“Now, he is in the garbage of history.”

“Saddam Hussein executed in Baghdad” reads the A.P. headline today. It’s a very interesting read.

Now, he is in the garbage of history,” said Jawad Abdul-Aziz, who lost his father, three brothers and 22 cousins in the reprisal killings that followed a botched 1982 assassination attempt against Saddam in the Shiite town of Dujail.

I’m hopeful, for the sake of the Iraqi people, that the symbolic act of executing Saddam by hanging will crystalize some vision of national unity in the zeitgeist of the Iraqi people.

This event in Iraqi history would seem to be one in which everyone in their country will remember exactly where they were when they heard the news, much like when the U.S. heard of Pearl Harbor, JFK’s death, or the 9-11 attacks. Better examples might be the Fall of the Berlin Wall, VE-Day, or Richard Nixon’s resignation. Saddam’s hanging seems to be of importance, enough so that it could be said to be a moment of nationalism. Not a call to arms, but a call to Peace. Perhaps it won’t happen immediately, but this will signal a change of direction. We can hope, for the sake of the Iraqi people.

Saddam Executed by Hanging

Iraqi state television is reporting that Saddam Hussein has been executed by hanging in Baghdad.

UPDATE: READ THE STORY FROM THE ASSOCIATED PRESS

U.S. hands Saddam Hussein over to Iraqis to be hanged

Just in from CNN and Reuters News: The U.S. has just handed Saddam Hussein over to Iraqi authorities to be hanged. Presumably this will happen today, or no later than tomorrow. Saddam’s defense lawyers have been asked not to come to Baghdad, and have been told to pickup his personal belongings. Reuters story: Saddam transferred to Iraqi custody: defense lawyer

Mid-holiday catch-all; Gerald Ford – RIP; James Brown – RIP; Hussein to Swing before Sunday

WHEW! What a week for news:

Gerald Rudolph Ford Jr., 93, who became the 38th president of the United States as a result of some of the most extraordinary events in U.S. history… R.I.P.

Soul Singer James Brown dies

U.S.: Saddam Likely To Die By Sunday

Saddam to be hanged by Sunday

Most anyone with a crystal ball, Ouija Board, or a full deck of Tarot Cards anticipates some sort of heightened violence in response from the Sunnis and the Baathhist Party if and when the execution happens.

The Bush administration has decided to propose listing the polar bear as threatened under the Endangered Species Act, putting the U.S. government on record as saying that global warming could drive one of the world’s most recognizable animals out of existence.

Head-banging Chinese snakes can predict earthquakes days in advance, say scientists Thanks to THE HUFFINGTON POST for the heads up on this story.

To all of my many, many loyal readers. Okay, well, there’s a small handfull of regulars, and I thought I would let you know that two events will thin out the number of posts i’ll be adding for the next month or so. One, the workload of my day job is changing, and won’t allow me to spend quite as much time blogging for the next month. Two, after several months of small successes and experience gained in the blogospere, I am dropping back to give the matter a brief re-think.

I’ve experimented at two other blogsites and finally settled on WordPress as my choice of sites for this blog. For one, the search engines readily find WordPress blogs, which cannot be said of Blogger/Blogspot. So WordPress it is.

Also, in the next month I’ll be upgrading this site to allow more control over the template, the visual appearance, so the reader has a better time here and will stay longer, and hopefully will click on some ad links so’s I can make enough jingle to let me spend more time here.

So thanks to everyone who educated me here, this year. I wish you all a Merry Christmas, a Happy Kwaanza, a Wonderfully Happy Hannakuh, and/or a Drunken New Year’s Eve and Happy New Year. (Season’s Greetings if you don’t believe in any of the foregoing.)

Thanks,
Denny

TIME MAGAZINE’S PERSON OF THE YEAR: YOU!

Congratulations dear readers, Time Magazine named you person of the year. And Time got it right. YOU! Okay, us, or anyone who took control from the powers that be, or who contributed in some way. There are a lot of astounding things happening. The internet has grown beyond our wildest imaginations 10 years ago.

