"Winning" in Iraq - the lesson of al-Radhi

Let's assume for a moment that there actually is some future gain in Iraq for America that is worth the effort. That is, let's assume that there is a possibility of "winning" in Iraq and it is just that we have not been permitted to know what the true goal that constitutes winning is.

The route to such "winning" must include successful reconstruction of Iraq after the destruction we created by invading. That's obvious, right?

For all the so-called "good news" out of Iraq regarding the schools and hospitals that have been rebuilt, nothing has lasted. Why? An Iraqi corruption judge, Radhi Hamza al-Radhi, the former head of the Iraqi Commission on Public Integrity, has explained to Congress in October, 2007 why reconstruction has not worked. Reconstruction has been totally stopped by the corruption of the al Maliki government.

al-Radhi, who is now seeking asylum in the U.S., stated that a whopping $18 billion has been lost to thieves in "nearly every ministry." (That's not the U.S.-provided Iraqi Relief and Reconstruction Fund.) Corruption, he said, is not just getting worse, but has "stopped" reconstruction efforts.

Clearly a logical, rational person who wanted to "win" in Iraq would take rapid action to deal with the corruption that was blocking reconstruction there.

Rather than dealing with the corruption, the Bush administration has practiced the tactic of shooting the messenger. The Bush administration places a higher priority on preventing the American public from learning that Iraq Reconstruction is being blocked by the corruption of the government of al Maliki than it does on winning in Iraq. They appear to view the reputation of al Maliki to be critical to the reputation of the the Bush administration.

Former State Department officials told Congress earlier this week that, though Radhi Hamza al-Radhi, the former head of the Iraqi Commission on Public Integrity, was able to get access into the U.S., he is not allowed to work and is living hand to mouth. Why has he fallen through the cracks? [Snip]

One of the former officials testified that "a senior State Department official had ordered agency employees not to give al Radhi references or contact him" for help with his asylum.

That might have a lot to do with the trouble that Radhi gave Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki and the administration. Like pointing out that corruption ran rampant under Maliki and that he'd jiggered the system so that corruption judges could not bring charges against any of his senior officials without his approval -- that was a decree on which Secretary of State Rice refused to pass judgment when she testified late last year. Rice also refused to comment on Radhi's many accusations.

It's clear that the the corruption in Iraq is matched by the corruption of the Bush administration. It's also clear that even if there were something that America could win in Iraq, this administration is making no real effort to do so. The conclusion should be that they have decided that since Iraq is unwinnable, all they want to do is avoid looking like they have failed in Iraq. That's the only reason possible why appearance is more important than success to them. They know success is impossible.

Condi; Racism is U.S. Birth Defect - Obama's speech importatt

Condi Rice thinks Obama's race speech was very important.

Today the Washington Times has published an interview with Condi Rice in which she says

By Nicholas Kralev - Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice said yesterday that the United States still has trouble dealing with race because of a national "birth defect" that denied black Americans the opportunities given to whites at the country's very founding.

"Black Americans were a founding population," she said. "Africans and Europeans came here and founded this country together — Europeans by choice and Africans in chains. That's not a very pretty reality of our founding."

As a result, Miss Rice told editors and reporters at The Washington Times, "descendants of slaves did not get much of a head start, and I think you continue to see some of the effects of that."

"That particular birth defect makes it hard for us to confront it, hard for us to talk about it, and hard for us to realize that it has continuing relevance for who we are today," she said.

Go read the entire interview.

This is a statement by the highest ranking African American in the conservative Republican administration of George Bush, and has been published in the Washington Times, the Mooney-subsidized ultra-right-wing Washington newspaper. Condi's interview is important, the source is important, and the venue of publication will take it to an audience that represents much of the political opposition to improving race relations in America.

I knew that Obama's race speech was an important milestone in America's history of race relations. What I didn't realize was that it may indicate that America is ready to rationally discuss how racism infects our society. This goes way beyond the successes of the Civil Rights Movement is getting the race-restrictive laws off the American law books. This begins to go to the very attitudes and behavior that still contaminates America as a hangover from the attitudes required to hold a substantial portion of the Southern population in chattel slavery.

