not warned. They will have plenty of time to act and prove us wrong. They now have the power to end the war. If they fail to do so, what good are they?..
This is a win-win strategy. If the Democrats extract US forces from Iraq in a year’s time, then we have won. If not, then we have started a new political movement, which realigns many forces in preparation for future battles against the War Parties.

Posted by: John Francis Lee | Nov 22 2006 4:17 utc | 60

Better Late Than Never – A Thanksgiving Present for Americans
Funny how when a political leader is assasinated elsewhere in the world, it’s recognized as an attempt by political actors to effect policy. Here at home, we’re not even allowed to entertain such rational explanations – it’s strictly the province of “lone nuts”, unless one is a “conspiracy theorist”. …New info. has come out implicating the CIA in RFK’s assasination. …Wonder if it’ll make front page of NYT…or anywhere else domestically … It was even broadcast on the Beeb in UK. Anyone see it?
BBC – New video and photographic evidence that puts three senior CIA operatives at the scene of Robert Kennedy’s assassination has been brought to light. The evidence was shown in a report by Shane O’Sullivan, broadcast on BBC Newsnight. It reveals that the operatives and four unidentified associates were at the Ambassador Hotel, Los Angeles in the moments before and after the shooting on 5 June, 1968.
The CIA had no domestic jurisdiction and some of the officers were based in South-East Asia at the time, with no reason to be in Los Angeles. . .
A 24-year-old Palestinian, Sirhan Sirhan, was arrested as the lone assassin and notebooks at his house seemed to incriminate him. However,
even under hypnosis, he has never been able to remember the shooting and defense psychiatrists concluded he was in a trance at the time.
Witnesses placed Sirhan’s gun several feet in front of Kennedy but the autopsy showed the fatal shot came from one inch behind.
Dr Herbert Spiegel, a world authority on hypnosis at Columbia University, believes Sirhan may have been hypnotically programmed to act as a decoy for the real assassin. link
SHANE O’SULLIVAN, GUARDIAN – Morales was a legendary figure in CIA covert operations. According to close associate Tom Clines, if you saw Morales walking down the street in a Latin American capital, you knew a
coup was about to happen. When the subject of the Kennedys came up in a late-night session with friends in 1973, Morales launched into a tirade that finished: “I was in Dallas when we got the son of a bitch and I was
in Los Angeles when we got the little bastard.” . . . Link

Posted by: jj | Nov 22 2006 6:46 utc | 62

b, must be GCHQ in Qatar where the meeting is.

Posted by: Cloned Poster | Nov 22 2006 7:56 utc | 64

Elder Bush takes on son’s Arab critics

“My son is an honest man,” Bush told members of the audience harshly criticized the current U.S. leader’s foreign policy.
…
“We do not respect your son. We do not respect what he’s doing all over the world,” a woman in the audience bluntly told Bush after his speech.
Bush, 82, appeared stunned as others in the audience whooped and whistled in approval.
…
The hostile comments came during a quesion-and-answer session after Bush finished a folksy address on leadership by telling the audience how deeply hurt he feels when his presidential son is criticized.
“This son is not going to back away,” Bush said, his voice quivering. “He’s not going to change his view because some poll says this or some poll says that, or some heartfelt comments from the lady who feels deeply in her heart about something. You can’t be president of the United States and conduct yourself if you’re going to cut and run. This is going to work out in Iraq. I understand the anxiety. It’s not easy.”

So far for the chance that the “realists” will call to leave Iraq …

Posted by: b | Nov 22 2006 8:14 utc | 66

uncle#65, this sounds hideous. i cannot imagine having my torturer operate on my heart. this is like a sanctioned wet dream for a sadist

Posted by: annie | Nov 22 2006 10:12 utc | 68

Coward!

Posted by: Uncle $cam | Nov 22 2006 12:19 utc | 70

We’ve all heard of “analysis paralysis” and the superiority of wu wei (“the conditioned” or action uncluttered by superfluous thought, for you non New-Agey sorts)… well, some recent cognitive studies involving teenagers and decion-making indicates that analyzing things to death often really can be a path to true stupidity.

While we tend in our culture to celebrate reason and careful, deliberative decision making, some psychologists are now arguing that the opposite value sometimes holds. The emerging view is that the brain is a dual-processor, with certain neurons dedicated to systematic crunching of information, and others (probably older and more primitive from an evolutionary point of view) making fast intuitive leaps. These leaps, the new research suggests, may lead to healthier decisions. In other words, impulsivity sometimes trumps logic and caution.

Geez… should I have posted that? What’s the worst that could happen? Well, on the one hand…
Eh. You get the point.

