Some thoughts:

First of all, most of this speech seems to be the same old stuff. This is his seventh one of these, by my reckoning, and he still wants more time for his (new) "Iraq strategy" to "work", he still mentions the need to wean ourselves from foreign oil, he still takes credit for a robust, growing economy.

Last year he stated that "Americans are addicted to foreign oil", like that was some profound discovery (to him it was, I guess) and now tonight he talks about America needing to reduce consumption by 20% by 2017. That's just wonderful. Thanks so much George. With two years left in office, 3/4 of his term spent, now he comes up with a ten year plan. Beautiful. Of course he didn't actually say that he has any kind of plan either, and you know he doesn't. His idea of a "plan" is to announce that we need to accomplish something, warn us repeatedly that we dare not fail and wait for God to make it so, I guess.

I'm not even gonna say anymore about Iraq tonight other than he's wrong. Right from the start and continuously ever since.

Quoting now from BBC News web site:

"His speech also focused on domestic issues, and he called on political opponents to join him in tackling the US's most profound problems."

This should be good. He hasn't talked a lot about domestic issues in these "big" speeches, mostly, I believe, because they have things pretty much the way they want them and heading farther that way. Working people (most of us) are facing, in many cases, reduced real wages and a greater responsibility for funding health care and retirement for ourselves. Now he's going to try to work with congress and address the concerns of middle/working class America? Somehow I think there isn't going to be much legislation passed, except over a veto, in the next two years, especially legislation that attempts to turn back the changes that have occurred in the last six years.

"He described the war on terror as a "generational struggle that will continue long after you and I have turned our duties over to others"."

Kind of takes him off the hook for the eventual outcome, doesn't it? In his mind anyway. He started it, somebody else can finish it. Of course one theory is that his people want an endless state of war.

"Mr Bush added: "On this day, at this hour, it is still within our power to shape the outcome of this battle. So let us find our resolve, and turn events toward victory.""

Same old rhetoric. (Rah rah, and all that)

"In a tough Democratic response to the address, Senator Jim Webb said the US needed a "new direction" in Iraq."

Even Bush says this.

"The majority of the nation no longer supports the way this war is being fought; nor does the majority of our military," he said.

Right. And Bush cares not.

I liked Obama's comments afterward, I will vote for him if he runs.

More to come...

I'm reading a book recently called "Muhammad Ali, His Life and Times", by Thomas Hauser. In it, Mr. Hauser quotes many people, including Ali himself.

In the first chapter, page 18, he quotes Ali:

"When I was growing up, too many colored people thought it was better to be white. And I don't know what it was, but I always felt like I was born to do something for my people. Eight years old, ten years old; I'd walk out of my house at two in the morning, and look up at the sky for an angel or a revelation or God telling me what to do. I never got an answer. I'd look at the stars and wait for a voice, but I never heard nothing. Then my bike got stolen and I started boxing, and it was like God telling me that boxing was my responsibility. God made us all, but some of us are made special. Einstein wasn't an ordinary human. Columbus wasn't an ordinary human. Elvis Presley, the Wright brothers. Some people have special resources inside, and when God blesses you to have more than others, you have a responsibility to use it right."

An interesting quote, I want to talk about one part right now, if I may (and this is my blog). It's this part:

"I'd walk out of my house at two in the morning, and look up at the sky for an angel or a revelation or God telling me what to do. I never got an answer. I'd look at the stars and wait for a voice, but I never heard nothing. Then my bike got stolen and I started boxing, and it was like God telling me that boxing was my responsibility."

He looked for a sign, he never got an answer. He waited for a voice, he never heard nothing. (I can empathize) Then his bike got stolen and "it was like" God telling him that boxing was his responsibility. I guess that's what they mean when they say that he works in mysterious ways. Or could it be just a stolen bike and a boy's resolve to be able to do something about it when he caught the guy who did it? Hmmm....

Words fail me. George Bush to the rescue? Maybe if we throw down Mubarek (is it still Mubarek?) democracy can spring up and human rights violations will cease. Wait, aren't they already a republic or something? What's their oil status anyway? Importers, exporters?

Egypt seizes al-Jazeera reporter.

A journalist working for Arabic TV news channel al-Jazeera has been arrested in Egypt for allegedly fabricating videos of police torturing suspects.
Huweida Taha Metwalli was stopped on her way to Qatar and 50 video tapes were found in her luggage, the Egyptian interior ministry said.
She is reportedly charged with "tarnishing Egypt's reputation and harming Egyptian national interests".
Al-Jazeera said the tapes showed a "documentary reconstruction" by actors.
Human rights groups say it is not unusual for suspects to be tortured in Egyptian police stations.
Video of police apparently sexually assaulting a man provoked outrage when it appeared on the web last year.
Al-Jazeera's representative in Egypt, Hussein Abdel-Ghani, said that reconstructing scenes with actors was "a well-known method in the production of documentaries and al-Jazeera is not the only network to talk about torture".
Last year, Egyptian man Imad Kabir was apparently filmed being sodomised with a stick in jail by police officers.
His lawyer says the alleged assault came after he intervened in a dispute between a policeman and his cousin.
The incident happened in January 2006 in Cairo's Bulaq district, but the footage, apparently taken by one of the abusers, did not become public until November.
The case was taken up by Egyptian bloggers and members of the international human rights community.
Mr Kabir has since been imprisoned for three months in relation to the same incident for "resisting authority".
Story from BBC NEWS:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/go/pr/fr/-/2/hi/middle_east/6260285.stm

Published: 2007/01/14 07:39:20 GMT

© BBC MMVII

Time, I guess, to accept that there are things that I cannot change.

