Right On The Right

"Juan Cole, leftist professor..."

Yap yap yap yap yap. Produce some documentation to back up your accusations for a change, imbecile. Your factless mewling and mindless ad hominems are tiresome -- but not unexpected.

"...offering that "reality" consists of a professor believing America’s only purpose in world affairs is Zionist imperialism is quite another."

I haven't offered that, wormstain. Go build your straw men somewhere else.

"This is not a war of aggression; it is a war of defense, with collateral damage like all other wars."

Horse puckey. The "threat" that Iraq supposedly posed to the United States turned out to be purest fantasy. There was nothing to "defend" ourselves against.

"...the only lies and deception precipitating this war came from Saddam Hussein and his Oil-For-Food scandal co-conspirators."

Wrong. The Bush Administration sold this war to the American electorate with a torrent of misinformation and deliberate distortions. Learn some history, O ignorant zeroid.

Your “pay attention to reality” link leads to Juan Cole, who is hardly the personification of any concept of same. Juan Cole, leftist professor who is often the sole Middle East “expert” cited in NYT and WaPo agitprop, believes in a conspiracy of Jewish "neo-conservatives" that largely runs U.S. policy toward the Middle East. His recurrent theme is that a nebulous “pro-Likud” cabal controls the U.S. government from a small number of key positions in the Executive Branch. He never names the leaders or organizations behind this fabulously clever and utterly secret conspiracy but vaguely associates it with AIPAC, MEMRI, and any prominent Jew in the Bush administration.

Debating the merits of re-Baathification from half a world away while imagining the mindset of lifelong Iraqi Muslims is one thing, but offering that "reality" consists of a professor believing America’s only purpose in world affairs is Zionist imperialism is quite another. This is not a war of aggression; it is a war of defense, with collateral damage like all other wars. Faulty intel is faulty intel, as Bill Clinton himself can attest, but the only lies and deception precipitating this war came from Saddam Hussein and his Oil-For-Food scandal co-conspirators. Can you imagine a world still populated by a ruthless dictator controlling one quarter of the planet’s oil supply, hostile to the West, and encouraging its enemies? Is there nothing worth dying for in your worldview?

"There has, I am sure you are aware, just recently been the passage of legislation that will allow former Baathist back into government positions, a conciliatory action to help bring the Sunnis back into more full support of the government."

And of course, that law is a completely wonderful thing for Iraq's Sunnis, isn't it? Not if you bother to pay attention to reality -- something wingnuts are loathe to do...

The International Center for Transitional Justice which specializes in helping countries come to terms with past human rights abuses, has issued a detail report (available here in pdf format) that brings sharply into question the usefulness to national reconciliation of the new law on debaathification passed by the Iraqi parliament. They translated the law here (again, pdf). ICTJ concludes:

' 1. The new law is not the major change that reformers had pushed for. Instead, the law preserves the previous De-Ba'athification system and simply renames Iraq's controversial De-Ba'athification Commission. This is a major change from the draft law that went to parliament in December;

2. Reinstatement rights, pension rights, and the appeals system have been strengthened for many thousands of people, at least on paper. These are welcome improvements - but do not change the fact that the system is still based on guilt by association, not on individual deeds;

3. The new Commission has stronger powers than previously and its reach will now extend across different organizations, including the President's Office, Prime Minister's Office, and the Supreme Judicial Council. Exemptions will be harder to come by. These changes will likely cause political backlash and also severely violates the independence of Iraq's judiciary. These provisions are in addition to the new language that forces all former employees of Ba'ath era security forces to retire, which is already complicating the law's political reception;

4. The new Commission will now have the power to investigate complaints of corruption or criminal activity by former Ba'athists and gather evidence for judicial action. This could be a welcome move towards greater accountability-or a new mechanism to conduct public and high profile witch hunts. Much depends on the Commission's new leadership and the new rules they must establish for the Commission's work. '

As I pointed out when the law was first passed by parliament, I found it suspicious that some powerful Sadrists were behind it and enthusiastic about it, but that ex-Baathists like Iyad Allawi and Salih Mutlak came out against the legislation. If it were really good for ex-Baathists, you'd have expected it to be the other way around. Much will depend on how it is implemented, but the ex-Baathists apparently fear that it will be used to shut them out of politics altogether.

"But I wonder what you really want."

That's simple. I want American soldiers to stop dying in a war of aggression that was founded on lies and disinformation. So long as they are in Iraq, they'll keep dying. Is that what you want?

Distorting the surge..... In fact, it was absolutely the bedrock of the surge idea that its goal was to reduce the violence SO THAT in a country with reduced violence political reconciliation could take place and political progress could occur. While that political progress has not been as fast as any of us want, it is by no means "bogged down". There has, I am sure you are aware, just recently been the passage of legislation that will allow former Baathist back into government positions, a conciliatory action to help bring the Sunnis back into more full support of the government. Are things completely solved - of course not. But I wonder what you really want. Would you have us pull out like the Obama and Clinton want? Have you not read in recent days interview after interview with Iraqi police and civilians who, while they do want Americans to leave someday, absolutely insist that American presence is necessary to continue the stability that is enabling some forward progress politically? Do you care about Iraqis or not? My guess is that you would be the first to point out the deaths of any civilians due to American presence -- but the last to note how many Iraqis recognize how essential our military presence is to the maintain the security progress that even you can not deny. And you would advance your arguments far further if you didn't immediately dip into the gutter of ad hominem attacks, using words like "war pimps" and "wingnut bloggers". I'm sure it would surprise you, but a number of those "soldiers whose lives have been sacrificed in the surge" believed in their mission, believed that we should stay in Iraq to help it stabilize, and indeed had Iraqi friends to whom they felt some obligation. I just read the profiles of two who died today whose family members confirmed that very sentiment. I don't think they would want you to use their deaths to advance your arguments.

What Justin and his fellow warpimps ignore — what they must ignore — is that local reductions in violence in Baghdad and other cities were not the primary goals of the surge. Those were only tactics, and while there have been some reductions in violence in some parts of Iraq, the actual goals of the surge, as laid out by both the Bush administration and the Iraqi government under Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki, remain largely unmet. This was documented by a recent report from the Government Accountability Office.

There’s more on this at the National Security Network. Reconciliation and political progress in Iraq has bogged down. The soldiers whose lives have been sacrificed in the surge deserve better than to have pundits and wingnut bloggers declare that the surge has been a success in blatant disregard of the facts.