VDH: "Critical Mass"

An excellent new piece by Hanson. Nobody is better at framing the larger picture.

"Quagmire" in Kosovo

Instapundit points out this noteworthy article in Canada's National Post. Seems that the UN's nation building, or ethnic-stablization, in Kosovo is a bit of a quagmire. Seems parts are more and more overun by organized crime, drug runners, racial cleansing, terrorist sympathizers (including Al-Qaeda). As a matter of fact,

"According to statistics collected by the UN criminal tribunal for the former Yugoslavia at The Hague, 1,192 Serbs have been killed, 1,303 kidnapped and 1,305 wounded in Kosovo this year."

So much for the UN's leadership. Now, back to your regular scheduled "quagmire" elsewhere.

The self-poisoning of open society

New Criterion's Notes and Comments (scroll down) has an interesting tidbit about a Polish philosopher I have never heard of, Leszek Kolakowski. They say that his magnum opus is a 3-volume treatise on communism, Main Currents of Marxism, and that he has only recently been honored with the Kluge award. But, what caught my attention is what the editor thought was Kolakowski's most profound theme is his most relevant insight to our time.

"But his deeper subject has been the insidious variety of human bondage: not just political tyranny but also the sundry metaphysical tyrannies with which mankind has striven mightily to perpetuate its enslavement even as it mouths the word 'freedom.' Of particular relevance to our own situation today is his analysis of 'The Self-Poisoning of the Open Society' (the title of an essay in his book Modernity on Endless Trial). Among the many dangers that threaten a pluralist society from within, Kolakowski notes, perhaps the most destructive is 'the weakening of the psychological preparedness to defend it.'"

The "self-poison of open society." Is this decadence? Certainly we are a decadent society. But to the point of impotency? Seems I've heard others (our Islamic critics for example) say this. And I have heard others who wondered whether the younger generations would ever be able to match the Greatest Generation's sacrifice and example of service. But I think Todd Beamer and the others on Flight 93 Pennsylvania have put that fear to rest.

Yet, something about this idea seems right. The most obvious place I see this is in (some of) the current anti-war crowd. Listening to them, it just doesn't seem like there is any justification for a defensive war, let alone a pre-emptive one. Appeals to preserving our (or their) way of life makes little impact. Part of the problem may be relativism in the name of "an open society." That is, as someone has said, the price of purity is a purist, so maybe those who imbibe to deeply on the virtues of open society, in the end, have trouble with defending it because it means excluding someone.

At any rate, I wonder what Kolakowski has to say.

Return of the Professors

Christian Science Monitor has a story about the return of Iraqi's educated people. They have dreams of returning Baghdad to the days it was the academic Mecca of the Middle East, '60's and '70's.

Hanson on Rumsfeld Biography

link

American military leaders: Progress in Iraq

Washington Post carries this helpful compilation of the military leaders' assessment of their progress against insurgents. It is good to hear their opitimism and some of the specifics they can share. Interestingly enough, one of them mentioned that the progress of July and August in winning the hearts and minds was stymied by a lack of funding in September, leading to an increase of the insurgents' attacks. Does that funding lapse coincide with Congress' slowness in approving Bush's funding request? I don't know.

Michael Crichton speech

This speech is a pleasant surprise, coming from one of the best-selling writers today. Surprising to see someone so popular take on the sacred cow of enviromentalism and to say so many thoughtful things, such as:

"Every one of us has a sense of the world, and we all know that this sense is in part given to us by what other people and society tell us; in part generated by our emotional state, which we project outward; and in part by our genuine perceptions of reality. In short, our struggle to determine what is true is the struggle to decide which of our perceptions are genuine, and which are false because they are handed down, or sold to us, or generated by our own hopes and fears. "

Iraqi leader speaks out

Zeyed, at Healing Iraq, brought this commentary to my attention. It's by the current president, Jalal Talabani, of the Iraqi Governing Council, and it's called "The Way Forward", and it confirms Bush's opitimism (best expressed in his two most recent, important speeches, see below) and counters a common view that Bush is rushing things too much. It expresses good things, like determination and responsibility:

"The defeat of the terrorists, however, must be largely an Iraqi endeavor. By taking up arms and routing the terrorists, Iraqis will own their new democracy--nobody will be able to say that it has been handed to them."

