New York Times columnist David Brooks thinks we’ve graduated from culture wars to presidency wars – and that it’s not a good thing.
“The culture warriors were passionate about abortion, feminism or prayer in schools,” Brooks writes. “But with the presidency warrior, political disagreement, cultural resentment and personal antipathy blend to create a vitriol that is at once a descendant of the old conflicts, but also different.”
Contrary to the assertions of presidential “warriors” on both sides, Brooks says, “… most people in the last two administrations were well-intentioned patriots doing the best they could. The core threat to democracy is not in the White House, it's the haters themselves. And for those who are going to make the obvious point: Yes, I did say some of these things during the Clinton years, when it was conservatives bashing a Democrat, but not loudly enough, which I regret, because the weeds that were once on the edge of public life now threaten to choke off the whole thing.” (Note: the New York Times site requires free registration.)
When $87 billion just isn’t enough
It looks like the reconstruction of Iraq is turning into one big candy shop for the Friends of George, such as Halliburton, which still pays Vice President Dick Cheney over $100,000 a year, and Bechtel, another corporation joined to the administration at the wallet, while local Iraqi contractors get shut out of meaningful contracts. Now it seems that even the $87 billion requested by the administration for the next fiscal year won’t be enough to take care of everything.
Here are just a few of the things the administration wants to do with your tax dollars in Iraq:
-- $400 million for two prisons to house 8,000 prisoners. That’s $50,000 per prisoner. I don’t know which felons they plan on putting in these places, but it sure sounds like they’ll be better housed than the average Iraqi.
-- $100 million for a “witness protection program” at $200,000 per witness. Go figure.
-- $9 million for ZIP codes and postal automation.
-- $900 million to ship gasoline, propane and diesel fuel to Iraq, which has the second-largest proved oil reserves in the world.
Not all the money is going to Iraq. We’ve still got Afghanistan to take care of, too:
-- $8 million for an Afghanistan highway patrol.
-- $20 million to finance 200 election experts for six months, or $100,000 per expert.
-- $30 million for the protection of President Harmid Karzai.
There is no question that after unleashing devastating wars on Iraq and Afghanistan we owe it to those poor, beat up countries to restore vital basic services and perhaps provide a little extra. But are all the things on the administration’s shopping list really necessary?
And how many years will we be shelling out this cash?
Well, our troops in Afghanistan are digging in for a stay of at least another eight years.
Syria sticks its thumb in our eye
Just a few short months ago, we were threatening Syria with all kinds of dire consequences if this “rogue state” failed to get its act together and halt the flow of jihadis over its border into Iraq, where they use our troops for target practice. Well, that hasn’t happened.
Instead, Syrian President Bashar Assad is talking about sending part of his army to Iraq as peacekeepers! But not under U.S. command, of course.
Assad also denies, that he harbors terrorists or has weapons of mass destruction. Nor is he concerned about U.S. retribution.
"Aside from the accusations ... we have not had any tangible sign of military threats" to Syria, Assad said in an interview with the Italian newspaper Corriere della Sera. “I don't believe the United States has any interest in repeating the same mistakes made in Iraq."
Smug, isn’t he? His attitude says a lot about our overstretched situation in Iraq.
Maybe he’s right
The former commander of U.S. Central Command, made an impolite suggestion about the war.
Back to top