Posted by: Monolycus | Nov 22 2006 15:36 utc | 72

Uncle $ @ #70 – that is nothing.
Went to hear Patrick Cockburn speak last night (he has new book on occupation of Iraq), and he said that regularly there is no single cabinet minister, pm or president left in the country!
So who is governing?
Well, he characterized the “handover of sovreignity” as fictive and for USUK domestic political purposes only. The Iraqi PM cannot move troops w/o the say-so of the US forces, and there is no line for intel in the budget (“the finance minister told me”) – because the CIA is in control of intel gathering in Iraq, at a cost of US$300m pa.
The idea that Iraq is an independent state is flat-out wrong.
Other highlights:
*Gen Kimmitt single-handedly did more to make the US hated in Iraq than anyone else.
*For a country undergoing “reconstruction”, there is a remarkable lack of cranes (eg on the skyline in Baghdad).
*Dubya at least had some rationale for going into Iraq (thought it would be easy, benefits of khaki/security presidency), but Bliar’s role is inexplicable.
*Bliar’s website is one of the more “terrifying” documents of the age — because even if it were true that USUK could prevail in Iraq, the assumptions espoused by Bliar are so wrong that USUK would definitely fail, no appreciation of the facts on the ground eg Moqtada al-Sadr is anti-Iran, not pro-.
*Bliar living in some version of Lord of the Rings viz. his pan-Islamic conspiracy fears (see Bliar’s speech in London, 13 Nov 06, “not ‘regime change’ but ‘values change'” speech in Los Angeles, 1 Aug 06).
*Bliar’s stance towards US ludicrous from the start viz. “we’ll support you whatever” leaves no room no room for asking for specific policy measures that might be contingent on that support.
*Last USUK rationale for occupation (“to prevent civil war”) has been exploded (sic). Deaths in the order of 30,000-55,000 pa, that’s just bodies recovered.
*USUK just one of many competing militias. Only 25,000-30,000 US troops in field, rest is support “tail”.
*Militia USUK really want to engage w/ is al-Sadr/Medhi Army – because al-Sadr is “islamobolshevik”.
*Iraq worse than Afghanistan: Afghanistan was already well-fucked, but in Iraq some hope that finally things were going to improve after fall of Saddam.
*Iran-Iraq war in 1980-88, Gulf War in 1991 had already reduced the circumstances of most people in Iraq viz. collapse of value of savings after 1991. As a result, most people, even farmers in remote areas, keep life savings in US$100 bills in the house – as a result, everyone, EVERYONE, has guns. Saddam tried to buy back guns from genpop eg one village w/ three tanks, wouldn’t sell because Saddam govt did not offer high enough price. A lot of Iraqi households have US$20,000 cash on the premises, more than in London, LA. (?Maybe why some US gangbanger types are joining up US Army – heard of rich pickings to be had.)
*US incomprehension at Iraq as “repressive regime” in which every citizen is armed to the teeth. (?US thinks “repression” = gun laws?)
*Difficult to overestimate the “toxic” effects of USUK occupation on Iraqi politics (another reason to leave), complicating an already complex picture of loyalties and cross-loyalties viz. trad Iraqi saying, ‘Two Iraqis, three sects’.
A very brave man.

Posted by: Dismal Science | Nov 22 2006 16:23 utc | 74

it is hard to get upset about the chinese selling organs from executed prisoners. I am already against capital punishment so how is this any worse.
I mean, they are already freakin dead. what difference does it make if their organs are sold or simply burned in an incinerator?
people who find it quite ok to kill someone else are probably not bothered with making a quick buck off the dead carcass either.
just sayin..

Posted by: dan of steele | Nov 22 2006 16:54 utc | 76

Worth your time: No more hitching in the W. Bank

The OC Central Command, Yair Naveh, dropped a cluster bomb early this week. He signed an order barring Israeli citizens from taking Palestinian passengers in their Israeli vehicles within the West Bank. The order will take effect on January 19, 2007 and it exempts those who take Palestinians with permits to enter Israel and the settlements, or those who take their first-degree relatives with them.
…
The ban prohibiting Israelis from taking Palestinian passengers in their cars within the West Bank is part of the regime of “transportation separation” Israel has created in the West Bank. The ban complements another order that bars Palestinians with permits to enter Israel from using those crossing points from the West Bank to Israel where Israelis pass through. The Palestinians have separate crossing points. The ban is in addition to the two separate systems of roads the security establishment continues to build unhindered in the West Bank: one for the Jewish settlers and those affiliated with them (and, by accident, for the opponents of the Occupation and Israeli Arabs, as no order against their using it has been issued yet) and the other for the Palestinians. One is spacious, lit up, safe and allows for quick and brief travel. The other is narrow, exhausting, not in good shape and full of checkpoints, and makes the travel slow and time-consuming.
…
The ban affects all the determined Israeli groups working against the occupation: Mahsom Watch, Yesh Din, Activists against the Separation Fence, Rabbis for Human Rights, Ta’ayush, the Committee Against House Demolitions. It also affects human rights groups such as Hamoked – the Center for the Defense of the Individual, B’Tselem, and the Association for Civil Rights. Activists from all the above organizations and movements meet with Palestinians, travel with them and build up friendships with them. In their meetings and joint travels on the roads of the West Bank, they serve as a reminder to the Palestinians that there are Israelis who are not soldiers and settlers, that there are Israelis who oppose the regime of privileges and that therefore, there is perhaps hope for a fair political solution.

