No Exit Strategy?

By Orville Schell

[Orville Schell is dean of the journalism school at the University of California, Berkeley, and author most recently of Virtual Tibet]

The Bush administration has brought the notion of the "marketization" of American life to heights unequalled in history. With former (and probably future) business executives and lobbyists in so many key positions, whole cabinet-level departments, the Department of Defense included, are now run more like large corporations than agencies of government. Unsurprisingly, a new, business-style mind-set has gripped Washington, for corporate leaders like to pride themselves on being resolute, on knowing how to move rapidly, boldly, and with a certain Promethean energy as they go about the process of merging and acquiring. In the sclerotic corridors of the federal bureaucracy it may, indeed, take a bold and driven leader to change the old terms of the game and get things done in inventive and previously unimagined ways.

For the rest of Schell's analysis of current assumptions in Bush foreign policy making, see TomDispatch

No Exit Strategy?
By Orville Schell

Orville Schell is dean of the journalism school at the University of California, Berkeley, and author most recently of Virtual Tibet,

The Bush administration has brought the notion of the "marketization" of American life to heights unequalled in history. With former (and probably future) business executives and lobbyists in so many key positions, whole cabinet-level departments, the Department of Defense included, are now run more like large corporations than agencies of government. Unsurprisingly, a new, business-style mind-set has gripped Washington, for corporate leaders like to pride themselves on being resolute, on knowing how to move rapidly, boldly, and with a certain Promethean energy as they go about the process of merging and acquiring. In the sclerotic corridors of the federal bureaucracy it may, indeed, take a bold and driven leader to change the old terms of the game and get things done in inventive and previously unimagined ways.

Tired, Terrified, Trigger-Happy

By Andrew M. Cockburn

[Andrew M. Cockburn is the co-author of "Out of the Ashes: The Resurrection of Saddam Hussein" (Perennial Press, 2000).]

November 19, 2003

Among the less publicized incentives propelling Iraq overseer Paul Bremer's urgent dash to Washington last week was the concern in various quarters of the administration that the U.S. expeditionary force in Iraq was in a dangerously unstable state. "We are one stressed-out reservist away from a massacre," remarked one senior official closely involved in the search for an exit strategy.

He was expressing the fear that a soldier, possibly a reservist, pressed beyond endurance by the rigors and uncertainties of his or her condition in a hostile land far from home, might open up with a machine gun on an Iraqi crowd, with obviously disastrous consequences for the future of the occupation.

For the rest of Cockburn's commentary, see Los Angeles Times

War critics astonished as US hawk admits invasion was illegal

Oliver Burkeman and Julian Borger in Washington
Thursday November 20, 2003

The Guardian

International lawyers and anti-war campaigners reacted with astonishment yesterday after the influential Pentagon hawk Richard Perle conceded that the invasion of Iraq had been illegal.

In a startling break with the official White House and Downing Street lines, Mr Perle told an audience in London: "I think in this case international law stood in the way of doing the right thing."

To read the rest of this account of Richard Perle's comments to a London audience, comments that directly contradict the official White House position, see The Guardian

Religion and Foreign Policy

By the Blog Editor---

The relationship of religion to American foreign policy does not receive nearly enough attention. For instance, the furor over remarks of new Deputy Under Secretary of Defense for Intelligence Lt. Gen. William Boykin, who has said that “he sees the war on terrorism as a clash between Judeo-Christian values and Satan,” was remarkably short-lived and seemed to end with President Bush's refusal to remove or reprimand the highly placed official in the "war on terror."

One reason why Bush didn't feel compelled to react in any meaningful way to criticism of Boykin's behavior can be found in recent data compiled by the Pew Research Center. Among other things, surveys by Pew indicate that "America remains an intensely religious nation and, if anything, the trend since the late 1980s has been toward stronger religious belief. Eight-in-ten Americans (81%) say that prayer is an important part of their daily lives, and just as many believe there will be a Judgment Day when people will be called before God to answer for their sins. Even more people (87%) agree with the statement 'I never doubt the existence of God.'" For the complete Pew report on all aspects of the current American political landscape, see Pew Research Center

Iraq Index: Tracking Variables Relevant to Reconstruction & Security in Post-Saddam Iraq

[Blog Editor's note: The Brookings Institution has come up with a "index" for measuring the progress of reconstruction in Iraq. While debate over its accuracy probably is inevitable, I believe it's at least a start at moving discourse out of the realm of the emotional into the realm of the reasonable.]

