How to Make the State Department Look Like the Green Zone
/in Bush Administration, Foreign Policy /by emptywheelGoing Nuclear
/in Bush Administration, Foreign Policy /by emptywheelI’m in Asia right now. On the way in, I was reminded of the increasingly visible effects of climate change–a tropical depression had closed the airport in Tokyo, so I was diverted to Nagoya, where I and 12 plane-loads of people slept on the airport floor, hoping to reach our destinations in time for our business meetings. It took me 2 days to reach my destination, and I had to spend $300 on clothes to make do until my bag reached me. That’s going to be an increasingly common occurrence so long as our leaders (read, Bush) ignore the real effects of climate change.
And now I have to contemplate flying home just east of a newly nuclear North Korea. It worries me a bit, sure (though I’m in SE Asia, far from any fall out, real or political). But mostly it makes me weary and sad that our failed leader continues to have such a tangibly negative effect on the world.
I’ve been harping for a long time, after all, about Bush’s propensity to choose the wrong targets. He has been chasing WMD ghosts in Iraq for 3 years now, and is contemplating chasing WMD ghosts in Iran, without making effective strides to roll back Pakistan’s proliferation network. You know, Pakistan? The country that assisted North Korea to get nukes? And for that matter, perhaps if we hadn’t sown so much chaos in the Middle East, we’d have had the focus to find a real solution in North Korea.
Playing the Clock
/in Bush Administration, War /by emptywheelI’ve been reviewing the events of Fall 2002 closely lately. And I gotta say, even four years later, I still get furious at the way the Bush Administration sprang the Iraq war "product" on Congress just before mid-term elections. Look at the way Wolf Blitzer responds, for example, when Condi tells him BushCo will push for an Iraq war vote before Congress goes home for the election.
BLITZER:Â When will you ask Congress for a resolution endorsing potential use of military force?
RICE: We’ll want to have discussions with the congressional leadershipand with others about the timing of this. But I believe that thepresident thinks it’s best to do this sooner rather than later and inthis session of Congress. This is a problem…
BLITZER:Â Excuse me for interrupting.Â
RICE:Â Yes?
BLITZER:Â You mean before the congressional recess in advance of the elections, within the next month or so.
RICE: Yes, that’s right, before the congressional recess, before thecongressional recess. I think the president has made clear that hewould like to have a full debate and a resolution, but we’re going todiscuss this with the members of Congress.
BLITZER:Â There’s a lot of explaining that members of Congress insist you still need to do.
If your cynicism is shocking Blitzer, you’re engaging in truly cynical behavior.
Which is why it gives me a sick pleasure to watch BushCo try to save their own arses from war crime prosecution push through their wiretapping and torture bills before the mid-terms.