Shlonkom Bakazay?

Colin Powell called neo-conservatives "fucking crazies"...

From the Columbia Journalism Review comes The List: How Chalabi Played the Press about everybody's favorite crook and political chameleon. The subtitle is "Judith Miller is on it, but she's hardly alone"... this is the same Judith Miller that will be forced to testify and reveal sources that led to the outing of CIA agent Valerie Plame, Joe Wilson's wife. (This is as of yesterday because of a judge's decision. Hear democracy now! today while I look for something in print to link to...)

To see how American democracy works when dealing with the current alarming situation in Iraq first go here, the video archive on international affairs on CSPAN.org, and scroll down to where it says, "Senate Hearing on U.S. Assistance to Iraq" under the date 9/15/2004. You might have to go to the next page of videos in this part of the archive to view the interesting, sometimes scathing, and extremely belated criticism from some members of the committee of the job being done in Iraq under the auspice of U.S. (failed) leadership and (failed) foreign policy.


Richard Lugar (R-Indiana), the Chairman of the Foreign Relations Committee says while opening up this hearing,

This war is not going to be won by Marines and soldiers. The only thing we can do about it is keep a lid on it and buy time. ...in an economy with no jobs, faltering infrastructure, there is plenty of incentive to fight. The incentive needs to be removed. Marines and soldiers don't remove it. Civil affairs teams and NGOs do. And there are not enough of these people in Iraq. And they are not organized in a specific way that they can respond to specific needs. *You are less likely to shoot the guy who is trying to build a school for you kids and turn on your water. These individuals need to take greater risks and be out there with us.

*Doesn't this go for Simona Torretta, Simona Pari, Mahnoaz, and Ra'ad too? Isn't it strange that these individuals are kidnapped from the Un Ponte Per Baghdad office in the manner they were?

Oh there's so many other questions to ask. But I'll leave it at that for now.

I hope some of you will watch at least some of this hearing.

OUT,
lImINal

UPDATE: Here's my commentary and bookmarks for the over 2 hour hearing. No, I didn't watch all of it. But I did listen to most of it.

The tension is so thick that you could only cut it with a sharp machete.

Senator Chuck Hagel R-Nebraska

1:24min = "beyond pitiful" (on what hasn't been spent in Iraq)

1:26 min = what has been designated to be spent -vs- what actually has been spent On HEALTH, approximately $765 million earmarked, yet only $2 million spent. Do you believe that? And there are other mind-boggggggglin' numbers.

1:27:30 UN kofi annan statement- on Iraqi elections

-Senator Bill Nelson D-Florida

1:33:40 "Loosey Goosey" used in a formal meeting in DC referring to the plan for post conflict Iraq (well, there still is a conflict////it hasn't stopped and that's some funny shit actually. reminds me of manny farber's film criticism...intermingling phenomenological terms with sometimes obscene coarseness and sarcasm...well, not really when i think of it. these guys are semantic savages. farber is much more entertaining.)

1:42 "Dissed" is used in a very seriuos manner by our dear Senator who's tired of friggin' hurricaines...(dude, fuckin' awesome senate hearing! damn son, we was dissed)




I'll add the first part of this later...
Update: (ah, nevermind...it's not worth the trouble. there should have been much more critical thinking before the war. and now they're just getting to it...just as Iraq is looking its worst. in fact, don't watch it.)

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***aLso, excerpts from a Sidney Blumenthal Guardian article...where former head of the National Security Agency says that Iraq is "far graver than Vietnam."

Retired general William Odom, former head of the National Security Agency, told me: "Bush hasn't found the WMD. Al-Qaida, it's worse, he's lost on that front. That he's going to achieve a democracy there? That goal is lost, too. It's lost." He adds: "Right now, the course we're on, we're achieving Bin Laden's ends."

General Odom said: "This is far graver than Vietnam. There wasn't as much at stake strategically, though in both cases we mindlessly went ahead with the war that was not constructive for US aims. But now we're in a region far more volatile, and we're in much worse shape with our allies."

General Hoare believes from the information he has received that "a decision has been made" to attack Fallujah "after the first Tuesday in November. That's the cynical part of it - after the election. The signs are all there."

He compares any such planned attack to the late Syrian dictator Hafez al-Asad's razing of the rebel city of Hama. "You could flatten it," said Hoare. "US military forces would prevail, casualties would be high, there would be inconclusive results with respect to the bad guys, their leadership would escape, and civilians would be caught in the middle. I hate that phrase collateral damage. And they talked about dancing in the street, a beacon for democracy."

