A Welcoming Community
Paul Hackett, candidate for Ohio’s 2nd congressional district, interviewed by CBS News Sat. night. Click on the image to view the video (MP4 format). Courtesy of our videographer, Al Rodgers.
Contribute at Hackett’s ActBlue page. Add .03 to show it comes via BoomanTribune.com.
During the week of Sunday, July 24 to Saturday, July 30, 21 U.S. soldiers and two kidnapped Algerian diplomats were killed in Iraq. News agencies reported the deaths of at least 196 Iraqis in conflict related incidents over the same week.
The Iraqi death count is largely based on daily Reuters security incident reports as well as updates from other media outlets when death tolls are later revised upwards for certain incidents.
Forget Vanity Fair. With apologies to the C.I.A., I have the REAL photo of Valerie P.
Valerie P. is a mother raccoon with four growing babies who comes by late at night, or early in the morning, for some dog food and peanut butter sandwiches. I put out big bowls of water for her, with lots of grapes that Valerie P. bobs for … although sometimes she just turns the water bowl over, and chomps on the grapes. My neighbor Pat snapped this terrific photo of the lithe, stealthy Valerie P. Yes, we named her in honor of Valerie Plame, dedicated CIA agent outted by the dastardly demagogue Robert Novak. OPEN THREAD … enjoy!
Last week, I contacted my representative, Congressman Todd Akin (R-MO), about the Access to Legal Pharmaceuticals Act. Today, I received a response back, which was very disappointing.
This legislation, introduced by U.S. Rep. Carolyn Maloney (D-NY), mandates that pharmacists ensure that prescriptions are filled regardless of whether they violate the pharmacist’s religious or moral beliefs.
This measure is intended to make oral contraceptives and contraceptive devices available at the expense of the conscience of many American pharmacists who either are morally opposed to contraceptives or are concerned by the abortive properties of certain prescription drugs. For example, “morning-after pills” may prevent implantation of an embryo, thus causing an abortion.
Contraceptive drugs and devices are available and legal. Though many Americans will disagree on the morality of contraceptives and abortive drugs, it is unconscionable to create a federal statute intended to
bully pharmacists into violating their personal beliefs. I do not support this legislation.
Thank you for contacting me on this matter and feel free to do so again on this or any other issue in the future.
He refuses to say directly that he opposes contraception, but that is clearly his view. He also pulls out the old lie that contraception or EC is abortion. So, I sent off a couple of LTE’s which I’ll reprint here.
Unfortunately, Representative Akin responded that none of us have a right to contraception such as birth control pills. Apparently, he believes that allowing a woman to choose when she wishes to become pregnant is against his morals. He cowardly hides his beliefs in language such as, “it is unconscionable to create a federal statute intended to
bully pharmacists into violating their personal beliefs.” My morals state that using the powers of the government to control what people may do with their own lives and bodies is wrong and un-American. If, as a pharmacist, you do not want to distribute medicine, find another line of work.
Allowing individual pharmacists to decide which prescriptions to fill, and which to deny, will most harm those in rural areas and the poor, where there are fewer pharmacies and long distances to the next. This is a serious problem that could affect the lives of millions of Americans.
A huge majority of this country want access to legal contraception. We must put the spotlight on this important issue; otherwise our access to contraception could be slowly and silently destroyed.
I felt the need to publicize this a bit more so I posted here as well. It becomes hard to believe those who claim that the religious right is not about controlling women, when they oppose contraception.
This was also posted at Village Blue
That probably comes as no surprise to those of you who have been treated to my often rambling and almost always verbose word fests here and other places on the net. When I started thinking about words this morning. . .what?. . .you don’t start your day thinking about words? Anyway, for some reason Gertrude Stein jumped right into the middle of my thoughts.
Picasso portrait of Stein
Reading lots of words causes you to think about words. It seems to build a fascination with words and how they interplay in the hands and minds of writers. The last couple of years I have been overly mesmerized with taking words apart, breaking them in to pieces and finding new meanings. In the sillier moments words like terminate, can come to mean, Term – in – ate. . . eating in the term or time frame. Or My favorite, because, has become. . .BE – Cause. Be the cause not the result. A stirring to action, as it were. I’m sure that was a scintillating glimpse into my sick mind.
