Commentary Update For August 12, 2003
Contents:
1. This week's show: Our great student director from last year, Nathan Wardinski, recently left Oshkosh to attend a graduate program in creative writing at the University of Minnesota - Mankato. Before he left, he made three "Commentary Greatest Hits" tapes for us. The first, which we will be showing this weeks, is clips from last year's interviews with candidates for Wisconsin governor. Jim Doyle (Democrat), Kathleen Falk (Democrat), Jim Young (Green), William Lorge (Republican), Alan Eisenberg (Reform), and Ed Thompson (Libertarian) appear on the tape. Unfortunately, we cannot find the interviews we did with Democrats Tom Barrett and Gary George. Next week we will start showing our interviews with County Board Chair Joe Maehl and Circuit Court Judge Bob Haase.
2. Explosion Affected Reflection: I was honored to be asked to speak at the Fox Valley's first annual Hiroshima Day of Remembrance, sponsored by the Winnebago Peace and Justice Center. Here is a revised and extended version of my remarks.
3. Rumsfeld is an arrogant asshole: At least according to retired Army Colonel David Hackworth, that is. It's no secret that the neo-cons running foreign policy these days are not thrilled with many of the retired generals out there, many of whom have made widely know their opinions about what they perceive as poor planning for Iraq. Hackworth, who appears regularly on Fox News and Larry King Live, has been especially vocal. His website features email from soldiers on active duty, who feel free to communicate with the colonel because according to him, they "know that I'm not going to blow the whistle on them." Excerpts from the letters, as well as the comment about Rummy, can be found in Salon.com's interview with Hackworth.
4. Letters from Bulgaria: Commentarians Dan and Billie Jo Rylance are currently in Sofia, Bulgaria. Billie Jo, an associate professor of special education here at UW Oshkosh, was recently awarded a Fulbright Scholarship taking her to Sofia. Dan will teach a course in American history at Sofia University. They intend to send Commentary a series of "Letters from Bulgaria." Here is the first installment.
5. Firebombs "Remarkably Like" Napalm: Shortly after the start of Operation Iraqi Freedom, the Sydney Morning Herald reported on the use of napalm by US forces on the Iraq/Kuwait border; "They were supported by US Navy aircraft which dropped 40,000 pounds of explosives and napalm, a US officer told the Herald." Then Jeff A. Davis, Lieutenant Commander, US Navy, Office of the Assistant Secretary of Defense, denied that napalm was used, " Your story ('Dead bodies everywhere', by Lindsay Murdoch, March 22, 2003) claiming US forces are using napalm in Iraq, is patently false. The US took napalm out of service in the early 1970s. We completed destruction of our last batch of napalm on April 4, 2001, and no longer maintain any stocks of napalm." Last week, Col. Randolph Alles finally admitted that napalm was used, even though Pentagon spokesmen continue to engage in a kind of Clintonian word parsing and doublespeak that tries to draw fine distinctions between napalm and firebombs. "The generals love napalm," said Alles, who has transferred to Washington. "It has a big psychological effect." My guess is he'd say the same about depleted uranium.
6. "When an Iraqi is condemned to hell, he takes an overcoat": That's some Iraqi humor to try and cope with the heat. But for American soldiers, the heat is no joke. Reports indicate the temperature as over 120 degrees in the shade, contributing to ugly rioting in Basra this past weekend. Lack of power and basic services makes the situation much worse, of course. Meanwhile Our Man in Baghdad, Viceroy L. Paul Bremer III, "estimated that repairing Iraq's electrical grid alone will cost $13 billion and getting the water system in shape will require an additional $16 billion." Some private analysts are now saying the total war costs could approach $600 billion. Call it chump change in the battle of good versus evil.
7. Dr. Strangeloves' Meeting: Just in case you thought the world might be moving toward nuclear disarmament in, say, the next 100 years or so, check out this story about a creepy meeting held at Offutt Air Force base in Nebraska last week. But as a sign of taking our global responsibilities seriously, the Army has begun to "incinerate" some Cold War chemical weapons. They destroyed 10 this past weekend and have only 70,000 left to go. Woo Hoo! Some of the residents of Calhoun County, Alabama have even had the gall to take the government to court to prevent the incineration, claiming the environmental consequences are potentially deadly. They're worried about a little burning sarin, vx, and mustard agents? Why worry when there are such confidence building emergency procedures in place.
