December 2005 Archives

Well, this looks like we've completely screwed the pooch in Iraq:

Kurds in Iraqi army proclaim loyalty to militia

Kurdish leaders have inserted more than 10,000 of their militia members into Iraqi army divisions in northern Iraq to lay the groundwork to swarm south, seize the oil-rich city of Kirkuk and possibly half of Mosul, Iraq's third-largest city, and secure the borders of an independent Kurdistan.

Five days of interviews with Kurdish leaders and troops in the region suggest that U.S. plans to bring unity to Iraq before withdrawing American troops by training and equipping a national army aren't gaining traction. Instead, some troops that are formally under U.S. and Iraqi national command are preparing to protect territory and ethnic and religious interests in the event of Iraq's fragmentation, which many of them think is inevitable.

The soldiers said that while they wore Iraqi army uniforms they still considered themselves members of the Peshmerga - the Kurdish militia - and were awaiting orders from Kurdish leaders to break ranks. Many said they wouldn't hesitate to kill their Iraqi army comrades, especially Arabs, if a fight for an independent Kurdistan erupted.

"It doesn't matter if we have to fight the Arabs in our own battalion," said Gabriel Mohammed, a Kurdish soldier in the Iraqi army who was escorting a Knight Ridder reporter through Kirkuk. "Kirkuk will be ours."

So, can we call it a civil war yet?

The Kurds have readied their troops not only because they've long yearned to establish an independent state but also because their leaders expect Iraq to disintegrate, senior leaders in the Peshmerga - literally, "those who face death" - told Knight Ridder. The Kurds are mostly secular Sunni Muslims, and are ethnically distinct from Arabs.

Their strategy mirrors that of Shiite Muslim parties in southern Iraq, which have stocked Iraqi army and police units with members of their own militias and have maintained a separate militia presence throughout Iraq's central and southern provinces. The militias now are illegal under Iraqi law but operate openly in many areas. Peshmerga leaders said in interviews that they expected the Shiites to create a semi-autonomous and then independent state in the south as they would do in the north.

So, looks to me like Iraq is disintegrating. And I'm quite positive that there isn't a fricking thing in the world that 130K of US troops are going to be able to do to prevent it from happening. In fact, I'm pretty sure that it's going to be all we can do to cover our own butt as we high tail it out of there.

Yep, going to be a real interesting 2006.

Via Poe, Via A. Parsons

If I could see the sky above
And my mind could be set free
As wild white horses reached the shore
I'd stand alone and oversee

And if the bush before me burns
Should I turn my eyes away
And still the voices I can hear
As clear to me as light of day

I believed in my dreams
Nothing could change my mind
Now I know what they mean
How could I be so blind

Cold sands of time
(Winds that blow as cold as ice
Sounds that come in the night)
Shall hide what is left of me
(Come from Paradise)

I've been through times when no one cared
(Words that were mine)
I've seen clouds in empty skies
When one kind word meant more to me
(Shall last as a memory)
Than all the love in Paradise

I believed in my dreams
Nothing could change my mind
Till I found what they mean
Nothing can save me now

And all my days are trances,
And all my nightly dreams
Are where thy grey eye glances,
And where thy footstep gleams-
In what ethereal dances,
By what eternal streams.

Been a bit of a buzz around this WaPo article by Ignatius, Revolt Of The Professionals.

But the intelligence professionals who have daily responsibility for waging the war against terrorism don't seem particularly surprised or unhappy to see the emergency structure in trouble. They want clear rules and public support that will allow them to do their jobs effectively over the long haul, without getting second-guessed or jerked around by politicians. Basically, they don't want to be left holding the bag -- which this nation has too often done with its professional military and intelligence officers.

Lord. Where to start? Myself, since I work in a fairly large corporation, I see this kind of shit all the time. The blokes at Firesign Theatre perhaps summed up the phenomena best: "They think he's crazy - yet he out ranks them".

Well, I got news for y'all in the NSA, CIA, FBI and whatever god forsaken TLA we have involved in this crap: The administration left a flaming bag of shit on your doorstep and you've been stomping it out for the past three years. You're not just holding the flaming bag of shit, you're covered in it.

It's been four years guys. It's not like this all just happened yesterday and you're punch drunk - unable to get your bearings in the fast paced change. You let a war happen even though you knew there were no weapons of mass destruction. You tortured people. You've been holding American citizens without charges or access to consul. It's you people who have been wiretapping and data mining the communications of American citizens without warrants.

Don't tell me you thought it was all legal.

