Month: December 2004

How Wahhabism Gets Spread

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You wouldn’t think that a guy with a name like Stephen Schwartz would be a Sufi Muslim, but he is, having converted to the faith during his time in Bosnia. In his latest piece at techcentralstation, Schwartz examined the anticipated spread of a harsher brand of Islam in Athens, all centering around the "proposed construction of the first state-recognized mosque in the vicinity of Athens in modern times."

The Islamic Center in the Athenian suburb of Peania, more than 15 miles northeast of Athens near the new international airport, will be financed directly by the King Fahd Foundation of Saudi Arabia. According to the Arab News, an English-language Saudi daily, some 8.5 acres were donated by the Greek government for the structure. Foreign assistance for the radicalization of Islam in Greece will inevitably be a central element of the activities at the mosque, which will be very large, intended, it is said, to accommodate all of the estimated 120,000 Muslim faithful in the capital city. The total number of Muslims in Greece is estimated at more than 500,000.

This new mosque will introduce Wahhabism to Greek society, the very ideology that western civilization is at war with. The name "King Fahd" rang a bell with me because he also funds madrassas in Britain, Germany and untold other places, offering dis-assimilation and the oppression of females in its coursework. Are we really at war with Wahhabism? I believe we are, and that we should be outspoken in saying that this form of Islam is heretical. As I wrote here, the sect is too closely entwined with the House of Saud, and its precepts are disturbingly similar to those preached by al Qaeda. There is also quite a bit of overlap with Qutbism, which is highly influential in the Muslim Brotherhood and al Qaeda. The butchers of Beslan were also Wahhabi influenced.

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And Now For Something Completely Different

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Well, not really.  The nub of it is this.  Von and Edward asked me to contribute some writings to Obsidian Wings and I said "yes", and I extend a heartfelt thanks.  At Tacitus, I was under the moniker of "Bird Dog" and, since a new era is being ushered in over there, I thought I’d usher in some small changes as well, such as using my real name.  So what’s the point of this post?  To introduce myself, something I’ve never really done before on a weblog, so here goes.

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Anatomy of a PR Disaster

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I know, I know, this will strike some as "let’s just agree Bush is a bad man and move on" sort of post, but really, could they get out ahead of this Asia disaster relief press, please?

UPDATE: I haven’t clarified very well the main point here, so I’ll insert this:

I’m certainly not trying to build the argument that the US government is not working hard on this, just that they can’t seem to get out ahead of the story PRwise.

Consider the lastest headline regarding our relatively much smaller ally:

Britain triples tsunami aid pledge to 96 million dollars

Meanwhile, in the land where $2 billion is spent on lobbying our government is still struggling to get this right:

The United States, faulted by critics for a slow and miserly response to the Asian tsunami, is preparing an aid package to be introduced in Congress early next year, lawmakers said on Thursday. 

An amount of money has not yet been agreed upon but it would be in addition to the $35 million pledged by President Bush on Wednesday, congressional aides said.

In a statement, Rep. Henry Hyde, an Illinois Republican said he is drafting legislation to assist victims that he plans to introduce after the new Congress starts work on Jan. 4.

"The challenges of coping with suffering on this magnitude are almost unfathomable, and we will act" said Hyde, who chairs the House International Relations Committee.

He said a congressional delegation will visit Thailand and Sri Lanka next week.

Sen. Richard Lugar, an Indiana Republican, speaking on CNN said he had prepared a resolution for the return of the new Congress that will set the stage for "very generous appropriations."

We will act? Can we change the tense of that statement to the present continuous please? The New York Times Editioral page rang in today with:

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In Praise Of New Year’s Resolutions

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About ten years ago, my sister and I were sitting in a restaurant at about this time of year, contemplating the fact that while each of us was basically very happy with our life, both of us felt that there was room for improvement. We decided to make New Year’s resolutions together, resolutions that would … Read more

Old Men and Their Epiphanies

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Read biographies of the world’s "warrior-kings" who live into old age and you’ll notice a weariness set in for many of them. A desire to give up the fight and spend the rest of their days appreciating the finer things in life. Often they turn to the arts or focus on spending time with their family. Often they discover that what seemed like "truth" to them earlier in life was an illusion. That war, for example, is a horror worth working to prevent when possible. One of my favorite examples of this is this quote by Eisenhower:

I hate war as only a soldier who has lived it can, only as one who has seen its brutality, its futility, its stupidity.

