Author: capcom

The man in the Oval Office smiles. The great coup in the Bush administration this past week was the visit to New York by Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad. A man who was elected, yet rules by permission from the Mullahs in Qom, came to this country and caught nothing but flak. From the right, from the left, did not matter. He received an invitation to speak at Columbia University, and in return for accepting this invitation, was greeted with a profoundly insulting introduction by Columbia’s President Lee C. Bollinger. Bollinger, after catching flak of his own throughout the week for extending the invitation to Ahmadinejad, felt it necessary to repulse that criticism with such choice sentiments from the podium as, “Mr. President, you exhibit all the signs of a petty and cruel dictator,” and, referring to Ahmadinejad’s statements regarding the Holocaust, “You are either brazenly provocative or astonishingly uneducated.” Free speech remains safe for us all. Continue reading “Please, Not Another One”

From the category labeled “Be Careful What You Wish For,” the Washington Post reported on Monday that some Army snipers have been baiting targets. The snipers were given such objects as AK-47 ammunition and wire that could be used in bombs by troops from the Army’s Asymmetric Warfare Group to place in conspicuous spots around a target area. The snipers would then hide and wait for anyone to pick up the materials. Those that did were greenlit and were engaged by the snipers. It’s not clear at this point how many Iraqis have been killed using such tactics, or if the baiting is an ongoing program. What is clear is the visceral nastiness of such an idea. But, send an army to war, and they will find creative ways to not only kill, but also identify, and perhaps create, targets. Continue reading “An Ugly Tactic for an Ugly War”

A strange thing happened this past January. The inauguration of the new Democratic majority should have been a cold day for the Iraq War hawks in the Republican Party and the White House. The Democrats rode a wave of discontent about the war to victory in the midterm elections of 2006. There was much high rhetoric and bold pronouncements that the end, if not all that near, was at least foreseeable. Continue reading “Jackasses at the Helm, Part Two”

We’re six years in. This day, this September 11th, always a shitty day for as long as people remember the attacks. No coincidence that Petraeus and Crocker find themselves on the Hill, hocking the president’s wares. Hell, Petraeus may even believe it. If we had gone in with 500,000 troops, and a plan for what would happen after the Iraqi tanks were all gone, Petraeus is the man we should have had at the head. No one is denying that. The man is the poster child for American counterinsurgency. Continue reading “Sand in Your Eye”

Soliciting sex in a public restroom is gross. And it is illegal. That type of lewd behavior has no place in society as a whole, much less the Senate. Although we like to maintain that our public institutions are beacons of upright moral behavior, we all know that our elected and non-elected officials are as fallible as the rest of us, and placed in a position of power, quite possibly more so. When Senator Larry Craig allegedly propositioned a man in a men’s room stall, he betrayed the trust of his constituents to uphold the law, and for that, he should be pilloried, to a degree. But Senator Craig is also in the unfortunate position of living in a time when being a homosexual, and a public figure, means never being given the chance to say you’re sorry. Continue reading “Big Red Elephant Say, “No Gays!””

If ever there were evidence that President Bush has become a lame duck, it would have to be Karl Rove’s departure from his administration. A man Bush has referred to as “the architect,” Rove was exactly that. Where Vice President Cheney wields immense power in the foreign policy sphere, Rove managed what he so lovingly called the “permanent Republican majority” here at home. Alas, that did not come to pass. Continue reading “Turd Blossom Hits the Bricks”

Draft. There’s that word again. From the mouths of generals to the souls of babes, a military draft has about as much weight to it as any other subject in this country. And for good reason. In many respects, being forced to serve in a nation’s military is the most vile form of subjugation. A normally peaceful person can be forced to pick up arms, fight and kill for a cause for which they have no belief. But, in the face of existential threats, a military draft becomes necessary to ensure the survival of the nation. The sacrifices that we demand of the draftee become secondary to the fate of all of us. That’s quite a burden to place on a person who did not sign on the dotted line voluntarily. And that is why there has not been a draft in over thirty years. Continue reading “Bugle Call?”