8. My take on Arnold: Here's all I have to say about the Arnold Schwarzenegger
phenomenon: At a time in the United States of great patriotic and nationalistic
fervor, PATRIOT Acts and preemptive war, the appeal of a tough
talking Austrian is understandable. I say we quickly work to amend Article
II, section 1 of the United States Constitution ("No person except a natural
born citizen, or a citizen of the United States, at the time of the adoption
of this Constitution, shall be eligible to the office of President . . .")
so that Arnold can be President in 2008! [note: I am NOT saying Arnold is a
nazi; in fact in 1997 he received the Simon
Wiesenthal Center Leadership Award for his contributions to "better
understanding and tolerance." Rabbi Marvin Hier of the SW
Center says, "To suggest that Arnold’s an anti-Semite is preposterous.
He’s done more to further the cause of Holocaust awareness than almost
any other Hollywood star."]
By the way, Arnold does have a Wisconsin connection, earning a "correspondence" degree in business and international economics degree in 1979 from UW Superior. Superior gave him an Honorary Doctorate in 1996 because, well, he is Arnold after all. Supposedly the honor was in recognition of his charitable work.
The press is reporting that Gray The New Democrat Davis is enlisting the services of Bill The New Democrat Clinton to combat the Terminator. What do they have in mind? Perhaps Clinton playing "I wish they all could be California girls" on the saxophone on the Leno show?
9. Simile of the Week: Ellis Henican in New York's Newsday on Arnold: "'What is your plan to cut the state budget?' a reporter asked at the start of yesterday's news conference on the courthouse steps, after he picked up his papers upstairs. This is a state, don't forget, that is reeling from a $38-billion deficit. It was as if someone had asked about some obscure footnote clause in a state pension document."
10. So many Tonys. So little Time: The Sons of Italy are recognizing Four Star US Marine General Anthony Zinni (Ret.) during its 48th Biennial National Convention in St. Louis this week. Zinni will receive the organization's Guglielmo Marconi Award, Saturday, Aug. 16 during a gala dinner that closes the convention. Zinni's a Vietnam vet and held commands in Turkey, Iraq, the former Soviet Union and Somalia in the '80s and '90s. In 1997, Zinni was appointed head of Central Command, a position at which he was succeeded by General Tommy Franks.
On Iraq, Tony Zinni appears to be closer to Tony Palmeri than he is to Tony Blair. In October of 2002, Zinni spoke to the Middle East Institute and said in part:
I would suggest that we ought to think in terms of a Marshall Plan, not a Marshall Plan in terms of a large dole necessarily but one that is international and cooperative, one that looks at what needs to be done on the economic, political and social fronts to help this important critical part of the world get through this rough patch. There are questions out there about a great religion in the process of transformation adjusting to modernity. There are questions out there about the forms of governance and whether they're going to evolve into something more responsive to the twenty first century. There are questions out there about issues of human rights and different ways we see individual rights.
Do you best work those issues in confrontation or cooperation? I think you best work them in cooperation. Our other commitments require that as the leader of the world now and the last empire standing, not one of conquest but one of influence that has attempted to be the beacon for the world and not to conquer the world, how do we best exert that influence? How do we reach that hand out? How do we muster the resources of the world, of others who look to us for leadership to help in this region now? How do we cooperate with those in the region that want to see change and that want stability and reform? How do we do it in a way that minimizes friction instead of always resorting to what I spent thirty nine years doing, which is resorting to the gun? When you unleash that kinetic energy on a part of the world, you never know what's going to come out of the other end. More often than not, it makes the conditions worse.
In September of 2002, when asked about those who argued that an Iraq war would help the Middle East peace process, Zinni said "I don't know what planet they're on." Speaking to the Economic Club of Florida in August of 2002, "Zinni took a shot at the hawks, noting their lack of military experience. He ticked off several prominent military men who have expressed reservations about the war: Secretary of State Colin Powell, former chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff; Gen. Brent Scowcroft, former national security adviser under former President Bush; and Gen. H. Norman Schwarzkopf, commander of operations in the Persian Gulf War. 'It's pretty interesting that all the generals see it the same way,' he said, `and all the others who have never fired a shot and are hot to go to war see it another way.'" (Tampa Tribune).
