I think much of this was lost on the audience, but this is brilliant.
Jon Stewart talks about U.S. intervention in the Middle East over the past 3 decades and our absurd policies where we provide billions of money, arms, and military training to people who later become our mortal enemies. Bin Laden? Yeah, the U.S. gave him guns and training. Saddam? Ditto. It’s astounding that people don’t realize this, and it’s astounding that you only hear discussion of it on Comedy Central.
Desperate presidents resort to desperate rhetoric — which then calls new attention to their desperation. President Bush joined the club this week by citing the U.S. failure in Vietnam to justify staying on in Iraq.
Bush’s comparison of the two conflicts rivals Richard Nixon’s "I am not a crook" utterance during Watergate and
‘s "I did not have sexual relations with that woman, Miss Lewinsky," in producing unintended consequences of a most damaging kind for a sitting president.
And why? Because…
Bush has called attention to the elephant that will be sitting in the room when his administration makes its politically vital report on Iraq to the nation next month. For Americans, the most important comparison will be this one: As Vietnam did, Iraq has become a failure even on its own terms — whatever those terms are at any given moment.
Meanwhile, there is a huuuuge clash abrewin’ within the White House. General Pace, the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff (the highest non-civilian military role there is, bar none) wants to reduce the U.S. force in Iraq next year by almost half, while General Patraeus, the U.S. commander in Iraq, will likely call for higher troop levels in Iraq in 2008. Bush, of course, will support Patraeus — one of the few top brass in the military who actually prefers escalation in Iraq.
No:
Violence Metrics
June/July
2006June/July
2007
ChangeIraqi Military and Police Killed
349
429
Up 23%
Multiple Fatality Bombings
110
82
Down 25%
# Killed in Mult. Fatality Bombings
885
1,053
Up 19%
Iraqi Civilians Killed
(All violent causes)6,739
5,300
Hard to say1
U.S. Troop Fatalities
104
187
Up 80%
U.S. Troops Wounded
983
1,423
Up 45%
Size of Insurgency
20,000+
~70,0002
Up ~250%
Attacks on Oil and Gas Pipelines
8
143
Up 75%
1Methodology changed dramatically between 2006 and 2007, so numbers are highly suspect.
2Number is for March 2007.
3Numbers are for June only. No July numbers are available.Infrastructure Metrics
June/July
2006June/July
2007
ChangeDiesel Fuel Available
26.7 Ml
20.7 Ml
Down 22%
Kerosene Available
7.08 Ml
6.3 Ml
Down 11%
Gasoline Available
29.4 Ml
22.2 Ml
Down 24%
LPG Available
4,936 tons
4,932 tons
Down 0.1%
Electricity Generated
8,800 Mwatts
8,420 Mwatts
Down 4%
Hours Electricity Per Day
11.7
10.14
Down ~14%
4No numbers available for June/July. Figure is extrapolated from May and August numbers.
This was compiled by Kevin Drum, using statistics from the Brookings Institute. While many will point out that killings and violence has gone down since the surge began, it is important to understand that violence in Iraq always goes down in summer. Thus, Kevin does a seasonal comparison, so we can look at apples-to-apples.
Finally, these charts only show the military prong of our efforts in Iraq. The political prong isn’t even debated by Bush supporters — everyone knows that is an abyssmal failure.
UPDATE: And there’s more good news about the surge:
The number of Iraqis fleeing their homes has soared since the American troop increase began in February, according to data from two humanitarian groups, accelerating the partition of the country into sectarian enclaves.
Despite some evidence that the troop buildup has improved security in certain areas, sectarian violence continues and American-led operations have brought new fighting, driving fearful Iraqis from their homes at much higher rates than before the tens of thousands of additional troops arrived, the studies show.
WATCH THIS STORY: Turning to the political end of the spectrum, it’s clear that Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki simply is failing at keeping his government together. This fact is virtually undisputed by everyone from the Bush Adminstration to the Daily Kos kids.