I missed El Presidente's speech tonight (I was bowling), but I read the highlights on-line. I'm sorry I missed it. I actually enjoy seeing him struggle to explain ideas he himself doesn't understand. It amuses me. Until I realize how scary it is that this person is President, and even scarier, some people (not so many anymore, but still some) still think he's doing a good job.

Let's look at what he said a little, shall we?

(From the BBC News web-site)
"Mr Bush said there was no magic formula for success in Iraq"
Brilliant so far

"US President George W Bush has ordered more than 20,000 additional troops to Iraq, as part of a new strategy for tackling the conflict there."
Does he say what this new strategy is? No.

"In a live televised address, Mr Bush said the deployment would help break the cycle of violence and hasten the day US troops were able to come home."
Adding more troops to "break the cycle of violence", what's wrong with that idea?

"He said the situation in Iraq was unacceptable, and that responsibility for mistakes rested with him."
I've been saying that right along, what about you?

"The key measures announced by Mr Bush include:

"Raising troop numbers by more than 20,000

"Improving Iraqi security forces' capacity to protect the civilian population

"Setting political benchmarks for the Iraqi government

"Funding a $1bn (£517m) aid and reconstruction programme to economically develop Iraq"
They spent how much, $200 Billion wrecking it?

"Taking a tough stance towards Iraq and Syria, whom Mr Bush accuses of destabilising its neighbour"
(I'm assuming that's supposed to say Iran and Syria) By this does he mean he's willing to expand the war into Laos and Cambodia, er, I mean Syria and Iran?

"President Bush began with a bleak assessment of the situation, saying that sectarian violence had overwhelmed political gains made by Iraq since the 2003 invasion.

"The BBC's Adam Brookes in Washington said he sounded chastened, saying that any mistakes were his own responsibility."
Does this do us any good? He still insists that he's right and everyone else (except the "Commanders" and his staff) are wrong. I guess he should get some credit, I haven't heard him say anything about everybody else aiding the terrorists just lately.

"A change of strategy was needed, Mr Bush added."
Still is needed.

"Mr Bush said the vast majority of the new troops would be sent to Baghdad and would fight alongside Iraqi units to secure neighbourhoods from "terrorists and insurgents"."
Suddenly now we'll be able to do this, all it needs is 20,000 more troops. Mission accomplished.

"Our troops will have a well-defined mission, to help Iraqis clear and secure neighbourhoods, to help them protect the local population, and to help ensure that the Iraqi forces left behind are capable of providing the security that Baghdad needs," he said."
"... help ensure that the Iraqi forces left behind are capable of providing the security that Baghdad needs,"
Just how does something like that become "ensured"? Sounds kind of open-ended to me.

"But Mr Bush said the effort would succeed where previous operations had failed, because this time troop levels would be sufficient to hold areas that had been cleared."
We've learned the magic number. Damn, we were close too. 20,000 short out of 152,000 needed, they can hardly be blamed for not being right on. Of course 33 months is a long time to take to figure that out, if that's really all that was needed.

"Al-Qaeda was planning to seize control of the province, but local tribal leaders were starting to show willingness to fight them, the president said."
Sounds very Reagan-like, don't you think?

"As a result, our commanders believe we have an opportunity to deal a serious blow to the terrorists," he added.
"Our commanders believe we have an opportunity..." Not quite the same as we have an opportunity. "...to deal a serious blow to the terrorists" Not even to finish them off, just deal a blow. Wooooo...

"A successful strategy for Iraq goes beyond military operations," he said. "Ordinary Iraqi citizens must see that military operations are accompanied by visible improvements in their neighbourhoods and communities."
Another lesson that took 33 months for him to learn and that should have been part of the initial planning.

"So America will hold the Iraqi government to the benchmarks it has announced."
That's the best line of the whole speech. If it doesn't work, it's their fault.

"Iraq's territorial integrity also needed defending, Mr Bush said, and this meant interrupting the flow of support for insurgents from Iran and Syria."
Maybe it does. But its borders haven't changed in a while, what is he saying? That since we've reduced Iraq's capacity to defend its borders that it is now up to us? For how long? Wait, wait. Until they can stand up? I bet.

"Victory would not look like those won in previous wars - but failure in Iraq would be a disaster for the United States, he said."
That's perfect. We won't know victory when we see it (laymen that we are), he'll have to let us know, is that it? And the part about failure in Iraq being a disaster: It's already a disaster, he just won't call it that. Once he's gone and Hilary's President (what? not Hilary? Whoever then), that's when they'll decide it's a failure and a disaster. If they only would have just kept adding troops, like his plan. (Or did you think this was it?)

