The Flashlight, Jan. 6-12, 2007
THE FLASHLIGHT, Jan. 6-12, 2007
US Policy, Iraq War
[Now we can make a fair guess about why former president George H.W. Bush broke down and cried in public some weeks ago. It was not about his son Jeb Bush. Another child was breaking his heart.]
Starting in TIME, 1-6, the story of Pres. Bush’s new Iraq policy leaked so completely that when he stated it publicly Wednesday evening, 1-10, it was no longer news. Immediately Bush is sending 21,500 troops to Baghdad and Anbar Province. He asked. for an additional allocation of a billion dollars for job creation in Iraq Both such measures have been tried before, said the Times, and they have failed.
Bush said that American troops will be embedded in Iraqi troop units, as suggested by the iraq Study Group. [An unstated purpose is to prevent the Shiites from committing atrocities against the Sunnis] Bush expected it will take two to three years to get the situation under control. There were also hints of possible attacks on Iran and Syria.
The response on Capitol Hill was strongly negative. All Democrats opposed it, and ten Republican moderate Senators did so as well. Sen. Lieberman, now an Independent, supported the President. Republican Senator Chuck Hagel said that Bush’s new proposal is “the most dangerous foreign policy blunder since Viet Nam.’ Democratic Senator Russ Feingold said that Congress should “defund” the Iraq War. Secretary Rice, appearing before the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, encountered a solid bipartisan opposition to the new policy. Stephen Colbert suggested that Bush had become the “Surgin’ General.”
London Times, 1-8, reported in Consortium News.com, Paul C. Roberts predicted that Israel will use tactical nuclear weapons to destroy Iran’s uranium enrichment facilities.
President Bush moved without the support of the Congress, most of his generals and current commanders in Iraq, the Iraq Study Group, and Prime Minister Maliki hmself. They were disappointed and pessimistic. The Iraqi government has resisted an American escalation. The opposition of the American public to continuing the war, already demonstrated in last November’s election, is growing. The AP poll of 1-11 found that 70% of Americans are against the escalation.
Arguments against the new policy:
1. David Brooks, conservative columnist NY Times. Maliki wanted US troops out of Baghdad so that the Shia there would have a free hand against the Sunni residents. The Shias do not want to make any concessions to the Sunnis. But the new policy is unlikely to change that.
2. PBS, 1-11. Zbig Brzezinski, former national security advisor, said that the military proposals were useless, and there was no hint of a political strategy. He noted that Bush seemed to be preparing to “blame and run” from Iraq. He thought the greatest danger would be attacks on Iran and Syria. He described the iraq War as a colonial war, and out of sync with History.
NY Times 1-12. The Times reported evidence of Shia resentment of the new Bush policy. Maliki would not comment on it in public, but sent a spokesman.
The Times also reported that the White House was dismayed at the hostile reception of its proposals on Capitol Hill. There were protestors outside the White House with signs, “Stop the War.”
[The Democratic National Committee urged Democrats to write letters of protest to newspaper editors. The Friends Committee on National Legislation urged Friends to write to their representatives in Congress.]
Washington Post 1-11. 83% of Democrats want Congress to stop the troop increase. 81% of Republicans favor the troop increase. 51% of Independents oppose it, 37% of Independents favor it.
Democrats discouraged talk of stopping the escalation, for practical reasons, but plan to stop funding of further expenditures in Iraq. They advocated a beginning of withdrawal four to six months from now. They plan a “symbolic” resolution against the escalation which will force Republicans to go on the record as to their position.”
Miscellaneous news: CNN 1-11. Bush plans adding 92,000 new troops to the Army and Marine total.
PBS 1-11. The Democrats plan to hold their 2008 Convention in Denver, Colorado. [This reflects their drive to expand in the non-coastal western states.}
Iraq statistics
Washington Post 1-8. Death total of Iraqi civilians an police, Jan-June 2006, 5.640. For July-Dec., 17,310. = three times as much.
Other US News
1-6, NYTimes. Eliot Spitzer began his term as the new governor of New York by creating a non-partisan districting commission to stop political gerrymandering. He intends to lower the campaign finance contribution limit and introduce public funding of political campaigns.
1-6 The Guardian Unlimited (UK). It was revealed that William Rehnquist, the late Chief Justice of the Supreme Court, was addicted during 1972-1982 to Placidyl, a drug for back pain, of which he took a triple dose. During detoxification he ran from his room in pajamas saying that the CIA was plotting against him.
NYTimes 1-9. Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger proposed a universal health insurance measure, costing 12 billion dollars, for the state. It would cover the 6 million people currently uninsured and even undocumented aliens.
CNN 1-10. Deval Patrick became the first African-American governor of Massachusets.
Lebanon
An-Nahar 1-12. The Western backed Siniora government in Lebanon, currently under siege by Hizbollah and its allies, announced plans for a $6.3 billion dollar lawsuit against Israel for damages during the 34-day war last summer. [This is probably intended to distance the government from the unpopular US-Israeli alliance.]
World Climate
WPost, 1-9. Last year, 2006, was the hottest year in the US on official instrument record, the records having started in 1895. In the East, daffodils and cherry blossom bloomed on New Year’s Day. Scientists blamed fossil fuel emissions.