Read the Time article and give yourselves a pat on the back. If you are reading this then give yourself a warm pat on the back for not ingesting mainstream media for at least a while today.

ps If you are Bill O’Reilly and you are reading this then don’t give yourself a pat on the back. We bloggers remember you spouting, “I’d go in with a hand grenade,” referring to what you’d do to the blogosphere! I’m pretty sure that Time Magazine wasn’t referring to you, Bill, when they said, “YOU.” What they meant in your case was, “Get over yourself, Bill.” Ditto to Newt Gingrich for suggesting that we need to curb freedom of speech to prevent terrorist attacks. I’m pretty sure Time wasn’t referring to you either, Newt.

On McCain Trip to Iraq, Graham is Shocked by the Violence

Lindsey Graham was shocked by the violence during his recent trip to Iraq:

The first time I came here with Sen. McCain we went rug shopping. Yesterday, we moved around in a tank. It’s one of the most dangerous places on the planet.

I ask you, the reader, how did we, in three years time, go from “mission accomplished” to a civil war in Iraq that is threatening to break out into regional civil war? We all know pretty much who let this situation devolve into total chaos. Those folks should be brought to accountability, and I’m referring to Bush, Cheney, and Rumsfeld, for starters.

They went into Iraq with too few troops to secure the peace, the munitions, the peace, the militias, the peace, the explosives, the peace, and even our own weapons shipments to ourselves in Iraq!!

And now Laura Bush wants to blame G.W.’s low numbers on the media!! watch the video

It is not encouraging coverage for sure. There’s no doubt about it. But I do know that there are a lot of good things that are happening that aren’t covered. And I think that the drum beat in the country from the media, from the only way people know what is happening unless they happened to have a loved one deployed there, is discouraging.

Ha! What a total crock. The media and the Iraq Study Group have taken it on the chin for not leaving the secured “Green Zone” area of Baghdad -for hiring contract “stringers”, but Graham and McCain and company traveled in a tank! for protection. I am laughing out loud at Laura Bush’s whine about all the good things that are happening over there. Like? Like how could we know, because it’s too dangerous to go find any good news. I mean, who’s going to go out of the green zone to visit Iraqi retirement centers to see how the needlepoint and woodcarving classes are working out?

Or, maybe she meant good things happening in the U.S. Okay, yes then that’s true, there are good things happening. But most Americans are not so shallow as Laura and George, as to not pay some attention, and not to feel some grief and remorse that we’ve gotten 650,000 civilians killed in Iraq, to date, and the end is nowhere to be seen. And most of us also feel dismayed that we elected an individual who is so totally incompetant to the highest office in the land, the U.S. Presidency.

Her husband is a joke and she blames the media for not attending classes at retirement centers and daycare facilities. Ha! Laura, Honey, there’s a war going on out there, you should ask your husband what it’s all about and what his role was. (God, I’d like to eavesdrop on that conversation. It’d be funnier than your typical birds and bees talk.)

Peace Out, Denny

credits to: HUFFINGTON POST, THINK PROGRESS, & YAHOO NEWS

EDIT: Here’s more info on the Laura Bush interview, from Media Matters

Saudi Ambassador to U.S. Resigns; Grim What If

Saudis Give U.S. a Grim What If
Saudi Arabia, whose private citizens are supporting the Iraqi Sunnis, will offer official governmental support to the Iraqi Sunnis against the Shiites if the U.S. pulls out, and if a Sunni bloodbath begins to occur. In that event the Saudis will take on Iran and a large regional civil war will set in.

There’s some pretty strong implications in this piece from the NY Times.

By 2040 Greenhouse Gases … Open Arctic Sea in Summers

!!!! Alarm Bells – anyone hear them over the din of Limbaugh, FOX News, Coulter, DeLay, Iraq, Iran, Afghanistan, body counts, ….?
By 2040, Greenhouse Gases Could Lead to an Open Arctic Sea in Summers ANDREW C. REVKIN of the NY Times is writing about an article from the journal Geophysical Research Letters,

Basically, we’ll have shipping lanes from Atlantic to Pacific oceans north of Canada. Folks will be buying land in northern Canada, and building ports and fuelling stations up there, as the polar bears begin to run out of territory. The problem will continue to get worse as the darker colored ocean waters will absorb more heat than the white ice. Ironically, the winters will be colder, as blowing winds pick up more cold from the melted waters than from the frozen ice.