It also waves off the criticism that disbanding the Iraqi army was a mistake:

"Resurrecting the former Iraqi army is not an option. The Iraqi army had a record of internal repression and external aggression. L. Paul Bremer, the coalition's administrator, demonstrated great wisdom when he formally wound up the Iraqi army. Like the Allied decree in 1946 that dissolved Prussia, the edict abolishing the Iraqi army struck at the roots of the Arab nationalist militarism that plagued Iraq even before Saddam."

China Silk Route Today

Fascinating set of articles on the China silk route through an increasingly important part of the world, central Asia (Hat tip: The Argus).

Part 1: The Last Frontier: China's far West
Part 2: King of the Steppes
Part 3: In Pursuit of the Snow Leopard
Part 4: Touching Base
Part 5: A New Learning Experience

The Real History of Crusades

Thomas Madden offers a "History of Crusades", correcting the more cynical accounts. Professor Madden's approach is also delivered in light of Osama bin Laden (and others) contention that the West and the Crusades brought 9-11 on us.

Bush's Whitehall Palace Speech

Whitehall Palace Address

John Zvesper's piece is long but thoughtful. Well worth the time.

Wall Street Editorial

Be sure to check out Michael Novak's column on how Bush is generally always underestimated, but he also addresses the Whitehall speech in the context of his other great speeches. Novak's aim is draw out what makes Bush's speeches so powerful and important to us now. He has several more of Bush's speeches linked within the piece.

Like Novak, Peter Schramm broadens his reflections on Bush with this piece that compares Clinton's persona with Bush's character.

Richard Brookhiser's piece demonstrates how Bush's "common touch," most recently on display in his Thanksgiving visit to Iraq, is the best weapon against terrorism.

Afghanistan's progress to democracy

Noah Feldman, in the NY Times, offers his assessment of how things are going in Afghanistan, specifically, how they are making Isalmic state work with individual liberties. Some good things to report, some concerns. But, overall, it looks good.

Time for Apologies

Following Andrew Sullivan's lead, here is something too good to paraphrase or merely link to. From a brand new blogger in Iraq, with all his broken English eloquence, IRAQ THE MODEL's third blog:

YOU OWE US AN APOLOGY
I don’t know really know why Saddam’s regime lasted for over three decades, but I am sure as an Iraqi who survived that period that there’re no legal or moral justifications
for it to remain.
I was counting days and hours waiting to see an end to that regime, just like all those who suffered the cruelty of that brutal regime.
It’s been really a disgrace chasing the world ,the world of the 21st. century, reminding it how incapable it was to aid the oppressed and to sue those who dispised all the
values of humanity.
Through out these decades I lost trust in the world governments and international committees.
Terms like (human rights, democracy and liberty..etc.)became hallow and meaningless and those who keep repeating these words are liars..liars..liars.
I hated the U.N and the security council and Russia and France and Germany and the arab nations and the islamic conference.
I’ve hated George Gallawy and all those marched in the millionic demonstrations against the war .It is I who was oppressed and I don’t want any one to talk on behalf of me,
I, who was eager to see rockets falling on Saddam’s nest to set me free, and it is I who desired to die gentlemen, because it’s more merciful than humiliation as it puts an end
to my suffer, while humiliation lives with me reminding me every moment that I couldn’t defend myself against those who ill-treated me.
What hurt me more and kept my wound bleeding was that they gave Saddam a tribune so the skinner can talk, and offered him a diplomatic representation almost all-over the world to broadcast his filthy propaganda and sprinkle Iraq’s wealth on his supporters.
I really didn’t understand those countries demands to take away our misery. Did they really think that the sanctions were the cause?

We were not even human, Saddam wiped off our humanity , we were just numbers and a lot of Identity cards that we had to show wherever we went.
The Baath idea was this:
YOU’RE A CITIZEN , THEN YOU’RE A SUSPECT
Believe me , we were living in the” kingdom of horror”.
Please tell me how could the world that claims to be civilized let Saddam launch chemical weapons on his own un-armed people?
Shame..

Till when will the charts of human rights remain incompulsory , cancel them, because they remind you of your big disgrace.
Keep giving time and tribunes to regimes like those in Syria, Yemen, North Korea and Libya to justify their presence.
To me I don’t recognize your committees and I have no time to listen to that nonsense, I’ve got along way to walk building my country and helping my people forget the days of abasement.
You all owe the Iraqi people an apology.
What happened in Iraq was worse than the holocaust.

