The Wall Street Journal carries a front page story today, headlined "Marines Do It All In One Iraqi City; Now They're Going." The story is about the 1,000 Marines in Karbala who "were involved in everything from painting schools to training a new local police force." They're now going home and are supposed to be replaced by a Bulgarian force. Unfortunately, the Bulgarians thought they were there to provide security, not run a city. "It's impossible to do everything they have done," the article quotes the Bulgarian chief, Col. Panayotov, as saying.
"The confusion in Karbala reflects a problem across Iraq that has suddenly become deeply serious. The U.S. urgently needs other countries to send more troops to Iraq. The demands of providing security and management while rebuilding Iraq have not only strained U.S. troops but also given potential relief troops second thoughts about how big a role they should play. Now, this week's bombing of the United Nations headquarters in Baghdad, which capped off two weeks of increasingly sophisticated bombings around Iraq, has raised new questions about America's ability to keep order."
The Marines were supposed to be replaced by an American civilian governor and a complete team of foreign civilian administrators, but they haven't shown.
"'It's important that a Coalition Provisional Authority government team be in place and act as the lead agent,' Col. Lopez [the Marine commander] said. 'If the CPA does what it's supposed to do, then the Poles and the Bulgarians will be fine.'
"Marine officers are convinced, however, that with Baghdad and the Sunni areas of Iraq in such turmoil, coalition authorities in Baghdad are unlikely to address the power vacuum in the south anytime soon. Religious, tribal and political fissures could widen unless there's a strong coalition presence in local affairs for months to come, these officers say, and public corruption, barely contained by U.S. oversight, could well blister to the surface."
Now, I don't have the faintest clue as to how Iraqi reconstruction is really going. Is, as many on the right claim, the press exaggerating the negative and ignoring the positive? I don't know. But it is awfully clear that decisions that should have been worked out before the invasion, at least schematically, were not made and are now being made on the fly.
Apparently things didn't go too well at the UN yesterday, either. The Times goes easy on this one. I read elsewhere that UN members were livid that Powell refloated the same resolution they'd shot down weeks ago; specifically he invoked the memory of those killed in the UN bombing as impetus for UN nations to send more troops under sole command of U.S. authorities. That did not sit well.
Also in Talking Points, Josh Marshall points infuriatedly at the administration's habit by which "failure of the policy becomes the justification for the policy." It's time to start thinking anew, Marshall says, but the ideologues in the administration have had the same fixations for 15 years.
The roadmap for piece in Israel and the occupied territories is in shreds. But as with so many Bush initiatives that sound good being announced in the Rose Garden, it then wafts away like smoke due to the administration's ADD. I won't go so far as to say the administration has any responsibility for the horrors there this week, but Bush's disengagement has not helped matters, nor has he provided any support for Abbas who's pretty much finished now. Powell's talking to Arafat, a guy whose very existence Bush has refused to acknowledge.
Speaking of talks, isn't it ironic that the Bush administration is about to enter into negotiations with another national leader who is the beneficiary of a family dynasty and lacks a firm grasp on reality? Fred Kaplan in Slate has a good view of the North Korean situation.
Slate's pretty good today. The sharp-witted Dahlia Lithwick has this piece on the demagogue in Alabama (for a story on a much more important -- though completely unreported -- issue being debated in Alabama, go here).
And Chatterbox has a subdued, thoughtful debate on whether or not the GOP is attempting to subvert democracy. Actually, I'd go further and also include Grover Norquist and his efforts to destroy politically any expression of moderation among Republicans. Another example is the millions they're pouring in to Daschle's home state to get him out of the Senate. Okay, okay, those aren't actually subversions of democracy. But they are indications that the right has only one goal -- attaining and retaining power.
Retaining is tough though. Hmmm.
Why am I not surprised that the feds now want to link non-violent drug offenders with terrorism?
*****
Apropos of nothing, Neil Young is up to interesting things.
Another bright spot -- "number 55, Hidecki Matsui, number 55."
"The confusion in Karbala reflects a problem across Iraq that has suddenly become deeply serious. The U.S. urgently needs other countries to send more troops to Iraq. The demands of providing security and management while rebuilding Iraq have not only strained U.S. troops but also given potential relief troops second thoughts about how big a role they should play. Now, this week's bombing of the United Nations headquarters in Baghdad, which capped off two weeks of increasingly sophisticated bombings around Iraq, has raised new questions about America's ability to keep order."
The Marines were supposed to be replaced by an American civilian governor and a complete team of foreign civilian administrators, but they haven't shown.
"'It's important that a Coalition Provisional Authority government team be in place and act as the lead agent,' Col. Lopez [the Marine commander] said. 'If the CPA does what it's supposed to do, then the Poles and the Bulgarians will be fine.'
"Marine officers are convinced, however, that with Baghdad and the Sunni areas of Iraq in such turmoil, coalition authorities in Baghdad are unlikely to address the power vacuum in the south anytime soon. Religious, tribal and political fissures could widen unless there's a strong coalition presence in local affairs for months to come, these officers say, and public corruption, barely contained by U.S. oversight, could well blister to the surface."
Now, I don't have the faintest clue as to how Iraqi reconstruction is really going. Is, as many on the right claim, the press exaggerating the negative and ignoring the positive? I don't know. But it is awfully clear that decisions that should have been worked out before the invasion, at least schematically, were not made and are now being made on the fly.
Apparently things didn't go too well at the UN yesterday, either. The Times goes easy on this one. I read elsewhere that UN members were livid that Powell refloated the same resolution they'd shot down weeks ago; specifically he invoked the memory of those killed in the UN bombing as impetus for UN nations to send more troops under sole command of U.S. authorities. That did not sit well.
Also in Talking Points, Josh Marshall points infuriatedly at the administration's habit by which "failure of the policy becomes the justification for the policy." It's time to start thinking anew, Marshall says, but the ideologues in the administration have had the same fixations for 15 years.
The roadmap for piece in Israel and the occupied territories is in shreds. But as with so many Bush initiatives that sound good being announced in the Rose Garden, it then wafts away like smoke due to the administration's ADD. I won't go so far as to say the administration has any responsibility for the horrors there this week, but Bush's disengagement has not helped matters, nor has he provided any support for Abbas who's pretty much finished now. Powell's talking to Arafat, a guy whose very existence Bush has refused to acknowledge.
Speaking of talks, isn't it ironic that the Bush administration is about to enter into negotiations with another national leader who is the beneficiary of a family dynasty and lacks a firm grasp on reality? Fred Kaplan in Slate has a good view of the North Korean situation.
Slate's pretty good today. The sharp-witted Dahlia Lithwick has this piece on the demagogue in Alabama (for a story on a much more important -- though completely unreported -- issue being debated in Alabama, go here).
And Chatterbox has a subdued, thoughtful debate on whether or not the GOP is attempting to subvert democracy. Actually, I'd go further and also include Grover Norquist and his efforts to destroy politically any expression of moderation among Republicans. Another example is the millions they're pouring in to Daschle's home state to get him out of the Senate. Okay, okay, those aren't actually subversions of democracy. But they are indications that the right has only one goal -- attaining and retaining power.
Retaining is tough though. Hmmm.
Why am I not surprised that the feds now want to link non-violent drug offenders with terrorism?
*****
Apropos of nothing, Neil Young is up to interesting things.
Another bright spot -- "number 55, Hidecki Matsui, number 55."
posted by John at 2:23 PM
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