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September 01, 2004

Quotes of Note

Paul Krugman:

Fred Kaplan of Slate is even more pessimistic. "This is a terribly grim thing to say," he wrote recently, "but there might be no solution to the problem of Iraq" -- no way to produce "a stable, secure, let alone democratic regime. And there's no way we can just pull out without plunging the country, the region and possibly beyond into still deeper disaster." Deeper disaster? Yes: People who worried about Ramadi are now worrying about Pakistan.

So what's the answer? Here's one thought: Much of U.S. policy in Iraq -- delaying elections, trying to come up with a formula that blocks simple majority rule, trying to install first Chalabi, then Allawi, as strongman -- can be seen as a persistent effort to avoid giving Grand Ayatollah Ali al-Sistani his natural dominant role. But recent events in Najaf have demonstrated both the cleric's awesome influence and the limits of U.S. power. Isn't it time to realize that we could do a lot worse than Sistani and give him pretty much whatever he wants?

Here's another thought. President Bush says the troubles in Iraq are the result of unanticipated "catastrophic success." But that catastrophe was predicted by many experts. Cordesman says their warnings were ignored because we have "the weakest and most ineffective National Security Council in postwar American history," giving control to "a small group of neoconservative ideologues" who "shaped a war without any realistic understanding or plans for shaping a peace."

Bush, who took a "winning the war on terror" bus tour just a few months ago, conceded Monday that "I don't think you can win" the war on terror. But he hasn't changed the national security adviser, nor has he dismissed even one of the ideologues who got us into this no-win situation. Rather than concede that he made mistakes, he's sticking with people who will, if they get the chance, lead us into two, three, many quagmires.

Harlem resident Ben Wilson:

NEW YORK, Aug. 31 -- Ben Wilson sat in his living room in Harlem late Monday and listened as former mayor Rudolph W. Giuliani talked of Sept. 11, 2001, and why the events of that day all but demanded that Americans vote for President Bush.

Wilson listened -- and clicked off his television. He had watched the first airplane crash into the World Trade Center. His son serves in Iraq with the Marines.

"Listen to me: A lot of us suffered that day," said Wilson, who is African American. "You tell me what Bush has done that gives him the right to come here and milk that attack for votes? Man, the Republicans annoy me."

Schwarzenegger:

And, ladies and gentlemen, if you believe that we must be fierce and relentless and terminate terrorism, then you are a Republican.

Now, there's another way you can tell you're a Republican. You have faith in free enterprise, faith in the resourcefulness of the American people and faith in the U.S. economy. And to those critics who are so pessimistic about our economy, I say: Don't be economic girlie-men.

Interestingly, Arnold said this, too:

And when Nelson Mandela smiled in election victory after all those years in prison, America celebrated, too.

Well, most of America anyway:

One former stance Cheney said he would not change was his 1986 vote against a nonbinding House resolution on Nelson Mandela. -Michael Finnegan, LA Times Jul 31, 2000

As a top Republican in the US House, Dick Cheney outdid the NRA in his opposition to gun control. He was an impassioned backer of aid to the Nicaraguan contras but declined to join a call for South Africa to free Nelson Mandela. -Michael Kranish, Boston Globe, p. A13 Jul 26, 2000

Posted by Mike at September 1, 2004 12:16 AM

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