You really need to look at the map in the Times article to see how huge this summer ice melt will be. Almost the entire northern polar ice cap will be melted in the summer, leaving a small amount of summer ice to the north of Eastern Canada and Greenland.

Meanwhile, in my home state of Texas, we are being hijacked by the pinheaded Governor Rick Perry who is fast tracking the permits for 11 new coal-burning power plants. These are not the new, cleaner coal burners, he is letting them build 11 OLD TECHNOLOGY COAL PLANTS!!!!!!

With the foresight and intelligence of Rick Perry, I’m starting to think that he’s ready for the national scene in ‘08. Yeah, that’s the ticket, “PERRY FOR PREZ IN ‘08.” It would be a relief to get him out of Texas. Poor Washington.

If only we’d simply forgotten about Iraq after we’d finished up in Afghanistan, we could have gone to war against global warming.

IF ONLY WE’D DEVELOPED AN ENERGY POLICY IN THE 70′S.

If only we’d been as smart as Brazil. They were quick to react to the oil embargoes of the early 70’s, and started on a national program to convert their vehicles to ethanol. By last year the transition was complete. Every vehicle in Brazil runs on ethanol produced from sugar cane, which has a higher per acre yield than corn. In fact, Brazil is now an exporter of ethanol.

If only, … aaaahhhhh, But no, the U.S. is still dependent on Middle Eastern oil, and getting worse, and soon to be competing with a China on the fast track to consumerism and demands for more oil. So we are trying to permanantly embed ourselves in the Middle East to bring democracy to the region, rid it of WMD, kill hundreds of thousands of innocent people so that we preserve our own national interests over there. Can you spell oil with me kids, O-I-L. Very Good!

My how the time flies when I’m off on a good rant. Thank God and Little George Bush that we’re winning in Iraq!!! We’re winning? Right? Little George????

BRITAIN STOPS TALK OF ‘WAR ON TERROR’

BRITAIN STOPS TALK OF ‘WAR ON TERROR’ Probably a wise move since the new paradigm is “Diplomacy.” I’m not being sarcastic.

Jeane Kirkpatrick, ex-ambassador, dies

Jeane Kirkpatrick, ex-ambassador, dies.

Nice biography from wikipedia (Click for More):

Jeane Jordan Kirkpatrick (November 19, 1926 – December 7, 2006) was an American ambassador and an ardent anticommunist. After serving as Ronald Reagan’s foreign policy adviser in his 1980 campaign, she was nominated as the U.S. ambassador to the United Nations and was the first woman to hold this position. She is famous for her “Kirkpatrick Doctrine,” which advocates U.S. support of anticommunist governments around the world, pitting authoritarian dictatorships against totalitarian regimes. Along with Empower America co-directors William Bennett and Jack Kemp, she called on the Congress to issue a formal declaration of war against the “entire fundamentalist Islamic terrorist network” the day after the September 11th attacks on the World Trade Center.

WHITE HOUSE NEEDS LESSONS IN DIPLOMACY

I am not getting my hopes up that the ISG Report will get Bush 43 motivated to do anything that will lead to success in Iraq and the region. From David E. Sanger of the New York Times: Dueling Views on Diplomacy Pit Baker Against Rice. This article is a must read for its clues as to why we must talk with Syria and Iran. However, one day following the delivery of the Iraq Study Group Report, Bush has stated flatly that we will talk with neither Syria nor Iran.

The United States should engage Iran, Mr. Baker contended, if only to reveal its “rejectionist attitude”; it should try to “flip the Syrians”; and it should begin a renewed quest for peace between Israel and the Palestinians that, he maintained, would help convince Arab moderates that America was not all about invasions and regime change.

