I am not a fan of this war and, if you begin at the bottom of my commentaries (which are the oldest) you'll find that much of what I feared has come true in spades. I don't take much comfort in that.

"We have to find a way of defending ourselves from others' weapons of mass destruction without losing our own weapon of mass attraction."

That's a statement made by Thomas L. Friedman, New York Times columnist, that I think ought to be written on George Bush's cuff, so he doesn't forget it. It's a statement worthy of Jefferson, Lincoln or King.

My basic gripe is that America is not a country of empire and this adventure has made us look otherwise. Our national reputation, built over centuries, has come down like an avalanche, in what seems like seconds. I find that painful and yet, the perception is correct and I find that even more painful. It's a difficult time to be an American abroad.

• Maybe Time to Take Another Look at the Military Draft
  Black, white, Hispanic, uneducated and doctoral graduates, rich, poor, Jesus-freaks and atheists, we made a community of wooden barracks bleached from scrubbing, double deck bunks, foot lockers exactly aligned and exhaustion.
• You Can Tell the War in Iraq is Winding Down
  When (A) the top war profiteer gets out just ahead of indictments and (B) the Bush cabal agrees to fight by the rules, you know it’s all over but the burying of the dead.
• Major Explosions in the Middle East
  Not car bombs this time, but the permanent incursion of Arab-language news into a Middle East that has always been news-starved and media-abusive.
• Fiddling While Baghdad Burns
  The secular, autocratic dictatorship of Saddam Hussein is devolving into an Iranian-Taliban style mullocracy. Throwing a bone or two to Sunnis and Kurds, the Shiite majority has let loose the dogs of religious war, this time on their terms and the pay-back is both bloody and relentless.
• The World According to Melvin Laird
  What an interesting rebuttal Karl Rove mounted to the current flap over Donald Rumsfeld’s ability or lack thereof to run the Pentagon.
• Angry As Hell For Not Paying Attention
  We are, as individuals, as a nation, as faith-based groups, bloggers, husbands, wives, entrepreneurs and wage-slaves . . . angry.
• Raising Hell, In a General Sort of Way
  If these were men looking for excuses, there would have to be a public after their tails to provoke such a response, but there is not. Overwhelmingly, the public supports the military and perceives that it has not been given the tools, troops or planning it needed. All three fall uncompromisingly on Donald Rumsfeld’s desk.
• Dick Cheney's Fingerprints
  A modus operandi is a fancy Latin term for a ‘habitual method of procedure’ and Dick Cheney’s methods during his terms as Vice President have become so habitual as to become virtual fingerprints.
• The Iraqi Concept of Time
  Condi Rice and her British counterpart, Jack Straw landed in Baghdad to lay down the law, but of course there is no law in Iraq at the moment, so they settled for a very sound slap on the wrist of interim prime minister Ibrahim al-Jafari.
• Senior Fellows, the Cookings at Brookings
  Opinion is anybody’s fair game until someone acts on that opinion and then it better be pretty well founded. Iraqis are dying at the moment because of too much (or too little) screwed up hectoring lecturing.
• Everybody Knows
  What everybody knows, as further trials of military noncoms occur, is that the hypocrisy of blaming the torture of detainees at Guantanamo and Abu Ghraib (and god knows where else) on low-ranked American soldiers is utter nonsense.
• The Romanian Answer to Dictators
  They didn’t mess around with Nick. Once the palace was surrounded, they grabbed him and his wife by the scruffs of their necks, ran them before a judge who stamped a death warrant and then dragged both of them into the nearest courtyard and shot them. Romania was not about to have a protracted show-trial for a couple of bums.
• Major Ben Connable Checks In
  Major Ben Connable has written to me through his friend, who copied and pasted the note and forwarded it to me; all a bit deep cover for my taste, but I asked for the letter and he has sent it.
• Following Up on the Elusive Ben Connable
  Something in my December 14th Who and Where is Ben Connable must have struck a nerve out there in cyberspace, a place that tends toward nervousness.
• Who and Where is Major Ben Connable?
  Both articles by the mysterious Ben, May of last year and current, read as if they were written word-for-word by the administration spin-meisters.
• Injustice Ain't Blind, Condi
  Condoleeza Rice, our current Secretary of State, has just published as an Op-Ed piece the most condescending collection of clap-trap I’ve seen in ages.
• There's a Strong Consensus Building
  That’s the quote from Scott McClellan, the White House press secretary, the full statement enlightening us further that "There is a strong consensus building in Washington in favor of President Bush's strategy for victory in Iraq."
• The Grapes of Warlord Wrath
  So, we needn’t wait for or fear civil war in Iraq . . . we are there.
• A Reputation in Tatters
  This small bunch that’s stampeded our heritage, and they are a small bunch, have sold off at a discount our greatest strengths as a nation.
• Let the Great Sacrifice Begin
  Well, I don’t know about you, but I’m ready to sacrifice when my President and my nation asks me. So far, I haven’t been asked.
• It's Cut-and-Run Time
  George Bush has a greased rope to climb so far as Iraq and his mismanaged war is concerned and even he has to finally recognize a legacy-at-stake when he sees one.
• Exit Strategies-a Lesson in Impotence
  It’s not a great strategic idea to advertise the terms under which you will take your marbles and go home. We thought no one was listening when our Senators grilled our generals about an exit strategy.
