Conspicuous by its absence

NYTimes:

The Qaeda leader’s body was flown to Afghanistan, the country where he made his fame fighting and killing Soviet troops during the 1980s.

On whose behalf?

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One Two Three What Are We Fighting For?

Title in honor of Woodstock 40th anniversary.

Guardian:

Afghanistan has quietly passed a law permitting Shia men to deny their wives food and sustenance if they refuse to obey their husbands' sexual demands, despite international outrage over an earlier version of the legislation which President Hamid Karzai had promised to review.

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Ruh-roh

A draft report by American intelligence agencies concludes that Afghanistan is in a “downward spiral” and casts serious doubt on the ability of the Afghan government to stem the rise in the Taliban’s influence there, according to American officials familiar with the document.

The classified report finds that the breakdown in central authority in Afghanistan has been accelerated by rampant corruption within the government of President Hamid Karzai and by an increase in violence by militants who have launched increasingly sophisticated attacks from havens in Pakistan.

The report, a nearly completed version of a National Intelligence Estimate, is set to be finished after the November elections and will be the most comprehensive American assessment in years on the situation in Afghanistan. Its conclusions represent a harsh verdict on decision-making in the Bush administration, which in the months after the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks made Afghanistan the central focus of a global campaign against terrorism.

In case the words aren't clear enough, here's the picture.

You can talk about the surge until the cows come home, but here's the real problem. We've spent $650 billion fighting an unnecessary war in Iraq the past 5 years. That's money we could have probably used for a few other things. And at the end of the day, Afghanistan is going to be as much of a failed state as it was in 2001. Whether the surge worked or not is pretty much irrelevant.

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Where's your scarf, young lady?

Josh points out the obvious. Despite frothings from the likes of Michelle Malkin and the screaming loonies of the right that opponents of the Iraq War and George Bush's policies in general are conspiring with our Muslim enemies to bring Sharia law to the US, when push comes to shove, look who actually is happy to see Shari'a in effect here:

To defend itself against a lawsuit by the widows of three American soldiers who died on one of its planes in Afghanistan, a sister company of the private military firm Blackwater has asked a federal court to decide the case using the Islamic law known as Shari’a.

The lawsuit “is governed by the law of Afghanistan,” Presidential Airways argued in a Florida federal court. “Afghan law is largely religion-based and evidences a strong concern for ensuring moral responsibility, and deterring violations of obligations within its borders.”

If the judge agrees, it would essentially end the lawsuit over a botched flight supporting the U.S. military. Shari’a law does not hold a company responsible for the actions of employees performed within the course of their work.

If Shari'a saves Blackwater money, i guess it's OK then.

And you, where's your beard?

Continue reading Where's your scarf, young lady?

abu muqawama

I don't know if either of my readers has discovered the abu muqawama blog, which is written by current and former US military/DoD people and covers Iraq, Afghanistan, and other military issues with a full dose of snark and a refreshing lack of bullshit. I don't always agree with them, but their take is invaluable in understanding what's going on inside the US military structure.

This article from earlier in the week is a fine example:

At the core of American exceptionalism is a paradox of uniqueness and universality. The American national mythology holds that the United States is simultaneously unique, in the sense of being the first (and perhaps the best) modern liberal democracy, yet also universal, in the sense of representing the "true" aspirations of all humanity. This sense of exceptionalism produces an historical tendency to try to spread the American model around the globe. But there is a longstanding debate going back to the founding of our union about the appropriate means to do so. Should America seek to remake the world by serving as a shining example of its highest ideals (the "exemplarist" approach), or should we more actively intervene to remake the world in our image (the "progressive imperialist" approach)?

go read the whole thing.

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What does this mean?

Here's an Reuters story on today's surprise defeat in the US House of Representatives on a bill that would have appropriated around $160 billion for the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq:

The U.S. House of Representatives on Thursday defeated legislation that would have funded the war in Iraq for another year, in a surprise move that the Senate could overturn.

By a vote of 149-141, the Democrat-controlled House rejected a measure that would have given the Pentagon $162.5 billion to keep the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan running through next summer, slightly below President George W. Bush's request.

A large group of anti-war House Democrats voted against the funds. That, coupled with 132 Republicans voting "present," meaning neither "yes" nor "no," killed the measure for now.

But the Senate is expected to debate its version of a war-funding bill possibly next week and is likely to resurrect the money for the coming year.

As i recall, all appropriations must originate in the House, and be approved by both houses of Congress before being sent to the President for his signature. How can the Senate overturn the House's rejection of these funds? All that can happen is the Senate can pass its version of the bill, but then the House will have to either revisit this appropriation, or start from scratch. Or am i missing something?

UPDATE: Reader crc points out that revenue bills (ie taxes) must originate in the House, but that appropriations bills (ie spending) may originate in either body. Fair point. But the article implies, i think, that the Senate can unilaterally overturn the House's decision, and resurrect the appropriation, on its own. That's just wrong.

Continue reading What does this mean?

Cost of freedom?

From the Center for Arms Control and Non-Proliferation:

Continue reading Cost of freedom?

Why we fight

From the Beeb:

The upper house of the Afghan parliament has supported a death sentence issued against a journalist for blasphemy in northern Afghanistan.

Pervez Kambaksh, 23, was convicted last week of downloading and distributing an article insulting Islam. He has denied the charge.

. . .

Mr Kambaksh has at least two more courts in which to appeal and the sentence would have to be approved by President Karzai to be carried out.

He is a student at Balkh University and a journalist for Jahan-e Naw (New World).

He was arrested in 2007 after downloading material relating to the role of women in Islamic societies.

These are good guys in Afghanistan.
Oy.

Continue reading Why we fight

Roll call vote on Iraq supplemental

House

Senate

WTF? Burr voted against the supplemental? Nothing on his website explaining that vote. I'll keep looking to see if this is any kind of mistake. Feinstein, Harkin, Levin, and Mikulski all voted in favor. How did Burr get religion on this vote?

UPDATE: Here's what the morons who represent us in Washington voted for yesterday:

The U.S. military announced on Friday the deaths of six more soldiers in Iraq, hours after U.S. President George W. Bush predicted a bloody summer lay ahead.

Five of the soldiers died on Thursday while another was killed on Tuesday by a roadside bomb in Tikrit, 175 km (110 miles) north of Baghdad, the military said.

. . .

Bush told a news conference in Washington on Thursday he expected heavy fighting in Iraq in the weeks and months ahead.

"It could be a bloody -- it could be a very difficult August," Bush told reporters.

Tell me Dianne Feinstein, tell me Carl Levin, how this differs from the Soviet Union's catastrophic actions in Afghanistan in 1987?

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The Spirit of Strom Thurmond

Link

Soon after the blast, Cheney -- who officials say was never in danger from the blast at the sprawling base -- went ahead with talks with Afghan President Hamid Karzai in the capital.

The meeting had been scheduled for Monday, but was delayed when Cheney was snowed in at Bagram soon after arriving from Islamabad on a visit shrouded in secrecy because of security.

Karzai and Cheney met one-on-one for 45-50 minutes at the presidential palace in Kabul -- longer than the planned 30 minutes -- before an expanded meeting with staff and advisers.

The pair made no comment after the meeting and Cheney flew out for Oman aboard a military C-17 Globemaster named "The Spirit of Strom Thurmond" after the staunch conservative politician.

His visit came as Washington said al Qaeda and its Taliban allies were regrouping on Pakistan and Afghan soil.

Just think, if Strom Thurmond had been elected President in 1948, we wouldn't have had all these problems over the years.

These people are evil in ways we haven't yet thought of.

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