Author: david

Never ask yourself, “What would I do in this situation?”

Reuters, 4/23/04 [A] U.S. general said on Thursday the rebels had “days not weeks” to turn in their heavy weapons…. Lieutenant-General James Conway, commander of the 1st Marine Expeditionary Force…said the weaponry handed over so far was unusable “junk.” Complete article This is totally outrageous. This is no time to be cutting corners on vital…

“Early Thursday, Marines launched a major assault on the village of Karma….” Complete article.

The Bush administration came into office with a grievance in foreign affairs: We’re not getting “ours.” We are acknowledged to be the world’s only superpower. So where are the fruits of arrogance, avarice, and venality to which we are now so abundantly entitled? Hence, unilateralism and preemption–and a new style of swift, lean, cost-effective, technologized,…

A spokesman for the Sunni Muslim assembly [said] the situation regarding the Italian hostages, who were armed when they were abducted, was different to those of the Japanese and other nationals who had been released…. “They are trained escorts of the coalition led by the Americans. In truth they are like soldiers, the same as…

-The interim authority that was fashioned by the US and the Iraq Governing Council was to be headed by a triumvirate (Shiite, Sunni, Kurdish) that could act only when unanimous. This was intended to head off leadership by the Shiite majority (i.e., democracy). -Ayatollah Sistani allowed Shiites on the Council to vote for the plan,…

If somebody had just given the White House the Gate Assignments and scheduled departure times of the 9/11 aircraft, they would definitely have kept a sharp eye out for action-plans that might have filtered up from subordinates. (OK. Now I’m sputtering.)

“There was not a time and place of an attack….” Let’s be fair. No one could have known to protect against hijacking at airports, before the planes even took off!

1. Until recently, the key assumption was that the number of jobs created between now and the election would determine the result. But the context was that, given the Republican edge on security and defense, only a very bad economic picture could turn the vote against them. With that security edge blunted, the Democrats’ advantage…

The National Academy of Sciences says we are currently in an ideal period for conducting experiments that test basic causal relationships. It is very common for a theory to maintain that a certain condition will produce the same effect with absolute consistency, “all other things being equal.” According to the Academy, all other things have…

Washington Post: “The latest round of tension began March 28, with the U.S. closure of Sadr’s al-Hawza newspaper….[which] had printed articles that U.S. officials deemed inflammatory.” –Good thing we nipped that in the bud.

(Greetings from a newcomer!) Back in the day, I wrote: The liberal committment: “If it is possible, it can be arranged.” The radical: “If it is necessary, it can be achieved.”