Antiwar.com Blog

Arthur Silber reads David Brooks, and finds him saying the darnedest things:

Brooks then describes how “order” and “obedience” will save us individually, and society in general, from our own depravity. He also says:

“Iraq has revealed what human beings do without a strong order-imposing state.”

If the horrors of what we have done in Iraq were not so overwhelming, the ironies in that single sentence would be delicious. In one sense, I suppose this represents an improvement: it’s no longer simply that the “ungrateful” Iraqis are awful, and unable to appreciate the marvelous “gifts” we’ve bestowed on them. No, now it’s that all human beings are rotten. And I must admit I derive no small amount of enjoyment from seeing those who championed this criminal catastrophe – and who vilified everyone who opposed it as being “pro-Saddam” and “on the other side” – finally reduced to impliedly saying themselves that Iraq was better off with Saddam. (Many Iraqis have been saying this for some time.)

Read the rest.

TomDispatch brings you Roger Morris’ two-part history of Donald Rumsfeld: 1, 2.

The Secretary of State of the United States of America is shocked, angered and surprised that the Mahdi Army and Badr Corps milita men she hired won’t invade their own neighborhoods and kill themselves. From the AP:

Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice told Iraqi leaders Saturday that the Baghdad security operation needs to “rise above sectarianism” and noted that no U.S. or Iraqi forces have yet moved into the capital’s major Shiite militia stronghold, an Iraqi official said.

The official, who was familiar with the discussions, said Rice told Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki that the initial stage of the crackdown, which began Wednesday, appeared to focus on Sunni areas and had left Sadr City, stronghold of the Mahdi Army militia, nearly untouched.

The official spoke on condition of anonymity because he is not authorized to release the information to the media.

He said Rice stopped short of accusing the Iraqis of displaying pro-Shiite bias in the operation and said it appeared that the security crackdown was going well.

Top Sunni politicians have also complained that Sunni neighborhoods have been targeted for raids and searches while Sadr City and other Shiite militia hideouts have been spared.

How can these people continue to accept our money, weapons and training in good conscience?

It’s just not right!

Republicans: “If you Democrats are serious, vote to de-fund the ‘war’.”

Democrats: “You just want us to vote to de-fund the war. Well, we’ll
fix your butts – – – we’re not GOING to de-fund the war. In fact, we’re
not even going to propose a RESOLUTION to de-fund the war. Take that!”

Is Palestine a high school full of tantrum-throwing teenagers? I don’t know why I’m only now compelled to bitch about this odd situation wherein Israel will not stop sanctioning, roadblocking, kidnapping, squatting on, shooting, and bombing the Palestinians and their land unless Hamas — the radical Islamic group forged by Israeli hands, and which up until this week dominated the Palestinian Authority — recognizes the right of Israel to exist as an exclusive Jewish state. And now that Palestine has a unity government which includes Fatah and other, independent political figures, the US will continue to boycott the PA because it will still not recognize Israel.

One could easily say to the Palestinians: Why won’t you just recognize Israel and end the misery? But one could just as easily say the same to Israeli leaders: Why won’t you grow the hell up and stop caring what your mortal enemies think of you?

Flashback to 1996, Olympic Heights High School in Boca Raton, Florida: Marissa will never stop spreading rumors about Becky because she said she doesn’t like Marissa’s new nose. But Marissa, like, totally stole Becky’s boyfriend last year and they have hated each other ever since, anyhow, so like, why does Marissa even care what Becky thinks? Ugh, anywayyys-uh.

Israel: you’re supposed to be the sane, Western liberal democratic society, right? Act like it, not a spoiled brat.

Antiwar Radio: James Bamford

Award winning investigative reporter James Bamford discusses Bush and the NSA’s felonious warrantless wiretapping and the neoconservative agenda to drive this country to war with Iran.

MP3 here.

James Bamford was raised in Natick, Massachusetts, and spent three years in the Navy before attending law school in Boston on the G.I Bill. After graduation, intrigued by the machinations of the Watergate scandal, he gravitated toward journalism. However, rather than pursue a newspaper career he decided instead to write a book. That book was The Puzzle Palace: A Report on NSA, America’s Most Secret Agency. Published in 1982, it was the first book ever written about the National Security Agency and it became an immediate bestseller. It is now considered a classic. Bamford was first attracted to the subject of international espionage after reading The U-2 Affair by David Wise and Thomas B. Ross and The Secret War: The Story of International Espionage Since World War II by Sanche de Gramont.

While researching The Puzzle Palace, Bamford used the Freedom of Information Act to gain access to recently declassified NSA documents. Nevertheless, the NSA–notoriously obsessed with secrecy – threatened to prosecute Bamford for a breach of national security. Bamford’s research, however, was totally legal and the government eventually backed off. In fact, the government ended up using The Puzzle Palace as a textbook in its Defense Intelligence College. Bamford continues to champion congressional oversight and public scrutiny of the U.S. Intelligence Community.

Bamford spend nearly a decade as the Washington Investigative Producer for ABC’s World News Tonight with Peter Jennings where he won a number of journalism awards for his coverage national security issues. In 1997, as the media profession began turning away from international news coverage and focusing almost exclusively on Monica Lewinsky and other domestic political scandals, Bamford left ABC to work on a new full-length book about the NSA. This became Body of Secrets: Anatomy of the Ultra-Secret National Security Agency. Initially published in April 2001 to rave reviews, it also became a national bestseller.

Unlike before with The Puzzle Palace, this time the NSA cooperated with Bamford. Alarmed by Hollywood films like Enemy of the State that portrayed his agency as a ruthless cadre of assassins, the director of the NSA, Lt. Gen Michael V. Hayden, wanted the American public to have a more accurate picture of how the NSA functioned. In order to encourage better communication between the NSA and the press, Hayden granted Bamford unprecedented access to Crypto City (the NSA campus in Ft. Meade, MD), senior NSA officials, and thousands of NSA documents while he researched Body of Secrets. The NSA even hosted a book signing for Bamford on the grounds of Crypto City. It lasted more than four hours as hundreds of NSA employees lined up to have their copies of Body of Secrets autographed.

Bamford’s articles have appeared in dozens of publications, including cover stories for the New York Times Magazine, the Washington Post Magazine, and the Los Angeles Times Magazine. He is based in Washington, D.C. His next project deals with the intelligence aspects of the events of September 11.