But no one ever played with words better than Gertrude Stein, at least in my assessment. It was almost as if the cadence and sound of the words were even more important than any specific meaning she intended. Of course by that action she brought a meaning perhaps beyond the meaning.
During the 20’s and 30’s she and her partner, Alice B Toklas had an apartment in Paris that was gathering place for Hemingway, Picasso, Fitzgerald, Matise, and many others. Would have been great to have been a mouse in the corner of that room!
Her most famous book was “The Autobiography of Alice B Toklas” which of course was not an autobiography at all. Here is just a little taste of it:
“Before I decided to write this book My Twenty-Five Years With Gertrude Stein, I had often said that I would write, The Wives of Geniuses I Have Sat With. I have sat with so many. I have sat with wives that were not wives, of geniuses who were real geniuses. I have sat with real wives of geniuses who were not real geniuses. I have sat with wives of geniuses, of near-geniuses, of would-be geniuses, in short I have sat very often and very long with many wives and wives of many geniuses.
Fernande, who was then living with Picasso and had been with him a long time that is to say they were all twenty-four years old at that time but they had been together a long time, Fernande was the first wife of a genius I sat with and she was – not the least amusing. We talked hats. Fernande had two subjects hats and perfumes. This first day we talked hats. She liked hats, she had the true french feeling about a hat, if a hat did not provoke some witticism from a man on the street the hat was not a success. Later on once in Montmartre she and I were walking together. She had on a large yellow hat and I had on a much smaller blue one. As we were walking along a workman stopped and called out, there go the sun and the moon shining together. Ah, said Fernande to me with a radiant smile, you see our hats are a success.”
from The Autobiography of Alice B. Toklas
I think this passage is most indicative of what I enjoy most about Stein:
“The Wives of Geniuses I Have Sat With. I have sat with so many. I have sat with wives that were not wives, of geniuses who were real geniuses. I have sat with real wives of geniuses who were not real geniuses. I have sat with wives of geniuses, of near-geniuses, of would-be geniuses, in short I have sat very often and very long with many wives and wives of many geniuses.”
Those are my word, author, book thoughts this morning. . .what about yours?
Update [2005-8-1 18:30:21 by susanhu]: Andrea Mitchell is on MSNBC’s Hardball today to talk about Novak’s column and the CIA leak case.
The “run silent, run, just run …” Robert Novak fires back at the CIA today in his syndicated column at the Chicago Sun-Times:
Though frustrated, I have followed the advice of my attorneys and written almost nothing about the CIA leak over two years because of a criminal investigation by a federal special prosecutor. The lawyers also urged me not to write this. But the allegation against me is so patently incorrect and so abuses my integrity as a journalist that I feel constrained to reply.
Now wait just a fucking minute here. As Larry Johnson, a former CIA officer, just told me, “The real news in Bob Novak’s latest column is the revelation that Novak thinks he has ‘integrity’. Talk about delusional.”
Novak goes on — calling this an “obscure case” — and Johnson replies, BELOW THE FOLD:
[editor’s note, by susanhu] Edited to reflect Johnson’s remarks that he updated and posted at his blog, No Quarter.
Larry Johnson told me — about the following section in Novak’s column (below) — that:
Back in July 2003 Novak wrote:
“Wilson never worked for the CIA, but his wife, Valerie Plame, is an agency operative on weapons of mass destruction. Two senior administration officials told me that Wilson’s wife suggested sending him to Niger to investigate the Italian report. The CIA [Harlow] says its counter-proliferation officials selected Wilson and asked his wife to contact him.”I believe Novak reported accurately that “two senior Administration officials” said that Valerie Plame “suggested the mission”. But those sources were spreading deliberate disinformation. A real journalist would have asked some hard questions, things apparently beyond Novak’s ability in his dotage. In stark contrast to what the two “senior” Admistration officials told him, CIA officials, both former and current, are on record saying that Novak is wrong and that Plame neither suggested nor authorized the mission. So what does Bob “the responsbile journalist” Novak do? He insists that the info about Plame is right even though officials in her chain of command say the opposite. Who are you going to believe?
