A must read article is up at StrategyPage.
You owe it to yourself to read these insights regardless of where you stand on the war.
(via Instapundit)
The Iraq that you don’t hear about…
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Road Trip
Early tomorrow morning I am hitting the road for Oklahoma. I want to spend a couple of days with my parents before I leave for Korea. It is a LONG drive and I am hoping for good weather. I chose not to fly because I do long to experience the open road and a taste of backcountry Americana that you can only see from the highway.
So, posting will be light next week but hopefully I will come home with some new blogfodder to share.
The Return of the King
Just finished watching the extended version of ROTK Santa brought me. The extra 50 minutes really helped overcome some of the flaws in the original. I was glad to see Faramir redeemed and at least some of the backstory of his relationship with Eowyn shown. I know some have criticized the portrayal of the death of Saruman, and although not true to the book, it at least closes that loose end in a believable manner.
Seems to me any criticisim of this movie is really just quibbling. The audacity of taking on the challenge of even making this film makes Peter Jackson worthy of praise. The acting, the scenery, the special effects, and the fealty to the vision of Tolkein are all there. So I will always treasure the books first and foremost, but the big screen depiction is nothing short of outstanding.
Now, if we could have a new movie just for the appendix I would be very pleased indeed.
Is it worth it?
A commenter to my post “A Voice of Reason” asks:
the end, if accomplished, will be great…but does it justify the means?
Comment by Anonymous — 26/December/2004 @ 9:26 am
A fair enough question. I take it to mean does the loss of life and destruction in Iraq outweigh the uncertain outcome of freedom and democracy. I think the answer is no, and here is why. To begin, it is not like people weren’t dying in Iraq before we came. Hundreds of thousands (including women and children) found in mass graves so far. I believe that even the innocents killed by our intervention pale in comparison to the systemic rape and murder perpetuated by Saddam and his sons and cronies. I also believe that we are fighting and killing terrorists on ground of our choosing. Someone likened it to the flypaper effect. With so-called insurgents coming in from Syria and Iran, we can and will kill them in the streets of Fallajuh or Mosul or wherever else they foolishly raise their heads. I say better on the streets of Baghdad than NYC.
Finally, I believe recent events demonstrate that what our enemies fear most is democracy gaining a foothold in the region. I remain confident that the Iraqi people will demonstrate their resolve, beginning with next months elections. Security will be gradually turned over to the Iraqi armed forces and they will once again assume responsibility for their future. Democracy has never come easy, and unfortunately the cost of freedom is often paid for in blood. But history has proven (see Germany and Japan) that even at that price it is worth the effort.
So yes, the long-term implications in this global war on terror do justify the means we have utilized. This article says it much better than I can.
The enemy in Iraq is brutal, ruthless and, yes, evil. There’s no other word for people who murder civilians organizing elections, bomb churches and mosques, and saw the heads off innocents while screaming slogans and making home videos.
But they are not stupid. They know that every time they stage a massacre, millions of people get angry – not at them, but at Don Rumsfeld and President Bush and Prime Minister Blair and the “neo-cons.”
“We have seen …the weakness of the American soldier who is … unprepared to fight long wars,” Osama bin Laden said in 1998, as he began contemplating his next attacks. “This was proven in Beirut when the Marines fled after two explosions. It also proves they can run in less than 24 hours, and this was also repeated in Somalia. We are ready for all occasions.”
Only when the kind of butchery we witnessed this week strengthens, rather than weakens our resolve, will the barbarians see that the road they have chosen is a dead end – figuratively and literally as well.
There are casualties in war. Let’s us pray that it is not our will and resolve to see this mission through to the end.
To a soldier
Our daughter Hillary is spending Christmas far from home in Afghanistan, but we are holding her close in our thoughts this day. A soldier’s life is not an easy one, but I know being away from friends and family during the holidays is especially hard on her. She is doing much with her comrades in the 450th Civil Affairs Battalion to improve the lives of the Afghani people. She was so excited and proud as she watched these people freely elect their president, especially when she saw women walking miles and waiting in long lines to exercise their newly found freedom. Here are excepts from one of Hillary’s emails:
“This place is dusty, hot or cold, and half way around the world from my loved ones. I believe in what I am doing here and if I didn’t I would not be here. There are some serious disadvantages to traveling around the world conducting peacekeeping missions, but at the end of every day I recap what I have done for Afghanistan and for the people I have met here, and in the end it is extemely rewarding.
The people of this country have the most unique characteristics of any ethnic group I have ever met. They are the warmest, most generous people with high morals. One thing all of the Afghans have in common is that they are a very courageous and strong people. Throughout their history they have fought the rule of the Persians, the Mongols, the British, and the Soviets. Never yet have they sold their soul to another. Afghans remain free.
