The Emerging Majority

First Hand Views

In Sunday's New York Times Week in Review section there was a remarkable piece by seven US soldiers completing fifteen month tours of Iraq. Entitled, The War as We Saw It, the soldiers write that they are amazed by the surrealistic nature of the current discussion of the US occupation of Iraq. Their bottomline is that wishing will not make it so, the US military is not going to "win" a counter-insurgency in Iraq. Their words...

Given the situation, it is important not to assess security from an American-centered perspective. The ability of, say, American observers to safely walk down the streets of formerly violent towns is not a resounding indicator of security. What matters is the experience of the local citizenry and the future of our counterinsurgency. When we take this view, we see that a vast majority of Iraqis feel increasingly insecure and view us as an occupation force that has failed to produce normalcy after four years and is increasingly unlikely to do so as we continue to arm each warring side.

Coupling our military strategy to an insistence that the Iraqis meet political benchmarks for reconciliation is also unhelpful. The morass in the government has fueled impatience and confusion while providing no semblance of security to average Iraqis. Leaders are far from arriving at a lasting political settlement. This should not be surprising, since a lasting political solution will not be possible while the military situation remains in constant flux.

It is hard to ignore the continued tinkering with Iraq by the US. One can hear the fingernails going down the Iraqi chalkboard as politicians, I am sure with the best of intentions, talk about carving up Iraq and soft partitions. While these and other proposals may solve the US's problem in Iraq, without some form of consensus from the Iraqis it is hard to see how our proposals could possible solve their problem. As of today, the Iraqi government of Maliki is teetering on the edge of collapse. They have alot of work to do on their part.

From invading with the former colonial occupier (UK) to proving you can only walk down streets with heavy armor (John McCain), the War in Iraq has just created another way from the US to be alienated from the world. And from the hopeful nature of what America should mean to the world.

Democratic Debate on This Week ... Iraq

There was actually a good discussion this morning of the various positions the Democratic candidates for President have on the Iraq war. It is clear that among the major candidates there is a difference of opinion. Clinton and Biden believe that we should be in Iraq (in some kind of non-combat role) for a significant period of time. Obama and Edwards have plans to end military involvement quickly and maintain a diplomatic presence in the country. Richardson and Kucinich believe in out now. The point made by John Edwards and Barack Obama that is very important is that the candidates on the Democratic side all recognize a failed policy when they see one. The Republicans continue to insist (with the exception of Ron Paul) that this policy can work with a tweak here and there.

It was a great discussion that could have used a few more minutes. Unfortunately Stephanopolous interrupted to ask a dopey question about a serious subject. God. I wish they had just told him it was inappropriate and moved on.

The ADL and Truth

There is a disheartening controversy this week in Massachusetts concerning the Anti-Defamation League and its position on the genocide of Armenians at the hand of the faltering Ottoman empire. The ADL is a sponsor, with other organizations, of the "No Place to Hate" program which tries to assist communities with outreach and education against bigotry in all its forms. The program has dozens of communities participating and more will join once the controversy is resolved.

The Armenian community has called out the ADL on its position that the slaughter of Armenians in 1915-1918 does not constitute a genocide. The ADL has gone so far as to oppose HR 106 which gives Congressional support to the characterization of genocide as genocide. The result has been one community, Watertown, MA, which has a large Armenian community, has pulled its support for the "No Place to Hate" program. In a response the New England ADL and its Director have rejected the national ADL position on Armenia. As a consequence the Director has been fired and local Board threatened with further consequence.

In a letter to the New England community the ADL states it curious position on the issue. While refusing to recognize the genocide the ADL does not dispute the historic record...in fact the ADL acknowledges, in its words, "ADL has acknowledged and never denied the massacres of hundreds of thousands of Armenians — and by some accounts more than one million — at the hands of the Ottoman Empire in 1915-1918." Yet it will not join many in clarifying the historic record for fear that the staunch ally of Israel and the US will be harmed by the recognition of the accepted term for the behavior of Turkey's predecessor country.

Ironically, the ADL is concerned with the potential mistreatment of Turkey's Jewish population by the official recognition of Turkey's mistreatment of its Armenian population. What does the ADL expect to gain from its denial of truth? It lessons the moral force of its work on behalf of the victims of racial and religious intolerance and only proves that the truth can be bullied if you hold enough hostages. The point of having organizations like the ADL is the acceptance of truth as truth. Certainly there are enough politicians and lobbyists willing to sell the truth for their silver. Let the ADL face facts and let's join together to fight ignorance and bigotry in all its forms.

