December 30th, 2006
TECHNICAL DIFFICULTIES
Lexington Green was kind enough to let me know that comments were not functioning properly today. Trying to fix it now with a test post. My apologies to anyone who experienced problems.
December 30th, 2006
CAN WE HANG HIM AGAIN?
Let us not waste too many words on the late Saddam Hussein, at best he tasted only a small measure of the misery and fear he dealt out to hundreds of thousands of Iraqis but as he had but one life to give for his crimes, that will have to be enough.
Predictably, the special pleading is rolling in from Sunni, Palestinian and pan-Arab apologists for Saddam, sounding remarkably like elderly Nazis and Stalinists defending their respective monsters. As if Saddam’s tyranny ever took a holiday for Eid. Where were these false pieties when Saddam was in power? Perhaps if the complainers should begin to petition Khartoum, Teheran and Damascus to ease up on human-rights violations, I’ll give their hand-wringing over Saddam’s execution a shred of credence.
Until then, this was exactly the demographic we intended to upset and demoralize by bringing Saddam to justice.
LINKS:
The Glittering Eye with a round-up of Iraqi blogger reactions.
Bruce Kesler -“The Morality of Saddam’s Hanging“
LTC Rick Francona -“After Saddam’s execution, outlook for Iraq grim“
Juan Cole (at Salon) – ” The Death of a Dictator“
Counterterrorism Blog -“Saddam Hussein, Longtime State Sponsor of Terrorism, Executed by Iraqis “
December 30th, 2006
RECOMMENDED READING
A good time to push the new, tie up loose ends and entertain a few tangents. No theme today.
Top billing far and away goes to the thread “Kilcullen — New Theories for a New Way of War ” at The Small Wars Council, begun by DNI’s Fabius Maximus. The high quality of the discussion and the no-holds barred debate makes this one a definite ” must read” for anyone interested in COIN, 4GW, military strategy, defense policy or Iraq. It is long, so pour yourself a cup of coffee ( or something stronger) and enjoy.
Dan of tdaxp completes his series on The Wary Guerilla that I first featured here. The series in its entirety:
1. Abstract 2. Terrorism 3. Predictions 4. An Experiment 5. Results 6. Absolute Guerrilla
7. Those Who Cause Less Pain 8. Future Research 9. Political Implications 10. Bibliography
Chris Heffinger – “The Ideological Voices of the Jihadi Movement” at Jamestown Foundation.
Nathan Freier – ” Primacy without a Plan? ” in PARAMETERS .
Wiggins at Opposed System Design -“Knowing the Enemy Part III: Sources of Radicalization” ( Part II. and Part I. here).
Wretchard at The Belmont Club -” The Blogosphere at War“
Colonel W. Patrick Lang – “A Concert of the Greater Middle East” at The National Interest
“Why the U.S. Should Spring for a New Particle Accelerator” at SEED .
“2006 a Year of Invention” in New Scientist.com
That’s it !
December 29th, 2006
INTERESTING BOOK REVIEW
Of a book that intersects Cold War history, intelligence and Iran –The Rise and Fall of the Pahlavi Dynasty: Memoirs of Former General Hussein Fardust – reviewed by Hayden B. Peake for Studies In Intelligence.
“Hussein Fardust was a childhood friend of Mohammad Reza Shah Pahlavi, the last shah of Iran, one of the few non-family members Reza trusted throughout his life. They attended schools together in Iran and Switzerland, and after the prince assumed the throne in 1941, Fardust was sent to Britain for intelligence training. On his return he became head of the Special Information Bureau, an organization akin to Britain’s Joint Intelligence Committee (JIC). At one point he was also deputy chief of the SAVAK (Iran’s secret police) and was responsible for its reorganization.
Fardust’s memoirs give a detailed look at some familiar and less familiar events in Iran’s history from the other side. He begins with the Anglo-Iranian oil relationship, moves to the 1953 coup and the background to the overthrow of Mossadeq, describes the shah’s extensive cooperation with Western intelligence— mainly CIA and MI6—and Iran’s relationship with its Middle East neighbors, including Israel, and the long war with Iraq. There are several chapters on Iran’s intelligence services in which their organization and operations are described in greater detail than in any other English-language source. In 1977, public protests began in part because of the shah’s corrupt government, the “use of torture and political persecution” by SAVAK, and near 50-percent inflation. (377) Whether the shah grasped what was happening is unclear, though Fardust does say, “No one dared to tell the truth to the Shah.” (543).
