The Dish

The chief military investigator of Abu Ghraib takes a strong stand. Funny, isn’t it, how so many military leaders oppose the use of torture, under any euphemism? There is a difference between Hollywood and honor, and it is very sad that so many conservatives of all people can’t see that.

"James nodded his thanks, opened the wax paper and looked a bit suspiciously at the offering, it looked to be a day or two old and suddenly he had a real longing for the faculty dining room on campus, always a good selection of Western and Asian food to choose from, darn good conversations to be found, and here he now sat with a disheveled captain who, with the added realization, due to the direction of the wind, was in serious need of a good shower," – Newt Gingrich and William R. Forstchen, as quoted by Janet Maslin in a hilarious review in the NYT today.

Love this bit:

If the climactic battle in "Pearl Harbor" is the only stage at which the authors’ fascination with their subject comes alive, much more of the narrative is taken up with prophetic conversation. "I was born in Hiroshima," says Genda Minoru, the Japanese military strategist, when he encounters the American general Carl Andrew Spaatz, known as Tooey, when they meet by chance aboard a Pan Am Clipper (a plane that is lovingly described as an example of American luxury and know-how). "You should visit Hiroshima some day, sir."

The general, who will go on to lead the strategic bombing of Japan, replies, "Perhaps I will some day."

Did Trey Parker ghost-write it?

A quote from the past.

Some of you may have already seen this video of the public stoning of a Yazidi girl for dating a Sunni in Kurdistan. Digby comments here. I don’t think finding a connection between this and the Iraq war makes much sense. What you see here is a glimpse of the other side of the cultural abyss, in which the control of women – their bodies and their souls – by brutal patriarchal fundamentalists is the norm. It’s evil.

It doesn’t help Ron Paul make the serious points he wants to contribute to the debate when he drafts legislation like this:

71. H.R.6297 : To sunset Federal laws and regulations which treat the American people like children by denying them the opportunity to make their own decision regarding control of their bank accounts and what type of information they wish to receive from their banks, and for other purposes.

I don’t disagree with the general sentiment, but there’s a reason I’m leery of formally adopting the "libertarian" label. And, please, no one alert Fox News that Mel-O-Cream Donuts is one of the top 20 Paul contributors.

There’s been a surge in submissions which is great, but, alas, many are not admissable. Just a reminder: no dogs, cats, animals or rainbows. The point is to take a photo through the window where you live. Tourist snaps don’t count. Geez, we just got one from Mount Rushmore. And we need a time of day. And please don’t make too much of an effort to get a beautiful shot. What I’m looking for is reality. Your own boring, often ugly but unique reality.

He’s an endangered species on campus.

My Atlantic co-blogger Matt Yglesias and I disagree about many things. But surely this is an overlap:

A blogger tries the Khmer Rouge/Bush-Cheney technique on himself.

A reader writes:

Damn, Andrew, the "surge" was announced in December, apparently the "surge" troops still haven’t all arrived, but you think it’s cool and groovy to wait another 4 months to figure out whether what’s obviously not working is really working, and of course at that point we’ll *maybe* *start* to discuss whether there *maybe* could be a timeline.

And the maddening thing is that there are other options than just hop in the tanks and head home – ways of yeah, pawning off this mad scene to someone else with lots of humble pie, etc. It’s only that the administration promised/was promised that we’d all be heroes in Iraq and won’t let go of that pipedream until say 2009, by which time it will fully blame Dems for stabbing America in the back. So Americans hanging around will keep another Darfur from happening? (first, Darfur peasants don’t have Saudi Arabia and Syria to back them – don’t be so melodramatic – perhaps we’ll get a good fullout civil war, but not such a one-sided cleansing, and my guess is that once each side realizes they’re in a serious fire fight without Americans mediating, they’ll consider other options. Or not.). We only provide political context – we’re hardly stopping anything.