Weimar Watch

Petraeus seems to have the Pentagon civilians behind him in turning the politically neutral military into a branch of the Cheney wing of the GOP:

In a stinging rebuke to a member of the Senate Armed Services Committee, Undersecretary of Defense Eric Edelman responded to questions Clinton raised in May in which she urged the Pentagon to start planning now for the withdrawal of American forces.

A copy of Edelman’s response, dated July 16, was obtained Thursday by The Associated Press."Premature and public discussion of the withdrawal of U.S. forces from Iraq reinforces enemy propaganda that the United States will abandon its allies in Iraq, much as we are perceived to have done in Vietnam, Lebanon and Somalia," Edelman wrote.

He added that "such talk understandably unnerves the very same Iraqi allies we are asking to assume enormous personal risks."

We need an honest, neutral assessment of the situation in Iraq from military professionals, divorced from any partisan agenda. But Bush and Cheney will see to it that we don’t.

Novels and “Literature”

Who says fiction has to be unread to be any good? Elizabeth George writes:

Novels were designed to entertain, and those of us who wish to keep the art form alive need to keep this in mind. To aim for lofty literature instead of aiming for a good story with real characters who grow and develop and a setting that’s brought to life is to go at the art form, like putting the varnish on the canvas first. I attempt to write a good novel. Whether it is literature or not is something that will be decided by the ages, not by me and not by a pack of critics around the globe.

That’s the spirit.

Genesis: The Roll-Out

If a marketer had written the Bible. Money quote:

Now, the serpent was not a team player. He gave the fruit from the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil!® to the woman and said, "Just look at it. I’m telling you, the fiber content alone is through the roof. Die? Please, don’t make me laugh. God knows that when you eat it your eyes will be opened to real value. Here, taste the difference."

When the woman saw that the fruit had genuine apple flavoring and 4 milligrams of quercetin, an antioxidant compound, she ate of it, and she gave some to her husband and he ate, paying attention not to what he was eating but to a porcupine pup playing with a baby panda in an extremely cute way. However, the fruit of the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil!® is super-fast-acting and so their eyes were opened and they knew that they were not wearing men’s branded athletic apparel or Xhilaration® terry coverup dresses with ruffle trim in true white. They sewed fig leaves together to package their unsalables.

(Hat tip: RBC.)

Besieged Christians In Iraq

They have been murdered in large numbers and face a new onslaught. Donnie George, former head of the Iraqi National Museum and a man who has a picture of Martin Luther King Jr on his wall:

"I believe 100 percent that the United States should help the Iraqis that are outside and the ones inside who have left their homes. Specifically the Christians. Both Sunnis and Shiites are now attacking the Christians … They are going from door to door, ordering them to convert or pay a tax or leave or be killed."

This unconfirmed story is on WND, so take it with a pinch of salt. But it’s not completely unbelievable. How long before Karl Rove pitches the surge as a defense of Iraqi Christians from Muslims?