The politics of the frustrating but inevitable collapse of the regime are described, as is the rise of the Ayatollah Khomeini, which led to the revolution and the shah’s permanent departure. The takeover of the American embassy is barely mentioned (Fardust was gone by that time). In a bid to escape the executioner he went into hiding, though he was arrested after five years and confined to his house. It was then that he wrote his memoirs, but he died in 1987 of a heart attack before finishing them. The translator has added some details about Fardust’s final days and in the process noted that the Islamic regime was quick to establish its own Intelligence Ministry. This book is filled with essential background on Iran, a country that is often hard to understand.”
This one will have to be interlibrary loan as I do not expect it to be on the shelf at Border’s and in any event, I’m not shelling out $ 56 for a new copy, cheap bastard that I am. As if I don’t have a three foot high bookpile….
December 28th, 2006
ALTERNATE UNIVERSE BLOGGING
Warning! Lighthearted post to follow!
Physicists have speculated on the possibility of alternate or multiple universes for some time. That concept remains a staple of science fiction and has creeped in to the historical community, where “counterfactual history” has become popular reading material.
What would an ” alternate blogosphere” look like ? Here’s my idea…
A trio of monocultural, Ivy League MBA, WASPs discuss the challenges of balancing stock portfolios, employing hot nannies, prep school traditions and finding the ” right” gated community.
A look at the national security and intelligence communities by a former Congressional Committe staffer who once got to play ” junior senator” at a hearing and asked James Woolsey a few smart-aleck questions on late night C-Span2.
Marc Sulemain’s New York Times worshipping blog. Noted for his militant enthusiasm for Hezbollah and his savage personal attacks on ” that neoconservative bastard, Juan Cole”.
John Rebbe:
An advocate of ” open-source religion” and an expert on “4GH” or ” Fourth Generation Hasidism”, Rebbe dusts off arcane points of interfaith dialogue each week to demonstrate the increasing convergence of high church Episcopalianism with obscure faiths like Jainism.
Acclaimed NFL color commentator in Green Bay, ” Doc Barnett” pontificates daily on the need to redesign the gridiron into a dodecahedron in order to spread the values of American football to places like Botswana and Montenegro ( Barnett’s webmaster, Sean of Interdict, embarrasses his boss regularly with simple grammatical errors and odd uses of syntax).
Cat-fancier Dave, a longtime member of the Waiter’s Council, sporadically gives vent to incoherent rants and periodic posts extolling the virtues of women’s roller derby. Dave frequently clashes with Sulemain of American Failure over charges of Zionist imperialism and retro-Trotskyism.
Scandinavian-descended bore whose tedious blogging on the intricacies of corporate tax accounting has not impeded his building a massive readership through the liberal posting of pictures of nude Swedish women.
Eccentric Americanophile English immigrant, famous for his groveling politeness toward commenters and fondness for tractor pulls, Pentacostal Church socials and Tex-Mex cuisine. A strict teetotaler and socialist.
A group blog of white suburbanites who have immersed themselves in the rawest aspects of gangsta rap and underground hip-hop culture. The West Side Boys are noted for a lively comment section where whole paragraphs seem to be profainity interspersed by conjunctions and slang words of unknown meaning.
Unhinged conspiracy theorist who decorates his blog with crudely rendered cartoons, no one ever has the least idea of what DAXTP getting at and we all find his frequent portfolios of scantily-clad male models disturbing, to say the least.
The laconic yet ferocious Curtis Weeks belches forth fire and brimstone posts in the best dry Baptist splinter group tradition, condemning most aspects of Western society that emerged after the early 17th century. Frequently flames DAXTP who responds with uncomplimentary internet graffitti; Emphatic Constable also disputes with John Rebbe on various aspects of religious mummery.
