Friday Crab Blogging

A blast from the past. Been a slow week in the Bay.

Conventional Wisdom and the Dirty Trick of the Century

Conventional wisdom has it that the "surge" in Irak is "working." That is, the addition of over 30,000 American troops concentrated in regions of Baghdad has resulted in some decrease in violence. Certainly not all violence. There may be only 10 dead bodies found on the street instead of 20. Progress!!

The surge has been accompanied by an extreme regimen of life for the residents of these areas with invasion of the home space by soldiers, interrogations, etc., etc., etc. Not what one would ever call a normal life. I have not seen the opinions of the citizens of Irak concerning the surge. This is strange. After all, it is their cities, villages and land.

I make no mistake, our involvement in Irak will not end soon. I just saw a patient who is shipping out to Irak in the near future.

(On the other hand, when the British, who were experiencing 90% of the violence in Basra withdrew, the violence decreased by 90%. Damn Brits. They must be fixing the intelligence and the facts. Its that dodgey report again.)

The most important aspect of the situation isn't that the surge is working, it is what the Iraki definition of "working" is. The problem for the unfortunate people of Irak is not that they live under a dictatorship (though what's the difference?), it is that the invasion and occupation of their land by American forces has unleashed a Civil War. One can not imagine in any shape, way or form that people who have no control of their lives or their society will be able to go back to a situation that is placid. Our presence in Irak does nothing but increase the likelihood that the Civil War that does come after our exit will be even more cataclysmic than the present situation.

The dirty trick of the surge has created a situation where George W. Bush will simply say: "I tried to give the Iraki people a country and they refused to accept it. Therefore, its not my fault." We tried everything but the patient died, even though we did the operation without informed consent for a non existent disease.

Damn Idiot.

Another Planet - II

A Time to Kill, And a Time to Heal
In his job as an Israeli pediatrician, Yuval saves the lives of Palestinian children. But the father of three also takes Palestinian lives as an attack helicopter pilot patrolling Gaza.

Applying the "Switch" test:
In his job as a Palestinian pediatrician, Yuval saves the lives of Israeli children. But the father of three also takes Israeli lives as an attack helicopter pilot patrolling Jerusalem.

Another Planet

First we have, from the New York Times:

U.S. Scales Back Political Goals for Iraqi Unity

By STEVEN LEE MYERS and ALISSA J. RUBIN
Published: November 25, 2007
WASHINGTON, Nov. 24 — With American military successes outpacing political gains in Iraq, the Bush administration has lowered its expectation of quickly achieving major steps toward unifying the country, including passage of a long-stymied plan to share oil revenues and holding regional elections.

Instead, administration officials say they are focusing their immediate efforts on several more limited but achievable goals in the hope of convincing Iraqis, foreign governments and Americans that progress is being made toward the political breakthroughs that the military campaign of the past 10 months was supposed to promote.
........................
“If we can show progress outside of the security sector alone, that will go a long way to demonstrate that we are in fact on a sustainable path to stability in Iraq,” the senior official said, speaking on condition of anonymity. (emphasis added)

Then we have, from Juan Cole:

Friday, November 23, 2007
Dozens Killed in Bombings, Clashes
3 Mn. Iranian Pilgrims Expected
41% of Jihadis are Saudis

Guerrillas detonated a bomb in a Baghdad pet market on Friday morning at 9 am, killing at least 13 persons and wounding others.

Two important gunbattles were fought in Iraq on Thursday, one southwest of Baghdad and one in the volatile Diyala Province east of Baghdad. CNN alleges that Salafi Jihadis of the "Islamic State of Iraq" organization attacked members of the local tribal "Awakening Council" at Hor Rajab southwest of the capital, killing 15 and wounding 8, without apparently losing any dead themselves. Hor Rajab was the site of a massacre on October 7 of Sunni Arabs by invading Shiite Mahdi Army militiamen.

etc.