Novak:
In the course of a front-page story in last Wednesday’s Washington Post, Walter Pincus and Jim VandeHei quoted ex-CIA spokesman Bill Harlow describing his testimony to the grand jury. In response to my question about Valerie Plame Wilson’s role in former ambassador Wilson’s trip to Niger, Harlow told me she “had not authorized the mission.” Harlow was quoted as later saying to me “the story Novak had related to him was wrong.”
This gave the impression I ignored an official’s statement that I had the facts wrong but wrote it anyway for the sake of publishing the story. That would be inexcusable for any journalist and particularly a veteran of 48 years in Washington. The truth is otherwise, and that is why I feel compelled to write this column.
My column of July 14, 2003, asked why the CIA in 2002 sent Wilson, a critic of President Bush, to Niger to investigate an Italian intelligence report of attempted Iraqi uranium purchases. All the subsequent furor was caused by three sentences in the sixth paragraph:
“Wilson never worked for the CIA, but his wife, Valerie Plame, is an agency operative on weapons of mass destruction. Two senior administration officials told me that Wilson’s wife suggested sending him to Niger to investigate the Italian report. The CIA [Harlow] says its counter-proliferation officials selected Wilson and asked his wife to contact him.”
Next, Novak “takes refuge” in the Senate Intel report:
There never was any question of me talking about Mrs. Wilson “authorizing.” I was told she “suggested” the mission, and that is what I asked Harlow. His denial was contradicted in July 2004 by a unanimous Senate Intelligence Committee report. The report said Wilson’s wife “suggested his name for the trip.” It cited an internal CIA memo from her saying “my husband has good relations” with officials in Niger and “lots of French contacts,” adding they “could possibly shed light on this sort of activity.” A State Department analyst told the committee that Mrs. Wilson “had the idea” of sending Wilson to Africa.
Larry Johnson’s retort:
But, we now are reminded what a complete, disgusting douchebag (to quote Jon Stewart) Robert Novak really is. He admits that he was told that revealing Plame’s identity would cause “difficulties”. He describes her in his original article as an “operative”. Note, not “analyst” but “operative”.
Bob Novak has been in town long enough to know the difference.
An operative is someone who carries out operations. An analyst is someone who sits at a desk and tries to make sense out of information that operators collect.
Bill Harlow says he asked Novak not to use her name and Novak confirms this. CIA spokesmen were in the position of having to protect a sensitive, covert asset and this joke of a journalist did not appreciate that creating difficulties for an intelligence agency in a time of war is a bad thing?
More from Novak:
So, what was “wrong” with my column as Harlow claimed? There was nothing incorrect. He told the Post reporters he had “warned” me that if I “did write about it her name should not be revealed.” That is meaningless. Once it was determined that Wilson’s wife suggested the mission, she could be identified as “Valerie Plame” by reading her husband’s entry in “Who’s Who in America.”
Harlow said to the Post that he did not tell me Mrs. Wilson “was undercover because that was classified.” What he did say was, as I reported in a previous column, “she probably never again would be given a foreign assignment but that exposure of her name might cause ‘difficulties.’ ” According to CIA sources, she was brought home from foreign assignments in 1997, when agency officials feared she had been “outed” by the traitor Aldrich Ames.
I have previously said that I never would have written those sentences if Harlow, then-CIA Director George Tenet or anybody else from the agency had told me that Valerie Plame Wilson’s disclosure would endanger herself or anybody.
The recent first disclosure of secret grand jury testimony set off a news media feeding frenzy centered on this obscure case. Joseph Wilson was discarded a year ago by the Kerry presidential campaign after the Senate committee reported much of what he said “had no basis in fact.” The re-emerged Wilson is now accusing the senators of “smearing” him. I eagerly await the end of this investigation when I may be able to correct other misinformation about me and the case.
Larry Johnson responds:
After talking with several friends still inside the operations community, there is a widely held sentiment, “Too bad Novak is not sharing a cell with Judith Miller”.
Too bad Novak is not sharing a cell with Miller.
Larry Johnson will publish these and additional remarks at his blog, No Quarter.
The US, Australia, China, India, South Korea, and Japan have negotiated a climate pact in secret that policy experts believe is a diversion from some members rejection of the Kyoto Protocol. Instead of establishing emissions reduction targets, the Asia-Pacific Partnership on Clean Development and Climate calls for developing new technologies to reduce the production of greenhouse gases. The call for new technologies is nothing new.