Normally, I would be guarded about such a report. The fact that it was written by two people who I admire cancels this skepticism.

Naomi Klein and Jeremy Scahill report...

...who stands to benefit from an attack on this anti-war NGO?

On Monday, the Italian press began reporting on one possible answer. Sheikh Abdul Salam al-Kubaisi, from Iraq's leading Sunni cleric organisation, told reporters in Baghdad that he received a visit from Torretta and Pari the day before the kidnap. "They were scared," the cleric said. "They told me that someone threatened them." Asked who was behind the threats, al-Kubaisi replied: "We suspect some foreign intelligence."

Blaming unpopular resistance attacks on CIA or Mossad conspiracies is idle chatter in Baghdad, but coming from Kubaisi, the claim carries unusual weight; he has ties with a range of resistance groups and has brokered the release of several hostages. Kubaisi's allegations have been widely reported in Arab media, as well as in Italy, but have been absent from the English-language press.

Western journalists are loath to talk about spies for fear of being labelled conspiracy theorists. But spies and covert operations are not a conspiracy in Iraq; they are a daily reality. According to CIA deputy director James L Pavitt, "Baghdad is home to the largest CIA station since the Vietnam war", with 500 to 600 agents on the ground. Allawi himself is a lifelong spook who has worked with MI6, the CIA and the mukhabarat, specialising in removing enemies of the regime.

UPDATE: Listen to Democracy NOW! or read the transcript (I'll put this later...there appears to not be one right now).

Toward the end of the show, Jeremy Scahill is interviewed by Amy Goodman about the situation surrounding the kidnapping. It is especially powerful and enlightening to *hear the account instead of reading it. I'm more convinced of what Naomi Klein and he himself wrote after hearing him.

Kofi Annan woke up and said the invasion was illegal. (BBC online print, news segment, commentary)

Of course, this means more for the world than to Iraqis that have suffered under sanctions authorized by the UN. It packs a punch politically, so expect some character assassination on the part of the Bush administration only 50 days before the US election. They'll send the wolves out. And I hope Kofi survives.

Jon Stewart is off-the-hook, again.

out,
liminal

Read River of Baghdad Burning

Since it's rare in the past few months, heads-UP.

On as always...

Thank you River.

Part of an extract from Seymour Hersh's new book "Chain of Command"

For the tough cases, however, according to a Pentagon adviser familiar with detainee conditions in mid-2002, at recreation time some prisoners would be strapped into heavy jackets, similar to straitjackets, with their arms locked behind them and their legs straddled by straps. Goggles were placed over their eyes, and their heads were covered with a hood. The prisoner was then led at midday into what looked like a narrow fenced-in dog run - the adviser told me that there were photographs of the procedure - and given his hour of recreation. The restraints forced him to move, if he chose to move, on his knees, bent over at a 45-degree angle. Most prisoners just sat and suffered in the heat.

Check the rest out.

And some real recreation time (BUT) well-spent...

Direct Earhole Action: In times like these listening to music is like breathing air. And when it's free, dig it. All songs on the iraqiart.com website. And songs from Iraqimusic.com

I've put up comments again. There will be tolerance except in the case of anything I deem inappropriately offensive. Included in the above category are insults that attack one personally or an opinion expressed. The idea is to foster critical-thinking, not hatred or being rude. And I think many of us would agree that we lack the former in great quality and quantity.

Christopher Allbritton from his Back to Iraq blog gives his estimate of the current "fubar situation" in Iraq. Also read that Time magazine article that he hyperlinks. Chris says, "Anyone who asks me to tell the “real” story of Iraq — implying all the bad things are just media hype — should refer to this post. I just told you the real story: What was once a hell wrought by Saddam is now one of America’s making." Here's an excerpt:

I don’t know if I can really put into words just how bad it is here some days. Yesterday was horrible — just horrible. While most reports show Fallujah, Ramadi and Samarra as “no-go” areas, practically the entire Western part of the country is controlled by insurgents, with pockets of U.S. power formed by the garrisons outside the towns. Insurgents move freely throughout the country and the violence continues to grow.


