Even Airplanes Have Exit Strategies

The Vietnamization of Bush's Vacation - Frank Rich

Another anti-war (read "anti-Bush") Times opinion column that gripes about the politics of politicians, without offering any substantial suggestions. However, the article is important in that it culturally signifies the war in Iraq's fast approaching status as a Vietnam-like situation. And, of course, although it often goes unstated, especially in Rich's article (curiously), an allusion to Vietnam is an allusion domestically to a reinstitution of the draft.

We need an exit strategy right now, while the draft is only a possibility, and not a necessity. (Quotes from the article.)

But don't expect any of [Wisc. Dem. Senator Russell] Feingold's peers to join him or [Nebr. Rep. Senator Chuck] Hagel in fashioning an exit strategy that might work. If there's a moment that could stand for the Democrats' irrelevance it came on July 14, the day Americans woke up to learn of the suicide bomber in Baghdad who killed as many as 27 people, nearly all of them children gathered around American troops. In Washington that day, the presumptive presidential candidate Hillary Clinton held a press conference vowing to protect American children from the fantasy violence of video games.

...

[This information just makes me sick:]
The marketing campaign will crescendo in two weeks, on the anniversary of 9/11, when a Defense Department "Freedom Walk" will trek from the site of the Pentagon attack through Arlington National Cemetery to a country music concert on the Mall. There the false linkage of Iraq to 9/11 will be hammered in once more, this time with a beat: Clint Black will sing "I Raq and Roll," a ditty whose lyrics focus on Saddam, not the Islamic radicals who actually attacked America. Lest any propaganda opportunity be missed, Arlington's gravestones are being branded with the Pentagon's slogans for military campaigns, like Operation Iraqi Freedom, The Associated Press reported last week - a historic first. If only the administration had thought of doing the same on the fallen's coffins, it might have allowed photographs.

Now, for a change of pace, David Brooks actually comes through with a worthwhile suggestion as to how to fix our broken liberation. It's nothing new or ground-breaking, but, hell, at least he's trying.

This looks like a good auction!

Minimalist Art and Articles of Faith - New York Times

To keep

this blog going, im posting some poor poetry i wrote last year... it was kind of spur of the moment stuff that hasnt gone farther than my desktop since then - but im definitely interested in any criticism you (who are you?) have, if only to affirm my low self esteem. enjoy!

Caricature of a man
What defines me?
Who defines me?
Organize and Reorganize
(Until I forget.)
Myself, My World
Until
i forget
What I came here for?
I came here for what?

Autonomy or Automaton?
I am Descartes’
Hallucination
or Hallelujah
phallus plunge into the universal void
whole of a verse
I turninto you
Sikh and you shall be fined
A litany of lost actions
Verbs
Words that feel
Like you and me
Forget speech and just
om

A Look Back...

...to thoughts from some of America's most prominent conservatives, at the beginning of our military action:

"Well, I just think it's a bad idea. What's going to happen is they're going to be over there for 10, 15, maybe 20 years."
--Joe Scarborough (R-FL)

"Explain to the mothers and fathers of American servicemen that may come home in body bags why their son or daughter have to give up their life?"
--Sean Hannity, Fox News

"[The] President... is once again releasing American military might on a foreign country with an ill-defined objective and no exit strategy. He has yet to tell the Congress how much this operation will cost. And he has not informed our nation's armed forces about how long they will be away from home. These strikes do not make for a sound foreign policy."
--Sen. Rick Santorum (R-PA)

"American foreign policy is now one huge big mystery. Simply put, the administration is trying to lead the world with a feel-good foreign policy."
--Rep Tom Delay (R-TX)

"If we are going to commit American troops, we must be certain they have a clear mission, an achievable goal and an exit strategy."
--Karen Hughes, speaking on behalf of George W Bush

"I had doubts about the bombing campaign from the beginning... I didn't think we had done enough in the diplomatic area."
--Senator Trent Lott (R-MS)

"I cannot support a failed foreign policy. History teaches us that it is often easier to make war than peace. This administration is just learning that lesson right now. The President began this mission with very vague objectives and lots of unanswered questions. A month later, these questions are still unanswered. There are no clarified rules of engagement. There is no timetable. There is no legitimate definition of victory. There is no contingency plan for mission creep. There is no clear funding program. There is no agenda to bolster our over-extended military. There is no explanation defining what vital national interests are at stake. There was no strategic plan for war when the President started this thing, and there still is no plan today."
--Rep Tom Delay (R-TX)

"Victory means exit strategy, and it's important for the President to explain to us what the exit strategy is."
--George W. Bush (R-TX)


(quotes from when Clinton committed troops to Bosnia)

sam, as recompense for your hijinks, you can go see this movie for me:

A State of Mind

Faith, Shame, and Insurgency: Life in occupied Iraq

- A piece on Iraq written last year by freelance journalist Steven Vincent, who was found yesterday in Basra, shot to death, only days after writing an opinion piece in the Times about the growing Shi'ite fundamentalism in that city. Supposedly, it is the first time that a foreigner has been killed in Iraq specifically for his journalism (although, I argue that some of the U.S.-perpetrated deaths of 17 journalists, including those of Yasser Salihee and Tareq Ayyoub, were not in fact "mistakes" - and, of course, there have been many, many journalists killed by insurgents). I think the total number of deaths of media personnel is about 60 now.

Anyway, read that article, because it is quite interesting - and also, its not the same old, black-and-white anti-war/pro-war kind of piece.