Nature News Experts caution that there isn’t really anything new within the pact itself. Both the United States and Australia have long promoted technological solutions as the best way to tackle climate change. “The United States already has bilateral technology cooperation agreements with all the countries involved,” points out Fiedler.
Energy experts say that new technologies, such as renewable energy systems and more efficient vehicles, are a vital part of climate-change measures. But they add that emission targets are the best way to act now.
The creation of this pact is thought to be a means of deflecting attention form the US’s and Australia’s rejection of the Kyoto protocol.
Climate-policy experts say that although the aims of the pact are worthwhile, it contains no new financial commitments or targets. Australia and the United States are the only two developed nations not to ratify the Kyoto Protocol, and experts say the pact is likely to be used by them to deflect pressure to accept future versions of the protocol.
“They want to say ‘Leave us alone, we’re already doing something’,” says Jeff Fiedler, a climate-policy specialist with the Natural Resources Defense Council in Washington. Talks about what to do when the protocol expires will begin in earnest in November.
The problem here is that the partners in the pact are taking the easy route instead making the hard choices needed to deal with this problem today not sometime in the future.
“I don’t see this announcement as a threat, but it reflects a way of thinking that could threaten effective action,” says Michael Grubb, an energy economist at Imperial College in London.
“Technology cooperation is being presented as an alternative to the hard issues of building incentives for energy efficiency and low-carbon technology investment by the private sector, which has to include regulating carbon emissions,” says Grubb.
Bush has argued that trying to meet the Kyoto Protocol emissions targets would harm the US economy. Bush seems to have little faith in our nation’s can-do technological know-how. A recent study by the Union of Concerned Scientists finds that not only do we have the know-how, in addition the US economy would benefit from steps that reduce greenhouse gas emissions.
UCS UCS recently examined the economic impact of gradually increasing our nation’s use of renewable electricity from about 2.5 percent today to 20 percent by 2020. The end result: more than 355,000 new jobs in domestic manufacturing, construction, operations, maintenance, shipping, sales, finance, and other industries. This is nearly double the number of jobs that would be created by producing an equivalent amount of electricity from fossil fuels during the same amount of time. These 157,480 additional jobs would generate an additional $8.2 billion in income and $10.2 billion in gross domestic product. Increased renewable energy development would also reduce carbon dioxide emissions from power plants by 434 million metric tons per year.
We don’t need to wait for research to develop new technologies to start doing something about global warming. Those technologies are available and their adoption would help our weak economy. It’s really a pity Bush has so little faith in our Nation’s ability to solve problems.
After I read Infidelpig’s dairy of his return from Vietnam and the injustice that he saw in that small Wisconsin town, toward the Native American peoples, I did indeed need to pray to Great Spirit. It brought up some very painful memories that I had witnessed growing up in Michigan. That races of people were unable to enter a store, restaurant or public restroom because of their skin color or culture, was a reprehensible act of ignorance and racism. That Jim Crow laws were alive and well in the Upper Midwest and West, only geared to the Native populations, not unlike the African Americans that lived in the South. I don’t look Indian so this prejudice was not perpetuated upon me, yet I was abused for being an Indian from my own family.
My father and most of his family never accepted me, my mother or my brothers and sister. We were outcasts, something not mentioned, only one of my fathers sisters ever recognized that we even existed. As I grew up, I strived to hide my other self; I worked hard to destroy that which was inside me. I watched others of my race try to do the same things. When you are repeatedly told that you are not worth spit, because you are an Indian, that you have no value because you are of a race of people who were defeated. You have no power, no land, and no right to anything because we stripped you of your humanity. It can and does send a powerful message. I hear so many things coming from the right, as they strive to vilify and demonize those of us who are left of Ronald Reagan. I do mean that in all sincerity. The right is indeed feeding the wolf of hate, discontent and anger.
I hope that Infidelpig’s “The Two Wolves Within”, will help all of us in our cause. To bring forth the best that we have to offer in this struggle to regain our country from the Worshippers of power and money. We must continue to feed the wolf of patience, principle, ethics and tolerance in order to achieve our goal of eliminating the corruption and moral degradation that has permeated our country’s government. I offer to you these guiding principles as a means to an end, a way to achieve a balance and harmony within the life you lead today. I have strived to make these the guiding path of my spiritual well being. They have brought me from the depths of hell as a homeless heroin addict, to a life that truly has meaning. I have a life that gives me all that I could ever hope for and more.
