"This was the voice of moderation until 13 Sept, 2025"
WarrenPeese by Charles Of missiles, that is. Earlier today, the pint-sized, pot-bellied dictator initiated the successful launching of six medium-range Nodong* missiles and a failed launch of a seventh long-range missile, the Washington Post reported. Our own response was predictable. The response that really matters, which is from the communist Chinese, was muted. Let’s face it. … Read more
by Charles The rest of the blogosphere is talking about it, so why not here. The way it usually works is that authorities determine if a crime has been committed, then they investigate. Not so in the strange twilight world of Plame, where the threatened indictments are not for outing a CIA agent, but for … Read more
by Charles
In an attempt to get up to speed on Haditha, I looked through a number of links to find out what witnesses said and to offer some commentary. Unlike John Murtha, I haven’t judged those Marines guilty because I’d rather wait until the NCIS finishes its investigation. But in the meantime, the following is what I was able to dredge up. It still clocks in at over 9,000 words but there’s still a lot we don’t know.
by Charles
Whether a war crime by U.S. Marines happened or not, there are problems in Haditha, just as there were in Fallujah. The failure is, in part, ours. As the Vietnam War and other insurgencies have shown, the clear-and-hold strategy works. Haditha has been cleared at least once (or at least attempted), but it has not been truly held. In the Guardian last August:
by Charles
Several terms and phrases have floated across my computer screen the last few days, and I thought I’d dig into a few of them. In a prior post on Muslims, a certain prominent commenter stated that there is a "massive sense of cultural humiliation in the Muslim world." Perhaps there’s some truth to it, but I can’t help but interpret "cultural humiliation" to mean "we lost and our feelings are hurt!" I don’t believe it’s a sound idea to craft policy based on another group’s emotional state. After all, the saying goes, we can only control our own emotions, not the feelings of others. It also sounds suspiciously like the victim card is being played, with those facing "cultural humiliation" to be the next candidates for interest group status. Approaching psychobabble levels, there’s even a feelings-based community ready to fertilize and generate interdisciplinary research (both intra and interculturally) on macro, meso and micro levels.
In a Google search, "cultural humiliation" is oft applied to Iraq, Guantanamo detainees, Abu Ghraib, black American women, and so forth. In a February 2004 essay by Jessica Stern of the Harvard Kennedy School of Goverment:
Individually, the terrorists I interviewed cited many reasons for choosing a life of holy war, and I came to despair of identifying a single root cause. But the variable that most frequently came up was not poverty or human rights abuses as has been posited in the press but perceived humiliation. Humiliation came up at every echelon of terrorist group members leaders and followers.
by Charles
In the last few weeks, I’ve been mulling over the idea that Islam is not a religion of peace, but of submission, by its very definition. It is a noble concept for a person to voluntarily submit himself or herself to God and to put into practice the tenets of the faith. But it’s another thing altogether when a person decides that others must also submit. When self-described Muslims decide to militantly force their religious ideology down others’ throats, then we have a War Against Militant Islamism.
While we’ve long heard and read from many on the Left about American imperialism and hegemony, there is also an imperialism problem with large numbers of Muslims throughout history, as documented by Efraim Karsh of the University of London. The history of Islamic imperialism and subjugation neatly play into current events. For instance, just in the last week or two:
by Charles Ring One: Patrick Frey exposed LA Times columnist/blogger Michael Hiltzik of sock-puppeting, i.e., using pseudonyms to bolster his own opinions and belittle those of his detractors. When confronted with the incontrovertible truth, Hiltzik responded with jaw-dropping intellectual dishonesty. The editors at the LA Times judged the match over by TKO and suspended Hiltzik … Read more
by Charles
Afghanistan. The trial of Abdul Rahman is an important test case for the Afghan government. Rahman converted from Islam to Christianity sixteen years ago, but adversarial family members recently ratted him out, notifying the authorities of his switch. Under sharia law, he could face the death penalty. The Afghan Constitution is dissonant on the issue, expressly upholding Islamic principles but also incorporating the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. The outcome of the case will tell us whether the current Afghan regime is moving in the direction of Taliban II or toward a free and democratic society. Quite frankly, the United States should not let a Rahman conviction stand. We have too much invested in this country to let this evil affront to civilization happen. The state prosecutor may have an out, though, declaring that Rahman may be "mentally unfit" to stand trial. The state prosecutor has more evidence on the mental unfitness of jihadist loony tunes than Rahman, but if that’s what it takes to get out of an embarrassing situation, so be it.
Iraq. Just as the three previous elections were pivotal moments in Iraqi (and American) history, so is the formation of its new government. The longer it stays in limbo, the more tenuous the situation becomes. By way of Winds of Change, British Defence Minister John Reid is concerned that delays allow terrorists and rejectionists more opportunities to destabilize. Me, too. I wish I could think of the right analogy, but each successful event in post-Saddam Iraq is merely one step forward to a free, peaceful, non-theocratic representative republic. If such event fails, or fails to happen, then we move six steps backward. This is looking like one of those moments where one more step must be had. If not, those terrorists, rejectionists and others agitating for civil war may just get one.
Iran. With EU3 negotiations gone nowhere and discussions underway in the UN Security Council, the next step toward stopping Iran from having an atomic bomb is direct meetings between American and Iranian officials. The Mullah Supreme (Khameini) is amenable to talks with the United States, and we should take him up on his offer. If Iran gets to a point where we must decide to strike or not to strike, we should be able to say that we’ve tried every avenue of recourse.
by Charles
If he didn’t learn it after the Harriet Miers mess, he should’ve learned it now. After missteps in Iraq and Katrina, and after mediocre to substandard performance in areas not pertaining to national defense, George W. Bush lost an important presumption last year. When the president said "trust me" after appointing Harriet Miers, the conservative wing of the party could not bring itself to. Likewise this year, when Bush said "trust me" on the Dubai port deal, the Republican wing of the party didn’t. This was something he could’ve had, if he worked at it, but the Occasional Communicator didn’t lobby Congress hard enough and he didn’t make the case strongly enough or frequently enough to the American people.
For me, I would’ve been firmly in the "yes" column with the right assurances on security. McCain is right when he said the president deserved better. What made things worse is that when push came to shove, Bush got shoved, threatening to veto any legislation which would dump Dubai, but then backing down, making him look weak and ineffective. The cost is that Bush lost face, both here and in the Middle East. The United Oil Emirates–er, United Arab Emirates–also lost face. For all of its problems, the UAE has been a good ally and a moderate Muslim nation whom we could do business with. Alas, that relationship has now been unnecessarily taken back a few notches.
by Charles Rolling Stone has a lengthy and interesting piece on Scientology. It took the writer, Janet Reitman, nine months to do her investigation and she appears fair-minded yet skeptical, covering some of the theology, the history, the practices, the facilities and the people. If you challenge certain tenets, you may be viewed as "counterintentioned". … Read more