Hissyspit
Hissyspit's JournalRachel Maddow Op/Ed in WaPost: Congress, If You're Talking About Iraq, You're Talking About Vietnam
@maddow: Rare bipartisan agreement! On something wrong. Argh. Just posted at WaPo: http://t.co/wM7uIUkKcv/s/YRyE
m.twitter.com/maddow
http://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/rachel-maddow-congress-should-make-itself-heard-about-us-troops-in-iraq/2014/06/22/9853dd96-f8b2-11e3-a3a5-42be35962a52_story.html
BY RACHEL MADDOW June 22 at 6:56 PM
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In a remarkable confrontation on April 14, 1975...
Sen. Jacob K. Javits (R-N.Y.) told the president, “I will give you large sums for evacuation, but not one nickel for military aid.” Sen. Frank Church (D-Idaho) warned, “This raises the specter of a new war, thousands of American troops holding on in an enclave for a long period.” First-term Sen. Joseph R. Biden Jr. (D-Del.) said, “I will vote for any amount for getting the Americans out,” but he insisted that money for evacuation and military aid for the South Vietnamese government “are totally different.”
Part of the reason there had been such broad and intense domestic opposition to the war in Vietnam was its sense of strategic futility. We sent hundreds of thousands of Americans into that conflict, backed by the greatest firepower in the world and a willingness to use tactics that shocked our national conscience. But it wasn’t enough, and year after grinding year, it became apparent that nothing was going to be enough.
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Two and a half years after U.S. troops left Iraq, as we have watched Fallujah, Mosul and a swath of additional territory fall to Sunni militants, we are in need of such a debate. That is why it has been maddening to the point of distraction to see the media seek out supposedly expert analysis from people who made bad predictions and false declarations about the Iraq invasion in 2003. Whether they are humbled by their own mistakes or not, it is our civic responsibility to ensure that a history of misstatements and misjudgments has consequences for a person’s credibility in our national discourse.
On Capitol Hill, it’s even worse. After meeting with President Obama last week, congressional leaders emerged in rare bipartisan agreement: All said the president would need no further authorization from Congress for new U.S. military intervention in Iraq. They may agree on that, but they’re wrong: Neither the 2001 Authorization for the Use of Military Force nor the 2002 Iraq war authorization obviously apply in this instance.
Obama is right to insist that he will continue “close consultation” with Congress on Iraq going forward, but Congress and the president are both wrong if they think that that consultation consists of Congress being told and not asked what should happen next. Whether we believe the Founding Fathers were right or not to give the responsibility for war and peace to the clamorous Congress, they did. It is an irresponsible constitutional cop-out to pretend they didn’t.
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Juan Cole: 7 Myths About the Radical Sunni Advance in Iraq
http://www.juancole.com/2014/06/myths-radical-advance.html7 Myths about the Radical Sunni Advance in Iraq
By Juan Cole | Jun. 16, 2014 |
Already in the past week and a half, many assertions are becoming commonplace in the inside-the-Beltway echo chamber about Iraq’s current crisis that are poorly grounded in knowledge of the country. Here are some sudden truisms that should be rethought.
1. “The Sunni radicals of the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS) are popular.” They are not. Opinion polling shows that most Iraqi Sunnis are secular-minded. The ISIS is brutal and fundamentalist. Where the Sunnis have rallied to it, it is because of severe discontents with their situation after the fall of the Baath Party in 2003 with the American invasion. The appearance of video showing ISIS massacring police (most of them Sunnis) in Tikrit will severely detract from such popularity as they enjoyed.
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3. “Iraqi troops were afraid to fight the radical Sunni guerrillas and so ran away.” While the troops did abandon their positions in Mosul and other towns, it isn’t clear why. There are reports that they were ordered to fall back. More important, if this was a popular uprising, then a few thousand troops were facing hundreds of thousands of angry urbanites and were in danger of being overwhelmed. In Afghanistan’s Mazar-i Sharif in 1997 when the Pashtun Taliban took this largely Tajik and Uzbek city, the local populace abided it af few days and then rose up and killed 8,000 Taliban, expelling them from the city. (A year later they returned and bloodily reasserted themselves). Troops cannot always assert themselves against the biopower of urban masses.
4. “The Sunni radicals are poised to move on Baghdad.” While ISIS as a guerrilla group could infiltrate parts of Baghdad and cause trouble, they would face severe difficulty in taking it. Baghdad was roughly 45% Sunni and 55% Shiite in 2003 when Bush invaded. But in the Civil War of 2006-7, the American military disarmed the Sunni groups first, giving Shiite militias a huge advantage. The latter used it to ethnically cleanse the capital of its Sunnis. The usually Sunni districts of the west of the city were depopulated. The mixed districts of the center became almost all Shiite. There simply isn’t much of a Sunni power base left in Baghdad and so that kind of take-over by acclaim would be very difficult to achieve in the capital. As Joshua Landis puts it, ISIS has picked a fight it cannot win.