- posted by Omar @ 19:18

There are about 12 new Iraqi blogs, since the invasion. And, they are all extremely helpful and not a little inspiring to read and keep track of. Though, as Zeyed does today, they may have hard things to say. They are worth more than a whole boatload of reporters. My favorites are Zeyad's Healing Iraq and THE MESOPOTAMIAN. Check them out.

Rebuilding the Buddhas

Here is a link to the story regarding the attempt to rebuild the statues of Buddha destroyed by the Taliban in Afghanistan in the '90's.

News of Iraq

The recent invasion in Iraq provided many instances of why our sources of news do matter. For example, the sailors in the Royal Navy were reported to have given up on BBC as their main source of news of the war's progress: as I recall it being told, they turned BBC off with "disgust." Embedded reporters and war and Iraqi (recently) blogs provided some of the most immediate and unfiltered insights. In the big media, John Burns of the NY Times stood out during and now as a reliable source. Here he is a recent article offering his experience of the good and bad things going on in Iraq.

Paul Johnson: America as "Empire of Liberty"

British historian, Paul Johnson, here, makes the argument that America has, since 9-11, "reawakened" to its responsibility as an "empire of liberty" (a phrase borrowed from Jefferson--where?). America's foreign policy following WW II was tailored to address the Cold War (or as Eliot Cohen compelling puts it, WW III, below), so containment was the solution.

Now, America finds itself in a place of needing to become more active and involved for change around the world. And Johnson thinks this is the good that empire has to offer. As he recalls of Britain in his younger days,

When I was a boy in the 1930s, a quarter of the world on the map was colored red, that is, part of the British Empire and Commonwealth of Nations. It was a liberal empire and a democratic commonwealth, and its aim, as with America in the Philippines, was to prepare its components for self-government. There have been some outstanding successes: Canada, Newfoundland, New Zealand, Australia, Singapore, Hong Kong, and, most of all, India; with a billion inhabitants it has become the world's largest democracy.

It is singularly good timing that Johnson's piece should be published now, seeing how Bush signaled a reversal of the Cold War policy, in his National Endowment for Democracy speech last week (see below). There, Bush says many wonderful and powerful things, such as, this:

Sixty years of Western nations excusing and accommodating the lack of freedom in the Middle East did nothing to make us safe -- because in the long run, stability cannot be purchased at the expense of liberty.

UPDATE:

Here is yet another Johnson article on "Empire of Liberty." Is this the same article?

Arabian Islam and slavery

Daniel Pipe has a blog regarding the legalization of slavery in Arabia. He has a couple of interesting links as well. He quotes one Arabian Islamic leader as saying this surprising thing:

"Slavery is a part of Islam," he announced in a recent lecture. "Slavery is part of jihad, and jihad will remain as long there is Islam." He argued against the idea that slavery had ever been abolished, insulting those who espouse this view as "ignorant, not scholars. They are merely writers. Whoever says such things is an infidel."

Various world papers on Democracy in Iraq

Oxblog collects several links to papers taking sides on democracy in the Middle East.

Here are some German papers' reactions.

More Iraqi Bloggers

Two new bloggers from Baghdad. Worth checking out. Seems they're friends of Seyed ( Healing Iraq ). Each offer insights and perspectives that seem very authentic: authentic as Iraqis and as people. Below them is another Iraqi blog, but evidently, she has been around for a while.
Mesopotamian
Iraq at a Glance
Riverbend

2nd Anniversary of Iranian blogs

The father of Iranian blogs has a piece to mark the occasion of his writing up directions for publishing blogs for his countrymen. Besure to check out his articles (listed on the right, on his website) on blogging.

Bush on Freedom in Iraq and the Middle East

This speech at the National of Endowment for Democracy is a must read for any student of the Middle East today. It provides some context for Bush's foreign policy and the direction of the war on terror. He sees himself as Reagan saw himself 20 years ago in a speech at Westminister Palace, bearing witness to a turning point in history: the failure of the then threat to freedom and democracy (Soviet communism) because it had denied its people the dignity and creativie power of individual freedom. Reagan's moral advocacy helped to usher in a "great democratic movement" that spread throughout Europe and other parts of the world. Today, Bush wants to do the same for the Middle East. And the door is open in Iraq and Afghanistan.

UPDATE:
Christian D. Brose has a worthy caution to Bush's opitimism.

William Safire has some high praise for it. (Registration probably required.)

Fareed Zakaria calls it "Bush's Really Good Idea" (Be sure to check out some of his other provocative and good articles in his Archives.)

Daniel Pipe's commentary in the Jerusalem Post is titled: "Bush the Radical".