But now comes word that al-Maliki’s rival, the guy who was interim Prime Minister of Iraq in 2004, Ayad Allawi, has retained a Washington D.C. lobbying firm, and bought the Web domain rights to Allawi-for-Iraq.com. The Washington lobbying firm, Barbour, Griffith, and Rogers (BGR), is a Republican outfit, full of Bush people — including its president: Robert Blackwill, the one-time White House point man on Iraq and who was once the U.S. Presidential Envoy to Iraq in 2004.
Furthermore, it looks like Allawi is getting some advice (and more) from the Bush Administration:
[A]dministration officials, speaking on the condition of anonymity, said the prime minister was coached and aided by the U.S. government, its allies and friends of the administration. Among them was Dan Senor, former spokesman for the CPA who has more recently represented the Bush campaign in media appearances. Senor, who has denied writing the speech, sent Allawi recommended phrases. He also helped Allawi rehearse in New York last
Does this mean that the White House is attempting to undermine al-Maliki? The White House denied it today, but all of the foregoing suggest otherwise.
If it is true, and I suspect it is, I find it extremely ironic. Here we are trying to bring democracy to Iraq, and we’re already meddling in their politics by trying to oust their democratically-elected leader.
P.S. Allawi, by the way, might not be a good guy. He’s been described as "Saddam Lite":
In late June, just before he took office as Iraq’s prime minister, Iyad Allawi lined up six prisoners in a Baghdad prison and executed them with a handgun while 30 people watched. So an Australian reporter claims, though he won’t reveal his two eyewitnesses. Another story making the rounds in Baghdad: Allawi had two insurgents shot in front of him. And then there’s the rumor that he chopped off a guy’s hand. Iraq’s new boss denies all these allegations to the press, but who cares?
My spideysense tells me we’ll be dealing with this guy in 20 years….
Toil and trouble in Salem, Mass:
A self-proclaimed high priestess of Salem witches and a second person were accused of tossing raccoon parts on the doorsteps of businesses, allegedly as part of a Wiccan community feud.
A self-proclaimed high priestess of Salem witches and a second person were accused of tossing raccoon parts on the doorsteps of businesses, allegedly as part of a Wiccan community feud.
***
A witness, Richard Watson, told police he accompanied Graham, Purtz and other people when they put the raccoon remains on the doorsteps. He said Graham hoped to frame a Wiccan businessman who had fired Graham from a psychic telephone business last spring.
Watson also said Graham had a disagreement with the owners of the two targeted businesses over proposed regulations that would limit the number of psychics who come to the city during the Halloween season. He said he was told the group had found the raccoon dead.
The animal desecration was also witnessed by the nosy next-door neighbor, Mrs. Gladys Kravitz. "I was hiding behind the curtains with my nose sticking out," said a visibly-shaken Mrs. Kravitz. "I saw the whole thing. There’s always strange things going on over there."
Titled Ferris Bueller 2: Another Day Off, the proposed sequel takes place on the eve of Bueller’s fortieth birthday. Spears, a major Hughes enthusiast, calls Rapier’s script "a blast. I read it in a single afternoon and was impressed with the care Rapier took with the original story and characters. The story has the same feel, humor and pace as the 1986 movie, which should please hard-core Ferris fans." The storyline finds Ferris 20 years older and living off a hugely successful self-help career, a la Tony Robbins. His best friend Cameron (played in ’86 by Alan Ruck) manages the business. Turning 40 shakes Ferris up, and he decides to take the day off, "sending Cameron, his business associates and family into a frenzy." In addition to Ferris and Cameron, most of the supporting characters are in the script. Sloane Peterson (played in ’86 by Mia Sara) is now "a Hollywood star going through a rough marriage." Ferris’ sister Jeannie (Jennifer Grey) is now married to the guy from the police station (Charlie Sheen). Rooney (Jeffrey Jones) doesn’t work for the school anymore, but has devoted his life to getting revenge on Ferris (What’s he going to do at this point, murder him?). Even Ben Stein‘s character is in there, now working at an airline.
