January 29, 2007
Hegemony and Appeasement: Setting Up the Next Target for the "Supreme International Crime" [1]
By Edward S. Herman and David Peterson
Still digesting their recent and ongoing aggressions in the Middle East, the Bush and Israeli regimes now threaten to attack Iran. As these warrior states cast their long shadow across the region, they find themselves aided and abetted by the Security Council, the other major powers, parties of the opposition, and the media.
The ease with which a supposedly independent media in a supposedly democratic society like the United States can demonize enemies and convert third- and fourth-rate official targets into major threats is almost beyond belief. And the collective amnesia of the establishment media enables them to do the same thing over and over again; they never learn, and most important never have to learn, because the collective amnesia they help instill in the society protects them against correction — an unending series of victories over memory in the exercise of "reality-control" (Orwell). This enables the media to serve as de facto propaganda agents of their state while still claiming to be independent watchdogs. Less than three years ago, in 2004, the New York Times and Washington Post were hardly alone in offering partial mea culpas for having swallowed and regurgitated Bush-Cheney-Rumsfeld-Powell-Rice lies about Saddam Hussein's menacing weapons of mass destruction (WMD) [2], thereby making a major contribution to the criminal and costly quagmire they now bemoan (but, along with Bush, still declining to urge any quick exit or meaningful withdrawal.) And yet they had barely gotten out their apologies before they eagerly climbed aboard the Bush-Cheney-Rice-Olmert bandwagon on the Iran menace and urgent need to do something about that grave threat.
January 27, 2007
Slapstick on Jenkins Hill
By Werther*
"You can't use tact with a Congressman! A Congressman is a hog! You must take a stick and hit him on the snout!"
— Henry B. Adams
These are trying times for the first branch of government. Ignore the evident knavery and imbecility of the actual legislation Congress produces. Think of the collapse of dignity that has manifested itself in the physical look of the place, and the comportment of its members duly chosen and sworn.
We are long departed from the days when the graceful neoclassical architecture of Latrobe and Bullfinch reared itself atop Jenkins Hill (the original name of Capitol Hill) amid the sleepy precincts of a provincial border town. Within recent memory, the open accessibility of the Capitol was a blessed relief from the bunker-like grayness and petty authoritarianism of a typical office building belonging to the executive branch. A stroll about the East Lawn of the Capitol, shaded by the stately oaks and elms dating to time out of mind, could refresh one even on the most miasmic summer day.
Housekeeping
We're doing a little housekeeping here at EP, adding a couple pages to the archives (separating out 2006 from 2007), and a few other minor fixes. (Hopefully minor.) You may notice a couple oddly rendered pages for a short time while these changes are being worked on, but service will be back to normal very soon. And if you haven't noticed anything unusual, that's good! A big Thank You to Mike, for help with the coding.
January 24, 2007
TESTIMONY FOR THE SENATE FOREIGN RELATIONS COMMITTEE
18 January 2007
By Lieutenant General Wm. E. Odom
Good afternoon, Senator Biden and members of the committee. It is a grave responsibility to testify before you today because the issue, the war in Iraq, is of such monumental importance.
You have asked me to address primarily the military aspects of the war. Although I shall comply, I must emphasize that it makes no sense to separate them from the political aspects. Military actions are merely the most extreme form of politics. If politics is the business of deciding "who gets what, when, how," as Boss Tweed of Tammany Hall in New York City once said, then the military aspects of war are the most extreme form of politics. The war in Iraq will answer that question there.
Continue reading "TESTIMONY FOR THE SENATE FOREIGN RELATIONS COMMITTEE"...
SOTU: The Drover's Version
Afterwards, I was amazed to hear Keith Olbermann say "It wasn't a good speech, but it wasn't a bad speech." Keith, I have news for you: It was a bad speech. Though nobody expected the Gettysburg Address it was not too much to ask that the President and his handlers produce something pedestrian but workmanlike, perhaps a bit tedious, but useful nevertheless. This speech, however, treats the presidency as if it were a reality TV game show. Jack-in-the-box Republicans, strategically massed around the podium, proved their dexterity at clapping and leaping to their feet on the slightest provocation, but even they couldn't help. It was painful to watch this meandering slough avoid Iraq until it could be avoided no longer, somewhere around half an hour into the thing, when the words "military action" popped out. Then a triple fear booster, enlivened by extra-heavy smirking. At which point even the redoubtable Republican cheering squad began to show signs of fatigue. The "nothing more important in our history" line about fighting terrorism sounding freakishly out of place, limping in as it did after a dull list of platitudes regarding the economy, tax cuts, energy, climate change, etc. Finally, the kitsch of honored all-American success stories underscored the parody. Unfortunately, it's all too possible that the Democrats will now be enchanted by such glittering frauds as the medical equivalent of social security privatization or doubling the size of the strategic petroleum reserve. Boondoggle upon boondoggle. Watching Keith's reaction I could see that the Tyrant's thaumaturgy already had had its effect...
