On media and politics. . .

Monday, May 31, 2004

Nattering Nabobs of Negativism In the New York times, today, William Safire wrote an opinion peace about positive prospects in the Iraq war. "Progress in Iraq" http://www.nytimes.com/2004/05/31/opinion/31SAFI.html. Safire certainly has a right to attempt to find hope in Iraq. The smears are less than helpful. I counted no less than seven references to critics of the war as gloomy gus, defeatist, etc., as if those who see anything wrong with the conduct of the war are somehow unworthy to speak. This is a transparent attempt to diminish critics and silence argument. It is far more divisive than the original criticism for it sets us up one against the other. As it did in the past when he authored, “Nattering nabobs of negativism..”, in reference to critics of the Vietnam war. I have noticed, mixed up into the the tough guy stance of conservatism, a strong tendency to demonize the opposition. This has historical precedence back to the McCarthy era. We may all be worried about terrorism, but I am not looking forward to a new round of recriminations over "Who lost Iraq". (In the early 50's, the battlecry of "Who lost China" was rhetoric that preceded the anti-communist witchhunts of that era.) Mel 12:06:58 PM    comment []

Thursday, May 27, 2004

On Bush's Abu Grhaib apology I was fortunate to have the following small letter to the editor published in  the "Weekly Standard"   It is a pretty easy leap to say that we are responsible for the morals of our own country and though we might attempt to force an occupied people to behave decently, ultimately we are not responsible for their character. Yet, I don't believe the Bush apologies were actually aimed at the Arab world. The Arab world seems passionately to hate us already and it is hard to believe the practices by American military jailers will more than marginally and temporarily inflame their passions. I believe ultimately that Bush's apologies were for American consumption, an attempt to convince America that we really are not this way and to allow everyone but a few unfortunates, directly in the line of fire, to keep their jobs. --Melvyn Polatchek 11:21:43 PM    comment []

Friday, May 21, 2004

Hell no, I won't go We now have the first publicized story of a soldier who, having served in combat in Iraq, has refused orders to return.  In a piece, today, by Bob Herbert of the New York Times, http://www.nytimes.com/2004/05/21/opinion/21HERB.html the story of Sgt. Camillo Mejia of the Florida National Guard who has refused orders  to return to Iraq after an initial 6 month  in  which “he led an infantry squad and saw plenty of action”.  The details are available via the link. I don’t wish to celebrate American reverses.  In retrospect, the debacle in Vietnam almost seems an abstraction.  Was it or was it not an essential battle in the larger cold war?  The cold war was won even though we lost in Vietnam. Yes, there was plenty of pain in our divisions, but the survival of our nation was not in doubt. Now, having attempted to conquer Iraq,  the stakes are far too high to fail…and yet we are.  If we do, the terrorists will come at us harder, more frequently ever deadlier. So, if this is the beginning of a new American peace movement, the pain is going to be much more difficult to bear than that from Vietnam. We must rid ourselves of George Bush. Mel 8:51:25 PM    comment []

On our common knowledge of history I spoke with a young woman, recently returned from service in Kuwait. She was commenting on a conversation she had with some high school students. She exclaimed, “They didn’t know what Normandy was, the invasion of Normandy and they’d never hear of it”.  A long time history buff, I added my chagrin that most people  seem to care so little for history. But then I got a more serious example. I was watching Fox news. They were discussing an upcoming film where Tom Selleck played Dwight Eisenhauer.  One of the commentators remarked that the character’s leadership reminded him of George bush.  I was shocked. This is an example of propaganda which could only succeed if viewers don’t know of the incredible leadership of the armies of different nations by Dwight Eisenhauer. A specific failure of Bush is that he can not work with other nations.   If we don’t have a common reference of history we are doomed to the manipulation of agenda driven politicians and their media flacks. Mel 8:44:25 AM    comment []

Thursday, May 20, 2004

Collateral Damage In the past couple of days, the American military, in pursuit of Iraqi insurgents, has been responsible for a significant number of civilian deaths. I refuse to believe that our military deliberately targets civilians, but we all bear the responsibility. The reason might be faulty intelligence, a computer malfunction or a command structure problem or that the enemy shields himself with innocents. The details don't matter much. These people are dead. We have to bear, not only these deaths on our conscience, but the enduring hatred of their familes. It is simply another indication that our government does not have the capacity to achieve its goal of bringing democracy to the middle east. They don't know how to do it. They never knew how to do it. They thought simply having superior weaponry was enough to allow them to conquer Iraq and rebuild it in their own image. They still think it. Some writers use the many and various coalition failures as proof that the effort in Iraq is coming apart, as if they expect to see helicopters withdrawing the last troops from Bagdhad as was seen in Vietnam in 1974. This will not happen under President Bush. The dying will continue as long as he is president. If he is reelected it is probable that he will escalate with more troops, but his administration and his military will still not have the knowledge to achieve its goals and will still seek to place the blame elsewhere. I don't know whether Kerry will know any more about how to achieve democracy in Iraq, or how to get out, or how to change the mission to an achievable one, but, if he is elected, he will know that the American people turned out a president who tried to conquer another nation and didn't know how and failed. If any of you would like to participate, here is the URL for the John Kerry for president campaign. http://www.johnkerry.com/ Mel 11:35:18 AM    comment []

Support Senator Warner The smarmy pictures of Abuse at Abu Ghraib prison in Iraq have givien rise to emotions from discouragement to outrage. Senator Warner, who is chairing the hearings into the abuse,  has been under political attack by those, like Senator Inhofe and Donald Rumsfeld, who wish to paper over the scandal. I have written to give my support. Like many Senators, he is reachable by email. Below are his Washington address, his office phone number and his email address. 225 RUSSELL SENATE OFFICE BUILDING WASHINGTON DC 20510 (202) 224-2023 Web Form: warner.senate.gov/contact/contactme.htm For your interest, A listing of contact info for all U.S. Senators http://www.senate.gov/general/contact_information/senators_cfm.cfm A short note offering your support would help to bolster his position. Mel 9:40:21 AM    comment []

Wednesday, May 19, 2004

After 51 years I participated in a mock election between, then, General Eisenhauer and Adlai Stevenson in 1951. This means I have been interested in politics and public affairs for more than 52 years.  Some might call me a political junkie. What started out as a hobby has become a cause. I have the hubris to give my opinions based on those 52 years of paying attention to the various news outlets. The world has changed so much. I recall rather innocently protesting the Vietnam war and explaining to the old folks that things were not nearly so simple and obvious as in the time of WWII. Now, I am the old folks, trying to grapple with the enormous complexities of yet another confusing war that is not going well. There are so many vital questions. Why are we in Iraq?  What are our objectives?  Can they be achieved, even partially?  What happens if we lose?  What is the nature of terrorism?  Is the United States equipped to survive terrorism’s war on us? Are we ignoring world-wide terrorism in this obsession with Iraq? I don’t have solutions. I might have a few proposals. I will grapple with these questions and more in future articles. I hope some of you will respond with your own views. Mel 2:42:17 PM    comment []