personal political

heroes and martyrs

Cross-posted at LP.

On the car radio the other day, I caught a snatch of US Speaker Nancy Pelosi.

After five years of the war in Iraq and more than six in Afghanistan, the selflessness of our heroes continues to make us proud.

War extracts a terrible price. Just in the past three days, 12 more of our heroes have fallen in Iraq.

I couldn’t help being struck by the euphemism.

czech mate

Go Martina!

al gore?

News has a vote quiz up which purports to show who Australians would vote for if they had a vote in the 2008 US presidential election. (It's similar to the flawed quiz they ran during the Australian election.)

I, apparently, would go for Al Gore, who isn't even a candidate, with John Edwards as my runner-up. I was surprised, especially as yesterday I read this scathing indictment of the Bali 'roadmap' by George Monbiot, which was based on a scathing indictment of Al Gore. (At least, that's how I read it.)

Later: Not only is "my" candidate not in the race, but my second candidate is struggling to stay in the race.

torturous

Bush's nominated new Attorney-General Michael Mukasey has been approved by a US Senate vote. One senator who voted against him had this to say:

Last month I asked Judge Michael Mukasey, President’s Bush’s nominee to be Attorney General of the United States, what I thought was a straightforward question for the record: “Would you consider it inhumane to secure a detainee onto a flat surface and slowly pour water directly onto the detainee’s face or onto a towel covering the detainee’s face in a manner that induced a perception by the detainee that he was drowning?”

That question to Judge Mukasey should have prompted a simple answer of “yes.” But the Judge said that, while the tactic is “repugnant” to him, he could not say it was inhumane without evaluating the “facts and circumstances.” Judge Mukasey’s ambiguous response is more than deeply troubling, it sends a message – from the man nominated to head the Department of Justice – that abuses of detainees in U.S. custody may not have been categorically wrong, but that such acts might have been justified by the circumstances.

post 9/11

It was late at night here when the planes went into the Twin Towers. I was already asleep in bed (for which I am still grateful). So I didn't find out about '9/11' until the following morning - I was able to measure out the news to myself in installments small enough to cope with. It's ironic (to me) that all my memories of finding out about and reacting to the events are more American than Australian, in that it was a sunny morning.

I was due to take two year old Olle to a concert in the Opera House. We set out on a bus. My impression was that the mood among passengers was intensely grim and unusually silent. My little boy was chatting away to me - I couldn't tell if the woman facing me was annoyed by him or feeling moved by his innocence of events.

My immediate reaction on hearing the news, I remember, was fear that the US would take bloody revenge.

Here Todd Gitlin reviews Susan Faludi's new book about the US post 9/11.

Downing St memo II

A few weeks ago, on September 26, the Spanish daily newspaper El Pais published the transcript of a meeting between then Spanish Prime Minister José María Aznar and US President George W Bush in Texas on February 22, 2003 — a few weeks before the Coaliton of the Willing invaded Iraq.

The transcript makes clear that Bush had already decided to invade.

groceries

I was at the local grocer's buying some fruit and vegetables for dinner. The owner of the shop is a middle aged Greek man who once told me that he lives about 30km away, in middle suburbia. He put a bunch of green grapes on the scales - they were expensive.
"American" he said. "What do you think of America?"

dead in iraq

Andrew Vacevich had been going to come to the Sydney Writers Festival last month but cancelled when his son was killed in Iraq.

consolation

Take a deep breath and then read this piece about the money the US military pays to the families of civilians 'wrongfully' killed in Iraq and Afghanistan.

Take another deeply despondent breath and read another account of these claims and the money paid - and not paid, such as this:

Claimant filed a claim for $5,500 on 3 Sept. 2005.

Facts: Claimant alleges that a CF [coalition force] dropped a bomb in his orchard. The bomb allegedly did not explode upon impact. Claimant's son went to investigate and was killed when the UXO detonated. Claimant's cousin was seriously injured in the explosion. A couple of hours later, CF allegedly took the body and Claimant to LSA Anaconda for medical treatment. In support of their claims, the Claimants have offered witness statements, medical records from LSA Anaconda, and police and judicial reports.

Opinion: Under AR 27-20, paragraph 10-3, Claims arising "directly or indirectly" from combat sctivities of the US. Armed Forces are not payable. AR 27-20 defines combat activities as "Activities resulting directly or indirectly from action by the enemy, or by the U.S. Armed Forces engaged in armed conflict, or in immediate preparation for impending armed conflict." Here, an airstrike clearly constitutes combat activity. While unfortunate, this claim is precluded from compensation under the combat exception.

Recommendation: The claim is denied

no exit plan

There are people in Washington ... who never intend to withdraw military forces from Iraq and they're looking for 10, 20, 50 years in the future ... the reason that we went into Iraq was to establish a permanent military base in the Gulf region, and I have never heard any of our leaders say that they would commit themselves to the Iraqi people that 10 years from now there will be no military bases of the United States in Iraq. - former US President Jimmy Carter, Feb. 3, 2006