Another warrior-king of sorts has stirred up controversy by offering his version of the late-life awakening. USA Today founder Al Neuharth, offered the following in his 12/22/04 column:

Despite unhappy holidays, nearly all of us who served in WWII were proud, determined and properly armed and equipped to help defeat would-be world conquerors Hitler in Germany, Mussolini in Italy and Hirohito in Japan.

At age 80, I’d gladly volunteer for such highly moral duty again. But if I were eligible for service in Iraq, I would do all I could to avoid it. I would have done the same during the Vietnam War, as many of the politically connected did.

"Support Our Troops" is a wonderful patriotic slogan. But the best way to support troops thrust by unwise commanders in chief into ill-advised adventures like Vietnam and Iraq is to bring them home. Sooner rather than later. That should be our New Year’s resolution.

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A Sontag in Full.

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I’ll join Judith Weiss of Kesher Talk:  "Josh Trevino [nee’ Tacitus] has written the blogosphere’s only graceful and sensible reflections on Susan Sontag."  Give it a read.

Strange Bedfellows.

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Kim du Toit has a point (or, to complete the rhyme, perhaps it’s a "poit"): Longtime Readers of this website will be familiar with the queasiness with which I greeted passage of the various anti-terrorist laws, and most especially the Patriot Act. My reasoning then, as now, was that laws meant to squash Islamist assholes … Read more

The Future and Its Enemies

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While in vacation mode, I’m still reading.  Today’s entry is about my airplane book, The Future and Its Enemies:  The Growing Conflict Over Creativity, Enterprise and Progress by Virginia Postrel.  I know I’m about two years late to this book.  I’ve been meaning to read it for some time, and ran across it in a bargain bin near my sister’s house in Colorado. 

Virginia has a key idea which clarifies some of the difficulties we have in analyzing  polticial cleavages along a left-right split.  She speaks of dynamists and stasists.  In her description, dynamists are willing to embrace the messy nature of unguided social and technological change, while stasists do not.  In her terminology stasists come in two major varieties–reactionaries and technocrats.  Reactionaries wish to control change by reversing it and returning to a previous (and quite possibly mythical) golden age.  Patrick Buchanan is used throughout the book to give examples of reactionary thinking.  I think the choice of ‘stasist’ is revealed to be a bit poor when Virginia goes on to describe technocrats.  Technocrats attempt to tightly control change, often with the idea that an elite number of top-down experts can efficiently control and direct the important changes in society. 

Our new awareness of how dynamic the world really is has united two types of stasists who would have once been bitter enemies:  reactionaries, whose central value is stability, and technocrats, whose central value is control.  Reactionaries seek to reverse change, restoring the literal or imagined past and holding it in place.  A few decades ago, they aimed their criticism at Galbraithean technocracy.  Today they attack dynamism, often in alliance with their formier adversaries.  Technocrats, for their part, promise to manage change, centrally directing "progress" according to a predictable plan.  (That plan may be informed by reactionary values, making the categories soewhat blurry;  although they are more technocrats than true reactionaries, (William) Bennett and Galston inhabit the border regions).

I think this concept is useful to think about, but I suspect it is more distracting to describe both concepts as adhering to stasis than it would be if she called it something else.  The choice is made somewhat more understandable because many technocrats are utopian–they desire a beautiful endpoint.  Both technocrats and reactionaries believe that they know or can find the one best way to do things.  They then attempt to use the government to enforce that way of doing things.  Thinking about this helps me to clarify some of the strange twists that modern American politics takes.  The bulk of conservatives are dynamist with respect to economic thinking.  They have a split with respect to social issues.  Some of them are dynamist, a few are technocratic, and many are reactionary.  Some of those who are reactionary are also reactionary with respect to economic issues (e.g. Buchanan).  Liberals tend to by dynamist with respect to social organization.  They have a split in the economic sphere.  Many are technocratic, many are reactionary, and a few are dynamist in orientation. 

