A Dangerous Lame Duck

There is a powerful piece of commentary about the Bush agenda today on TomPaine.com: 14 Months of Danger

If you prefer a progressive view on current affairs and don't know this site, you should check it out. They describe themselves thusly: TomPaine.com is an online public affairs journal of progressive analysis and commentary. Every weekday, we go beyond the news to deliver well-informed, provocative and credible progressive perspectives on the pressing issues affecting the nation and the world. TomPaine.com combines depth with immediacy to equip progressives to compete effectively in the 21st century’s marketplace of ideas.

TomPaine.com was founded in 1999 by John Moyers in conjunction with a series of hard-hitting opinion page ads in The New York Times. We take our inspiration from Thomas Paine—the revolutionary thinker and activist known for his incisive, biting commentaries.

It's good stuff.

Building Leaders of the Future

My 16-year-old daughter is packing for a week in Washington, DC, where she will participate in the National Youth Leadership Forum on National Security. They've been given a significant amount of background reading as preparation for a simulation exercise in which they will role play and debate the United States' response to a hypothetical situation in the Eastern Congo.

The rape epidemic plaguing this region is on the front page of today's New York Times.

Rape Epidemic Raises Trauma of Congo War - New York Times

The whole story is horrifying, but for me, it was a tiny detail down near the end of the article that brought tears to my eyes. The U.N. peacekeepers have devised a new strategy to try to stop to the nocturnal raids on the villages. They go to a village and park their vehicles in the bush, headlights on all night, to signal that the peacekeepers are present. According to the article, sometimes in the morning they find 3,000 villagers curled up on the ground around them.

I emailed the story to Jules with this note. Honey, since your case study is about the Congo you should read this story. I am sorry to say it is very disturbing. but we need to know these things because we need to be part of figuring out a solution.
xo
mom

I'm proud that Jules is thinking about a career where she can make a difference in foreign affairs and human rights. Juxtaposed with this tragic story today is an Op Ed piece by Thomas Friedman Charge It to My Kids - New York Times. He puts an historical perspective on the Bush administration's free-spending approach to the war on terrorism, which is pushing the entire cost of the war onto future generations, with no sacrifice required of us today. As I urge my daughter to be a leader and make a difference, our commander in chief sends an entirely different message about turning a blind eye to consequences and accountability. It's an outrage.

Columbia Controversy: Call for Humility

My friend Daoud Kuttab (Executive Producer of Hikayat Simsim, the Palestinian "Sesame Street" production) is a guest professor in residence at Princeton this year. His perspective on the controversy surrounding the appearance of the Iranian President at Columbia University caught my attention because of my experience as an American visiting the Middle East last year. The Arab culture is unfailingly courteous, and I enjoyed repectful courtesy and hospitality throughout my visit, despite the fact that Americans are not exactly favorites these days. Daoud's perspective on the fiasco at Columbia likely reflects the way this incident was perceived throughout the Middle East.

We have to do better than this kind of shallow posturing if we want to reclaim the high road as champions of human rights and dignity.

A LITTLE HUMILITY

By Daoud Kuttab
Guest Columnist, Daily Princetonian
Wednesday, September 26, 2007

The controversy surrounding an academic invitation to the Iranian president reflects one of the more serious problems that is
negatively affecting the image of the United States around the world.

It was clear that Columbia president Bollinger and his staff wanted to boast that their university respects freedom of expression by inviting a controversial head of state. But when this academic exercise was challenged (mostly by radical pro-Israeli elements), he was forced to tweak this right in order to satisfy his critics and more importantly, the university donors. The way in which this problem was handled (nasty irreverent and unprovoked attack at a guest you invited) made the Ivy League university lose any credit it could have gained by what was otherwise a courageous decision.

The funny thing is that it didn't have to be like this. Columbia didn't have to invite Ahmadinajad even if he expressed interest in speaking at a U.S. school of higher learning within the 25-mile radius of the United Nations. But once the invitation was made, Bollinger should have had the decency to deal with this guest as they would any other guest. There is no evidence that Iran's human rights record has worsened in between the invitation and the speech. If anything, a few academics were released a few days earlier.