The Iraq Index is a statistical compilation of economic and security data. The index is designed to quantify the rebuilding efforts and offer an objective set of criteria for benchmarking performance. It is the first in-depth, non-partisan assessment of American efforts in Iraq, and is based primarily on U.S. government information. Although measurements of progress in any nation-building effort can never be reduced to purely quantitative data, a comprehensive compilation of such information can provide a clearer picture and contribute to a healthier and better informed debate. This resource will provide updated information on various criteria, including crime, telephone and water service, troop fatalities, unemployment, Iraqi security forces, oil production, and coalition troop strength. You can download a a PDF version of all 22 charts which includes complete source information (PDF-204kb) by going to The Brookings Institution

Brit Envoy: We Warned U.S.

London, Nov. 17, 2003

Britain warned the Bush administration before the invasion of Iraq that it was not planning sufficiently for postwar reconstruction and pressed for the invasion to be delayed, a former British ambassador told a London newspaper.

Sir Christopher Meyer — ambassador to the United States from 1997 to just before the war — told The Observer in Sunday editions that the advice on postwar planning was ignored.

For the rest of this story, see CBSNews.com

Iraq Goes Sour

The New York Times
Editorial
Saturday, November 16, 2003

The American involvement with Iraq appears to have turned a corner. The Bush administration's old game plan — drafting a constitution, followed by elections, followed by American withdrawal — has been replaced by a new timetable. It's a bit cynical to say that the plan is to toss the whole hot potato to whatever Iraqis are willing to grab it. But the White House thinking is veering close.

President Bush gambled vast amounts of American money, influence and American and Iraqi lives on the theory that toppling Saddam Hussein would make the world safer and make the Mideast a more stable and democratic region. Obviously, the Iraqi people are better off without a vicious tyrant in power. But if the American forces leave prematurely, the country will wind up vulnerable to another dictator and possibly more of a threat to the world than it was before. Yet the administration is giving the impression of having one foot out the door, while doggedly refusing to take the only realistic next step — asking the United Nations to take over the nation-building.

For the rest of the editorial, see The New York Times

Case for war confected, say top US officials

Andrew Gumbel in Los Angeles
09 November 2003

An unprecedented array of US intelligence professionals, diplomats and former Pentagon officials have gone on record to lambast the Bush administration for its distortion of the case for war against Iraq. In their view, the very foundations of intelligence-gathering have been damaged in ways that could take years, even decades, to repair.

A new documentary film beginning to circulate in the United States features one powerful condemnation after another, from the sort of people who usually stay discreetly in the shadows - a former director of the CIA, two former assistant secretaries of defence, a former ambassador to Saudi Arabia and even the man who served as President Bush's Secretary of the Army until just a few months ago. For the rest of this analysis of what many defense and intelligence professionals have to say about the Bush Administration's rationale for the Iraq War, see Independent

A fiction shattered by America's aggression
 
William Pfaff
International Herald Tribune

Saturday, November 1, 2003

 PORTO, Portugal More than nine months into the Iraq crisis, meetings between West Europeans and Americans of goodwill remain strained nondialogues in which most of the American participants find it hard to admit that the catastrophic loss of America's reputation abroad has anything to do with them .Such a meeting in this old port city last weekend produced the usual American citations of scandalous incidents of foreign anti-Americanism. The German Marshall Fund statistics were circulated, showing that the gap between American and European attitudes is widening and that Europeans increasingly disapprove of America's position as the sole superpower.

The Americans' response is nearly always that there must have been some failure in communication. Perhaps the United States should "consult" more, they say.

"It's as if they can't hear," said an Irishman who had thought of himself as one of America's best friends abroad.

But every nation has a story - a narrative it tells to explain its place in the flow of history and to give meaning to its actions. The American story since 1942 (and before) is well known, and is considered by Americans and others a story reflecting responsibility and high-mindedness.

For the rest of this thoughtful analysis by a veteran diplomatic correspondent, see International Herald Tribune