5. “The US should intervene with air power against ISIS.” The Sunni radicals are not a conventional army. There are no lines for the US to bomb, few convoys or other obvious targets. To the extent that their advance is a series of urban revolts against the government of PM Nouri al-Maliki, the US would end up bombing ordinary city folk. The Sunnis already have resentments about the Bush administration backing for the Shiite parties after 2003, which produced purges of Sunnis from their jobs and massive unemployment in Sunni areas. For the US to be bombing Sunni towns all these years later on behalf of Mr. al-Maliki would be to invite terrorism against the US. ISIS is a bad actor, but it so far hasn’t behaved like an international terrorist group; it has been oriented to achieving strategic and tactical victories in Syria against the Baath government and the Shiite Alawis, and in Iraq against the Shiite Da’wa Party government. But it could easily morph into an anti-American international terrorist network. The US should avoid actions that would push it in that direction. So far the Baath regime in Syria is winning against the Sunni radicals.
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Japan Farmers Seek Aid for Radiation Zone Cattle (Mysterious White Spots)
Source: Associated Press
Japan Farmers Seek Aid for Radiation Zone Cattle
By ELAINE KURTENBACH
— Jun. 20, 2014 3:24 AM EDT
TOKYO (AP) — A pair of Japanese farmers whose livelihoods were wrecked by the 2011 nuclear disaster staged a protest Friday at Tokyo's agriculture ministry, scuffling briefly with police as they unsuccessfully tried to unload a bull from a truck.
Masami Yoshizawa and fellow farmer Naoto Matsumura have remained at their farms seeking to care for their own and others' abandoned livestock in areas where access has been restricted due to radiation fears since the March 2011 meltdowns at the Fukushima Dai-Ichi nuclear plant.
The two drove down from Fukushima, bringing the black bull in the back of a truck, to appeal for help with the livestock, some of which have developed unexplained white spots on their hides.
"Stop, stop, stop, stop," shouted a policeman in a blue uniform who climbed into the back of the truck and blocked the farmers from leading the bull onto the pavement in front of the ministry. "It's dangerous. Absolutely not!"
Yoshizawa and Matsumura are among thousands of farmers who lost their livelihoods when their farms, produce and livestock were declared off-limits and unsafe after the nuclear plant spewed radiation into the countryside after it was crippled by a massive earthquake and tsunami.
Read more: http://bigstory.ap.org/article/japan-farmers-seek-aid-radiation-zone-cattle
Japanese farmer Masami Yoshizawa, second right, shows a black bull with speckles to the media as police officers block him from leading the bull off a truck he drove from Fukushima, northeastern Japan, in front of Agriculture Ministry in Tokyo Friday, June 20, 2014. Yoshizawa and fellow farmer Naoto Matsumura whose livelihoods were wrecked by the March 2011 nuclear disaster at the Fukushima Dai-Ichi nuclear plant have staged a protest briefly at the ministry to appeal for help with the livestock, some of which have developed unexplained white spots on their hides. (AP Photo/Koji Sasahara)
Gerry Goffin, Carole King's Ex-Husband/Songwriting Partner, Dies at 75
Source: CBS News
Gerry Goffin, Carole King's ex-husband, dies at 75
AP
Jun 19, 2014 5:05 PM EDT
Lyricist Gerry Goffin, who with his then-wife and songwriting partner Carole King wrote such hits as "Will You Love Me Tomorrow," ''(You Make Me Feel Like) A Natural Woman," ''Halfway to Paradise" and "The Loco-Motion," died Wednesday at his home in Los Angeles. He was 75.
His wife, Michelle Goffin, confirmed his death.
Goffin, who married King in 1959 while they were in their teens, penned more than 50 top 40 hits, including "Pleasant Valley Sunday" for the Monkees, "Crying in the Rain" by the Everly Brothers, "Some Kind of Wonderful" for the Drifters and "Take Good Care of My Baby" by Bobby Vee. The couple divorced in 1968, but Goffin kept writing hits, including "Savin' All My Love for You" for Whitney Houston.
King said in a statement that Goffin was her "first love" and had a profound impact on her life.
Read more: http://www.cbsnews.com/news/gerry-goffin-carole-king-ex-husband-dies-at-75/
Valerie Plame Tweets on Dick Cheney's Iraq Comments:
@ValeriePlame: This is the nice way Joe puts it: "Ambassador Wilson: Dick Cheney’s advice is ‘not worth anything’" http://t.co/dh4y97B0Zw
Sen. Harry Reid Tweets: "The only thing I want to hear from Iraq war architects is..."
