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February 4, 2006 [LINK]
Progress in the Mosul sector
The fragility of local security forces in the Kurdish sector of Iraq was exposed last year when insurgents seized large parts of the northern city of Mosul, where Kurds and Arab Iraqis both reside. Saddam Hussein expelled many Kurds from the oil-rich city during his reign, for obvious strategic reasons, and there is constant friction as the Kurds gradually move back in. Friday's Washington Post reported some good news that the local police forces are now much stronger, and that order in the streets is gradually prevailing over chaos.
You can't triangulate war
Notwithstanding the cartoon from sacredcowburgers.com cited yesterday, not all Democrats are irresponsible or verging on treason when it comes to dissenting on the Bush administration's war policy. Indeed, many of them have staked out a clear position in favor of U.S. victory, including Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton. Nevertheless, there remains a strong inclination among most such Democrats to promote a "centrist" alternative war policy, which as Mark Steyn (via Baseball Crank) points out, is completely oxymoronic:
You think how ludicrous it would be if people were to talk about people crafting a centrist position on World War II, or World War I, or the Civil War...
As I have often said, there is nothing wrong with frank, open debate over the best approach to pursue in this war, but political considerations should have nothing to do with the formulation of military strategy.
UPDATE: In the same interview, Steyn makes another interesting observation about the strange silence from the folks at "S.A.N.E." who used to protest against the U.S. nuclear weapons program:
You know, we're both of the generation that kind of grew up with all the sort of nuclear armageddon hanging over us, big mushroom clouds on the front of movie posters, and novels, and TV films and all the rest of it. And that was when five relatively sane countries had nuclear weapons. Now, any guy whose got the right Pakistani phone number in his rolodex can get ahold of nukes, and the left, who've spent the 50's, 60's, 70's, and 80's raging hysterically about nuclear armageddon, couldn't care less about it.
It's as though they actually believe that the Pentagon is more dangerous than Al Qaeda...
Posted (or last updated or commented upon): 06 Feb 2006, 9: 19 AM
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Category archives:
(all years)
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This (or that) year's
blog highlights
January 7, 2006 ~ DeLay gives up majority leader post
January 12, 2006 ~ Alito withstands Dems' "torture"
January 16, 2006 ~ Michelle Bachelet wins in Chile
January 19, 2006 ~ Views on Iran's nuclear ambitions
January 24, 2006 ~ Fallout from Canada's election
January 31, 2006 ~ Second (& third) thoughts on Iran
February 1, 2006 ~ The State of the Union, 2006
February 8, 2006 ~ D.C. Council votes "yes," but...
February 18, 2006 ~ Checks and balances in wartime
February 22, 2006 ~
Neocons & Neolibs: chastened alike
February 28, 2006 ~
The Dubai Ports World uproar
March 14, 2006 ~ New D.C. baseball stadium unveiled
March 24, 2006 ~ In the footsteps of France?
April 7, 2006 ~ Immigration compromise fails
May 16, 2006 ~ Bush militarizes Mexican border
June 6, 2006 ~ Alan Garcia triumphs, once again
June 9, 2006 ~
Zarqawi: The death of a terrorist
July 3, 2006 ~
Election in Mexico: too close to call
July 5, 2006 ~ North Korea goes ballistic
July 28, 2006 ~ Garcia prepares to lead Peru, again
August 4, 2006 ~ Israel invades Hezbolland
September 6, 2006 ~ "Crunchy conservatives": for real?
September 25, 2006 ~ Nationalists thwart conservation
October 3, 2006 ~ Nationals: Year in review
October 29, 2006 ~ Virginia's marriage amendment
November 7, 2006 ~ The people render their verdict
November 8, 2006 ~ Republicans lose big time
November 9, 2006 ~ Allen concedes / Election post-mortem
November 13, 2006 ~ Toward consensus on Iraq?
December 1, 2006 ~ Realism and our goals in Iraq
December 6, 2006 ~ Latin America & U.S. trade policy
December 8, 2006 ~ Iraq Study Group reports
December 22, 2006 ~ Yuletide political roundup
Blog highlights have been compiled for the years 2010-2012 thus far, and eventually will be compiled for earlier years, back to 2002.
Explanation
The "home made" blog organization system that I created was instituted on November 1, 2004, followed by several functional enhancements in subsequent years. I make no more than one blog post per day on any one category, so some posts may cover multiple news items or issues. Blog posts appear in the following (reverse alphabetical) order, which may differ from the chronological order in which the posts were originally made:
- Wild birds (LAST)
- War
- Science & Technology
- Politics
- Latin America
- Culture & Travel
- Canaries ("Home birds")
- Baseball (FIRST)
Also see: My blog practices.
Blog errata (Nobody's perfect.)