One of Ours

1. Grab the nearest book.
2. Open the book to page 23.
3. Find the fifth sentence.
4. Post the text of the sentence in your journal along with these instructions.

...Haven’t we recommended to you some certain security measures before, when there was still time? Haven’t we said that it is necessary to control neighborhoods? Haven’t we said so many things?

Well it is harder now but can still be done. There is no alternative to a comprehensive political solution. By now you should realize that the ease with which the Initial campaign succeeded was because the majority wished for your success. It was not because there were cowards here. “The Street” was on your side. Now you must recapture the street, and tanks and firepower cannot do this alone. It is vital both to you and to us to succeed, and it is still possible to succeed, though it was easier earlier, but it must still be done, and you still have credit in you account. It is a matter between you and us alone and nobody else, no foreigners, no neighbors, Arabs and non-Arabs, the former being worse.

As we said before, this is no place for weak hearted people. All the sacrifices and blood must not be in vain.

...It seems neither logical nor fair that problems in Iraq should boost the president who sent U.S. troops there in the first place, while imperiling the challenger who voiced qualms about the invasion before it happened. But odd as this will sound, it's worth considering the possibility that failure in Iraq is helping Bush's reelection chances--and that immediate U.S. success in Iraq is Kerry's only chance to win...

...Few Democrats want to see the U.S. pull out of the country. It's worth remembering that even Howard Dean, the most vocal of the antiwar candidates, said last summer that he wanted to increase the number of U.S. troops in Iraq. Kerry's conundrum is that the politically coherent position of opposing the war both before and after the invasion is substantively unappealing. On a normal issue, if a challenger disagrees with an incumbent--and, moreover, if the incumbent's initiatives are both objectively failing and increasingly unpopular--then the challenger can simply advocate taking the opposite approach. But Iraq isn't a normal issue; there is no opposite approach (or, at least, no responsible opposite approach). There are also political considerations--Kerry is fighting a decades-old perception that the Democrats are soft on national security issues. So Kerry needs to find a way to oppose Bush on Iraq without advocating a pullout of U.S. troops...

...The senator's remaining option is to run to Bush's right by demanding that more U.S. troops and firepower be dispatched to Iraq...The senator has hinted at this position, but can't make it his full-throated battle cry without enraging segments of his Democratic base, something he can ill afford to do. Put simply: Kerry has no good political options on Iraq; it would be in his political interest for the entire situation to fade from the spotlight. The only way for that to happen is for the situation to improve...

Rank - Country - Per Capita GDP
1 Luxembourg $ 44,000
2 United States $ 37,600
3 Bermuda $ 35,200
4 Cayman Islands $ 35,000
5 San Marino $ 34,600
6 Norway $ 31,800 (FIRST EUROPEAN STATE NOT A TAX HAVEN)
7 Switzerland $ 31,700
8 Ireland $ 30,500
9 Canada $ 29,400
10 Belgium $ 29,000

13 Japan $ 28,000 (FIRST ASIAN STATE)

18 Germany $ 26,600 (LARGEST EUROPEAN STATE)

23 United Kingdom $ 25,300 (FAIRLY FAR DOWN ON THE LIST OF EUROPEAN STATES)

31 United Arab Emirates $ 22,000 (FIRST OF THE OIL PRODUCING STATES)

70 Argentina $ 10,200 (FIRST SOUTH AMERICAN STATE)

72 South Africa $ 10,000 (FIRST AFRICAN STATE)

LAST Somalia $ 550

Marine commanders agreed today to a tentative plan to deploy a new Iraqi force led by former Iraqi army officers in the rebellious city and to ease their three-week seige by pulling back from some positions inside the city.

The Iraqi force, to be called the Falluja Protective Army, was negotiated at a meeting this morning that included the commander of the First Marine Expeditionary Force, Lt. Gen. James T. Conway. The tentative plan replaced one to deploy joint patrols of the marines and the American-recruited security force known as the Iraqi Civil Defense Corps...

...I've been mystified at the absolute nonsense of being in "awe" of Tillman's "sacrifice" that has been the American response. Mystified, but not surprised. True, it's not everyday that you forgo a $3.6 million contract for joining the military. And, not just the regular army, but the elite Army Rangers. You know he was a real Rambo, who wanted to be in the "real" thick of things. I could tell he was that type of macho guy, from his scowling, beefy face on the CNN pictures. Well, he got his wish. Even Rambo got shot in the third movie, but in real life, you die as a result of being shot. They should call Pat Tillman's army life "Rambo 4: Rambo Attempts to Strike Back at His Former Rambo 3 Taliban Friends, and Gets Killed."