America may be ready to take the next step towards the American ideals of Liberty and Equality for all Americans. Condi's interview is very important. To find it published in the Washington Times is, in my opinion, even more important. It says that White Conservatives are ready to open a discussion of the problems of race in America instead of just attacking anyone who dares to bring it up.

This is the America I love. Not perfect, but striving towards perfection. It is great to see it happening in public.

It will be very interesting to see if there are any reported reactions to his interviews, especially from the American Old South states.

Homosexuality in American politics.

This week we are offered further proof by the Idaho Statesman that, contrary to his claims that he is not Gay, Republican Larry Craig has had a number of liaisons with other men. Then, on the front page of the Sunday Times online is an article pointing out that the biggest news regarding Condelezza Rice is not that she is orchestrating the Arab - Israeli peace talks in Annapolis, MD., but the rumors that she is a closet Lesbian.

On the Democratic side, well-known homosexual Congressman Barney Frank recently told Charley Rose that being homosexual causes him no political problems at all as he functions in Congress as current chairman of the Financial Services Committee. In fact he said, it is normally that case that he has to remind those he is working with that he is a homosexual. It is of that little consequence.

This is a problem unique to the Republican Party. It centers on their exploitation of religious hatred of homosexuals in order to get elected to office, followed by the hypocrisy of either going home and practicing the very behavior they attempt to criminalize, or as was the case when Republican Congressman Mark Foley was exposed as a closeted homosexual preying on Congressional Pages, Foley's homosexuality was well known in the Republican Party and concealed by them.

In fact, the Republican hypocrisy on homosexuality is is made starkly clear by the efforts of then Congressman Larry Craig as he attempted to have Congressman Frank expelled from the House or censured because Congressman Frank had unknowingly rented his basement to a homosexual prostitute to had run a prostitution ring.

Think about it - would you rather have a meal with the witty and interesting Barney Frank or with the undistinguished and sad Sen. Larry Craig? And why should questions of Condi Rice's sexuality be of any importance at all as she attempts to once again bring peace the Arabs and the Jews who have spent over half a century fighting about Jerusalem?

Don't give me the crap about homosexuals attempting to recruit children to their lifestyle. That fiction is a fig leaf designed to conceal the true hatred that those who espouse it carry with them. No one in their right mind would choose to be pilloried as it done to homosexuals in our society. But even if it were true, the laws the Republicans are attempting to pass declare that the crime is to be homosexual, not to recruit children. They are laws designed to declare someone a criminal for what they are, not what they do. Fortunately, our society is outgrowing that primitive, hate based fear of others who are different.

The hypocrisy of the conservatives works in the short term to build turnout and draw votes in the heat of a political campaign, but in the long run, has been furiously building 'blowback' for the hypocritical Republican Party and for conservatives.

Iran having economic, social problems.

Kevin Drum reports that Iran is having internal problems of the kinds that can cause a government to be replaced. The Iranian government is using the traditional panicky reaction of a threatened government. They are putting the screws of cultural crackdown on the population.

Of course, the next stage after that is to start a war with some other nation. The works very nicely when both government involved in the war want to fight a war. this is what the Argentine Generals did when they attacked the Falkland Islands. Thatcher was having problems staying in power, and was delighted to join the Argentines in a mutual war of government survival.

Iran, of course, has a perfect war-buddy. Dick Cheney really needs a war to shore up his falling stature in American government. This is at least part of what is behind the internal conflict between Cheney and Rice over how to deal with Iran. Talking Points Memo discusses the current bureaucratic battle between the Department of State (Rice) and The Office of the Vice President (Dick Cheney). The International Herald Tribune reported on that bureaucratic battle yesterday, but It's really old news. Steve Clemons reported it May 24, 2007.

The U.S. doesn't need another useless war in the Middle East, but Dick Cheney sure does.