This post is about to get rather long because I intend to use extensive quotes.  So I am hiding it below the extended body.

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Strategy and Tactics

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Reuel Gerecht, writing in the Weekly Standard, is a puzzle.  First, he offers sound advice in Iraq: [W]e are losing the "war of the roads" in Iraq. If the Sunni insurgency controls the principal arteries in and out of Baghdad and can kill with ease on major thoroughfares elsewhere, there is no way the United … Read more

Stan LS Memorial Top 10 Lists for 2004: Open Thread

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Yes, it’s that time of year again, when everyone gets to pretend they write for David Letterman and offer their Top Ten lists on their favorite topics. Rather than limit it to movies or events, however, I’m opening up the concept to anything that strikes your fancy. What were your favorite "things" about the past year? Here’s mine (things that made me happy this year):

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Bad at Diplomacy

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Like tolerance, diplomacy is not something you achieve and then stuff in your pocket of accomplishments; it is something you practice throughout your entire life. Those really dedicated to diplomacy look for opportunities to practice it; those really, really dedicated to it make opportunities to practice it. Two days ago I expressed my agitation at … Read more

Big Doings? Here?

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It’s not yet official, but be warned:  Slarti, Sebastian and I may soon be outflanked by someone less sinister.  Will dearly-missed Katherine be called back from her self-imposed retirement to restrain (or lead) the mob?  We can only hope. Comments are closed; your speculation belongs to the deep silence of cyberspace. p.s.  We really need … Read more

Bush’s Favorite Formula for Change

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NOTE: I’d like to preface this post by noting that I’ve been highly impressed with the quality of the debate about Social Security reform on this blog. I credit von, Sebastian, hilzoy and countless readers with offering what I’ve been tempted to edit and send to Congress as "Highly Recommended Reading" as they prepare to hash out the details themselves. Truly, regardless of what you think of his plan, it’s a testament to the value of Bush’s suggestion that we have a national debate on the topic. I hope our elected officials are as thoughtful when it’s their turn.

Having said that…

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I’ve been following Marshall’s argument that the Bush administration is using the same formula to get buy-in for their Social Security overhaul that they used to win support for the Iraq invasion, but now the meme is gaining wider attention. First, Marshall’s observation:

The president and the White House have now compared their build-up to the Iraq war with their push to phase out Social Security enough times that it seems worth creating a detailed taxonomy of the Bush White House approach to major policy initiatives in order to predict their efforts over the next two years. The Journal said last week …

The president has yet to lay out specific ideas for changing the entitlement program; he and his aides are focused first on selling the idea of change. "For a while, I think it’s important for me to continue to work with members of both parties to explain the problem," he said in a Monday news conference. This would suggest that we’re now in the lying and fear-mongering phase of the campaign, which would be followed of course by a later phase in which a specific policy remedy is brought forward, nominally meant to address the fake problem.

Perhaps if folks could note beginning and end points of various phases of the Iraq war mumbojumbo that could help us pinpoint signs to look for in the unfolding Social Security debate.

Now, as Marshall notes, the Boston Globe "gets it":

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Sebastian Holsclaw Fantasy Bio Contest: Part III

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Voting has ended and early exit polls indicate it was not even close (OK, so actual counting indicate that it was not even close). The Winner of the Sebastian Holsclaw Fantasy Bio Contest was entry B, by our very own constant reader sidereal. (APPLAUSE! APPLAUSE!). Because sidereal’s entry didn’t follow the format Moe created of … Read more

Ann Coulter: Putting the “A**” in Christmas

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Via Wonkette: I know even most conservatives consider her a hack, but at a certain point the entire species really needs to distance itself from this freak. On Ann Coulter’s website: To The People Of Islam: Just think: If we’d invaded your countries, killed your leaders and converted you to Christianity YOU’D ALL BE OPENING … Read more

Sebastian Holsclaw Fantasy Bio Contest: Part II

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Many thanks to all who participated in the "Sebastian Holsclaw Fantasy Bio Contest"…if this were that sort of place, I’d give gold Ribbons of Participation to you all. But this is a slightly crueler place, where only one thing matters in the end: smashing all enemies with an iron fist to further consolidate my unmitigated power over the will and souls of all mankind…no, wait…that’s the tennis court…what matters here is updating the About Me Page.

