What Is Al Qaeda?

Peter Bergen is the author of "Holy War, Inc.: Inside the Secret World of Osama bin Laden" and a fellow at the New America Foundation. In a piece penned for the Washington Post, Bergen asserts that the best known terrorist outfit in the world has, "successfully turned itself from an organization into a mass movement -- one that has been energized by the war in Iraq."

Bergen's insight into the "dense web" that is known as Al Qaeda seems much more in touch with reality than the various pictures painted by the so-called "experts" employed by the Bush administration. Hopefully some of them read the Post, too.

City in Denial

At the time America remembers Martin Luther King, and anticipating Black History month in February, I want to recycle another piece that I wrote (this is fun!). It ran in STYLE Weekly in 2002.

“With payback being heaped upon payback, progress didn’t stand a chance. Now, every time a controversy that touches on race pops up the oh-so-familiar cries are heard: ‘Oh Gawd! Let’s hope this business dies down before it makes the national news.’ Like a dysfunctional family in denial, we don’t want the rest of the country to catch on that Richmond is still trapped in yesteryear’s snare.

“Well, take it from me dear reader -- they already know. Everybody knows. Even in other parts of Virginia they know Richmond is frozen in time when it comes to race.”

When Was the Bull's Eye Put on Baghdad?

In light of former-Treasury Secretary Paul O’Neill’s revelations this week about when the Bushies started planning to invade Iraq, I must take this opportunity to post an excerpt of an OpEd piece I wrote for Richmond.com at the beginning of the Bush reign:

“Foreign policy-wise, I'm not at all sure what Bush's European policy will be. But I've got a tip for Saddam Hussein: It's time to pack up the palace etchings and that mint-condition collection of Playboy magazines. This is a good time to stock up on those familiar essentials for sustained life in the deep-down deluxe bunker. You know the drill: potted meat, canned beer, plenty of batteries for the TV and boombox.

It won't surprise me if America's new president wastes little time in finding a compelling reason to lob something more than words toward Baghdad. My hunch is that mopping up that dangling bit of unfinished business is high on the Bush team's list of what-to-do ASAP.”

To read the rest of the piece click here.

Ted Rall's View

Read columist/cartoonist Ted Rall on Bush's search for those missing WMDs.

"Once again Bush and his top officials are responsible for an outrageous scandal whose monumental scale and grotesquely terrifying implications for our democracy make Watergate look like a fraternity prank. Yet the miscreants are getting away scot-free.

As usual.

The Bush Administration, reported The New York Times on January 8, "has quietly withdrawn from Iraq a 400-member military team whose job was to scour the country for military equipment. The step was described by some military officials as a sign that the administration might have lowered its sights and no longer expected to uncover the caches of chemical and biological weapons that the White House cited as a principal reason for going to war last March."

Reading His Lips

You say you like a conservative approach to money matters? You say you want to hold the line on taxes? Well, someone is listening. And, he's telling you what you want to hear, but...

"Rather than take responsibility for our common future, Bush has shifted costs to states and communities, who then pass them on to you."

Visit The Bush Tax to get a wider perspective on Bush's brand of fiscal conservatism.

Political Humor

Laugh enough during 2003? No political humor is not an oxymoron.

After all, in order to put up with all the guff politicians sling at us, don't a few laughs at their expense help? Visit the Political Humor site for plenty of jokes, satire, ‘toons, and lots of links.

No. 2 on the PH list of 10 dumbest quotes for 2003 is this tidbit: "As we know, there are known knowns; there are things we know we know. We also know there are known unknowns; that is to say we know there are some things we do not know. But there are also unknown unknowns — the ones we don't know we don't know." -- Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld

From their list of jokes about the capture of Saddam Hussein: "It was like Ground Hog Day. He popped out of a hole, and we got four more years of Bush." -- Bill Maher

From the Borowitz Report: "Just moments after former Vice President Al Gore endorsed former Vermont Governor Howard Dean for President in Harlem yesterday, the Supreme Court overturned his endorsement by a 5-4 margin.

