Category Archive

This is one hell of a fractured country. I’m glad they are going through the mostly symbolic, but still important, act of voting. But that is of course only step one in building a country. The hard work hasn’t even begun. Here are some interesting finds from a Zogby poll of Iraqis: (76%) of Sunni Arabs say they definitely will … Read More

Anyone know the answer to Thomas Schaller’s questions? Of the 234,000 [Iraqis eligible to vote] living in the United States right now, only 90,000 are estimated to be foreign-born (presumably in Iraq); the remaining 140,000 or so were born here. At what point does your foreign voting eligibility cease, may I ask? For instance, if your grandparents were Iraqi refugees, … Read More

WASHINGTON (Reuters) – The Bush administration plans to announce as early as Tuesday that it will seek about $80 billion in new funding for military operations this year in Iraq and Afghanistan, administration and congressional sources said on Monday. The new supplemental budget request would come on top of the $25 billion in emergency spending already approved for the current … Read More

So rare are people in the Bush Administration with integrity, that I delight when I see one acting in a very straightforward and honest manner.  And I must pass it on. The man is Dick Armitage, the Deputy Secretary of State under Colin Powell. Actually, he’s now the former Deputy Secretary of State.  Maybe that was why he was so … Read More

The security situation in Iraq is so critical now, NBC News has learned, that the Iraqi interior ministry has recalled two full battalions — about 2,000 men — from Saddam Hussein’s army, the same army the United States dissolved. All of them are retrained as special police to battle terrorism expected at polling stations on Jan. 30. Source. Meet the … Read More

Courtesy of The Poor Man: Rathergate vs. Saddam’s WMD – A Quantitative Comparison Rathergate Saddam’s WMD Investigation recently concluded? Yes Yes Use of highly questionable supporting documents? Yes Yes Central claims disproven? No Yes Media spread questionable information? Yes Yes Number of firings resulting from investigation 4 0 Number of high-profile reassignments resulting from investigation 1 0 Number of wars … Read More

Regarding the upcoming Iraqi elections and likelihood that most Iraqis won’t be able to vote in them, an anonymous White House official said this yesterday: "I would . . . really encourage people not to focus on numbers, which in themselves don’t have any meaning, but to look on the outcome and to look at the government that will be … Read More

We were right and they were wrong.

Matt Yglesius is right to point this out: The recent acts of terrorism, such as the bombing of the U.N. headquarters and the mosque in Najaf, show a couple of things. First, that Iraq is still a dangerous place. They also show, I think, the desperation — the desperation of the adversaries that we face. We’re actively engaged in rooting … Read More

In an attempt to foster "brutally honest conversation" among hawks, Kevin Drum has 8 questions for Iraq war supporters (and in reality, it is more than eight. I suspect many hawks will dismiss these questions as "rhetorical", but I don’t think they are. Any takers? I would also appreciate links if you know of blogs who take on Kevin’s questions. … Read More

"Because Iraq had WMDs and posed a serious threat." We now know they didn’t. "Because Iraq had significant operational ties to Al Qaeda." We now know they didn’t. "Because a democratic Iraq will spread democracy in the region in order to combat Islamofascism." Oh, okay. That makes sense, I guess. Wait a second. No so fast, sparky: WASHINGTON, Dec. 4 … Read More