Maybe if you never call a war a war, you never have to call peace peace.

North Korea wants a peace treaty before beginning denuclearization. South Korea wants a peace treaty, period. The U.S., which conducted the war in violation of the U.S. Constitution, is still resisting.



How the U.S. Helped Prevent North Korea and South Korea From Reaching Real Peace in the 1950s by Michael Pembroke (Time)

Happy days are here again

Really psyched about the people's uprising in Tehran and the Persian countryside. Hope we don't miss the opportunity to lend a hand in Iran like we did in Iraq, Libya and Syria.

quote unquote: Wilfred Owen

Strange Meeting

It seemed that out of the battle I escaped
Down some profound dull tunnel, long since scooped
Through granites which Titanic wars had groined.

Yet also there encumbered sleepers groaned,

Too fast in thought or death to be bestirred.
Then, as I probed them, one sprang up, and stared
With piteous recognition in fixed eyes,
Lifting distressful hands as if to bless.
And by his smile, I knew that sullen hall;
By his dead smile I knew we stood in Hell.

With a thousand fears that vision's face was grained;
Yet no blood reached there from the upper ground,
And no guns thumped, or down the flues made moan.
"Strange friend," I said, "Here is no cause to mourn."
"None," said the other, "Save the undone years,
The hopelessness. Whatever hope is yours,
Was my life also; I went hunting wild
After the wildest beauty in the world,
Which lies not calm in eyes, or braided hair,
But mocks the steady running of the hour,
And if it grieves, grieves richlier than here.
For by my glee might many men have laughed,
And of my weeping something has been left,
Which must die now. I mean the truth untold,
The pity of war, the pity war distilled.
Now men will go content with what we spoiled.
Or, discontent, boil bloody, and be spilled.
They will be swift with swiftness of the tigress,
None will break ranks, though nations trek from progress.
Courage was mine, and I had mystery;
Wisdom was mine, and I had mastery;
To miss the march of this retreating world
Into vain citadels that are not walled.
Then, when much blood had clogged their chariot-wheels
I would go up and wash them from sweet wells,
Even with truths that lie too deep for taint.
I would have poured my spirit without stint
But not through wounds; not on the cess of war.
Foreheads of men have bled where no wounds were.

“I am the enemy you killed, my friend.
I knew you in this dark: for so you frowned
Yesterday through me as you jabbed and killed.
I parried; but my hands were loath and cold.
Let us sleep now. . . .” Read: Wilfred Owen: Poems Selected by Jon Stallworthy

Newspeak

"War is Peace" has been the watchword of U.S. foreign policy for decades. Johnson, Nixon, Reagan, Bush, Clinton, Bush and Obama: each liked to wave his gun around. Dropping bombs on people is a presidential pastime, because it is as easy as ordering dessert and, for the commander in chief, politically risk free, American voters valuing as they do looking tough over being tough. Joining the Democrats in rechristening the various military adventures he inherited as "Trump's wars" will not end militarism. To succeed, the peace movement, should it remobilize, will need to take on both parties. Both are drenched in blood.

quote unquote: James Madison on war

"No nation could preserve its freedom in the midst of continual warfare."

"Of all the enemies to public liberty war is, perhaps, the most to be dreaded, because it comprises and develops the germ of every other.

War is the parent of armies; from these proceed debts and taxes; and armies, and debts, and taxes are the known instruments for bringing the many under the domination of the few. In war, too, the discretionary power of the Executive is extended; its influence in dealing out offices, honors, and emoluments is multiplied; and all the means of seducing the minds, are added to those of subduing the force, of the people. The same malignant aspect in republicanism may be traced in the inequality of fortunes, and the opportunities of fraud, growing out of a state of war, and in the degeneracy of manners and of morals engendered by both. No nation could preserve its freedom in the midst of continual warfare.” – James Madison

(Political Observations (1795-04-20); also in Letters and Other Writings of James Madison (1865), Vol. IV, p. 491.)

Leadership: Obama has a "West Wing" moment

President Obama flew to Dover Air Force Base in Delaware to witness the return of remains of 18 U.S. personnel killed in Afghanistan, "the first president to do this since 9/11." In addition to signaling that he is prepared to assume the full burdens of his office in ways his predecessor was not, it also suggests that, whatever he concludes about ending or expanding the AfPak war, his deliberations will be more than a session of "Risk 2010."

