Year: 2005

“I have no doubt that, providing we can keep the training and the security sector reform going, and providing some of the reconstruction will continue at the present rate, we’ll reach a point where we can see an Iraq that is self-governing, providing its own security and has a democracy of the form that the Iraqis want … I would hope that as we go through the political process, the referendum and the next set of elections in December, it will become clear how secure the political machinery in Iraq is becoming.

If the elections are successful, and if a fully elected government gets in with a genuine mandate, then I think that confidence will overspill into all areas of progress. That will allow their own security forces to continue to develop from where they are at the moment, and at some stage in the future they will feel confident enough to take on their own management of the security in their country.” – General Sir Michael Walker, chief of the defence staff in the UK. He is also concerned, however, about morale among his troops and British popular opposition to the war. Despite extremely distressing stories like this one in the NYT, we have to hope that we can find a way out of the mess Rumsfeld and Bush have created, with their ill-planned and under-staffed occupation. There is still hope.

One of the now hundreds of emails I have been forwarding to Fishback. More follow:

Thank you very much for having the moral courage to come forward. As a West Point grad and patriotic American, I was very reluctant to believe the abuse allegations that came out of Iraq and Afghanistan. Like many, I tended to believe Abu Grahib was a more or less isolated incident–surely, I thought, the powers-that-be wouldn’t allow such things to happen on a wider scale. Furthermore, given all the classes we had on military ethics and leadership, I was sure my classmates and co-alums would not permit troops to engage in torture or coercion.

When I was a cadet–when you were, too–Walter Cronkite was given the Thayer Award, and I never forget what he told the Corps: “The public has a right to know what the government does in its name.” And who could forget the neverending admonishment from officers and fellow cadets, that we were to choose the harder right over the easier wrong? So I was very disappointed to learn that this nation’s leadership has in fact allowed such things to happen in yet another short-sighted attempt to cut corners on the road to a noble end.

But I was very heartened indeed to learn that a fellow West Pointer (and fellow A-2 Spartan!) had the courage to stand up and say no. Your letter to Senator McCain was an eloquent expression of what many (and, I firmly believe, most) Americans believe: we are not to judge our actions against the reprehensible standards of the thugs and barbarians we are fighting, but against the lofty principles espoused in our Declaration of Independence and Constitution. We took oaths to that Constitution at West Point, oaths to support the law itself, not individuals or leaders or political factions. May God Bless you for having the courage to truly live by that oath. I will keep you in my prayers.

Says it all, doesn’t it?

FROM A SOLDIER’S DAD: “Thanks–many thanks–for your integrity and courage. I support you and pray for you, and for this country, which is simply misguided in the radical turn it has taken in the treatment of prisoners. In times past, torture and abuse simply would not have been tolerated by the American people, the nation’s leaders and the nation’s military. Thank God we still have people like yourself who are willing to stand up and do and say the right thing. Again, Ian, I pray that God will keep you lifted up and strong in this. You are being a moral voice and a true prophet, and being a prophet is dangerous stuff. But keep taking courage in knowing that you are right and that many people still understand and support where you’re coming from in this. Thanks again and grace and peace – from a father of a new U.S. Marine Corps recruit, who heads to boot camp Nov. 14.”

FROM A NAVY MAN: “If you’ll forgive a slightly lighter start from me — my father was a Navy man, an Annapolis grad, and so I’ve always been one to support the chants of ‘Army sucks!’ in the more football-directed end of things, I admit.
But what our country is involved in now is no game, and there is of course no question he would support me in my writing to you now that I admire your decency, your action and the strength of your beliefs, beyond all words.
Your letter to Senator McCain made me once again proud to be an American, sir — I have never not been, despite my many thoughts and concerns about this country over time, but it is the recognition in the strength and belief of others in those ideals that we should always strive for that, I hope, further bolsters my own — to know that there are those who truly set an example.”

FROM A SOLDIER’S MOM: “I have a son who is a helicopter pilot currently in Iraq. Thank you for what you have done. What you are doing is of immeasurable benefit for all military personnel, as well for all Americans. I wish there was something more I could do to help. Be well.”

FROM A CHRISTIAN: “On one level you are a present-day Alfred Dreyfus or Billy Mitchell, but on a deeper level you are refusing to take part in the Scourging of Jesus of Nazareth. May the Creator of all continue to fortify you.”

FROM A VETERAN: “I am a veteran and a very proud American. One of the reasons I am proud is because of brave, honest, good people like you. You are in my thoughts, and I wish you the very best.”

A reminder: email supportfishback@aol.com and I will forward the emails so that he gets a chance to read them personally.