“Spiritual matters are difficult to explain because you
must live with them in order to fully understand them.”Thomas Yellowtail, CROW
“”””””””””””””””””””””””More below the fold””””””””””””””””””””””””””””
I have read many comments about the moral decay and dissonance that is the message being promoted by the religious right and the current administration. My favorite is this, I often wonder why their heads don’t explode with the dissonance that is occurring by their actions and their stated pious words. Personally I don’t believe there is any dissonance for these people, their words are a smoke screen, a cover, so they can do the wickedness that dwells within their hearts. I hope that those individual’s who have in the past supported these wicked/evil people, will soon wake up to the tremendous harm that they have helped perpetuate upon the people of the US and the world. I hope that the moderates in the Republican Party, those people for whom the constitution and the liberties that are granted to us as a people will take back their party and work with liberal/progressives to repair the damage caused by this horrendous administration.
Striving to live within a framework of spiritual principles is never easy, yet it’s rewards are immeasurable. As a human being, I recognize my infallibility, my desire to achieve everything the fastest and easiest way possible and when I do that, I usually end up making a mess of my life. I have found that when I walk the walk of my spiritual principles, I rarely find myself in any type of quandary or moral dilemma. Life is never easy, nor does it have to be difficult, we as human beings have the ability to make choices that will determine whether or not we will have dissonance inside our heads. I choose today to eliminate as much conflict from my life as possible. My choices on how to live my life are brought forth by my openness to the spirit world that surrounds me in my daily life.
I have chosen not to feed the wolf of anger and hatred. I choose to feed the wolf of honesty, integrity, ethics, love and freedom. We all have to make choices daily, many of them will have profound impacts on our lives in small ways and others can impact us for decades. I know there are many who will read this and state, well I don’t believe in God, Yahweh, Allah, Buddha, Great Spirit or any other so called Higher Power. I offer you this, living by spiritual principles does not equate to acknowledging there is a Higher Power, it only says that you understand and accept that personal responsibility for ones actions, thoughts and processes, gains you a higher level of spiritual development. I have met many spiritually developed individuals who are acknowledged agnostics/atheists. They live their lives with an understanding of how they impact others and how others will impact them. They offer kindness, honor, acceptance, joy, love and hope where there was none before. Being Spiritual is not equated to how often you attend church, pray, how much money you have, where you live or what you possess. These measurements hold little meaning in the grander scheme of life. Spiritual living for me follows this basic understanding of my life and my role in the world in which I live.
To know something we must become one with it. We cannot know what a flower smells like until we actually smell it. Close your eyes and experience the fragrance.
The Elders say there are two worlds, the Seen World and the Unseen World. To experience the Seen World we need to physically pick the flower and smell it. To experience the Unseen World we need to know about principles, laws and values; and no matter what our mind or our physical senses tell us, we must decide and act on these principles.
If someone does wrong to us, we must pray for that person or persons to have peace, happiness and joy in their life. We must not get even or retaliate in any way. Only by doing this can we understand spiritual matters.
Great Spirit, give me your power whenever my weakness shows so I can live by spiritual decisions
I know that I have not always followed my beliefs, values and principles when I speak of the current administration. I have used demeaning language, showed contempt, showered upon them verbally abusive language and have displayed disgust and hatred for them. After reading InfidelPig’s essay, I have affirmed my willingness to change my attitude toward those whom, I believe are seeking to destroy my country. I have lived for more than 50 years, more than half of that time I lived in spiritual dissonance. I have found for myself a path that brings harmony to my spirit and provides me with the tools to be the best human being I am capable of being today. I don’t know how well I will be do in this change of attitude, but my heart is willing and my spirit brothers have shown me that demeaning those that I have conflict with is not going to help me facilitate change in this world.
I sought help for my spirit; I created a medicine wheel, smudged and prayed. I opened my heart and mind to all the spirits that surround me and listened, quietly meditating and hearing those that came before me. I am of the coyote clan, the little trickster, but also the helper of the Human beings. I know that my ancestors lived in a spiritual world that was very much like what we are experiencing today. I feel that I have been shown a way to help, a way to facilitate change, a way to bring others into a path that very well may cause an upheaval with in our country.
