State vs. Defense

This post originally appeared on May 6, 2004. In light of recent discussions about the CIA, and Chalabi's continuing prominence in the news, I think it's as timely now as anything I could write today.

When you first read the article linked at my post “Chalabi Aiding Iranian Mullahs?”, didn’t you think it was just a tiny bit curious that “intelligence agencies” (meaning the CIA) were suddenly concerned about about those Iranian insurgents in Iraq? Especially when the Agency has never said peep about them? I know, it sounded odd to me too. But, according to the Newsweek piece, “the State Department and the CIA are using the intelligence about his Iran ties to persuade the president to cut him loose once and for all” [my emphasis – aa]. While “Chalabi still has loyal defenders among some neoconservatives in the Pentagon,” according to the article. (Those pesky neoconservatives! That damn Pentagon!)

In an April 30 article, Barbara Lerner addresses criticisms of what has been termed “Rumsfeld’s occupation” of Iraq. “First,” she says, “it’s not Rumsfeld’s occupation; it’s Colin Powell’s and George Tenet’s.” And second, that’s the problem. And one more thing: now there’s talk of handing Iraq over to the United Nations and Lakhdar Brahimi.

There are two factions at work in Washington: one, led by the White House and the Defense Department, and the other, led by the CIA and the State Department. According to Lerner, “Rumsfeld’s plan was to equip – and then transport to Iraq – some 10,000 Shia and Sunni freedom fighters led by Shia exile leader Ahmed Chalabi” to join Kurdish freedom fighters led by Jalal Talabani and Massoud Barzani. General Garner would have then handed power over to these three, and six others, in “a matter of weeks – not months or years” thus greatly enhancing the legitimacy of the new Iraqi government.

But State and the CIA had other ideas. Garner was replaced with State man Paul Bremer. The Iraqi exile force was slashed to a few hundred, while Rumsfeld’s trio was inflated to a total of 25, with the result that “Bremer’s face [was] the only one most Iraqis saw.”

In Bemer’s GC, many Iraqis “saw a foreign occupation occupation of potentially endless length” led by untrustworthy Americans, while Syria and Iran set about trying to carve up the newly liberated Iraq.

Now check out David Frum’s new piece (May 6). Money quote: “Those inside the government pushing the line that Mr. Chalabi has divulged secrets to the Iranians come from the same bureaucracies, the State Department and CIA, that have also advocated for the inclusion of Iraqi parties with more open links to Tehran in the Iraqi Governing Council, such as the Dawa Party.” Attention, Department of Pots and Kettles.

And speaking of Foggy Bottom and Tehran, read this from Frum’s May 5 post: “And those intrepid foes of Iranian imperialism at the State Department? What have they done? In March 2004, Colin Powell agreed with the European allies to drop US demands for Security Council action against Iran. US policy is now one of “engagement” with Iran – even as Iran hosts al Qaeda on its territory and supports terrorism inside Iraq.” For Frum’s devastating analysis, read the whole post at the link.

But I digress. Back to the original question: Is the Iraq occupation Powell’s or Rumsfeld’s? With the horrifying revelations [i.e., the Abu Ghraib scandal] that have come to light since Barbara Lerner’s article was published, Rumsfeld’s reputation is now badly tarnished. But in any event, Lerner is adamant that the occupation must not be Brahimi’s. “The UN as a whole is bad; Lakhdar Brahimi is worse,” she writes. “Men like Chalabi, Talabani, and Barzani have nothing but contempt for Mr. Brahimi, the UN, and the Old Europe.” These are the ones we must support – regardless of where Rumsfeld’s career may take him.

Here's the take-away for this post. (1) Contrary to what the Left like to think, Washington is not monolithic and the CIA are not minions of the White House; in fact, many neoconservatives are convinced that the CIA is working to undermine the Bush Administration. Why? Because the CIA never bought in to the whole "democracy in the Middle East" concept. They like stability, and they see dictatorships as being "stable". (2) The mainstream press doesn't like Chalabi any better now than it did last spring. But this recent article by Michael Rubin gives a good overview of the politics: "Disdain for Chalabi runs deep in the State Department, Central Intelligence Agency, and U.S. Central Command. As an advocate of both regime change and democratization, he became a lightning rod for criticism among proponents of the status quo." Read the whole article at the link.

Update

Comings and goings. I'm still recovering from a local move and a trip to San Francisco. Went down to SF to visit The Next Generation. Had a great visit, and TNG recorded his first movie on my digital camera! George Lucas, watch out. Also I've moved ... back into my old building, after spending about 14 months in a much-too-large apartment. (At the time I moved there originally, it made sense because I needed the space to sort through all the books and stuff I'd inherited from my family. But I'm glad to be back in my old, cozy building on Morrison Street.) Small (and cozy) is a good thing in Portland right now, because we're having a serious cold snap.