• The Lowered-Expectations Presidency
  Whenever it bumps and bungles its way into yet another disaster, it’s never a mistake or a miscalculation, just an understandable matter of unrealistic expectations.
• A Tale of Four Generals
  WARNING: Reading this commentary may be injurious to your perception of the United States Army, its traditions and command structure.
• Buddy, Can You Spare a Thousand Billion?
  It’s surely evident to even the most prejudiced members of right-versus-left, conservative-versus-liberal or uninvolved-versus-over-affected that in the numbers game the terrorists are way ahead.
• Dissembling a Disgrace
  Absolutely everything critically spoken or written about the Bush administration is answered not by thoughtful response or intellectual debate or even by hard-nosed facts and figures. In the place of reality, we have and (worse) have accepted public relations blitzes.
• From an Undisclosed Location, a Message in a Bottle
  In my last commentary I mentioned that I could hardly wait for the ‘next exciting chapter coming down the pipeline from an undisclosed location.’ Little did I think it would be so soon.
• Notes From an Undisclosed Location
  I know, I know, Dick Cheney’s comment that the Iraqi insurgency was in its “last throes” is old news, but the continuing kidnappings of diplomats, first the Eqyptian and now the Albanian, has apparently not been made known in undisclosed locations.
• America Dishonored
  For the first time that I know of, an American president has been declared to be a source of law instead of beholden to it.
• The Civilized Mind
  The London bombings pose the question of society’s civilized mind and how much at risk it may find itself in these fragile times.
• Still Snake-Bit
  Tuesday’s paper carries an item concerning 17 civilians killed in an Afghan air strike, complete with military apologies and on and on.
• Taking a Pass With Young Lives
  That’s why this story isn't about Pfc. England at all. This whole matter comes down to comparisons between a man of extraordinary courage and a man of none at all.
• A Hard Day for Managed News
  In the same Friday edition of the Washington Post that detailed President Bush’s prime time news conference there were a couple of unfortunate cats let quietly out of the bag.
• We Take Care of Our Own
  A phrase that has been turned on its ear in Iraq, where troops are sent into battle under-strength, without sufficient armor, their terms of duty arbitrarily extended beyond the enlistment contract and where they are made scapegoat in order to provide deniability up the chain-of-command.
• Extraordinary Rendition Doesn't Mean a Great Song in the Third Act
  Claiming it’s wrong to do something while doing it is disingenuous. Sometimes it’s against the law, unless you are the law.
• What's the Correct Wine with Crow?
  If a guy’s honest with himself, his politics and his readers, it follows that recent events in the middle East and elsewhere may make it necessary to tuck the old napkin under the chin.
• Two Guys Who Need to Lose a Star
  It’s only right . . . do the right stuff and get promoted, screw up and get pulled a grade or two . . . works for enlisted men and (presumably) officers as well.
• Lots of Luck in Iraq
  Luck, as in 4-star general (retired) Gary Luck, the latest fixer-upper Rummy has chosen to go find out what’s wrong in that irritating country we just can’t seem to pacify.
• The Emperor Has No Clothes
  So, here it is January 11th and the election in Iraq is nineteen days away.
• Eternities Ago on the Tigris and Euphrates
  It will be interesting to see what the feelings of ordinary Iraqi citizens will be by the time Saddam finally reaches trial in Iraq.
• The Everett Dirksen Billion
  Depending upon who you ask, the Iraq war has thus far cost between $300-390 billion and we’re what, halfway through the slog? Maybe a third, or a quarter.
• A Dream Come True, But the Wrong Dream
  So there are flowers in the streets and Baghdad seems to be ours without the need of house to house fighting
• Shock and Awe
  Our Shock & Awe Iraq war policy has indeed been shocking and awesome, but the shoe is on the other foot.
• Who Will Serve and Who Will Eat
  Let's get it straight that the desire to live in peace, away from want is not an American anomaly, the love and protection of family not a strange fiction to the rest of the world
• Is Wednesday Okay?
  Horst is one of the senior diplomats assigned to weapons inspection teams and you can tell right off just how he got to be a senior diplomat, top of the heap and all that
• The Tyranny of Five
  It seems to me that few in this nation share the administration blood-lust for war with Iraq but George Bush, Dick Cheney, Don Rumsfeld, Paul Wolfowitz and Condi Rice---The Five
• Terrorism, the Dark Corner of Our Own History
  This morning's New York Times carries a lead article about Bush's appearance before a joint session of Congress and it's really given me the blues
• The Conspiracy Theory
  Scores of ambiguous and inherently evil powers are proposed to be behind the current administration and its war and foreign policies. Big Business, Big Oil, Big Whatever is the real force behind what's going on
• Say One Thing, Do Another
  This is the week of the global Iraq War Protests, from that banned march in New York to the demonstration here on the streets of Prague
• War With Iraq is Not the Problem
  Winning a war with Iraq is not the problem. Getting rid of Saddam Hussein is not the problem either, we can probably achieve both missions, although the cost may be more than expected
• Be careful What You Ask
  Bush's Iraq policy unravels before his eyes

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