Even though we have not found Osama Bin Laden, and my fellow soldiers are still being wounded and worse in Afghanistan, at least we have given these people a chance. When I look over the compound walls and see a kite flying in the sky, I know that represents one happy child who otherwise would not know that feeling.
This is the beginning for them, it is not perfect, nor is it expected to be, but it is progressive change in the right direction. I realize the news back home is filled with all the horrible things taking place here and in Iraq, but this is one story Americans don’t get to hear often–we are making a difference! Afghanistan is a better, safer place than it was. You have the combining of coalition forces and NGOs to thank for all their hard work. Together we are working towards the same goal and that is to liberate Afghanistan by providing the resources to sustain them economically and politically. As the Afghans would say, “Inshallah”. If God wills it.”
Merry Christmas, Hillary. There is no greater gift than the gift of freedom. Even though it comes at great personal sacrafice you are making a difference in this world. I am proud of you and all the other soldiers who give so much of themselves. You are all truly America’s best.
I love you.
I Heard the Bells…..
One of my favorite Christmas songs. It seems especially appropriate this year with so many of our brave men and women overseas in service to our nation.
I Heard the Bells on Christmas Day
I heard the bells on Christmas day
Their old familiar carols play
And mild and sweet the words repeat,
Of peace on earth, good will to men.
I thought how as the day had come,
The belfries of all Christendom
Had roll’d along th’ unbroken song
Of peace on earth, good will to men.
And in despair I bow’d my head:
“There is no peace on earth,” I said,
“For hate is strong, and mocks the song
Of peace on earth, good will to men.”
Then pealed the bells more loud and deep:
“God is not dead, nor doth He sleep;
The wrong shall fail, the right prevail,
With peace on earth, good will to men.”
‘Til ringing, singing on its way,
The world revolved from night to day,
A voice, a chime, a chant sublime,
Of peace on earth, good will to men!
–Henry Wordsworth Longfellow
The wrong SHALL fail….the right WILL prevail. That is my prayer for the new year.
Merry Christmas everyone!
Love 1.0
Found this over at Flight Pundit this morning. Something to keep in mind as you prepare to install an upgrade**cough**kevin**cough.
Girlfriends
Last year, my friend upgraded his GirlFriend 3.1 to GirlFriendPlus 1.0 (marketing name: Fiancée 1.0). Recently he upgraded Fiancee 1.0 to Wife 1.0 and it’s a memory hogger, it has taken all his space; and Wife 1.0 must be running before he can do anything. Although he did not ask for it, Wife 1.0 came with Plug-Ins such as MotherInLaw and BrotherInLaw.
Some features I’d like to see in the Upcoming GirlFriend 4.0…
* A “Don’t remind me again” button
* Minimize button
* Shutdown feature
* An install shield feature so that Girlfriend 4.0 can be completely uninstalled if so desired (so you don’t lose cache and other objects)
* A Remote control for the these features would be a nice upgrade.
I tried running GirlFriend 2.0 with GirlFriend 1.0 still installed, but they tried using the same i/o port and conflicted. Then I tried to uninstall GirlFriend 1.0 but it didn’t have an uninstall program. I tried to uninstall it by hand, but it put files in my system directory. Another problem with all versions of GirlFriend that I’ve used is that it is totally object oriented and only supports hardware with gold plated contacts.
BUG WARNING *
Wife 1.0 has an undocumented bug. If you try to install Mistress 1.1 before uninstalling Wife 1.0, Wife 1.0 will delete MSMoney files before doing the uninstall itself. Then Mistress 1.1 will refuse to install, claiming insufficient resources.
Related Experiences *
Last year a friend upgraded GirlFriend 4.0 to Wife 1.0 and noticed that it soon began spawning child-processes that are consuming valuable resources. No mention of this phenomenon was included in the product brochure. In addition, Wife 1.0 installs itself in such a way that it is always launched at system initialization where it can monitor all other system activity. My friend is finding that some applications such as Poker-Night 10.3 and BeerBash 2.5 are no longer able to run, crashing the system whenever selected (even though they always worked fine before).
As a result, I decided to avoid all the problems associated with Wife 1.0 by sticking with GirlFriend 4.0. Even here, however, I found many headaches. For example, the uninstall program for GirlFriend 4.0 doesn’t work very well, leaving undesirable traces of the application in the system. Even worse, all versions of GirlFriend constantly pop up little annoying messages – about the advantages of upgrading to Wife 1.0.
And Lynn, I AM teasing. We all know that the Wife software corrects all the bugs in Male 1.0!
