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5 posts: (1) North Korea Lucy, We Charlie Brown--Us v. Them; (2) Obama's Racial Trifecta--The Home Front; (3) The War: Are We Safer Now?--Us v. Them; (4) Iraq: The Latest Battlefield Report & Reviewing the "Why"--Us v. Them; (5) P.C. & Militant Islam--Us v. Them.
A Wall Street Journal editorial details the flaws in the nuclear accord with the now officially non-terrorist North Korea: (1) belated incomplete declaration of nuclear materials; (2) lack of definitive verification--without even winning the right to conduct snap inspections; (3) pushing aside Japan's concern re an accounting for the North's having kidnapped Japanese. Add to this that the North has a perfect record, over the past quarter century, of violating agreements it pledged to honor. Center for Security Policy founder Frank Gaffney adds more depressing detail as to the extent of President Bush's surrender, and notes that while Congress can within 45 days reject the deal it cannot plausibly muster veto-prof majorities to prevail over a Bush veto. Ace dipl;omat John Bolton adds his eloquent voice, aptly calling this the last gasp of an administration in total disarray. It all amounts to what the WSJ calls "faith-based nonproliferation." Charlie Brown, Lucy and the nuclear football is a dangerous game to play.
Ex-CIA agent, now AEI resident scholar Reuel Marc Gerecht assesses where we stand after nearly 7 years at war. His 9-page finds us safer, on balance. Notable points he makes in his superb must-read essay are: (1) our cooperation with European security services is closer than ever, if little advertised (probably a good thing); (2) America's standing in the Mideast is rising due to our turnaround in Iraq--especially as we did not cut & run in 2007; (3) violence flare=ups in Pakistan are a sign that the government is doing more against the bad guys; (4) our own counter-terror capabilities are vastly superior to what they were on 9/11 (if still weaker than top European services); and Iran is hesitating in its push against us in Iraq.
Yes, huge blunders have been committed by Bush 43. But we have done things right, too. Reports of our demise are greatly exaggerated.
Someone should tell Barack Obama.
Charles Krauthammer captures Barack Obama's essence: He is a politician, period--albeit, one of "unusual skill and ambition" who will make, CK writes, the Clintons look scrupulous. Proof positive of this is Obama's race gambit, one he plays secure that the mainstream media will not blow the whistle. NROs' editors score Obama for anticipatorily playing the race card, one not found in John McCain's deck. Obama's slimy recent quote encapsulates what Big Mac & the GOP will face this fall:
We know what kind of campaign they’re going to run. They’re going to try to make you afraid. They’re going to try to make you afraid of me. He’s young and inexperienced and he’s got a funny name. And did I mention he’s black?
Washington Times pundit Wes Pruden nails Obama's ploy as well, and notes that prominent black conservatives may play the race card as well--by voting for Obama because he is black. So Obama completes a racial trifecta: distance himself from his poison pastor, pre-empt the GOP nominee from playing a race card he has zero intention of playing, and goad black conservatives into voting their race over their convictions.
The third part of the racial trifecta is the biggest win: Black conservatives, by voting racial loyalty, impliedly repudiate Dr. Martin Luther King's "I Have a Dream" speech, given August 28, 1963 during that year's March on Washington:
I have a dream that my four little children will one day live in a nation where they will not be judged by the color of their skin but by the content of their character.
The Weekly Standard posted the full series of 9 battlefield reports from Iraq. The 21-page 9th Report covers progress in Basra. Well worth a read. Perhaps more important is Arthur Herman's article in Commentary, reviewing the run-up to the war, and why a confrontation with Saddam was unavoidable. Herman also reminds us that while the Iraq Survey Group did not find WMD stockpiles, it did find programs and equipment in place that would have permitted rapid restart of WMD production, upon Saddam's slipping the sanctions regime, plus concealment of same from the inspectors in 2002.
The Society of Professional Journalists admonishes its consumers to avoid unflattering references to Muslims. My favorites:
— Avoid using terms such as "jihad" unless you are certain of their precise meaning and include the context when they are used in quotations. The basic meaning of "jihad" is to exert oneself for the good of Islam and to better oneself.
— Consult the Library of Congress guide for transliteration of Arabic names and Muslim or Arab words to the Roman alphabet. Use spellings preferred by the American Muslim Council, including "Muhammad," "Quran," and "Makkah ," not "Mecca."
5 posts: (1) Immigration: Importing Brawn, Exporting Brains--"It's the Earth Stupid!"; (2) Public Confidence--in Whom?--The Home Front; (3) Douglas Feith on the War--Us v. Them; (4) Legalist Evil Personified--The Home Front; (5) Judging the Judge--The Home Front.
George Will salutes the genius of Silicon valley and its immense contributions to our lives. He then notes that one million Ph.Ds wish to get visas to remain in the US, but we allow only 140,000 to stay. America, alone among the world's nations, does not get the no-brainer proposition that exporting the best brains dumbs down our society and undermines our economic future. All this is held hostage by the Hispanic Caucus, which wants a comprehensive immigration bill suited to Hispanic immigration--genuises and non-geniuses alike. Thus, as the global economy increasingly rewards brains over brawn in terms of economic value, our policy is to import brawn and export brains.
Columnist Dan Henninger presents last week's annual Gallup survey findings on public confidence. Only three segments of society top 50%: the military (71%), small business (60%) and the police (58%). The Supreme Court is at 32% and the presidency at 26%. Tied at 24% are TV and print news. Second from last, at 13%, are HMOs. Rock bottom, at 12%, is Harry Reid's and Nancy Pelosi's Congress. DH thinks that Obama's "change" message may resonate come November, but then Democrats will face the music in 2010 if Obama changes little, or changes for the worse. At the root of these numbers, writes DH, is a deep divide among the polity, reflected in the political divide in DC. Only the voters can resolve that. When--or if--they will do so is unknown.
NRO's "Uncommon Knowledge" series has a five-part set (total: 35:27) with Douglas Feith, on the administration's conduct of the war: Part I (6:07) covers the Iraq prewar intel failures; Part II (7:56) covers blunders in Iraq; Part III (6:46) covers why the CIA's prewar intel was so faulty; Part IV (6:36) covers how the administration's shift from stressing WMD to promoting democracy in Iraq, after the WMD intel fiasco, empowered its critics; Part V (8:02) covers the shortcomings of our national security apparatus to address challenges we face.
Learn more in my new book: The Long War Ahead And
The Short War Upon Us