It is easy to be for freedom of expression when it is convenient and when everyone agrees with you. The problem is when one simply wants to have it both ways: wanting the appearance of defending freedoms yet intervening the moment it starts to hit your pocket. Serious students of U.S. foreign policy regularly feel this American schizophrenia. Take the case of Iraq and Palestine. The United States went to Iraq to free its people from a tyrant dictator only to find itself stuck in the middle of a civil war. Instead of letting the people of Iraq decide their fate, America decided to stay in order to protect its longterm interests in the region.

Instead of practicing the Wilsonian doctrine that guarantees the rights of peoples to determine their future, America approaches the issue very selectively. For example, the Kurdish people's right to determine their future is sacrificed to please America's powerful Turkish NATO member and ally.

The Palestinians' decades-long quest for freedom and independence is pushed aside because of domestic pressures from the pro-Israel and Christian right lobbies. Other examples abound. Speaking to the U.N. General Assembly, President Bush has taken taken rightly up the case of the people of Myanmar, but Taiwan is not memtioned because of America's interest in China.

It is natural for countries to defend their interests. It is also fair for a university president to try and respond to the desires of
his donors. But such posturing lacks the "intellectual courage" ( Bollinger's words) to pretend you are doing it in the name of
people's freedom (as in the case of Bush) or freedom of expression (as in the case of Bollinger.)

200 years ago, Voltarie said "I disapprove of what you say, but I will defend to the death your right to say it." Last century, the American Civil Liberties Union defended the right of a neo-Nazi group to demonstrate in the predominantly Jewish city of Skokie, Illinois. The Executive Director of the ACLU was Aryeh Neier who is Jewish and lost most of his family in the Holocaust. Neier is today the president of the Open Society Institute, George Soros's foundation which supports freedoms around the world. One of the people working for the society is Dr. Kian Ajbakhsh, an Iranian American social scientist and urban planner, who a few days earlier was released from an Iranian jail but has not been allowed to leave Iran. Bollinger
announced that Ajbakhsh has been invited to teach at Columbia next year and called for his freedom of movement. It is unlikely that such a call will have much effect following the unwarranted, humiliating and disrespectful statement Bollinger made. Clearly, the university president was more interested in pleasing his university funders than in securing the professor's exit visa.

It is difficult to expect genuine fighters of freedom such as Neier and Kian in today's political and academic world. If living up
to such ideals is difficult, a little humility would serve all of us well. It would be more honest for the presidents of countries and universities to be truthful about the challenges of balancing interests and values rather than attempting to paint themselves as the heroes of freedom — which they are not.

Daoud Kuttab is a Ferris Professor of Journalism and an award-winning Palestinian columnist. He can be reached at dkuttab@princeton.edu.

Iraqis on the Run: What the World can Do

As I have written here previously, I visited a preschool in the East Amman neighborhood in which Iraqi refugees are housed. Jordanian resources are strained to the limit, housing prices have gone through the roof, and since Iraqi refugees are not allowed to work in Jordan, there is no end in sight to this situation. The U.N. estimates that there are 2 million refugees in the region, with at least that number displaced inside Iraq, as well.

This editorial from the Christian Science Monitor suggests that the U.S. and the U.K. bear responsibility for helping to address the refugee dilemma. We have a long way to go. Since the war begain, a grand total of 466 Iraqis have been admitted to the U.S. as refugees (State Department report at a Senate Hearing in January). In 2007, the U.S. plans to allow 7000. In the meantime, there are many U.S. citizens of Iraqi descent who are desperately trying to get their family members to a safe place where they can work, put their children in school, recommence normal living as responsible citizens. We need a policy around this, and we need it now.

Iraqis on the run: what the world can do | csmonitor.com

Challenges to Palestinian Unity

The following piece is written by my colleague Daoud Kuttab, a Palestinian journalist and the Director of the Institute of
Modern Media at Al Quds University in Ramallah. It is a particularly insightful overview of all the challenges facing the Palestinian people....in particular, his explanation of how and why the indomitable spirit of Palestinian unity that we so long admired has broken into self-directed violence and despair.

UNITY GOVERNMENT IS ONLY THE FIRST STEP FOR PALESTINE
by Daoud Kuttab
Copyright 2007: Project Syndicate


The reconciliation between the leaders of the two major Palestinian
groups, Hamas and Fatah, that has just been negotiated in Saudi
Arabia is being hailed as a major political breakthrough.