The Voice of Reason
I mentioned to my wife Carol that when I start blogging in earnest after my move to Korea, I need to find my “voice”. In other words, I want to bring something unique to my blog–my viewpoints of course, but hopefully something that will make the reader stop and say ‘I hadn’t really considered that’. Hell, I would be happy if I can routinely provoke a response–even if only to disagree and point out the flaws in my thinking.
Anyway, Carol said “you should be the voice of reason”. I don’t know that that is particularly helpful, but from her perspective I have become estranged from my moderately liberal beliefs. Hmmm. While it is true that I voted for a Republican for the first time since reaching voting age, it seems to me the Democrats are the ones who deserted me rather than the other way around. I see my support for the liberation of Iraq as no different than my support for our intervention in Kosovo. You remember, that little war of Clinton’s that the UN also refused to sanction. And as I stood in front of my DC office and watched the smoke rise from the Pentagon something did change for me–I knew we were at war to defend our way of life. So Carol says I am a neo-con. I don’t particularly care how I am labeled. I think being on the side of freedom and democracy is the right side.
Now, Carol is a liberal. A liberal who buys into the rantings of people like Michael Moore. The recent election put some strains on the marriage, because as the rhetoric became more and more heated, we began to lose respect for one another. I think we have pretty much called a truce and we have chosen to not let our politics define our relationship. And maybe we are even stronger for it.
If I aspire to be “the voice of reason” perhaps I need to find a good role model. Ann Althouse commented on the oratory skills of British PM Tony Blair the other day and linked to his speech and press conference during his recent surprise visit to Iraq. You can read it all here. But this is the part that puts it all in perspective:
Blair: “Now where do we stand in that fight? We stand on the side of the democrats against the terrorists. And so when people say to me, well look at the difficulties, look at the challenges – I say well what’s the source of that challenge – the source of that challenge is a wicked, destructive attempt to stop this man, this lady, all these people from Iraq, who want to decide their own future in a democratic way, having that opportunity.
And where should the rest of the world stand? To say, well that’s your problem, go and look after it, or you’re better off with Saddam Hussein running the country – as if the only choice they should have in the world is a choice between a brutal dictator killing hundreds of thousands of people or terrorists and insurgents.
There is another choice for Iraq – the choice is democracy, the choice is freedom – and our job is to help them get there because that’s what they want. Sometimes when I see some of the reporting of what’s happening in Iraq in the rest of the world, I just feel that people should understand how precious what has been created here is. And those people from that electoral commission that I described as the heroes of the new Iraq – every day… a lot of them aren’t living in the Green Zone, they’ve got to travel in from outside – they do not know at any point in time, whether they’re going to be subject to brutality or intimation even death and yet they carry on doing it. Now what a magnificent example of the human spirit – that’s the side we should be on. “
That’s the voice of reason. It does not matter whether you were for or against the war in Iraq. It does not matter whether you respect or loathe the President. History will judge the wisdom of our intervention. Now, we must look to the future and ask ourselves do we stand with the forces for freedom or those who will stop at nothing to see us waiver and grow timid in the face of violence. Democracy or terrorism–those are our options in Iraq. And so I would ask my “liberal” friends this simple question: where do YOU stand?
I’m a redneck
Got the following email from a friend. I guess if the shoe fits…..
Is Christmas a dirty word?
Over at Cao’s Blog, there is an interesting post about Christianity being under attack. She makes some points that are pretty compelling. My liberal wife and I had a rather heated “discussion” on this topic the other day. Even though I am not outwardly religious or a churchgoer, the post-election rhetoric from the left demeaning people of faith has been hard to miss.
I believe I saw it first on Lileks, but this effort to make Christmas into nothing more than a secular spend-fest is growing ever more apparent. Check out the U.S. Postal Service holiday stamps on line. Let’s see, they advertise Hanukkah, Kwanzaa, EID, and the freakin’ Lunar New Year. What do they call the Madonna and Child stamp: Holiday Traditional. So, when did Christmas become a dirty word?
Oh yeah, Cao also links to a hilarious animation that nails this issue in a manner that would make the South Park boys proud. It’s on the top left and is called “No Christmas for You”. Warning: strong language. But then again, strong language is sometimes called for.
UPDATE: If I were a dyslexic atheist I’d say I don’t have a god in this fight. Credit where credit is due, Mr. Lileks is the master.
The Top 20
The awards for the most annoying liberals are in. Hilarious, sad and true. A must read! (from RWN via Powerline)
The Plan
Just to clarify: I actually depart for Korea on 22 January. Lisa at Just a Girl in the World (who did my blog design) was gracious in giving her readers an invite here, but I won’t have any first hand reports from Seoul for another month. But stick around, I might surprise you with something worthwhile.
