Category: Old Dish

I’m still an optimist on Iraq – more since the past week. Here’s my Sunday Times column on why.

APOLOGIZE TO YEE: The military needs to apologize to Captain James Yee, the Muslim chaplain at Guantanamo Bay, who was smeared, attacked, prosecuted and now muzzled by his superiors – with no valid case against him at all. Nothing less than a public apology from Rumsfeld seems to me to be appropriate, given that Yee was accused of espionage and then, when that case fell apart, adultery. Instead, the top brass are still smearing him.

EURO-ANTI-SEMITISM WATCH: Just read this thread by readers in response to anti-anti-Israel articles in the Guardian/Observer, a paper that routinely spins the news against the Jewish state. Here’s a classic statement: “Aaronovitch and Cohen should accept that with a Jewish ancestry, they are the last people in Britain with any credibility in the denunciation of the use of violence in pursuit of political ends – let alone the insanity of religious belief.” Or this comment: “The point is that The Observer should give some thought to employing people of Jewish descent and allowing them to write one-sided diatribes which are more than likely to be latched upon by anti-Semites.” After reading more and more of this, it’s hard not to feel a sickening lurch in the stomach. Is this poison really still around? And in enlightened British circles?

A HAWK WOBBLES: … and rights himself. A wonderfully frank piece by Johann Hari.

HEADLINE OF THE DAY: From FinanceAsia.com.

EVANGELICALS AGAINST THE FMA: I was always intrigued and somewhat perplexed by online polls on evangelical websites that showed opposition to the unprecedented attempt to ban gay marriage by amending the constitution of the United States. I don’t trust online polls, so i figured they’d been hijacked (as some often are). But along comes a real and comprehensive poll of over 1600 evangelicals that finds a majority opposed to amending the constitution to ban civil marriage for gays. The poll was commissioned by PBS and US News and World Report. 52 percent of evangelicals said they preferred the matter to be handled by the states. So they are conservatives after all! Moreover 48 percent of evangelicals said that support for marriage rights for gays would not disqualify a candidate from their vote. According to the Baltimore Sun, “John Green, a professor of political science at the University of Akron and a leading authority on evangelicals, attributed their opposition to a strong belief in federalism and a reluctance – shared with many Americans – to tamper with the Constitution.” So the president’s endorsement of this extreme measure has succeeded in alienating large sections of moderate opinion and failing to sway even a mjority of the evangelical base. The genius of Karl Rove strikes again. (Meanwhile, Jewish denominations agonize over and debate the issue.)

AN INTERVIEW: With a relatively new blogger by yours truly. Am I prepared to back Kerry over Bush this fall? I explain.

MORE LATER: Having been all the way across the country and back last week, I took yesterday off for R&R. It was a summer day here in Washington D.C. Hence the light dish this morning. Tune in later today for more blogging.

All of your opposition merely convinced me I was right. Here’s my Time column on why raising gas taxes would be a very good thing. Here’s Ramesh Ponnuru’s critique. Make your own mind up.

MOORE LIES: A blogger goes after the big fat idiot of the left.

The religious right head of the Office of Special Counsel is at it again. First, he tried to reverse anti-discrimination policies against gay federal employees. Now he’s trying to issue a gag-order on whistle-blowers. Where do they find these people? Obvious answer: Karl Rove.

MORE ONION SERIOUSNESS: Another foreign newspaper takes the Onion seriously. This time in China. No, Beijing Evening News, Congress is not going to build a retractable roof any time soon.

The saga continues. Beliefnet, Steve Waldman’s superb online magazine on religion has exclusive interviews with the ferociously anti-gay father and gay son about the son’s recent coming out. Here’s Jamiel’s take. And Randall’s.

DASCHLE’S BEST BUDDY: Yep, he’s a journalist – a very influential one in a very important paper in South Dakota. And he’s been blatantly spinning for the Democrats for years. A South Dakota blogger is on the case – and has uncovered some very interesting memos from the past.

EMAIL OF THE DAY: “Although you did not comment on it, I’m sure that you didn’t miss the condescending racism implicit in Oliver Stone’s remarks: ‘There was that paternalism. I mean ‘father knows best,’ as opposed to totalitarianism. It’s paternalism, that’s what I meant. It’s a Latin thing.’ Right. We latins are little children that love to be reprimanded by a father figure, even if the reprimand consists of 30 years in jail or an early-morning appointment with a firing squad. We are just like all those 3rd world people that love their father figures in particularly authoritarian clothing. Whether it is Saddam pulling the eyes out of his wayward children or Mugabe shooting Zimwabeans for saying naughty things about their beloved leader, third worlders really love their paternal rulers.” – more feedback on the Letters Page.

ROMNEY’S EXTREMISM: It will be interesting to see whether Mitt Romney’s bid to bypass accepted legal norms and try and prevent civil equality in Massachusetts will be protested by those who had conniptions about Mayor Newsom. His chief ally on this is an anti-gay bigot. I won’t hold my breath.

“Senator, I will say this. I think that politically, historically, the one thing that people try to do, that society is structured on as a whole, is an attempt to satisfy their felt needs, and you can satisfy those needs with almost any kind of political structure, giving it one name or the other. In this name it is democratic; in others it is communism; in others it is benevolent dictatorship. As long as those needs are satisfied, that structure will exist.” – John F. Kerry, Congressional Testimony, April 22, 1971.

“I have always said from day one that the goal here . . . is a stable Iraq, not whether or not that’s a full democracy. I can’t tell you what it’s going to be, but a stable Iraq. And that stability can take several different forms.” – John F. Kerry, April 14, 2004.

LEFT-WING RACISM WATCH: Ah, yes, the Guardian. That beacon of enlightenment. And on one of their anti-American talk-boards, they just opined that “Condelssa Rice looked like a trained monkey on a chain.”

