I Survived Blackwater - Janessa Gans, Los Angeles Times
When the Iraqi government last month demanded the expulsion of Blackwater USA, the private security firm, I had one reaction: It's about time.
As a U.S. official in Baghdad for nearly two years, I was frequently the "beneficiary" of Blackwater's over-the-top zeal. "Just pretend it's a roller coaster," I used to tell myself during trips through downtown Baghdad.
We would careen around corners, jump road dividers, reach speeds in excess of 100 mph and often cross over to the wrong side of the street, oncoming traffic be damned.
But much more appalling than the ride was the deleterious effect each movement through town had on the already beleaguered people of Iraq. I began to wonder whether my meetings, intended to further U.S. policy goals and improve the lives of Iraqis, were doing more harm than good. With our drivers honking at, cutting off, pelting with water bottles (a favorite tactic) and menacing with weapons anyone in their way, how many enemies were we creating? …
The Right to Survive – Ileana Ros-Lehtinen, National Review
The specter of the Islamic regime in Tehran arming itself with nuclear weapons has given many officials in Washington and elsewhere countless sleepless nights. To prevent that nightmare, the U.S. and the international community have placed increasing pressure on Iran to halt work on its rapidly expanding nuclear program.
Yet, incredibly, even as we struggle to prevent this doomsday scenario, the U.S. government continues to publicly affirm Iran’s assertion that it and every other country, regardless of their record, have an absolute, inalienable right to possess virtually the full array of facilities needed for that same weapons program.
This schizophrenic position sends a very dangerous message to Iran and other countries that the U.S. is not serious about shutting down their illegal nuclear-weapons programs, regardless of our bluster. How else can our statements that we recognize their right to do what they are doing, even as we try to stop it, be understood? …
Pakistan’s Tainted Election – Washington Post editorial
Gen. Pervez Musharraf will almost certainly succeed in orchestrating his "reelection" today as president of Pakistan -- but it will be an ugly victory. The national Parliament and provincial legislatures that will convene as an electoral college have little legitimacy, because they were chosen in rigged elections four years ago. In a genuine democratic election, Mr. Musharraf would have no chance of extending his eight years in power, which began with a military coup. Already tainted, the general's mandate will also be tenuous: Pakistan's Supreme Court ruled yesterday that the result cannot be certified until it rules on whether Mr. Musharraf is violating the constitution by entering the election without stepping down as Army commander in chief.
The good news is that Pakistan's autocratic but ineffectual leader will probably surrender a large share of power in the coming weeks. He has promised that if granted a new mandate as president, he will give up his military command -- something that may cause the Supreme Court to overlook the legal problems with his election. Yesterday he also, at last, struck a deal with one of the country's two principal secular political party leaders, former prime minister Benazir Bhutto. Under its terms, corruption charges against Ms. Bhutto and her husband will be dropped and she will be allowed to return to Pakistan this month. Her party hopes to win parliamentary elections due by early next year and return her as prime minister…
North Korea Mystery – Jim Hoagland, Washington Post
Two big questions hang over the new agreement to contain North Korea's nuclear weapons program at its current level -- whatever that level is.
Why has a secretive government addicted to power politics and flexing its military muscles abruptly turned to negotiations and peaceful compromise?
And why is North Korea doing the same?
The Bush administration, of course, cannot match Kim Jong Il's regime in paranoia, bellicosity and information control, although this White House seems at times to have been tempted to try. Other countries know next to nothing about Pyongyang's motivations, intentions or even its ability to carry out any agreement it makes…
Don't Blame China for Myanmar - Kerry Howley, Los Angeles Times
These are supposed to be humbling times for foreign policy analysts -- chaos in Iraq having made it harder to cast the United States as omnipotent, omniscient and self-actualizing. But judging by the reactions to the recent protests in Myanmar, also known as Burma, the commentariat hasn't stopped ascribing otherworldly powers to ambitious governments. It's just that they're choosing different governments.
The "shame and misery of the Burmese junta," claimed Christopher Hitchens in Slate, will endure just "as long as the embrace of China persists." Hitchens isn't the only pundit casting China as puppeteer to the junta. "China must use its 'special relationship' with the junta," explained Nobel Peace Prize winner Jody Williams in the Wall Street Journal, "to arrange the release of Ms. [Aung San] Suu Kyi and hundreds -- if not thousands -- of other political prisoners." Sen. John Kerry (D-Mass.) has expressed similar sentiments, and various human rights groups are calling for the United States and Europe to boycott the Summer Olympics in Beijing…
China Stands Guard for Rangoon Goons – Christopher Hitchens, The Australian
… I thought US President George W. Bush was quite correct in listing his least favourite regimes during his address to the UN last week and in trying to ramp up the international pressure on the goons in Rangoon. The governments that he singled out were the uniquely repellent ones that consider the citizen to be the property of the state and the uniquely boring ones that have remained in power until their citizens are positively screaming for release. I do not need to specify these senescent gangster systems individually, except that they all have one thing in common. They are all defended, from Cuba to Zimbabwe, by the Chinese vote at the UN.