But the national unity government created as a result of this
agreement faces many daunting challenges. The agreement needs to be
followed by an effort to end the economic and administrative siege
of Palestine, as well as serious peace talks with Israel aimed at
ending the 39-year occupation of the West Bank and Gaza Strip. At
home, the new government needs to pay its civil servants, restore
law and order, and end the chaos that has become the norm in the
Palestinian territories.

The internal fighting in Palestine began in part as a result of the
political impasse caused after Israel and the international
community imposed an economic embargo on the Palestinian Authority. This economic siege, zealously enforced even by Arab and Islamic banks, followed the new Hamas-led government's refusal to accept the demand by the "quartet" - the United States, the European Union, the United Nations and Russia - that it recognise Israel, accept all previous agreements with Israel, and renounce terrorism.

Palestinians complained that the international community acted
unjustly, simply because they were unhappy with the result of a free
and fair election in the Palestinian territories, which Hamas won
overwhelmingly. The government created after the January 2006
elections has been unable to pay civil servants because of the
international banking blockade and the refusal of Israel to transfer
millions of tax dollars collected on behalf of the Palestinian
people.

After months without pay, the government, headed by Hamas' Ismael
Haniyeh, was confronted with a serious challenge in September, when
civil servants went on strike, demanding to be paid. The differences
between the Fatah-led presidency of Mahmoud Abbas and Hamas'
Islamist government spilled into the streets. Threats by Abbas to
hold elections to resolve the deadlock seemed to add oil to the fire.

With unemployment rising, income dropping to record low levels, and
internal tensions escalating, fighting between supporters of Hamas
and Fatah began. Attempts to reconcile the parties began in Gaza,
before moving to Cairo, Damascus, and finally Mecca under the
supervision of Saudi King Abdullah, whose country has been a
financial backer of the Palestinians for decades.

One of the first challenges for the new government will be to
convince the international community that it respects previous
Palestinian agreements. This includes the mutual recognition agreed
by the PLO and Israel, as well as the Oslo Accords. By announcing
the acceptance of previous agreements and supporting the Arab peace
initiative, the new government should be able to bring economic
normalcy to the cash-strapped Palestinian Authority.

Money, however, is not the only need. The cease-fire understanding
between Palestinian factions and Israel will need to be honoured
through the commitment of both sides and a parallel political
process. The international community, especially the US, is giving
verbal support to launching serious Palestinian-Israeli talks, and
the Mecca Agreement paves the way for Abbas to negotiate an end to
the occupation. This will test the resolve of Israel and the
international community to achieve tangible progress on restarting
negotiations.

But the newly established national unity government faces yet
another daunting challenge. If resumption of political violence and
property destruction is to be avoided, a new internal security
policy will be needed. The numerous militias, groups, gangs and
individuals who own and use weapons must be controlled. The new
unity government must insist on the creation of a single, united
armed force.

In order to end lawlessness, the Palestinian security leadership
will need to lift the protection given to armed individuals who have
been using their weapons with impunity to injure, kill, and destroy
property. Indeed, law and order must be the top priority of the
unity government, owing to the need to restore the Palestinian
public's confidence in Palestinian leaders from all factions.

The past year has been one of the most difficult years in modern
Palestinian history. For years, the world envied the Palestinian
people's strong social fibre, as they held together despite the
occupation. With a strong sense of national identity, Palestinians
boasted that they had a clear unifying purpose: ending the Israeli
occupation and establishing an independent and democratic state.

But the recent months of infighting have left a deep wound among
Palestinians. If that wound is to heal, much effort must be exerted
to restore a functioning economy, strengthen internal security, and
improve Palestinians' relations with their neighbours and the
international community.

Daoud Kuttab

Mandaean Emergency in Iraq

Mandaean Emergency in Iraq

Combatants for Peace Wrestle with Tragedy in the West Bank

Despite loss of his child, Palestinian ex-fighter remains dedicated to peace | csmonitor.com: "Abir's death has been very difficult for Aramin's family. 'It's extremely difficult for our other children,' Aramin says, 'especially at night. And for my wife, too. But I am helping them to go on in every way I can. I can't change my mind about peace. I believe in this process, to protect all the children, on both sides of the fence.'"