Sorry. You don't get to blame it on Bush. You swore an oath to uphold the constitution and serve the American people - not Bush. More than anyone else in this country, you shoulder the blame. Intimidated by Cheney? Threatened by Rumsfeld? Cowed by Bolton? Manipulated by Rove?

Too Fucking Bad. It's you're job to stand up to this crap and hold the line.

That's why you're there. That's why we train you. That's why we drill the constitution and the bill of rights into your spine. You're the firewall between democracy and authoritarianism, between freedom and despotism.

Sorry dudes. No free pass. Been way too long and you've been timid little schoolmarms shuddering in the corner. If it wasn't for you, these jokers wouldn't have been able to do jack.

So, glad to see you're finally waking up and doubly glad you're "happy to see the discussion regarding civil liberties". But look around. We're in a precariously dangerous position. A position you helped us into. And it's going to be damn hard to get out of it.

Maybe you can salvage your soul by pulling our fat out of the fire - lord knows I hope you can. But given your stellar performance so far, I've got as much faith in your abilities to do the right thing as I have Karl Rove's ability to tell the truth.

You don't get off that easy.

Update: Beyond the imperial presidency.

What we have now is not a robust executive but a reckless one. At times like this, it's apparent that Cheney and Bush want more power not because they need it to protect the nation, but because they want more power. Another paradox: In their conduct of the war on terror, they expect our trust, but they can't be bothered to earn it.

Just remember guys, it happened on your watch

HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAAHHAHAHAHAHAHA

Sorry, but I find this incredibly funny. I just have this image of all the racists in this country standing up like Meer Kats wondering why the rug was just pulled out from under their pseudo scientific feet. Really, I know that they're denser than matter on a neutron star, but still. Gotta love science.

One mutated gene may be all that separates blacks and whites

The skin color of Europeans might have turned white after their ancestors migrated from Africa because of a single mutation among the 3 billion genetic "letters" that make up the human genome, scientists reported this month.

The mutation explains part of the lingering mystery of how human skin colors evolved during the past 50,000 years as modern humans migrated across the world after leaving Africa, according to research published in the journal Science.

"This really calls into question our ideas about race," said Mark Shriver, a professor of anthropology and genetics at Penn State University and an author of the paper.

No shit. About time, I'd say.

Not that it's going to stop stupid shit like this from being passed like a bad burrito on a Saturday night.

So with the results of the Iraqi election now crystal clear, I predict that those who are crying "Stay The Course" will suddenly discover that the U. S. troops will now be fighting to support an Islamic theocracy with strong ties to Iran. This will lead to a dramatic about face in which they will call for a precipitous withdrawal - and they'll still find a way to blame the democrats for all of this.

It's kind of eery how quiet the right has been on the Iraqi elections. And it's not surprising, given that those nearest to the action are of the opinion that the whole fiasco was pretty much one big disaster. The Sunnis are not taking the results of the election - uh - well which means that the insurgency just got a big boost rather than having the wind knocked out of their sails.

Pretty much the only peg anyone who has hope of Iraq succeeding has to pin their hopes on is the rewriting of the constitution. My guess is that they will rewrite the constitution, but contrary to the hopes and dreams of those who believe in magic pixie dust, the rewrite will be done by a government that is even more sectarian than the Iraqis who wrote the first one, and they have even less incentive to play nice-nice with the minorities, respect women's rights. They're going to rewrite the constitution such that Islamic law is the supreme law of the land and put a big "Screw the Sunnis" article in for good measure.

Yes, yes, yes. Things have worked out splendidly for the magic pixie dust brigade. Their fingers dipped in purple ink in solidarity with the Iraqis really worked the magic they were hoping it would work, didn't it?

Morons.

Just sayin'

Wow, you just have to stand in stunned awe of how thoroughly fucked up this situation has turned out.

Iraq's election result: a divided nation

Iraq is disintegrating. The first results from the parliamentary election last week show the country is dividing between Shia, Sunni and Kurdish regions.

Religious fundamentalists now have the upper hand. The secular and nationalist candidate backed by the US and Britain was humiliatingly defeated.

The Shia religious coalition has won a total victory in Baghdad and the south of Iraq. The Sunni Arab parties who openly or covertly support armed resistance to the US are likely to win large majorities in Sunni provinces. The Kurds have already achieved quasi-independence and their voting reflected that.

.....

The election was portrayed by President George Bush as a sign of success for US policies in Iraq but, in fact, means the triumph of America's enemies inside and outside the country.

.....

The US ambassador in Baghdad, Zilmay Khalilzad, sounded almost despairing yesterday as he reviewed the results of the election. "It looks as if people have preferred to vote for their ethnic or sectarian identities," he said. "But for Iraq to succeed there has to be cross-ethnic and cross-sectarian co-operation."

