Blowing in the Wind
In the background of today's entries, Bob Dylan's "blowing in the wind" is playing.
How many roads must a man walk down
Before you call him a man?
In response to the call for a withdrawal of US troops from Iraq by a retired marine colonel, decorated Vietnam War veteran and Democratic Congressman, John Murtha, White House Spokesman Scott McClellan implied that Murtha was advocating a "surrender to the terrorists." McClellan is not a veteran of any war, and nor are his bosses, George W. Bush and Richard Bruce Cheney (the latter actively sought 5 deferrals from serving in Vietnam).
Yes, 'n' how many seas must a white dove sail
Before she sleeps in the sand?
Peace activist and mother of a GI killed in action in Iraq, Cindy Sheehan, was fined $75 for demonstrating without a permit outside the White House.
Yes, 'n' how many times must the cannon balls fly
Before they're forever banned?
The US military is puzzled about the outcry over the use of white phosphorus at Fallujah. After all, a 500-pound bomb is also destructive. My guess? You can't go to war against Saddam on the grounds that he has stockpiles of chemical weapons, and then turn around and use incendiary bombs of a sort that much of the world regards as a form of chemical weapon. It is the hypocrisy factor. Not to mention that the international community is trying to get such weapons banned.
. . . Yes, 'n' how many ears must one man have
Before he can hear people cry?
Over two hundred years after the Founding Fathers banned "cruel and unusual punishment," the Congress is considering banning the use of torture on detainees of the US. A no-brainer? Sure. But George W. Bush is threatening to veto the measure.
Yes, 'n' how many deaths will it take till he knows
That too many people have died?
Some 62 percent of Americans think Bush is doing a poor job in Iraq. In another poll, A majority of Americans gives Bush a "D" or an "F" for his handling of Iraq, and only a third thinks he is doing an above-average job there. (What would establish the "average" for the US running other countries? The Philippines? Vietnam? Central America? In which of them has US imperialism not been a disaster?) A majority of Americans now wants a timetable for US withdrawal (this is the stance of the Sunni Arabs in Iraq!), while 41 percent are willing to stay "for as long as it takes." That number will shrink.
Revulsion at the quagmire in Iraq is producing a new isolationism in the American public rivalling the mood in the post-Vietnam period, according to a Pew poll. A good sign: Two-thirds of the respondents felt comfortable with the US acting in concert with international partners.
How many years can a mountain exist
Before it's washed to the sea?
Bush's approval ratings are in free-fall! He is down to a 34 percent approval rating. Only Nixon in the last days of Watergate was doing worse. Seriously, I am worried about these numbers. At some point, the executive will stop being able to govern. Bush has been a disastrous president, but a country without any executive at all can be in real trouble (ask the Iraqis). It raises the question of whether the Dems can pull off a miracle and take the House of Representatives in 2006 (not at all likely, but not impossible), and whether if that happened there would be an impeachment.
Yes, 'n' how many years can some people exist
Before they're allowed to be free? . . .
The US has detained around 83,000 persons during the four years of the "war on terror," most of them in Iraq. Some 14,500 remain in detention there. Many detainees are not actually guilty of anything, but have difficulty obtaining their release once taken into custody. There have been many instances of torture or at least of cruel and unusual punishment while these persons were in US custody.
The US is probing Iraqi-run detention sites, including Ministry of Interior secret jails where mainly Sunni Arab detainees have been tortured by Shiite special police, some of them from the Badr Corps, a Shiite paramilitary trained by the Iranian Revolutionary Guards.
The answer, my friend, is blowin' in the wind . . .
posted by Juan Cole @ 11/18/2005 12:30:00 AM
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37 Comments:
"Some 62 percent of Americans think Bush is doing a poor job in Iraq. In another poll, A majority of Americans gives Bush a "D" or an "F" for his handling of Iraq, and only a third thinks he is doing an above-average job there."
Well, it seems that a slim (slimy?) majority was willing to give him an "I" (Incomplete) in November of last year, expecting him (and his crewe) to repeat and complete the class in the next four years. Then again, a slim (and trim) minority had given him a "D" or worse (I'd've advised him to take the "F" and change his major or career goals) but were overrulled by those who were liberal enough to want to allow the feller to have another chance at his life's ambition. The notion that the Republicans are somehow "conservative" is a bunch of bunk inasmuch as they have been VERY tolerant of a person playing a continuing role in "A Life Gone Bad," hoping that someday he'll learn his lines and cues and be able to stand upon Life's stage without having indulgent prompters and a legion of coaches. The Republicans in this sense have been shown to be extremely liberal in how they've forgiven if not forgotten the errors of his ways and insist upon just a little more time until he gets his feces compacted and his two-faces' (liberal posing as a conservative) retracted (to be aligned). Without too much thought, it should well apparent that the WH is not some place where people go to work out their personal problems and to find some therapeutic solutions thereto. Once more, "I" is the appropriate grade and is more telling than one might expect from a mere transcript. Too bad if he must think that "I" is somehow related to his other friends "Me" and Myself."