Hughes has nothing to do with the script currently being shopped around Hollywood, and he hasn’t directed a movie since 1991. This might be a good oppportunity for a comeback, if he bites.
"Nice guy" Edwards goes on the offensive, and takes a subtle swipe at Hillary today in Hanover, NH:
Real change starts with being honest — the system in Washington is rigged and our government is broken. It’s rigged by greedy corporate powers to protect corporate profits. It’s rigged by the very wealthy to ensure they become even wealthier. At the end of the day, it’s rigged by all those who benefit from the established order of things. For them, more of the same means more money and more power. They’ll do anything they can to keep things just the way they are — not for the country, but for themselves.
Politicians who care more about their careers than their constituents go along to get elected. They make easy promises to voters instead of challenging them to take responsibility for our country. And then they compromise even those promises to keep the lobbyists happy and the contributions coming.
Instead of serving the people and the nation, too many play the parlor game of Washington — trading favors and campaign money, influencing votes and compromising legislation. It’s a game that never ends, but every American knows — it’s time to end the game.
And it’s time for the Democratic Party — the party of the people — to end it.
The choice for our party could not be more clear. We cannot replace a group of corporate Republicans with a group of corporate Democrats, just swapping the Washington insiders of one party for the Washington insiders of the other.
The American people deserve to know that their presidency is not for sale, the Lincoln Bedroom is not for rent, and lobbyist money can no longer influence policy in the House or the Senate.
It’s time to end the game. It’s time to tell the big corporations and the lobbyists who have been running things for too long that their time is over. It’s time to challenge politicians to put the American people’s interests ahead of their own calculated political interests, to look the lobbyists in the eye and just say no.
It’s hard to diasgree with that message, and Hillary (who has said she has no problem taking special interest money) is going to have a hard time responding to this.
Bush and his supporters keep saying the "surge" is working, and that if we just wait for the reports from General Patreus and Ambassador Crocker next month (which the White House will write), then we’ll see that everything is okay.
But of course, we don’t have to wait until next month.
The Iraqi government will become more precarious over the next six to 12 months and its security forces have not improved enough to operate without outside help, intelligence analysts conclude in a new National Intelligence Estimate.
Despite uneven improvements, the analysts concluded that the level of overall violence is high, Iraq’s sectarian groups remain unreconciled, and al-Qaida in Iraq is still able to conduct its highly visible attacks.
"Iraqi political leaders remain unable to govern effectively," the 10-page document concludes.
The PDF is here, although the official release is at 2:30 pm. Key excerpts:
"Prospects for Iraq’s Stability: Some Security Progress but Political Reconciliation Elusive." Here are some key excerpts…
— "There have been measurable but uneven improvements in Iraq’s security situation since our last NIE on Iraq in January 2007… However, the level of violence, including attacks on and casualties among civilians, remains high; Iraq’s sectarian groups remain unreconciled; al-Qa’ida in Iraq (AQI) retains the ability of conduct high-profile attack; and to date, Iraqi political leaders remain unable to govern effectively. There have been modest improvements in economic output, budget execution, and government finances but fundamental structural problems continue to prevent sustained progress in economic growth and living conditions."
— "We assess, the extent that Coalition forces continue to conduct robust counterinsurgency operations and mentor and support the Iraqi Security Forces (ISF), that Iraq’s security will continue to improve modestly during the next 6 to 12 months but that levels of insurgent and sectarian violence will remain high and the Iraqi Government will continue to struggle to achieve national-level political reconciliation and improved governance."
— "Political and security trajectories in Iraq continue to be driven primarily by Shia insecurity about retaining political dominance, widespread Sunni unwillingness to accept a diminished political status, factional rivalries within the sectarian communities resulting in armed conflict, and the actions of extremists such as AQI and the elements of the Sadrist Jaysh al-Mahdi (JAM) militia that try to fuel sectarian violence."
