The war in Iraq is continuing. American soldiers are dying daily, weapons of mass destruction are nowhere to be found, conditions are deteriorating for our troops on the ground, the lies of the administration that took us into war are being exposed and the president, from the safety of the white house, is taunting those who are shooting at our troops.
Read on to see what MFSO members and others are saying about the situation in Iraq and what we should be doing to change it.
Internet muse.
Daring, bold, never sold.
My daily weblog of politics, humor, philosophy...and a constant and nagging reminder of the existence of universal love....
Thursday, March 11, 2004
Military Families Speak Out
SoJonet.com/Ira Rifkin on The Morality of Global Trade
The Sermon on the Mount did not say, "Blessed are the greedy."
All politics is local, but so does all politics involve moral choice.
Senator John Edwards was correct when he called U.S. trade policy "a moral issue." What needs to be further stated is that globalization, the force generating the outsourcing wave, is itself a moral issue; that the economic and cultural changes implicit in globalization are by no means values-less.
The Sermon on the Mount did not say, "Blessed are the greedy."
All politics is local, but so does all politics involve moral choice.
Senator John Edwards was correct when he called U.S. trade policy "a moral issue." What needs to be further stated is that globalization, the force generating the outsourcing wave, is itself a moral issue; that the economic and cultural changes implicit in globalization are by no means values-less.
Welcome to Bushworld
*"Bushworld" was originally coined and is often used by none other than Anonymoses*
*"Bushworld" was originally coined and is often used by none other than Anonymoses*
All presidents, all administrations, all politicians, all columnists and, indeed, all people selectively pick and chose facts and figures to win arguments.
What's different is that the Bush administration stands accused of politicizing and bullying processes of the government that are designed to be above the fray of partisanship and ideology, such as intelligence gathering and science policy-making. Put bluntly: they don't much care about facts, science and truth.
From the Syracuse Post Standard
A Letter to the Editor
To the Editor:
A lost opportunity! My initial curiosity and interest in your "On the Issues" series quickly soured as I read the Iraq section Feb. 24. The series fell far short of truly informing voters about the candidates' positions, providing only summary sound bites. Instead, the pundits again take center stage. I would like to suggest some additional points to be added to George W. Bush's position on Iraq:
--Repeatedly lied to the American people that Iraq's weapons of mass destruction posed an imminent threat and justified war.
--Misled the public into believing there was a connection between Iraq and al-Qaida, despite no reasonable evidence to justify such claims.
--Failed to plan for the period after the fall of the ruthless Baathist regime, leading to great fear and misery on the part of Iraqis and increased danger for U.S. soldiers.
--Exploited the conquest of Iraq to reward his corporate supporters at Halliburton and elsewhere through no-bid contracts and other shady deals.
--Added to our economic woes by piling up unprecedented national debt, in part because of spending more than $100 billion on an unnecessary war.
--Set dangerous international precedents by seeking to justify so-called "pre-emptive" war.
I would also suggest some additional "Vital Signs":
--549 US soldiers killed in Iraq thus far.
--Thousands of U.S. soldiers injured in Iraq thus far. While the Pentagon reports a figure of just over 2,700 (the numbers regularly printed in The Post-Standard), National Public Radio and UPI investigative reports in recent months have found numbers near and above 10,000.
--100 soldiers from other participating nations killed in Iraq thus far.
--An estimated 20,000 Iraqis killed as a result of the U.S. invasion and occupation. This number is particularly vague since the U.S. military has refused to investigate. "We don't do body counts," said General Tommy Franks of the US Central Command.
Lastly, Walter Russell Mead's assertion that Bush has an advantage on foreign policy and the Democratic candidate needs to become more like Bush in order to win rings hollow. A Democratic candidate who can motivate even a small portion of the nearly half of the electorate that doesn't bother to vote will easily win the presidency. Those people are unlikely to be convinced by Bush's deception on the war or other issues.
--Andy Mager
Syracuse NY
A Letter to the Editor
To the Editor:
A lost opportunity! My initial curiosity and interest in your "On the Issues" series quickly soured as I read the Iraq section Feb. 24. The series fell far short of truly informing voters about the candidates' positions, providing only summary sound bites. Instead, the pundits again take center stage. I would like to suggest some additional points to be added to George W. Bush's position on Iraq:
--Repeatedly lied to the American people that Iraq's weapons of mass destruction posed an imminent threat and justified war.
--Misled the public into believing there was a connection between Iraq and al-Qaida, despite no reasonable evidence to justify such claims.
--Failed to plan for the period after the fall of the ruthless Baathist regime, leading to great fear and misery on the part of Iraqis and increased danger for U.S. soldiers.
--Exploited the conquest of Iraq to reward his corporate supporters at Halliburton and elsewhere through no-bid contracts and other shady deals.
--Added to our economic woes by piling up unprecedented national debt, in part because of spending more than $100 billion on an unnecessary war.
--Set dangerous international precedents by seeking to justify so-called "pre-emptive" war.
I would also suggest some additional "Vital Signs":
--549 US soldiers killed in Iraq thus far.
--Thousands of U.S. soldiers injured in Iraq thus far. While the Pentagon reports a figure of just over 2,700 (the numbers regularly printed in The Post-Standard), National Public Radio and UPI investigative reports in recent months have found numbers near and above 10,000.