The possibility of impeachment is only possible if the Dems develop a coherent alternative to fighting the War on Terror. Right now, they are divided over Iraq, so that leaves room for a Republican comeback. Therefore, the Dems need to unite and forcefully articulate a discernable alternative. A push for public diplomacy and economic growth in the Middle East are only a couple of examples of what the Dems should be saying now. The Dems should link those concepts to the eventual decrease in terrorist recruitment that will lead to terrorist groups being deemed irrelevant. Then, they should attack Bush et. al. with all their might, saying how utterly absurd it is to achieve peace through invasion and occupation. Of course, they should also expose hypocrisies, such as the crackpot belief that freedom can only come if you impose it. These attacks should be relentless, but should only come after the Dems have a clear alternative. If these actions are taken, impeachment will be inevitable. I mean, Clinton didn't needlessly leave soldiers to die. Bush on the other hand, a different story.
One very minor comment regarding the use of white phosphorous in Fallujah: based on my military experience during our late unpleasantness in Viet Nam, the material was used solely because it was in our weapons inventory and was available. The most common usage in artillery delivery is either as a masking tool,to hide movement, or a marking tool, fired to easily see where the round fell. This allows for correction of aim to be followed by high explosive rounds.
White phosphorous was freely used as both an anti-personnel and as an incendiary tool in Viet Nam, very often delivered in a hand grenade. It's anti-personnel effects are impressively horrible.
As far as I can tell that's what happened. We used the weappn because we had it, and our other weapons weren't effective enough.
How shameful.
Great post... fits the tune perfectly including the mood one feels listening to it: sad and perplexed
a lame duck president especially this early is a problem, what a mess!
That wind seems to be getting stronger all the time - a result, perhaps, of global warming ? Let us hope that it blows this Administration out of the saddle - there surely exists more than sufficient grounds for an impeachment for «high crimes and misdemeanors» - and that it is replaced by one that can be satisfied with adminstering an American Republic, rather than an American Empire !...
re: approval rating
...
perhaps another useful Dylan application aside from "Blowin' in the wind"
-----
Well, they'll stone you when you walk alone.
They'll stone you when you are walking home.
They'll stone you and then say you are brave.
They'll stone you when you are set down in your grave.
But I would not feel so all alone,
Everybody must get stoned.
-----
Misinterpretations of the song aside, how many times do we have to call someone out about illegit foreign policy? It took us all of 12 hours of conservative cable news and mild political pressuring to come this (" ") close to impeaching Clinton for a sex scandal. What does it take to prove you're driving a country into the ground?
-King Danish
On an unrelated note, shouldn't the GIs in Iraq be able to find better hash than in Vietnam? Just while supporting our troops is on my mind.
Terror Attack Alert
The last time the approval ratings sagged so low, "Osama bin Laden" singlehandedly boosted them to record levels. He has not been apprehended. Should we anticipate a repeat?
Juan, this administration is blind and deaf to any input of any kind except the "Harriet Myers" kind (ooh, you are so wonderful!). The fate of the average American or any American is in the hands of the Congress. They could take action, but they won't. Too many of them have their economic and political future tied to the Bush bandwagon.
And, if impeachment was undertaken, we would have Cheney for President. That's an improvement?
My grandchildren will never know the America that is (was?) enshrined in the Constitution. And the world's children are learning to be afraid--very afraid--of Americans.
What do we do? I have no idea.
Alice Sprickman
morrsaif@nhvt.net
You think Bush might stop being able to govern? Is he "governing" now? Is he pushing any kind of domestic program through? Maybe Bush just wanted to punish Saddam for trying to kill his daddy and when he had done that he ran out of ideas.
Riverbend at Baghdad Burning has been able to post again, yesterday and today.
Her post yesterday was about the use of white phosphorus in Fallujah. She describes watching a CD of the Fallujah documentary :
Image after image of men, women and children so burnt and scarred that the only way you could tell the males apart from the females, and the children apart from the adults, was by the clothes they are wearing… the clothes which were eerily intact- like each corpse had been burnt to the bone, and then dressed up lovingly in their everyday attire- the polka dot nightgown with a lace collar… the baby girl in her cotton pajamas- little earrings dangling from little ears.
