From his November 6 memo:

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

That’s the way to think outside the box! (Although why did he include it on his list of “less attractive options”?)

A paid informant for a US agency participated in several murders with the knowledge and consent of senior administration officials. Reporting the story based on documents unearthed during several lawsuits surrounding the issue, The Guardian says that the US department of Homeland Security Immigration and Customs office paid Guillermo Ramirez Peyro more than $200,000 [...]

I don’t often veer into the autobiographical but for various reasons this seems a good moment to violate my own privacy.
Depression is a monster. It is a malignancy of the spirit. It is an embezzler and a daylight thief; it will rob you of your simplest pleasures, and often enough of your livelihood as well. [...]

Like chickens in need of a rooster, neocons perched on their proverbial eggs during the Clinton administration’s efforts to promote Middle East peace. They had an omelet recipe, and they needed an emasculated rooster to break some eggs and combine them with hallowed ingredients, like the state of Israel’s continued hegemony – a necessary component for protecting the Israeli governance while it abuses human rights, abrogates international laws, and snubs common decency. A righteous puck, George “Dubya” Bush, could not have made a better evangelist for the state of Israel’s supremacy, crowing the virtues of supporting a mass murdering Israeli Prime Minister whom he crowned as his teacher. And thus red becomes the color of the Middle East at the beginning of the twenty-first century. It’s very easy when national conscience can be defined by events like Nine Eleven.

Suppose you have a family member addicted to alcohol who has finally reached the point where he either stops or dies. You gather family and friends together for one last effort to save his life: the intervention. You discuss the various options, settle on three you think will save the day and head on over [...]

From the Israeli perspective, the situation is dire. Sharon must have seen the writings on his wall and perhaps the vision finally felled the big man: the polyglot Zionist vision that found a reality in Israel is unsustainable in its present form and function. Something has to give, but all options appear to be open, including accelerating the pace of the creeping genocide in Palestine. Or perhaps Iran truly represents the next step from Iraq.

From the pages of Time Magazine comes a Christmas tale of anarchy, death and destruction leavened with a dose of Frank P. Church. Yes, Virginia, there is a Santa Claus, or at least a confederation of elves prepared to stand in for him, or if not exactly a confederation and not exactly prepared (and not [...]

For whatever reason, the New York Times has published yet another puerile op-ed column on Iraq. The column, written by Michael O’Hanlon of the Brookings Institution, proposes that 2007 will be the year we finally learn whether or not the invasion and occupation of Iraq will be proved a success and packages everyone else’s [...]

Last Friday while listening to the news on the radio I had the pleasure of hearing our president say these words: “History will record that the first major ground battle in the 21st century involving American forces began with a Calvary charge. I guess that’s what you get when you bring together a President from Texas with a Secretary of Defense who actually remembers when America had a Calvary.”

President Bush made clear in the wake of the November elections his disappointment that American voters are clueless when he remarked that “I thought when it was all said and done, the American people would understand the importance of taxes and the importance of security.” They didn’t, and it’s none of his concern; he [...]

Everybody knows that moods are infectious. Now, former New York Times science writer Daniel Goleman has explained why. His new book, Social Intelligence, details the neurological processes that help us transmit our moods and other social cues to those around us.
Once believed to be lumps of lonely gray matter cogitating between our ears, our brains [...]

A number of people are commenting on the report that the US is considering the establishment of overseas military recruiting stations. Some people may be wondering whence the idea sprang, and whether it’s a good one. The answer to the first question supplies the answer to the second.
The idea was first floated in a February, [...]

Neil Gaiman, Anansi Boys (A)
Tom Robbins, Jitterbug Perfume (B+)
Sean Stewart, The Night Watch (B+)
J. M. Coetzee, Elizabeth Costello (A)
Adam and Eve frolicked free and easy in the garden, knowing God, but not knowing what he knew. “Eat this fruit,” said Eve, “and we’ll be animals no more.” Gilgamesh took Enkidu aside, shaved his shaggy ass [...]

The best US journalism on this country’s involvement in Iraq, both before and after the invasion, belongs hands down to McClatchy Newspapers. The former Knight Ridder chain was a voice in the wilderness during the runup to the invasion, with its Washington Bureau standouts Jonathan Landay and Warren Strobel all too often offering the only [...]

It is naive to attempt to characterize activities a President might authorize as ‘legal’ or ‘illegal’ without reference to the circumstances under which he concludes that the activity is necessary.
– Richard Nixon
Another bloody year draws to a close, which means it’s time to pay tribute to a few of the truly bloody-minded among us. [...]