Giuliana and Truth

There appears in today's New York Times a well researched article about the flap caused by Rudy Giuliana when

he declared that he had been in the ruins “as often, if not more” than the cleanup workers who logged hundreds of hours in the smoldering pile. Another time he brushed aside safety claims by asserting that his long hours at the site had left him susceptible to “every health consequence that people have suffered.”

I have also seen the story picked up by MSN, but I wonder how many other outlets will run the Times story and/or do their own research? Russ Buettner, in his Times piece, goes back through Rudy's records as mayor. After leaving aside the chaotic first week he decides that Rudy spent 29 hours over a three month period. Many first responders were working 12 hour shifts per day, for weeks at the site. There is no comparison.

I remember the whipping Al Gore took from the media during his campaign for minor misstatements. Giuliana's quotes are anything but minor, and he continues to repeat them. No wonder the Firefighters and others are so critical of his behavior. They are also willing to look at his time as Mayor for what it was...divisive, uneven and coming to a less than mediocre close prior to the events of September 11th.

It is no big surprise that the city did fine after he was term limited out of office. (Despite the ego play to stay around against the law.) How will truth fare as he tries for higher office?

Criminal Neglect

The Congress was stampeded (well have, half went blithely along with the latest outrageous request form the Bush Administration) into passing a new "foreign" surveillance bill (whose name is so hokey I won't even use it). The law allows the NSA to increase surveillance of communications without involving warrants or the sign off of the FISA court.

While the overwhelming majority of Democrats (181) voted against the bill the roll of those who voted for it looked like an assemblage of scared folks from marginal seats more worried about Republican jabs in 2008 than good government today. The only good part of this bill, passed without committee hearings, is that it expires after six months. But this just means that there will be another brutal debate at a date closer to the next election.

Why on earth would anyone want to give this administration MORE discretionary power at the same time they are ignoring the Congressional requests for information on legitimate threats to the democracy...dismissal of US Attorneys, Plamegate, Iraq bad intel?

Bad Weekend for the CIA...

Its Friday and we take some time to look at how arts, culture and popular culture affect our lives and minds. This weekend gives us by my count three new (or relatively new) and enjoyable ways to understand how secrecy has shaped our nation's place in the world and what it can mean for the individual.

Thursday nights this summer the new show, Burn Notice, plays on The USA Network. The premise is a CIA agent, Michael Westen,  played by the usually sinister Jeffrey Donovan is kicked out of the intelligence community for no apparent reason. This turn of events causes him to return to his childhood home of Miami and reunites him with a cast of characters that includes his mom (Sharon Gless), ex-Girlfriend (Gabrielle Anwar), and retired FBI buddy (Bruce Campbell). The shows slowly move the story of why he was blacklisted with a recurring theme of the little guy trying to avoid being crushed by the secretive security apparatus of the state. Last night's episode took a particularly sinister tone as the CIA agents sent to monitor his activities threaten his mother and trash her house. While taking a largely comic tone, the show does not present the nation's intelligence agencies in the best light.

Tonight is the premiere of the third installment of the excellent Bourne Trilogy, The Bourne Ultimatum, starring local fav Matt Damon. The reviews in the Boston Globe and NY Times have been excellent. The film looks at the fall-out from the CIA trying to cover-up the establishment of an elite assassination squad created counter to US law. While there are good and bad characters from the CIA, the theme is clear,,,the dark corners of secrecy hide the terror. Those corners make our nation less like our vision of ourselves and more like the folks we are supposed to be defending ourselves against.

That is the theme of The Company, a three part mini-series premiering Sunday night on TNT. Based on the excellent epic novel by Robert Littell, the book follows the history of the CIA from the early 50's until the collapse of the Soviet Union. Littell pulls no punches depicting the high and lows of US intelligence. I have no idea how faithful an adaptation the TNT series is, but it is worthwhile watching and hopefully more people will read the book. Littell is successful in weaving real life spies like Angelton and Bissell in with his characters. Like LeCarre, Littell is not afraid to show the moral ambiguity of what occurs in the name of liberty and freedom and the price we pay as trade truth for the false security of covert action.

This week marks the 60 years since Truman signed the National Security Act of 1947 into law allowing for the creation of the CIA in September 1947. Happy birthday to The Company in Langley. And thanks to those folks working in popular culture who keep us in mind of the betrayals of our ideals in all four corners of the Globe and to those active in government and the intelligence community who understand that America needs to lead the world through example, diplomacy and democracy.