--100 soldiers from other participating nations killed in Iraq thus far.
--An estimated 20,000 Iraqis killed as a result of the U.S. invasion and occupation. This number is particularly vague since the U.S. military has refused to investigate. "We don't do body counts," said General Tommy Franks of the US Central Command.
Lastly, Walter Russell Mead's assertion that Bush has an advantage on foreign policy and the Democratic candidate needs to become more like Bush in order to win rings hollow. A Democratic candidate who can motivate even a small portion of the nearly half of the electorate that doesn't bother to vote will easily win the presidency. Those people are unlikely to be convinced by Bush's deception on the war or other issues.
--Andy Mager
Syracuse NY
One year ago on IDDYBUD
My opinion before the pre-emptive strike on Iraq:
An Alternative to War
"..We gather as our nation moves closer to a decision about whether to go to war with Iraq. It will be a momentous choice, with great consequences for the life of the world....Virtually every church body which has spoken, internationally and in the United States, has concluded that a war on Iraq would not be a just war. Never before have the churches in America been so united on the issue of peace..."
March 9, 2003- Gary Hart- A Detour From the War on Terrorism
North Korea--then and now
Failing on North Korea a year ago
Failing on North Korea still today...as lately as 13 hours ago.
Is it any wonder the North Koreans hope for a different administration this November? While the GOP would love you to believe Kerry looks like a North-Korea sympathizer, perhaps the North Koreans agree with many Americans that anyone's better than Bush.
As Professor Edward Reed, associate director of the Center for East Asian Studies at UW-Madison, has said: "Talking is not a reward for bad behavior; it is the fundamental requirement for diplomacy."
My opinion before the pre-emptive strike on Iraq:
"The Bush administration seems single-mindedly bent on this invasion. It almost seems that they are bitterly disappointed whenever there's a hint that the weapons inspections are actually working.From SojoNet:
A UN resolution with absolutely no ambiguity is what we need. It is not America's place to preemptively strike Iraq. I firmly believe it is not in the best interest of the American people at this point in time."
An Alternative to War
"..We gather as our nation moves closer to a decision about whether to go to war with Iraq. It will be a momentous choice, with great consequences for the life of the world....Virtually every church body which has spoken, internationally and in the United States, has concluded that a war on Iraq would not be a just war. Never before have the churches in America been so united on the issue of peace..."
March 9, 2003- Gary Hart- A Detour From the War on Terrorism
What is our strategic objective in Iraq—disarmament, regime change, to mount a massive democratic revolution throughout the Arab world or all of the above? Once again, the target changes, and presidential candor is missing. It is cynical in the extreme to assume the American people should not be told that we intend to conduct a political revolution among 1.1 billion people spread from Gibraltar to eastern Indonesia.
The extravagance, not to say arrogance, of this epic undertaking is sufficiently breathtaking in its hubris to make Woodrow Wilson blush. And as a visionary, George W. Bush is no Woodrow Wilson. I find nothing in the writings of America's founders, including those of the expansive Alexander Hamilton, that suggests our national purpose should be the remaking of the world in our own image. In fact, most founders, and the prudent leaders since, have believed we should focus on perfecting our own democracy as an example to the world.
But if you are up for preemptive war against nations that do not meet the historic standard of representing an imminent and unavoidable threat, then you are pretty much up for anything.
Iraq is a detour from the war on terrorism. Hussein mysteriously morphed into Osama bin Laden, or vice-versa.
--Gary Hart
North Korea--then and now
Failing on North Korea a year ago
Failing on North Korea still today...as lately as 13 hours ago.
Is it any wonder the North Koreans hope for a different administration this November? While the GOP would love you to believe Kerry looks like a North-Korea sympathizer, perhaps the North Koreans agree with many Americans that anyone's better than Bush.
As Professor Edward Reed, associate director of the Center for East Asian Studies at UW-Madison, has said: "Talking is not a reward for bad behavior; it is the fundamental requirement for diplomacy."
Here come the inane Bush attacks on Kerry
The negative ads are coming. President Bush, on fresh commercials soon to come your way, is accusing Senator Kerry of seeking to raise taxes by $900 billion. This coming from the guy who has driven us dread-deep into the hell-canyon of deficits to pay for astronomical war costs without asking Americans to see the reality and sacrifice now for the nation's future?
On National security, Bush says in the ads: "We can go forward with confidence, resolve and hope. Or we can turn back to the dangerous illusions that terrorists are not plotting and outlaw regimes are no threat..."
How absolutely brain-dead does the GOP think voters are? While we don't appreciate Bush disgustingly dragging out flag-draped 9-11 corpses on his ads, we certainly understand that 9-11 changed the face of the 21st century. If anyone's turning their back, it's the Bushites themselves. They've turned their backs on the international community by thumbing their arrogant noses at the rule of law. They've also turned their backs by sinking the economy with ridiculous tax cuts while the nation's embroiled in an expensive war on terror to which there's no foreseeable end. Does the GOP honestly think we would believe John Kerry would live in 'La-La-Land" when it comes to our security and economic need? He'd have to be insane!
I have proof Kerry's NOT insane. He got millions of dollars worth of ads FREE yesterday when every cable network "caught" him calling his GOP critics "the most crooked ... lying group" he'd ever seen...and played it again and again and again...every half-hour on the half-hour.