I wish I could point to a solution, but I don’t see one. People continue to email me, telling me to report the “truth” of all the good things that are going on in Iraq. I’m not seeing a one. A buddy of mine is stationed here and they’re fixing up a park on a major street. Gen. Chiarelli was very proud of this accomplishment, and he stressed this to me when I interviewed him for the TIME story. But Baghdadis couldn’t care less. They don’t want city beautification projects; they want electricity, clean water and, most of all, an end to the violence.

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He's just sleeping, I kept telling myself'
"On Sunday, 13 Iraqis were killed and dozens injured in Baghdad when US helicopters fired on a crowd of unarmed civilians. G2 columnist Ghaith Abdul-Ahad, who was injured in the attack, describes the scene of carnage - and reveals just how lucky he was to walk away."

We were all rushing towards the same place: a fence, a block of buildings and a prefab concrete cube used as a cigarette stall.
I had just reached the corner of the cube when I heard two explosions, I felt hot air blast my face and something burning on my head. I crawled to the cube and hid behind it. Six of us were squeezed into a space less than two metres wide. Blood started dripping on my camera but all that I could think about was how to keep the lens clean. A man in his 40s next to me was crying. He wasn't injured, he was just crying. I was so scared I just wanted to squeeze myself against the wall. The helicopters wheeled overhead, and I realised that they were firing directly at us. I wanted to be invisible, I wanted to hide under the others

What else do you need to know about what's happening right now in Iraq besides what Gaith captures above and below? Read the entire article. They were firing directly at them? We must get on the right path to stop this violence. This is substantially more violence than during the war with all those cruise missles and depleted uranium shells. This is an outrage.





Yes, Gaith got injured, but as Salam says..."he's ok". Thankfully yes...looks like a bad shot to the head. Everybody needs to email him get-well wishes. He's been through way too much for one person recently. (read article)




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CPA = "Cannot Provide Anything" -->ny book review article "The Bungled Transition" by Peter W. Galbraith

The Bush administration's recruitment of staff for the CPA is one of the great scandals of the American occupation, although it has so far received little attention from the press. Republican political connections counted for far more than professional competence, relevant international experience, or knowledge of Iraq. In May, The Washington Post ran an account of three young people recruited for service in the CPA by e-mail, without interviews, security clearances, or relevant experience. They ended up responsible for spending Iraq's budget; because they knew little about the country or about financial procedures, they did so slowly.

>>Peter W. Galbraith served as the first US Ambassador to Croatia and with the UN in East Timor. As a staff member of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee in the 1980s, he uncovered and documented Iraq's "Anfal" campaign against the Kurds. Currently, he is the senior diplomatic fellow at the Center for Arms Control and Non- Proliferation and a partner in a firm specializing in international law and negotiation.<<

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House Republicans and Democrats Unite in Linking Iraq with 9/11
by Stephen Zunes

I saw Stephen Zunes read from his book before the Iraq war happened. He's very articulate and incredibly stubborn. And he speaks his mind with great confidence, verging on arrogance. If you're in academia it doesn't hurt to be all of these things.

On the eve of the third anniversary of 9/11, the U.S. House of Representatives – by an overwhelming bipartisan majority of 406-16 – passed a resolution linking Iraq to the Al Qaeda attacks on the World Trade Center and the Pentagon. This comes despite conclusions reached by the bipartisan 9/11 Commission and the consensus of independent strategic analysis familiar with the region that no such links ever existed.

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The Likud Doctrine
First Bush, and now Putin, have picked up lessons for their wars on terror from Israel's campaign against the Palestinians
by Naomi Klein

Canadian writer of the famed No Logo, Naomi Klein, tells you what she thinks.

Common wisdom has it that after 9/11, a new era of geo-politics was ushered in, defined by what is usually called the Bush doctrine: pre-emptive wars, attacks on terrorist infrastructure (read: entire countries), an insistence that all the enemy understands is force. In fact, it would be more accurate to call this rigid worldview the Likud doctrine. What happened on September 11 2001 is that the Likud doctrine, previously targeted against Palestinians, was picked up by the most powerful nation on earth and applied on a global scale. Call it the Likudisation of the world: the real legacy of 9/11.