Those who care or purport to care about human rights must start to discuss this problem in plain words.
Is there an initiative to save the unmassacred remains of the people of Darfur? It will be met by a Chinese veto.
Does anyone care about Zimbabwe's President Robert Mugabe treating his desperate population as if it belonged to him personally? China is always ready to help him out. Are the North Koreans starved and isolated so that a demented playboy can posture with nuclear weapons? Beijing will give the demented playboy a guarantee. How long can Southeast Asia bear the shame and misery of the Burmese junta? As long as the embrace of China persists…
Putin Cements His Grip – Masha Lipman, Washington Post
With Vladimir Putin's announcement this week that he would head the pro-Kremlin United Russia party in December's parliamentary elections, Russia's new power configuration began to take shape. Ultimately, it will mean the extension of Putin's authority and a triumph of manipulative politics. But as they have demonstrated, the Russian people won't mind.
The dynamic Putin has created, ensuring himself nearly absolute power, has one important flaw of his own making: Because his authority is much greater than what is spelled out formally in the constitution, and it his alone, there is no way for Putin to transfer his power after, as the constitution requires, he steps down when his second term ends. This is why Putin has to thoroughly control the transition -- lest Russia itself becomes unmanageable…
Questions About the India Deal, Finally – New York Times editorial
The Bush administration and the American business community have been hoping for a swift, rubber-stamp approval of their ill-conceived nuclear trade deal with India. Luckily, some members of Congress, and some American allies, are finally asking questions.
Congress was far too uncritical when it gave preliminary approval to the agreement in December. As a next step, Washington must get a change in rules from the Nuclear Suppliers Group, the main providers of so-called civilian nuclear technology around the world. All nuclear trade with India has been banned since it refused to sign the Nuclear Nonproliferation Treaty and tested nuclear weapons…
Matter of Interpretation – London Times leader
A two-month campaign by The Times on behalf of Iraqis who have risked their lives working as interpreters in and around Basra appears to be on the brink of resolution. Gordon Brown is expected to say on Monday that these brave individuals and their families will be allowed to move to this country or be offered assistance to resettle in their region, and Alistair Darling will address the (modest) cost implications a day later. The scheme would apply to all who have worked for the British Government for at least 12 months and operates retrospectively for those who once undertook these tasks but no longer do.
This is an extremely welcome development. It would have been much harder for the Army to operate properly in southern Iraq without the assistance of those who spoke the local language and who had local knowledge. There has already been evidence that they have been targeted by extremists, who have branded them collaborators. It would be entirely wrong for a reduction in the British military presence in Basra province to have been accompanied by an increase in the dangers faced by those who have served with distinction. Military commanders plainly felt that they had a duty of care to their employees. If Britain had not made any shift of policy, then the comparison with Denmark, which has granted asylum to 60 staff, and the US, which has declared that it will take in 7,000 Iraqis this year, would have been uncomfortable. It would also hardly have helped in acquiring similar recruits for the Army in the conflicts of the future…
Save the Gnostics - Nathaniel Deutsch, New York Times
The United States didn’t set out to eradicate the Mandeans, one of the oldest, smallest and least understood of the many minorities in Iraq. This extinction in the making has simply been another unfortunate and entirely unintended consequence of our invasion of Iraq — though that will be of little comfort to the Mandeans, whose 2,000-year-old culture is in grave danger of disappearing from the face of the earth.
The Mandeans are the only surviving Gnostics from antiquity, cousins of the people who produced the Nag Hammadi writings like the Gospel of Thomas, a work that sheds invaluable light on the many ways in which Jesus was perceived in the early Christian period. The Mandeans have their own language (Mandaic, a form of Aramaic close to the dialect of the Babylonian Talmud), an impressive body of literature, and a treasury of cultural and religious traditions amassed over two millennia of living in the southern marshes of present-day Iraq and Iran…
MoveOn Bullies Critics – Michelle Malkin, Washington Times
MoveOn.org, the left-wing extremists who bashed the commander of American forces in Iraq as a traitor, should get out of the political kitchen. The George Soros-funded hitmen can't stand even a bit of heat from mom-and-pop retailers who tried selling T-shirts and mugs on the Internet critical of the "General Betray Us" smear ads against Gen. David Petraeus.
I heard from one of the independent T-shirt sellers targeted by MoveOn.org last week. The seller is a lifelong Democrat and member of the military. Incensed by the attack on Gen. Petraeus, the retailer opened up a shop at online store CafePress. The homemade designs at the PoliStew Cafe (www.cafepress.com/polistew) were stark and simple: "Move Away from Move On" "MoveOn.org NoFriend to Dems." "Gen. Petraeus has done more for this country than MoveOn.org."
For daring to raise a voice and raise some money for the troops (all proceeds from the sale of his items go to the National Military Family Association charity), this T-shirt seller earned the wrath of MoveOn.org's lawyers. MoveOn.org chief operating officer Carrie Olson brought down the sledgehammer. She sent a cease-and-desist letter to CafePress demanding that PoliStew Cafe's items and other anti-MoveOn.org merchandise be removed from the store…
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