"John Kerry's plan: To pay for new government spending, raise taxes by at least $900 billion."
Bush's plan: To greatly increase the size of his Neo-Big Government, destroy Social Security, increase the already-monstrously deep deficits, and make furture slaves of OUR CHILDREN.
The negative ads are coming. President Bush, on fresh commercials soon to come your way, is accusing Senator Kerry of seeking to raise taxes by $900 billion. This coming from the guy who has driven us dread-deep into the hell-canyon of deficits to pay for astronomical war costs without asking Americans to see the reality and sacrifice now for the nation's future?
On National security, Bush says in the ads: "We can go forward with confidence, resolve and hope. Or we can turn back to the dangerous illusions that terrorists are not plotting and outlaw regimes are no threat..."
How absolutely brain-dead does the GOP think voters are? While we don't appreciate Bush disgustingly dragging out flag-draped 9-11 corpses on his ads, we certainly understand that 9-11 changed the face of the 21st century. If anyone's turning their back, it's the Bushites themselves. They've turned their backs on the international community by thumbing their arrogant noses at the rule of law. They've also turned their backs by sinking the economy with ridiculous tax cuts while the nation's embroiled in an expensive war on terror to which there's no foreseeable end. Does the GOP honestly think we would believe John Kerry would live in 'La-La-Land" when it comes to our security and economic need? He'd have to be insane!
I have proof Kerry's NOT insane. He got millions of dollars worth of ads FREE yesterday when every cable network "caught" him calling his GOP critics "the most crooked ... lying group" he'd ever seen...and played it again and again and again...every half-hour on the half-hour.
"John Kerry's plan: To pay for new government spending, raise taxes by at least $900 billion."
Bush's plan: To greatly increase the size of his Neo-Big Government, destroy Social Security, increase the already-monstrously deep deficits, and make furture slaves of OUR CHILDREN.
Today in history..
1818- Frankenstein published
1862- Civil War, Lincoln shuffles the Union command
MACARTHUR LEAVES CORREGIDOR:
March 11, 1942
"I lay on my stomach, for I didn't want to see the bombs released this time. It took ages for them to arrive when one knew they were coming. Once again, we knew men would be blown to bits in just a few seconds. The picture of my mother came to my mind. I wanted to be able to say a last goodbye to her, for I never dreamed of coming out of this battle alive. Yes, men lay in tears, for their thoughts turned to home."
--Mel Sheya, Fourth Marines, USMC, author of "The Battling Bastards of Bataan", describing his battle experience in Corregidor, December 1941. Held prisoner for 42 months as an ill-treated slave-laborer in Manchuria and Japan, he was happy to see the return of MacArthur.
1818- Frankenstein published
1862- Civil War, Lincoln shuffles the Union command
MACARTHUR LEAVES CORREGIDOR:
March 11, 1942
"I lay on my stomach, for I didn't want to see the bombs released this time. It took ages for them to arrive when one knew they were coming. Once again, we knew men would be blown to bits in just a few seconds. The picture of my mother came to my mind. I wanted to be able to say a last goodbye to her, for I never dreamed of coming out of this battle alive. Yes, men lay in tears, for their thoughts turned to home."
--Mel Sheya, Fourth Marines, USMC, author of "The Battling Bastards of Bataan", describing his battle experience in Corregidor, December 1941. Held prisoner for 42 months as an ill-treated slave-laborer in Manchuria and Japan, he was happy to see the return of MacArthur.
Yahoo News/Reuters
Symbol SUSAN Snatched AS Spy FOR Saddy
U.S. Woman Charged with Giving Secrets to Iraq
Symbol SUSAN Snatched AS Spy FOR Saddy
U.S. Woman Charged with Giving Secrets to Iraq
I'm starting to think Alan Greenspan is anti-American
* while definitely 'Pro-Dough' *
Fed chief Alan Greenspan said a "new round of protectionist steps" represented "alleged cures" which he said "would make matters worse rather than better."
First, there is no substantial "uber-protectionist" constituency existing today. There are only those who are conscious that we have a very big problem here in America right here and right now. Greenspan's job is to keep Wall Street afloat. That he would see American middle class Main Street opportunities pissed away in favour of Wall Street pocket-stuffing runs contrary to the "American dream".
"As our economy exhibits increasing signals of recovery, jobs loss continues to diminish," [Alan Greenspan] said in testimony to the House Education and Workforce Committee. "In all likelihood, employment will begin to increase more quickly before long."
Dear Mr. Greenspan:
Who are you kidding?
How long is long?
Who benefits in this economic recovery?
What kind of employment opportunity is coming?
More WalMart than professional, we'd bet.
Bottom line--we need to write a dirge for the American classic known as middle class opportunity and upward mobility.
* while definitely 'Pro-Dough' *
Fed chief Alan Greenspan said a "new round of protectionist steps" represented "alleged cures" which he said "would make matters worse rather than better."
First, there is no substantial "uber-protectionist" constituency existing today. There are only those who are conscious that we have a very big problem here in America right here and right now. Greenspan's job is to keep Wall Street afloat. That he would see American middle class Main Street opportunities pissed away in favour of Wall Street pocket-stuffing runs contrary to the "American dream".