So, I’ve listed the entries and now ask for you to vote. Select, by letter, your first and second favorites. Two points will be awarded to each first favorite and one point to each second. The voting will end by 12:00pm tomorrow (12/28/04). The winner will serve as Sebastian’s bio until such time he gets so many bizarre solicitations he provides a real one.

PS, FYI: This ain’t Ukraine…we can check by IP address if you’re voting more than once. 😉

PPS. My apologies to anyone who’s formatting was lost in the cut-n-paste. Also, if your entry doesn’t appear below, please let me know. I think I got them all, but the haze of the holidays and some sinus congestion are futzing with my ability to focus.

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My Point, But Better!

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DeLong makes part of my point (see below, including comments) regarding the benefits of Social Security reform, and makes it better that I did (or could).  Discussing Martin Feldstein’s perceived views on Social Security privatization, DeLong writes:

These days [Feldstein] is more likely to stress not the reduction in personal savings that may be generated by expectations of the continuation of the pay-as-you-go Social Security system, but the gap between stock and bond returns. Marty’s argument these days is much more likely to be the claim (with which I have a lot of sympathy) that the stock market does a lousy job of mobilizing society’s risk-bearing resources. Stocks appear to be priced as though the marginal investor is a rich 62-year old with some clogged arteries and a fifteen-year life expectancy who is not expecting to leave a fortune to his descendants. But if the stock market were working well, the marginal investor would be a 40-year old in his or her peak earning years looking out to retirement spending 40 years in the future–an investor much less averse to risk than the 62-year old.

Turning Social Security into a forced-equity-savings program would, Marty believes, not only produce huge profits for the system but also materially improve the efficiency of U.S. financial markets.

(Emphasis mine.)

Kevin Drum wonders if this means that the stock market is underperforming (his phase is a "massive, persistent, and inexplicable market failure").  The short answer is, probably.  For whatever reason, folks tend to be more conservative in their investments than they should be.  That is, most folks should be holding riskier investments than they currently are because, over time, they are likely to be rewarded by their risk taking.  (Or, to bastardize DeLong, forty-year olds are holding the portfolios of sixty-two year olds when they should be holding the portfolios of forty-year olds.)   

Thus, one argument in favor of privatizing part of Social Security is that it will force more money into the market and capture the "equity premium" — the money that is being lost because folks ain’t investing the way that they should.  I say "one argument" because, as Tyler Cowen has noted, this is not the only or best argument in favor of Social Security.  A better argument is that Social Security privatization will increase the national savings rate and make investors and owners out of a whole buncha folks who don’t have the opportunity under the present system.  To create an ownership society, wherein everyone has a stake in the corporate world.

By the bye, DeLong is absolutely right to call privatized social security accounts "forced equity savings."  The goal of privatizing Social Security is to replace the current generational transfer system with a national savings and investment system.

Now DeLong and I part company with respect to who should control the investment portfolio.  DeLong "would rather see this forced equity savings done not through private accounts but through allowing the Secretary of the Treasury to invest the Trust Fund in equities."  I’d prefer that the investors themselves control their own retirement portfolios, choosing from among a series of (no load) index and other funds.  But I hope to take up this debate a bit later.

