Recovery

Ok. Here's your gallant return, at least for all three of you who stuck around. I don't know what the future holds for this blog, so no promises on how things are going to unfold from here. Everything is sort of topsy turvy at the moment for me.

Below is a good portion of the important stuff, in my estimation, from the last month or so. It is not comprehensive, by any means, but I think you could call it a decent retrieval operation. (Semi)Regular posting will hopefully ensue from this point on.

Note also that I've changed some stuff in the sidebar to the right. Most notably, I've dropped the email addy. If you wish to contact me, do so in the comment spaces.

* You've got to give the jokers at the Pentagon some credit, especially when it comes to their attempts to spin the death toll in Iraq. Alas, the Baghdad death toll for August tripled overnight! The LA Times looks at how this happened. Also see related details from two separate Pentagon reports, which when coupled with ancillary studies paint an exceedingly grim picture of the situation on the ground.

* This excerpt from the new book by Rajiv Chandrasekaran, the Washington Post's old Baghdad bureau chief, fleshes out one of the most beloved stories of the Iraq occupation. Namely, how the occupation was mangled by a bunch of incompetent know-nothings who were put in positions of power because of their ideological purity. Recall from earlier: "Jr. conservatives lord over Iraq."

* Ramming through a political process in Iraq on Washington's timetable wasn't quite such a good idea, claims a new GAO report. Gosh, who'd a thunk it. Propping up "democracy" is such a pain sometimes.

* Ah, those wily Americans. Allegedly they're going to try to turn Baghdad into one huge strategic hamlet. I guess the lessons of Vietnam or, even, Fallujah have not been learned.

* Christopher Hayes explains "How the Greatest Generation helped pave the road to Baghdad." Americans are constantly searching for another "good war," it seems.

* After departing Baghdad, Patrick Cockburn filed a couple of reports from the Palestinian territories, where, in particular, the daily humiliation in Gaza is beyond belief. To its credit, the Washington Post weighed in recently with a substantial article on the plight of Gazans, as well.

* Rami G. Khouri argues that the move in Palestine towards forming a "unity government" is a mistake, ultimately an act of weakness and desperation that will lead nowhere. "The only diplomatic process that will succeed has never been seriously attempted: demanding equal and simultaneous concessions from Israelis and Palestinians, on key issues of statehood, recognition, coexistence, and renunciation of violence," Khouri claims. "Trying to circumvent this moral, historical and political imperative of addressing Palestinian and Israeli national rights equally, and in parallel, is a colossal waste of time, and painful to watch - yet again."

* Israel sure was generous dispersing cluster bombs as its war on Lebanon wound down. I suppose that's just one reason why Israeli military and political figures are reportedly worried about war crimes charges. (And, yes, it's also worth noting the AI report condeming Hezbollah's war crimes, although there's hardly any comparison regarding the amount of carnage each side inflicted.)

* Amira Hass asks her fellow Israeli citizens, "Where are you?" If you change the context slightly, you could obviously ask much the same of Americans here.

* This is an insightful interview with the ever-reliable Jonathan Cook on some of the themes from his new book.

* In his latest New Yorker article, Seymour Hersh narrates the American cheering on of Israel's destruction of Lebanon, which was seen, alternatively, as a prelude to and a test drive of an attack on Iran.

* Little surprise: neocons and their allies are again trying to exaggerate and manipulate intelligence, this time in regards to Iran. See also: Ray Close on "Why Bush will Choose War Against Iran."

* Virginia Talley asks, "Is Iran's President Really a Jew-hating, Holocaust-denying Islamo-fascist who has threatened to 'wipe Israel off the map'?"

* Who's winning the "war on terror"? Iran, says a new Chatham House study.

* IPS' Sanjay Suri summarizes the findings of a new Senlis report on the situation in Afghanistan, where poppy cultivation is at an all-time high, the Taliban reigns supreme in many provinces, bodies keep piling up, and the nation building effort is a pathetic sham. See also: "Why It's Not Working in Afghanistan."

* In the CJR, Eric Umansky examines why media outlets looked the other way for so long in the face of mounting evidence of US involvement in prison abuse, torture, and other atrocities prior to the Abu Ghraib revelations. The evidence, as I noted at the time, was staring everyone in the face. It took a willful effort to ignore it.

* Is There Still a Terrorist Threat? Not really, says John Mueller in Foreign Affairs. "The massive and expensive homeland security apparatus erected since 9/11 may be persecuting some, spying on many, inconveniencing most, and taxing all to defend the United States against an enemy that scarcely exists," he concludes.

* This article by Diana Johnstone takes a pretty good approach to 9/11 "conspiracy theories." Also see: Loose Change vs. Popular Mechanics.

* Where's Osama? Nobody seems to have a clue.

* According to official statistics, poverty in the US has leveled off for the first time under Bush. Talk about small victories. Meanwhile, the NY Times reports that the wages and salaries of American workers "now make up the lowest share of the nation’s gross domestic product since the government began recording the data in 1947, while corporate profits have climbed to their highest share since the 1960’s."

* Shocker! The Washington Post reports that we should have no confidence in electronic voting.

* When you've got nothing to run on, what do you do? If you're the GOP, you start digging for dirt on your opponents.

* Bob Parry slices through the obfuscation regarding the recent Armitage/Plame leak revelations. We've also learned, ironically, that Plame worked on weapons proliferation issues in Iraq.

* Henry Giroux expounds on "The Politics of Disposability," particularly as evidenced by the horrors of Katrina.

* Too bad I missed the great holiday that is Labor Day. But who needs a holiday or vacation, anyway? Not us burly, efficient Americans.

* On the climate change front, James Hansen says we've got a decade to deal with reality if we wish to avert a major catastrophe; NASA reports of new evidence that Greenland's melting is accelerating and the polar ice caps are melting even in winter; and Nature publishes a study warning of a "self-perpetuating climate time bomb trapped in once-frozen permafrost."

* Here's some clarification on Chevron's new oil "discovery" in the Gulf of Mexico. It's safe to say that it is less significant than the initial, breathless reports claimed.

* Why have liberals become such wusses? That, in short, is what Tony Judt wants to know.

* Repeat after me: there's absolutely nothing wrong with the health care system in the US. Honest.

* Is there blood on your cellphone? Yes, on a lot of consumer items, actually.

* Way to go, Mr. Dershowitz. Every time I think you've stooped to new depths, you always seem to impress by stooping even lower.