Maliki can't catch a break

Don't you just hate it when such a cute couple hits the skids? Just the other day they were so devoted. Then one of them is caught crawling into bed with Iran, probably out of retaliation for the other one arming those Sunni militants.(Here we should probably remind the first one that it has not been that long ago that their paramour didn't even know there was more than one kind of Muslim, and do they need to be reminded that they fell for a dumbass?)

As the curtain falls on their relationship, it is easy to grow wistful. It was just last November, when they appeared side by side in Jordan, having renewed their vows and aWol pledged his fidelity. Nuri Kamal al-Maliki was “the right guy for Iraq” aWol gushed back then.

That was then.

Now, the relationship is on the rocks, and aWol is moving away. By the close of business on Tuesday, there was a lot of daylight between aWol and his BFF Nuri. Speaking at a meeting of north American leaders in Canada, he admitted publicly to “a certain level of frustration" with Mr. Maliki's ability to move the political process forward, and chiding him with the admonition that "American support doesn't come with a blank check."

He is practicing that time-honored Republican tradition of "shifting the blame. " Facing stiff opposition on continuing the occupation of Iraq, both among Democrats and Republicans, he is starting the process of blaming the invaded and occupied for their miserable lot. ("We did all we could, but those ungrateful Iraqis just had no interest in doing anything for them selves!")

Bush made his remarks just hours after Ambassador Ryan Crocker in Baghdad called the political progress "extremely disappointing" and told reporters that stabilizing the country would require reconciliation among rival factions. "There's not a strong sense anywhere, really, of the central government being present and active in making conditions in Iraq better," Crocker said at a news briefing. "They've got to do more of that."Neither Bush not Crocker went as far as Carl Levin did when he called for the ouster of Maliki, but Bush did not offer his usual endorsement, either. Instead, when asked about Maliki's future as Prime Minister, he said "If the government doesn't respond to the demands of the people, they will replace the government."

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My thoughts on the nuttery of a liberal political mag ranking Texas A&M as the nation’s No. 1 university

I e-mailed both Kevin Drum, Political Animal’s blogger, and Washington Monthly editor Paul Glasris the following comments about WM’s annual college rankings, apropos Glastris’ explanatory note, the rankings listed here and blogged about here.

I said:

Why is ROTC rank used as a marker for service?

As someone who lives 20 miles down the road from College Station (for only one more month, thank doorknob, before it's back to my old newspaper company in Dallas), I can testify to the cult-like nature of the Aggies' 12th Man.

Besides that issue, and the related issue that ROTC as a marker favors conservative universities (which A&M is in spades) as a marker from a LIBERAL magazine (hello?), I think it's also arguable whether ROTC, versus the Peace Corps, is actually a service organization at all.

Why not, instead, rank universities on numbers of hours of community service required to graduate, or get admitted from high school, or something, to the degree such standards exist?

I saw that the same rankings had Virginia Military Institute No. 5 among liberal arts colleges. To what should be nobody’s surprise, and definitely isn’t mine, it’s No. 1 in ROTC.

Consider this applicable under "watching people who may be chosen in the future."

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The Janus of Brian Baird

Ugh. Brian Baird (D – WA Vancouver), as I’m sure you’ve read here, here, or maybe even here has had a change of heart, of sorts, over the continued U.S. occupation of Iraq. “We’re on the ground now. We have a responsibility to the Iraqi people and a strategic interest in making this work” he says, “People may be upset. I wish I didn’t have to say this.”

Well, I’m not so sure he does.

First, he basically calls for another Friedman Unit which will, so the story goes, bring about a miraculous change in the situation in the Middle East. Quite frankly, I’m tired of hearing it. Six months will not be enough to change anything in that country. It wasn’t true six months ago, it wasn’t true twelve months ago, and it wasn’t true eighteen months ago. What makes him think anything will be different now? As Blue Girl pointed out earlier today, the surge doesn’t seem to be having any significant effect on U.S. troop deaths for this summer relative to other summers during this occupation. The difference between the winter, spring, and summer months has been, largely, attributed to the increased difficulty of combat during 120 degree afternoons; when seasonal variables are controlled, the combat deaths are on a steady rise.