There's more, I moved ahead to here:

"Instead, for example, of calling for more diplomacy with Iran and Syria, Mr Bush pledged to seek out and destroy Iranian and Syrian networks which he said were equipping and training enemies of the US in Iraq."
Escalation baby.

"While most Republican members of Congress backed the president, one senator, George Voinovich, doubted the wisdom of a troop increase."
OMG?

"At this point I am sceptical that a surge in troops alone will bring an end to sectarian violence and the insurgency that is fomenting instability in Iraq," he said."
Hmmm... he might have a point. Ya think?

Story from BBC NEWS:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/go/pr/fr/-/2/hi/americas/6250625.stm

Published: 2007/01/11 06:21:33 GMT

© BBC MMVII

It seems that some of the witnesses to the Hussein hanging were less than gentlemanly (or ladylike) and "taunted" Hussein as he awaited death, chanting Shia versions of Islamic prayers and calling out the names of Hussein's enemies (George Bush?). Of course when Hussein was running things a more likely occurrence would have been a rousing flogging the night before and maybe having family members, kids even, watch the main event.

I read today that "American officials in Iraq" were against this "rush (of) Saddam Hussein to the gallows", but that they "were reluctant to say much publicly...apparently fearful of provoking recriminations in Washington, where the Bush administration adopted a hands-off posture, saying the timing of the execution was Iraq's to decide."

The Bush administration with a "hands-off posture", how poetic.

Here's the BBC report of the story if you want to read it:



Saddam hanging taunts evoke ugly past

By John Simpson
World affairs editor, BBC News, Baghdad
A few hours after Saddam Hussein's execution, the Iraqi government put out a videotape of what had happened.
There was no sound on the tape, and it ended at the point where the executioners put the rope around his neck.


Final moments
It all seemed weirdly calm and dignified.
Not so. One of the witnesses managed to get a mobile phone into the execution chamber, and recorded the entire event, from the time when Saddam is brought into the chamber, his hands and feet shackled, to the moment when his body is hanging lifeless at the end of the rope.
It is shocking, of course. But the most shocking thing about it is the sound.
Far from being a quiet and dignified business, the new video shows that several of the witnesses taunted Saddam during the last seconds of his life, chanted the name of one of his many enemies, and told him he was going to hell.
Ugly affair
Altogether, the execution as we now see it is shown to be an ugly, degrading business, which is more reminiscent of a public hanging in the 18th Century than a considered act of 21st Century official justice.

The most disturbing thing about the new video of Saddam's execution for crimes precisely like this, is that it is all much too reminiscent of what used to happen here


The key passage on the video-tape comes after the official version was cut off.
As Saddam stands there on the trapdoor, with the noose being tightened around his neck by one of the four executioners, their faces covered by balaclavas, the shouting starts up among the group of official witnesses.
At first you can hear a Shia version of an Islamic prayer being called out.
Saddam Hussein was, of course, a Sunni Muslim, and all this was unquestionably intended as a sectarian insult.
Then the same voice starts calling out the name of the leading Shia cleric Moqtada al-Sadr. Sadr, the formal leader of the Mehdi Army, was an open enemy of Saddam.
Saddam is not intimidated by any of this, and repeats Moqtada Sadr's name disdainfully, as if to say he doesn't count for very much.
Then his gruff, rasping voice can be heard saying to the onlookers "Is this manly behaviour?"
But someone calls out "You're going to hell."
One of the witnesses, concerned about all this, says "Keep quiet - he's just about to die."
Shocked
Saddam Hussein scarcely has an instant to collect his thoughts. He starts to mutter a prayer, but just as he speaks the name Muhammad, the chief hangman pulls the lever and the trapdoor opens.
With terrible, shocking force, Saddam's body plunges into the drop.
His death must have been virtually instantaneous.
The next image shows him hanging, clearly dead.
Even the onlookers sound shocked as they chant their prayers.

It is going to be increasingly difficult for the government of Nouri Maliki to convince Sunni Arabs here that Saddam's execution was not merely an act of retaliation.

Walking round in Baghdad this evening, as people hurried home in the black-out to celebrate their New Year's Eve in the security of their own homes, it seemed that everyone knew all about the new video.
The people I spoke to, who seemed to be Sunni Muslims, were shocked by it.
They also appeared to be distinctly nervous that the video would sharpen the already serious sectarian divide here.
Under Saddam Hussein, prisoners were regularly taunted and mistreated in their last hours. For many of them, death must have come as a relief.
But the most disturbing thing about the new video of Saddam's execution for crimes precisely like this, is that it is all much too reminiscent of what used to happen here.
It is going to be increasingly difficult for the government of Nouri Maliki to convince Sunni Arabs here that Saddam's execution was not merely an act of retaliation.
Story from BBC NEWS:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/go/pr/fr/-/2/hi/middle_east/6221751.stm

Published: 2006/12/31 19:56:23 GMT

© BBC MMVII

Somebody got a cell phone in; what're the odds?