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Tsunami Relief

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I’m growing increasingly agitated about the US response to the catastrophe in Southern Asia. Maybe this is more a reflection of my own feelings of helplessness from here or maybe I’m parsing it a bit too finely, but as I began to read the accounts, I had this weird feeling that the US response was lackluster. Now I think there’s actual foot-dragging, and I can’t comprehend why. Compare these responses:

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I am not Blogging About This

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For Christmas, instead of writing about politics, I think it would be fun to write about the books I’m reading.  Today I’m reading from:  Metamagical Themas by Douglas R Hofstadter.  It is a bit tougher going than his Godel, Escher, Bach.  But it is fun trying to comprehend an intellect as profound and wide-reaching as … Read more

Music Blather Friday (on Thursday)

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I’m writing today from Castle Rock, CO. And the ‘CO’ is for cold. My point of information for today is that Denver is rather colder than San Diego. Last night I went to see the movie version of the “Phantom of the Opera”. The sets were amazing. The costumes were beautiful. The cinematography was excellent. … Read more

Self Esteem

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Professors Bainbridge and Reynolds each remark on the recent "discovery" that boosting one’s self-esteem rarely boosts one’s abilities: SCIENTIFIC AMERICAN has an article on exploding the self-esteem myth. Bottom line: "Boosting people’s sense of self-worth has become a national preoccupation. Yet surprisingly, research shows that such efforts are of little value in fostering academic progress … Read more

Vignettes on Peace, Good Will, Generosity, and Warm Wishes

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My local newspaper guy (late 60’s immigrant from ME or one of the ‘stans, not quite sure, withered weary look about him, always shivering) gave me a Christmas card yesterday quite unexpectedly. It reads "Peace on Earth…Peace is the healing and elevating influence in the world."

I could hear him laughing with joy and imagined him dancing  with delight as I headed into the subway this morning, having tipped him handsomely and wished him "Happy Holidays." There was something pure about his happiness in seeing his plan had worked. That by handing out cards to his customers yesterday, he’d reminded them to tip him today. It was as if he hadn’t believed this simply ploy would produce results, and yet here it was working. This wonderfully gullible nation of people who would actually give you handfuls of cash because you gave them a 50-cent greeting card. How miraculous.

The New York Times Editorial today highlighted the fact that America is way behind in its promise to help fight global poverty:

It was with great fanfare that the United States and 188 other countries signed the United Nations Millennium Declaration, a manifesto to eradicate extreme poverty, hunger and disease among the one billion people in the world who subsist on barely anything. The project set a deadline of 2015 to achieve its goals. Chief among them was the goal for developed countries, like America, Britain and France, to work toward giving 0.7 percent of their national incomes for development aid for poor countries.

Almost a third of the way into the program, the latest available figures show that the percentage of United States income going to poor countries remains near rock bottom: 0.14 percent. Britain is at 0.34 percent, and France at 0.41 percent. (Norway and Sweden, to no one’s surprise, are already exceeding the goal, at 0.92 percent and 0.79 percent.)

[…] Jeffrey Sachs, the economist appointed by Kofi Annan to direct the Millennium Project, puts the gap between what America is capable of doing and what it actually does into stark relief.

The government spends $450 billion annually on the military, and $15 billion on development help for poor countries, a 30-to-1 ratio that, as Mr. Sachs puts it, shows how the nation has become "all war and no peace in our foreign policy." Next month, he will present his report on how America and the world can actually cut global poverty in half by 2015. He says that if the Millennium Project has any chance of success, America must lead the donors.

My father and I were talking on the phone the other night and he noted that he’s been more than usually generous lately and he wasn’t sure why. I said I had noticed the same thing about myself. I actually feel compelled to be generous again and again. Neither of us has any extra money compared with recent years, quite the contrary, and neither of us has had any life-changing event occur that shook us to our core.  It’s odd, we agreed, like subliminal messages were behind it. Perhaps it’s as simple as how much more obvious than ever it is how little those around us have, how the money won’t make as significant a difference in our life as it will for those we give it to. Or maybe (donning tin foil hat) the government has implanted computer chips in our brains and….