"As our economy exhibits increasing signals of recovery, jobs loss continues to diminish," [Alan Greenspan] said in testimony to the House Education and Workforce Committee. "In all likelihood, employment will begin to increase more quickly before long."
Dear Mr. Greenspan:
Who are you kidding?
How long is long?
Who benefits in this economic recovery?
What kind of employment opportunity is coming?
More WalMart than professional, we'd bet.
Bottom line--we need to write a dirge for the American classic known as middle class opportunity and upward mobility.
"No more bombs, no more dead."
AP Photo
--Patrick Cox, European Parliament President, before a hushed legislature in Strasbourg, France
"It is an outrageous, unjustified and unjustifiable attack on the Spanish people and Spanish democracy," Cox said of the terrorist attack in Madrid, Spain this morning which left 190 dead and over 1200 wounded.
AP Photo
--Patrick Cox, European Parliament President, before a hushed legislature in Strasbourg, France
"It is an outrageous, unjustified and unjustifiable attack on the Spanish people and Spanish democracy," Cox said of the terrorist attack in Madrid, Spain this morning which left 190 dead and over 1200 wounded.
LA Times: Patrick J. Kiger on 'The Golden Age of Mediocrity'
With so Many Artistic Geniuses Among Us, Why Is Most of Their Work so Disposable?
With so Many Artistic Geniuses Among Us, Why Is Most of Their Work so Disposable?
We ought to consider ourselves blessed....We live in an age peopled by more artistic geniuses than in any other moment in history, though the bar is set considerably lower than in the past.... Though we have more supposed artistic geniuses than ever, their output, oddly, is increasingly middling. What's happened in the last couple of decades is that puffery seems to have surpassed prodigy.....today—with the Internet, blast faxes, hundreds of cable channels and 750-square-foot video screens that can turn anyone, regardless of talent, into a giant looming over Times Square—it's possible for would-be greatness to be hyped to an extreme that even Dali would have a hard time imagining. Given the pervasive crudeness and disdain for subtlety in postmodern society, it's now perfectly acceptable to proclaim one's genius as loudly and raucously as professional wrestlers threaten one another with mayhem....maybe mediocrity is the new genius....
From the Cato Institute/Gerald P. O'Driscoll, Jr
*an updated version of a talk given at the Dedication of the F. A. Hayek Auditorium, May 9, 1995*
'The Road to Serfdom' Today
*an updated version of a talk given at the Dedication of the F. A. Hayek Auditorium, May 9, 1995*
'The Road to Serfdom' Today
Frederich Hayek is best known for his most widely read work, The Road to Serfdom, first published 60 years ago yesterday...As he made clear, classical liberalism's conflict with central planning was not over the shared goal of enhancing the well-being of the greatest possible number of people but over the way to achieve that goal.....Hayek argued that, in the interventionist dynamic, liberty is lost piecemeal, one freedom at a time, always in the name of necessity and expediency. Hayek echoed the words of Lord Acton: "Liberty is not the means to a higher political end. It is itself the highest political end."Gerald P O'Driscoll, Jr. is a senior fellow at the Cato Institute
Commentary by Shlomo Avineri
A Field Guide to Israeli Hawks
A Field Guide to Israeli Hawks
Despite the way it often looks to outsiders, debates in Israel about the future of the occupied territories have never been confined to hawks and doves. Like everything in Israel, the process is more complicated, especially where the hawks are concerned..Shlomo Avineri is Professor of political science at the Hebrew University and former Director-General of Israel's Foreign Ministry in the Labor-led government of Yitzhak Rabin
From India Times
Mind-Matter Divide in Science, Philosophy
Vedantic philosophy and modern science share common features
I am personally enchanted by this statement:
"The search for a fundamental theory lifts human life above the level of farce and gives it some of the grace of tragedy."
--Steven Weinberg
How could the application of quantum theory unify East and West, mind and matter?
This article discusses how all schools of Indian philosophy have accepted perception as a means of knowledge. It also discusses the debate on the nature of reality and the ability of our concepts to represent reality. Within the scope of the mystery of the self (or consciousness), we see how modern science still lacks an adequate accounting of the mind. The causality of Descartes' philosophy on the material world is challenged and maya (consciousness is a separate element, added to physical systems) is seen as a concept often overlooked by the physicists.
Mind-Matter Divide in Science, Philosophy
Vedantic philosophy and modern science share common features
I am personally enchanted by this statement:
"The search for a fundamental theory lifts human life above the level of farce and gives it some of the grace of tragedy."
--Steven Weinberg
How could the application of quantum theory unify East and West, mind and matter?
This article discusses how all schools of Indian philosophy have accepted perception as a means of knowledge. It also discusses the debate on the nature of reality and the ability of our concepts to represent reality. Within the scope of the mystery of the self (or consciousness), we see how modern science still lacks an adequate accounting of the mind. The causality of Descartes' philosophy on the material world is challenged and maya (consciousness is a separate element, added to physical systems) is seen as a concept often overlooked by the physicists.
Wednesday, March 10, 2004
A blog conversation reveals just how many female political bloggers are out there!