The Effect of War on Children

From Gorilla's Guides via The Liberal Avenger:

IRAQ: Children with serious illnesses abandoned
BAGHDAD, 21 November 2007 (IRIN) - Nine-year-old Faleh Muhammad was abandoned by his family in April 2006. He was left to fend for himself in the streets of Baghdad, and later he was diagnosed with leukaemia (picture above is not of this child.)
................
“The problem is even more serious among new-born babies and there are many cases of children aged 1-12 abandoned,” said Mayada Marouf, a spokesperson for KCA. “Most of them have a life-threatening disease and their families cannot afford treatment.”
................
Over 1.6 million children under the age of 12 have become homeless in Iraq, according to the country’s Ministry of Labour and Social Affairs. That’s almost 70 percent of the estimated 2.5 million Iraqis who are homeless inside the country.

Let me just add that a child who had leukemia diagnosed at a late stage has dramatically decreased chance of survival.

But, I forgot, Paris Hilton is out of rehab and engaged to Brittany Spears. And they are still looking for that missing white woman in the Caribbean.

Friday Crab Blogging (but no crabs today)

..............................................Giraffe

..............................................Hairy Cat

..............................................Me and Bobbie McGee

Random Pics (click to expand)

Smith Island, Chesapeake Bay - 1987

Yellowstone Park - 1991

Ville D'Este, Como - 1984

Hikers on Ayer's Rock - 1989

Sydney Opera House - 1989

Once upon a time, in a land far away, there was ice cream ....

Thanksgiving

Yes, I am thankful for family and friends. But the thanks that I feel is tempered with the grief for my Country and all the millions of people that have been injured or have died because of our arrogance.

Iraki Children - Again

(Updated below)

Just to remind you that we are still harming children in Irak,


for what reason absolutely no one, General Petraeus,

Dick Cheney,


Alberto Gonzales, Michael Mukasey,

or George Bush himself

knows.

They say that "we" are "winning" the "War in Iraq." The "we" does not include me, but does include Blackwater and Halliburton. No one, especially the aforementioned, can tell me what "winning" would mean. (It certainly wouldn't mean a stable, consensus driven, democratic, America friendly, central government in Iraq free of sectarian strife. Or free of American bases and a boondoogle Embassy.) And, there is no true "War in Iraq." There is a brutal, American, permanent occupation with an induced, sectarian, Civil War. It is a nightmare for the very Iraki people we supposedly "liberated." (I know, you are tired of my quotes.)

And that leads to this:



We destroy the children of a land at our own risk.

Update from here;

Child mortality in Iraq has spiralled because of the tense security situation, deteriorating health services and lack of medical supplies, say experts.

According to a report released in May 2007 by aid agency Save the Children, “Iraq’s child mortality rate has increased by a staggering 150 per cent since 1990, more than any other country.” (emphasis added)

Friday Crab Blogging

While no crab, there is what appears to be a flying fish. I didn't get to ask what it was. The big guy is a quarterback and, I assume, is handing off to a running back. Please note the cleats. I am convinced that no adult could ever come up with something like that.

I think the hotel is very interesting in that it has a person in every window. I guess that is Paris Hilton's dream.

Serbia Children

The irony of sadness; it just doesn't seem to let up. Once again the American media is in a feeding frenzy of self righteousness about the decrepit conditions for retarded children in Serbia. Yes, indeed it is dismal. But, of course, it pales in comparison to what America has done to the children of Irak. And then there is this:

Serbia's mistreatment of the mentally ill was exposed after autocratic President Slobodan Milosevic was overthrown in a popular revolt in 2000. During Milosevic's 11-year rule, health care standards plummeted as government funding was diverted to paying for the wars in Croatia, Bosnia and Kosovo.

Let us be very blunt about this, when you pay for wars, health care suffers.

Whether in Serbia, Irak, or America.

Letter

To the Editor:

There is a fine line between civilization and barbarism. We, as a country, have passed that line. I realize that I sound shrill stating this, but what else can one say when we have installed an Attorney General of the United States who will not condemn torture? I know that water boarding is torture. Every sane person knows that water boarding is torture. But the new Attorney General will not say that it is torture.