I hope that you will pass this code on to your friends. Lets show those that would defile us, defame us, try to force us into their pattern of attacks, that we are above them. We are the best, greatest hope that America will one day soon, really become the greatest country in the history of the world. Not because we have the largest and best military in the world. We shall be known as the greatest, because we honored our commitments to life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness for all the peoples and spirits of this world.
I realize that I have posted this ethics code before, yet I also recognize that something of value, never really becomes boring or repetitive. I offer these to you, as a gift, a treasure that will help you create a life that is beyond measure in its joys and happiness. I pray that each of you finds your spirit guide that you will know your life still has unlimited possibilities for growth, understanding, joy, happiness, love, honor and integrity. I have been given the most precious gift I could ever imagine, the privilege of raising two children, whom I pray that I will instill within them all of the wonders of life and glory of living it within a spiritual framework. If they look upon me one day and say to, that the most important thing I taught them was to rely upon their spirit to guide them, I have done the best I could as their parent.
NATIVE AMERICAN INDIAN TRADITIONAL CODE OF ETHICS
…From “Inter-Tribal Times” Oct 1994
- Each morning upon rising, and each evening before sleeping, give thanks for the life within you and for all life, for the good things the Creator has given you and for the opportunity to grow a little more each day. Consider your thoughts and actions of the past day and seek for the courage and strength to be a better person. Seek for the things that will benefit others (everyone).
- Respect. Respect means “To feel or show honor or esteem for someone or something; to consider the well being of, or to treat someone or something with deference or courtesy”. Showing respect is a basic law of life.
a. Treat every person from the tiniest child to the oldest elder with respect at all times.
b. Special respect should be given to Elders, Parents, Teachers, and Community Leaders.
c. No person should be made to feel “put down” by you; avoid hurting other hearts, as you would avoid a deadly poison.
d. Touch nothing that belongs to someone else (especially Sacred Objects) without permission, or an understanding between you.
e. Respect the privacy of every person, never intrude on a person’s quiet moment or personal space.
f. Never walk between people that are conversing.
g. Never interrupt people who are conversing.
h. Speak in a soft voice, especially when you are in the presence of Elders, strangers or others to whom special respect is due.
i. Do not speak unless invited to do so at gatherings where Elders are present (except to ask what is expected of you, should you be in doubt).
j. Never speak about others in a negative way, whether they are present or not.
k. Treat the earth and all of her aspects as your mother. Show deep respect for the mineral world, the plant world, and the animal world. Do nothing to pollute our Mother, rise up with wisdom to defend her.
l. Show deep respect for the beliefs and religion of others.
m. Listen with courtesy to what others say, even if you feel that what they are saying is worthless. Listen with your heart.
n. Respect the wisdom of the people in council. Once you give an idea to a council meeting it no longer belongs to you. It belongs to the people. Respect demands that you listen intently to the ideas of others in council and that you do not insist that your idea prevail. Indeed you should freely support the ideas of others if they are true and good, even if those ideas are quite different from the ones you have contributed. The clash of ideas brings forth the Spark of Truth.
- Once a council has decided something in unity, respect demands that no one speak secretly against what has been decided. If the council has made an error, that error will become apparent to everyone in its own time.
- Be truthful at all times, and under all conditions.
- Always treat your guests with honor and consideration. Give of your best food, your best blankets, the best part of your house, and your best service to your guests.
- The hurt of one is the hurt of all; the honor of one is the honor of all.
- Receive strangers and outsiders with a loving heart and as members of the human family.
- All the races and tribes in the world are like the different colored flowers of one meadow. All are beautiful. As children of the Creator they must all be respected.
- To serve others, to be of some use to family, community, nation, and the world is one of the main purposes for which human beings have been created. Do not fill yourself with your own affairs and forget your most important talks. True happiness comes only to those who dedicate their lives to the service of others.
- Observe moderation and balance in all things.
- Know those things that lead to your well being, and those things that lead to your destruction.
- Listen to and follow the guidance given to your heart. Expect guidance to come in many forms, in prayer, in dreams, in times of quiet solitude, and in the words and deeds of wise Elders and friends.
