Watcher's Council Nominations, 7/18/7

Every week, the Watcher's Council members nominate two posts each, one from the Council members and one from outside for consideration by the whole Council. The complete list of this week's Council nominations can be found at the site of our fearless leader, Watcher of Weasels


Do take the time and check out the non-Council links..they are always rewarding.


Here's this week's Council lineup:

1.President Bush and Peace In Our Time Remeber the days of `You're either with the terrorists or with us?' In this week's piece, I expressed my..umm..disappointment with the President's new direction on Middle East peace. And that's putting it mildly.

The president is obviously under the impression that leaning on an important ally and forcing them into dangerous and unjust concessions `for peace' in order to appease their enemies will somehow help the US and the region. He's badly, badly mistaken, and history proves it.

If the president's plans proceed, this is something that will have far more insidious consequences that go well beyond the huge amount of money involved for the US and the War on Jihad...no matter how pleased the president's Saudi friends are.

2. Done With Mirrors;Pangloss Callimachus has a pointed look at the Left and its de riguer position on Iraq and asks `what happens when you get what you want?...You sure about that?'

Unfortunately, as Cal points out there are plenty of Dr. Panglosses out there, ready to deny reality at other people's expense until it's too late.

3. Soccer Dad: A President's Legacy Quick Fix Playground -- The Middle East Soccer Dad likewise looks at the president's attempt to shore up his legacy with a new Middle East peace plan. As Soccer Dad quite rightly points out,the idea is not `peace' but looking good to the president's Arab friends..which means that this will come at Israel's expense, the only nation in the region who has actually consistently demonstrated a willingness to make real sacrifices for peace.

Ultimately, it will come at America's expense too, because the stakes are higher than they were at Oslo...but that realization will come later, I'm afraid.


4. The Glittering Eye :Two Stories This week, The Glittering Eye's Dave Schuler has a perfect capsulization of his views on Iraq...which coincide with mine in many respects.

As he points out, if it were up to him, we wouldn't be there in the first place.But now that we are, a premature withdrawal from Iraq would be a huge mistake. I agree with him, especially as we seem to be finally making some progress on the military front there, and should give General Petraeus a chance to carry out the strategy Congress confirmed him for.

And here's where Dave hits a home run:

"I don’t regard withdrawal from Iraq as an objective. I think that promoting America’s interests are the singular objective and, consequently, I would support withdrawing our troops from Iraq if I were convinced that withdrawing them promoted America’s interests more than leaving them there did."

Our interest, of course, is in defeating our enemies and winning this war. And if some of you think that begins and ends with al-Qaeda, please leave the room while the adults are talking.

I know Dave, it gets heated, but I hope you continue to talk about this topic. You make more sense than a lot of people I could name.


5. Bookworm Room: Harry Potter and Ostrich Syndrome Ms. Bookworm indulges in a guilty pleasure all successful commentators do - rerunning one of her `greatest hits', written a little over a year that still rings true and shows even more prescience today.

In this case, she uses British PM Gordon Brown's pathetic attempts to avoid the `M' word in speaking about the terrorist threat to Britain today. It really could almost be Cornelius Fudge stammering about `He-Who- Must-Not-Be-Named' in an ostrich-type attempt to avoid looking at the problem head on.

Perhaps, given that the author is British, that's no accident, along with the basic good VS. evil theme of the entire Harry Potter series. Unfortunately,the problem isn't limited to Brown or to the UK.

As Ms. Bookworm points out, the general public is well ahead of the elites and many politicians in appreciating the time we live in and in embracing the traditional values of heroism, freedom and fighting for right, and this is reflected in the popular culture on a number of fronts.


6. Rhymes With Right: Pope Reaffirms Teachings of Vatican II (UPDATED) Greg writes about Pope Benedict's revamping of Vatican II and has a number of points to make on this topic.


7.Colossus of Rhodey: Mutants, Civil Rights and Fundamentalism Hube uses the X-Men series from Marvel Comics as a launch point to discuss the rights of minorities - `mutants' - and whether religious fundamentalism is a clear danger to those rights.

8. Cheat Seeking Missiles: What's Wrong With This Story Laer writes about a piece written in USA Today by US National Security Adviser Stephen Hadley, which addresses the interim Iraq report on the progress - or lack of it - by the Iraqi government.

Hadley writes about what's been achieved, what hasn't, counsels patience and forbearance rightly points out that the report was done just as General Petraeus was first getting his strategy under way and that the consequences of a premature pullout could be immense.

Then Laer throws a curveball..and lets us know that this was published under the `Opposing Views' section in the paper. By quoting from USA today's supposedly `mainstream' editorial, Laer shows that USA Today, along with a lot of the old media has already made up its mind that Iraq is a failure, and that the solution is `diplomacy' with people who have a vested interest in promoting chaos an d factionalism in Iraq and in seeing the US defeated.

Laer does a fine job in showing the basic hypocrisy and illogic of this position.

9. Kiss My Prius and Other `Okie' Musings on Environmental Fanaticism at ‘Okie’ on the Lam This week, Okie has a great rant on the Global Warming tyranny and uses the Toyota Prius - a rather popular car in La-La land - as a focal point.

10. Right Wing Nuthouse: Are Conservatives Really Hoping for Another 9/11? Rick's piece concerns SecHomSec Chertoff's `gut feeling' on an al-Qaeda attack and the Left's decrying of it.

As Rick points out, Zawahiri's last release contained certain clues that something may be coming our way, and it's silly to ignore them.

FTR, I think that the next major al-Qaeda strike in America will come either just before or just after the `08 elections.

11.The Education Wonks: Another One That Flew Over The Cuckoo's Nest EdWonk takes on the ridiculous Family Court system, and uses a Florida case where a man is being forced to pay child support for a child that isn't his as an example.

He's lucky he doesn't live in Washington, where the courts can order support based on whether a man `bonded' with a child, even if it wasn't his!


12.Big Lizards: Spin City,Here We Come A piece dealing with the claims by Dr. Carmona, Surgeon General, that he was muzzled by the Bush Administration.


That's this week's lineup..enjoy