May 12, 2004
Daily Op/Ed Wrap-up
David Corn: Reckless Executive
"But the mind-boggling mistakes didn't start with Abu Ghraib. The Bush gang has bungled so many aspects of the Iraq occupation that its actions border on criminal recklessness. The most stunning revelation of Bob Woodward's Plan of Attack is not that Bush ordered the Pentagon to begin planning an invasion of Iraq in November 2001; it is what is absent from the book: any indication that Bush and his lieutenants engaged in high-level planning concerning what to do after the invasion. Bush repeatedly whistled General Tommy Franks into his office to go over the details of the war plans. He did not display interest in the hard work that would come afterward: how to reconstruct Iraq, how to build a democracy, how to provide security and basic services, how to deal with the competing political forces that could be expected to emerge; how to handle the remains of the military; how far to de-Baathify; how to bring other nations in the region and elsewhere into the process; how to conduct a transparent, fair and effective bidding process, how to budget for the war. That is, how to do the job correctly. If anyone else began such a complex and unprecedented project without mulling over the obvious pitfalls and complications, he or she would be out of work..."
Michael Meacher: Playing Bin Laden's Game
"Despite the revelations of torture, the US-British policy is unchanged: see this historic struggle through to its conclusion for the sake of democracy and civilization; apply overwhelming force against terrorists and extremists; and show unremitting resolve to root out resistance wherever it is found. Whether it is Americans in Iraq, Israelis in Palestine or the west against al-Qaida, the approach is the same: a policy proclaimed in the name of freedom, tolerance and a decent world order that, ironically, could hardly be better calculated to produce the opposite.
The policy is lethally flawed by its unwillingness to contemplate what lies behind the hatred: why scores of young people are prepared to blow themselves up, why 19 highly educated young men were ready to destroy themselves and thousands of others in the 9/11 hijackings, and why resistance is growing despite the likelihood of insurgents being killed. To deal with this reality, we first have to understand it. ..."
Robert Kuttner: What Greenspan won't admit about deficit
"ALAN GREENSPAN is a gold-plated hypocrite. Last week the Federal Reserve chairman, speaking at a conference in Chicago, warned that the endless federal deficits had become "a significant obstacle to long-term security because the budget deficit is not subject to correction by market forces." What does Greenspan think caused the deficit -- sunspots? He doesn't deign to say. But everyone else knows. While increased military spending is part of the story, the huge imbalances that rightly worry the Fed chairman are mainly the predictable result of President Bush's immense tax cuts..."
"Will the slim hope Justice Kennedy offered those who would challenge partisan gerrymandering prove to be a false hope? That remains to be seen. But in the meantime, no one should read the Vieth decision as a clean bill of health for our increasingly nasty and partisan politics..."
Jules Witcover: The new Teflon Don
"President Bush, who was in no hurry to apologize to the Iraqi people and the Arab world in general for the humiliating treatment portrayed in the photos from the Abu Ghraib prison, wasted no time declaring that Mr. Rumsfeld was "doing a superb job" and would remain in his Cabinet..."
Bill Berkowitz: Waiting for 'Torture Fatigue'
"Two weeks after photos depicting torture in Abu Ghraib prison became public, the right-wing media machine is telling America to get over it, already. According to the conservatives, the inhumane treatment of detainees is turning into a scandal because the liberal media is prolonging the attention, allowing lefty "Bush-haters" to politicize and capitalize on the affair. And all this hand-wringing will only hurt the troops in Iraq..."
truthout.org: CBS to Air U.S. Soldier's Video Diary of Iraq Abuse
"An American soldier's video diary showing her disdain for Iraqi detainees who died in her charge is to be broadcast by a U.S. network on Wednesday in a further escalation of the prisoner abuse scandal that has shaken the Bush administration and provoked world outrage..."