Posting break. I'll need to spend some time over the next couple of weeks taking care of household stuff (i.e. unpacking) and looking for a new 8-to-5 gig. Also I am getting active in the creative department again, with a new story in the works, plus I want to get caught up on several other blogging-related projects I've got going on. So I'm going to take a hiatus from new posts on Dreams Into Lightning through the end of the calendar year - but that doesn't mean I won't be busy.

Lightning strikes twice. For your continued entertainment, I will be posting re-runs of some of my important earlier posts that you might have missed, along with whatever updates or addenda may be necessary.

Latest events in the Dreams Into Lightning universe. New fiction (in progress) can be found here. And keep an eye on Pacific Memories as our narrator describes life on Fiji circa 1943. (Plot spoiler: Digging pits for 155-mm howitzers isn't fun.)

Morning Report: December 16, 2005

Millions of Iraqis vote. Purple fingers were once again seen throughout Iraq yesterday, as Iraqi citizens cast their votes in the country's parliamentary elections. From the in-depth report at Iraq the Model:

The polls closed in all centers 90 minutes ago!
The IECI had a press conference half an hour ago that pretty much summarized today’s events. From watching this press conference and analyzing the reports we received today we can say that the following points represents the most important findings:

-Security was much better than last time in January and there were only a few minor incidents.

-It was clear that the IECI and its multi-thousand strong staff did a wonderful and exceptional job in such a hard time to make the election go in the best way possible.

-The Iraqi Army and police were successful in giving our people the opportunity to vote in a peaceful environment.

-The total registered voter-count was 1,000,000 higher than in January after adding Iraqi citizens who were born in 1987.

-15, 5 million+ Iraqis cast their votes in more than 30,000 station spread nationwide.

-All the assassinations and intimidation that preceded the election could not stop the process.

-There have been strict measures to make sure that all ballot boxes and station are in compliance with the standards of the IECI and now it’s their-IECI-duty to make sure that no boxes were replaced or manipulated.

-The presence of the press and representatives of political bodies and civil society organizations was profound although there were limitations on the presence of media workers. But however, the process was being watched 600,000 eyes!

-The IECI distributed 5,000,000 posters nationwide to educate the population on the process and encourage Iraqis to vote.

-2 million brochures were distributed to inform the people on the technical and moral aspects of the election.

-Countless numbers of conferences, lectures and workshops were held to educate the people and encourage them to vote.

-Almost all the defects that took place in some regions today were basically cases in which voters couldn’t find their names in the voter-lists.

-Counting the votes has begun in all stations and the results will be collected and conveyed to the provincial offices to be later conveyed to the IECI HQ in Baghdad.

Full report at the link, with bulletins from correspondents throughout Iraq. Pajamas Media has more; read about Iraq's oldest voter, and about the conscientious official in Babil, where NOBODY votes without showing the proper ID!

Vote for Regime Change Iran

Don't forget to cast your vote for Regime Change Iran - a vote for the blog is a vote for the goal! Click here or follow the link at the RCI homepage.

New Blogger: Ghazal Omid

Please welcome Ghazal Omid to the blogosphere! Her new blog, Nuclear Iran, is now up and running. Please bookmark it on your browser, and visit often! Here's a portion of Ghazal's first post:

Iran and its future

My lawyer suggested I see your movie, Syriana, because he expects I will be asked about it on radio and TV appearances on my book tour.

I pre-purchased a ticket, a first for me, for opening night here in Vancouver. The theatre was packed with adults for a change. I have never seen such emotion from a movie audience. It was almost as if they attended a funereal; so quiet you could have heard a pin drop. When the movie ended, half the audience ran to the doors to hide their tears. The other half remained in their seats, feeling powerless and betrayed, crying with their head in their hands.

It was especially hard to watch because I am an Iranian Muslim woman. I saw patterns of my country and the future of people I care about at stake. It is as if we are in quick sand ...

Read the rest at the link. That link again? Nuclear Iran

Happy 4th to Kesher Talk

Kesher Talk is four years old. Do you have any idea how old that is in "blog years"?

Happy birthday, KT. Judith, keep up the great work.

Update

I'm in San Francisco for a couple more days, visiting The Next Generation for his 10th birthday. So I'm mostly incommunicada until I get back to Portland. Had a great visit last night: TNG made his first movie! It was a finger-puppet adaptation of "Star Wars". Yours truly recorded it on the digital camera's "movie" feature.

Normal posting should resume next week. Meanwhile, don't forget to visit the activists at Free Iran news forum, Palestinian-American blogger Nadz (with some observations on Ted Rall), and Kat at The Middle Ground.

See you soon.

Take that, Howard Dean!