Let me be absolutely clear: by Likudisation I do not mean that key members of the Bush administration are working for the interests of Israel at the expense of US interests. What I mean is that on September 11, George Bush went looking for a political philosophy to guide him in his role as "war president". He found that philosophy in the Likud doctrine, handed to him ready-made by the ardent Likudniks ensconced in the White House. In the three years since, the Bush White House has applied this logic with chilling consistency to its global war on terror - complete with the pathologising of the "Muslim mind". It was the guiding philosophy in Afghanistan and Iraq, and may well extend to Iran and Syria. It's not simply that Bush sees America's role as protecting Israel from a hostile Arab world. It's that he has cast the US in the same role in which Israel casts itself, facing the same threat. In this narrative, the US is fighting a never-ending battle for its survival against irrational forces that seek its total extermination.

And now the Likudisation narrative has spread to Russia.

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The Wanderers

By ADIB MATTI AS TOLD TO KATHERINE ZOEPF

The American invasion was our greatest hope. We had been planning for it, thinking that we would be able to return to our villages. But gangs formed everywhere, and Christians were easy targets because they don't belong to a tribal system like other Iraqis. We were subject to looting and to threats.

Then my nephew Patrous was kidnapped in the summer of 2003. We had to pay $15,000 and some gold to ransom him. We were successful businessmen, my brothers and I, but this was a fortune for us. In Iraq, it would take us more than five years to earn that much again. Patrous was held for four days. The kidnappers didn't harm him physically, but he was only 8. He was terrified. And he's still very fearful; he never leaves his parents. Sometimes he shouts the name of his kidnapper -- Adnan -- in his sleep.

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And finally Dr. Eden Naby's guest editorial on Juan Cole's Informed Comment about Christians in Iraq.

This is a chilling account of the realities that face the Christians remaining in Iraq. Of course, it's particularly of concern to me because my family is Assyrian Orthodox. I have more to say specifically on this topic when the time is right.

I will also call attention to Fayrouz' recent posts about the same topic soon. I'm just waiting to hear from her (, or really for the opportunity to check my email). I'll do that a bit later and try to update.

It is unusual for information from Christian villages to filter outside the area currently under military and political pressure from the Kurdish Democratic Party. Kurds are barring Western journalists from entering villages like Dayrabun ("Monastary of the Bishop") which are not in any danger zone, but are being denied resettlement by their Christian inhabitants (reported by Thiry August, a Belgian who tried to visit the Faysh Khabour area this summer). The KDP is determined to expand its control as far to the west and south as possible into areas now inhabited by ChaldoAssyrians. Under the Transitional Administrative Law, so favorable to Kurds, the objects of Western sympathy and funds, any territory in the three provinces adjoining Dohuk, Arbil and Sulaymaniya (Ninawa, Tamim [Kirkuk] and Diyala) that Kurds can show they controlled on March 19, 2003 (prior to the invasion), may become part of the Kurdish controlled region in northern Iraq (TAL, Article 53A).

This provision allows Kurds to create "facts on the ground" in the Mosul and Kirkuk areas in particular, at the expense of unarmed ethnic and religious minorities - to wit - the Christians of Iraq, the Yezidis, the Shabat, and the Turkomens. The advantages of controlling Kirkuk are well known. But the Mosul area, now the scene of fierce attacks on Christians and Turkomens, are less well recognized.

Enjoy these articles. I'm so frustrated angry depressed...

And hopefully, some people I care about will understand more. I was hoping this would happen in a different manner, but this will do for now. This is complicated, so I'll have no choice but to leave it vague. Excuse me.

This is first for all my family and friends that have been directly and indirectly affected by the events in Iraq...especially through my passionate and unrelenting will and wish to find some truth in the matters that are most important regarding the situation. I have let certain things get to me so much that it has influenced my relationships with you. And I'm sincerely sorry and regret each moment that has been infused with the negative side of this. I promise I will make up for my moodiness and over-reactive nature during this time in the future.

Second, this is for Mazin al'Tumaizy...the 26 year old producer for al'Arabiya that was killed on camera yesterday. How disgusting and how terrible. Along with Tariq Ayoub, the infamous al'Jazeera correspondant who was killed during the initial phase of the war. See the film Control Room for more information on him. These are awful and unacceptable losses. Not to mention the terrible death toll all across Iraq where Iraqi civilians continue to be inflicted with the worst trauma and loss.