Zinni eventually decided to be a good soldier and support his Commander in Chief on the war, but in hindsight it's becoming painfully clear that the neo-cons had absolutely no use for the views he espoused before the war. Even a smart guy like the UK's Tony Blair had no use for Tony Zinni, sounding more like Tony Provenzano ("Tony Pro" that some believe killed Jimmy Hoffa) in his obsessive reduction of the war to battle between the great West and the evil Saddam.
When Tony Zinni agrees on war policy with Tony Palmeri, and Tony Blair sounds like Tony Provenzano, there's something seriously wrong somewhere. Maybe Tony Robbins can figure it out.
So many Tonys. So little time.
11. The Antichrist of North Carolina: Every year the University of North
Carolina at Chapel Hill assigns three books to be read by incoming students.
Last year, you may recall, so-called "conservatives" went apoplectic
when one of the selections was a book about the Koran. This year, one of the
books is Barbara Ehrenreich's Nickel
and Dimed--once again upsetting the so-called "conservatives,"
leading a radio interviewer to ask the author what it felt like to the be the
antichrist
of North Carolina.
12. Support for gay marriage from an unlikely source: Madison's Wisconsin State Journal, not typically considered to be an advocate of liberal causes, came out strongly in support of gay marriage recently. They said, " . . . Wisconsin, led by a Republican governor, passed the nation's first gay rights law in 1982. We could once again show our nation the right path. The cause awaits courageous political leadership."
13. Is this freakin' sick or what?: K-B Toys is producing, for only $39.99, an "Elite Force Aviator: George W. Bush - US President and Naval Aviator - 12" Action Figure." Maybe on the box they should include one of those surgeon general type warnings: "Warning: Central Command has determined that 122 American soldiers have been killed in Iraq since the president announced an end to major combat operations in his public relations stunt aboard the aircraft carrier Abraham Lincoln on May 1st, 2003." K-B Toys wants your feedback. You can give it to them here.
14. "Human Shields": Sixty-two year old Faith
Fippinger of Sarasota, Florida, is being fined $10,000 by the feds for going
to Iraq in violation of travel bans so as to serve as a "human shield."
She could face up to 12 years in prison is she doesn't pay up. Ryan Clancy
of Milwaukee faces a similar set of circumstances. In March he made this
statement. Yesterday Clancy
told the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, "They're not differentiating between
me and a uranium dealer, even though the only thing I brought over there was
crayons and construction paper. I don't think they can make weapons of mass
destruction with that."
15. Palmeri to appear on WRST-FM "The Sound Opinion": On Monday,
August 18th from 9 -12 p.m. I will be on WRST-FM 90.3 radio with UW Oshkosh
student Matt Beringer as a guest on his show "The Sound Opinion."
We are going to play and talk about "message" songs from the 60s to
the present. Not sure of all the songs that will be played yet, but Frank
Zappa's 1973 "I'm
the Slime"--which might be the most accurate critique of American television
ever written, will certainly be one of them. Listen in if you are in the Oshkosh
area.
16. The 3-Lie Budget: Wisconsin's budget woes are as bad as California's, but just on a smaller scale. Mike McCabe of the Wisconsin Democracy Campaign recently wrote about the "three-lie budget.": " The people of Wisconsin were promised a balanced budget, but a large structural deficit remains because lawmakers continue to rely on Enron-style accounting to make the books appear to be balanced. Legislators and the governor repeatedly said there would be no tax increases, but there are hundreds of millions of dollars in tax increases disguised as ‘fees.’ And it was promised countless times that there would be shared sacrifice. Ordinary citizens did all the sacrificing. Wealthy donors were spared any pain." In yesterday's Oshkosh Northwestern, Dan Bush blamed this state of affairs on the we the voters for "electing mediocre people to important positions." His letter is here. (scroll down).
All the best,
-Tony
