tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8746692.post7554970471259627504..comments2024-03-19T11:28:58.168-04:00Comments on History Unfolding: Iraq revisitedDavid Kaiserhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05020082243968071584noreply@blogger.comBlogger11125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8746692.post-67584055606613610182011-12-29T19:19:16.412-05:002011-12-29T19:19:16.412-05:00It is not only Republicans who have been undermini...It is not only Republicans who have been undermining the legacy of the Progressive era - the Progressives were for Americanizing the immigrants and integrating them into a unified nation. Is this true of Progressives today? As for the very Enlightenment idea of Reason - am I the only one who has taught at a University in the United States? Need I bring up the Sokol incident as just one reminder. If it only were just the Republicans, there would not be a problem.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8746692.post-86751293777637929762011-12-29T10:33:06.411-05:002011-12-29T10:33:06.411-05:00Petraeus Nearly Quit Over Afghan Drawdown, Book
Cl...<b>Petraeus Nearly Quit Over Afghan Drawdown, Book<br />Claims</b><br /><br />http://abcnews.go.com/Politics/wireStory/book-<br />petraeus-quit-afghan-drawdown-15251194<br />#.TvyIEM22zsIAnonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8746692.post-25478161987418967522011-12-28T14:36:38.465-05:002011-12-28T14:36:38.465-05:00Don't miss "We Meant Well" by Peter ...Don't miss "We Meant Well" by Peter Van Buren, a Foreign Service Officer who served in one of the Provincial Reconstruction Teams in Iraq. http://www.amazon.com/We-Meant-Well-American-Project/dp/0805094369David Reynoldshttps://www.blogger.com/profile/16527591670077374252noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8746692.post-70319725777910096502011-12-28T06:54:30.677-05:002011-12-28T06:54:30.677-05:00Re:Jerry Ford --
I agree that he is vastly underr...Re:Jerry Ford --<br /><br />I agree that he is vastly underrated. Perhaps, David, someday you will do an extensive post on your reasons for your perception.<br /><br />Obviously, folks focus on the Nixon pardon as a primary reason for Ford's eventual defeat by Jimmy Carter. I agree that it played a significant role, but it was not the only reason.<br /><br />Here are some issues that I think contributed to Ford's defeat:<br /><br />-- many people denigrated Ford's intelligence. When the word circulated that Nixon was going to nominate Ford, the dissing of Ford's intellect began. Some defenders of Ford retorted that Ford was a decent individual and such "a nice guy." Hubert Humphrey, for whom I briefly worked, said about Ford's niceness, "So's my Uncle Fred, but I wouldn't want him to be President." Ford was eventually confirmed overwhelmingly.<br /><br />-- some in the media portrayed Ford as a klutz, generally a totally unfair accusation. Jerry Ford was actually one of our most athletic Presidents, someone who had an exemplary career in college football at Michigan.<br /><br />-- when the debates with Carter occurred, I can remember watching the foreign policy debate with a then-insider on the NSC staff. Many of the Ford people felt, in advance of that debate, that Ford would clean Carter's clock. Then, when Ford uttered that unfortunate phrase about Poland not being under communist domination, my friend instantly slumped, almost like a deflating balloon.<br /><br />-- Lastly, I think Reagan's early challenge to Ford in the Republican primary weakened Ford going into the general election.<br /><br />So, I agree with your conclusion that Gerald Ford is a vastly underrated President of our era. Quite frankly, I also feel that Jimmy Carter, despite some of his shortcomings and mistakes, was better than he is portrayed by many observers today.<br /><br />--Bruce Postnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8746692.post-80673130188587201202011-12-27T23:03:55.617-05:002011-12-27T23:03:55.617-05:00Two further suggestions.
On the always-interestin...Two further suggestions.<br /><br />On the always-interesting City Journal website, Stefan Kanfer has a meaty retrospective on Walt Kelly, creator of the Pogo comic strip. <br /><br />I received as a gift a 2-volume edition of Bill Mauldin's Willy and Joe cartoons. It is one of the shames of the era that Mauldin died virtually un-noticed in the early '00s, when his take on combat was ignored from both the Right (too un-jingoistic) and the Left (too masculine).Publionhttp://www.chezodysseus.blogspot.comnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8746692.post-35338030464245436822011-12-27T21:14:19.204-05:002011-12-27T21:14:19.204-05:00Concur with the Post and with the Comments.
We ar...Concur with the Post and with the Comments.<br /><br />We are now committed to Go Out And Grab (GOAG) wars to somehow keep a place at the Great Table to compensate for our failures to maintain genuine Productivity (the Knowledge and Service Economy was a domestic dampdream pandering to assorted elite demographics and advocacies); we get to Grab juicy fresh assets, economic and/or strategically sited – this was part of the dampdream in Iraq and more successful in Libya (possessed of large oil reserves, 150 tons of gold in its Central Bank, and a nice site near the developing (or re-developing) resource-rich Eurasian trade routes (impervious to naval interdiction or interference).<br /> <br />All very Great Power and 19th century, except that we are no longer on the upswing as a major Power and the ‘natives’ have – as others here have noted – many of the latest weapons and gadgets (including one rather snazzy one of our own in the form of that super-drone). In this we are joined by other associate-victors of WW2 who have also blown their wad imitating our own economic frakkeries.<br /> <br />We are now approaching the problem faced by early 17th century Spain: having blown her New World wealth and desperately in need of fresh infusions of assets, she had to send out the remaining forces, yet those very military (mis-)adventures ate up most of what the forces managed to Grab.<br /> <br />It is also ominous that the erstwhile ‘liberal’ supporters of the National Nanny State fully support this new ‘humanitarian responsibility’ to ‘intervene’, providing a fine glossy pretext for GOAG. The well-tuned outrage at a putatively Viagra-crazed rapist soldiery deployed by the targeted sovereignty is an excellent example (and, in that scenario, did we originally sell them the Viagra?).<br /> <br />A holiday proposal as we approach New Year: watch the Marx Brothers’ “Duck Soup” again.Publionhttp://www.chezodysseus.blogspot.comnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8746692.post-32221259290502865102011-12-27T15:41:54.652-05:002011-12-27T15:41:54.652-05:00You might just enjoy this.