A sampling:
Anne Zook, Mahablog-Barbara O'Brien, Bittershack-Brooke Biggs, Nitpicker-CJ Finis, The Duchess (Charlene), Cyndy Roy, Different Strings-Kryselda Jarnsaxa, Ana Marie (Wonkette), Laura Poyneer aka al-muhajabah, Madelein Begun Kane, Marla Caldwell, Echidne, Iddybud-Jude Nagurney Camwell, Lis Riba, Laura Gjovaag, Maru Soze, Natalie Davis, Shari, PG, Alasablog, Crescat Sententia, Eve Tushnet , Suburban Guerrilla, Collective Sigh, Elayne Riggs, Blog or Not, Amy Sullivan, World O'Crap, Just a Bump in the Beltway (Melanie), Wampum (Mary Beth Williams), Assymetrical Information(Jane Galt), Respectful of Otters (Rivka), Ruminate This (Lisa English), Julia, Avedon Carol, Making Light (Teresa Nielsen Hayden), Rebecca's Pocket, Breaching the Web, Ladida, Xeney, Fusion Reaction, Parenthetically Speaking, Divinest Sense, Girlhacker, Backup Brain (Dori's half) , Megnut, Netwoman, 12 Frogs, Burningbird, ValueJudgment (J's half) , Yourish, Veralynne-ACT, Sisyphus Shrugged
Blog on, sweet sisters..blog on.
*Kevin Hayden provides an additional tribute to women of blogging: "Wimminz Get their Day, but that ain't enough.."
This blogstress was gifted with the highlighted word "many" sandwiched in between my gurlfellow blogkind. It reminds me of the saying "From one-- many and from many--one." All these female blogstress spirits represent separate parts linked to the entirety of "blogstress-consciousness".
MANY thanks to Kevin!
A sampling:
Anne Zook, Mahablog-Barbara O'Brien, Bittershack-Brooke Biggs, Nitpicker-CJ Finis, The Duchess (Charlene), Cyndy Roy, Different Strings-Kryselda Jarnsaxa, Ana Marie (Wonkette), Laura Poyneer aka al-muhajabah, Madelein Begun Kane, Marla Caldwell, Echidne, Iddybud-Jude Nagurney Camwell, Lis Riba, Laura Gjovaag, Maru Soze, Natalie Davis, Shari, PG, Alasablog, Crescat Sententia, Eve Tushnet , Suburban Guerrilla, Collective Sigh, Elayne Riggs, Blog or Not, Amy Sullivan, World O'Crap, Just a Bump in the Beltway (Melanie), Wampum (Mary Beth Williams), Assymetrical Information(Jane Galt), Respectful of Otters (Rivka), Ruminate This (Lisa English), Julia, Avedon Carol, Making Light (Teresa Nielsen Hayden), Rebecca's Pocket, Breaching the Web, Ladida, Xeney, Fusion Reaction, Parenthetically Speaking, Divinest Sense, Girlhacker, Backup Brain (Dori's half) , Megnut, Netwoman, 12 Frogs, Burningbird, ValueJudgment (J's half) , Yourish, Veralynne-ACT, Sisyphus Shrugged
Blog on, sweet sisters..blog on.
*Kevin Hayden provides an additional tribute to women of blogging: "Wimminz Get their Day, but that ain't enough.."
This blogstress was gifted with the highlighted word "many" sandwiched in between my gurlfellow blogkind. It reminds me of the saying "From one-- many and from many--one." All these female blogstress spirits represent separate parts linked to the entirety of "blogstress-consciousness".
MANY thanks to Kevin!
Today as the news from Selma and Saigon
poisons the air like fallout,
I come again to see
the serene, great picture that I love.
Here space and time exist in light
the eye like the eye of faith believes.
The seen, the known
dissolve in iridescence, become
illusive flesh of light
that was not, was, forever is.
O light beheld as through refracting tears.
Here is the aura of that world
each of us has lost.
Here is the shadow of its joy.
Robert Hayden
CIA chief George Tenet says he's corrected VP Dick Cheney privately. Let's correct him publically while we're at it.
Mr. Tenet, testifying before a Senate committee yesterday, did not go as far as to say he thought the Bush administration had misrepresented facts to justify going to war.
However, Mr. Tenet said he planned to call Mr. Cheney's attention to a recent misstatement, in a Jan. 9 interview, when the vice president recommended as "your best source of information" on links between Iraq and Al Qaeda the contents of a disputed memorandum by senior Pentagon official, Douglas J. Feith. That memo was sent last October to the Senate Intelligence Committee, and information from the memo was used last November in an now-infamous article titled "Case Closed" published in the Weekly Standard. In my opinion, the article seemed an attempt to convince readers that there was conclusive evidence of collaboration between Saddam Hussein's government and Al Qaeda. The article's writer, Stephen Hayes, failed to mention that intelligence agencies objected to Mr. Feith's findings.
How do these stories affect public perception/public opinion?
Last December, the "Case Closed" article played well in the business-as-usual right-wing media circles, but never got much farther due to its fact-challenged and innuendo-flavoured nature. Inside the mainstream media loop, questions about the actual facts continued. I recall, at that time, being disturbed about the misinformation floating around and the press' seeming incompetence or unwillingness to ask the tough questions in order to "get it right". It was a frustrating experience for citizens like me who appreciate the most honest and straightforward methods of disseminating information.
In a NYT column titled "Telling It Right" dated December 19, 2003 (after the capture of Saddam Hussein), Paul Krugman wrote:
I think it's time we correct VP Cheney publically.