There was an elderly Polish gentleman at the Bedford stop of the L train the other night playing a sad rendition of "Silent Night" on the accordian in a style reminiscent of nothing so much as the intermission music played in a Parisian cabaret just slightly past its prime. I threw a dollar in his green plastic bucket and noticed only a handful of change already in there. I hoped he was the sort of busker who frequently pockets his takings to avoid tempting some teenager from grabbing them. His accordian looked ancient and sounded older. It was eerily appropriate background music for my mood and our times.

I’ll be offline for the next few days, but before I go want to wish each and everyone of you—at least moments of—peace, goodwill toward others, quiet warm moments with your loved ones, and joy. Most of all I wish you joy!

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God Knows I Shouldn’t do this ….

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…. since he’s on my side and all, but Will Wilkinson is a bit over-wrought in his proclamations of coming fiscal doom.  While arguing in support of reforming Social Security, Wilkinson writes: A sustainable fiscal policy has an FI of zero. The estimated FI is about $47 trillion. That’s real money. To get the gravity … Read more

Once More, on Merry Christmas.

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Jack comments on my post below, which argues that James Lileks’ oh-isn’t-that-odd-but-I-don’t-mean-anything-by-the-observations regarding the purported controversy over "Merry Christmas" are a but thin.  Jack writes: In Lileks response to Wolcott’s idiocy he illustrates the slow, steady abatement of the term ‘Merry Christmas’ in Christmas ads–and they are Christmas ads, there’s no ‘holiday’ other than Christmas … Read more

Sebastian Holsclaw Fantasy Bio Contest

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OK, so we (his co-bloggers) threatened to do this over a month ago if Sebastian (now officially a full-time ObWinger) didn’t supply us with a bio for the About Me page, and he promised he would write something up, but have we seen it yet??? No-o-o-o-o-o-o-o. So I invite you to supply one for him. … Read more

Detainee Abuse

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New records released yesterday indicate widespread torture and abuse by military officials over the last three years.  Some U.S. government officials reportedly objected to the abuse, and suggested that war crime prosecutions be considered for some offenders.  Read it.  With more documents trickling out, and the Abu Ghraib RICO case continuing, there will be more. 

Off for a few days

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I may be able to get online, and then again I may not. So I wish everyone happy holidays, including a Merry Christmas, and I hope your winter solstice and Hanukah were great too. My heart goes out to the families of the soldiers killed and wounded in Mosul and elsewhere, and also to the … Read more

I Have Provided The Definitive, Unabridged Guide To Why You Don’t Matter At All To Me.

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Regarding wishing one another a "Merry Christmas," which clearly is the pressing issue this year: Pity James Lileks, who claims to have been (partially) misread by James Wolcott. (Misreading one another in the Blogosphere?  Why, I never!).  Mr. Lileks had to write several thousand words proving to the world that he was not, really, at … Read more

A Suggestion for the Season

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I grew up in a family where "X-mas" was considered blasphemous,* so all these folks suddenly up in arms about how secular Christmas has become seem like "Johnny’s and Jane’s come lately" to me. Folks like Julie West of Edmonds, Washington:

Julie West is tired of being wished "Happy Holidays" instead of "Merry Christmas." She’s annoyed with department stores that use "Season’s Greetings" banners, and with public schools that teach about Hanukkah and Kwanzaa but won’t touch the Nativity story.

So last week, she sent a baked protest to a holiday party at her first-grade son’s school: a chocolate cake with vanilla frosting and red icing that spelled out "Happy Birthday Jesus."

"Christmas keeps getting downgraded, to the point that you’re almost made to feel weird if you even mention it," says West…who describes herself as a non-denominational Christian. "What’s the matter with recognizing the reason behind the whole holiday?"

That sentiment is quaintly nostalgic for me, so many times did I hear it as a child.

