Not Quite Center

I recently read the essay “Notes On Nationalism” by George Orwell. Below are some of the more relevant passages, illuminating because of their applicability 60+ years later.

Orwell gives the name “nationalism” to an attitude or approach that he describes. It is beyond pride in one’s country or patriotism. It is a pathology that I thought was a rather recent invention. But judging from the statements below, it was abounding in his time also. He wrote this during WWII. And I think much of it correlates to a situation of war, because I see many of the attitudes he criticizes as having increased since September 11, 2001. (more…)

In his book The True Believer: Thoughts on the Nature of Mass Movements, Eric Hoffer gives various reasons why people join mass movements. Most have to do with the believer’s desire that the movement absorb and absolve his unworthiness into a higher cause. As James said, “he which converteth the sinner from the error of his way shall . . . hide a multitude of sins” (James 5:20). (more…)

A while back a man was sent on a mission to Iraq. After some maritime delays, he arrived and accomplished his mission, to his own consternation. See, he didn’t want to see his mission accomplished—he wanted to happen what had been guaranteed to happen if he failed. The Iraqi city was Ninevah (near modern-day Mosul), and the man was Jonah. (more…)

On March 5, 1770 a British sentry guarding the Customs House in Boston was being harassed by a group of boys and men. The taunting group quickly grew more numerous and more aggressive. The guard was reinforced by eight more soldiers and their captain. The Bostonians began throwing things, and suddenly the British opened fire, killing five Bostonians. The incident was quickly dubbed the Boston Massacre.

Thirty-four year old lawyer John Adams was asked to defend the soldiers, as no one else would take the case. Knowing it would be a very unpopular thing to do, but caring more that justice be served, he mounted a defense that resulted in six acquittals and two convictions of manslaughter, punished with a branding on the thumb. One of the great lines to come from the dialogue of his defense was, “Soldiers quartered in a populous town will always occasion two mobs where they prevent one. They are wretched conservators of the peace.” (more…)

The Bush Administration is touting the success in Iraq of the Sunni Awakening, a program through which the local Sunnis are being encouraged to abandon support of al-Qaeda in favor of money and arms from the U.S. These groups are outside the purview of the Iraqi Army or Police forces, usually led by local warlords or community leaders.

So, essentially we have an oppressive Shiite majority and a threatened Sunni minority stirring up trouble. We originally helped the Shiites overthrow their government and now, not pleased with the outcome (sectarian violence and social strife), we’re arming and funding the Sunnis in an attempt to counterbalance the situation. Honestly, has the Administration never read a history book? (more…)

A co-worker pointed out to me the following quote from Joe Klein of TIME magazine: “. . . [the Democratic Party has] a problem that has hurt [it] since the Vietnam era, a fixation on the (often spectacular) deficiencies of superpower governance while slighting this nation’s incredible strengths.” This struck me, and it made some pieces fall into place that have been floating around in my head of late.

What Klein is criticizing the Democratic Party for is pointing out the country’s problems, while failing to recognize its greatness. Besides the fact that I think he’s slightly wrong, he does expose a rather large flaw in modern conservative thinking. (more…)

On Monday, Secretary of State Condoleeza Rice criticized Muqtada al-Sadr, leader of Iraq’s largest Shi’ite militia, the Mahdi Army. Sadr had threatened to declare war unless U.S. and Iraqi forces end a military crackdown on his followers.

Rice commented, “I know he’s sitting in Iran. I guess it’s all-out war for anybody but him. I guess that’s the message; his followers can go to their deaths and he’s in Iran.” This is astounding hypocrisy from the administration that has, from the comfort of D.C. offices, ordered more than a half-million Americans into combat where 4000+ have died, more than 40,000 have been injured (some completely debilitated), and about one-third of the survivors have returned with some degree of emotional or mental problems. The bald-faced hubris is outrageous. GWB has never put anything on the line more than his father’s name and his own legacy. He has ruined both.

The other instance of hypocrisy is the Bush administration’s criticism of Jimmy Carter’s attempts to find some common ground for dialogue with Hamas. The administration says that Carter’s trip “legitimizes” Hamas. The irony: Hamas was elected by the people; Bush was elected by the Supreme Court. Which has more legitimacy? Hamas is indeed a terrorist organization, but it is also the legitimately- and democratically-elected leading party of a sovereign territory (or at least part of it). The U.S. needs to grow up and realize that talk is indeed cheap, or at least cheaper than bombs, and often more effective.

Only 273 days left.

Seeing my interest in Team of Rivals about the Lincoln presidency, Heather bought me Grant and Sherman: The Friendship that Won the Civil War. This was a very interesting book about two men and the war that brought them together. (more…)

I was intrigued by the quotes from Eisenhower that I found while writing a previous post, and I decided I needed to learn more about this man. So I picked up the one-volume biography by Stephen E. Ambrose, an abridgment of his original two-volume work. (more…)

With the increasingly good news in Iraq over the last several weeks, I had been preparing for myself a tossed salad of crow, guarded optimism, and chagrin (at the benefit it might give John McCain’s candidacy). I thought all the progress attained up to a few weeks ago might unravel until Muqtada al-Sadr extended for another several months the ceasefire he had ordered for his Mahdi Army (JAM). I let myself get quite hopeful about the effectiveness of the surge. Then last week happened. (more…)