— "The Intelligence Community (IC) assesses that the Iraqi government will become more precarious over the next six to 12 months because of criticism by other member of the major Shia coalition (the Unified Iraqi Alliance, UIA), Grand Ayatollah Sistani, and other Sunni and Kurdish parties."
— "We assess that changing the mission of Coalition forces from primarily counterinsurgency and stabilization role to a primary combat support role for Iraqi forces and counterterrorist operation to prevent AQI from establishing a safehaven would erode security gains achieved thus far."
So there you have it. Slight uneven military improvements, but a political disaster. And the military pluses aren’t enough to outweigh the political negatives.
Just so you know, the National Intelligence Estimate isn’t some document created by one low-level guy at some low-level government agency, nor is it something emanating from a Democratic thinktank. It is:
the collaborative judgments of all 16 U.S. intelligence agencies, including the CIA, the Defense Intelligence Agency and the intelligence organization of each military service.
You read that right. The intelligence branches of the CIA, the Department of Defense, the Army, Navy Air Force, Marines — they agree that things are not going well in Iraq.
Remember that when the Patreus Report (did I mention that the White House will author it?) comes out next month telling us how rosy Iraq is.
I heard this story on NPR a few weeks ago. It broke my heart:
The first morning of my visit to Scenic Trails, I was walking the path between some trailers when I bumped into a man named Tim Szepek. He was young, tall, and solidly good-looking. I asked if I could speak to him for a moment and he agreed. We found a spot of shade beneath a tree, and I started with what I considered a casual warm-up.
"What’s it like to live around here?" I asked.
"Well," he replied, "I’ll be honest."
"Ain’t a day goes by when I don’t think about killing myself."
And so began my time in Scenic Trails, a FEMA trailer park deep in the Mississippi woods where 100 families have lived in near isolation for close to two years.
Though Szepek was the first resident to tell me he wanted to commit suicide, he certainly wasn’t the last. The day I spoke with him, three other residents confided the same.
The second person was Stephanie Sigur, a 28-year-old mother of two. She was sitting in front of her trailer at a picnic table, her daughter on her lap, when she explained that if it weren’t a sin, she would have blown her brains out months ago.
"I know it’s a bad thing to say because I’m a parent," she told me as her toddler played with her hair, "but I can’t live like this no more."
Stephanie Sigur and Tim Szepek aren’t alone. According to a recent study of 92 different Katrina FEMA parks published in the Annals of Emergency Medicine, suicide attempts in Louisiana and Mississippi’s parks are 79 times higher than the national average. Major depression is seven times the national rate.
When I first read those numbers, I found them hard to believe. But after three days at Scenic Trails, they made a lot more sense.
The residents there, in essence, are trapped. It is no longer possible for them to live outside the trailer parks. Prior to Katrina, most of the people who now live in the parks were renters.
Along the Mississippi coast, a family of four could rent a two- or three-bedroom apartment or small home for around $500 a month. But when the storm wiped the Mississippi coast clean, it took out all the housing infrastructure that supported these people. Most of them are minimum-wage workers who live paycheck to paycheck. Today, a two- or three-bedroom apartment in Hancock County, where Scenic Trails is located, costs $800, $900, even $1,000 a month. This is an impossible amount of money for the people who live in the parks, and there is no immediate end in sight. FEMA says it would like to close the parks, but state and federal government plans to rebuild low-income housing for Mississippi coast residents have yet to break ground. Housing experts says it will probably take years to produce enough low-cost housing to move people out of the parks.
And so they are stuck. And the place they are stuck is not the kind of place you would want to spend an extended amount of time. For two years, many have lived in travel trailers intended for weekend use. Families of four housed in a space the size of most people’s living rooms.
Worse, as time wears on, the communities around them seem to be falling into a kind of madness. At Scenic Trails, almost everyone at the camp has been burglarized at least once. Meth and cocaine addiction is rampant, and residents seem to be turning against one another.
