Month: May 2009

The Legacy Of Bagram

It is and was Afghanistan's version of Abu Ghraib and Camp Nama – the same "no blood, no foul" "interrogations", the same brutality, the same seeming mindless sadism:

"It was a bad stain on American history," [former Taliban leader Mullah Abdul Salam Zaeef] said. "If they are closing Guantanamo for justice, they have to bring the people who are torturing people, who abuse people, to justice." The military has classified those like Zaeef as "enemy combatants," although the Justice Department in March said it would dispose of that classification. The U.S. military in Afghanistan said it was not authorized to comment on Zaeef's or any other individual case. "I didn't see a worse situation in my life than Bagram," recalled Zaeef. "They were beating me, they put me in the snow, in the cold, until I was unconscious."

Notice the beatings and the use of cold. These were techniques authorized by Cheney and Rumsfeld, as were almost all those we saw at Abu Ghraib.

Gas Tax, One More Time

Ryan Avent wants a tax to help us better weather the next oil boom:

Passing a series of substantial gas tax increases now, to take effect in 2011, would have multiple salutary effects. The expectation of a higher future price at the pump would continue to push households to economize on gas by buying more efficient vehicles, downsizing commutes, and switching to transit. It would provide an immediate incentive to firms throughout supply chains to address efficiency — now, not in 2016, when the new CAFE rules are set to take effect. And it would allow the administration to continue working to invest in new infrastructure — like a high-speed rail system, better freight rail and port facilities, and quality public transit — in the knowledge that revenue will be available to handle the bills.

When An Insurgency Ends

Hitchens tries to draw some lessons from the end of the insurgency in Sri Lanka last week:

It's just not true, as some liberals tend to believe, that insurgencies, once under way, have history on their side. As well as by nations like Britain and Russia, they can be beaten by determined Third World states, such as Algeria in the 1990s and even Iraq in the present decade. Insurgent leaderships often make mistakes on the "hearts and minds" front, just as governments do, and governments are not always stupid to ban the press from the front line, tell the human rights agencies to stay the hell out of the way, and rely on the popular yearning for law and order. It can also be important to bear in mind, as in Sri Lanka became crucial, that majorities have rights, too.

Andrew Exum doesn't seem to agree:

If anything, this conflict has shown why the United States and its allies cannot prosecute counterinsurgency campaigns in a firepower-heavy, enemy-centric way. The human cost of this conflict has been horrific, and just before the surrender, calls were mounting for a freeze on international aid to Sri Lanka. An investigation into war crimes also looms. So while an insurgency has finally ended, I am not sure what lessons the United States and its allies can draw from the performance and employment of Sri Lanka's security forces.

Mia Bloom's article from yesterday's WaPo also takes a different tack:

To counter the Tigers, the government implemented a policy of targeted assassination and did it with amazing accuracy. And though they did kill off the entire LTTE leadership in the end, Sri Lanka would do well to keep in mind that in other parts of the world, killing the leadership simply radicalizes the next generation and does not resolve the conflict.

This is not how terrorism ends, but it could be an intermission.

Yglesias Award Nominee

"I thought it was reprehensible, irresponsible and unpersuasive. If we’re going to regain the credibility of the American people, we’re going to have to stop with silly antics like that. It may get a snide chuckle inside the Beltway, but it offends most people. We have to get away from the politics of personal destruction," – freshman congressman Jason Chaffetz, of Utah, on the RNC's "Pussy Galore" video on Nancy Pelosi.

Meet The Introverts

The Economist talks with Jonathan Rauch:

I suspect a lot of bloggers may be introverts, because blogging is great if you like to sit in front of the internet all day. If not for my aversion to specialising in one subject, I probably would have been an academic historian, because I think it would have suited me to work in libraries back before there was an internet. (In a way, the internet is a library that talks back.) Reporting doesn’t come naturally to me, since I have to screw up my energy level every time I pick up the phone. So that’s something of a handicap. I’ll never be a natural journalist. On the other hand, introverts are good questioners and attentive listeners. After a thoughtful, probing interview that I feel has touched marrow, I feel exhilaration, along with exhaustion. As if a tough hike had been rewarded with a new vista. I’m not a great hiker but I do enjoy the views.

Vive La Resistance

"Powell has to accept that he is in a unique position to command attention and lead the Republican Party—or at least that part of it that isn’t consumed with defending the indefensible on torture or living in a fantasy world where the economy would be booming today if it just wasn’t for Obama’s budget deficits. It’s a pretty small constituency these days—most of those, like me, who share Powell’s views have left his party to become independents—but it may be enough to build a foundation on that can offer a meaningful challenge to the dominant Cheney-Limbaugh-Palin wing of the Republican Party that views all efforts to expand its membership as a sell-out to be resisted at all cost, even if it means further political losses. But at the end of the day, the job of a political party is to win elections and to win elections it must be inclusive, not exclusive.

Thus the ultimate message Powell has to offer Republicans is the most persuasive one of all—follow him and win or follow Cheney-Limbaugh-Palin and lose. Personally, I would like to see Powell follow in the steps of Dwight D. Eisenhower and run for president—I’ll sign up for his campaign today even if it means having to rejoin the Republican Party. But if he is serious about not wishing to do that, then Powell has a responsibility to help those who share his vision by lending his enormous credibility, popularity and fund-raising ability to their efforts. If he fails to do so he risks being seen by history as someone who walked away when the times demanded that those who share his beliefs stand and fight for what they believe," – Bruce Bartlett.

A Cheney Antidote III

Halfstaffdusk

"Nothing that is worth doing can be achieved in our lifetime; therefore we must be saved by hope.

Nothing which is true or beautiful or good makes complete sense in any immediate context of history; therefore we must be saved by faith.

Nothing we do, however virtuous, can be accomplished alone; therefore we are saved by love.

No virtuous act is quite as virtuous from the standpoint of our friend or foe as it is from our standpoint. There we must be saved by the final form of love which is forgiveness," – Reinhold Niebuhr, The Irony of American History.