Yes, matters have recently taken on a shape that is inscrutable...especially with the third anniversary and memorial of 9/11. But 9/11 doesn't mean much inside Iraq when things are so dangerous on the ground, other than one false reason the current US administration gave and, consequently, continues to give is that there was a connection between the two. The danger that looms ahead is palpable. Unfortunately, it seems to have already arrived and continues to show new ugly faces each day. This war was so completely wrong for Iraq and the world. And there are truths that will never surface now. It is very difficult to be optimistic. We must support one another through this time, though. Take those that are closest to you and cherish them. Find hope and optimism in those daily interactions. Do not spend too much time alone thinking. And know when to step on the brake when emotions boil over. Also, let us take the few positives we may* have gained from the war and use them to ensure we are going to make a difference in the lives of those we care about. There's no reason to give up, in other words. I'm going to take my own advice finally.

Here it is, then...Seymour Hersh, ...click on the text below to read the entire thing.

There is so much about this presidency that we don’t know, and may never learn. Some of the most important questions are not even being asked. How did they do it? How did eight or nine neoconservatives who believed that a war in Iraq was the answer to international terrorism get their way? How did they redirect the government and rearrange long-standing American priorities and policies with so much ease? How did they overcome the bureaucracy, intimidate the press, mislead the Congress, and dominate the military? Is our democracy that fragile? I have tried, in this book, to describe some of the mechanisms used by the White House—the stovepiping of intelligence, the reliance on Ahmad Chalabi, the refusal to hear dissenting opinions, the difficulty of getting straight talk about military operations gone bad, and the inability—or unwillingness—of the President and his senior aides to distinguish between Muslims who supported terrorism and those who abhorred it. A complete understanding of these last few years will be a challenge for journalists, political scientists, and historians.

I cannot even begin to include all that has happened in the past week and a half. And I might completely omit that from short-term memory so I can get along with things and grasp some sense of what is happening other than what I see before my eyes. I'll just say it's been insane.

Love over Fear,

liminal

You can't break down taboos unless you challenge them. Of course, there is the danger that if you challenge them, you will be attacked, and destroyed politically or marginalized. Perhaps it is even likely.

But our country is in dire danger from the conflicts in the Middle East. If I had been a younger man (I am 51) I would have gone to fight al-Qaeda in Afghanistan. The very least I can do is to speak out about the dangers, and urge solutions of the problems generating the terrorism. What good is freedom of speech if we don't use it?

Click on to read this... one of the latest from Professor Cole. I agree with the first and last sentence above whole-heartedly. The entire entry is important, though. Such sound logic in illogical times...So, please read it.

I have so much to write about I don't know where to begin. I don't have much time now so I'll save it for later.

I will mention this, though. I found a great website with a lot of Daily Show clips among other interesting videos. I've noticed that the Daily Show website's videos section does not work at all since they changed the format. Meaning, you can't watch the clips because most of those links to videos I have here have gone sour. Sorry...but check out the above site. And there are other kindred spirits with a sense of humor putting up so many hilarious videos in other places...I'll try and put those links up soon.

Ok, much to do...

Have a good one.
L O'er F
Lim.

"The Surveillance Modality"

The British appear in the 19th Century to have felt most comfortable surveying India from above and at a distance - from a horse, an elephant, a boat, a carraige, or a train. They were uncomfortable in the narrow confines of a city street, a bazaar, a mela - anywhere where they were surrounded by their Indian subjects.

test for new sys...see if you can laugh at the daily show's latest brilliant piece.

And in some cases, criminals like Elliot Abrams. Why is he the leader of this administration on the Israeli-Palestinian issue? Wasn't he a major proponent of the Iran Contra Affair? Wasn't he indicted? Why does it seem that all the people that have made such atrocious mistakes in this administration will suffer little consequence and possibly be appointed, like Abrams, to another wack administration?

The winds tell me Rumsfeld is going down one way or another, though. Could he sweet-talk his way into being the next Elliot Abrams? I don't recall Abrams being much of a sweet-talker...so probably yes.

_

Moving on, there's no better way to shoot for the middle than with Arnold and his magnificent immigrant story.



Arnold you're being used, can't you see it??? Or are you still stuck on the silver screen with very little dialogue? "Republicans are back." You didn't need to get your daddy to help you get a cush position during Vietnam, but perhaps you'd like to try copious amounts of cocaine and alcohol like our commander in chief before really getting political? Or maybe you did that already in Hollywood. Arnold? Who's YOUR daddy, hm? Not George H.W. Bush, that's for sure. But who's your mommy? Maria Kennedy Shriver? Damn, what better splicing exists of the two party system into the republicats than you? While John McCain maintains his respectability someHOW, boy is he pissing me off for not running for president (not that he would be my first choice)...instead he's doing tours and commercials with bush? He's really keeping Bush alive in so many ways. Say WHAT? Soon, you'll be ill-respected for falling in line too Senator McCain. And the prez knows that McCain is one of the only public-figure aces up his sleeve now and so he's using him in abundance.