US Policy, Iraq War
[Now we can make a fair guess about why former president George H.W. Bush broke down and cried in public some weeks ago. It was not about his son Jeb Bush. Another child was breaking his heart.]
Starting in TIME, 1-6, the story of Pres. Bush’s new Iraq policy leaked so completely that when he stated it publicly Wednesday evening, 1-10, it was no longer news. Immediately Bush is sending 21,500 troops to Baghdad and Anbar Province. He asked. for an additional allocation of a billion dollars for job creation in Iraq Both such measures have been tried before, said the Times, and they have failed.
Bush said that American troops will be embedded in Iraqi troop units, as suggested by the iraq Study Group. [An unstated purpose is to prevent the Shiites from committing atrocities against the Sunnis] Bush expected it will take two to three years to get the situation under control. There were also hints of possible attacks on Iran and Syria.
The response on Capitol Hill was strongly negative. All Democrats opposed it, and ten Republican moderate Senators did so as well. Sen. Lieberman, now an Independent, supported the President. Republican Senator Chuck Hagel said that Bush’s new proposal is “the most dangerous foreign policy blunder since Viet Nam.’ Democratic Senator Russ Feingold said that Congress should “defund” the Iraq War. Secretary Rice, appearing before the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, encountered a solid bipartisan opposition to the new policy. Stephen Colbert suggested that Bush had become the “Surgin’ General.”
London Times, 1-8, reported in Consortium News.com, Paul C. Roberts predicted that Israel will use tactical nuclear weapons to destroy Iran’s uranium enrichment facilities.
President Bush moved without the support of the Congress, most of his generals and current commanders in Iraq, the Iraq Study Group, and Prime Minister Maliki hmself. They were disappointed and pessimistic. The Iraqi government has resisted an American escalation. The opposition of the American public to continuing the war, already demonstrated in last November’s election, is growing. The AP poll of 1-11 found that 70% of Americans are against the escalation.
Arguments against the new policy:
1. David Brooks, conservative columnist NY Times. Maliki wanted US troops out of Baghdad so that the Shia there would have a free hand against the Sunni residents. The Shias do not want to make any concessions to the Sunnis. But the new policy is unlikely to change that.
2. PBS, 1-11. Zbig Brzezinski, former national security advisor, said that the military proposals were useless, and there was no hint of a political strategy. He noted that Bush seemed to be preparing to “blame and run” from Iraq. He thought the greatest danger would be attacks on Iran and Syria. He described the iraq War as a colonial war, and out of sync with History.
NY Times 1-12. The Times reported evidence of Shia resentment of the new Bush policy. Maliki would not comment on it in public, but sent a spokesman.
The Times also reported that the White House was dismayed at the hostile reception of its proposals on Capitol Hill. There were protestors outside the White House with signs, “Stop the War.”
[The Democratic National Committee urged Democrats to write letters of protest to newspaper editors. The Friends Committee on National Legislation urged Friends to write to their representatives in Congress.]
Washington Post 1-11. 83% of Democrats want Congress to stop the troop increase. 81% of Republicans favor the troop increase. 51% of Independents oppose it, 37% of Independents favor it.
Democrats discouraged talk of stopping the escalation, for practical reasons, but plan to stop funding of further expenditures in Iraq. They advocated a beginning of withdrawal four to six months from now. They plan a “symbolic” resolution against the escalation which will force Republicans to go on the record as to their position.”
Miscellaneous news: CNN 1-11. Bush plans adding 92,000 new troops to the Army and Marine total.
PBS 1-11. The Democrats plan to hold their 2008 Convention in Denver, Colorado. [This reflects their drive to expand in the non-coastal western states.}
Iraq statistics
Washington Post 1-8. Death total of Iraqi civilians an police, Jan-June 2006, 5.640. For July-Dec., 17,310. = three times as much.
Other US News
1-6, NYTimes. Eliot Spitzer began his term as the new governor of New York by creating a non-partisan districting commission to stop political gerrymandering. He intends to lower the campaign finance contribution limit and introduce public funding of political campaigns.
1-6 The Guardian Unlimited (UK). It was revealed that William Rehnquist, the late Chief Justice of the Supreme Court, was addicted during 1972-1982 to Placidyl, a drug for back pain, of which he took a triple dose. During detoxification he ran from his room in pajamas saying that the CIA was plotting against him.
NYTimes 1-9. Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger proposed a universal health insurance measure, costing 12 billion dollars, for the state. It would cover the 6 million people currently uninsured and even undocumented aliens.
CNN 1-10. Deval Patrick became the first African-American governor of Massachusets.
Lebanon
An-Nahar 1-12. The Western backed Siniora government in Lebanon, currently under siege by Hizbollah and its allies, announced plans for a $6.3 billion dollar lawsuit against Israel for damages during the 34-day war last summer. [This is probably intended to distance the government from the unpopular US-Israeli alliance.]
World Climate
WPost, 1-9. Last year, 2006, was the hottest year in the US on official instrument record, the records having started in 1895. In the East, daffodils and cherry blossom bloomed on New Year’s Day. Scientists blamed fossil fuel emissions.
posted by THE FLASHLIGHT at 10:42 AM
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