Second, he suggests that we’re making “real progress” in Iraq, and that the “consequences of pulling back precipitously would be potentially catastrophic for the Iraqi people themselves, to whom we have a tremendous responsibility.” Real progress? What’s that mean? How do you measure that? How do you know? Oh, the military told you? Well, I think the Brookings data casts a shadow of doubt on that claim. And anyway, as many people have noted, the military is all but powerless to end this conflict without the support of political progress. So, Rep. Baird, what political progress have you seen? The loss of the Sunni partners in the Iraqi governing coalition? The failure to pass a national oil law? Or is it the increasing balkanization of Iraq into ethno-religious enclaves? I’m not suggesting that, once we leave, it’ll be all gumdrops and lollipops for the Iraqis, but our presence just seems to be exacerbating the problem. I am sure there will be blood shed in Iraq once we leave, maybe even a surge of bloodshed, but our occupation is only putting off the inevitable. THIS IS WHAT HAPPENS WHEN YOU INVADE COUNTRIES AND DESTROY THEIR INSTITUTIONS.

Third, what was so awe inspiring about your trip to Baghdad, Rep. Baird? Did you really get down and dirty in Baghdad? Did you take coffee with shop keepers in some backwater market place and discuss the shining prospects of the new influx of FDI into the country? Did you really get to smell the people? Take them in? Let them cry on your shoulder? Or did you get led around by the nose by some military PR officer or a 20-something lackey from the State Department who introduced you to all kinds of Iraq translators who just love the American occupation? I’m sorry, but I’m just not convinced.

To Baird’s credit, though, I’m sure that he must really believe all this, because it certainly isn’t in his political best interest to reverse his position this way. Baird represents Washington’s 3rd district, which includes the cities of Olympia (very anti-war) and Vancouver, two cities (and counties) that tend to vote strongly democratic, and are (if the polling holds true) strongly anti-war. Of course, given our political institutions, Baird is unlikely to suffer for this policy position, as no Republican is going to beat him on the war issue, and no Democrat is likely to win the nomination from a pretty popular incumbent. However, in two weeks, I will be moving from Bellingham, WA, to Olympia, and Baird will be my new representative. You can rest assured that once I’ve got that new zip code attached to my voter registration card I’ll be sending a steady stream of e-mails and letters his way.

UPDATE: You should all check out Switzerblog's post on the trouble with moral clarity over at Evergreen Politics. He engages the the idea of our moral responsibilities in Iraq pretty well.

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The Package?

President Bush, today in Canada:

There's all kinds of speculation about the size of the package, this, that and the other.

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v2Impeach -- National Impeachment Day

When I got home this evening I felt an uncontrollable urge to eat a peach. I didn't know why. Then I watched v2impeach and I realized I had engaged in an act of civil disobedience. Sort of like sitting in the deans office. Before you watch todays funny, go to your refrigerator and grab a peach.

My peach was really good.



I know what you are thinking. Why didn't he post this yesterday so would could wear our peach colored ribbon while we ate our peach at work? Well, this generation of revolutionaries isn't very good with a calendar. This video was posted to YouTube today, August 21, 2007, by magnetmixerhands. Back in the 1960s we would have planned ahead. Kids today. What are you going to do?

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Perusing the updated Brookings report, 'Iraq Index'

The Brookings institute released their updated Iraq Index (.pdf alert) yesterday, and there is some data contained therein that puts the lie to the “Surge is working” meme.

For starters, violence isn’t really down, it has just relocated. While attacks in Ramadi and Anbar dropped from an average of 25 per day in 2006 to about 4 per day since the start of the troop buildup; violence is up sharply in Diyala. In 2006, Diyala ranked eighth among all provinces, but in 2007, the province ranks as the third deadliest, and over the last five months, attacks against American forces are up 70%.

Furthermore, as the chart below shows, it is a bit of statistical gymnastics to claim that deaths among American troops are down over the summer months, when the numbers do not lie…while the number of American fatalities is down slightly from the spring and the initial increase in troop strength; when compared to previous summers, the numbers are very grim, and show a sharp increase.

(The full month-by-month chart is available on page 18 of Iraq Index)

Meanwhile, in spite of the fact that the solution has to be at least 80% political, there has been no progress on the political benchmarks. The draft of an Oil Sharing Law was passed in February, but there has been no progress beyond that, and enough Sunni cabinet members have now withdrawn from the government that a quorum is no longer possible.

There has been no progress on the implication of new election laws, and the de-Baathification process has not advanced. There has been no progress toward national reconciliation. There has been no progress made toward bringing Shi’ite militias under control, and the concerns of Sunni lawmakers have not been given due consideration, which has precipitated the withdrawal of Sunni lawmakers from the cabinet.

All in all, there is simply not a lot of positive information to report, and what there is is offset by negative developments elsewhere.

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