Her post this morning is about the torture house in Jadriya.
She asks a question that is one also perplexing me:
Why don't Americans care at what is being done to Iraqi civilians in their name? She states that everyone knows the torture houses, but the Americans ignore the reports. The only way to get the US troops to intervene is to report the sites as "terrorist cells".
It's very obvious that Iraqi citizens know exactly what is happening: the destruction of Fallujah and Qaim, the torture at Abu Ghraib, the SCIRI reign of terror. Any American reporter who wished to have dozens of news "exclusives" simply has to find a way to talk to a few Iraqi folks on the street. Perhaps by cell phone, since our press is to terrified to leave the Green Zone...
Is the reason that Americans don't care because they don't know what is happening? Perhaps Dahr Jamail can get a gig reporting for CNN.
Or is it even worse ....that the mass of Americans don't care because they believe that all Iraqis are terrorists and deserve the gruesome deaths that they are suffering?
Or do Americans believe that they cannot control what the government is going to do in their name, and therefore avoid knowing what is happening? Are they sparing themselves the uncomfortable knowledge of US evil?
Oh God! We're having an outbreak of classical early and middle 20th century elogquence. (See, e.g., Federalist X's version of the If By Whiskey speech, at amendmentnine.blogspot.com. today.) Has the Muse returned after her long silence, once again to compel us to sing?
Suddenly, by your post, I am transnported to the days of my youth, marching for civil rights and singing against that generation's infatuation with war.
It is well and truly said that when the people sing their resistance to tyrants, the tyrants are doomed.
Let us sing, sound the trumpets, and march 'til Washington's walls come tumbling down, our land is restored to its peopl, and not ours only, but every land of every people that is now in thrall to the enemies of America that reside at 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue.
any ideas on a more current musical truth teller?
J can you tell us more about Saudi Arabia why don't we heare more about Saudi Arabia? Links?
Juan,
This post makes your hit parade!
Awesome.
thanks,
John
Cindy Sheehan was the butterfly that flapped her wings.
I can see one big difference between the "antiwar" movement today (of which I count myself a member) and that of the Vietnam era (of which I have dim childhood memories). I do not think that anyone is going to rejoice when we get out of Iraq, no matter how we do it.
Thank you Juan! This is a remarkable post: moving, honest, insightful, and hopefully a sign of the new times that must come.
The tunnel right now is dark, deep dark; no light really in sight.
All those who have the courage to speak out their minds and to be true to themselves, must be commended. The sum total of all and each of these points of light can finally bring a new day into our present of obscurity, fear, mass killings, and utter disrespect for human rights and the rule of law.
As always, looking forward to read your blog!
I was "blown away" to see your reference and use of Blowing in the Wind for today's Comments. I've been listening - over and over again - to that song in the past two weeks because it expresses my frustrations so well. I want to shout it out to people - to help them wake up to this total disaster. I almost transcribed the lyrics and sent them to the WH.
Thanks for doing it for me!!
Are you doing comments now?
This is an exceptional commentary Professor. Spot On.
Just what has America become?
Personally, I think Dems retaking the Congress is a very good possibility and natural progression from what we've seen happening since 2004 when the rest of the country finally started coming to it's senses. From that, impeachment hearings will also be the natural order because such an ineffective leader will not be tolerated.
.
with tears in my eyes I thank you.
I'll second wrensis' comments.
What a great idea to intermingle Dylan's words with your post. Quite often those lyrics run through my mind, along with the lyrics of Where have all the Flowers Gone?
The latest from Scott McCllelan, with Bush overseas, is his linking Rep. Murtha with Michael Moore. Well, it's true that they are both men of wide girth. How do those in the administration who are not completely deluded live with the dissonance?
As for retaking the House, one can only hope.
Nice work.
Like a lot of us, I've mostly been just watching for too long.
But things have changed, and..
"I'm going back out 'fore the rain starts a'fallin."
peace,
jim
You mention the Philippines, Vietnam (arguably an "imperial" administration problem of French origin, not American) and Central America, but what about Germany and Japan? The point is that U.S. intervention can be effective if it is conducted in a well-thought-out way accompanied by the application of adequate resources. The U.S. clearly needs to take military action against Iran and North Korea, and the case for war against Iraq was not as preposterous as you make it out to be, but the U.S. has not adequately prepared for it. (It is unconscionable that a military draft was not implemented right after 9/11, when the political support was readily available; instead, the Bush administration told everyone, in essence, to go about their business as usual while someone else took care of the war on terror . . . how many "wake-up" calls does this country need before it demands serious, adult leadership?).