As to Baker’s and Bush’s diplomatic styles, Sanger quotes Dennis Ross:

“They start from completely different places,” said Dennis Ross, the Middle East negotiator who worked for Mr. Baker years ago and left the State Department early in the Bush administration. “Baker approaches everything with a negotiator’s mindset. That doesn’t mean every negotiation leads to a deal, but you engage your adversaries and use your leverage to change their behavior. This administration has never had a negotiator’s mind-set. It divides the world into friends and foes, and the foes are incorrigible and not redeemable. There has been more of an instinct toward regime change than to changing regime behavior.”

Absolutely true! When the neocons will accuse their own fellow Americans of being traitors and terrorists for disagreeing with the president or for asking the hard questions before the invasion, that’s hardcore fundamentalism at work. There is some kind of evil lurking in those people.

These two paragraphs are key to the depth of Baker’s wisdom, that sageness that one acquires in direct proportion to the amount of gray that one has in one’s hair. What a terrific panel.

CBS News White House correspondent Bill Plante reports:

But this president may not be in much of a hurry to accept Baker’s ideas about that — or much else. Asked if Baker would help implement the report, a spokesman for Mr. Bush said, “Jim Baker can go back to his day job.”

This is worse than dumping cold water on this distinguished group that has travelled around the globe and spent almost a year of their lives in this service to their country. The President and the entire white House severely need of diplomacy lessons.

It’s too early to tell what effect the mentoring of the ISG Report will have on Bush 43, but sadly, I am not optimistic.

Conservative Jews Allow Gay Rabbis and Unions

Just in from the New York Times, by Laurie Goodstein

Read the rest of the story here: Conservative Jews Allow Gay Rabbis and Unions

The highest legal body in Conservative Judaism, the centrist movement in worldwide Jewry, voted yesterday to allow the ordination of gay rabbis and the celebration of same-sex commitment ceremonies.

IRAQ STUDY GROUP REPORT IS RELEASED

Okay here’s my initial thoughts, having downloaded the IRAQ STUDY GROUP REPORT, but not read it, having watched the late morning news, and having watched the Press Conference with Tony Snow. By the way you can download the report, free at the Baker Institute.org – ISG Report Or visit their homepage – BAKER INSTITUTE HOME.

I saw almost none of the presentation to the President, but did see the Tony Snow press conf. He was his typical smug, ape-ish self, stiffarming, denying, and evading nearly every question asked. Judging from Snow, the Bush White House may still be in denial as the the dire situation in Iraq. Snow: “The President believes in the transformational power of liberty.” This is Ideological-Speak for “Hopefully we can find our way through all of this to stay the course.”

Bush is a strongwilled individualist, too much so to rethink this whole scheme of things. Too, putting yourself in Bush’s shoes, this mess is so humiliating and embarassing that it is going to keep him trapped in an angry and defensive mode of thinking. His presidency is not only lameduck, its thought processes are essentially shutdown. This is an embarassment to the United States, that we have one individual so hopelessly out of touch and yet in charge. Hopefully, with some time, he can figure his way out of this funk and move into a mode of dynamic leadership, leading the U.S. into a new diplomatic mode.

Again I’ll say that Snow was definitely stiff-arming the press, as expected, for a President in denial, “We have not been saying, ‘Stay the Course,’ for several months now.” I laughed aloud at this from Snow. They appear to have been living in a parallel universe for some time now. It has been less than one month since we’ve heard, “Stay the Course.” In fact we heard it multiple times from Bush himself only last week on his “diplomatic” trip to the Middle East.

I think it would be helpful to the President for him to stand before the American People in something of an early State of the Union Address on Iraq, and speak some pragmatic, non-ideological truth, apologize, and ask for national cooperation as we try to fix Iraq for the Iraqi People. There is a short window for Bush to seize the day on this mess. Perhaps extend the Iraq Study Group one year at a time, and use some or all of the members as a governing board to oversee the task. He can still pull this thing out of the fire and be a President with an important legacy.

But this President is not a dynamic leader. He’s a Lone Ranger, a unilateralist, a “my way or the highway” cowboy from Texas. Initially, two generals sugested that we need 500,000 troops to invade Iraq. One was fired and one was completely ignored.