In my neighborhood in Puerto Rico, Tillman would have been called a "pendejo," an idiot. Tillman, in the absurd belief that he was defending or serving his all-powerful country from a seventh-rate, Third World nation devastated by the previous conflicts it had endured, decided to give up a comfortable life to place himself in a combat situation that cost him his life. This was not "Ramon or Tyrone," who joined the military out of financial necessity, or to have a chance at education. This was a "G.I. Joe" guy who got what was coming to him. That was not heroism, it was prophetic idiocy...

...members of [Chalabi's Iraqi National Congress party] are now under investigation by Iraqi police in Baghdad — allegations of:

abduction

robbery

stealing 11 Iraqi government vehicles

assaulting police by firing on them during a search.

...four INC operatives are under arrest, and an arrest warrant has been issued for the INC’s chief of intelligence...

4%....This year, about 50% of the voting age population will vote in the presidential election.

However, only 30% of the population lives in contested states [that's 15%].

And according to the latest New York Times poll, only 25% of the people they surveyed are still undecided about who they're going to vote for [that's 3.75%].

Do the arithmetic and that adds up to 4% of the electorate. Everything you see for the next six months from George Bush and John Kerry — every ad, every dollar, every speech, every prerecorded telephone call — is aimed at trying to convert about 4% of the total voting age population. The other 96% of us are basically spectators — either we're not going to vote, we live in states that are foregone conclusions, or we've already made up our minds.

Do you know anyone who's part of the 4%? If you do, get to work on them.

Az-Zaman reports that American sources told it yesterday that influential quarters in the Central Intelligence Agency are putting forward as candidate for high office in the caretaker government of Iraq a politically neutral former major general and three prominent court judges and independent attorneys. There will be a president, two vice presidents, and a prime minister, requiring four appointees. One of the vice presidents will be a Kurd. The sources said that the White House had not yet made a decision about the candidates, and that Bush did not request suggestions for candidates from the Department of Defense.

The sources said that the 25 members of the current Interim Governing Council are not candidates for executive posts in the caretaker government, from which they will be formally excluded.

The State Security Council approved the Brahimi plan for a caretaker government on Wednesday...

...the IGC has already lost this battle at the level of the White House (presumably meaning the National Security Council). The reporter seemed to take some pleasure in asserting that the US Pentagon had been excluded from the nomination process. The Department of Defense, under Rumsfeld, Wolfowitz and Feith, has consistently backed Ahmad Chalabi for high appointed posts in Iraq, but he seems increasingly out of favor. (az-Zaman is close to rival Adnan Pachachi, a Sunni Arab nationalist)...

...I read everywhere on the net before writing this small post. I couldn't find any mention to the "forgotten minority", the Iraqi Christians, when describing which ethnic groups the new flag represents. Not to mention other forgotten minorities like the Yazidis and Turkmen...

..."This is the beginning of the end of the Palestinian cause. Our rights are being liquidated alongside our leaders," said one Cairo-based Palestinian diplomat.

During recent weeks Arab governments' efforts to pass a UN Security Council resolution condemning the assassination of Sheikh Yassin fell foul of the US veto. "And there is no reason the US will act differently this time," argued a New York-based Arab diplomat...

...Some Arab capitals also blame the Palestinians, at least partially, for the current situation with some Arab officials arguing that at a time when the Israeli prime minister was quickly moving towards securing US support for unilateral disengagement and the construction of the separation wall the Palestinian Authority was involved in financial corruption and infighting.

"We warned [the Palestinians] repeatedly that they had to get their act together and we told them that the international power play is not in favour of Arabs. They did not budge," one Egyptian official said.

Arab capitals also argue that the PA could have done more to curb militant attacks against Israeli civilians.

Of the $330 million in financial support pledged to the PA in Arab summit resolutions less than 50 per cent was paid in 2002. In 2003 the figure dropped to 15 per cent.

"This is a clear sign of the decline in support for the Palestinians," one Palestinian diplomat commented.

There are no indications that that declining support will be reversed with some Arab capitals arguing that political support should now be conditional on serious Palestinian commitment to reform and the election of a new leadership.

"There is no point in asking the Americans to change their position. They will not, not even if a new administration is elected," said a senior Arab diplomat....

..."sad as the situation is there is not much more that we can do in view of the current state of overall Arab weakness."