Opinion-Columns.com

Jim Moran, the Courtesy Man

But the Jim Moran who’s getting fried by the Washington Post is a different guy. This Moran is a congressman from Virginia and Amy Gardner’s headline, Moran Upsets Jewish Groups Again sounds like upsetting Jewish groups was Jim’s main stock in trade.

The General’s Thoughts Aside, What Do Iraqis Think?

On this sixth anniversary of the multiple attacks on America, while General Petraeus is giving testimony before Congress and Ryan Crocker paints the Bush position, it might be a good time to check in on what Iraqis are thinking.

The Terrorist State We Dare Not Name

The nation we dare not name is the largest country on the Arabian Peninsula. Bordered by Jordan on the northwest, Iraq on the north and northeast, Kuwait, Qatar, Bahrain, and the United Arab Emirates on the east, Oman on the southeast, and Yemen on the south, with the Persian Gulf to its northeast and the Red Sea to its west. One could hardly find a more pivotal entity.

A Late Choice, Made Under Considerable Pressure, But Made Correctly

One of the inherent difficulties of a political system that appoints its own in every election is that it loses the talents of some very good people. Occasionally an FBI director is held over. Once in a while a CIA chief keeps his job, but it’s unusual.

The Gonzales Rule, an Alberto Concerto in D-Minus

This delicate Bush composition for Congress, featuring soloist Alberto Gonzales might have opened to disastrous revues, had there been any revue. Instead, we are left with a D-minus grade earned by a Congress impatient to get the kids up to the lake for a family vacation before Labor Day.

Supporting Shiites, Arming Sunnis, Selling Out the Kurds—Bush’s Personal Surge

I am not a big fan of Robert Novak, the columnist who outed Valerie Plame and then sat back to watch the toil and trouble of his outsmanship. He wrote another incendiary column yesterday and I am taking it for the straight scoop, because there are no ifs, ands or buts, no unnamed sources, no apparent conjecture.

Finally, In the Department of Desperate Moves

In an article (U.S. Widens Push to Use Armed Iraqi Residents) detailing another crackpot scheme in Iraq, the Washington Post tells us,

    The U.S. military in Iraq is expanding its efforts to recruit and fund armed         Sunni residents as local protection forces in order to improve security and         promote reconciliation at the neighborhood level, according to senior U.S.         commanders.

To Hell with Gandhi and Jesus, We've Opted for Attila

I know all about realities of the times and military parity and supporting our dwindling allies, so don’t accuse me of being a peacenik (although there are worse things to be called). According to Robin Wright of the Washington Post,

The Bush administration will announce next week a series of arms deals worth at least $20 billion to Saudi Arabia and five other oil-rich Persian Gulf states as well as new 10-year military aid packages to Israel and Egypt, a move to shore up allies in the Middle East and counter Iran's rising influence, U.S. officials said yesterday.

The Pentagon Budget—Breaking the Bank

According to the president’s 2007 budget request for the Pentagon,

Informed by the 2006 Quadrennial Defense Review (QDR), the FY (fiscal year) 2007 Budget reflects the Department’s continued shift in emphasis, away from the static posture and forces of the last century toward the highly mobile and expeditionary forces, and accompanying warfighting capabilities, needed in the century ahead.

Barry Bonds and Dick Cheney

The United States and Iran have agreed to a second round of what is termed their ‘groundbreaking’ talks over what to do in the shattered Middle East. The reason these discussions are groundbreaking is that America has refused to talk since the hostage dispute of five presidencies ago. Took our marbles and went home. Sulked in the corner for 26 years while the Arabian peninsula went to hell in a hand-basket.