Professor Rodger Payne discusses the misleadings
Blogger Rodger Payne (Associate Professor, Department of Political Science, University of Louisville KY) has contributed some updated information about Salman Pak-an alleged terror camp in Iraq that was the proving-ground centerpiece of the "Case Closed" article. (See Professor Payne's entry titled Al-Qaida-Iraq Link Further Debunked). You may safely look at the official facts available today and rationally assume it's possible that Salman Pak never existed at all. Knight-Ridder reporters have been told by a lot of senior people in the intelligence community that "The U.S. military has found no evidence of such a facility."
Regarding the disturbing lack of evidence, Professor Payne says:
Mr. Tenet, testifying before a Senate committee yesterday, did not go as far as to say he thought the Bush administration had misrepresented facts to justify going to war.
However, Mr. Tenet said he planned to call Mr. Cheney's attention to a recent misstatement, in a Jan. 9 interview, when the vice president recommended as "your best source of information" on links between Iraq and Al Qaeda the contents of a disputed memorandum by senior Pentagon official, Douglas J. Feith. That memo was sent last October to the Senate Intelligence Committee, and information from the memo was used last November in an now-infamous article titled "Case Closed" published in the Weekly Standard. In my opinion, the article seemed an attempt to convince readers that there was conclusive evidence of collaboration between Saddam Hussein's government and Al Qaeda. The article's writer, Stephen Hayes, failed to mention that intelligence agencies objected to Mr. Feith's findings.
How do these stories affect public perception/public opinion?
Last December, the "Case Closed" article played well in the business-as-usual right-wing media circles, but never got much farther due to its fact-challenged and innuendo-flavoured nature. Inside the mainstream media loop, questions about the actual facts continued. I recall, at that time, being disturbed about the misinformation floating around and the press' seeming incompetence or unwillingness to ask the tough questions in order to "get it right". It was a frustrating experience for citizens like me who appreciate the most honest and straightforward methods of disseminating information.
In a NYT column titled "Telling It Right" dated December 19, 2003 (after the capture of Saddam Hussein), Paul Krugman wrote:
By now, we've become accustomed to the fact that the absence of Iraqi weapons of mass destruction — the principal public rationale for the war — hasn't become a big political liability for the administration. That's bad enough. Even more startling is the news from one of this week's polls: despite the complete absence of evidence, 53 percent of Americans believe that Saddam had something to do with 9/11, up from 43 percent before his capture. The administration's long campaign of guilt by innuendo, it seems, is still working.In retrospect, this news should not have been startling. Officials such as VP Dick Cheney were making public statements which were misleading Americans (whether intentional or unintentional, they were misleading just the same).
I think it's time we correct VP Cheney publically.
Professor Rodger Payne discusses the misleadings
Blogger Rodger Payne (Associate Professor, Department of Political Science, University of Louisville KY) has contributed some updated information about Salman Pak-an alleged terror camp in Iraq that was the proving-ground centerpiece of the "Case Closed" article. (See Professor Payne's entry titled Al-Qaida-Iraq Link Further Debunked). You may safely look at the official facts available today and rationally assume it's possible that Salman Pak never existed at all. Knight-Ridder reporters have been told by a lot of senior people in the intelligence community that "The U.S. military has found no evidence of such a facility."
Regarding the disturbing lack of evidence, Professor Payne says:
...this is a particularly egregious finding, first because DoD still lists the capture of the camp as one of its war accomplishments and second because the current head of the Iraq Survey Group (Charles Duelfer, who took over from David Kay) claimed that he saw the camps when he was a UN weapons inspector. Dunlop points out that no such claim is reported in the UN reports about Iraqi weapons.I think it's time the press corrects VP Cheney publically. An informed public is necessary in order for a healthy American democracy to exist. Case definitely NOT closed.
The media could play a central role in assuring public accountability. Dunlop notes that someone should ask Duelfer about Salman Pak.
After 9-11, old statistics and predictions went out the window and the changed world demanded a new direction
I was reading a series of discussions between Harvard's Steven Pinker (Dept. of Psychology) and Clark R. Chapman/Alan W. Harris (research scientists at Southwest Research Institute, Boulder, Colorado) about terrorist risk calculations in the aftermath of 9-11. I found it interesting...it makes you think twice about the way we saw the world before 9-11...and the way we see it today. What is most interesting is how our deepest thinkers still see things in respectively differing perspectives.
First in the series is an article by Clark R. Chapman and Alan W. Harris in Skeptical Inquirer- Sept/Oct 2002- A Skeptical Look at September 11th
How We Can Defeat Terrorism by Reacting to It More Rationally
Next is Steven Pinker's letter to Skeptical Inquirer (2003)
Last is the Clark R. Chapman and Alan W. Harris Response.
In abbreviated fashion, I'll summarize the discussion:
CHAPMAN/HARIS- Why does 9/11 remain our focus rather than the equally vast carnage on the nation's highways or Indian earthquake victims?