The Character Myth

Writing for The Nation, Renana Brooks, a clinical psychologist who heads the Sommet Institute for the Study of Power and Persuasion in DeeCee, skillfully examines the use of language and image-making by the Bush administration. And she gives the Democrats some good advice: To counter Bush, they must present a different version of what a safe world should look like.

“Some Americans find a certain comfort in Bush's thoughts, because they feel that dominance implies moral order and establishes God's moral authority in the world. They believe there is a natural hierarchy in which those who enjoy dominance have the right to do so. Just as God has dominion over man and man has dominion over animals, the imagery of the moral order assumes a world in which people dominate those who are below them.”

Read Brooks’ excellent analysis.

Bloggers Changing the Rules of Politics

“They call themselves bloggers. Their mission: to remake political journalism and, quite possibly, democracy itself. The plan: to run an end around big media by becoming publishers on the Internet.”

Kathy Kiely examines the blogging phenomenon in USA Today.

Surprise in the Bowl

To end the year on a note that may give readers a pause to count their own blessings, according to an AP story, residents in Front Royal, Virginia are finding rats in their toilets.

Lyndon Flood described her dilemma: "Could you imagine having a rat in your toilet while you're getting ready to go to the bathroom?"

Be glad, very glad, you’re not in Front Royal as 2003 turns to 2004.

Sex and Scandal Replace Serious Reporting

Joel Connerly decries the media’s penchant for reporting scandal instead of pursuing stories of any real substance.

“CNN used to pride itself on international coverage: On Friday morning, however, I waited in vain to see reporting on the latest American military deaths in Iraq: Instead, viewers were treated to rebroadcasts of ABC's halftime interview with basketball star and rape defendant Kobe Bryant.”

Read the piece in the Seattle Post-Intelligencer.

Ironic Times

“From defying President Bush in the face of a massive military invasion, to living on the run with 200,000 American soldiers pursuing him, to interfering with a foul ball during a crucial Chicago Cubs-Florida Marlins playoff game, to finally being captured hiding in a hole not far from his birthplace in Iraq, it was quite a year for our Man of the Year, Saddam Hussein.”

Laugh at the news with Ironic Times.

What Is Al Qaeda?

Peter Bergen is the author of "Holy War, Inc.: Inside the Secret World of Osama bin Laden" and a fellow at the New America Foundation. In a piece penned for the Washington Post, Bergen asserts that the best known terrorist outfit in the world has, "successfully turned itself from an organization into a mass movement -- one that has been energized by the war in Iraq."

Bergen's insight into the "dense web" that is known as Al Qaeda seems much more in touch with reality than the various pictures painted by the so-called "experts" employed by the Bush administration. Hopefully some of them read the Post, too.

The Character Myth

Writing for The Nation, Renana Brooks, a clinical psychologist who heads the Sommet Institute for the Study of Power and Persuasion in DeeCee, skillfully examines the use of language and image-making by the Bush administration. And she gives the Democrats some good advice: To counter Bush, they must present a different version of what a safe world should look like.

“Some Americans find a certain comfort in Bush's thoughts, because they feel that dominance implies moral order and establishes God's moral authority in the world. They believe there is a natural hierarchy in which those who enjoy dominance have the right to do so. Just as God has dominion over man and man has dominion over animals, the imagery of the moral order assumes a world in which people dominate those who are below them.”

Read Brooks’ excellent analysis.

Clark Wants Openness in Trial of Saddam

On his way The Hague to testify in the war crimes trial of former Yugoslav President Slobodan Milosevic, Democratic presidential hopeful Wesley Clark called for a transparent trial of Saddam Hussein, who on Saturday was captured by U.S. forces in Iraq while literally hiding in a hole.

