Peas in Our Time
I've just waded through the Iraq Study Group's report and recommendations. Dear God! At least when network TV forces us to suffer through such sustained banality it has the decency to toss in a few babes in bikinis.
A couple of their notable recommendations:
1) Iran should "...stem the flow of arms and training to Iraq..." and should "...respect Iraq's sovereignty and territorial integrity."
2) Syria should agree to a peace deal with Israel, quit interfering in Lebanon, cease aiding Hezbollah, and convince Hamas to recognize Israel's right to exist.
3) Osama bin Laden should write "I will not fly planes into buildings" 100 times on a blackboard. (They would have made it 1000 times, but did not believe that would pass judicial review).
4) Cats and dogs should get along with each other.
Believe it or not, I only made up two of the above recommendations.
Can you imagine if Winston Churchill and Franklin Roosevelt had authorized a commission to develop a plan for ending World War II and it had come back with recommendations such as, "Germany should respect its neighbors territorial integrity and be nice to Jews" and "Japan really, really needs to take a timeout."? In those days, even the New York Times still had enough grey matter it probably would have asked, "Say what?"
Apparently James Baker, Lee Hamilton, Sandra Day O'Connor et. al. thought they were competing in a beauty pageant and the more mushy, meaningless tripe, the better. If we give them all a tiara and a bouquet of roses, do you think they might go quietly away?
Having wasted my morning on that, I intend now to do something useful...maybe pop in a tape of "Girls Gone Wild" while envisioning whirled peas.
10 comments:
I think History will find the key decision was here per Jed Babbin,
Few know that in early 2003 - a month or more before the Iraq invasion - President Bush was presented with two plans for post-war Iraq. The first, written by CIA Director George Tenet and Secretary of State Colin Powell, provided for a long occupation of Iraq and the nation-building that the president renounced in his 2000 campaign. The second, a Pentagon plan authored by Rumsfeld's team, provided for the establishment of a provisional government before the invasion and American withdrawal within months of Saddam's overthrow. The president, convinced by Powell that "if you break it, you own it", chose the Powell-Tenet plan and ordered Rumsfeld to carry it out.
Tenet, Powell, Bremer, Franks, Armitage (the Plame leaker) all people who should be testifying too Congress.
President Talabani got the report right though,
“If you read this report, one would think that it is written for a young, small colony that they are imposing these conditions on,” Mr. Talabani said. “We are a sovereign country.”
[***]
“I believe that President George Bush is a brave and committed man and he is adamant to support the Iraqi government until they've reached success,” he said. He said setting conditions was “an insult to the people of Iraq.”
Baker of Baker and Bott the guy represent Saudi Arabia in claims filed by the 911 families. It's Sunni propaganda now driving much of the preception that this is a mess.
It's only a mess for the Sunni Arabs who think God gave them a right to run the middle east.
During the height of the cold war, with nuclear weapons aimed at American cities and the Eastern bloc armies poised on the borders, the American State Department had contact with the Soviets. That very contact may have helped diffuse the Cuban Missile Crisis.
For some reason, the B-Teamers and Skinner just don't get that. That is what happens when we have an administration that has no sense of history and no intellectual curiosity.
I love the part about Iran respecting Iraq's sovereignty and territorial integrity. Does that mean we have to as well?
What about the training and arms we are giving the Iraqi's? Which undoubtably includes militia men who are more interested in settle scores than building a nation.
For some reason, I blamed Skinner for this post. Skinner is wrong on many issues, but ultimately he's a smart guy who gives issues some thought.
I should have recognized the complete lack of historical perspective as the work of the Democrat's favorite Republican campaign manager, Charlie Johnson.
My bad, and my apologies to Skinner.
Sovereign? Not by a long shot.
The obvious, platitudinous conclusions of the ISG are only relevant because Bush & Co. have failed to acknowledge them so far, even though they're so obvious to everybody else that they've become platitudes. This way, when Bush starts to acknowledge what he's so often denied, he can claim that it took a 'high level bi-partisan commision' to uncover subtle, difficult truths.
Charlie,
You have yet failed to admit that your party and President screwed this one up. And it is the reason they lost the mid term elections.
In terms of foreign policy it seems that you listen to the neocon chickenhawks of a different religion than the stands of your own Vatican.
And this directly relates to Illinois politics how?
Rich,
It DOES relate to Illinois politics.
It is a perfect example of why Charlie loses all of the races that he handles and shows the depth of the problems facing the ILGOP.
Posts like this provide a fascinating insight into why Illinois is now the bluest of the blue states.
Post a Comment