Antiwar.com Blog

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Poor old George Bush Jr. He’s got nothing left but straw men and circular logic to keep American soldiers in Iraq.

First he implies that his critics believe the “sophisticated propaganda” of the enemy terrorists that “our” presence is the cause of all Iraq’s problems – a case I’ve never heard made by anyone, American or otherwise.

Then he breaks out the trusty old sunk-cost routine:

“I’ve met too many wives and husbands who’ve lost their partner in life, too many children who’ll never see their mom or dad again. I owe it to them and to the families who still have loved ones in harm’s way, to ensure that their sacrifices are not in vain.”

Highfalutin emotional rhetoric aside, you don’t have to be David Henderson to see the mistake in the Great Decider’s reasoning. From the Skeptics Dictionary:

“When one makes a hopeless investment, one sometimes reasons: I can’t stop now, otherwise what I’ve invested so far will be lost. This is true, of course, but irrelevant to whether one should continue to invest in the project. Everything one has invested is lost regardless. If there is no hope for success in the future from the investment, then the fact that one has already lost a bundle should lead one to the conclusion that the rational thing to do is to withdraw from the project.

To continue to invest in a hopeless project is irrational. Such behavior may be a pathetic attempt to delay having to face the consequences of one’s poor judgment. The irrationality is a way to save face, to appear to be knowledgeable, when in fact one is acting like an idiot.”

Comments welcome at Stress.

Letter of the week comes from Zev Berkovich, who could be the next great warblogger:

Subject: You guys are crazy (and extremely misinformed)

Hi,

I’m sorry to say, but you guys don’t seem to understand anything about what’s going on in the Middle East.

Are you suggesting that Iran should be allowed to develop nuclear weapons? This is the same country that has used every weapon they have by passing them along to terrorists?

Iran is working on WEAPONS OF MASS DESTRUCTION. They are building nuclear bombs, WITH THE INTENTION OF BECOMING THE WORLD POWER.

THE IRANIAN PRESIDENT HAS STATED HIS INTENTIONS OF DESTROYING THE WESTERN WORLD.

THE PROBLEM WITH YOU PEACENIKS IS THAT YOU DON’T THINK ANYONE IS A PROBLEM UNTIL THEY KILL YOU. THEN YOU’RE DEAD AND CAN’T DO ANYTHING ABOUT IT.

IRAN IS BEING DEALT WITH BECAUSE THEY ARE A DANGER TO THE WORLD.

THEY WERE THE ORIGINAL NAZIS. AND THEY ARE A BIGGER THREAT THAN HITLER.

WE NEED TO DESTROY THEIR POWER AND TAKE OUT THEIR NUCLEAR WEAPONRY.

THIS WILL ALLOW YOUR OFFICES TO CONTINUE. OTHERWISE, YOU WILL BE DEAD.

This is a guy who knows that when the old rhetoric (Islamofascists) isn’t working, you don’t scale back – you escalate and capitalize (BIGGER THREAT THAN HITLER). It’s kind of confusing how the Iranians could be both the ORIGINAL NAZIS and worse than the Nazis, but I think it’s important to just let the words spill out of you onto the keyboard. He who hesitates is DEAD AND CAN’T DO ANYTHING ABOUT IT.

I’ve been watching for coverage of Muhammed Yunnus getting the Nobel Peace Prize – and am disappointed at the desultory results. But why should I be surprised? Yunnus isn’t glamorous or political particularly, just really smart, and really compassionate, and came up with an idea that has been making a difference in many very poor countries. As David Theroux head of the Independent Institute) writes below, his efforts have been great for the world’s poor by having provided a new paradigm, microcredit, whereby the truly, truly poor can begin to get ahead. David’s article follows:

THE LIGHTHOUSE
“Enlightening Ideas for Public Policy…”
Vol. 8, Issue 43; October 23, 2006

A GOOD CHOICE FOR THE NOBEL PEACE PRIZE — AND THE WORLD’S POOR

When Muhammad Yunus founded the Grameen Bank of Bangladesh thirty years ago, he had loftier goals in mind than winning the 2006 Nobel Peace Prize. He sought to alleviate poverty in poor countries by providing microcredit to small-scale, mom-and-pop entrepreneurs overlooked by traditional commercial banks, such as the family who needs a cow so they can sell milk, or the widow who needs a new loom for making textiles. By most accounts, his loan program has succeeded even where charitable giving and foreign aid have failed.

