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The new developments in the war against Taliban/Al Qaeda could well be the end game, not of the war against global terrorism, but of the first stage of that war. In some ways, the ‘Afghan Interlude’ might actually be the easiest part (a few weeks ago I never thought I would be writing that remark). At least we have a relatively clearly defined enemy in Al Qaeda and their Taliban patrons.
There is still some hard fighting and dirty politicking to be done before Afghanistan is ‘finished’ but I suspect that once the appetizer is well and truly digested, it will be time for the main course: Iraq
Hi Saddam, Condaleeza here. Did you think we had forgotten that Mohammed Atta met with the station chief of Iraqi Intelligence in Prague right before heading off to the USA?
03:15 in the morning GMT. First reports are coming in on satellite and cable channels of a major airmobile helicopter insertion at an airfield near Kandahar by over 1000 US Marines, followed by artillery and other heavy equipment being brought by C-130 Hercules transports. This is clearly not just a raid.
Semper Fi. Godspeed to you all, gentlemen.
Whilst I understand what Dale Amon is saying and largely agree that the American public will be far more resolute now than has been the case since the Vietnam War, I think you should not underestimate the capacity of George Bush’s political enemies to make mischief.
If you think the likes of Hillary Clinton, Dianne Feinstein, Edward Kennedy, Charles Schumer et al. are going to stand resolutely by the President if large numbers of body-bags start coming home, then I think you vastly overestimate their attachment to the interest of American society as opposed to their own narrow political interests. What is more, there are large sections of the US media who will do their damnedest to undermine the Republican Party the moment they no longer think it will be commercial suicide to be seen as ‘unpatriotic’.
For all its many and varied flaws, the British media and the elements of the body politic that actually matter are wired rather differently. That is the reason I made those remarks in my earlier article.
Unlike many of the more inbred nitwits in the British media (i.e. the Daily Mail), I do not subscribe to the idea that all the US military’s special forces all have two left feet and that the United States will immediately recoil with horror at the first sight of American blood. I have lived in the USA on many ocassions and have met enough people in the SpecOps community that I know otherwise. I agree with you that Al Qaeda did a very good job of delivering aversion therapy to the US public regarding casualties. But do not underestimate the vipers within when things start to get messy. They will play the ‘bring the boys back home card’ the instant they they think can safely do so. Perhaps I am wrong about them, but I suspect otherwise.
For those who have been following the ghastly career of Bert as he spreads evil, fear, despair and bizarre haircuts across the face of the globe, here is proof that there is no blow too low for this once loved character gone bad.
Read the full horror of Bert’s treason for yourself.
An article in the Sunday Times today suggests that Tony Blair is exasperated that his wish to see a major deployment of ground troops to Afghanistan is being ignored by George Bush.
Meanwhile, Blair has had no support from America in his efforts to increase the coalition forces on the ground. He is said by military sources to have become “utterly frustrated” that the US “cannot see that it can achieve its tactical goals more quickly is the military, humanitarian and diplomatic strands of this operation run in tandem”. Washington is “myopically focused on Bin Laden and the Taliban”, the sources said.
Sorry Tony, but whilst you and your new best friend George make a fine couple at photo opportunities, there is no disguising that there are two fundamentally different world views at work here.
Tony Blair is the leader of a reformed socialist party who regards it as axiomatic that the role of the state is being ‘my brother’s keeper’. By extension Blair wants to take up ‘The White Man’s burden’ in Afghanistan. He wants stout and resolute British soldiers to prevent those messy Afghans from sliding into barbarism in the post-Taliban order. He presides over a nation which has a realistic view of the realities of war and has fought its last few rather well. As a result, the general British public has quite a high tolerance of combat casualties.
George Bush is the leader of a corporatist capitalist party with a significant anti-corporatist and anti-interventionist wing. He has support for a war of retaliation and the destruction of Al Qaeda and anyone who stands between the USA and Al Qaeda. Bush presides over a nation which has a rather squeamish view of war, at least with regard to American casualties, and very little interest in open ended military commitments. Whilst images of women in Kabul walking unmolested without burqas causes Americans entirely justified satisfaction, few seriously think that is why their airforces and special ops teams are killing people in their names.
Blair is not just wrong, he is dangerously wrong. An absolute prerequisite for coherent military operations is having clear and unambiguous goals. The Americans have set themselves exactly that: the destruction of Al Qaeda and any who give them succour. What Tony Blair is doing is applying his fuzzy socialist logic to a very simple strategic question and attempting to turn clarity into ambiguity. This is not a peacekeeping operation, it is not a nation building operation, it is not a humanitarian operation, it is a war against Taliban/Al Qaeda in reprisal for the mass murder of civilians in America: to think anything else is just a dangerous distraction. As I have been saying, we simply have no business trying to civilize Afghanistan at bayonet point, not only it is wrong, it simply will not work. Fortunately it seems that Bush and his advisors are able to see that too.
News can be a remote, impersonal thing. We see stories about outrages in some far off land and we are duly outraged… and then we move on to the the next thing. Although I live in London at the moment, I used to work in the World Trade Centre and I was there briefly last June, so I must say I took the events of 11 September rather hard, but for others who actually witnessed it, the experience must have been altogether more appalling. My ex-girlfriend lives in New Jersey and watched the entire horror unfold from her bedroom window. But even so, eventually life moves on. Jay Zilber on Mind over what matters writes a thoughtful little personal reflection on this subject along with a dramatic photograph that does indeed put it all into perspective.
