After Almost 5 Years, There's Finally Politics in Iraq

Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki came under fire recently after continuing and increasing sectarian violence has wracked the Iraqi region recently, culminating in the massive suicide bombings in Northern Iraq that killed hundreds of civilians. All of this after Bush's much touted, and seemingly ineffectual, troop build-up known as the Surge. Accordingly, there were calls from our esteemed officials for the removal of Maliki from his position of power. And not just our officials, but the British and even the French. I know what you're saying, but yes even the French. French Foreign Minister Bernard Kouchner was quoted as suggesting that Maliki step down from his position, but do not worry, he has (as of Monday) apologized for his statement and for meddling in Iraq affairs.

But, despite all this, Maliki managed to pull it through. He started with a broad attack, responding to American critics of his policies, thusly "There are American officials who consider Iraq as if it were one of their villages, for example Hillary Clinton and Carl Levin. They should come to their senses". This is a brilliant political move. By attacking only his Democratic detractors, it shows Americans his support for the Bush administration that put him in power, while making it appear to his fellow Iraqi's that he's telling Washington where they can stuff it. This wins him some popular support at home and allows him to execute part two of his plan to save Iraq, or, as someone more cynical might assert, to save specifically his administration.

Part two was the forming of what would be termed anywhere else in the world a coalition government. He got together with various leaders of the sects in Iraq and hammered out a compromise. The compromise formed by this coalition entails the following points according to the BBC and Al-Jazeera; the freeing of detainees held without charge, easing the ban on Baathist supporters in government posts, regulating the oil industry and holding provincial elections. This compromise is genius politics at it's best, it both addresses most everyone's immediate concerns, and fails to fix the core problem (the reasons for these schisms) but, delays having to deal with it, leaving it for a future generation of politicians.

But, despite Bush's glowing praise of these reforms, as well as general foreign acclaim for them, all might not be a sunny as it seems. Monday, Khalaf al-Ilyan, a leader of the Sunni Iraqi Accordance Front had this to say, "Our position is that this meeting represents a new phase of procrastination and does not honestly aim at solving the problems quickly, I think that no real or practical solution will come out of this." Another leader, Adnan al-Dulaimi went on to say more in a statement both deceptively positive and then hope-dashingly dark by saying that the accords were "good decisions that would serve the whole Iraqi people, but we doubt that they will be implemented. All of our experience with al-Maliki indicates that this is another new set of delaying measures. They give you a glimmer of hope, but at the end of the day you get nothing in return." When all was said and done, the agreement seems to have had very little domestic effect. The Sunni bloc of government workers and officials, who performed a walkout of their posts earlier this month to protest Maliki, effectively crippling the government, did not return to their posts. Violence has continued to infect the land with the current rate of infighting, suicide bombings and attacks on US forces remaining largely unchanged despite the agreement.

Mr. Maliki's plan has both succeeded and backfired, is both lauded and reviled. Despite his ability to bring these warring groups to the table to hammer some kind of compromise into existence and despite his ability to woo foreign approval, there remain issues that still need to be resolved and parties that are not completely satisfied, in this case, domestic ones. However, he did manage to save his administration from imminent collapse. If America claims to have gone into Iraq to bring democracy, and if our particular brand of that hallowed government system is model that was used in Iraq, then I have only one thing to say: Mission Accomplished.

Historical Non-fiction and it's ability to enrage

When I was in New York, I went on a series of book buying excursions to a variety of awesome used book stores in the lower east side of Manhattan, and as always seems to be the case in situations like this, I ended up with a series of non-fiction books about one individual is particular. This time, it was Charles Lindbergh.

Now, if you know nothing about Charles Lindbergh, it's an inspiring story that begins with a truly American story of rags-to-riches of a man that came from a poor Minnesotan farm and became the most popular man in America, nae the world, after performing the first cross Atlantic flight, by himself, in his plane The Spirit of St. Louis. Upon his return and the ensuing fame that followed he married and soon after had his first child, Charles Jr. In one of the largest news stories of the early 30's, his son was kidnapped and eventually found murdered. This was a huge blow to him and his wife and ended up being the major cause of his self imposed exile to Europe.

