Tuesday, August 24, 2004
LOW MORALE? - Apparently not in this National Guard unit (link via Instapundit):
"The largest Alabama Guard unit to return from Iraq, the 877th Engineer Battalion, had its first weekend drills earlier this month at its northwest Alabama armories. And at those drill sessions, only 19 of the 555 soldiers who attended said they wanted to hang up their helmets or were seriously considering it...
When Guard units such as the 877th were deployed for up to a year in and around Iraq, many of their members had never been away from home for such a lengthy period, and more than a few vowed to get out once they got home. "That's just talk," said Spc. Charles Walker of Fayette, a member of the 877th's C Company who has two brothers and a sister in the battalion. Walker and his siblings are staying in. "
"The largest Alabama Guard unit to return from Iraq, the 877th Engineer Battalion, had its first weekend drills earlier this month at its northwest Alabama armories. And at those drill sessions, only 19 of the 555 soldiers who attended said they wanted to hang up their helmets or were seriously considering it...
When Guard units such as the 877th were deployed for up to a year in and around Iraq, many of their members had never been away from home for such a lengthy period, and more than a few vowed to get out once they got home. "That's just talk," said Spc. Charles Walker of Fayette, a member of the 877th's C Company who has two brothers and a sister in the battalion. Walker and his siblings are staying in. "
Thursday, August 19, 2004
Sunday, August 15, 2004
"ACCIDENTAL THEORY" - Jonathan Lipow on Krugman and Iraq (link via the Conspiracy to Keep You Poor and Stupid):
"Since he began writing regular op-ed columns for The New York Times, however, Krugman has become increasingly difficult to take seriously. In his columns, Krugman repeatedly imagines that his conclusions simply emerge from the facts. They don't.
For example, Krugman has argued that the invasion of Iraq was an unnecessary diversion of resources from the real war on terror that engendered needless hostility toward the US throughout the Muslim world. He bases this argument on the fact that Iraq posed no immediate threat to the US and was not involved in 9/11.
This argument is a classic example of accidental theory. Krugman's facts are accurate, but his conclusions do not follow from them. Consider an analogy: Vichy France was neutral during World War II. Yet Roosevelt responded to Pearl Harbor by mounting an invasion of Vichy North Africa.Does it therefore follow that Operation Torch was an absurd diversion of resources from the Pacific Theater that only engendered hostility in neutral France toward the Allies? Maybe, but clearly considerably more analysis would be required before reaching such conclusions. "
MORE GOOD NEWS - From part 8 of Chrenkoff's "Good News" series:
" Iraq spent only $20 million on health care in 2002. Now, the Ministry of Health has a $1 billion budget. Most of the money comes from oil revenues, but the United States and other nations are supplementing this as the result of last year's donors conference in Madrid. This does not mean the Ministry is awash in money, but the increase has raised health care spending from 68 cents per Iraqi in 2002 to about $40 today."
"Since he began writing regular op-ed columns for The New York Times, however, Krugman has become increasingly difficult to take seriously. In his columns, Krugman repeatedly imagines that his conclusions simply emerge from the facts. They don't.
For example, Krugman has argued that the invasion of Iraq was an unnecessary diversion of resources from the real war on terror that engendered needless hostility toward the US throughout the Muslim world. He bases this argument on the fact that Iraq posed no immediate threat to the US and was not involved in 9/11.
This argument is a classic example of accidental theory. Krugman's facts are accurate, but his conclusions do not follow from them. Consider an analogy: Vichy France was neutral during World War II. Yet Roosevelt responded to Pearl Harbor by mounting an invasion of Vichy North Africa.Does it therefore follow that Operation Torch was an absurd diversion of resources from the Pacific Theater that only engendered hostility in neutral France toward the Allies? Maybe, but clearly considerably more analysis would be required before reaching such conclusions. "
MORE GOOD NEWS - From part 8 of Chrenkoff's "Good News" series:
" Iraq spent only $20 million on health care in 2002. Now, the Ministry of Health has a $1 billion budget. Most of the money comes from oil revenues, but the United States and other nations are supplementing this as the result of last year's donors conference in Madrid. This does not mean the Ministry is awash in money, but the increase has raised health care spending from 68 cents per Iraqi in 2002 to about $40 today."
Tuesday, August 10, 2004
STILL MUDDLED - I'm sure glad Kerry finally "clarified" his position on Iraq! Now we know that Kerry agrees with Bush that the war was necessary (missing stockpiles notwithstanding). We know that in Kerry's mind, Bush erred in "rushing" to war on faulty intelligence, while Kerry was correct in voting to allow him to do it. We know Kerry will reduce US troop levels in Iraq within 6 months of taking office...(Wow!). Wait a sec, scratch that, actually maybe the reductions won't happen until the end of his first term. Then again, perhaps he might just increase troops levels .... Crystal clear, no?
Friday, August 06, 2004
WELL, WELL, WELL... - Apparently, the information that made the arrests of two terrorist-aiding Albany men possible didn't come from meticulous and mutually affirming dialogue between the Bush Administration and diplomats from each and every one of the UN General Assembly member countries, but rather, the tip off came from intelligence gathered by US soldiers on the ground IN IRAQ! Funny that the staff writer from the "anti-war from the get-go" SF Chronicle doesn't mention that little tidbit in her story.