Recently, the park has seen a rash of animal mutilations. One resident told me that her cat had come home bleeding — a long, thin razor cut along its leg. Another resident said his dog’s throat had been cut, and several people reported that someone in the camp had been feeding anti-freeze to dogs.
No one seemed to have a particular suspect in mind. There was no specific theory of why. That was just the way things went at the camp nowadays. With no way to leave, people were angry and frustrated, and so they act out.
On the animals. On each other. On themselves.
But you should listen to the full audio…
I haven’t read Graham Greene’s "The Quiet American" (nor seen the relatively recent Michael Caine movie), but from what I gather, the main character is named Alden Pyle. He’s a government agent, living and working in Saigon, with a lot of idealistic patriotism, which manifests itself as naivete. While not a villian, Alden Pyle (played by Brandon Fraser in the movie) represents the folly of American’s involvement in Vietnam. He is delusional about thinking that American might and willpower can transform a region of the country.
One Newseek columnist in 2005 compared Bush’s Iraq strategy to Alden Pyle:
Once again, President Bush’s lethally misguided good intentions are reminiscent of Alden Pyle in Graham Greene’s novel “The Quiet American,” about the early days of U.S. involvement in Vietnam: “He was absorbed already in the dilemmas of Democracy and the responsibilities of the West; he was determined—I learnt that very soon—to do good, not to any individual person but to a country, a continent, a world. … When he saw a dead body he couldn’t even see the wounds. A Red menace, a soldier of democracy.”
So it IS rather strange that Bush would invoke "The Quiet American" and Alden Pyle by name in his recent speech about Iraq. Seems like he would want to avoid the comparison, rather than reminding people of it.
One wonders if Bush or his speechwriters have actually read the book.
So as you probably know by now, Florida State Rep. Bob Allen (R-Pervert) offered $20 to an undercover cop if the cop would accept a blowjob. This happened in a restroom in a public park.
Upon arrest, Allen’s excuse was that the park was full of black men, and the guy in the bathroom stall next to him (the undercover cop) was a black man, so naturally, Allen was frightened of "becoming a statistic". So naturally, Allen did what any of us would do when we’re in the company of scary black men — we offer them money so we can fellate them. Makes sense, right?
But why was Allen hanging out for so long in the park’s restroom to begin with?
Well, Allen has a perfectly reasonable explanation for that, too, which was revealed yesterday in court documents. Turns out he was afraid of getting hit by lightning.
One wonders why Allen didn’t simply offer $20 to perform oral sex on the lightning, but that’s his affair.
He’s still planning on running for a state Senate seat in 2010, by the way.
Jeff Gannon first came on the national radar in early 2005, as the White House reporter who asked softball questions of the President and the Press Secretary. Questions like:
"Senate Democratic leaders have painted a very bleak picture of the U.S. economy. (Senate Minority Leader) Harry Reid was talking about soup lines. And (Senator) Hillary Clinton was talking about the economy being on the verge of collapse. Yet in the same breath they say that Social Security is rock solid and there’s no crisis there. How are you going to work – you’ve said you are going to reach out to these people – how are you going to work with people who seem to have divorced themselves from reality?
That caused many people to ask "Who IS this guy?". He was from a fly-by-night internet "media" organization called Talon News, which — as it turns out — was funded by GOPUSA, a Republican interest group.
But there are lots of conservative groups out there. How did Gannon get a press pass, we wondered.
So bloggers started looking around, and it was mere hours before the rock was overturned. Revelation time: aside from being a Republican stooge journalist, Jeff Gannon was also a $200-an-hour ex-Marine gay male prostitute, and his real name was Jim Guckert.
The story was fun for a while, but it soon faded. But some questions remained unanswered. A few blogs noted that the White House logs would show Gannon coming to the White House. Gannon initially said it was because he was covering press conferences, but it was later revealed that no press conferences were happening that day.
What’s more suspicious was that many times, the logs showed Gannon as "checking in" to the White House, but not "checking out". Did Gannon have a White House connection? Someone who got him a press pass? Was that person his lover (or possibly a client)?