There can be only two explanations for this behavior, either one is disastrous. The first is that the man has trouble seeing what is real; that he lives in some alternative political universe where everything is negotiable and “up” can mean “down.” I am sorry, but we live in the real world. And in that real world, water boarding is torture. I do not want an Attorney General who is not anchored 100% in our Constitution. We’ve had enough of that already.

The second option is much more dangerous. That is, Mr. Mukasey pretends not to know that water boarding is torture because to admit that would leave the President of the United States open to criminal prosecution. Think about that for a while.

So, Citizens of the Eastern Shore, welcome to a country that has cast off one more vestige of civilization. Spend some time thinking how you will explain that we torture to your children. And think about what it feels like to drown.

Dr. C.

Iraki Children

Three days a week I am forced to watch the Today Show (I can't help it. If I am directly in front of a T.V. I have to watch it since I don't own a T.V. of my own and it is irresistibly seductive.) Today on Today they spent at least half the time talking about the most tabloid of events, domestic murders. They even had Geraldo Rivera. Sick. In the meantime:

According to UNICEF, about 50 percent of displaced Iraqis are children under 18 – amounting to over half a million children

Internally displaced people in Iraq

Northern provinces
800,900
Central provinces
740,500
Southern provinces
714,600
Total
2,256,000

Source: UNHCR (September 2007)

"We expect the situation to worsen. Winter is approaching and many displaced families are still without blankets and heaters. Children don’t have enough clothes to protect themselves." (emphasis added)

Let's see, that would be over a million internally displaced children (and a million externally displaced, but we don't mention that!)

A child who doesn't know where the next meal is coming from; where he or she will sleep at night; won't go to school and won't be able to play. In other words, the complete antithesis of the Rights of the Child. Oh, that would be the Convention that the United States has not ratified yet. Excuse me. (it would also be the Convention that Iraq ratified in 1994).

That would be these children:

Day to Day

It is just fascinating to me that we can carry on, day to day, and not be overwhelmed by what is happening to America, what is happening in Iraq and Afghanistan, and what is going to happen to the environment and the World. I am sure there is a school of psychology somewhere that had investigated this oblivion of the masses. The most fascinating thing, and it works out particularly at the individual level, is the recognition of a threat, but the innate belief that "it won't happen to me." Certainly the very wealthy in the United States (of which there are many) feel that their billions will shield them from any catastrophe. But the recent fires in California did not stop at a house and ask the annual income. Likewise, economic collapse, environmental collapse, or any other of preventable tragedy rarely spares anyone. The only exception might be Richard Cheney in his bunker. But then, who's he going to Vaderize if everyone else is a cinder?

No Friday Crab Blogging

This is too sad:

Fifty nine children dead in Afghan suicide attack
Published: Friday November 9, 2007
Afghanistan's education ministry said Friday that a suicide attack this week had killed 59 children and five teachers, taking the death toll to 75 in the deadliest such bombing in the insurgency-hit country.

And this:

But especially this who quotes from the Washington Post:

Which raises all sorts of secondary but fascinating political questions: What do the Democrats do if -- yes: if, if, if -- the surge appears to have succeeded? . . . Indeed, if Iraq somehow stabilizes and even incrementally improves, doesn't that affect the presidential campaign in important and unpredictable ways? . . . [T]he notion that Bush's patience really did save Iraq from unmitigated humanitarian and strategic catastrophe might be a powerful one. . . . (emphasis added)

Please note that the Washington Post while not the newspaper of record, is at least as influential as the New York Times. Here, in black and white, is the most preposterous statement that one can imagine. That George W. Bush rather than causing an "unmitigated humanitarian and strategic catastrophe," and there can not be one Iraki who does not believe that he or she is living through the most wretched catastrophe, is actually "saving" Irak?

America just lost it completely.

Whadda you going to do?

