Obama: still the blame duck
One of Obama’s biggest failings as president has been the rise of ISIS under his watch. He can blame it on George Bush, as is his wont, and some will swallow it. But it’s a little more difficult to do … Continue reading →
Category Archives: Iraq
The surprise is not that the Times got it so wrong…
The surprise is that it ever issued the correction: On September 11, the Mark Landler article [in the NY Times] included this curious sentence: “Unlike Mr. Bush in the Iraq war, Mr. Obama has sought to surround the United States … Continue reading →
The Vietnamization of Iraq
Here was the Left’s plan for defeat in Iraq, in their own words. I wrote about it in the early days of this blog. They were planning to get Congress to cut funding, but that turned out to be unnecessary. … Continue reading →
Being right about an Iraq pullout
Romney was right about the Iraq pullout. George W. Bush was right about the Iraq pullout. I was right about Obama’s intention to pull out of Iraq, which he had expressed time and again even before he became president (see … Continue reading →
Statistics and the Jews
[NOTE: This is a repeat of a very early blog post of mine, from 9/10/2005. I think enough people are probably unfamiliar with it that it could bear a repeat.] A while back, in the course of doing some research … Continue reading →
Obama may not be interested in war with ISIS, but…
…ISIS is interested in war with Obama.* Is Obama getting more interested as a result of recent events? This writer certainly seems to think so. I think he very much overstates it—although I think there’s an element of truth to … Continue reading →
You want moderate Muslims?
I’ll give you moderate Muslims— And brave ones, at that: The two men on the right are almost certainly too young to remember, but the petals of the “Iraqi rose” used to include many Jews. Some were killed and most … Continue reading →
On ISIS: even the Pope says “maybe”
I am familiar with the Just War doctrine of the Catholic Church, and its list of required criteria for action. To me, though, it can all too easily fall under the heading of this couplet by Hillaire Belloc, who happened … Continue reading →
Maliki resigns
Maliki’s decision to step aside paves the way for the ascent of Haider al-Abadi, the U.S.-favored candidate attempting to form a new government… In a statement earlier Thursday from Martha’s Vineyard, where he is on vacation, Obama said he spoke … Continue reading →
Marines on the mountain?
I already have extremely high regard for the Marines and special forces. But if this report is true, my regard for them goes up a slight notch, if such a thing be possible: Their mission: Find a way to get … Continue reading →
Maureen Dowd, gameshow aficionado
Remember the 80s game show “Chain Reaction”? I do. I liked it because you had to be a bit clever to play, and it was about words. In case you don’t remember, this might refresh your memory: Maureen Dowd must … Continue reading →
ISIS and “understanding” evil
ISIS is the very personification of evil. But: “We don’t understand real evil, organized evil very well,” said America’s former ambassador to Iraq and Afghanistan, Ryan Crocker, in an interview with The New York Times. “This is evil incarnate.” “People … Continue reading →