It’s all for titillating good fun back then. And it might get fun again.
Karl Rove, long-time advisor to President Bush, announced his resignation today amidst rumors that a new book by a male homosexual prostitute would finger Rove as secretly gay.
Jim Gannon, former reporter for Talon News and rent boy, is publishing a "tell all" book in September tentatively titled "Behind Enemy Lines". Karl Rove apparently fears being exposed as a former customer of Gannon’s or his military pron websites like www.hotmilitarystud.com
It has long been rumored that Jim Gannon gained White House briefing room credentials and day passes by offering his services to Karl Rove, including several overnight stays in the White House Buchanan bedroom.
Of course, the source for that is the disreputable Talon News, the "media" site that originally hired Gannon.
Now, I don’t care — really, I don’t — if Rove is gay, or if he gave a press pass to a gay lover/hooker. But Karl Rove has been the "architect" of Bush’s career and his closest advisor on matters ranging from Iraq to gay marriage. He made neo-conservatism possible. And one wonders how — if this book comes out and is true — Bush supporters (the same people who lambasted Clinton for his private indiscretions) will react. Will they be apologists? Will they continue to rally around Bush?
In any event, the notion of "bringing dignity to the White House", the rallying cry of Republicans in 2000, is pretty much a farce, yes?
The ACLU and their progressive, secular lawyers are well-known for crucifying Christ afresh whenever they can.
Uh, Marie? Here are only a few of the things that the ACLU has been up to lately:
The ACLU supports religious freedom, and the above cases are only a few examples. Where they draw the line is exactly where the Constitution of the United States draws the line — to wit — government cannot promote religion.
Marie continues:
As of late, the ACLU has protected the rights of molesting and murdering pedophiles known as The North American Man/Boy Love Association (NAMBLA). They are also Johnny-on-the-spot to defend an Iraqi-American Muslim who willed nothing else but to cause a commotion by wearing a black T-shirt that read in both Arabic and English, "We will not be silenced," while boarding an airplane.
Do these people not have a right to SPEECH, Marie? Or does that only apply to Christians? Obviously, I am no fan of NAMBLA, but they certainly have a right to speech (which the ACLU is defending; they are NOT defending their "right" to be pedophiles).
And are you prepared to ban anyone who wears a "we will not be silenced" T-shirt? What if that person was a Christian protesting at an abortion clinic? If your answer is different, then you are advocating that only SOME people have first amendment rights, while others don’t. THAT makes you un-American. And if the distinguishing feature is that the former person is Muslim and the latter person is a Christian, then THAT makes you a bigot.
Yes, Marie, I’m sure you look great in a bikini. I’m sure you have a nice ass. You just need to stop showing it.
The Village People hit "YMCA" was a gay anthem in the 1970’s. But was not as teh gay as the Finnish version:
You might not want to watch if you’ve just eaten….
Disappointed Chrissie Hynde by continuing to sob.
Permitted sun to go down on Elton John, thus failing him.
Failed to heed warning to stop in the name of love, broke Diana Ross’s heart.
Was cruel to a heart that was true, much to the chagrin of Elvis Presley.
Stopped prior to getting enough, despite urging to the contrary by Michael Jackson.
Spoke even when told not to by Gwen Stefani.
Stopped believin’, let go of the feelin’, thereby enraging Steve Perry.
Clutched it too tightly, lost control, resulting in tersely worded letter from .38 Special.
Said "never"; Romeo Void merely shook their heads sadly.
Got together with only a few people, made no effort to love one another, received awkward phone call from the Youngbloods.
Monkees left at the station with only their worries after I missed the last train to Clarksville.
Failed to feel the noize, which doesn’t seem like my fault, but Quiet Riot was still peeved.
Stayed perfectly sane, leaving Prince to go crazy by himself, which actually worked out best for everyone.
Went changing to try to please Billy Joel. Total fiasco.
– A McSweeney’s List by John Moe