Iraq War Spurs Massive Migration [Washington Post 2/4/07]

The Washington Post today is reporting that more than 2 million refugees have fled Iraq since the start of the war.
WP: Iraq war spurs massive migration -
washingtonpost.com Highlights - MSNBC.com

I visited a preschool for Iraqi refugee children when I was in Amman in November. It was run by ICMC (the International Catholic Migration Commission), under their Extremely Vulnerable Iraqi Project. There has been an influx of Iraqi refugees into Amman since the start of the war, and although Jordan is providing refuge, they are a tiny country without the infrastructure to support this kind of immigration. Parents do not have working papers, and children are technically not allowed to go to school (although many schools let them in anyway). This school was run by a British woman who was absolutely passionate about the work. We sat and played for about an hour with a group of young children and their mothers, to whom ICMC is providing humanitarian assistance and preschool education. I connected with a little guy who was playing with Playdough (or the local equivalent). He was incredibly anal - I showed him a few molds and how to draw little faces in the soft dough with a pointed stick. He started making multiple versions of everything we tried, lining them up precisely, like little soldiers! Adorable.

We didn't share a language, but we connected, nonetheless.

Iraq's bloggers weigh in on Hussein death sentence | csmonitor.com

Iraq's bloggers weigh in on Hussein death sentence | csmonitor.com

Execution of Saddam Hussein

I am sorry. I do not believe that the State (any State) should be in the business of killing. No matter who he was, or what he did, we demean ourselves and our humanity when we kill out of vengeance and hate, calling it justice. He should have been locked in a solitary cell for life. Period.

McGovern Warns of U.S. Aggression

The Milwaukee Journal Sentinel is reporting that former U.S. Senator and 1976 Presidential candidate George McGovern believes that the White House is planning invasions of North Korea and Iran after the current campaign in Iraq is concluded. JS Online: U.S. planning more invasions, McGovern says "Even now, these wars are being planned by the current administration," McGovern said. "I'm positive, based on conversations with people close to the White House, that plans are in place for the next invasions." McGovern was a history professor before he became a senator, and president of the Middle East Policy Council from 1991 to 1998. Now 80 years old, he has no personal agenda...just deep, deep concern at what he is seeing and hearing.

Back in the US of A

Having been outside of the country for a full week, I'm struck by the over-wrought tone of the American media covering the WAR IN IRAQ! The coverage is omnipresent and the push for ratings is obvious in the urgent "updates" that really contain nothing new. Even my local news radio station, WCBS, gives the time like this: "It's 6pm. That's 2am in Baghdad." It makes me remember why most of my American television colleagues didn't attend the French media conference I just returned from. The tone of the coverage makes it feel very dangerous out there....and by "out there," I mean everywhere. Even here. People are stressed out, particularly in New York.

WSJ.com - War Produces Rift in Media Between U.S., Other Nations

It's worth checking out this story, from today's edition of the European Wall Street Journal.

When a U.S. general in Qatar recently condemned the televised pictures of captured American troops....British television reporter Geoff Meade asked the officer what he would say to Iraqis and other Muslims who might welcome such images.

Some U.S. reporters looked stunned at the aggressiveness of the question. A hush fell on the room. The general eyed him coldly and parried the query. Afterward, says Mr. Meade, a veteran correspondent with Sky News, a service of British Sky Broadcasting Group PLC, "Somebody joked to me that I'd find myself at the back of the room along with the French and the Germans."

While voicing "great respect" for U.S. journalism, he says the British media tend to be "more robust, a little more barbed" in covering the news. U.S. journalists, he adds, are loath to risk their front-row seats by posing tough questions, "whether in Qatar or the White House."

Les français e Gli Italiani

Today is a quiet day on the war front - activity is stalled due to dust storms. So, the networks are doing background coverage. It was so interesting to flip back and forth between stations to see how the French and the Italians led their evening news. The French angle was "Irak: La Guerre de L`Info" ---"Iraq: The War of Information"....a very controversial topic here in Europe. They presented a roundtable of serious talking heads debating the validity of American war coverage, which many here feel is simply propaganda. The Italian angle was "La Guerre Delle Mamme" --- "The war of the mothers." They did an emotional story about an NYC peace demonstration led by mothers of U.S. soldiers, with many heartfelt "mother on the street" interviews. The two cultures could not be more different, and it was perfectly illustrated by these two different takes on the events of the day.