Posted by: b | Nov 22 2006 18:05 utc | 78

The Massacre at Beit Hanoun

Ha’aretz correspondent Gideon Levy described the situation in the northern Gaza town of Beit Hanoun in a searing article on Sunday. He proposed, half seriously, that the Israeli colonies removed last year as part of Israel’s so-called “disengagement” from Gaza should be returned because they would serve “as the last human shield for a million and a half residents who now comprise one of the most helpless populations in the world. Incarcerated, without any assistance, they are liable to starve to death. Exposed, without any protection, they fall prey to the Israel Defense Force’s operations of vengeance.”
How can we Americans ignore this? How can we bear it? How can we bear to continue paying for Israel’s atrocities? How can we possibly allow this inhumanity to be perpetrated in our name without crying out in horror, without bringing down our own government that sits by doling out the money and the weapons to keep this horror going, without severing altogether any ties with Israel’s Nazi government?

Posted by: John Francis Lee | Nov 23 2006 0:28 utc | 80

Thanksgiving Prayer by William Burroughs

Posted by: Uncle $cam | Nov 23 2006 8:58 utc | 82

Tom Hayden< has this post up on the Huffington Post on the behind the scenes negotiations on Iraq. Some clips:

According to credible Iraqi sources in London and Amman, a secret story of America’s diplomatic exit strategy from Iraq is rapidly unfolding. The key events include:
First, James Baker told one of Saddam Hussein’s lawyers that Tariq Aziz, former deputy prime minister, would be released from detention by the end of this year, in hope that he will negotiate with the US on behalf of the Baath Party leadership. The discussion recently took place in Amman, according to the Iraqi paper al-Quds al-Arabi.
Second, Secretary of State Condoleeza Rice personally appealed to the Gulf Cooperation Council in October to serve as intermediaries between the US and armed Sunni resistance groups [not including al Qaeda], communicating a US willingness to negotiate with them at any time or place.
[…]
Third, there was an “unprecedented” secret meeting of high-level Americans and representatives of “a primary component of the Iraqi resistance” two weeks ago, lasting for three days. As a result, the Iraqis agreed to return to the talks in the next two weeks with a response for the American side, according to Jordanian press leaks and al-Quds al-Arabi.
Fourth, detailed email transmissions dated November 16 reveal an active American effort behind the scenes to broker a peace agreement with Iraqi resistance leaders, a plot that could include a political coup against Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki.
Fifth, Bush security adviser Stephen Hadley carried a six-point message for Iraqi officials on his recent trip to Baghdad:
* include Iraqi resistance and opposition leaders in any initiative towards national reconciliation;general amnesty for the armed resistance fighters;
* dissolve the Iraqi commission charged with banning the Baath Party;
* start the disbanding of militias and death squads;
* cancel any federalism proposal to divide Iraq into three regions, and combine central authority for the central government with greater self-rule for local governors;
* distribute oil revenues in a fair manner to all Iraqis, including the Sunnis whose regions lack the resource.
Prime Minister Al-Maliki was unable to accept the American proposals because of his institutional allegiance to Shiite parties who believe their historic moment has arrived after one thousand years of Sunni domination. That Shiite refusal has accelerated secret American efforts to pressure, re-organize, or remove the elected al-Maliki regime from power.
The Backstory
Underlying these developments are three American concerns: first, the deepening quagmire and sectarian strife on the battlefield; second, the mid-year American elections in which voters repudiated the war; and third, the strategic concern that the new Iraq has slipped into the orbit of Iran. It remains to be seen if Iran will exercise influence on its Shiite allies in Iraq (the Grand Ayatollah Sistani was born in Iraq, and the main Shiite bloc was created in Iran by Iraqi exiles). But that is the direction being taken by Baker’s Iraq Study Group and former CIA director John Deutch in a New York Times op-ed. The principal US track, in addition to a declared withdrawal plan, should be to work towards a hands-off policy by Iran, at least for an interval, according to Deutch.
[…]
Earlier this year, an American peace delegation, including Cindy Sheehan, found themselves in two days of meetings with Iraqis of every political stripe. US Congressman Jim McDermott (D-WA) was crucial in making these contracts possible. Dal Lamagna, a self-described “frustrated peacemaker” made both trips to Amman, and provided this writer with videos and transcripts of the interviews on which this article is based.
It must be emphasized that there is no reason to believe that these US gestures are anything more than probes, in the historic spirit of divide-and-conquer, before escalating the Iraq war in a Baghdad offensive. Denial plausibility – aka Machiavellian secrecy – remains American security policy, for understandable if undemocratic reasons.