It seems the reporters in Afghanistan have decided to start a little war of their own. As in all wars, a very high proportion of the correspondents are British and they seem to be itching to take digs at each other. Has someone been denying these guys their early morning cup of tea or something?
John Simpson has naturally attracted more than his fair share of flak after claiming he and the BBC liberated Kabul ahead of the Northern Alliance. Of course Lara Logan from GMTV had actually been in Kabul for some time before Simpson’s portly frame rumbled into town.
And speaking of the truly delectable Lara Logan, ITN’s sour puss Julian Manyon accused her of “exploiting her God-given advantages with a skill that Mata Hari might envy” to get interviews with General Babajan.
But note he does not criticize her reporting, which has been just as sound and professional as Julian Manyon. Time for a reality check: if you were General Babajan, who would you rather chat with, Lara Logan or Julian Manyon? Sorry Julian, no contest.
Somehow I suspect that if it had been Lara skinny dipping in the Salang Gorge rather than Manyon, the locals would have taken a considerably less hostile stance.
And of course, the Guardian cannot resist a little sniping either:
Speaking of Kabul. Has Lara Logan, the GMTV correspondent stationed outside Kabul had her Clarins drop yet? Don’t know about the US airforce plans, but the French cosmetics company is on the case already.
Journalists are a bitchy lot.
I saw this on Natalie’s blog and it was just too good not to share:
Now I know what “safe mode” is for. An illegitimate code-baby popped out just then, but the tachyonic prophylaxis of blogger software lets me pop it in again. Do not try this in the real world
Congratulations to Steve Bennett on the unmanned test flight over Britain of his 38 foot (11 metre) Starchaser rocket. The launch took place at Morecambe Bay in Cumbria.
Bennett described the launch as being “85% successful” due to the fact that two of the three parachutes became entangled, causing the expended reusable rocket main body to return to the mud flats of Morecambe Bay rather faster than hoped for. The unmanned passenger capsule detached and landed perfectly however. Despite having many detractors, Bennett intends to be the first passenger once the rocket is ready for its maiden manned flight.
This is yet another indication that privately built and funded manned spaceflight is drawing ever closer. I wish Bennett and all the other pioneers of non-governmental spaceflight the very best of luck… for they are the very best of us. Per Ardua ad Astra
There is a splendid little article about Frédéric Bastiat (1801-1850) by Gary M. Galles which give a good overview of what the man was all about.
I have always though modern anti-statists would do well to emulate Bastiat, because as well as being extremely coherent, he was a very witty satirist (for example his Petition of the Candlemakers for state protection against the unfair competition of the sun). Nobel Laureate F.A. Hayek called him a “publicist of genius.”
Walk for Capitalism: IMPORTANT REMINDER
A reminder to all fellow ‘capitalist running dogs’ that the Walk for Capitalism will be happening in over 100 cities worldwide on Sunday 2nd December 2001.
Annoy a luddite and be there! You know it makes sense.
There will be a Walk for Capitalism in the following countries:
Albania
Argentina
Australia
Bangladesh
Belgium
Brazil
Canada
China
Costa Rica
Czech Republic
Denmark
France
Germany
Greece
Hungary
India
Italy
Korea
Lithuania
Netherlands
New Zealand
Nigeria
Norway
Poland
Romania
Russia
Slovakia
Spain
Sweden
UK
USA
Venezuela
Yugoslavia
Here is a selection of cities in which a Walk for Capitalism has been organised in Australia, UK and USA but for details of the walk in your town and a full international listing , visit the Walk for Capitalism website
Australia
Adelaide
Brisbane
Canberra
Melbourne
Perth
Sydney
UK
Bath
London
Manchester
Southampton
USA
Amherst
Annapolis
Atlanta
Austin
Binghamton
Boston
Burlington
Carson City
Chicago
Cocoa
Columbia
Dayton
Denver
Detroit
El Paso
Honolulu
Houston
Indianapolis
Las Vegas
Los Angeles
Louisville
Miami
Montgomery
New York
Olympia
Orlando
Portland-Or
Sacramento
Saint Louis
Salt Lake City
San Francisco
Saratoga Springs
Seattle
Silicon Valley
Spokane
Syracuse
Tucson
Washington
Westminster-Md
(http://www.walkforcapitalism.org)
With thanks to Transterrestrial Musings for pointing out this top notch P. J. O’Rourke article in The Atlantic in which he ‘puts the boot in’ to all the usual suspects with his trademark clarity and viciousness. Excellent.
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Who Are We? The Samizdata people are a bunch of sinister and heavily armed globalist illuminati who seek to infect the entire world with the values of personal liberty and several property. Amongst our many crimes is a sense of humour and the intermittent use of British spelling.
We are also a varied group made up of social individualists, classical liberals, whigs, libertarians, extropians, futurists, ‘Porcupines’, Karl Popper fetishists, recovering neo-conservatives, crazed Ayn Rand worshipers, over-caffeinated Virginia Postrel devotees, witty Frédéric Bastiat wannabes, cypherpunks, minarchists, kritarchists and wild-eyed anarcho-capitalists from Britain, North America, Australia and Europe.
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