PINKER- ...one cannot use the rate of major terrorist attacks in, say, the past 10 years to estimate the rate in the next 10 years. Wahabism and anti-Americanism may be more widespread, nuclear weapons more available, copycats more emboldened, and so on. Because of these uncertainties, anyone who claims to have calculated the mathematically correct probability that a horrendous terrorist attack will take place in the next year would be talking through his hat......Nonhuman causes of deaths (such as sharks, airplane part failures, and carcinogens) don't take into account how people react to them. Human causes of deaths (such as terrorists) do. Bin Laden had no negotiable demands, but thought that Americans society was so decadent and spiritually bankrupt that a few easily inflicted humiliating blows would lead to its collapse. A public response of defiance and solidarity, and the implementation of extensive preventive security measures, could change such calculations in the minds of future terrorists....dealing with terrorists is a problem in game theory, not just a problem in risk estimation...
CHAPMAN/HARRIS- ..Recent polls show that about one-quarter of American respondents regard themselves as being personally at risk from terrorists. It is fair to note that with respect to the recent past, including the September 11, 2001, attacks, this perception is orders of magnitude off. Looking to the future, for this perception to be correct would require a World Trade Center-level terrorist attack somewhere in the U.S. roughly every week, for life. Lacking some realistic expectation that the level of terrorism will soar by factors of thousands, we must ascribe this disparity to twisted perceptions--driven, of course, by news-inspired fears, as the terrorists intend-about the real dangers....We don't agree that the terrorist attacks provided much new information about the willingness of terrorists to co-opt our modern technologies to kill and terrorize as many people as possible. It may be, as Pinker suggests, that "defiance and solidarity" will deter terrorists. That was surely President Bush's view before he attacked Iraq, though his critics believe the opposite. Perhaps a diminution of American arrogance in the international arena, and examining and addressing the root causes of terrorism, would be more effective. Time will tell if Bush's approach worked or not. Meanwhile, it is imperative that Americans continue to ask themselves whether the terrorists' objectively modest attacks aren't succeeding beyond Osama bin Laden's wildest dreams through our capitulation to fear, which causes us to distort our national values and comportment in the world community...
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Today I read Nicholas Kristof and I wondered if I should listen more to Pinker or to Chapman/Harris. Although I saw great wisdom in both points of view, I decided, in the case of what I believe is a potentially devastating and out-of-control nuclear threat, to go over to Pinker's corner in the case of Russian states and North Korea. The problem lies in the game theory. The Bush administration is not at the top of this game. As a matter of fact, I fear they've thrown the gaming aside for the temporary thrill of conquering a tin-pan dictator or two.. bombs and snake holes enough to excite the GOP base into thinking we're tough, safe and secure. This could prove fatal to many, many people...and this is by no means a Chicken-Little warning. We'd best get our priorities straight before it's too late.
From the Kristof column:
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Bush finally put pressure on Pakistani President Pervez Musharraf to cashier Khan. But when Musharraf then pardoned Khan in an elaborate charade that shielded the Pakistani government from blame, Bush did not utter a word of criticism, even though Musharraf is not letting Washington ask Khan who his nuclear customers were.
This is irresponsibility of the highest order, and it undermines Bush's claim that he is keeping the United States safe from nuclear terror.
-- Matthew Rothschild
I was reading a series of discussions between Harvard's Steven Pinker (Dept. of Psychology) and Clark R. Chapman/Alan W. Harris (research scientists at Southwest Research Institute, Boulder, Colorado) about terrorist risk calculations in the aftermath of 9-11. I found it interesting...it makes you think twice about the way we saw the world before 9-11...and the way we see it today. What is most interesting is how our deepest thinkers still see things in respectively differing perspectives.
First in the series is an article by Clark R. Chapman and Alan W. Harris in Skeptical Inquirer- Sept/Oct 2002- A Skeptical Look at September 11th
How We Can Defeat Terrorism by Reacting to It More Rationally
Next is Steven Pinker's letter to Skeptical Inquirer (2003)
Last is the Clark R. Chapman and Alan W. Harris Response.
In abbreviated fashion, I'll summarize the discussion:
CHAPMAN/HARIS- Why does 9/11 remain our focus rather than the equally vast carnage on the nation's highways or Indian earthquake victims?
PINKER- ...one cannot use the rate of major terrorist attacks in, say, the past 10 years to estimate the rate in the next 10 years. Wahabism and anti-Americanism may be more widespread, nuclear weapons more available, copycats more emboldened, and so on. Because of these uncertainties, anyone who claims to have calculated the mathematically correct probability that a horrendous terrorist attack will take place in the next year would be talking through his hat......Nonhuman causes of deaths (such as sharks, airplane part failures, and carcinogens) don't take into account how people react to them. Human causes of deaths (such as terrorists) do. Bin Laden had no negotiable demands, but thought that Americans society was so decadent and spiritually bankrupt that a few easily inflicted humiliating blows would lead to its collapse. A public response of defiance and solidarity, and the implementation of extensive preventive security measures, could change such calculations in the minds of future terrorists....dealing with terrorists is a problem in game theory, not just a problem in risk estimation...
