Find the Farce

There's a lot of silly posturing and illogical punditing in Charles Krauthammer's piece today, "What did the Iraq Study Group tell us?"  There's nothing new in his doing that.

There's also nothing new in his acting as if he is considering all aspects of a situation, but not really doing so.

He writes that there is a "certain conventional wisdom that the war is already lost. And if that were true, we should indeed be retreating." But Krauthammer never actually addresses the point.  Is the war lost?  If not, he must provide some argument or evidence to support his position.  But in his arrogance, he feels no need to respond. By his dismissive suggestion that it's "conventional wisdom," he thinks he's dismissed the argument. But it's not the same.

Similarly, he asks: if Israel were to disappear tomorrow, "Does anyone imagine... that al-Qaeda stops killing Americans?" By demonstrating his disdain, he believes he has answered the question. In fact most Americans know that if Israel did not exist, and no U.S. bases were in Arab countries, Osama bin-Laden would not have led attacks on the U.S. This is not to say that we should close all of our bases or stop supporting Israel. It is to point out the dishonesty of Krauthammer's arguments.

By lying about al-Qaeda, he also makes it clear that fighting terrorism is not what this war is about.  In fact, almost no reasonable person believes that there can be long term peace in middle east without resolution of the Israeli Palestinian conflict.

Krauthammer is wonderfully dismissive of the ISG members - a reminder that when push comes to shove, loyalty is a one-way street to the Bushies.  A recommendation by James Baker is responded to with some nasty sarcasm

"On the basis of what grand unifying vision? On the authority of what superior wisdom?  A10-person commission including such Middle East experts as Sandra Day O'Connor, Alan Simpson, and Vernon Jordan?"

Krauthammer himself is an authority on lots and lots of subjects. (North Korea, Steroids,
Immigration Policy, Failings of our Judicial System, Education and Evolution, History, and of course Polygamy, among others)

And even though Condi Rice had absolutely no Middle East experience when she decided that "Osama determined to Strike in the U.S.' was "historical," I never heard Krauthammer complain about her qualifications.

Krauthammer seeks to make a mockery of the commission's report, calling it a "widely-agreed-upon farce" which "has invited ridicule. Seventy nine- recommendations" echoing his earlier crack that it's a  "mishmash of 79 (no less) recommendations." The truth is that if this administration itself were not such an incompetent "widely-agreed-upon farce", 79 recommendations would not have been required.  It's as if team W had asked MapQuest for directions from the White House to the Capitol, and MapQuest, knowing who was asking, felt the need to begin it's instructions:

1. Open Car Door
2. Get Into Car
3. Insert Key into Ignition
4. Check position of mirrors
5. Check to see if Safety Brake is engaged
6. etc.
7. etc.

Clearly, and correctly, the ISG had no faith in the Bush Administration.  Read the report. Some of the recommendations include:

• That the U.S. stop it's "systematic" underrreporting of  "the violence in Iraq  in order to suit the Bush administration's  policy goals." 
  
  • "The panel pointed to one day last July when

    U.S.

    officials reported 93 attacks or significant acts of violence. "Yet a careful review of the reports for that single day brought to light 1,100 acts of violence," it said.
• "RECOMMENDATION 49: The administration, in full consultation with the relevant committees of Congress, should assess the full future budgetary impact of the war in

  Iraq

  and its potential impact on the future readiness of the force, etc etc

• Metering should be implemented at both ends of the supply line. This step would immediately improve accountability in the oil sector.

A Final Question: If a committee chaired by a longtime friend of the Bush family feels the need to recommend that the adminstration stop lying, start figuirng out the cost of the war, and install some oil meters, which is the "farce?" the adminisitration or the Iraq Study Group?

Hint: you might see if you find any farce in George Bush's leaving the White House to visit Condi at State AND leaving it to visit his boys in the Pentagon - you see, W is seriously reconsidering changing his policy

Comments

[Rick]

“In fact most Americans know that if Israel did not exist, and no U.S. bases were in Arab countries, Osama bin-Laden would not have led attacks on the U.S.”

I’ll assume that you are tongue in cheek here, for this line of thought is so fundamentally flawed that effort to rebut is wasted. I know that you recall late winter 1991 when fellow Sunni Saddam Hussein, fearing Iraqis would collaborate with the Americans, advised his citizenry that they should avoid contact with them as they were cannibalistic. To believe that all would be hunky dory if Americans would leave the Middle East and Israel would just go away, requires one to accept the word of the murderous Bin Laden. There is no written evidence anywhere that Bin Laden ever mentioned Palestine prior to December, 2001 when he was pinned down in Eastern Afghanistan. I know that you regularly accuse folks whose opinion differs, of lying, but in the world of the jihadist there really is no 100% truth or lie. It is cultural relativism. Keep in mind now, that this is a culture where God gave his word to Mohammed via the Angel Gabriel. And this word includes the dictate that a woman must remove all her body hair below the head no less often than monthly. Personally, I always thought that a little odd. I’m not saying that I’m a fan of female body hair, but I thought that God would have bigger fish to fry.

The Iraq study group was doomed from the outset. Aside from the fact that the panel excludes the equally knowledgeable Laurie Beechum and Donnie Osmond, it is a group that agrees to agree at the beginning. Imagine, if you can, that you and I are in a group studying the situation in Iraq and one of our group says “let’s recommend that Israel give the Golan heights to Syria” and instead of us saying something like “what are you crazy?”….we say “sounds good”. I guess we can be thankful that they did not recommend giving southern Spain back to the Moors. Those lucky Spaniards!

Oh, and just as an aside, I think Condi Rice could kick Madeline Albright’s rear. Though Ms. Albright does show more cleavage, so she’s got that goin’ for her.

Cheerio.

[bbbustard]

"Our work targets world infidels. Our enemy is the crusader alliance led by America, Britain and Israel. It is a crusader-Jewish alliance."
— Osama bin Laden, from a TIME interview, 1998
http://www.time.com/time/covers/1101010924/wosama.html

ay 1997 - Bin Laden reaffirmed his call for a holy war against Americans. "The US Government has committed acts that are extremely unjust, hideous and criminal through its support of the Israeli occupation of Palestine"
http://www.adl.org/terrorism_america/bin_l_print.asp

Thanks a lot for your comment, but if bin-Laden had not spoken about the horrible injustice that he saw in Palestine by the time he was in his mid-40's - he'd have been unique in all of Saudi Arabia.

In Re Body Hair - I don't know, but I was taught that God works in mysterious ways.

I think your point about consensus worthwhile, and I agree that Donnie Osmond and Laurie Beechum are about as capable as George W. Bush at running the war. (I know you'll accuse me of being unfair: after all the first two have not already proven their incompetence.)

Finally, I'd be concerned that Condi could kick both of our butts with one hand tied behind her back - that woman is in shape!

[Rick]

I have never believed for one moment that Bin Laden is not a Jew hater. I suppose one could find the odd Saudi who is not. You could not possibly be more correct. He has always spewed anti Israeli rhetoric. The point that I make now, and in the past, is that Arabs do not give a rats rear end about Palestinians. His first embracing of the "plight of the poor Palestinians" in an attempt to "link" it to Al-Qaeda, was in a video made after the fall of Kabul. Al-Qaeda has never been anything about Palestinians. It is jihadism. If you can find earlier references I will adjust my thinking. But I have not been able to.

[Rick]

I do not believe there to be a horrible injustice in Palestine.