In a candid moment near the start of the Iraq War (pre-civil, civil or post-civil), then Secretary of State Colin Powell told President Bush exactly what the Iraq Study Group has now reminded him three years later. We broke Iraq and now we own the problem. We have been paying, of course, all along in lives and billions of dollars that might have served a useful purpose rather than taking more lives. Now encoded in mediaspeak as the “Pottery Barn rule,” the label sticks even though the commercial Pottery Barn does not have such a rule. The fact that the situation in Iraq is “grave and deteriorating,” as the Iraq Study Group bluntly states, shows that the current war and occupation have indeed gone to pot. Leave it to ten former politicians and continuing public personas to hash[ish] it out and exhume the failed policy for all to see. Continue reading Gone to Pottery Barn →

[Donald Rumsfeld, Secretary of Defence, left; Edwin M. Stanton, Secretary of War, right]

The recent resignation of Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld was so long overdue that it would be perverse to offer thanks to President Bush for accepting the obvious-beyond-belief relief of the event. There is hardly a negative adjective that has not been used to describe Rummy’s tenure at the Pentagon. Simply watching him sneer and jeer his way through a press conference, showing such uncompromising disdain for anyone who did not worship his version of the truth, explains how the Iraq debacle unraveled from the start.

It is tempting to compare Rumsfeld, as a close ally of the President, with Edwin M. Stanton, Lincoln’s irascible and controversial Secretary of War. As a Buchanan (not the modern-day conservative variety) Democrat who at first labeled Lincoln ” the original gorilla,” he later became a close confidante and supporter of President Lincoln, even though he did not always obey his commander-in-chief. Continue reading Rummy Cute →

Yesterday millions of Americans celebrated Thanksgiving, an annual food-stuffing ritual commemorating an event in 1621 when the Plymouth Rock Pilgrims hosted the native Wampanoags for a three-day feast to offer thanks for the survival aid given by these gracious hosts. Before long, the Wampanoags and most other indigenous groups encountered by the European illegal aliens of the time were devastated by disease and outright genocide to the point they had little to give thanks for. George Washington enshrined the idea of a national day of Thanksgiving and set November 26 as the mark. During America’s Civil War Abraham Lincoln proclaimed it a national holiday for the last Thursday in November. When a country is embroiled in a terrible family-gutting war, why not broil a bird and give thanks you are still alive? Continue reading Gobble, Gobble, Gobble: How Bad Can It Get? →

[President Bush Thursday in Billings, Montana, photo by Jason Reed, Reuters, left; President Bush speaking under a halo at the dedication of Oak Cliff Bible Fellowship’s Youth Education Center in Dallas, Texas, 10/29/03, photo by Charles Dharapak, AP, right.]

Recent polls from a number of news organizations and independent groups make it clear that the Bush administration’s dragged-out, coalition-of-the-once-upon-a-time-willing war in Iraq can best be labeled “Mission Botched.” A Newsweek poll from October 26-27 indicated that twice as many American adults think the current strategy is losing ground (60%) as opposed to making progress (29%) in Iraq. Recent polls also indicate that despite the White House election strategy of not straying (even if not calling it staying) from the course, public opinion is singing the blues even in the red states. The reasons for this dissatisfaction with the way in which the war has been waged now cross party lines. The liberal vs. conservative, cut-and-run vs. lobby-and-don’t-tell mantras are increasingly (and fortunately) falling on deafened ears.

Continue reading The Whistle Blower Stops Here →

[A few of Jesus Montalvo’s 12 brothers and sisters in Mayaguez say he used to phone home from Iraq, asking them to sing him plenas — Puerto Rican ballads. This Christmas, their brother won’t be here to accompany them on the pandereta drum and the cuatro guitar. Those pictured (from left) are: Segismundo Lopez Montalvo, Leo Montalvo, Olga Montalvo and Clarissa Montalvo.]

Listening to NPR “Morning Edition” on my morning drive to the university, I learned that the death toll of U.S. servicemen this month in Iraq has reached 100. It is hardly more tragic just because a round number is reached. But it does give pause to those ardent defenders of our failed involvement in Iraq that insist we “are not there yet.” What is the threshhold of “there” that would convince unflinching “stay the course” advocates even when just about every marker indicates it is the wrong course? Continue reading The Century Mark →