I'm wondering when the madministration will make its move of returning some troops, using some pretext or other. It surely has to be timed for before the fall elections, but not too soon, lest the "freshness" wear off before the voters come out of the spell.
I think the December Iraqi elections may be used as a trigger for a minor drawdown of troops, with promises of future withdrawals as soon as some unnamed-as-yet level of Iraqi self-defense ability is reached. This will be the casting of the spell once again.
But we would expect to see the spell being cast yet again before the elections. Look for withdrawal of a few more troops around July / August, maybe.
But the magic is less effective each time it is used, and I'm less pessimistic than I used to be. I'd love to see them decide to go "all in" and bring a majority of the troops home, and then have the spell broken by the election anyway. I'm not going to hold my breath, but I do have hope that it won't work for them.
Ed
Great commentary Juan. I agree with you that it's not at all certain that the dems can retake the house -- given all the voter fraud going on.
I wonder if this country can even be fixed?
Do you know what is really sad?
This is the THIRD time in my lifetime that we have had to use the same arguments and the same lyrics to make the same points. All the things we face today were already 'learned' in the late 60s, early 70s during Vietnam and again in the mid 80s during El Salvador.
Peter, Paul and Mary (or should I say Bob Dylan) should have asked ...
How many generations do you think it will take,
Before we can live the truth ?
and the refrain, of course, is ...
The answer my friend is not blowing in the wind,
Cause the bad always drives out the good !
Paul Lucic
Clinton IN
Bob Dylan is my parents' generation, so I didn't listen to him in my youth. But his protest songs make more and more sense - Masters of War for instance. In fact, that song is almost prophetic.
Love how you interpolated lines from Blowin' in the Wind with the sad facts.
Your readers may be interested in the protest poem (not a song) by the Iraqi poet Saadi Youssef titled America, America. (Translated by Khaled Mattawa of U. Michigan)
Sometimes the facts are so monstrous that poetry is the only appropriate response.
Dr. Cole,
Great piece, but I really have to take issue with this:
"At some point, the executive will stop being able to govern."
What ability to govern, exactly, are you talking about? None that I wish would continue.
I've posted a sort of an open question on this subject over at The Ape Man and I'm very interested in some thoughtful comments on the subject. If anyone from this blog were to head on over and put in their two cents' I would be honored. Thanks.
The Ape Man
P.S. Juan, keep up the great work. Most of the factual information I know about this war I know because of your work, either directly or because of resources you've led me to. Thanks.
Bush has actually made it easy for Republicans in congress. All they have to do is distance themselves from him on the war, back off from some tax cuts, and pretend they never heard of the religious right.
Unfortunately for us Democrats the Republicans have the image of competence is spite of their incompetence. If they can lay off all the disasters on the Whitehouse they can come out looking clean.
Dr. Cole,
While I'm please as punch that Representative Murfa's put the Repug's in a tough position - and I do hope that Dems have the backbone to stand up and vote for it, what is your position on "immediate withdrawal?"
Previously you've come out against it as it would lead to an all out civil war. I tend to agree with you but at the same time I think Rep. Murfa is not wrong in saying at this point that "...we are uniting the enemy against us" and calling the War "...a flawed policy wrapped in illusion" I also am old enough to remember the killing fields in Cambodia after we'd screwed up SE Asia and then walked away.
http://www.ianrhett.com/
This isn't the direct link to the song, but it's the singer. For a recent anti-war bard singing out freedom... There are voices in this time and let there be more, hammer of justice, bell of freedom, and songs about love...
The whole white phosphorous business is complicated. The US hasn't signed up to the ban on using incendiary weapons on concentrations of civilians, and it's arguable that not enough countries have signed up to make it stick as customary usage.
And was Fallujah a "concentration of civilians" anyway?
But, whatever the lawyers say, it sure looks like a politically dumb tactic.
It's there in the inventory, and I guess that when the government is so enthusiastic about torture, a little sizzling human flesh is just a garnish.
These days, the bombs are gewtting to be smarter than the politicians.
That's the best paragraph on the WP/Fallujah row that I've read in the last week.
This link offers an illustration of Bush fall in the poll :
When he finally gets stuck you can just reload
Or you can click and drag to flick him off to start again (or, particularly
satisfying is to click and drag when he's stuck and squeeze then him through
between two spheres....)
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