Here are a selection from some of the emails I’m forwarding to Army Captain Ian Fishback. Add your support by emailing supportfishback@aol.com. If you are a blogger and care about this, please post an item with the email address and explain to your readers what this is about. Maybe the blogosphere can help here as well. Let me know if you have joined the effort and I will compile a list of blogs in support of our effort. I am extremely heartened by the response so far. It reminds me that America still is a great country, because Americans are a great people. And they will overcome our present crisis and restore honor to the country and military they love.

*

Thank you for your efforts to maintain the honor and integrity of the United States by upholding your own integrity. I do not think the ideals of an open democracy are served by pretending that we do not make mistakes. Only by accepting responsibility for those mistakes, and attempting to make right what is wrong, can we hope to embody our ideals, and to show others their strength. Key to that is the moral courage to do right and to fight for the highest ideals.
Your actions greatly strengthen my confidence in the US military and government. I cannot think you are alone in your personal integrity and fidelity. Please do not think that you are alone in your struggle. Many watch and admire your courage.

*

My people came to this continent from Europe in 1652. 125 years later, we fought for freedom in the War of Independence. Down through the generations to my own parents, both of whom served. My uncle and my grandfather both gave their lives in service to this country.
It makes me proud of America to see someone in service today stand up and fight for the ideas that have made this country great. It is only through the bravery and integrity of men like you that we can keep our nation strong and ensure that this generation does not fail those who have guarded the ideals of the American Revolution through the centuries.
My grandfather had a saying: It isn’t integrity unless it costs you something; otherwise it is just a coincidence that makes you look good. I can hardly imagine how much this is costing you, Captain. May God give you the strength to continue the fight for what is good and right about America.

*

I know these must be dark times for you. As a man who “saw wrong and tried to right it,” I’m filled with pride in your actions. You are a hero, and you stand with other heroes who stood up against what they knew was wrong. Through history, there were millions who thoughtlessly and blindly obeyed authority, mostly without consequence. You have chosen the harder path, where it is possible that your only reward is the knowledge that you did the right thing.

It is men like you that make our nation great. Thank you.

*

Captain Fishback, what you’ve done epitomizes the best of America, and I hope that your courage and clear thinking help us to face this terrible chapter in our history and to become the nation we ought to be. You’re a credit to your family, your education and your country. God bless.

*

Captain Fishback, I can’t imagine what you are going through at this time. All I can say is I had wondered where the military my father, grandfather, great-uncle and a couple of great-great-great grandfathers served in. You know the one that started with General Washington that held itself with honor, that treated its captured enemies with dignity even when it wasn’t returned. The military whose conduct was in large part responsible for the good will that America has had in the world until recently. The miliary that was so honorable that German WWI vets told their sons going to fight in WWII that if they had to surrender, surrender to an American. They would treat you with respect. I know now that that military is not gone. It’s alive in you, and I hope thousands like you. I pray that God gives you strength in the days ahead. You are a hero.

*

As a supporter of the war, I want to thank you for standing up for what’s right. I can’t imagine how difficult this must be for you.
“First they ignore you, then they laugh at you, then they fight you, then you win.” – Gandhi
You will be vindicated.

*

Captain Fishback, thank you. The price of liberty is eternal vigilance. Thanks for picking up my share of the bill.

*

I would like to thank you for your service to our country and the values for which it stands. My father was 82nd Airborne and I grew up proud of our military and our country. Please know that many of us understand that what you are fighting for is the quality of the freedom that our armed services have bled, died and triumphed for since the founding of this great nation. There can be no compromise to expediency because there are no shortcuts to morality. It is its own reward. And you, like my father, seem to understand that there is no virtue in fighting for the freedom to be anything less than the best that we can be.
Thank you so much for having the courage to care for these great ideals. It is inspirational and deeply, deeply appreciated.

“No human being could fail to be deeply moved by such a tribute as this [Thayer Award]. Coming from a profession I have served so long and a people I have loved so well, it fills me with an emotion I cannot express. But this award is not intended primarily to honor a personality, but to symbolize a great moral code – a code of conduct and chivalry of those who guard this beloved land of culture and ancient descent. For all hours and for all time, it is an expression of the ethics of the American soldier. That I should be integrated in this way with so noble an ideal arouses a sense of pride, and yet of humility, which will be with me always.
Duty, honor, country: Those three hallowed words reverently dictate what you ought to be, what you can be, what you will be. They are your rallying point to build courage when courage seems to fail, to regain faith when there seems to be little cause for faith, to create hope when hope becomes forlorn.” – General of the Army Douglas MacArthur to the cadets of the U.S. Military Academy in accepting the Sylvanus Thayer Award in May 1962.

