...And Justice for All

Growing up in the third world means you get to see corruption flourish firsthand. After a while, you start to ignore the fact that crusty crooks who bilked the system in the past are now in positions of power. I guess I must be truly assimilated now: When I read in this BBC article that Ahmed Chalabi has been confirmed as one of two deputy Prime Ministers in Iraq it made me sick to my stomach. I suppose the Bush administration will insist that it has nothing to do with the internal politics of a sovereign nation so it's not their fault. Of course not; using the dubious intelligence of a convicted embezzler who was paid $300,000 of U.S. taxpayer money is proof they have little to do with the Chalabi issue. All I can say is that this does not bode well for an Iraqi government that wants to make a clean break with idiotic thugs. Add to that the fact that Chalabi is also interim minister for oil and you got a recipe for disaster. I guess by "interim" they mean until he plunders the reserves and sells it all to his friends in the US and UK.

Since we're talking about oil, I thought I'd link this Slate article about the clash between ideals and realpolitik. It makes a good point and one that needs to be made more public: Bush puts on airs about spreading freedom and liberty and yet he seems to have infinite patience with the countries and leaders which/who need to be taken to task a lot more than they currently are. I guess what Bush meant to say when he gave us that inspiring speech on the spread of liberty, is "Freedom is spreading, unless it f***s with our economy."

Etc.

I took great pleasure in reading this excellent piece in the Village Voice which includes, among other things discussions about Senator Lugar and Mr. Bolton. It also contains an excellent essay (linked in the article) on what the US needs to do regarding Iraq. The essay comes from Anthony Cordesman, an Iraq scholar and frequent critic of the approach the administration has taken to improving the Middle East situation. Read it!