Bush will adhere to ideology and refuse a change of course in regards to the Israel-Palestine conflict, the Iraq mess, and probably won’t attempt diplomatic talks with either Iran or Syria.

Based upon Bush’s history as an ideologue, and upon his inept grasp of reality, I am only mildly hopefully for our success in Iraq, or in the recovery of Bush’s administration. This is a failed administration whose only note of accomplishment is the stock market, but this comes at the expense of: 1. a record national debt 2. record national personal debt 3. record trade deficit 4. immigration problems 5. a failed war on terror 6. a failed war in Iraq 6. Bin Laden is still on the loose 7. Al Qaeda is growing 8. global warming 9. American jobs and wages

And finally, short of a totally self-reinvented George W. Bush, we are in dire need of a regime change in the Executive Branch of the U.S. Government. We don’t have the luxury of waiting two years for a new administration. Iraq demands our immediate attention, as do other serious problems.

Please, please, please Mr. President, please prove me wrong.

RUMSFELD MEMO: Iraq — Illustrative New Courses of Action

On the day before elections 2006, Secretary of Defense, Donald Rumsfeld wrote this memorandum entitled: Iraq — Illustrative New Courses of Action. Bush interviewed Robert Gates the day before this and Rumsfeld resigned two days later. It isn’t known whether Rumsfeld knew of Bush’s interview of Gates at the time of this memo. This is the text of the classified memo:

Nov. 6, 2006

SUBJECT: Iraq — Illustrative New Courses of Action

The situation in Iraq has been evolving, and U.S. forces have adjusted, over time, from major combat operations to counterterrorism, to counterinsurgency, to dealing with death squads and sectarian violence. In my view it is time for a major adjustment. Clearly, what U.S. forces are currently doing in Iraq is not working well enough or fast enough. [emphasis added] Following is a range of options:

ILLUSTRATIVE OPTIONS

Above the Line: (Many of these options could and, in a number of cases, should be done in combination with others)

¶Publicly announce a set of benchmarks agreed to by the Iraqi Government and the U.S. — political, economic and security goals — to chart a path ahead for the Iraqi government and Iraqi people (to get them moving) and for the U.S. public (to reassure them that progress can and is being made).

¶Significantly increase U.S. trainers and embeds, and transfer more U.S. equipment to Iraqi Security forces (ISF), to further accelerate their capabilities by refocusing the assignment of some significant portion of the U.S. troops currently in Iraq.

¶Initiate a reverse embeds program, like the Korean Katusas, by putting one or more Iraqi soldiers with every U.S. and possibly Coalition squad, to improve our units’ language capabilities and cultural awareness and to give the Iraqis experience and training with professional U.S. troops.

¶Aggressively beef up the Iraqi MOD and MOI, and other Iraqi ministries critical to the success of the ISF — the Iraqi Ministries of Finance, Planning, Health, Criminal Justice, Prisons, etc. — by reaching out to U.S. military retirees and Reserve/National Guard volunteers (i.e., give up on trying to get other USG Departments to do it.)

¶Conduct an accelerated draw-down of U.S. bases. We have already reduced from 110 to 55 bases. Plan to get down to 10 to 15 bases by April 2007, and to 5 bases by July 2007.

¶Retain high-end SOF capability and necessary support structure to target Al Qaeda, death squads, and Iranians in Iraq, while drawing down all other Coalition forces, except those necessary to provide certain key enablers for the ISF.

¶Initiate an approach where U.S. forces provide security only for those provinces or cities that openly request U.S. help and that actively cooperate, with the stipulation being that unless they cooperate fully, U.S. forces would leave their province.

¶Stop rewarding bad behavior, as was done in Fallujah when they pushed in reconstruction funds, and start rewarding good behavior. Put our reconstruction efforts in those parts of Iraq that are behaving, and invest and create havens of opportunity to reward them for their good behavior. As the old saying goes, “If you want more of something, reward it; if you want less of something, penalize it.” No more reconstruction assistance in areas where there is violence.