War is On - I am Traveling

I will be posting for the next week from France, where I'm attending the MIP-TV conference. I was supposed to go with (and have my trip paid for by) Sesame Workshop. They, like many American companies, have cancelled out of MIP because of the war. I couldn't even imagine not going - so, I'm going on my own. I've downsized my accomodations, and I'll be there Sunday morning.

I have such a yearning to be with my European friends....it's hard to put a finger on exactly why. I suppose partly because I feel like my country has abandoned its principles.... we're acting as aggressors, instead of protectors. And, all the Americans who are meant to be at this conference are suddenly afraid to be in Europe, home of the people who refused to sanction this aggressive action in the first place! I can't bear to be one of those Americans. I want to show my face and speak with the voice of the many, many Americans who don't support this action taken in our names. As Susie said from Sydney, the world needs to hear that alternative American view as a shout. This is my shout...soon to be coming your way from the Cote D'Azur. Ciao.

I'VE BEEN READING.....

Amazon.com: Editorial Reviews: If a Place Can Make You Cry: Dispatches from an Anxious State
Could it be that there is something so subtle, so magical, so intoxicating-and so dangerous-about this land that it leads parents to willingly sacrifice their children?

In 1998 Rabbi Gordis accepted a one-year sabbatical in Jerusalem, moving his wife and three children from Los Angeles. When they arrived, there was great hope in Israel that a lasting peace was finally being achieved. Things quickly deteriorated, however, and they found themselves (and their children) living in the middle of escalating violence. Amazingly, they decided to stay - they realized that they had never felt such a sense of "home" anywhere. And, despite the danger, they were captivated by the experience of living in the Jewish homeland. Gordis is a moderate - uncomfortable with the Zionist views his children are learning at school, and volunteering in Palestinian refugee camps. His voice is clear and honest, and presents a fresh point of view. I came away with a much clearer understanding of how complex the situation in Israel really is. We hear so many voices dictating "what the Israelis must do" or "what Arafat must do" to achieve peace. Seeing life through Gordis's eyes, it will never seem quite so cut and dry again. This book is a very readable way to dig for a deeper understanding of the current situation without being subjected to the rigid rhetoric that's so often present from both sides of the conflict.

My daughter Julia gave me this book for Christmas. She did the research on amazon.com and decided this was something I would be interested in. She was right. I was captivated.

Seems to me there are two countries defying the United Nations - the U.S. and Iraq. I don't understand why we think it's ok to blithely undermine the UN's authority. It pains me to see it.

I take consolation in the fact that the 2004 election is merely months away. So many dissenting voices now. Let's hope they're still there and that people continue their activism, when election time rolls around. We're going to need it to defeat George W. Bush. Though he's an intellectual lightweight and has proven himself to be clumsy and inept as a world leader, he has a powerful machine behind him. Democratic candidates and voters have been non-factors in the previous two election cycles. We (the voters) are going to have to step up, be active and be counted if this is going to change.

Shock and Awe

"Shock and Awe" as our strategy in Iraq. See my post of 2/25/03 on this subject. We should be ashamed.

A "Navy Junior" reflects on the beginning of the war

The Village Voice: Features: Dying for War by Alisa Solomon
Must read article.

The latest battle strategy would, as its title insists, "Shock and Awe" Iraq by dropping as many as 800 "smart" cruise missiles on that country in two days—more than twice the number of missiles launched during the entire 40 days of the 1991 Gulf War. Late last month, the architect of Shock and Awe, military strategist Harlan Ullman, gloated to the press about the effect being "rather like the nuclear weapons at Hiroshima." Such an attack would "take the city down," he said, wiping out the water and power supplies in Baghdad. "In two, three, four, five days, they are physically, emotionally, and psychologically exhausted."

So, we do a "surgical" war, where our military are doing bombing raids that keeps them safe, but kills hundreds of thousands of innocent civilians? I don't want to see any of our people die, but for Pete's sake - get in there on the ground and fight fair and square. It's no wonder the whole world thinks we value American lives over Muslim (and other non-American, non-White) lives. We do.