Doesn't anybody know American history and what republicans and democrats were originally? Boy, the secondary education system here sucks. I recently put much effort in trying to garner support to pilot a program for improving the terrible book situation in many secondary schools in some rural areas within my reach. Yes, this is liminal the activist. I heard, from a friend, that there weren't enough textbooks for the students at a school where her mother teaches. So, I got angry and started calling and emailing (the few who had email addresses) the people that could help me. The main aims were to update libraries and bring in more textbooks to certain schools that don't have enough for its students (--yes, in the U.S.--). And, guess what, all I got was silence...absolutely nothing, even from friends that are from the areas that would have been a part of the program. This just angers me, but people have their lives to live. I normally see this as a lame excuse, but I'll let it slide a little for now. (and don't start me about the lack of quality of the text books i've seen and the actual state of libraries in these schools.)

what a comedy. it's so fun being actively stuck in the middle of it, i tell ya.
heheh he...

lim.

Al Jazeera reporting...

"What happened yesterday regarding the constitution and the presidency is unfamiliar - plotted by night and carried out swiftly by day," Sfeir said. Sfeir was talking about the Lebanese cabinet's approval of a bill to change the constitution, which would allow Lahud to stay in office. The bill was passed by the cabinet despite protests by the US and EU, who accuse Syria of interfering in Lebanon.

So Lahud stays so that Harriri and he can continue ripping Lebanon to pieces with no care whatsoever about the people of Lebanon. Would somebody like to ask how such a situation came about? Oh, but that would take 1001 nights to explain. Could this be the seed to lead to further action on Syria? and Saudi Arabia too? Because you have to know how much control and influence Saudis have in Lebanon with Harriri buying up the whole place. Where does he get the money to buy most of Lebanon? Hm. Doesn't take a rocket scientist to figure that out. And while he is a super wealthy man to begin with, to take the actions he has during the recent past must along with some aid from some super wealthy family that seeks to continue opressing the free-spirited people of Lebanon so that it becomes the resort vacation nation for wealthy gulf arabs.

I wish the policy makers would read their history and help Lebanon help itself. Haram on everybody colluding to destroy this beautiful country of ancient culture. Again, I smack of populism. But really, when have the people really been in any even discreet control in Lebanon? What will the U.S. do next besides the Syria Accountability Act?

Now this takes the freakin' cake. "We did not seek this war?"

The republicans have been saying this during the RNC. What kind of acrid bs is this?
I could go on a long list of complaining and describing in great detail about how exactly this war was actively sought by many people for many years. You know, like pointing out the most obvious of things.

A little background on the matter and the usual details from Juan Cole are here.

If they did not seek this war (neocons and other cold, calculating, and scandal-ridden & spy-strutting "assets" of the U.S. partaking in aftermath), then the Iraqi people apparently sought to trick the Americans into completely destroying their wills, the infrastructure and any semblance of security, making Iraq unstable for the forseeable future. My thoughts are twisted at the moment. I believe more and more the U.S. wishes this chaos to continue and Iraq to move to a more theocratic than democratic law. How I come to this conclusion is a bit complex, but I am furious about Najaf...basically a repeat of Fallujah that hardly any people in the U.S. even heard about.

To Iraqis in Iraq: People don't read the news here...for the most part. Also, Iraq has almost disappeared from the front page of newspapers. This is alarming. This is a problem. And this is an election year, so there's no wonder why this is happening. Meanwhile, more and more spy cases are being broken...this time Israel spying on the U.S. Hm...deliberate delusion, ding ding ding!!!

I did not seek this war. You did.

So get the hell out of Iraq now. And stop stealing from Iraq, planting corrupt seeds, and poorly programming its economy.

Allawi is going down. He is just another Saddam. Another CIA asset. Another way for America to have their way with Iraq and its people. What has he done for Iraq besides be propped up as one of the mayors of Baghdad? And like Abbas said, if East Timor can have elections. So should Iraq.