I am sure that most people, at some point, try to take the big view of things. That is, back off from the day to day and try to see where you are going. On the other hand, maybe most people don't. In any case, in spite of Godwin's Law, many bloggers continue to find similarity between the march to Fascism in Germany and what we are going through in the United States today (try Googling Hitler + Law). Then there are interesting tidbits like the review of a new work in the New York Review of Books on the life of the Emperor Augustus, and how the long Republic was converted into an Empire. I even alluded to the end of the Roman Empire in a recent post. Maybe it is a sign incipient change when we start grovelling in History.

So, let's go hog wild, since one can easily do so in Herodotus. There are more than enough risings and fallings in there to go about (even if most of us only know him from "The English Patient"). How about the magnificent Mughal Empire which is only 400 years past(I would direct you to "The Root and the Flower" by L.H. Myers for this one). The analogy I find most interesting at the moment is the pre WWI Empires of Britain and Germany. It has been years since I read Buddenbrooks, but its aura of middle class certainty that permeates the novel, the thought that they were the center of the Universe, resonates fairly strongly today, at least with a broad swath of American culture. Barbara Tuckman's "The Guns of August" followed by Doblin's "November 1918" bookend the War to End All Wars. Follow that with "The Black Obelisk" by Erich Maria Remarque and a course can be charted from high hubris (look in the mirror) to a nation of the destitute. No matter that the Germans rose again to suffer even more ignominious defeat, they still had a country that had not been levelled by nuclear weapons. I doubt we could say that would be our fate.

Finally, I would be remiss if I didn't mention "A Man Without Qualities" by Robert Musil. The whole thing (Vonnegut's grand fallon) is there if you can find it.

Friday Crab Blogging

In case you missed him, that's Dr. C. in the middle with the polydactaly.

Responsibility-III

In two previous posts we reviewed some candidates to accept responsibility for the tragedy that we have created in Irak:

Responsibility-I
Responsibility-II

We focused on different individuals or groups who might be responsible for this:



All told, I have only presented 31 out of over 800 photos I have collected since 2004 of children in Irak. Even a single case of a mutilated child should cast a pall over any person with a grain of humanity. Instead, we over and over justify this carnage as "collateral damage."

Bull shit. Just BULL SHIT. This is outright murder and will be seen as such by any sane world that emerges from the chaos we have created. (The possibility that we are on the fast track to creating an uninhabitable World making this emergence moot has certainly occurred to many of us. As for Americans being oblivious to it all, see the spirited comments of Arthur Silber.)

We came to the conclusion that WE, most of you and I, the "American People," are to blame for this (The Growlery, feels that the British may carry some responsibility too. See his Comment to Responsibility-II.) Now there comes the task of predicting how this will work out in the future; an impossible task at best.

First and foremost we Americans need to accept this awful mantle. We need to internalize the responsibility, be aware of the connection between our actions (or non-actions) and the maiming and death of children in that unfortunate land. It is not enough to say that "Well, I didn't vote for George W. Bush." No, it is not enough. Because when we learned that we had been lied to, we looked away. Because when we finally got it through our thick heads that it was all about oil, all about greed, all about MONEY, we looked away.

We learn nothing from History. Wilkie Collins, who wrote The Moonstone, one of the first modern mystery novels, also wrote an obscure novel called Antonina (1850). Not a good read but interesting in that it describes the final days of Rome in 476. One cannot help but be struck by the dissipation and indulgence of the citizens of Rome as compared to the barbarians at the gate. As sophisticated as the Romans were, the were unable to prevent the dissolution of their society. (Collins also has some pithy comments on how organized religion, in the Roman's case Christianity, plays into the farce.)

I am not for a moment suggesting that militant Islam is the barbarian at the gate of the new Roman Empire. But I am suggesting that our "American Civilization" is in internal crisis. In particular, there is a high degree of possibility that the economic system that has held it together is much more fragile than we could have imagined. It is, to my mind, inconceivable that the division of wealth can continue at its present pace; it is just not sustainable.

Is it possible for us to somehow stabilize and then expiate the responsibility for all the horror that we have created? Sadly, I doubt it. It would take a massive reorientation of American Society. It would require complete reversal of that trait of "Exceptionalism" that so drives us, inculcated from birth. It would take an honesty looking at ourselves that we have never displayed.

