Dick Cheney, the Genious

Dick Cheney in a 1994 post first Iraq war interview displays astonishing foresight and states why occupying Iraq would be a wrong move.



Transcript, via Editor & Publisher:

Q: Do you think the U.S., or U.N. forces, should have moved into Baghdad?

A: No.

Q: Why not?

A: Because if we'd gone to Baghdad we would have been all alone. There wouldn't have been anybody else with us. There would have been a U.S. occupation of Iraq. None of the Arab forces that were willing to fight with us in Kuwait were willing to invade Iraq.

Once you got to Iraq and took it over, took down Saddam Hussein's government, then what are you going to put in its place? That's a very volatile part of the world, and if you take down the central government of Iraq, you could very easily end up seeing pieces of Iraq fly off: part of it, the Syrians would like to have to the west, part of it -- eastern Iraq -- the Iranians would like to claim, they fought over it for eight years. In the north you've got the Kurds, and if the Kurds spin loose and join with the Kurds in Turkey, then you threaten the territorial integrity of Turkey.

It's a quagmire if you go that far and try to take over Iraq.

The other thing was casualties. Everyone was impressed with the fact we were able to do our job with as few casualties as we had. But for the 146 Americans killed in action, and for their families -- it wasn't a cheap war. And the question for the president, in terms of whether or not we went on to Baghdad, took additional casualties in an effort to get Saddam Hussein, was how many additional dead Americans is Saddam worth?

Our judgment was, not very many, and I think we got it right.

A Taste of Local and National Politics

All you democracy deprived people in the Middle East, know that democracy has a dark side. Check out this piece of legislation that has recently made it through the North Dakota congress, here are some notable highlights:

Bill OKs shooting burglars
By Dale Wetzel, Associated Press
Published Tuesday, February 13, 2007

BISMARCK – Opposition from prosecutors and law enforcement officers could not derail legislation giving North Dakotans the right to shoot a burglar or carjacker with protection from criminal prosecution or civil lawsuits if they do.

“This bill is simply a citizen’s version of homeland security,” said Representive Ron Carlisle, Republican-Bismarck.

The measure, which the National Rifle Association (NRA) is promoting in other states, has drawn fierce resistance from police and county prosecutors who say North Dakotans already have the right to defend themselves in their homes and workplaces.

Rep. Al Carlson, Republican-Fargo, said homeowners should not be obliged to try to find out whether a burglar is a potential danger before they defend themselves. “I’d tell you what would happen in my house. I would shoot that person, and I would shoot them enough times that I knew he wasn’t going to do any danger to me, or my family,” Carlson said. “He’d leak like a watering can when I was done with him.”

One of the many reasons to love living in a Red State, Yee Haa!
This isn't, by far, the only display of democratic absurdity. Anyone following the current hotly debated issue in the US congress, that of the non-biding resolution opposing Bush's troop surge plan, can be treated to gems from both sides of the isle... again some lowlights:

Rep. Todd Akin (R-MO): Could you picture Davy Crockett at the Alamo looking at his Blackberry getting a message from Congress? Davy Crockett, we support you. The only thing is we are not going to send any troops. I’m sure that would really be impressive to Davy Crockett.

Rep. Ginny Brown-Waite (R-FL): In the South, we have a wonderful saying and it goes like this: Get ‘er done. Our soldiers want to get it done and come home, and our President wants the same thing, and this Congress should demand the exact same thing. Let’s get out there and get ‘er done.

Rep. Fortenberry (R-NB): Madam Speaker, when I left home this week for Washington, my 6-year-old Kathryn became very sad. See, she has big, beautiful brown eyes and they welled up with tears at the prospect of my leaving again for Washington. And she said to me, Daddy, why do you have to be a Congressman?

Rep. Keller (R-FL): Let me give you an analogy. Imagine your next-door neighbor refuses to mow his lawn and the weeds are all the way up to his waist. You decide you are going to mow his lawn for him every single week. The neighbor never says thank you, he hates you, and sometimes he takes out a gun and shoots at you.

And people say C-SPAN isn't entertaining!

An answer to an American question

A question that has been prominent in American media and US political speech in the last few years has been, "Why do they [terrorists] hate us?". Which is a very valid question, because to fight terrorism you should know its roots and causes and start the fight there. But the problem is that these politicians and analysts have stopped short of seeking (or admitting) the real answer.

The following paragraph is an excerpt from an interview with Michael Scheuer, a very colorful person who's a 22-year CIA veteran that served as the Chief of Alec Station, the Osama bin Laden Unit at the Counterterrorist Center.