The Financial Times has a big front page article about the new US strategy against terrorism: US shifts anti-terror policy
The short version:
In the tactical phase, the US administration gave in to its basest instincts, killed a lot of towelheads, and just about trashed everything it could (international law, the US Constitution, relations with friends). Somehow, it has noticed that this is not working – and the oil is not even flowing.
So we move to the strategic phase, we beg the French, who are not hated so much over there, to help talk to whoever’s still alive to kindly ask them to be nice to us?
The very short version:
Bush “I have lost the WOT. Please heeelp me!“
Quotes from the actual article below…
The US is working with Britain and France to undermine the appeal of Muslim extremism by reaching out to moderate groups, in a sign that its counter-terrorism strategy is moving beyond the “war on terror”.
US and European officials say the Bush administration’s review–expected to lead to a formal declaration of a new national strategy–represents not just a shift to a more multilateralist approach towards foreign policy but also an important development in thinking away from the emphasis on the military.
So, “away from the military” – this is not a war anymore. Who made fun of John “this is primarily a matter of law enforcement” Kerry and the similarly minded Europeans? And who is going to tell the “services”?
Inquiry exposes rifts between UK and US intelligence agencies
The worldwide investigation into the bombings has led to subtle cracks in the close relationship between British and US law enforcement agencies – cracks exacerbated by past differences in investigative approaches – officials on both sides of the Atlantic said.
(…)
One UK official said co-operation between US and UK intelligence officials over the London bombings had been “superb”. But he said the UK had a different view of the war on terrorism than the US.
“One of the distinguishing characteristics of [the US] is that they think they are at war, and we don’t. It is very difficult to persuade people in London, even after the bombings, that there’s a war on. This is a big psychological difference.”
So, ther’s a war on, but not to be fought with the military. This is so confusing. Are the military with us or against us?
(back to the first article)
Already a shift in language has emerged that reflects the new approach. GWOT “the global war on terror” is being replaced in pronouncements by senior US officials by SAVE: the “struggle [or some say “strategy”] against violent extremism”.
(…)
Mr Zelikow’s goal, according to a US official who asked not to be named, was to “develop and implement a comprehensive strategy to discredit and demystify extremists’ ideology and promote moderate Islamic voices”.
(…)
A former senior intelligence official who served in the Bush administration commented: “Conviction has been growing steadily and strongly here that we needed to come out of the tactical phase of this war and into a strategic phase which would include this outreach to the Muslim world and it would make sense to structure this some way with a couple of allies, particularly the French, who understand that world so well.”
So, Bush wants to “understand” turrists, er, sorry, Muslims, and wants the help of the French to do it. Flip-flop? Treason? Or “only” hubris?
It’s so easy to be gloating about this that it’s sad in a way. Now, the cat is out of the bag.
Muslims around the world are pissed. They have seen several tens of thousands of their co-religionists slaughtered in Iraq; they have seen the US trample its supposed values by torturing people around the world and standing by such policies; they have noted that the US are still supporting the failed regimes in Egypt, Saudi Arabia; they have noted that the only way to influence US policy is by destruction and mayhem, not international diplomacy. Many that were moderates or politically neutral to the West have been shocked by the treatment of Iraqis and others in the past few years, and now hate us with a vengeance. Immigrants in our countries, unhappy with their precarious economic and social situation here, treated with growing suspicion, are feeling a growing affinity with their “oppressed brothers”, a number of them turn to radical Islam, and some of them to outright terrorism.
We are all left with the legacy of large scale terrorism as a weapon of choice for a rapidly growing number of disaffected groups in a number of countries in the underbelly of Eurasia, with a limitless supply of recruits, and Europe is on the front lines. And yes, we directly caused it by our disproportionate response.
So yes, Europe will cooperate, and try to reach out to moderates, because that’s the only sensible thing to do. And we will keep on helping the FBI and other DHS agencies by providing information and analysis on the various groups, as has been done without a hitch since 9/11.
It would have been nice if the White House had done that (focusing on that information flow and that outreach effort) 4 years ago, instead of throwibng massive amounts of fuel on the fire in the meantime.
But we can note today’s political message – Bush admits he has lost the War on Terror and is begging the sissy Europeans for help.