.....

"People underestimate how religious Iraq has become," said one Iraqi observer. "Iran is really a secular society with a religious leadership, but Iraq will be a religious society with a religious leadership." Already most girls leaving schools in Baghdad wear headscarves. Women's rights in cases of divorce and inheritance are being eroded.

.....

It is unlikely that the Shia religious parties and militias will tolerate any rollback in their power. "They feel their day has come," said Mr Attiyah.

....

The elections are also unlikely to see a diminution in armed resistance to the US by the Sunni community. Insurgent groups have made clear that they see winning seats in parliament as the opening of another front.

The break-up of Iraq has been brought closer by the election. The great majority of people who went to the polls voted as Shia, Sunni or Kurds - and not as Iraqis. The forces pulling Iraq apart are stronger than those holding it together. The election, billed by Mr Bush and Mr Blair as the birth of a new Iraqi state may in fact prove to be its funeral.

So, it appears that the combined Jedi mind power of the right wing was not enough to hold back the purple fingers of sectarian politics.

Wow, what a surprise.

I mean, what the hell did anyone realistically expect? Oh yea. I forgot. I used the word "realistically". I should have known better. There hasn't been a realistic evaluation from any of the pro war side since before the beginning. It was all pie in the sky, "click our heels three times" kind of crap.

Lovely.

And so, we now face the future where the majority of the world's largest oil reserves are controlled by Islamic theocracies. One of them - Iran - seems to have significant influence over the newest member of the club: Iraq.

So let's review the payoff of this Bold Roll Of The Dice^tm:

2000+ dead - and counting.

10,000+ injured - and counting.

250+ BILLION spent - and counting.

Unknown numbers of newly minted terrorists - and counting.

A brand spanking new Islamic theocracy, extremely friendly with Iran, in control of one of the largest oil reserves on the planet.

Hey, screwing the pooch this bad takes some real skill. Skill that is hard to come by these days. It takes discipline and an iron will that's impervious to any sane suggestions contrary to the insanity being pursued.

Oh, yea. It also takes a chorus of mindless, zombies who have that special something required to demonize anyone who disagrees with the glorious plan, lay down endless streams of flack and psychobabble about freedom and the glory of purple fingers and the willingness to tear into any dissenters like a rabid pit bull.

'Cause without all the help of the mindless zombies on both the rabid right and the cruise missile left - not to mention the mushy/washy centrists - none of this would have been possible.

So congratulations! It's a brand new Islamic theocracy!

Fucking idiots.

Okay, this is a weird one.

Iraq fuel price hike sparks protests

Violent demonstrations broke out across Iraq and the oil minister threatened to resign Monday after the government raised the prices of gasoline and cooking fuel by up to nine times.

...

In Amarah, 180 miles southeast of Baghdad, police fired into the air to disperse hundreds of protesters gathered in front of the provincial government headquarters.

...

Drivers blocked roads and burned tires near fuel stations in the southern city of Basra, and hundreds of Iraqis demonstrated outside the governor's headquarters to protest the price increases.

But good news! Jeff Goldstein just saved a bunch of money by switching to Geico.

Finally.

Now that the president has done the hard part by giving a speech, the onus is on those who were against the war from the very start and those who have no political power to pull the president's fat out of the fire.

Oh and might I add: WHAT THE FUCK ARE YOU TALKING ABOUT, VON? I mean, really. The pressure is now on the democrats? Yea, the democrats - who don't own a single branch of government, who have been completely sidelined by this administration (with your enthusiastic help, I might emphasis) - are now the ones who are on the spot.

Lord almighty. I hope to "Bob" that you don't teach your kids this kind of "responsibility".

So, Bush is "reaching out" to those of us who "did not support" his "decision" to invade Iraq. He doesn't want us to give into despair. We're not to give up this fight for freedom.

Well, let's see. Despair? Hey, that was there from day one when we - the United States of America - fought a preemptive war of aggression without justification. The despair isn't because we're sitting around moaning about our chances for victory. Even if we somehow manage to pull off something that can be propped up and mangled into some form of "victory", that despair simply won't go away. That kind of stain doesn't wash out, I'm afraid.

And fight for freedom? I hate to say this, but that fight is the Iraqi's - I'm already free. Well, I used to be free. I used to live in a country that had at least the patina of respect for the rule of law. That was before we started torturing people, rendering prisoners to countries which torture for us and holding U.S. citizens without charges or allowing them to see counsel, before our Vice President started twisting congressman's arms to ensure that torture would be legal, before we found out we have an archipelago of secret prisons across the world. Yep, I used to live in a country where even the President wasn't above the rule of law instead of the Banana Republic I now find myself a "citizen" of.