January 20, 2007
The ICC Quandary
By Diana Johnstone
Year after year, people in the Arab countries are helpless spectators to the ongoing destruction of Iraq and Palestine by the United States and Israel. They see families wiped out by bombs in Afghanistan, Iraq and Lebanon. They see Arabs tortured and humiliated in Abu Ghraib and in Guantanamo. They see Israel regularly carrying out "targeted" assassinations in the Occupied Territories (splashing death around the target) while extending its illegal settlement of land belonging to Palestinians. Probably no people have greater cause to yearn for an equitable system of international justice. But where are they to look for it?
January 18, 2007
Something To Hide
It's more than passing strange that the administration should suddenly reverse itself on using the FISA court, an option available to them for years. Though purely conjecture, one natural working hypothesis is that they're hoping to hide serious wrongdoing by making concessions that may head off congressional oversight hearings. Perhaps Congress may be fooled by such tactics, but the public shouldn't be: We must continue to demand accountability, holding members' feet to the fire as necessary.
And A Short Program Note: Tomorrow's podcast is, as planned, with Jonathon Porritt, a leading UK environmentalist. The Friday following is with Bruce Fein, a distinguished constitutional scholar — and establishment conservative — who thinks the Tyrant should be impeached. (Photo credit: BBC, for fair use.)
January 13, 2007
The Great Escape
If I had to guess—and this is just a guess—the collective reasoning behind the surge goes something like this: In order to withdraw decently we have to look like we gave Iraq our best effort. We can't make that case now, but a change in declared "strategy" and a short-term ramp in forces changes the debate enough for our claim to pass, if not unchallenged, at least essentially unscathed as far as most of the public is concerned. More importantly, perhaps, it lays the necessary groundwork to preserve American credibility abroad. In the second phase, the drawdown phase, we need to keep our enemies off-balance so that they don't take advantage. Hence a second carrier group to the region and the lateral shift of Adm. Fallon to Centcom. And the seizure of the Iranian office in Irbil (which we claim was not a diplomatic facility). Other provocative acts to follow. By the time our enemies figure out that we're leaving, we'll have mostly left. Anti-war Democrats will just look stupid for opposing the surge; Republicans will be much better positioned for 2008. We'll still be waving a stick in the middle east. End of story. It's enough of a plan to keep senior military officers and diplomats happily beavering away, secure in the knowledge that they're doing the Lord's work. But behind such collective reasoning another set of calculations may well be in play with entirely different, malign objectives.
January 10, 2007
Martial Afflatus
The Tyrant's little talk on Iraq showed every sign of being stitched together by committee. Optimists might point to the "adult" observation that unless Iraq's government can get its act together it'll lose the support of the American people. Pessimists, to the new notion that Iran and Syria may somehow be targeted for their support of various Iraqi insurgents. Overall, however, the Tyrant's tone—Victory!—demonstrates yet again his fundamental disconnect from reality. And it's the tone that augurs ill for the next two years. Thanks to the Tyrant's obstinacy, the scale of America's forthcoming defeat in Iraq may well be far greater than anyone has yet imagined.
January 7, 2007
The Self-Licking Ice Cream Cone, or Why We Fight
By Werther*
"War is a racket. It always has been.
"It is possibly the oldest, easily the most profitable, surely the most vicious. It is the only one international in scope. It is the only one in which the profits are reckoned in dollars and the losses in lives."
General Smedley Butler (1935)
As is our habit, we are wont to read The Washington Post, bulletin board of the Beltway illuminati, in Pravda fashion, from back to front, concentrating on subject matter mentioned three quarters of the way through the article. Let us take the Wednesday, 27 December edition of the Meyer-Graham newsletter as an example.
Continue reading "The Self-Licking Ice Cream Cone, or Why We Fight"...
January 4, 2007
You've Got Mail!
The idea that the federal government sweeps up all the email it can for supercomputers to sift through is one thing. News that in a signing statement the Tyrant assumes the power to open people's regular physical mail delivered through the US Postal Service (without their knowledge, and without a warrant) whenever he likes, is something else. Those who've been arguing that the Tyrant's attack on terror only affects terrorists should start listening to critics who point to the automatically escalating nature of such measures. We're rapidly raising police state territory, which we're going to enter unless a lot more people start yelling "STOP" pretty darn soon.
January 1, 2007
Flu
I've got a fever of 101 F. I've been really knocked out for at least four days, with some odd combination of cold and flu symptoms—the first time I've had either in over a year. Too much going on towards the end of the year, I guess, and I haven't been eating my regular quota of fresh fruits and vegetables. Anyhow, I hope we won't experience any interruption of EP's podcast schedule (this Friday's show, already recorded except for intro and exit, will be broadcast), though it's possible. Also, intermittent notes more intermittent than usual. Thanks for your patience, and good wishes!