Clip File: Threat Of New Conflict In Europe: Western-Sponsored Greater Albania

"Europe may be perched above the precipice of its first armed conflict since NATO’s 78-day bombing war against Yugoslavia in 1999 and the resultant armed invasion of Macedonia from NATO-occupied Kosovo two years later.

"With the formal accession of Albania into full NATO membership this April and the subsequent reelection victory (at least formally) of the nation’s prime minister Sali Berisha, the stage is set for completing the project of further redrawing the borders of Southeastern Europe in pursuit of a Greater Albania."

The rest of the story: Threat Of New Conflict In Europe: Western-Sponsored Greater Albania by Rick Rozoff (Stop NATO 2009-10-08)

Clip File: Afghanistan Apocalypse

Although understandable in the wake of 9/11, military action in Afghanistan was from the beginning a mistake, among other things serving to raise a band of criminal whack jobs to the stature of "warriors." Because of chronic failure of leadership by the foreign policy professionals, what should have been a police matter escalated into a tragic, pointless and apparently endless war. Although the occupation of Iraq distracted us for a while, our government is determined now to turn a bad policy decision into an intractable catastrophe, for us and for the region. A punitive expedition that lasts nine years is already a failure. Now is the time to stop it; we don't need to wait until we have to slice into The National Mall for an Afghanistan War Memorial.

Yesterday afternoon at the Brookings Institution, four analysts portrayed a bleak and terrifying vision of the current state of affairs in Afghanistan in the wake of the presidential election. All four were hawkish, reflecting a growing consensus in the Washington establishment that the Afghanistan war is only just beginning.

Their conclusions: (1) A significant escalation of the war will be necessary to avoid utter defeat. (2) Even if tens of thousands of troops are added to the US occupation, it won't be possible to determine if the US/NATO effort is succeeding until eighteen months later. (3) Even if the United States turns the tide in Afghanistan, no significant drawdown of US forces will take place until five years have passed.
....
Not a single panelist questioned the goals, purpose or objectives of the Afghan war. Not one said anything about a political solution to the war, about negotiations, or about diplomacy. Not one questioned the viability of an open-ended commitment to the war. And none of them had any doubts about the strategic necessity of defeating the Taliban and its allies.

The rest of the story: Afghanistan Apocalypse by Robert Dreyfuss (The Nation 2009-08-26)

See, also: Bill Moyers on Afghanistan (interview with Bill Maher2009-08-30)

Take action:
Call Congress at 202-225-3121 and the White House at 202-456-111. You can also email the White House here.
Chelsea Uniting Against the War BBQ this Sunday
Organizing committee for Boston antiwar action October 17
Antiwar.com's links to local, national and international antiwar organizations.

Clip File: Row over Afghan wife-starving legislation

The Beeb News reports that critics think President Hamid Karzai is betraying Afghan women.

An Afghan bill allowing a husband to starve his wife if she refuses to have sex has been published in the official gazette and become law.

Maybe we would have an easier time understanding what our late entry in The Great Game will get us if we stopped calling our client "Afghanistan" and started using its real name, The Islamic Republic of Afghanistan.

The rest of the story: Row over Afghan wife-starving law by Sarah Rainsford (BBC News 2009-08-15)

2008: Another Bullet Dodged -- Gingrich Won’t Run

Plus, Clinton votes for another war

The Speaker has chickened out after all. Good for the republic if not for the Republicans. With the GOP bench so shallow and his ego so wide, it must be breaking his heart not to be in the race. Probably thinks he can afford to wait four years, then run as the antiwar candidate against President Clinton.

So is that it?: Fred Thompson vs Hillary Clinton? Oy.

At least the Mike Huckabee-Bill Richardson vice presidential debate will be fun.

Although she has run an obsessively controlled campaign so far, there is still plenty of time for Sen. Clinton to stumble, especially if she is as close to lunacy as she appears in the clips The Daily Show pieced together last Tuesday of her wildly inappropriate cackling during her talk show marathon the weekend before. Apparently, her handlers think a laugh track will make her appear more human. Maybe it would have gone better if they hadn't given her that Chucky doll to practice with.

Ever the advocate of executive power, the junior senator from New York voted this week for the mischievous Lieberman-Kyle amendment -- the dybbuk from Connecticut must be feeling especially clever right now -- that Sen. Jim Webb characterized as "Cheney’s fondest pipe dream" and "a backdoor method of gaining Congressional validation for military action" against Iran (see, Debunking the Neocons' Iran War Measure by Gareth Porter, Huffington Post 2007-09-27).