BEAR WATCH: Jesse Ventura just got even sexier with that beard. If that were possible.

My old friend Annie Bardach – not exactly a conservative – essentially destroys the evil (yes, I mean evil) intentions and actions of Oliver Stone, in his dogged support of tyranny. Money quotes:

Anne-Louise Bardach: Did it strike you as interesting that at one point in the scene with the prisoners, Castro turned to the prisoners’ defense lawyers, who just happened to be there, and he says, “I urge you to do your best to reduce the sentences”?

Oliver Stone: I love that. I thought that was hilarious. Those guys just popped up.

ALB: Is there a show-trial element here?

OS: Yeah. I thought that was funny, I did-the prosecutor and Fidel admonishing them, to make sure they worked hard. There was that paternalism. I mean “father knows best,” as opposed to totalitarianism. It’s paternalism, that’s what I meant. It’s a Latin thing.

Just when you think Stone couldnt get more morally depraved, he says something like that. The man is laughing – laughing – at a gulag.

Don’t miss Paul Berman’s phenomenal op-ed in the Times today. It echoes, though with far more eloquence and credibility (since he is a man of the left) what I was urging last Sunday. It is the Democrats who must now come forward and make a deeper, important, liberal case for continuing this war and getting it right – especially in Iraq. This is far more important than scoring petty domestic points. Kerry has made a tentative start. He should hire Berman as an adviser and possible speech-writer. Now is the Democrats’ opportunity to re-establish their foreign policy credentials, go to Europe to explain why this is too important a matter to be reduced to Bush-hatred. Where are you, Senator Clinton? Your country – and the people of Iraq – need you now.

MEMO TO OSAMA: Re: the “truce.” Go fuck yourself.

Very few incidents have made me as angry as the disgraceful, foul and malicious attempt by the U.S. military to accuse Captain Janes J. Yee, the Muslim chaplain at Guantanamo Bay, of treason and espionage. They had no solid evidence, but, at the time, I worried that the story might be true. I feel terrible for leaping to that tentative conclusion. But it got worse. When the espionage charges fell apart, the military then tried to frame Yee for adultery and for downloading porn from the Internet, dragging his family into the entire affair. It recalled to me the way the military trashes and defames the lives of honorable gay servicemembers. Yesterday, all the charges were dropped. You might not have noticed because the story was buried in most newspapers, unlike the original charges. What I want to know is: who is going to be discharged for this horrendous miscarriage of justice? Who in the military will be held responsible? This incident is particularly noxious at a time when we need to reassure patriotic Muslim-Americans that they are not going to come under clouds of suspicion for their faith or their identity – especially Muslims who are actually serving this country in uniform. This story is a travesty of justice and fairness. And no one really seems to give a damn.

I’m unnerved by the presence of Iranians helping to broker some kind of deal with al Sadr, but heartened by the fact that the extremist revolt in Fallujah seems to have been quelled – largely by Marine force and by moderate Shiite realism. That’s a good combo. Brahimi also seems to have come up with a “sketch” for transition to sovereignty. We’ll see what that entails, but, according to Burns, it means an end to the U.S. sponsored Governing Council. Could this be the beginning of an Iran-friendly Shiite-dominated government? I certainly hope not. But this was encouraging:

Mr. Brahimi suggested that some of the Governing Council’s 25 members could be appointed to other government jobs, and that the transitional government might be formed from scratch, “led by a prime minister and comprising Iraqi men and women known for their honesty, integrity and competence.” Many Iraqis dismiss the council as unrepresentative, or too closely identified with the occupiers. Mr. Brahimi also spoke of holding “a large national conference,” possibly as early as July this year, to promote “national dialogue, consensus-building and national reconciliation,” and said it should elect a consultative assembly to work with the transitional government.

It seems clear to me that indigenous forces have to construct the new government. It is not a loss for the U.S. to cede control in this way. It is what we are looking for. If the U.N. can help, great. But if Iran assumes too powerful a role, then we should be extremely wary. Coalition forces are still the only reason the country isn’t in complete chaos. We should use that leverage. But subtly.

A fascinating account of the personal hatred for Tony Blair that fueled the BBC’s campaign against the war to depose Saddam. This was a persopnal vendetta that deeply corrupted a news organization. Raines-level hysteria. Must-read.

WHO IS MARILYN MUSGRAVE? It’s a question worth asking, and I’ve been doing some research into her work as a legislator on Colorado. Her record is almost entirely devoted to an obsession with homosexuality. In 1998, the Denver Post reported the following: “Musgrave’s four years in the House have produced few dividends for her district. A region with intense school-finance and highway needs and a distressed agricultural base has bigger worries than gay marriage, the issue to which Musgrave has devoted much of her energy. Further, her abrasive tactics appear to have blocked her efforts in other, more constructive, areas.” Musgrave didn’t only promote several bills denying gay couples any recognition under the law under any name, she also voted against including them in anti-discrimination policies in employment. Her other obsession is the reintroduction of the military draft, and virulent opposition to any legal abortions, including those caused by rape or incest. Musgrave was the only member of the Colorado legislature to vote against a bill to create a registry of people convicted of domestic violence; and she voted against a bill allowing a woman to take three days of unpaid leave from work to seek protection from an abusive husband. She voted against a bill requiring schools to come up with a safety plan to combat bullying. She was one of only three state senators to vote against a bill barring female genital mutilation. This is the woman gently referred to by president Bush as “Marilyn” when endorsing her federal constitutional amendment to ban gay citizens from having the right to marry. That’s who she is. And she is what the Republican party, under George W. Bush, is slowly becoming. Unless others stop it.