Originally we invaded Iraq to stop Saddam Hussein from giving away thousands of WMDs to terrorist cells all over the work; when the WMDs turned out to be bunk, we decided that we invaded to depose an evil dictator and bring democracy to the middle east. Now it seems that the democracy so much touted by the Bush administration will not be democracy, but a confederation of Islamic states. All with the US blessing apparently:
According to Kurdish and Sunni negotiators, the US ambassador, Zalmay Khalilzad, proposed that Islam be named “a primary source” and supported a wording which would give clerics authority in civil matters such as divorce, marriage and inheritance.
It seems that we have taken a stable, despotic, secular state and are turning it into an unstable despotic Islamic state — Is this progress?
Aside from the real human costs of the conflict in Iraq, there is a staggering financial cost. Linda Bilmes documents some of these costs in today’s New York Times. Bilmes notes that at current levels, the Iraqi conflict is costing the US approximately $6 billion a month to maintain — that’s $6,000,000,000 per month. Based on present census estimates that’s $21.00 for every man, woman, child, and infant in the US. Now, maybe $21/month doesn’t seem like a lot; look around when you are having your morning coffee, walking on the street, driving home — each and every person owes $21, and that’s just been to maintain the present situation. Meanwhile our troop still cannot get the protective armor they need. Feel like your getting your money’s worth?
This $6,000,000,000/month does not include the cost of long term medical care for the thousands of soldiers wounded in Iraq — a cost the current administration is trying to reduce by cutting the benefits to our vetrens. Meanwhile, Mr. Bush continues to fight to make his tax cuts for the wealthiest permanent. After all, what’s $21/month to someone who earns 1000 times that? - which is about where the bulk of Mr.Bush’s tax cuts begin to take effect.
Overall, this conflict is shaping up to be the most financially costly in American history. Let us hope that it doesn’t to cost us equally in suffering and humanity.
Senate majority leader, dr. Bill Frist has come out in favor of teaching ‘Intelligent Design’ along side the theory of evolution. dr. Frist, a well known and popular faith healer in his home state of Tennessee, was most recently in the news when he made a remote viewing diagnosis of the brain dead Terri Shiavo.
dr. Frist seems to believe that in a “pluralistic society” that a “broad range of fact, of science, including faith” should be taught in our public schools. I agree, dr. Frist. But allow me a moment please; by your logic I should be able to demand that atheism be taught in theology classes and Sunday schools, and psychoanalysis should be taught in geometry classrooms “What”, you say, “atheism is not a religion, those have nothing to do with the subject of the class?”. Well dr. Frist, ‘intelligent design’ is not science.
dr. Frist, I understand that you have been out of school for some time, and maybe have a general grudge against the enlightenment — perhaps you were forced to read Voltaire as an impressionable child — but within the past few hundred years we have classified certain field’s of study in order to help expand our knowledge them. Maybe some definitions would help:
science:
Function: noun
A knowledge or a system of knowledge covering general truths or the operation of general laws especially as obtained and tested through the scientific method and concerned with the physical world and its phenomena
theology:
Function: noun
1: the rational and systematic study of religion and its influences and of the nature of religious truth 2: a particular system or school of religious beliefs and teachings
Have you’ve noticed the difference? Science requires testing through a particular method as well as observations in the natural world. Theology, on the other hand, is a study of religious truths or beliefs. I understand this may be complicated, dr. Frist, but please try to understand. Science attempts to make sense of the universe by testing and proving theories — sometimes this can take a very very long time. Theology tries to understand the relationship of man to the divine by examining a series of dogmatic or philosophical beliefs. Science can be proven or disproven by observation, extrapolation, and mathematics; theology can never be proven correct or incorrect — it can only be shown to be within a rational faith or outside of it.
Now dr. Frist, I ask that you please go back to your ‘practice’ and leave science to scientists and theology to the faithful.