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Early Christmas Pressie

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Whether this is a good present or not probably depends on your tastes. Via Bloggy~~~~~~~~~~ Like the original, it’s a bit longish, but you really have to admire the insanity, er dedication, of Miriam and Philipp Lents, who recreated, in what I can only assume was Ritalin-enhanced detail, Michael Jackson’s full-length Thriller video in stop-action … Read more

Security, social and otherwise

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What boots it at one gate to make defence,And at another to let in the foe? John Milton, Samson Agonistes, Lines 559-60. My grandfather on my mother’s side worked in small-town New England factories for more than forty years after he returned from World War II.  It was precise machine work, carefully done, and it … Read more

Bush’s Moral Values

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From the ACLU, via Atrios, comes news that President Bush authorized the use of inhumane treatment on detainees: “A document released for the first time today by the American Civil Liberties Union suggests that President Bush issued an Executive Order authorizing the use of inhumane interrogation methods against detainees in Iraq. Also released by the … Read more

Supporting The Troops, Opposing The War

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Yesterday the Washington Post published an op ed by Rick Atkinson on the difficulty of separating support for the troops from support for the war. A key passage:

“While some voice private doubts, others insist — often with increasing stridency — that the war is justified, that the insurgency can be crushed and that naysaying undermines both national will and troop morale. I admire their steadfast faith, even as I recognize the dilemma. To disbelieve seems too much like betrayal. Skepticism and dissent appear inimical to service and sacrifice.

Keeping the warriors and the war untangled is extraordinarily difficult, intellectually and emotionally. All that most of us can do is to mean precisely what we say: We back you.”
Phil Carter adds a thoughtful comment:

“This is a dilemma I’ve wrestled with since March 2003, if not earlier. I’m still not sure there’s a way to coherently reconcile one’s support for the troops with opposition to the war. This seems like cognitive dissonance in the extreme; to support the people who are laboring on one hand, but to oppose the purpose towards which they pour their blood, sweat and tears. On the receiving end of this speech, it’s hard to see the line between supporting our soldiers while opposing the purpose for which they labor. It’s not like we’re talking about some corporate bottom line here. This purpose is used to justify great sacrifice by our soldiers, much more so than any employee in any other context. They face mortal danger every day; they miss their families; some will be wounded, a few killed — all in the name of this purpose. And you’re going to come in and say that the war’s being fought wrong — or worse yet, that this purpose isn’t good enough? If that’s true, the whole house of cards comes tumbling down — there’s no more purpose to justify their enormous sacrifices.

Viktor Frankl wrote so many years ago that man will bear almost any hardship in the name of a purpose. If we oppose the purpose of this administration in Iraq, do we make it tougher for our soldiers to bear the hardship? On the other hand, if we remain mute, do we risk prolonging the hardship unnecessarily?”

Both the original op ed and Carter’s commentary are extremely thoughtful, and very much worth reading. But on one central point I disagree with them: I have always found it both straightforward and necessary to separate support for the troops from support for the war they are fighting.

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It’s a Wonderful War

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Not sure if they coordinated, but NYTimes columnists Maureen Dowd and William Safire offered competing versions of "what if we hadn’t invaded Iraq" in their most recent columns. Dowd, playing off "It’s a Wonderful Life" (as experienced by Rumsfeld seeing the world as it would have been if he never existed) offered these conclusions:

Sam Nunn. He’s the defense secretary. Sam consults with Congress. Never acts arrogant or misleads them. He didn’t banish the generals who challenged him – he promoted ’em. And, of course, he caught Osama back in ’01. He threw 100,000 troops into Afghanistan on 9/11 and sealed the borders. Our Special Forces trapped the evildoer and his top lieutenants at Tora Bora. You [addressed to Rumsfeld] weren’t at that cabinet meeting the day after 9/11, so nobody suggested going after Saddam. No American troops died or were maimed in Iraq. No American soldiers tortured Iraqis in Abu Ghraib. No Iraqi explosives fell into the hands of terrorists. There’s no office of disinformation to twist perception abroad. We’re not on the cusp of an Iraq run by Muslim clerics tied to Iran.

[…] With the help of our allies around the world, we have won the war on terror. And Saddam has been overthrown. Once Hans Blix exposed the fact that Saddam had no weapons, the tyrant was a goner. No Arab dictator can afford to be humiliated by a Swedish disarmament lawyer.

Safire, taking his license in the form of a parody/sequel to Philip Roth’s book The Plot Against America, sees it differently:

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