Month: November 2005

Apparently President Bush gave a speech about his Iraq policy this morning. I slept through it. But here’s some salient commentary from one of the visitors to TWN:

The Israelis have pretty much proven for 50+ years they won’t take any crap and won’t back down in the face of terrorism and aggression. Has their toughness immunized them from car bombers? Has their consistency in not bowing to terrorism made it go away? You have to push back against enemies such as these but it means more than making them die or flee at the barrel of a gun. How you deal with the causes of their violence is beyond my understanding but somebody gets paid a lot of money to think about how to do it and get it done. We could have 250,000 troops in Iraq for the next 25 years and every day of the week, 365 days of every goddamn year there would be attacks and killings inflicted on them. Given that reality WTF is “victory”? What is “winning”? I won’t hold my breath waiting for the Right to define either term and how to get there, they don’t know the answer.

And speaking of Israel,what’s going on over there today?

Veteran statesman Shimon Peres announced on Wednesday he was throwing his support behind Prime Minister Ariel Sharon in Israel’s March election and ending his own political activity in the Labor Party.

Peres, 82, told a news conference he was making the move in the interests of Middle East peace.

Both Israel and America are caught in some difficult situations and need to make some real changes to get out of them. Notice something different about what’s going on in Israel? They’re actually shaking up the established order and trying to do things differently. Whether they will succeed is anybody’s guess, but I honor the fact that they’re trying to break out of the current stasis.

Frankly, I’m starting to think there’ll be peace in Jerusalem before there’ll be peace in Baghdad.

I’ve seen posts here and there warning that immigration — specifically over our southern border — is going to be a hot-button issue for the next election cycle, and I have to say that I agree. Two stories today point the way.

In the first, I note a rising number of attempts to link not just the Mexican border, but Mexico itself, with terrorism.

For more than a year, the shirts and pants worn by agents
and inspectors with U.S. Customs and Border Protection have been made in
Mexico, and some complaints were made when they were initially
distributed. The uniforms are supplied by VF Solutions of Nashville,
Tenn., which subcontracts its work to plants in the United States,
Mexico, Canada and the Dominican Republic.

Do people care about the huge amount of technology outflow from America and how that affects security, or our stunning lack of energy independence, or any number of other issues that have a long-term effect on national security? No. They care that the Border Patrol’s uniforms are … gasp … MADE IN MEXICO. Why is “Made in Mexico” bad but “Made In Canada” or “Made in the Dominican Republic” not bad?

Agents and lawmakers are concerned about the consequences if
the uniforms for agents charged with combating illegal immigration fall
into the hands of criminals or terrorists.

I don’t like pointing fingers and yelling “RACISM!” but more and more, it seems that’s what’s going on here. A concerted attempt is being made to make Americans scared of the hordes of short, swarthy, non-English speaking masses teeming below our borders.

The second article is actually about disarray in the Bush White House, but what I find notable is this bit:

Not ready to throw in the towel and declare the boss a lame
duck, the Bushies are hoping two issues can help firm up their base and
perhaps make inroads with centrists who voted for Bush: the anticipated
confirmation of Supreme Court nominee Samuel Alito, and a plan to
reinforce the border with Mexico to help stop illegal immigration.

This week Bush will begin to press the border security issue.

It seems to me that this administration is feeling the political tide turning against them, and in their increasingly-desperate attempts to staunch the flow, they are falling back on an old friend, the race card. And sadly, it will probably help shore up support, because although almost nobody will admit it, racism still lurks in many a heart in America.

I’ll be thinking more about the issue of immegration and posting some more thoughts on it in the not-too-distant future.

UPDATE: looks like the plan is kicking into action.

President Bush is trying to build support for a comprehensive immigration strategy