On Libervasion
Buckethead,
Having finished Steven den Beste's twenty-page post (man needs an editor), I need to take some time to ruminate and compose a brief response.
You are correct-- SdB does articulate almost exactly what you've been saying since we started our weblog and before. My difficulty comes not with the overarching structure of his arguments, but in the half-truths, omissions, and arrogantly stated howlers he sometimes tosses off as asides, and with his choice to address his post to America-hating liberals (though such a tone may be an appropriate response to Hesiod, sure). I am not one of the Children of Chomsky. I'm an America-loving centrist who does not question the existence or worth of the Anti-Terror Bus we are all riding, but instead wonders if we shouldn't take the bypass rather than the business loop, and whether the driver really knows if this is the road to St. Louis.
One thing SdB did do exceedingly well was to remind me that we are in the early stages of a long, hard campaign, and that many things are still fluid. It is easy on the internet to become shrill and blinkered (easy?? I thought it was required!!), and in the interest of maintaining my sense of perspective, I'm going to take a break from the big-picture and warblogging and return to the anklebiting that comes so naturally to me.
on
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Add to that the quasi
Add to that the quasi-domestic questions, such as the decision to use military tribunals to try suspected terrorists, the very public ongoing failures of our intelligence community and the lack of accountability therein, and the sad joke that is "homeland security" and you've got yourself quite a list of questions that beg answers.
Predictably I fall between the very US-centric Buckethead and the Internationally-minded NDR on this matter, but even if I don't agree with NDR as to the EXTENT of some of the problems he cites, I still harbor doubts and questions about success and overall direction that are as yet unanswered.
I did not get the chance to
I did not get the chance to read the entirety of den Beste´s post (not at 3€/hour.) However I think that people examining the current scandal need to reflect how scandals are, in general, seldom about specific actions and events but the things they represent. The hubbub over Iraq-Niger focuses the disappointment felt as few of the war´s goals have been met: the Iraqis are not thankful to the US, their plight has worsened, US troops will not be coming home soon, the US commitment to nation-building will be extensive, Hussein did not pose the threat that the government claimed, and that the intelligence community cannot be relied on to safeguard Americans and concentrate activities related to the war on terror itself. In the broader context, it shows people that there are weaknesses in Bush´s foreign policy vision and his use of armed force to solve international problems. The dynamics of the Clinton sex scandal were similar.