“The Nobel award to Yunus and Grameen Bank is a good occasion to reflect on the colossal error of judgment the rich have made about the poor and a reminder that enterprise, not aid, is the real answer to poverty,” writes Senior Fellow Alvaro Vargas Llosa, director of the Independent Institute’s Center on Global Prosperity, in his latest column for the Washington Post Writers Group.

The success of Yunus’s Grameen Bank (and similar efforts) can be greatly enhanced by cutting the bureaucratic red tape that hampers small-scale entrepreneurs in developing countries — as was suggested by the work of anthropologist William Mangin, who fifty years ago discovered bustling entrepreneurs in the shantytowns surrounding Lima, Peru. Writes Vargas Llosa: “I have been looking at case of entrepreneurial success around the world for the past year and the conclusion is overwhelming: The best way to fight poverty is to eliminate barriers that currently hold back private enterprise among the poor.”

“Lessons from the Poor,” by Alvaro Vargas Llosa (10/18/06)

“La lección de los pobres“

LIBERTY FOR LATIN AMERICA: How to Undo Five Hundred Years of State Oppression, by Alvaro Vargas Llosa

Center on Global Prosperity (Alvaro Vargas Llosa, director)

 

From my down-under pen-pal Tim Gillin over at Stress:

“The Australian opposition leader Kim Beazley has labeled Iraq, the worst foreign policy failure since Vietnam. Beazley, recently in the US, outlined a proposed withdrawal plan he calls ‘repositioning’. Beazley is generally considered to be ‘on the right’ of the Australian Labor Party (which is itself generally to the right of the UK Labour Party). Beazley has also been considered amongst the most pro-US of ALP leaders.

The Beazley position has come under fire by both the governing party in Australia and the Iraqi government. The government however now has an internal problem over Iraq with a senior Senator breaking ranks. During the actual invasion the government had serious criticism from conservative circles, including a former Liberal Party leader who described it as a war crime, but the criticism came from outside of parliament.

Australia’s military commitment to Iraq is largely symbolic but the polls show 2 out 3 Australians want the Australian force pulled out. All told however the issue probably does not rank high with voters and is unlikely to be an election winner or loser. Australia has troop deployments in Afghanistan, East Timor and the Solomon Islands. The Labor Party is not disputing those deployments and their leader Kim Beazley often describes the conflict on the Afghanistan/Pakistan border as ‘the real war on terrorism.’”

Newsday’s Walt Handelsman, aided by Roy Furchgott, has a wonderful animated cartoon featuring singing spies.  The cartoon is here.

This makes the National Security Agency wiretap issue so simple even a congressman might be able to get the point.  Perhaps congressmen will respond by merely adding an amendment to a “spying legalization” bill to prohibit the feds from tapping the phones of congressmen, their children, and their mistresses and/or personal pages.

Derisory comments on NSA etc. welcome at my blog here.            

[hat tip to Sheldon Richman]

Intrepid Washington reporter Robert Dreyfuss interviews Salah Mukhtar, who is “close” to the Iraq opposition. It’s clearly as bad or worse than you think.

Our choices seem to be:

1. Stay the course of installing the dictatorship of the Iran parties,
2. Switch sides back to Saddam’s Ba’athists,
3. Break the former country into three, “hardening” the soft regional borders (and leaving many stuck on the “wrong” side of them), or
4. Get out now and leave no more guilty than at present.

It has been three and a half years of this Tom Palmer-style, “we can’t leave until we make everything better” strategy, and everything has only gotten worse. It is for the people of that land to determine their future.

As for the pro-American quislings there, it is only fair that the government provide them all entry to the most pro-war American states. Or better, the houses of the War Party‘s highest members.

No more bullshit. This war, which America had no right to wage in the first place, is lost – has been lost.

All U.S. forces out of Iraq now!

Comments welcome over at Stress.