So, don't talk to me of freedom, any more - okay? Every single one of your apologists believes you have absolute power during an undeclared war - this war on a noun which will last for decades. We don't have a democracy anymore. Our constitution is in shambles.

Don't talk to me of despair. I want my country back, you bastards. I'd appreciate it if you weren't exchanging our own country's hard won freedoms and liberties for a democratic pie in the sky fantasy y'all have out there on the sand.

Pardon me for being a bit selfish, but my own country comes first.

A 1977 classic from IBM exploring powers of ten. Great to show those who aren't even aware that there is the concept.

Via Digg.

Oh, and while you're at it, check out How-to-do Girls: Bikini Calculus. Yes, we need to look at the power rule. The power rule.

Download the whole series here.

Well, lord knows this kind of a post will make enemies. Most likely, I'll get placed on the no-fly list and the FBI will execute a series of sneak n' peak warrants against me and my household.

Regardless, I must say that I pretty much consider the elections happening today in Iraq to be little more than the symbolic elections High Schoolers hold when they elect the student body president and attending over achievers. Just yesterday, I was over at the Belgravia Dispatch and just about snorted all the Sierra Mist I was drinking through my nose when I stumbled over this post of Gregory's

I think this road map idea may have legs. Can commenters help sketch out what the major road map milestones would be, and can we put something together that makes sense and can maybe get pitched around to people who might be interested in such an effort?

By golly! We'll get the Beaver, Wally and the rest of the gang right on that road map business and sooner than you can spit we'll have a road map that'll make Osama green with envy.

Are these people serious? Gregory is - like - one of the pinnacles of sober, right wing thought in the blogo sphere. And almost three years into the whole mess, after plan after plan after plan has turned to shit, lead by someone that Gregory - himself - believes should be run out on a rail, he thinks that a bunch of blog commenters can get together a road map for Iraq.

This is the High School Student Council model of nation building.

And it's been pretty much the modus operandi throughout this entire affair. "Hey! Let's get the gang together at the old clubhouse and come up with a wacky, hair brained scheme to get those old bullies out of old man McGreedy's farm!" Unbelievable, the hubris on both the right and the left - speaking of the Cruise Missile Left.

It's like everyone involved in this whole affair is convinced that they can simply will Iraq into a success or through some adolescent scheme from "our gang", come up with a plan that only a fool would turn down.

Really. Adolescents thru out the whole stack here. At the top of the chain we have the political dominating moron club. In the middle of the chain of fools we have the self styled policy wonks who are unwilling to sacrifice their own lives in pursuit of this noble cause but are quite willing to break the back of our military in pursuit of such a worthy goal. At the bottom of the pyramid scheme are the apparently lobotomized chorus marching in polyanic lockstep desperately hoping against hope that it's all going to turn out okay so they can go back to sleep.

It ain't going to happen.

The current Iraqi government is a joke. Any command this government gives has only a laughable chance of actually being implemented. Even after this election, the Iraqi government has no army, and what military it *does* have is nothing more than Islamic militias loyal only to Sadhr and other Islamic extremists like him. It simply cannot control the country. The elected representatives of Iraq are attacked daily and are often killed without the slightest fear of being called to justice. The professional class has literally been decimated by assassinations leaving the country with virtually no educated class to guide it. The oil infrastructure is bombed as a matter of course, leaving the country without desperately needed income. The country is beset by an extremely powerful guerrilla insurgency that could simply care less about the results of this election and just wants to overthrow whatever order is there. Three years on we still have yet to provide even the level of basic services Iraq enjoyed before the war.

Purple fingers are unlikely to change any of this.

Yes, I know it's depressing and likely illegal to think about things this way, but it's the cold hard reality that people need to wake up to. After this latest milestone, there's precious little to pin our hopes on. As has already been mentioned by our esteemed military and civilian leadership, the insurgency will only step up their attacks after this election - something they've literally been saying after each and every milestone in the past. The only thing that the sweetly naive can pin their hopes on is the fabled rewriting of the constitution that's supposed to happen after the elections. And anyone who witnessed the last effort of constitution writing in Iraq - not to mention the piss poor result of the process - will have to admit that the future is not bright enough to require shades.

Question is, what's going to be done? Yet another milestone will have been reached, the corner turned only to find ourselves down yet another blind alley. What do we do next?

Hey, maybe Wally and the gang can get together in a montage and produce a road map for us.

Yea. That's the ticket.