Not sure what this all means, as Hayden says, it could all be a pre-offensive ruse. There are however, several points worth noting: First off, its the first time I’ve heard of Tariq Aziz being released from prison, let alone representing the Baath. But because also in American eyes, Aziz mostly came across (on the MSM) as an Iraqi voice of tempered moderation, well spoken and of course Christian, he could plausably soothe the rough edges off the “head cutting off” image of the insurgency. I’m actually suprised the U.S. has’nt seen his utility up until this point. Secondly, Hadleys list would seem to confirm the administrations distaste for partitioning the country — as this element should be a documented and reiterating statements by Bush, an “official” one. And in addition, the list would confirm the administrations efforts toward re-Baathification made “official”. And finally, seeing how Maliki has been un willing (or unable) to accept these terms, the only road to meet his conditions must involve some form of coup d’etat. Maybe Bush will deliver his golden parachute at their next meeting in Amman.

Posted by: anna missed | Nov 23 2006 10:36 utc | 84

Excellent post anna missed and interesting in light of this:
who will play SISMI?

Posted by: Uncle $cam | Nov 23 2006 11:09 utc | 86

The first report I read of the Polish mining tragedy this morning (No survivors in Polish mine blast) stated that the mine had been shutdown a year ago because it was too dangerous to work.
But now they had decided the equipment in the mine was too valuable to abandon.
So they reopened a dangerous, unworkable mine and sent more the twenty-three miners more than a kilometer below the earth’s surface in a shaft known to have methane in it.
To recover some mining equipment.
Now I can see why they were untroubled sending troops to Iraq.

Posted by: John Francis Lee | Nov 23 2006 13:03 utc | 88

Thanks John.
—
More modern history – New York Review of Books:
Iraq: The War of the Imagination
Quite a piece on how the war was destined to result into what we see today. Recommended.

Posted by: b | Nov 23 2006 19:04 utc | 90

jfl#87
Send 20K more troops to Iraq to pull off the coup to reincarnate Sadam Hussein as Ilya Allawi, get his signature on a piece of paper detailing the “Shared Production Agreements” the multinationals want and the oil portion of the oil-war-likud tripartite cabal will have succeeded in what they set out to do. The war portion has got record profits and a full book of backorders. I didn’t see the part where Likud gets to bomb Iran, but Hayden’s a made man… some things are not shared outside The Family.
the source? is this your writing in blockquote? or did i miss this in the links (thanks and excellent btw b,uncle,anna missed)

Posted by: annie | Nov 23 2006 21:56 utc | 92

no need to be sorry JFL. i just wished there had been a link to it so i could have read more. guess i’ll just have to settle for short but potent.

Posted by: annie | Nov 24 2006 0:54 utc | 94

anna missed:
Sorry… Tom Hayden. Michael Hayden was a good friend of my youngest brother’s when we were in grammar school. I haven’t seen Michael in fifty years and to my knowledge he was never Israel’s dupe.
The Mark Danner article points out that from the point of view of the Likudnikons – Feith, Wolfowitz, et al – in the pentagon, the Iraq war was successfully concluded, and the occupation of Palestine – I mean Iraq – successfully begun…

Unfortunately, within the Pentagon there coexisted at least two visions of what the occupation of Iraq was to be: the quick victory, quick departure view of Rumsfeld, and the broader, ideologically driven democratic transformation of Iraqi society championed by the neoconservatives. The two views had uneasily intersected, for a time, in the alluring person of Ahmad Chalabi, who seemed to make both visions possible. With a Chalabi coronation taken off the table by President Bush, however, determined officials with a direct line to Bremer were transforming the Iraq adventure into a long-term, highly ambitious occupation.

Now it’s time to lay all blame on poor George XLIII, to call in old and new debts among the Demoplicans, and it’s on to the destruction of Iran.
And of the United States too, this time.
But what great use they made of the “world’s sole remaining superpower” during their turn in the wheelhouse, eh?
And they retire to the World Bank, a la McNamera, and to “teach” at Georgetown, where their Jesuit casuist confessors continue to ply their age-old business as usual.

Posted by: John Francis Lee | Nov 24 2006 3:12 utc | 96