Just for the record, Lieberman-Kyle passed by a disheartening 76-22 (go here for the roll call of dysfunction). Barack Obama conveniently was MIA on this tally, so he'll be off the hook no matter how it all turns out: he can criticize Clinton if things go badly in Iran; or knock Chris Dodd and Joe Biden, who voted no -- along with Richardson and John Edwards, who came out strongly against the resolution -- in the unlikely event that the contretemps somehow ends well for the United States. The very junior senator from Illinois has advocated missile attacks on Iran and Pakistan in the past, but since the idea of another preemptive war can't be sitting too well with his Hollywood funders, he's showing good sense in not dwelling on the issue now (he did release a post-facto statement saying he would have voted against the amendment had he troubled himself to be there).

Also, while we're on the subject, Sen. Diane Feinstein voted aye, too. Probably hopes another war will be good for topping off hubby's already bulging coffers. Those people who decry earmarks should reconsider: they are far less costly -- in lives, capital and national reputation -- than military action at privatizing tax dollars. (If you're in the mood, call Feinstein and Clinton and let them know how you feel about their enabling another war: Feinstein 202-224-3841 and Clinton 202-224-4451.)

The "movement" is particularly smug about the vote, thinking it's responsible for softening the language in the amendment, but textual subtleties won't stop Bush or his successor from using the legislation as authorization for another Mideast war.

But I digress.

About the Speaker, I am pleased to have been wrong:

by Sarah Wheaton (NYTimes, 2007- 09-29)

Newt Gingrich has sent so many hints pointing in so many different directions that we’re dizzy trying to follow them all. But now, it appears, he’s made up his mind.

Rick Tyler, Mr. Gingrich’s spokesman, confirmed today that the former Republican House speaker has decided against a presidential run in 2008.

Mr. Gingrich was “presented with legal advice this morning,” said Mr. Tyler in a quick phone interview. “There was a choice presented.”

The choice was to remain chairman of his political action committee, American Solutions, or to allow advisers to move forward with an exploratory committee. But he could not, legally, do both, Mr. Tyler explained.

“So Mr. Gingrich made a choice to remain a citizen activist,” he said.

Citizen activist. Love it.

The rest of the story: The New York Times

Will the Democrats Betray Us?

"...no confidence.

"Last week Democrats often earned that rating, especially those running for president. It is true that they do not have the votes to overcome a Bush veto of any war legislation. But that doesn't mean the Democrats have to go on holiday. Few used their time to cross-examine General Petraeus and Ambassador Crocker on their disingenuous talking points, choosing instead to regurgitate stump sentiments or ask uncoordinated, redundant questions. It's telling that the one question that drew blood - are we safer? - was asked by a Republican, John Warner, who is retiring from the Senate." -- Frank Rich, Will the Democrats Betray Us? (New York Times, 2007-09-16)

The Dems and Iraq: Confusing "can't" with "won't"

Fairness & Accuracy in Reporting makes the point that, "Following a pattern set when Congress passed supplemental funding for the Iraq War last May, major media outlets continued to 'explain' the politics of the war in incomplete and misleading ways....Congress does not have to pass legislation to bring an end to the war in Iraq - it simply has to block passage of any bill that would continue to fund the war. This requires not 67 or 60 Senate votes, or even 51, but just 41....the Democrats have more than enough votes to end the Iraq War - if they choose to do so."

The rest of the story: Fairness & Accuracy in Reporting

quote unquote: James Madison On War

Of all the enemies to public liberty war is, perhaps, the most to be dreaded, because it comprises and develops the germ of every other. War is the parent of armies; from these proceed debts and taxes; and armies, and debts, and taxes are the known instruments for bringing the many under the domination of the few. In war, too, the discretionary power of the Executive is extended; its influence in dealing out offices, honors, and emoluments is multiplied; and all the means of seducing the minds, are added to those of subduing the force, of the people. The same malignant aspect in republicanism may be traced in the inequality of fortunes, and the opportunities of fraud, growing out of a state of war, and in the degeneracy of manners and of morals engendered by both. No nation could preserve its freedom in the midst of continual warfare. -- James Madison, Political Observations, Apr. 20, 1795 [more]