"After nearly four years of ineffectual war-fighting, after the collapse of domestic support for President Bush and his policies, after the expenditure of thousands of lives and hundreds of billions of dollars, it no longer seems possible to avoid the grim conclusion: For the United States, Iraq has become another Vietnam," wrote Robert G. Kaiser, an associate editor of the Washington Post who covered the Vietnam War in 1969 and 1970.
Some of the similarities, according to Kaiser: "We twice took a huge risk in the hope that we could predict and dominate events in a nation whose history we did not know, whose language few of us spoke, whose rivalries we didn’t understand, whose expectations for life, politics and economics were all foreign to many Americans. Both times, we put our fate in the hands of local politicians who would not follow U.S. orders, who did not see their country’s fate the way we did, and who could not muster the support of enough of their countrymen to produce the outcome Washington wanted."
Meanwhile, Carl Hiaasen made a similar Vietnam comparison in a column on Wednesday’s Opinion pages. He wrote: "Bush has been well-coached by the ghosts of LBJ and Tricky Dick to stoke fear, invoke patriotism and selectively skirt the facts."
Posted by Phillip Brownlee
Republicans are having some fun noting how the Democrats’ definition of "100 hours" keeps changing. Originally, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., seemed to define the time it would take for Democrats to act on their top agenda items in terms of clock hours. Then she said it was the first 100 legislative hours. Now, Democrats apparently are counting only the hours spent dealing with their agenda items. As a result, as of last Friday, fewer than 24 of the 56 hours that Congress had been in session was counted toward the 100 hours, Associated Press reported. Still, Republican die-hards likely aren’t laughing about how the agenda bills keep passing, and often with the support of Republicans (and with broad public support).
Posted by Phillip Brownlee
As previously noted on this blog, brand-new Sedgwick County Commissioner Kelly Parks wants to talk to his fellow commissioners and county staff about possibly calling another vote on the arena.
“I have constituents that want to revote on it,” he told The Eagle editorial board Tuesday, adding, “I want to make sure that the ballot question, that the promises in there are kept.”
Our editorial today argues that it’s too late — because $106 million has been raised, the management firm and design have been chosen, and some properties have been acquired. Besides, the public already approved it two years ago. As we said, “Arena doubters should show more respect for the already stated will of voters, and for the positive impact that just the prospect of the arena has had on downtown.”
What do you think?
Posted by Rhonda Holman
A senior Pentagon official in charge of military detainees suspected of terrorism is getting a well-deserve pounding for suggesting that corporate clients shouldn’t do business with a legal firm that represents prisoners at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba. On Federal News Radio last week, Charles D. Stimson named more than a dozen law firms that provide legal assistance, and he said that “CEOs are going to make those law firms choose between representing terrorists or representing reputable firms.”
But as Karen J. Mathis, president of the American Bar Association, responded: “Lawyers represent people in criminal cases to fulfill a core American value: the treatment of all people equally before the law. To impugn those who are doing this critical work — and doing it on a volunteer basis — is deeply offensive to members of the legal profession, and we hope to all Americans.”
Attorney General Alberto Gonzales agreed. “Good lawyers representing the detainees is the best way to ensure that justice is done in these cases,” he said.
Posted by Phillip Brownlee
“The more we learn about Sandy Berger’s brilliant career as a document thief, the clearer it becomes that there is plenty we still don’t know and may never learn,” a Wall Street Journal editorial noted. The editorial was prompted by the House Government Reform Committee report released last week on the former Clinton administration adviser’s theft of classified documents from the National Archives. “The committee’s 60-page report makes it clear that Mr. Berger knew exactly what he was doing and knew that what he was doing was wrong,” the editorial stated. “According to interviews with National Archives staff, Mr. Berger repeatedly arranged to be left alone with highly classified documents by feigning the need to make personal phone calls, and he used those moments alone with the files to stuff them in his pockets and briefcase.” But as the editorial noted, the motive for the thefts “remains shrouded in mystery, in part because the documents Mr. Berger has admitted to taking remain highly classified, so the precise nature of his interest is unclear.”
Posted by Phillip Brownlee
Wichita City Council members say they support a public vote for Sunday liquor sales — but they’re running out of time to put it on the ballot for the spring elections. That’s because state law requires 7,000 citizen signatures to authorize a ballot measure.
But Council members have another option available to them — approving the ordinance change on their own.
Why not do so, given the broad public support for Sunday sales? Opponents would still have the option of mounting a petition drive to force a vote later.
Posted by Randy Scholfield
Controversy and competition could make it harder than expected to find a standout Kansas education commissioner, at least quickly. Kansas State Board of Education members began compiling their wish list for a new leader Monday, aware that Illinois, Kentucky, Massachusetts and Louisiana also are hiring education bosses. Brenda Welburn, executive director of the National Association of State Boards of Education, who is leading the search, also advised the board members that the short tenure of Education Commissioner Bob Corkins and the board’s history of controversy over evolution and other ideological issues could be concerns for potential candidates. “That’s tainted it a bit,” she said. Obviously, the board must hire the best, most experienced educator and administrator for this key job, even if it takes a little longer than desired.
Posted by Rhonda Holman