Vive l'elections!

Here are a few conclusions made by Benjamin Constant in 1816 in his paper "The Liberty of Ancients Compared with that of Moderns" You can read it there in full.

"...among the ancients the individual, almost always sovereign in public affairs, was a slave in all his private relations."

"All had to buy their security, their independence, their whole existence at the price of war."

And what are we doing now exactly? Personally, I feel like the American Republic is in danger...or really doesn't exist in many ways already. Hm.

Also there the point he makes about reaching a point in history with the modern nation state where commerce replaces war.
He starts out here referring to "ancient" peoples.

[For ancient peoples] War precedes commerce. War and commerce are only two different means of achieving the same end, that of getting what one wants. Commerce is simply a tribute paid to the strength of the possessor by the aspirant to possession. It is an attempt to conquer, by mutual agreement, what one can no longer hope to obtain through violence. A man who was always the stronger would never conceive the idea of commerce. It is experience, by proving to him that war, that is the use of his strength against the strength of others, exposes him to a variety of obstacles and defeats, that leads him to resort to commerce, that is to a milder and surer means of engaging the interest of others to agree to what suits his own. War is all impulse, commerce, calculation. Hence it follows that an age must come in which commerce replaces war. We have reached this age.

I hate to call hindsight 20/20 on this one, but how sorely Constant is mistaken. I don't see much of a difference today in this matter. War still precedes commerce.

And the following makes me cringe:

Secondly, the abolition of slavery has deprived the free population of all the leisure which resulted from the fact that slaves took care of most of the work. Without the slave population of Athens, 20,000 Athenians could never have spent every day at the public square in discussions. Thirdly, commerce does not, like war, leave in men's lives intervals of inactivity. The constant exercise of political rights, the daily discussion of the affairs of the state, disagreements, confabulations, the whole entourage and movement of factions, necessary agitations, the compulsory filling, if I may use the term, of the life of the peoples of antiquity, who, without this resource would have languished under the weight of painful inaction, would only cause trouble and fatigue to modern nations, where each individual, occupied with his speculations, his enterprises, the pleasures he obtains or hopes for, does not wish to be distracted from them other than momentarily, and as little as possible.

Who is more civilized both then and now if we do a more factual comparision of "ancients" and "moderns"? (leaving out the fact that American colonizers existed as a westward illegally expanding force placed squarely on the indigenous peoples of America. Oh, but that's ANCIENT HISTORY people say. So, perhaps defining what antiquity is would be good for both dead white guys and live ones. Then even more pesky problems might pop up though.

And shouldn't there be an accumulative affect going on as history unfolds? Shouldn't people and societies learn from their mistakes? Well, of course...but do we? Of course not!

Maybe Benny's little weiny was bothering him before he wrote that article.

lim


PS: NEW YORK rocks. Keep the dissent alive. Although I fear this is the final chance to voice opposition against the Iraq war en masse. So, in this manner, it is a sad day.

PPS. Oh, and what's this about some spying? FBI probing some Pentagon Israeli Spy Case Now, that's a damn surprise. Also check out Juan Cole's detailed, annotated, and expert assessment here. New developments coming at Cole's site, so scroll down if you want the entire report. Here's a newsweek article that has several new details about the spying case by Israel on the United states. Specifically, matters concerning Lawrence Franklin here..

I think it is of important note to point out that "My War" a very popular soldier blog has ended. But here's where you can find him in the cache of yahoo.

Just click on the "cache" of the item in the Yahoo list. So, you can hear what this soldier has to say.

Hm, I wonder what this means...

Why was this done? Or why did CBTFW of My War decide to quit blogging? And why did he decide to erase all his previous writing?


Oh, an things are mess still. GFY has been the operable acronym for my thoughts these days, besides those concerning loved ones.

lim.

the scoreline was 4-2

WOW

i wish to see the match recorded.

i'm going to celebrate now!!!

vive l'IRAQ!

lim

Sorry, I've been a bit off cue lately. Busy times. Abu Khaleel beat me to this one. But here's Bush in a huge verbal gaffe. It seems like the most unbelievable thing that he's said in a long time. And talk about irony...you can WATCH IT--especially if you don't believe it--) in quicktime here and in windows player here. The circus of words continues.

Our enemies are innovative and resourceful, and so are we. They never stop thinking about new ways to harm our country and our people, and neither do we.

How priceless is that?