Q: Where does the major danger lie now?

A: For America? That we could very well be defeated oversees and at home. And the source of it is clearly that we have yet to find a politician in either party who's willing to tell the American people the truth. We continue to be harangued by President Bush and Senator Clinton and former President Clinton and Senator McCain about how Americans must fight this war because we're being attacked because we have freedoms and liberties and women in the workplace and a whole list of ephemera that have nothing to do with this war at all.

We're being attacked, Britain is being attacked, our allies are being attacked because we've installed and backed and implemented a set of policies in the Middle East for the last 30 years or more. And we're being attacked because of what we do, not because of who we are. And by refusing to talk about that, I'm afraid the American people, at least, don't have a good idea of just how dangerous the threat is that we face.

The interview was part of PBS' program Frontline, the episode was titled The Cell Next Door. It talks about an alleged terrorist cell in Toronto that was uncovered, its members arrested and are awaiting trial thanks to information from a self-described Muslim fundamentalist, dubbed the Radical Informant. Quite interesting. But I digress.

To fight terrorism one must eliminate the conditions that breed it, that might be a process that will take some time, and it certainly will not be an awe-inspiring show of force that some want it to be, but it's the only way real and lasting results can be achieved. The US needs to rethink its foreign policy and address two particularly fundamental issues; the injustice the Palestinians are subjected to, and the US support of the tyrannical Arab regimes.

Technorati tags: War on Terror, Terrorism, US Foreign Policy

Why the "soccer" Gods will never smile on the US

Besides calling the sport by the damn wrong name, this is what the local ABC affiliate decided to broadcast instead of Brazil Vs. Australia.



Their sports director was nice enough to reply to my email..

I wish I had a better answer than the one I will give you. Our station has partnered with Messiah Lutheran Church for more than 20 years to bring a church service to those who aren't able to go, and out of respect for that partnership we've chosen to tape delay the soccer matches that run during that time. They will be shown Sunday night after our 10:00 news, but I know that is not the same as seeing them live.

Thank God for free to air satellite television, an Iranian station called Tapesh, and most of all a friend nice enough to come to the office and open his business on a Sunday just for me to watch the game. Bill, thanks bud I owe you one.

Faith issues

I came upon some sort of a news report while channel surfing last night, it talked about how the American Embassy building in Tehran is being used as a recruiting station for suicide bombers. It turned out that the report was for The 700 Club, Wikipedia'd, when the report ended they cut to the reporter back in the studio stateside with Pat Robertson where the two had the most interesting and "informing" exchange.

The reporter mentioned that Iran's president Ahmadinejad believed that The Mahdi's return to Qom is imminent, and that the right conditions for his return call for the world to be in chaos, which according to them explains Iran's nuclear ambitions. Robertson's reaction was to call Ahmadinejad a nut, a statement that I've personally uttered more than once. The idea of a figure that existed some 2000 years ago returning to Earth from a well, to lead the forces of Good in a great battle against Evil, and eventually bringing peace to the world? I mean COME ON.. a well? Have you said, for example, this figure will be returning from Heaven into the fields of Armageddon... oh wait, Mr. Robertson, you're also a nut.

I'm not aiming to favor one story over the other, but to point out an important issue that is a requirement and a major flaw in all the religions I'm familiar with, it's the issue of blind belief that calls upon the followers of a religion to believe everything the religion preaches as the absolute truth, and to reject everything preached by other religions, even in such a case where the two stories are so ridiculously similar. I strongly believe that absolutes are very rare; there is no absolute truth, love, hate, etc. And I said "very rare" and not nonexistent because that would've been too absolute a statement.

Another very informative piece of information that the 700 Club provided was about the black Hatta, or traditional Arab head dress that comes in the black and white configuration, now associated with Palestine. But that's a story for another post.

Technorati tags: Faith, Religion

Dubai Ports World, and other lingering issues

I've been wanting to comment on the American stupidity that created the fiasco around Dubai Ports (DP) World taking over operations at six US ports. The same kind of superb reasoning that mothers in American suburbia used when they voted for Bush, you know, because they feel safer walking into a mall with him being the president! American legislators deemed that it would endanger America's security to have an Arab owned company manage some American ports. It does not matter that managing the ports has nothing to do with security, that it's mainly a logistical task, and that security is in the hands of US Coast Guard and Customs Department, have an Arab owned company, or the boogie man, manage the ports is a no no.

Of all Arab countries, the company was bought by the United Arab Emirates, and of the seven Emirates, it was Dubai that closed the deal to acquire the previously British corporation. Now the UAE has always been friendly to the US, and Dubai has got to be one of the most open, liberal, business oriented, multi-cultural metropolis in the Arab world. But that does not matter, they're the bad guys, they're Arab.