"[Retired-Gen. Clark] was to appear in closed session before the U.N. tribunal Monday and Tuesday, but at the insistence of the U.S. government publication of his testimony was being delayed until Friday to allow it to be reviewed and edited of comments deemed compromising to U.S. national security. As the former supreme commander of NATO, Clark led a 78-day bombing campaign in 1999 aimed at expelling Milosevic's Yugoslav forces involved in a bloody crackdown on ethnic Albanians in Kosovo.”

That Clark bothered to say anything seems interesting. But perhaps he knows more about Saddam than most of us. Clark may have more than an inkling of knowledge about what secrets Iraq's fallen dictator has in his head that would be embarrassing to the USA, were he to reveal them. After all, at one time he was an ally who received all sorts of weapons, and such, from Republican presidents in the past.

Clark may also be remembering another dictator, who was in a similar position in 1989, during the first Bush administration. Not much has been heard from Panama’s former strongman Manuel Noriega since his capture and extremely low profile trial. Isn’t he in jail, somewhere in Florida? Who knows?

Read the AP article.

The Character Myth

Writing for The Nation, Renana Brooks, a clinical psychologist who heads the Sommet Institute for the Study of Power and Persuasion in DeeCee, skillfully examines the use of language and image-making by the Bush administration. And she gives the Democrats some good advice: To counter Bush, they must present a different version of what a safe world should look like.

“Some Americans find a certain comfort in Bush's thoughts, because they feel that dominance implies moral order and establishes God's moral authority in the world. They believe there is a natural hierarchy in which those who enjoy dominance have the right to do so. Just as God has dominion over man and man has dominion over animals, the imagery of the moral order assumes a world in which people dominate those who are below them.”

Read Brooks’ excellent analysis.

The Three-State Solution

Writing for the New York Times, Leslie H. Gelb has a solution for the war in Iraq. That’s right, a solution. He says that Iraq is actually three countries that never belonged together, in the first place. They never chose to be married, so let’s give ‘em a divorce.

It makes way too much sense for me to think George Bush will see the wisdom in Gelb’s strategy. The Bushies don’t seem to be much interested in more than using Iraq to make fast money for their friends and holding onto power.

So, if Bush can’t/won’t use Gelb’s advice, I hope a smart Democrat like Wes Clark or Howard Dean will pick up on it: “The Three-State Solution.”

Here’s a sample of Gelb’s essay:

The only viable strategy, then, may be to correct the historical defect and move in stages toward a three-state solution: Kurds in the north, Sunnis in the center and Shiites in the south. Almost immediately, this would allow America to put most of its money and troops where they would do the most good quickly — with the Kurds and Shiites. The United States could extricate most of its forces from the so-called Sunni Triangle, north and west of Baghdad, largely freeing American forces from fighting a costly war they might not win. American officials could then wait for the troublesome and domineering Sunnis, without oil or oil revenues, to moderate their ambitions or suffer the consequences.

Get mad - and get even

In the Guaradian Unlimited writer Gary Younge addresses the "perception gap" the Bushies show, and he has some advice for his fellow Brits that Americans should consider as well.

"The difference between how Bush and his administration perceive the world and almost everybody else experiences it would be comic if the consequences were not so tragic. It is not the product of a misunderstanding but carefully crafted, willful ignorance. Once, when asked how he gets his information, Bush said: 'The best way to get the news is from objective sources. And the most objective sources I have are people on my staff.'"

Read the commentary by clicking here

A Display That Diminishes Us

Tony Horwitz gives us a glimpse of how America might look to those outside of the 9/11-obsessed USA.

"...The 'real America,' I've insisted a thousand or so times -- in Arab souks, in Russian villages, in Australian pubs, in letters to the editors of foreign papers -- isn't the mindless, jingoistic, Humvee caricature of a culture that's frequently presented in the foreign media, or in the crassest exports of Hollywood and Madison Avenue. It's a vibrant, varied, open and warm society. Come visit and you'll see for yourself!

"I still believe this, but few outside America will if we continue to present ourselves, in even the most innocuous settings, as a militarized and self-absorbed people who are in a state of perpetual siege [due to 9/11]."

Read the Washington Post OpEd piece.