What you get now are the boring preparation details (what to pack?), and an occasional witty insight on current events (or at least a link to a witty insight). I figure it may take this last month in country just to work out how to use all the features I get with this WordPress interface.
Ah, but what’s the plan you ask? Two more work days this week, then I am taking leave from work until 3 January. Christmas at home with the lovely wife of course. Then a road trip to Oklahoma to visit my parents. Carol has to work so I will make the journey alone. I debated flying, but I have an urge to see the open road one more time before I go away. So that’s the plan.
Monday Morning
Well, we got our first snowfall of the season yesterday. Not much, half inch or so. Still it was nice to watch it fall, nice to have logs burning in the fireplace, and nice to just enjoy the simple pleasures of a lazy day. This morning, it has dropped to 12 degrees F (I guess I will soon need to learn to covert to Celsius), but the big thing is the wind. Gusting so hard it woke me twice during the night. It is gonna be a cold, cold, morning at the train station.
And I have an F’n cold! Second one of the year for me, and that is unusual. And the timing really sucks (not that there is ever a good time for being sick). My boss has been reminding me that I only have 3 weeks left to work and he is wanting me to finish out as much as I can. It’s a matter of pride for me not to leave a mess. So, no sick leave unless this gets a whole lot worse.
We did see that Jim Carrey movie–Lemony Snicket [I think that’s right]. The acting was a little over the top, but I believe it was intended to be. The sets, locales, (or computer generated settings) were fantastic. The story was a bit thin, but I guess we were entertained. I am sure the young audience for which it is apparently intended will be captivated.
I spent my free time this weekend playing CIV III which is one of my passions (my wife would call it an obsession), so didn’t do much on the ‘Net. I really am going to start serious blogging one day soon. Really. For sure when I get to Korea, hit and miss until then.
My new home
Blog home, that is. The good folks at blogsabout.com did my extreme make-over. I can’t say enough good things about Lisa and Co. Very service oriented and understanding, which is especially important for someone as clueless as myself. Check them out (there is a link in my sidebar). Anyway, I am going to try their patience no doubt as I muddle my way through, but that is the best part about leaving blogger. Real live human beings who will hold your hand when you get lost in the wilderness.
Thanks again, Lisa.
From a grateful nation
To the troops. Happy Holidays! (click title)
It’s a Girl!
My daughter Renee just emailed to report that she is going to have a girl! Her due date is May 4th. This is our first grandchild and we are so very excited. Congratulations Renee and Mark…..this is going to be so much fun.
THIS is a troubling development
After just experiencing the wonderful side of Instanbul, LGF has some disturbing news about the dark side….
Here’s hoping the Turks rise up in defense of their cherished secular society…
(click title to this post to view link)
Congratulations to Kevin and Lynn
My son Kevin proposed to his sweet girlfriend Lynn and she accepted. Smart girl! They are both blessed to have found one another. Much happiness and love to you both.
Photoblogging Istanbul
Carol and I spent last week in Istanbul. It was really an incredible city and we had a wonderful time. The history was almost overwhelming. The people were genuinely warm and friendly. Since our Turkish language skills consisted of a few mispronounced words, we were grateful that almost everyone we met spoke English. The food was different, but delicious. We lived like millionaires (the exchange rate was $1.00 for 1.4 Million Turkish Lira). Of course, one night our dinner (including wine and dessert) cost us just over 100 million TL. We did all right though. Great shopping. Took a couple of tours, and walked around on our own a lot (only got lost once, but we found a cab and after Carol corrected my pronunciation we successfully got a ride back to familiar turf.
Not many Americans there, but we met a couple. The shopkeepers say that Americans stopped coming after 9/11 which is really a shame. The city has much to offer and we enthusiastically recommend it to anyone who wants to see some really unique places. Just soaking up the Roman, Byzantine, and Ottoman cultural influences is worth the trip. It was definitely the most unique place in the world I have had the pleasure to experience.
We encountered lots of Spanish tourists, some Italians. The locals mistook us for German until they heard us speak. One night we were at a club and the MC sang “New York, New York”, which was kinda funny with the Turkish accent and all. Then he asked people in the audience what country they were from. He would then sing a popular national song, and the folks from that country would sing along. We were the only Americans, and the song he sang was “This land is your land”. It was kind of embarrassing because after the first few lines, Carol and I could not remember the lyrics. So we faked it. Carol heartily joined in with the Spanish song, but I’m not sure she had the right lyrics, unless “aye yi yi yi, I am the Frito bandito” is really their song….
Anyway, the photos follow this post…..
Bellying up to the dancer
Ok, this is my personal favorite photo. We went to a restaurant that featured traditional Turkish folk dancing, and yes, that included belly dancers. And that’s all I think I’m gonna tell…… 