CHAPMAN/HARRIS- ..Recent polls show that about one-quarter of American respondents regard themselves as being personally at risk from terrorists. It is fair to note that with respect to the recent past, including the September 11, 2001, attacks, this perception is orders of magnitude off. Looking to the future, for this perception to be correct would require a World Trade Center-level terrorist attack somewhere in the U.S. roughly every week, for life. Lacking some realistic expectation that the level of terrorism will soar by factors of thousands, we must ascribe this disparity to twisted perceptions--driven, of course, by news-inspired fears, as the terrorists intend-about the real dangers....We don't agree that the terrorist attacks provided much new information about the willingness of terrorists to co-opt our modern technologies to kill and terrorize as many people as possible. It may be, as Pinker suggests, that "defiance and solidarity" will deter terrorists. That was surely President Bush's view before he attacked Iraq, though his critics believe the opposite. Perhaps a diminution of American arrogance in the international arena, and examining and addressing the root causes of terrorism, would be more effective. Time will tell if Bush's approach worked or not. Meanwhile, it is imperative that Americans continue to ask themselves whether the terrorists' objectively modest attacks aren't succeeding beyond Osama bin Laden's wildest dreams through our capitulation to fear, which causes us to distort our national values and comportment in the world community...
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Today I read Nicholas Kristof and I wondered if I should listen more to Pinker or to Chapman/Harris. Although I saw great wisdom in both points of view, I decided, in the case of what I believe is a potentially devastating and out-of-control nuclear threat, to go over to Pinker's corner in the case of Russian states and North Korea. The problem lies in the game theory. The Bush administration is not at the top of this game. As a matter of fact, I fear they've thrown the gaming aside for the temporary thrill of conquering a tin-pan dictator or two.. bombs and snake holes enough to excite the GOP base into thinking we're tough, safe and secure. This could prove fatal to many, many people...and this is by no means a Chicken-Little warning. We'd best get our priorities straight before it's too late.
From the Kristof column:
"...It's mystifying that the administration hasn't leaned on Pakistan to make Dr. Khan available for interrogation to ensure that his network is entirely closed....Another puzzle is why an administration that spends hundreds of billions of dollars in Iraq doesn't try harder to secure uranium and plutonium in Russia and elsewhere. The bipartisan program to secure weapons of mass destruction is starved for funds — but Mr. Bush is proposing a $41 million cut in "cooperative threat reduction" with Russia......The steps that are needed, like negotiating seriously with North Korea and securing sites in Russia, aren't as dramatic as bombing Baghdad. But unless we act more aggressively, we will get a wake-up call from a nuclear explosion or, more likely, a "dirty bomb" that uses radioactive materials routinely lying around hospitals and factories.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Bush finally put pressure on Pakistani President Pervez Musharraf to cashier Khan. But when Musharraf then pardoned Khan in an elaborate charade that shielded the Pakistani government from blame, Bush did not utter a word of criticism, even though Musharraf is not letting Washington ask Khan who his nuclear customers were.
This is irresponsibility of the highest order, and it undermines Bush's claim that he is keeping the United States safe from nuclear terror.
-- Matthew Rothschild
Meet Ellen Mariani
Meet Ellen. She's the one on the left.
Ellen's webpage
the actual lawsuit
video of Ellen and Phil KGO interview
Ellen's Open Letter to Bush
outrage over lack of coverage
The only coverage of the press release
http://www.yuricareport.com/Corruption/RICOprosecutionGoingFullSteamAhead.htm
Alex Jones interviews Ellen and Phil
Eagle Tribune story
Latest News 9/11 Director Gave Evidence to Own Inquiry
CBS RADIO - KIRO 710 AM -Seattle Washington -The Mike Webb Show 10pm
9/11 Chair: Attack Was Preventable
Mariani seeks deposition of Saddam Hussein to support RICO action
Mariani vs. Bush - Amended Complaint
Mariani vs. Bush - Notice of RICO suit
Response to Defendant's Motion to Dismiss
Memorandum in Oppostion to Defendant's Motion to Dismiss
Media Coverage
ARCHIVE Ellen Mariani on the Ila Swan Show: 9-11 RICO LAW SUIT Tuesday January 6th
ARCHIVE Ellen Mariani and Phil Berg interview on Highway to Health
Foreign Press
Meet Ellen. She's the one on the left.
“I’m not a Democrat and I’m not a Republican. I’m just a woman who has lost her husband and I want to know why and how it happened. I want my questions answered."Video footage of the press conference
Ellen's webpage
the actual lawsuit
video of Ellen and Phil KGO interview
Ellen's Open Letter to Bush
outrage over lack of coverage
The only coverage of the press release
http://www.yuricareport.com/Corruption/RICOprosecutionGoingFullSteamAhead.htm
Alex Jones interviews Ellen and Phil
Eagle Tribune story
"I am a person who wants to know what happened. Money is great, but not when it comes to a loved one being murdered."Transcript of our appearance on MSNBC's TV's Scarbourough Country from January 28, 2004
Latest News 9/11 Director Gave Evidence to Own Inquiry
CBS RADIO - KIRO 710 AM -Seattle Washington -The Mike Webb Show 10pm
9/11 Chair: Attack Was Preventable
Mariani seeks deposition of Saddam Hussein to support RICO action
Mariani vs. Bush - Amended Complaint
Mariani vs. Bush - Notice of RICO suit
Response to Defendant's Motion to Dismiss
Memorandum in Oppostion to Defendant's Motion to Dismiss
Media Coverage
ARCHIVE Ellen Mariani on the Ila Swan Show: 9-11 RICO LAW SUIT Tuesday January 6th
ARCHIVE Ellen Mariani and Phil Berg interview on Highway to Health
Foreign Press
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