getting out of the war

One headline today reads "Obama: Discussing the war he never agreed to!"
It is, necessarily, part of the dilemma that he faces. In order to be seen as credible by the wider electorate he now has to get up to speed on how you deal competently with a war....even though he didn't think America should have been in that war in the first place.
The President, of course, is also the Commander-in-Chief, [a scary thought when you think of George Bush] but Obama does appear to be taking it seriously. And is being taken seriously by those who will have to cooperate with him. (See the steep learning curve here)
It will always be an issue for incoming politicians. The electorate will have to decide whether the fresh approach outweighs lack of experience. McCain seems to me tired and not up to the task. Obama at least has the capacity to grow and learn.

Political Legacy

I suppose that one of the mercies of politics is that history tends to remember people for what they have done and not for what they have NOT DONE.
This is no doubt a huge relief to Mr Howard, though no doubt it will take him a wee while to note it.
What exactly did he do?
We know what he did not do. He did not say sorry! He did not capitalise on the opportunity the Keating Government left him to advance the cause of aboriginal people through Mabo and Wik, it was only in the death throes that he discovered aboriginal issues and 'invaded' the Northern Territory. God save us all from paternalistic politics. Very interesting analysis on ABC today (here) of the significance of Keating's Redfern speech the 10th anniversary of which falls on Monday. It reminds us that it heralded a change. No longer could aboriginal people just be ignored, but rather when they were engaged with it was discovered they were mighty powerful folk.
Don Watson, amongst others, argues that this empowering deeply threatened Tory politics. Chief amongst these was the former PM.
The very fact that aboriginal people could and should be heeded was deeply threatening to those whose view of "history" was that European settlement brought nothing to apologise for. It was as recalled by various noteworthies in the broadcast a mythical view of history not based on the facts.
Key amongst these proponents was one JW Howard, whose constant declamation of "black arm band history" was roundly dealt with as being an unsophisticated approach which fails to allow the real facts to be dealt with.
This is logical if you think about it, if all you can do is say that any criticism is "black arm band" then it sets up a scenario in which no genuine critique can be offered. Watson and others note that this is exactly what JWH and others wanted; any suggestion of anything else threatened their (mythical) view of themselves. Only the passage of the years will, I suggest, properly expose how fully pathetic little politicians were.
So what did he do...well I suppose he introduced the GST, probably good.
He tagged along behind Dubbya into Iraq. No doubt catastrophic.
He failed to sign Kyoto...well Kev will be remembered for the ratification being first thing he did.
Can't remember much else he did....ohh yes there was Workchoices...and that cost him the election.
Ohh and he wouldn't resign because people would think he was a coward...and that also cost him the election.
It's a pity I suppose....but what was his name again?

Tomorrow's announcement today

There is little doubt that President Bush will make no friends tomorrow when he tries to justify the sending of 30,000 more troops to Iraq.
It is difficult to both understand and to escape the logic. On the one hand Iraq is clearly the most unstable place in the world, and the 30,000 troops will go towards establishing the stability that is necessary to allow the withdrawal. But will they be able to do what the troops already there have been unable to achieve.
It is difficult to understand just what this war has achieved, and this is the mystery of war...does it actually achieve anything. Apart from the execution of Saddam, which seems to have been more an exercise in bloodlust than peace-making, it is difficult to sustain the case that Iraq is safer now than it was.
I heard an American senator say the other day that he had been to Baghdad 6 times, the first was to buy carpets and the last .....well we all know about the last.
Theer are, however, those whose lives were tyrannised by the evil of Saddam Hussein
The thing that depresses me most about this sorry affair is that it does rather prove the argument that war is not about achieving goals, they are about politics. Bush won a short term victory, until mothers started to lose their sons.
Australia lacks any credibility at all. In wanting to seem to be a big player we all know that we are a piddling little country with few military resources. We ride on the Yankee back hoping for glory by association.
In so doing we lose all credibility because we cannot critique the war that has gone horribly wrong. So terrified are we of losing the American alliance, that we dare not critique what has manifestly failed to work and what has become an immoral debacle.

An appropriate check -but to what avail?

The news that Donald Rumsfeld has fallen on his sword (or been pushed) in the wake of the much vaunted anti-bellum vote represented by resounding Democrat victories in the mid term Congressional election (here) comes as no surprise.
It is, I suppose, an appropriate reminder to all in power that they are all vulnerable. But does it really achieve anything. The Americans (and we as the 52nd state!) are still 'twixt the rock and the hard place. The damage has been done, and evacuating now will, one suspects, not actually make the country a safer place in the short term. But the war ( one suggests) was never about making Iraq safe, it was about the politics of oil. And what that was all about, who knows.
The other war mongers, Cheney, in particular remain firmly ensconced. Bush will limp with ever increasing ignominy to the end of a lame-duck Presidency. And hundreds of people have died.
The Howards and the Downers will continue to justify this awful war. And I am left with the reminder of how in the pre-war days week after week thousands of us marched against the war and were ignored by our government.
What has been achieved?
Well for our sins the evil Saddam will ultimately be executed and no one has raised their voice to say the death penalty is objectively wrong.
What a mess!