Today’s news that another four American soldiers were killed in Iraq is another tragedy of this conflict. My hometown is considering a resolution calling for an immediate withdrawal of military forces from Iraq. I have many friends and neighbors who support such a resolution; yet, I am unenthusiastic about such a prospect. On the one hand, it is an atrocity to watch my fellow countrymen die in a war which has no truthful justification or point. This administration, which prosecuted this war under false claims and exaggerations, should be impeached and jailed for fraud. They have bungled the actions in Iraq so badly that the word incompetent does not fall far enough to describe the quality actions. The entire post-invasion period has been nothing but a sea or corruption and abuse. As corporations take their profits and American soldiers are wounded and die, and the Iraqi people suffer.
If America was to pull its military out of Iraq today what would occur to those people whose country we have decimated? At this point the country has less infrastructure and stability then it did under its former dictator, and some type of civil war seems inevitable, whether American troops are there or not. Even with American support, it appears that the Iraqi constitution will include references to sharia law and Iraq will more towards an Iranian style government then a western democratic one. This appears to be a no win situation - one in which both Iraqis and Americans will suffer for some time to come. The current administration refuses to review any of its decisions or actions; so this leaves the reality of the future as bleak as the present.
I have no answer. If the military leaves Iraq there will be more violence and death, and no doubt, eventually, a government hostile to the US will emerge. If American forces stay in Iraq more Americans will die needlessly, and maybe, eventually, something approaching a rational country will emerge. In either case more Iraqis will die and more will look upon the US as their enemy. The present strategy of the administration seems to be to setup the situation as an Iraqi failure, one in which they can wash the hands of their responsibility and claim that they tried to establish democracy - but the Iraqis didn’t want it. This strategy will is a betrayal of all the casualties of this conflict.
What to do next is the question. . .
Eons ago when I did my first under grad degree, I was for to take an introduction to logic course. I hated this course - the professor droned on in a monotone about set theory and group operators. Nonetheless, I did pickup some interesting and useful skills from the coursework. One of the more useful concepts was that of logical fallacies.
While trolling the news during lunch, I came across a terrible and inflammatory article about Cindy Sheehan. Michael J. Gaynor, the author, writes
“This year Cindy Sheehan is Michael Moore’s Woman of the Year, basking in the media spotlight as she demonstrates outside President Bush’s ranch, describing him as a liar and a war criminal who killed her son, and demanding a second meeting so that she can rail at him in person and order him to pull out of Iraq immediately.”
The only reason I post this drivel here is that it is a prime example of an ad hominem abusive fallacy. The fallacy involves replying to an argument by attacking the person rather then the argument. In this case:
- Sheehan = Michael Moore
- Michael Moore = evil America hating liberal
- Sheehan = evil America hating liberal
- Sheehan’s argument = false
This type of argument is very very common among right wing pundits and bureaucrats. And it’s important to note the fallacy when we see it.
Yesterday, Larry Northern, of Northern Realtors, Waco, TX, was arrested for “criminal mischief” after running over 300 white crosses bearing the names of soldiers killed in Iraq. The crime took place outside of Crawford, TX, near president Bush’s ranch. The display of crosses was part of a protest camp established by Cindy Sheehan, the mother of a US marine killed in action in Iraq.
The crosses represented about a sixth of current US fatalities in Iraq. As others have noted, should all the 1,847 Mil-spec “[body] transfer cases”, of those Americans killed in Iraq, be lined up end-to-end, they would be 2.57 miles long, leading straight from Cindy Sheehan’s camp across president Bush’s prickly wasteland, right through his Ranch House front door and fill up his living room.
Perhaps Mr. Northern thought he was protecting property values for the president.
I have morbid interest in unusual holy relics — it’s a catholic thing. Liz at Blondsense has made me aware of a miracle pierogi which features the image of Jesus. Apparently the divine dumpling was sold for some $1700 on eBay — it is not specified whether it was a potato pierogi or cheese - personally, I would have paid more for the latter then the former.
Now as a kid my family used to go out for pierogis every week — specifically we would go out the the Anchor Inn, which had great pierogis. Every now and then someone would mumble, “Lord, that’s a good pierogi.” I guess we knew not the true blessing of the pierogi for we rarely inspected them prior to consumption.