¶Position substantial U.S. forces near the Iranian and Syrian borders to reduce infiltration and, importantly, reduce Iranian influence on the Iraqi Government.

¶Withdraw U.S. forces from vulnerable positions — cities, patrolling, etc. — and move U.S. forces to a Quick Reaction Force (QRF) status, operating from within Iraq and Kuwait, to be available when Iraqi security forces need assistance.

¶Begin modest withdrawals of U.S. and Coalition forces (start “taking our hand off the bicycle seat”), so Iraqis know they have to pull up their socks, step up and take responsibility for their country.

¶Provide money to key political and religious leaders (as Saddam Hussein did), to get them to help us get through this difficult period.

¶Initiate a massive program for unemployed youth. It would have to be run by U.S. forces, since no other organization could do it.

¶Announce that whatever new approach the U.S. decides on, the U.S. is doing so on a trial basis. This will give us the ability to readjust and move to another course, if necessary, and therefore not “lose.”

¶Recast the U.S. military mission and the U.S. goals (how we talk about them) — go minimalist.

Below the Line (less attractive options):

¶Continue on the current path.

¶Move a large fraction of all U.S. Forces into Baghdad to attempt to control it.

¶Increase Brigade Combat Teams and U.S. forces in Iraq substantially.

¶Set a firm withdrawal date to leave. Declare that with Saddam gone and Iraq a sovereign nation, the Iraqi people can govern themselves. Tell Iran and Syria to stay out.

¶Assist in accelerating an aggressive federalism plan, moving towards three separate states — Sunni, Shia, and Kurd.

¶Try a Dayton-like process.

Whew! Sounds like Rumsfeld is fed-up and frustrated with the slow progress in Iraq, and with his boss, Mr. Bush! They should have implemented many of these strategies over 2 years ago.

YUP, REPUBLICANS LOST IRAQ WAR!

I’m beginning to be a fan of a lot of the Huffington Post’s writers, Cenk Uygur being one of my favorites. He’s a lawyer, and co-host of THE YOUNG TURKS, a morning show on Air America. He wrote a blog piece for the Huff-Po folks, entitled: THE REPUBLICANS LOST IRAQ, to which I replied:

You said it so lucidly Mr. Uygur. The blame for losing the Iraq War rests squarely on the Republican shoulders. Anyone who tried to inject sanity into their jingoistic monologue was scorned as a traitor. From day one I was incensed by Ann Coulter calling anyone who openly disagreed with the President, ON ANY TOPIC, an unpatriotic traitor. We all should have been rounded and tried like terrorists, in Ann’s and Rush’s and O’Reilly’s insane, reptilian worldview.

I am concerned that Democrats will now be roped into the “blame pool,” having won both houses. However Rumsfeld’s latest leaked memo written two days before he resigned, and the fact that most of the mainstream media now call it a Civil War, should limit the Democrat’s liability for the calamity ahead. Watch, though, the neocons will still be grousing that if they had been given enough time they would have pulled Iraq out of its current funk. (Hey neo-knotheads, it’s gone on longer than the America’s involvement in W.W. II.

The failed Republican – neocon approach has ignited a searing fire in the bellies of future generations of Middle Eastern jihadists. They will rightfully blame the U.S. for the 650,000 civilian deaths in Iraq.

The best approach to the Iraq situation would have been to grant more time to the initial weapons inspectors, and to a diplomatic solution.

I feel that your main point, Mr Uygur, needs to be hammered out loudly and firmly for the media and the world to hear, and remember. Say it loud! Say it proud! REPUBLICANS LOST IRAQ!

I feel that this bears repeating as a mantra for a while, vain and arrogant as it may sound, as a dose of reality to Republicans, neocons, their followers, and the rightwing media who have been pounding the terrorist war drums for the last five years. We need to drum this truth, into their heads.

If you have not yet checked out the Huffington Post, you need to do so, daily, or hourly if you are like me. It updates several times an hour, tracks the main wireline news, and has the best bloggers out there. It’s a national treasure. Give them a visit.

I’ve got several posts to get pasted up in the next few days – maybe Tuesday, or so. Thanks for your patience, Denny.