And this is when golden boy Charles Lindbergh's story starts to go a little darker. As with a lot of "self-made" individuals, people who spend that much time in the lime light, he had long believed in the idea of eugenics, mostly based on the idea that he himself was a prime representation of Nietzsche's superman. And why not? Had he not designed and built the plane that took him across the Atlantic? Had he not helped Nobel Prize winner Dr.Alexis Carrel design his award winning experiments on prolonging human life? These things denoted to him, and other eugenics believers, that he was a superman. This is what got him into his audiences with Hitler and Goering. While on his self imposed exile in Europe, he was invited to take an inspection tour of Germany's newly revitalized Air Force. On this tour, he became very close to Goering and even received an honorary medal from Hitler, a big gaudy cross made of gold and decorated with 4 swastikas.

Upon his eventual return to America, he was placed in charge of modernizing America's air corp, in one of the most obviously warmongering moves of FDR. However, he also formed America First and was their loudest spokesman. America First was an organization that believed in keeping America out of the war in Europe at all costs, however, they also believed that if America should be forced to join the war, that they should be on Germany's side. However, both of these thoughts, up until Pearl Harbor, were held by the majority of Americans. Therefore, these opinions were not what ended up destroying his public image. That job was instead given over to his hugely anti-semitic remarks given as he toured around the United States. Below are some transcripts of a speech given in Des Moines, Iowa to screaming crows and rousing applause.
" Their greatest danger to this country lies in their [the Jewish people's] large ownership and influence in our motion pictures, our press, our radio and our government."
This statement probably makes him the first person to attempt that perfectly and wholly American excuse for anti-semitism.

Thus forth, Lindbergh was largely forgotten. Immediately following the entrance of America into WWII, no one would listen to him anymore, and it became even more obvious after the war, when intelligence of Nazi atrocities became common knowledge, that America had entered on the right side.

But, that's what reading non-fiction history will do to you. Anyone in history that you thought you might have any respect for, any at all, will be cut open and dissected and laid open at your feet. You will end up hating them. I no longer respect any American President, any major American politician, at least from the modern era of American politics. You end up bouncing from historical figure to historical figure hating each one more than the one before that. But that's what makes History important to me. These people are raised to hero status and their actual thoughts and beliefs are removed from the clean textbook stories of their lives. Someone has to know what was actually there, I am that person.

Aimlessness, or how I learned to love Gore Vidal

I, like most of the people in the age group that I currently reside, have no real idea what it is I want to do with my life. Really, I guess I know what I'm in school for, and I guess I know what it is I will be doing once I graduate (whenever that is), but nonetheless, I still feel cut apart and drifting. After all, I currently reside in Lubbock, TX (though I am writing this on the last day of a week long trip to NYC) and Lubbock is really an entire town that has an aimless feeling to it. This encompasses the empty, hollow West Texas wind that blows through the town, sometimes lazily, sometimes forcefully, to the occasional smell of cow shit that wafts into the city with, the tiny bits of cotton, from the farms that encircle and lay siege to this city.

School for me involves studying History so that I might someday stand before the teenage brats of my peers and have them adamantly not listen to a word that comes out of my mouth. Oh, of course I have dreams of being that teacher, the one that students speak well about and idolize till, well, till its time to send their own kids to me for their further edification. That I could change a High Schooler's life to such a degree would be amazing for me. However, the truth of the matter is that I will be teaching history, the least beloved and easiest class to fall asleep to. Every other class, the teacher has the chance to live vicariously through their students. If you're a science teacher, for instance, and you have a student who is really good at science, you can tell that student of all the awesome things that he/she could do that would make her famous. You would of course have the secret hope that when they are up at the podium for the Nobel Prize in Chemistry, they would mention that awesome teacher they had in High School, the one that turned their life around and put them on the right wholesome path.

That doesn't work on my level. If I end up with a really promising history student, the best I can say is, "Well, your really good at this! If you continue to work hard and study, go to a good college, get your degree, you could get a job doing... well.... uh... I guess.... well, you'll be doing the exact same thing I am. Quick child! Run! Go be good at something else, history will never get you laid!"

Of course, this is all just a long winded way of welcoming you to this blog I started, despite my inborn fear of these things from the older livejournalesque embarrassing days of my youth. But, there is a reason that I got this, a real reason even, one dedicated to the building of underused skills that have atrophied in myself for far to long. I want to write. That is to say that I have the dream of writing, of being published, of fulfilling the unlikely goal of being the most highly acclaimed history writer since Barbara Tuchmann. I have ideas for books that constantly show themselves inside my head. I want to pull a classic modern history writer transition and write articles about political and social commentary. I want to be Gore Vidal. That is what this is for, a place for me to practice. Nothing more.