A funny twist to this whole issue, is that Bush, the right-wing conservative, tough-on-security, strong-against-terrorism, smoke-them-out-of-their-caves guy, was all for the deal. While the Democrats fanatically opposed even giving DP World a chance. I guess that's to be expected in a day and age when a republican president, wait.. The neo-con republican president, advocates the use of alternative energy sources and tells his fellow Americans that they are addicted to gas. Seriously, what's happening in the world? FUCK politics.

Less than an hour ago, (R) Sen. John Warner announced on the senate floor that DP World has given up on the deal, and the firm is to transfer port operations to a US entity. The reason given in the statement DP World released was "Because of the strong relationship between the United Arab Emirates and the United States and to preserve that relationship, DP World has decided to transfer fully the US operation of P&O Operations North America to a United States entity". Damn right! The UAE should also apologize to the US for causing such a concern over homeland security. If it's not apparent, I'm extremely bitter. Way to reward your friends America.


A couple more things I wanted to rant about and didn't get the chance to are, Paradise Now the movie, I was really rooting for it to win an Oscar but I guess it just wasn't meant to be, I didn't see the other films that were nominated in the same category so I won't comment on whether it was more deserving of a win. But I will say that I was extremely disappointed to hear the country of origin change from Palestine to The Palestinian Territories, retarded really. Turns out Israel has some control over Hollywood, the media and US policy, who would've THUNK it!!

The other issue is Hamas and their election win, I was watching a hearing for the US House Committee on International Relations on C-SPAN, and learned that the US has already retrieved over $50 million of this year's funds from the Palestinian Authority through the current interim government. The US is making sure that no cash whatsoever finds its way to a Hamas controlled government, they stated that medical and food assistance would continue as planned. It's just that cash is necessary for the flow of day to day business and for paying of salaries and such, I wonder if a Hamas government would be able to handle that, especially if the Europeans follow suit and withhold funds as well. How would Hamas cope? If alternative funding sources step up to the plate, who would they be? And what kind of problems would that create for the Palestinian Authority?


Technorati tags: DP World, Dubai Ports, US policy, Paradise Now, Hamas

Zawahiri dead? Episode 2

After last week's attack on a tiny Pakistani village that supposedly targeted Al Qaueda leadership including second in command, whom I like to call: root of the evil that is Al Qaueda, Ayman Zawahiri, the outcome of the attack is not yet clear. It is likely that the strike has missed its intended target, reports say that drones or UAV's were circling the area for a few days prior to the attack, not exactly the most covert of operations.

Some reports stated that the victims were all civilians, while others claim that some Al Qaueda senior members were in fact killed in the attack, including alleged chief Al Qaueda bomb expert.

What's clear though, is that the intelligence woes of the US continue, and each failure to capture or kill Al Qaueda leaders, and each tape release by Bin Laden or Zawahiri, the US intelligence shortcomings are made more and more apparent. This was not the first failed strike, but the US policy remains the same, according to a former CIA operative that was speaking on FOX news, the CIA cannot afford but to carry out such strikes whenever intelligence is available about Al Qaueda leadership in an area. As bad as a flop attack looks for the US, who's going to stop them from doing it? They have refused to apologize for the latest attack and they'll continue to flex their muscles and enjoy the perks of being the world's super power. If they would only do us a favor and manage to do something super like getting Bin Laden, Zawahiri, or Zarqawi..

Technorati tags: Bin Laden, Zawahiri, Al Qaueda, US Intelligence

Zawahiri dead?

Reports have stated that an Unmanned Air Vehicle (UAV) missile attack on an area on the border of Afghanistan, targeted a suspected group of Al Qaueda leaders. It's possible that among the casualties is Al Qaueda second in command, Ayman Al Zawahiri.

more on ABC news

Technorati tags: Zawahiri, Al Qaueda

Are Muslims less susceptible to naturalization?

The rioting in France brought up an issue that I've often thought about, that of the lack of integration of Muslims into the western communities they migrate into. Looking at America as an example since the country was basically formed by immigrants, although there were some clashes between the different ethnicities, the country became a true melting pot. The ethnic groups maintained aspects of their home countries' identities, but all adopted an American identity and more importantly all had the country's best interest as their common goal, they truly embraced their new home as their new home.