The Countercolumn News Ticker:

EU unanimously rejects Iran's call to move Israel to Europe ...

France gives up 1,000 Jews in goodwill gesture ...

Renaults outburn Peugots in Consumer Reports study ...

Local lovers overheard saying "At least we'll always have what's left of Paris."

Howard Dean surrenders to South Carolina, Oklahoma, South Dakota, California, then goes on to surrender to Oregon, then goes to surrender to New York. YEAAAARRRRRGGGGHHHH!!!!!!

Dean, France dispute over who gets to surrender to Oregon first ...

Heh.

Update: New Digs

Just got moved in to a smaller but comfier place - it's actually in my old building, where I was living up until summer of last year. At the moment there's barely any room to move, because of the amount of "stuff" I have. (Yeah, the classic George Carlin problem.) But I actually like this place better than the other one, because it's more comfortable and better maintained.

Blogging will resume when I get a chance. The new (old) building now has wireless service by a company called Zigzag - they've really branched out since the days when they only made rolling papers! It's no substitute for my hard-wired DSL service, though, which ought to kick in later this week. Anyway, I'll post any updates I find on that case in Beaverton - but I'm hoping I can post about something more positive, too.

Report a Rape, Get Charged with a Crime

This is repulsive. I'm in the middle of a move, and I don't have time to blog - but I have time for this. By way of Ginmar, here's the story as the O tells it:

BEAVERTON -- A municipal judge found a 19-year-old woman guilty Friday of filing a false police report after she said she was raped by three young men.

Even though the woman never said she lied or recanted her story, city prosecutors say they took the unusual step of filing charges against her because of the seriousness of her accusations. ...

Beth at My VRWC:

There are just way too many things about this story that make no sense at all to me. When a judge without a clue calls the perps “boys” and decides he doesn’t believe the girl because of the testimony of a criminally delinquent mother (with a child-molesting boyfriend), what sense is to be made of it? When alleged victims end up being charged with making false reports because they don’t “act traumatized enough,” how many more victims are going to be afraid to report sexual assault?

Shakespeare's Sister:

A 17-year-old girl went to police at the urging of her friends after she was allegedly gang-raped by three men, including her boyfriend. The men testified that the act was consensual. After reviewing all the information and statements, prosecutors decided they didn’t think they could prove a rape allegation, and so declined to prosecute the case.

Instead, they prosecuted the victim for filing a false police report. Yesterday, she was found guilty.

The victim has never recanted her story. Instead, the decision was based on the judge’s opinion that the three men were more credible, in part because a police detective and the victim’s friends testified she did not “act traumatized” in the days after the incident.

In cases like this, people tend to draw their own conclusions, based on what’s reported, filling in the blanks in a way that satisfies one’s judgment. What are you thinking right now? That maybe it really was a false rape charge? That maybe the victim was just vindictive? That there had to be some reason that the judge found her guilty?

Let me give you some more information—something that is only a possibility because The American Street’s Kevin Hayden has known the victim nearly her whole life. He attended the trial. ...

Here is the link to Kevin Hayden at The American Street, which unfortunately isn't working for me at the moment.

More at Night Bird's Fountain, Pam's House Blend, Pandagon, and Alas, a Blog:

The Judge seems to believe that there is a typical way in which all rape victims act, and that if a woman fails to act that way, she must be lying. But that's nonsense. There is no "rape victim script" that every rape victim follows. Essentially, this woman has been convicted of a crime for failing match the judge's stereotype of what "legitimate" female victims act like.

Judge Ackerman has sent a message to rape victims in Oregon: If the judge doesn't think you're weepy enough, emotive enough, hysterical enough, whatever enough, then he might just convict you of a crime. There's every reason to think an asinine ruling like this will deter rape victims from reporting rape to the police. ...

Please visit these posts, for links to more. This is a disgrace.

Update

Regular posting to resume next week. I'm in the middle of a move.

Meanwhile, did you know CaribPundit is back? For those of you worried about being called, er, certain disparaging names, she's got some pointers. Oh, and the LA Times is all up in arms about press bias! Go check it out.

Just "Neo" Now

Vanderleun informs us:

ONE OF THE THINGS that escaped my report on the Pajamas OS Media convocation in New York a fortnight ago was that we decided, en masse and by acclamation, to change a blogger's name. For untold ages now, she has been known to the blogsphere as neo-neocon, but as we ascend upwards into the rarified realms of blogger celebrity this will no longer do.

Henceforth, it is a Law of the Blogsphere that neo-neocon will be called, simply, "Neo."

I like it. I've been a fan of Neo-Neocon for a long time, and have been referring to her familiarly as "Neo". I think it fits: like the hero of "The Matrix", she's dedicated to cutting through the web of illusion created by the mainstream media. She's a red-pill person.