Rather than deal with the issue at hand — his staggeringly poor performance — Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld chose to suggest Tuesday that critics of the Iraq war and Bush administration are ignorant of history and morally confused. "Any kind of moral and intellectual confusion about who and what is right or wrong can severely weaken the ability of free societies to persevere," Rumsfeld said at the American Legion’s national convention in Salt Lake City. In truth, many Americans can see clearly now that Iraq was not the "epicenter" of the war on terrorism, to use Rumsfeld’s word, until the United States invaded and occupied it. That makes Rumsfeld the confused one.
Posted by Rhonda Holman
Why have so many centrist Democrats abandoned their free-market, free-trade principles to bash Wal-Mart? "The truth is that none of these Democrats can resist dumb economic populism," Washington Post columnist Sebastian Mallaby wrote. But he argued that Democrats needs the votes of Wal-Mart’s customers, who, according to one study, save nearly $200 billion a year by shopping at Wal-Mart. "Democrats are harming the poor Americans they claim to speak for," Mallaby said.
Posted by Phillip Brownlee
The fire is still burning over the combustible commentary Forbes magazine executive editor Michael Noer wrote last week advising men not to marry career women. “Recent studies have found professional women are more likely to get divorced, more likely to cheat and less likely to have children,” he wrote. “And, if they do have kids, they are more likely to be unhappy about it.”
Bowing to public pressure, Forbes reposted the commentary with an accompanying rebuttal. Elizabeth Corcoran of Forbes pointed out that “rather than rush to blame the woman, let’s not overlook the other key variable: What is the guy doing?” And she notes that in a good marriage, both partners have to learn to change and keep on adapting.
Posted by Phillip Brownlee
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As our editorial Tuesday noted, along with the horror of Hurricane Katrina, there was also hope: “That the governments that so failed the victims would get the rebuilding right and be ready for the next disaster. That the singular city of New Orleans would strut again, if within a smaller footprint. That the storm’s appalling toll on the poor would rally the nation to confront urban poverty at last.” But this week’s one-year anniversary finds too little progress on all fronts, from the removal of the debris to the planning for a new New Orleans to the fortification of the levees.
Posted by Phillip Brownlee
For decades, Iran has been a leading U.S. nemesis, including, in recent years, charter membership in the “axis of evil.” So why don’t U.S. intelligence services know more about what’s going on inside the country?
That’s the timely question asked last week by a House Intelligence Committee report that noted “significant gaps in our knowledge and understanding of the various areas of concern about Iran,” especially its nuclear program and leadership intentions.
Iraq is a textbook case of what happens when policy is based on bad and selective intelligence. Are we going down a similar blind alley in the present standoff with Iran?
It’s more evidence the United States is failing to develop old-fashioned human intelligence assets abroad. Spies on the ground, more than high-tech snooping, likely will be key to understanding emerging threats against this country.
Posted by Randy Scholfield
Speaking of Iran: President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad said during a press conference Tuesday that he wants to "debate world and international issues with George Bush in a televised debate." The White House dismissed the proposal as a diversion from international concerns over Iran’s nuclear program. But what was interesting about the press conference was how combative some of the Iranian reporters were. Some jumped from their seats and demanded that their questions be taken. Maybe the White House press corps could learn something about holding a president accountable.
Posted by Phillip Brownlee
