Archives for 2003

This den Beste post is well worth your time.

Interesting PostPost + Comments

The challenge we face:

Ahmad Saleh al-Wan languished for 15 years in an Iranian prison, a foot soldier in Iraq’s unwinnable war against its neighbor. When he went home in 1997, his eyesight ruined, Saddam Hussein gave him his reward: he was made a “group” member in the Ba’ath Arab Socialist Party, the vehicle for Saddam’s rise to power and his grip on it. The honor meant higher pay for Wan in his job at a government printing plant.
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But six years later, Saddam is gone, the Americans are here, and that reward, meant to ease Wan’s life, has ruined it.
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Under a policy to “de-Ba’athify” Iraq imposed in May by L. Paul Bremer 3rd, the American administrator, public-sector employees in the party with a rank of group member or above have lost their jobs. Like many of his former colleagues, Wan, 51, is applying for an exemption. For now, he has no way to support his five children. Gaunt and unkempt, he goes to the printing plant and hangs around like a ghost.
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The policy is one piece of the effort under way to “extirpate” – the word of Bremer’s choosing – the remnants of the old regime, and rid Iraq of an ideology that was born long before Saddam’s rule but became intertwined with it.
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Saddam took over the party in the 1960’s and rode its slogan “One Arab Nation With an Eternal Message” and its principles of unity, freedom and socialism for more than three decades. Much like the Nazis and the Communists of Eastern Europe, the Ba’ath Party came to play a central role in disseminating propaganda, stifling dissent and ensuring that neighbors and colleagues policed one another’s behavior, speech and thought.

Of course, unlike after WWII, Bremer must do battle with not only the remnants of the deposed regime, but he must also fight the NY Times and the BBC.

De-Ba’athificationPost + Comments (1)

Why is it that every time that a foreign leader visits the Bush Ranch, it is treated as if it is some sort of payback?

“Thank you for your leadership, friendship and your wise counsel. And welcome to Crawford Texas.” With those words of welcome and after taking a few questions, President George Bush set off to give Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi a tour of his beloved ranch.

The Italian prime minister is now one of a select gang of world leaders who have been given the full Texan treatment from President Bush in Crawford.

Others include Vladimir Putin of Russia, Crown Prince Abdullah of Saudi Arabia, John Howard of Australia and Jiang Zemin of China, who has since retired.

And among European counterparts, Mr Berlusconi can count himself with only Britain’s Tony Blair and Spain’s Jose Maria Aznar who have stayed at both Crawford and the Camp David retreat in Maryland.

Those three European leaders backed the war in Iraq and Mr Berlusconi’s visit is, at least in part, a chance for the White House to repay him by giving him a chance to show he has direct access to the world’s only superpower and has some diplomatic clout.

It seems like these articles are written to make Bush seem petty and small-minded. Perhaps Bush feels comfortable dealing with those people who have given him an opportunity- people who work with Bush, rather than basing their re-election campaign on anti-Americanism and Bush-bashing. That would seem to me to be a helluva lot more productive than wasting a weekend with Gerhard Schroder, Jean Chretien, or Jacques Chirac- and not the least bit petty.

Silvio BerlusconiPost + Comments (3)