http://www.gwu.edu/~ns...You might just enjoy this.<br /><br />http://www.gwu.edu/~nsarchiv/NSAEBB/NSAEBB326/<br />print.htmAnonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8746692.post-47791920311581455812011-12-26T19:54:17.401-05:002011-12-26T19:54:17.401-05:00My memory of the leadup to the Iraq war is quite d...My memory of the leadup to the Iraq war is quite different from Dr. Kaiser's and the three comment writers. It seems to me that for months before there were constant articles in news magazines about Saddam Hussein's threatening behavior. He was a boil on the bum of the Middle East and every writer seemed to think somebody should do something about it. Even the New Yorker apologized afterward for encouragiong such an attack. We all just wanted another Gulf War. Quick and cheap.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8746692.post-20517192289498750512011-12-24T10:16:04.348-05:002011-12-24T10:16:04.348-05:00Thank you for the interesting blog today that real...Thank you for the interesting blog today that really does spark reflective appraisals of the last decades of change in the Middle East and elsewhere. Permit me my observations. Firstly, it is futile to evaluate the results in Iraq in terms of win and lose. The days of clear cut and everlasting outcomes are a remnant of our post WW 2 generation best reserved for a Sunday football game. Success now comes from a battle to a workable compromise. Secondly, the Middle East has been governed by clans for thousands of years and we are naive to think that this will change in the blink of an historical eye. Thirdly, whenever aid or benevolence is given it comes with a price - usually resentment. Assistance only reminds the receiver of his/her inferiority. Fourthly, never underestimate the power of change to bring about revolution. As I write this, Moscowvites are amassing in the streets to protest rigged elections with the formidable aid of the social media connections that I have blogged about in the past. The role of the occident is apparently alive and well. These are truly interesting times.<br />On a personal note, I send my best wishes for your holidays and the new year - KBO. Ray C NeillRay C Neillhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/02567094009178798587noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8746692.post-25830543308778021772011-12-24T07:45:59.829-05:002011-12-24T07:45:59.829-05:00Thanks for this helpful view of the past weeks in ...Thanks for this helpful view of the past weeks in Iraq. I do think you minimize the mistakes of the Bush administration.<br />First mistake: "pausing" the 2001 initiative in Afghanistan, when we were in hot puirsuit of Bin Laden, to await Northern Warlord participation;<br />Second mistake: Paul Bremmer's disbanding of the defeated Iraqi Army and consequent "de-Bathification" of Iraq's cadre of bureaucrats and officials who were essential to running thngs like energy, sewerage, courts, police, etc. Suddenly without pay or prospects, these outed officials became the leadership of insurgency and fomented chaos and Iranian-led IED bombings.<br />One should also consider the emotional and immature GW Bush as seeking revenge for Saddam's attempt to assassinate his father GWH Bush.<br /><br />Finally, the American people were traumatized by 9/11, and without mature leadership, were frightened into an orgy of revenge, thus sanctioning our greatest mistake since Vietnam.tructor manhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/18214448074424409144noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8746692.post-43154974493069511462011-12-23T23:03:18.226-05:002011-12-23T23:03:18.226-05:00This is a very good summary of the Bush administra...This is a very good summary of the Bush administration thinking, such as it was, on Iraq. I will add there there were some other possible motivations. Iraq has some of the largest remaining unexploited oil reserves in the world, and before the invasion it was French companies who had the contracts to do the exploiting. The whole extended war was also a bonanza for American war contractors, while I don't think this was sufficient reason in itself for the invasion it explains why so many DC insiders jumped on the bandwagon.<br /><br />The Iraq War is unique in a number of ways, but two of them are that we still have no idea for the actual reasons behind the invasion, we can only speculate, and second that the American public gained no discernible benefit from the war. American elites, particularly Washington elites, however made out like bandits with the oil contracts and other war contracts, as well as removing someone who was trying to hard to cut in on their action.<br /><br />So the war was a throwback in two senses. First it was a colonial adventure similar to several, including several launched by the U.S., in the nineteenth and early twentieth century. Second, it was an eighteenth century style cabinet war, a war fought by an aristocracy for its own ends, completely disconnected from the nation at large. They even used mercenaries! I don't think we will see a revival of nineteenth century colonialism, for one thing the share of world population in Europe and North America is considerably smaller now than it was then, and the west no longer has the incredible technological edge they gained in the century after the industrial revolution. But I do think we will bring back eighteenth century style wars as we are bringing back eighteenth century style aristocracy.Ednoreply@blogger.com