MORE:
British blogger, Oliver Kamm, in light of Bush's arrival in London tomorrow, gives his praise. He says that Bush has become the true progressive:

"George W. Bush comes to this country as head of state of the world's leading democracy and our most important ally. He is also the principal heir to a progressive tradition that regards political liberty as universal and that considers the first task of foreign policy to be to spread it rather than overlook its absence. He is accordingly a theorist, spokesman and figurehead for the ideals of the liberal Left; he merits the gratitude of those of us who would adhere to them."

Iraqi's future government

GENERAL
CPA has just released a poll on what the Iraqis are looking for in their future government.

ISLAMIC STATE
CNN article on the Shi'ite cleric who wants an Islamic Republic. More, Straits Times' article on Islam Republic. And, the BBC too. This looks pretty hot: a website dedicated to educate and advocate the restoration of the Islamic State (they talking about Islamic Empire). Of particular interest: What is the Islamic State?

DEMOCRACY
Iraqi Shia for Democracy at Iraqi Foundation.

Internet jihad?

This is all too new and strange to me to make sense. But, apparently, some servers have been "attacked"--I guess that is the right word--, and the origin of the attack is Malaysia. Several of my favorite blogs have been affected. See the this post at Winds of Change and follow the links there. Evidently, this is not the first time.

Reading lists on the Middle East

For more project ideas, check out Martin Kramer's reading list and Daniel Pipes's .

Debate on Bush's Pre-War Rhetoric

Here's what seems to be a serious attempt to cut through the political spin to get to some substantive answers about an important topic: did Bush in fact lie about the imminence of the threat from Iraq before our invasion. Some bloggers (Jonathan Schwarz and Sebastian Holsclaw) at Daniel Drezner's blog have picked this question up, and Drezner has agreed to referee. I'll list the links in order of the debate and Drezner follows up with his conclusions today sometime. I'll update things when it appears.

Part I: Sebastian Holsclaw
Part II: Jonathan Schwarz
Part III: Sebastian Holsclaw
Part IV: Jonathan Schwarz
Part V: Closing Arguments

Drezner's Ruling

UPDATE:
Meanwhile, Richard Perle says there is no doubt in US troop's minds: "You know, a lot of our guys in Iraq carry around pieces of the World Trade Center. The chattering classes are talking about the relationship between Saddam Hussein and 9/11. These guys are under no illusions. It’s all part of the same war."

Rebuilding Iraq vs. Germany/Japan

I have seen a lot of talk comparing the project of rebuilding Iraq with Germany and Japan, but here, finally, is an authortative report of the state of Germany after 7 months of occupation. The comments are Allen W. Dulles', then the head of the OSS (predecessor to CIA) in Bern, to the Council of Foreign Relations, December 1945.

The value of these comments are quite apparent, now. We never do appreciate the answers until we know the questions. Standing 50 years this side of Germany's rebuilding, it is easy to overlook just how difficult it was. As the Editor of FOREIGN AFFAIRS notes,

"Knowing how the story ended, it is difficult for us to escape the tyranny of hindsight and see those earlier cases as they appeared to contemporary observers -- in their full uncertainty, as history in the making rather than data to be mined for present-day polemics."

UPDATE
Also, this reprint of an article from LIFE (January 1946) "Americans are Losing the Victory in Europe," provides further historical observations of Europe after the War. Here is a gem quote:

"Never has American prestige in Europe been lower. People never tire of telling you of the ignorance and rowdy-ism of American troops, of out misunderstanding of European conditions. They say that the theft and sale of Army supplies by our troops is the basis of their black market. They blame us for the corruption and disorganization of UNRRA. They blame us for the fumbling timidity of our negotiations with the Soviet Union. They tell us that our mechanical de-nazification policy in Germany is producing results opposite to those we planned."

UPDATE:
In today's (20 October) Christian Science Monitor, Karl Zinzmeister has some good things to report.

The Internet and Voice of the People?

Check this out for substantial dicussion on the growing importance for government and corporate control of the Internet. There are several links leading on to other relevant papers as well.

UPDATED:
But how are blogs significant to the Middle East? Well, for one:

Jeff Jarvis is a big advocate of the power of the blog, particularly in the Middle Eastern countries yearning for freedom. He has championed the Iranian blogger Hoder (see Iran links on right) and is now encouraging a new Iraqi blogger, Zeyad and his blog Healing Iraq (see Iraq links on right). At a time when we are all increasingly aware that media sources matter, Jarvis claims that, in Zeyad's blog "You'll find reporting of a witness and a citizen that is beyond anything an outside reporter can possibly give you."