"an apology."
pic.twitter.com/vPeGmOyP2W
@SenatorReid
The only thing I want to hear from Iraq war architects is an apology. pic.twitter.com/vPeGmOyP2W
12:26pm - 18 Jun 14
CBS News: Iraq War Veterans Question What Their Service Accomplished
http://www.cbsnews.com/news/iraq-war-veterans-question-what-their-service-accomplished/Iraq war veterans question what their service accomplished
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CBS NEWS
Jun 17, 2014 9:32 AM EDT
As the current crisis in Iraq unfolds, some Iraq war veterans are asking if all the gains made by U.S. forces have been lost.
When former Army Capt. Blake Hall left Iraq in 2007, he remembers being hopeful.
"Iraq had an opportunity for long-term political reconciliation," Hall told CBS News correspondent Jan Crawford.
Two years later, Army Sgt. Matt Pelak had a similar feeling when his service was over. He saw progress among the Iraqi army and people his unit trained.
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Hall said he thinks it was a mistake not only to go into Iraq, but also to leave it.
MORE AT LINK
GM Recalls Three Million More Cars Over Ignition Switches Issues
Source: Reuters
GM recalls three million more cars over ignition switches issues
Mon Jun 16, 2014 4:59pm EDT
SAN FRANCISCO (Reuters) - General Motors Co on Monday recalled 3.36 million North American cars with ignition switches that can be jarred out of the "run" position, potentially affecting power steering, power brakes and air bags.
The switch issue is similar to the defect linked to at least 13 deaths in an earlier, 2.6-million vehicle recall of Chevrolet Cobalts and other small cars.
GM has made 44 recalls this year, totally about 20 million vehicles. That is more than total annual U.S. vehicle sales. More than 6 million of the vehicles were recalled for ignition switch-related issues. GM said it would replace or rework the ignition keys on the cars in the new recall, and it raised a recall-related charge for the second quarter to $700 million from $400 million. That takes total recall-related charges this year to $2 billion.
GM said it was aware of eight crashes and six injuries related to the new recall.
Read more: http://www.reuters.com/article/idUSKBN0ER2Q220140616
Tech Giants Seek to Halt Overseas Snooping by US
Source: Associated Press
@AP: Microsoft, Apple and others file lawsuit saying US has no right to seize computer data stored outside country http://t.co/B2i2DObMFf/s/QunE
TECH GIANTS SEEK TO HALT OVERSEAS SNOOPING BY US
By LARRY NEUMEISTER
— Jun. 16, 2014 3:49 PM EDT
FILE - This Jan. 22, 2009 file photo shows the Microsoft sign outside the headquarters campus in Redmond, Wash. Microsoft Corp. and four other large American technology companies are using a Manhattan court case to draw a line in the cloud, saying the U.S. government has no right to seize computer data stored outside the country. (AP Photo/Elaine Thompson, file)
NEW YORK (AP) — Microsoft Corp. and four other large American technology companies are using a Manhattan court case to draw a line in the cloud, saying the U.S. government has no right to seize computer data stored outside the country.
U.S. companies that host services over the Internet and sell remote data storage — a concept broadly known as "cloud computing" — say they stand to lose billions of dollars in business if emails and other files they house overseas are seen vulnerable to U.S. snooping.
Lawyers for the companies say the perception was stoked by former NSA systems analyst Edward Snowden's revelations last year that the U.S. and other countries' intelligence agencies routinely and indiscriminately gather and store huge amounts of data from phone calls and Internet communications.
And it was harmed again in April, they say, when a Manhattan magistrate judge concluded it was legal for the government to order Microsoft to comply with a sealed search warrant for a consumer email account it stores in Dublin, Ireland.
Read more: http://bigstory.ap.org/article/tech-giants-seek-halt-overseas-snooping-us
U.S. Health Care System Ranks Lowest in International Survey
Source: CBS News
U.S. health care system ranks lowest in international survey
JESSICA FIRGER /CBS NEWS
Jun 16, 2014 3:32 PM EDT
The U.S. spends more money on health care compared with other industrialized countries, but Americans still get the least bang for their buck -- and many still don't have access to care -- according to a report just published by the Commonwealth Fund. The report from the private health care research foundation examined data on expenditures, delivery and access to health care services among 11 industrialized countries: Australia, Canada, France, Germany, the Netherlands, New Zealand, Norway, Sweden, Switzerland, the U.K. and the U.S.
Overall, the U.K. and Switzerland were rated highest for factors that included quality, access, efficiency and equity of health care. The U.S., Canada and France overall ranked lowest. The U.S. was found to perform worst in areas concerning cost of care, efficiency, equity and overall health of its citizens, even though health care expenditures were highest per capita compared with the other 10 countries in the report.
In 2011, the U.S. spent $8,508 per capita in health care expenditures, compared with $3,405 per capita in the U.K., which was the country with the highest ranked health care system overall.
Read more: http://www.cbsnews.com/news/u-s-health-care-system-ranks-lowest-in-international-survey/
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