Obama vs Cheney, Beautiful Baghdad, Mideast Peace Plan

Paul Krugman
David Brooks
Jonathan Spyer
Dana Millbank

"The difference between Obama and Cheney-Bush on national security and foreign policy issues is simply put: it's the difference between a moderate and an extremist, the difference between a leader and a bully." - Joe Klein


Back to a more serious tone after yesterday's fun, click on the David Brooks article above, he makes an interesting point on the later years of the Bush administration, and below Joe Klein responds in Time's Swampland: "I would give Obama more credit than Brooks does: this President understands, in a way that Bush never did, that a new sort of enemy--stateless terrorists--requires new policies that must be ratified by the Congress. That is no small thing. His decision to stop the enhanced interrogation techniques still available to the CIA was a clean and dramatic break from Bush. It is true that this set of issues has proven far more difficult than candidate Obama anticipated (the availability of detailed intelligence on the individual cases at Guantanamo forces a more nuanced reaction), and it is also true that he is still working his way through the best ways to change the laws to accomodate this new reality. But the transparent act of making these issues and the factors influencing his decision-making public is both courageous domestically and crucial internationally. Unlike Bush and Cheney, who treated the American people as blithering idiots and--disgracefully--used terrorism to question the strength and patriotism of their opponents, Obama is betting that people will understand the complexity of these issues...

...In fact, the thrust of Obama's national security policy is dramatically different from Bush's. His emphasis on a comprehensive regional approach in Afghanistan and Pakistan is the opposite of Bush's feckless abandonment of this far more crucial fight in the war against Al Qaeda. His decision to engage Iran, his decision to push forward in the Middle East (including the demand that Israel stop building illegal settlements), his decision to participate in global climate change talks, his decision not to indulge in the disdain--manifested by Cheney yet again in his speech--for our European allies. These are all dramatic turns for the better."

We are supposed to be pulling troops out of Baghdad in June. The streets are safer than a few years ago, but there is violence daily. Bombings are still popular, 23 were killed today, 40 were killed yesterday when cars, garbage cans, or people with explosives strapped to themselves detonated in crowds. It's feared that once we leave, the police and army are so corrupt that the situation will devolve into chaos again. From the BBC: "Iraq's anti-corruption committee, leaked to the Western media, which reveals the magnitude of the problem facing the Iraqi government.
The report, which is a result of the committee's investigation into some 12,000 complaints of government corruption, says that that among the worst offenders are - in no particular order - the ministries of defence, interior, finance, education and health.
One of the cases, says a defence ministry official, involves tens of thousands of dollars made by illegally charging young recruits up to US $500 each to join the army.
"The report does not even scratch the surface of what goes on. Millions, billions of dollars are being stolen," says Alia Nusaif, an Iraqi MP and member of the parliamentary anti-corruption committee.
After she publicised evidence of corruption in the trade and defence ministries, Ms Nusaif says that both filed law suits against her. Iraq's Prime Minister Nuri Maliki has recently called on his government to declare a war on corruption. But Ms Nusaif says for her it has been a lonely battle.
"He made the same promises last year. The problem is that senior officials are never punished in Iraq," she said." Where is that paragon of virtue, Paul Bremer, when we need him now? At least he used cash when he bribed, shipped in over $1 billion in unmarked bills. When we leave their economy will take a nosedive along with their black market in arms and explosives. So perhaps the car bombs will stop after the American money to buy the explosives dries up?

President Obama's Mideast Peace Plan was leaked to Arab and Israeli news sources to get critical feedback before making any public announcements. The response has not been good, accusing Obama of being too naive, not thoroughly knowing the dynamics of the different parties involved, and will be doomed to failure. Jonathan Spyer has an interesting report in the Jerusalem Post, click on it at the top of this post: "Above and beyond the details, the plan revealed in Al-Quds al-Arabi fails to acknowledge the salient fact of current Middle East strategy: namely, the division of the region into an Islamist "resistance" bloc led by Iran, and a loose coalition of all those states opposed to this bloc.
There is a conspiracy theory according to which Obama, with Machiavellian cunning, knows that his plan is unworkable, and intends to use its failure to cast blame and accusation on Israel. Who knows? Perhaps evidence will yet emerge in support for this thesis.

It seems more likely, however, that the president remains enthralled by the sunny illusions of the peace process of the 1990s, and is about to give them another run around the block. He has four years to follow the well-trodden path from innocence to experience. The problem is that further afield, there are other, more urgent clocks ticking..."

Finally, Myanmar is holding the trial of Aung San Suu Kyi, for breaking house arrest by letting the crazy Ugly American into her house. She is charged of breaking house arrest and conspiring to make the government look bad. The government is mad because their soldiers had to go into the lake to arrest John Yettaw swimming away from her home, and they can't swim. Ms Kyi's lawyers responded that they really didn't have any problems because scum always floats on top of the water...: "Everyone is very angry with this wretched American," Kyi Win, one of Aung San Suu Kyi's lawyers, told reporters as the trial began.
"He is the cause of all these problems. He's a fool."

Late night jokes:

"I had the most frustrating night the other night. I watched the season finale of '24' with Nancy Pelosi. You know, she couldn't remember the first 23 hours. Didn't remember any of the torture -- none of it!" --Jay Leno

"Hey, President Obama has found a way to quickly close Guantanamo Bay. He's going to turn it into a Pontiac dealership." --Jay Leno

"Vice President Joe Biden is on a trip to Bosnia, Serbia, and Kosovo. The White House is calling it 'Operation Keep Biden Away From the Microphones.'" --Jay Leno

"And the price of gas, that keeps going up. I'll tell you how bad it is. Today, I saw Dick Cheney driving a Prius." --Jay Leno

"The economy is so bad, Bill Maher is going to church just for the free bread and wine." --Jay Leno

"And according to a Massachusetts educational official, 73 percent of the people who take the state elementary school teacher licensing test fail the math part. In my home state, Massachusetts, 73 percent of teachers taking the math test fail. That's almost half." --Jay Leno

"And according to a Rasmussen poll, when asked if English should be America's official language, 85 percent of the people said, 'Si.'" --Jay Leno

"Here's something to think about. A new study says that legalizing gay marriage in the state of Massachusetts has pumped an additional $111 million into the state's economy. Isn't that amazing? In fact, it's been so good for the state, you know Bunker Hill? Now renaming it Brokeback Mountain." --Jay Leno

"Both President Obama and Dick Cheney will give competing speeches tomorrow on national security and terrorism. It's kind of like 'American Idol' except one of them got voted off months ago." --Jimmy Fallon

"The Somali pirate on trial in Manhattan was indicted on 10 charges of piracy yesterday. His bail was set at 100 doubloons." --Jimmy Fallon