In a later blog, Jarvis reports that he introduced Hoder and Zeyad, in order that they might help each other share their stories to us. Jarvis ends his blog by quoting another blogger (Harry) to show the significance of blogs in the autocratic Middle Eastern countries: "We might shrug our shoulders at our ability to be able to instantly publish our thoughts but for people who have spent their lives living under dictatorships, media like weblogs truly are liberating."

I agree with Jarvis, this passage from one of Zeyad's blogs is quite remarkable:

"The following days were awful. The lawless and chaotic phase was next. I couldn't stand to go out and watch those ignorants stealing everything they could and literally destroying public buildings. What would the world think of us now? Some of the strangest things I witnessed, a pickup truck filled with school desks, the desks that their children use. A child dragging a Canon laser printer on the floor. Computers, hundreds of them loaded on carts pulled by donkeys. Police and army vehicles. And most important of all weapons, kalashnikovs, RPG's, hand grenades, stockpiles of ammunition. I wanted to bury my head in dirt. I hated myself for being an Iraqi, for sharing the same nationality with those strange people. I was deeply ashamed, watching this helplessly. People consciously destroying their own infrastructure, people setting fire to buildings we are proud of, stealing their history from museums, burning their public libraries. They are not Iraqis, they are aliens from Mars. I just couldn't take it. I cried, I admit it. I didn't know who to blame. I NEEDED someone to blame. I couldn't possibly blame the Americans, after all it isn't THEIR country, it's ours. We were the ones destroying ourselves. We are a self-destructive people. It only took me now to realize that. It wasn't Saddam that was the problem, it wasn't the Ba'ath, it wasn't the Ottoman empire, it wasn't the monarchy, it wasn't colonialism, it wasn't anything. It was us. We simply destroyed Iraq, and now we are sitting and wailing because the Americans aren't rebuilding it for us."

UPDATE
For a more particular listing of articles and such on the impact (hopeful and real) of blogs on the unraveling Iranian Revolution see Hoder's website (see his list on the right of his site). This piece is a good place to begin.

Radical Islam in Africa

An article in the Washington Post on the current exodus of radical Muslims moving to Africa.

UPDATE from Winds of Change on the Radical Flight to Africa.

Return of the Marsh Arab

Here is a story about the restoration of the Marsh Arabs to their ancient way of life. Something that from '91, Saddam Hussein prevented them from doing. It is a good article, sweeping quickly through their long history and giving a good overview of how these people have lived for millennia.

American Policy in Iraq--post-Gulf War I, before GW II

Useful and pertinent links to sites regarding Iraq policy here. Feel free to check back fairly often.

State Department's timeline of Iraq and UN's relation after Gulf War 1.
State Department's official texts on policy.

Muslims and Reform in America

A couple of helpful resources for learning about Muslims in America.

A transcript of a roundtable on the beginning of a Muslim reformation. Also, Daniel Pipes' review of Irshad Manji's groundbreaking work, The Trouble with Islam: A Wake-Up Call for Honesty and Change.

For more of a sociological view of Muslims in America, check out Daniel Pipes and Khalid Durán's study.

Terrorist Events of the past 30 years = WW IV?

Some (first Eliot Cohen and James Woolsey , echoed by Doug Saunders) have proposed that the war on terror is World War 4, and they point to 9-11 as the Pearl Harbor event of that war, or to terrorism in the 90's. Mudville Gazette has another take. Its chronology would suggest that the war is 30 years old, beginning with the terrorism launched on Israel, following the 6-day War.

If so, perhaps this too follows: that radical Palestinians' war against Israel is yet another expression of radical Islam's war against the West. Israel is, after all, the closest liberal democracy (ie, having an equality of sexes and some degree of secularized government) and capitalistic economy.

UPDATE:
Daniel Pipes adds his thoughts to the topic.

Rick Rescorla

Last week's 2-year anniversary of 9-11 brought this incredible story of a 9-11 hero back to my attention. I remember hearing about him shortly after the event, but it is only now that I have acquainted myself with it more thoroughly. It turns out that Rick Rescorla has a track record, an equally amazing one at that, from Vietnam. You can read his story either at Mudville Gazette (a blog with other links and with some moving replies from some of Rescorla's men and his wife) or at the New Yorker .