Maybe our children will do it:

Flower by Mikaela on 10/30/07.....

Friday Crab Blogging

Responsibility-II

I blogged on this issue last week. I had originally tried to create a video of pictures of Iraki children but, when I wasn't successful, just interspersed them in the text. For this first post see:

Responsibility-I

When nations are involved in serious events, as the United States is involved in Irak, it is incumbent upon the World to assess where the responsibility lies when things go terribly bad (even if things had gone well the invasion and occupation would still have been wrong.) That things are terribly bad in Irak is plainly obvious to everyone. The fact that over a month after General Petreus claimed that things were improving they are actually worse, with more civilian deaths, more bombing attacks, curfews in the major cities and exclusion of vehicles from Fallujah shows how distorted his claims were. As Bob Dylan famously said, "you don't need a weatherman to know which way the wind is blowing."

Please remember who we are talking about:




The first two pictures show physical pain. It is almost impossible for me to view these without cringing. But the third picture is worse. This child is expressing unalloyed grief. Question: Have you ever seen an American child display grief like this? Ever? I have not.

We considered some candidates for responsibility for this tragedy last time. We considered Saddam Hussein and the World/United Nations. While the first was certainly responsible for much death and misery, he was most certainly not responsible for the horror these children have experienced. Though, I am aware of the twisted logic that our leaders employ when the do say that someone like Hussein will "be responsible" if they "don't do what we demand," it is a rather specious logic. The World/United Nations is a little more culpable. But we will leave it at that.




Is the long list of American military men (and women) responsible for this child's distress? For these babies? Well, the situation gets very sticky at this point. While many of the children who have suffered in Irak have done so as the result of insurgent activity and suicide bombs, there are still many who have suffered as a result of that horrible euphemism, collateral damage.

Consider the Nuremberg trials mentioned last time. For the first time, senior military personnel were held responsibility for atrocities that were carried out by men in their command. This is incredibly important, this last point. While the actual perpetrators of horrors of that time, the soldiers and technicians who pulled the trigger or released the gas, were not usually prosecuted. (The horrors of WWII did not only occur in the death chambers or Auschwitz, but in many a village and town of the lands occupied by the Nazi Wehrmacht.)

This immediately inserts a quandary into establishing responsibility. Where do you establish the line when a military man is ordered to kill innocent civilians? This is no trivial matter. I have it from a personal source that Col Paul Tibbets has not to this day expressed remorse for piloting the Enola Gay that dropped the atomic bomb on Hiroshima. Not only was he "following orders" he was also far removed from the carnage that occurred. This inserts a second problem with inculpating the military, mechanical warfare. Consider the Israeli pilot who dropped cluster bombs on South Lebanon. In order to establish first hand responsibility we feel you should be administering death first hand, not destroying a life a month later from an unexploded ordinance. Yet, the child is dead. And someone is responsible.




What of our leaders? What of President George W. Bush? Donald Rumsfeld and Dick Cheney? What of Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama? Well, I think there is an awful lot of responsibility here. What is most frightening is that all of the just cited politicians appear to have no remorse. They do not grieve for these injured and dead children. They only talk incessantly of continuing the tragedy. Is Bush more responsible than Clinton? Only to a degree. While Bush willfully created the tragedy, Clinton, who was in a position to protest, did nothing. I am sorry, Senator Clinton, words mean absolutely nothing. Not one of these children that we have shown here is one iota better off for all your words. Did we want you to sacrifice your career to stop this horror? Absolutely. So now we know where you stand.





But, in the end, there is one more responsible party.

This has been labelled Bush's War. Do not believe this for a moment. This War belongs to every single American. But among these 300 million souls, it is we who know the real sorrow and who do nothing who bear the most responsibility. It is we who were raised believing that America was a democracy, governed by the People, that have let that reality slip from our grasp (if it was ever real) that should hang our collective heads. Someday (in the not too distant future) George W. Bush will retire to his ranch in Texas. Nothing will happen to him. He will live to be an old man and his daughters will give him grandchildren. They will live in luxury without a care in the world. Meantime: