Hugh Hewitt directed me to this marine’s postings from the area around Fallujah. They’re fascinating. And the latest is particularly revealing:
As far as Falluja goes, we have not been allowed to get back in there with any real numbers yet.-Initially, it was confounding.- However, a very interesting dynamic has developed. Since we have stayed out of Falluja and focused elsewhere, the mujahadeen have had their run of the town.-As they have had no one to fight, they have turned their criminal instincts on the citizens.-The clerics who once were whipping these idiots into a suicidal frenzy are now having to issue Fatwas (holy decrees) admonishing the muj for extortion, rape, murder and kidnapping.-It is unfortunate for the “innocent people” of Falluja but the mujahadeen have betrayed themselves as the thugs that they are by brutalizing the civilians. There are, in fact, reports of rape, etc from inside the town. While the muj are thugging away inside the town, we are about 1/2 mile away paying claims, entering into dialogue and contracting jobs.-The citizens come outside the city for work and money and are treated like human beings.-They go back inside and enter a lawless hell. In short, the muj have done more to show the people what hypocrites they are in a few short weeks than we could have hoped for in a year. The result is more and more targetable intelligence.-If we are given the green light, we can really go to town on these guys (no pun intended).- However, as much as we would like to do just that, the optimal solution is to empower the Iraqis to take care of it themselves. That is precisely what we are doing.
Because of men like this – and my gut belief that people anywhere will choose freedom over slavery, given a real chance – I’m still a proud supporter of this war and an optimist about its future.
WHAT ROVE HATH WROUGHT: I’ve known David Catania for years, and count him as a friend and a bit of a hero. He ran as a white gay Republican in Washington D.C. for the city council and has been re-elected, and become something of a legend in the city. He’s an inclusive, tax-cutting, bureaucracy-terrorizing, rising political star. But he won’t be endorsing George W. Bush in November, for the obvious reason. So he’s been barred from being a delegate to the Convention. Here’s a money quote from an interview in Salon:
Whether or not a few [gay] leaders stay with the party until they drop dead isn’t the issue. The fact of the matter is, there ain’t no there there anymore. The constitutional amendment issue is kind of a watershed moment. It reminds me of the 1964 election, and this is why: In 1960 Richard Nixon won 26 percent of the black vote. We forget that it was 44 years ago, but the Republicans were still winning a quarter of the African-American vote. That went from 26 percent in 1960 to 12 percent in 1964. What made that happen? [Nominee Barry] Goldwater was opposed to the 1963 Civil Rights Act, and the African-American community viewed that as a betrayal. For 40 years, we have never as a party recovered from that.
In 2000 George Bush won 25 percent of the gay vote. You see the parallels? The president decided to trot out a constitutional amendment to remind us, even though we are already reminded daily, that we are second-class citizens. In case we harbored any illusions that we were equal, he wants to write this into the Constitution. He’ll be lucky if he gets 12 percent [of the gay vote] in this election.
12 percent? I’d say 5 percent. Not that Rove cares. There isn’t a pretense any more that gay people are even worthy of consultation in the Republican party. Catania exonerates Bush. I think he’s being too kind. I’ve no doubt that Bush wants to believe he’s a tolerant, nice guy; and I’m sure he conducts himself admirably with people of different backgrounds. But he does not even remotely understand the social revolution of the last two decades. He thinks gay people can be treated as they were in the 1950s and that’s a measure of tolerance. It’s this blindness that rankles. Who, for example, did Bush talk to about the constitutional amendment? Richard John Neuhaus. Did the president talk to a single gay person? Nope. Is there a single gay Republican or gay conservative willing to defend the constitutional amendment? I have yet to find one. I think David under-estimates the extent of the damage.
The Dish 