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| Sunday, January 26, 2003 |
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Like we're saying 
| | 3:35pm PST... I'm on the radio right now, as a guest on Mike Taht's show on KSCO/1080am out of Santa Cruz. You can get it from San Jose south to about San Luis Obispo. |
| | Then back to the Superbowl (go Raiders). |
| | [Later...] Cheez, it's awful. Tampa Bay is burying the Raiders. Using them a pavement to the end zone. |
| | Rich Gannon has been intercepted three times. Close-ups on the Raiders faces make me wince. They look like they're on death row... |
| | Whoa: a touchdown, a blocked punt, a touchdown... and now Jerry Rice scores another touchdown... and Oakland misses its third two-point conversion attempt. And now it's gone from 34-3 to 34-21. It's a game, though still a long shot. |
| | Uuuuug. Gannon sacked. Intercepted for the fourth time. Touchdown, Tampa Bay. 41-21. And that'll be the final score. |
| | Unbelievable. Gannon is intercepted one more time with seconds left. 48-21. |
| | Well, congrats to Tampa Bay. And to John Gruden, who is clearly the best coach in the game right now. |
Like he said, sort of
| | One thing I really like about Thomas Friedman is the ease with which he puts complex problems in simple terms. Take this, from Thinking about Iraq: |
| | Let's start with one simple fact: Iraq is a black box that has been sealed shut since Saddam came to dominate Iraqi politics in the late 1960's. Therefore, one needs to have a great deal of humility when it comes to predicting what sorts of bats and demons may fly out if the U.S. and its allies remove the lid. Think of it this way: If and when we take the lid off Iraq, we will find an envelope inside. It will tell us what we have won and it will say one of two things. |
| | It could say, "Congratulations! You've just won the Arab Germany — a country with enormous human talent, enormous natural resources, but with an evil dictator, whom you've just removed. Now, just add a little water, a spoonful of democracy and stir, and this will be a normal nation very soon." |
| | Or the envelope could say, "You've just won the Arab Yugoslavia — an artificial country congenitally divided among Kurds, Shiites, Sunnis, Nasserites, leftists and a host of tribes and clans that can only be held together with a Saddam-like iron fist. Congratulations, you're the new Saddam." |
| | In the first scenario, Iraq is the way it is today because Saddam is the way he is. In the second scenario, Saddam is the way he is because Iraq is what it is. Those are two very different problems. And we will know which we've won only when we take off the lid. The conservatives and neo-cons, who have been pounding the table for war, should be a lot more humble about this question, because they don't know either. |
| | Does that mean we should rule out war? No. But it does mean that we must do it right. |
| | In short, we can oust Saddam Hussein all by ourselves. But we cannot successfully rebuild Iraq all by ourselves. And the real prize here is a new Iraq that would be a progressive model for the whole region. That, for me, is the only morally and strategically justifiable reason to support this war. The Bush team dare not invade Iraq simply to install a more friendly dictator to pump us oil. And it dare not simply disarm Iraq and then walk away from the nation-building task. |
| | The Bush administration has been talking about "regime change" for some time now. And so far I have heard nothing that gives me confidence that we're looking for any outcome other than Anybody But Saddam. The way it looks from here, this war has nothing to do with nation-building, little to do with massively destructive weapons, and lots to do with oil — all rationalized by an overlarge sense of responsibility that goes far beyond the true scope of "national security." |
| | Which is why I part company with Tom on his conclusion: |
| | But if war turns out to be the only option, then war it will have to be — because I believe that our kids will have a better chance of growing up in a safer world if we help put Iraq on a more progressive path and stimulate some real change in an Arab world that is badly in need of reform. Such a war would indeed be a shock to this region, but, if we do it right, there is a decent chance that it would be shock therapy. |
| | That was the second in a two-part column. The first is here. |
Baa?
| | I worry we are too passive as a society, that we let our need to purchase control us, we are sheep bleating in the face of Consumerism. When will we put our credit cards down and pick up our dignity again? We hand out our numbers, our addresses, our social security information at the blink of a cross walk. In mythology vampires can't come in to your home unless you invite them...isn't that what we do essentially? |
| | So arise, consuming sheep! You have nothing to lose but your wool! (And it's too damn hot out anyway.) |
Rethinking out loud
| | I'm revisiting her thinking now. It's complicated stuff, and somewhat dated; but it deals with verities I think we need to factor into our convesations about the War on Terrorism, whatever that is. |
| | More later. Right now I need some sleep. |
discuss
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