QUOTE OF THE DAY II: “Do we sacrifice our ideals in order to preserve security? Terrorism inspires fear and suppresses ideals like freedom and individual rights. Overcoming the fear posed by terrorist threats is a tremendous test of our courage. Will we confront danger and adversity in order to preserve our ideals, or will our courage and commitment to individual rights wither at the prospect of sacrifice? My response is simple. If we abandon our ideals in the face of adversity and aggression, then those ideals were never really in our possession. I would rather die fighting than give up even the smallest part of the idea that is ‘America.'” – Army Captain Ian Fishback, of the 82d Airborne, in his letter to Senator McCain on why he found the systematic abuse and torture of military detainees, condoned by his superiors, a grotesque violation of military honor. Fishback has risked his career to defend america’s honor. Email him your support at supportfishback@aol.com, and I will make sure the emails are forwarded to him. There are 180 such emails already at this time. Keep them coming.

“What surprises me is how many of my conservative friends are still hot’n’heavy for W. Some of them are born-again Christians, and Bush is a born-again Christian, and that’s what does it for them. Fair enough, I suppose, if that’s the most important thing in your life, but what about the rest of us? What about us benighted folk who aren’t born-again Christians, but are nonetheless conservative, believing in small government, self-support, fiscal prudence, individual liberty, national security, orderly immigration, judicial restraint, traditional values, and equal opportunity? W doesn’t really offer a whole lot to us, does he? Sure, John Roberts was a good pick for SCOTUS, but who’s the next pick? Alberto ‘La Raza’ Gonzalez? No thanks. Sorry, George, the bloom is off the rose. I can’t even imagine voting for a Democrat, and I’m not a third party sort of guy, but… is this really the best we can do?” – John Derbyshire, National Review Online.

The Yglesias Award is for people who tell their own political side truths they don’t really want to hear.

Steven Levitt essentially defends Bennett. But he adds an interesting point:

There is one thing I would take Bennett to task for: first saying that he doesn’t believe our abortion-crime hypothesis but then revealing that he does believe it with his comments about black babies. You can’t have it both ways.

And I think, pondering again Bennett’s remarks, that by reflexively relating race to an argument he simultaneously rejects, his remarks do indeed have a tinge of racism in their assumptions. I’d still give him a pass – for an off-the-cuff response on a hypothetical policy whose immoriality he immediately emphasized.

EMAIL OF THE DAY: “It’s always been clear to me that you have a fine mind and the ability to write, but these talents are attenuated by your unremitting homosexuality – the emotional need to have aberrant sex. Clearly, your perversion and deviancy have affected your reason. Thus, you have no credibility as an observer of the current social and political climate. You are simply another frustrated fag who is trying very hard to legitimize his sexual perversion by striking out against anyone who wants to maintain thousands of years of normalcy. God, what must the average and decent American do to put the sexual deviates in their place (in concentration camps or mental institutions).”

(Every now and again, I post emails like these, which I receive regularly, not to grandstand but simply to remind people, especially in relatively enlightened circles, what pockets of hatred still exist in our culture).

“From traveling throughout Illinois and more recently around the country, I can tell you that Americans are suspicious of labels and suspicious of jargon. They don’t think George Bush is mean-spirited or prejudiced, but have become aware that his administration is irresponsible and often incompetent. They don’t think that corporations are inherently evil (a lot of them work in corporations), but they recognize that big business, unchecked, can fix the game to the detriment of working people and small entrepreneurs. They don’t think America is an imperialist brute, but are angry that the case to invade Iraq was exaggerated, are worried that we have unnecessarily alienated existing and potential allies around the world, and are ashamed by events like those at Abu Ghraib which violate our ideals as a country.

It’s this non-ideological lens through which much of the country viewed Judge Roberts’ confirmation hearings. A majority of folks, including a number of Democrats and Independents, don’t think that John Roberts is an ideologue bent on overturning every vestige of civil rights and civil liberties protections in our possession. Instead, they have good reason to believe he is a conservative judge who is (like it or not) within the mainstream of American jurisprudence, a judge appointed by a conservative president who could have done much worse (and probably, I fear, may do worse with the next nominee).” – Barack Obama, taking on the moonbats at DailyKos.

The hero who has blown the whistle on illegal abuse of prisoners has given up a lot to fight for the integrity of his country and his military. I know many of you wish to send him emails of support. Because he is sequestered and under interrogation, this is not easy. So I have set up an AOL email address: SupportFishback@aol.com. I will forward all your emails to his family, with whom I am in contact, and to his lawyer. I am reassured that Ian will receive the emails. He needs your support right now. His bravery, his integrity, his patriotism and his service are worth your support. Please let him know. Again: SupportFishback@aol.com. I will keep you posted.

The Jesuits fight back against irrational, unjust and indefensible discrimination. The battle to save the moral integrity of the Church is on.

Public support for amending Arizona’s state constitution to ban gay couples from getting married or having any legal protections is waning:

The poll of 390 voters done last week found that 60 percent are likely to oppose the Protect Marriage Arizona initiative if it makes the November 2006 ballot. Only 33 percent said they would vote for it, and the other 7 percent were undecided.

Polls in California and Massachusetts are showing the same trend.