Many Muslims do not fully understand the ramifications of accepting a foreign nationality, either that or they choose to ignore them completely. It's a given that situations in their home countries are less than favorable, but they need to look beyond the immediate improvements to their circumstances, they need to look at the responsibilities that are expected from them with their new affiliations. Taking America as an example once more, look at World War II and how the US military included young men from different ethnicities, many were 1st and 2nd generation immigrants, they fought and sacrificed together for their country. Now Muslim American parents have trouble registering their sons in the required Military Selective Service System, which will be used if there is to be a draft, the military is currently a volunteer force. That's very hypocritical, because when they became citizens they've pledged their allegiance to the US. The issue of Muslims in the military came to surface soon after the September 11th 2001 events.

So what is it that the rioters in France are after? Is it truly an issue of raging against inequality and isolation? Or is it the fact that the rioters simply don't belong to a country that is so different from their belief system? These issues were always there, but with the current rise of extremist Islam and renewed confrontation with the west, the issues surfaced in the violent matter that has been seen on the streets of France for the past couple of weeks. Hopefully that's not a hint of what's to come.

Ramadan did start Tuesday

The moon whose crescent was so elusive while watched with so much anticipation last week, has been making brilliant yet quiet appearances every evening now. This is a shot of the moon Sunday evening, it's clearly a big moon looks like more than half a moon to the naked eye, which would mean that it's more likely that tomorrow is the 7th of Ramadan rather than the 6th. Big surprise, ISNA got it wrong..

The month is 1/4 done, and has taken a turn to the better for me, several Iftars with the family and homemade gatayef yesterday (notice the emphasis on food :)

What I'm about to say is probably one of the most overused statements, but man is time flying or what?!

30 Days, as a Muslim in America

Last night as I was getting ready for bed I was doing my routine surfing of TV channels when I came upon a show called 30 Days on the FX channel. I've seen the show's promos advertised before and managed to catch an episode of it. The show's idea is basically to take an individual and put them in an environment completely different than theirs and immerse them in that environment for 30 days, I know the reality TV fad has been done to death and is all but rightfully over, but I really like the idea of this show.


Last night's episode (it was actually a re-run) was to have a 33 year old Christian man live as a Muslim in Dearborn, Michigan known for being the largest Arab/Muslim community in the US. You can read more about the episode by visiting the 30 Days website and clicking on Episode Guide, then choosing Muslims and America. On the website you can read the episode's synopsis, character profiles, and see gallery images along with a short video clip. Now I'll leave things you can check on the website out of this post :) The subject, David, travels from West Virginia, moves in with a young Pakistani couple, grows a beard, and on some days, even dresses in traditional Pakistani attire. For 30 days, David follows Halal (Kosher) eating habits (no pork and no alcohol) and even observes the daily five prayers. He didn't actually pray but had to "roll out his prayer mat and be physically there for the duration of the prayer". He also went to the mosque during the congregate weekly prayer on Fridays. Now these things that David had to do are more than a lot of Muslims, including yours truly, actually do. But it really managed to give a much needed rare insight into the daily lives of Muslims.

Towards the end of the 30 day period, David appeared on a radio call-in show and answered questions about Muslims and their association with terrorism, he also tried to get people to sign a petition to stop legislation that would allow racial profiling. It was during these two events that David, and hopefully the viewers, got an understanding for the position that many Arabs and Muslims living in the states are in. The majority of the Arab/Muslim community are good American citizens, striving to live the American dream of prosperity while serving their country by excelling in their fields, and they certainly do not identify with the terrorist bunch.

As an Arab and a Muslim living in the US I've always felt a responsibility to reflect a true positive image (not a fake one) and to attempt to engage Americans and answer their questions and curiosities, not shy away into a cocoon. I believe this is the responsibility of every Arab and every Muslim living here, especially after 9/11 because dialogue and information are the best cure for guilt-by-association and the villainizing of a whole religion or race based on the acts of a few.

Edit (7/20 2:09PM):I've found more about this episode of 30 Days via blogger Palforce, here.
Palforce also provides a link to an Al Jazeera article about the same topic.

Americana

My return from the trip home to Jordan this summer coincided with the 4th of July weekend, that was a little by design cause a 3-day weekend is surely welcomed to recuperate from the long trip. On Monday we went and watched fireworks with friends and everyone
was having a great time.


The weekend after that, the Air Show came to town. Planes from old World War II propellers to state of the art fighter jets brought excitement to the little town's sky.



And like that wasn't enough excitement, this weekend the town had a street fair. Vendors from all around the country lined the old downtown streets showing their goods to the public, the turn out was excellent. Live music was playing and lots of good food was enjoyed.



Each of the last 3 weekends has been a true taste of Americana.