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Politics : Foreign Affairs Discussion Group -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: JohnM who wrote (83929)	3/19/2003 7:41:25 PM
From: stockman_scott	Read Replies (2) \| Respond to of 281500

Sen. Robert Byrd: 'Today I Weep for My Country' 1 hour, 7 minutes ago 3/19/03 By Thomas Ferraro story.news.yahoo.com WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The oldest voice in the U.S. Congress rose on Wednesday to denounce as misguided President Bush's march to war with Iraq. "Today I weep for my country," said West Virginia Democrat Sen. Robert Byrd. "No more is the image of America one of strong, yet benevolent peacekeeper. ... Around the globe, our friends mistrust us, our word is disputed, our intentions are questioned. "We flaunt our superpower status with arrogance," Byrd said, adding: "After war has ended the United States will have to rebuild much more than the country of Iraq. We will have to rebuild America's image around the globe." Byrd, who has been a leading foe on Capitol Hill of war with Iraq, spoke in a nearly empty Senate chamber about four hours before Bush's 8 p.m. EST deadline for Saddam Hussein to leave Iraq or face a U.S.-led invasion. "May God continue to bless the United States of America in the troubled days ahead, and may we somehow recapture the vision which for the present eludes us," Byrd said. As the white-haired senator concluded his remarks, a number of people in the visitor's gallery rose and applauded before they were admonished to be quiet. At 85, Byrd is now the oldest member of Congress as well as the longest serving. He was first elected to the Senate in 1958, after six years in the U.S. House of Representatives. Byrd was among those who voted last year against the congressional resolution that authorized Bush to use force in his showdown with Saddam, and the senator has given frequent floor speeches since then warning against war. Polls on Wednesday showed strong American support for a war but widespread opposition to it overseas. "The case this administration tries to make to justify its fixation with war is tainted by charges of falsified documents and circumstantial evidence," Byrd said. Despite administration suggestions to the contrary, Byrd said, "There is no credible information to connect Saddam Hussein to 9/11." The senator said, "We cannot convince the world of the necessity of this war for one simple reason. This is a war of choice." Byrd said that instead of negotiating, Washington demanded obedience or threatened recrimination. "Instead of isolating Saddam Hussein, we seem to have isolated ourselves." He said many questions about the looming war were unanswered -- including how long it would last, what it would cost, what its ultimate mission was. "A pall has fallen over the Senate chamber," Byrd said. "We avoid our solemn duty to debate the one topic on the minds of all Americans, even while scores of thousands of our sons and daughters faithfully do their duty in Iraq."

To: JohnM who wrote (83929)	3/20/2003 6:56:09 AM
From: LindyBill	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 281500

I watched "Charlie Rose," tonight. A very good show. Hope some of you caught it. Subject was how to rebuild Iraq. The Cast was DAVID SANGER, The New York Times RICHARD HOLBROOKE,Former US Ambassador the United Nations SAMUEL BERGER, Former National Security Adviser JAMES HOGE, Editor, Foreign Affairs DANA PRIEST, The Washington Post and JIM HOAGLAND, The Washington Post. First off, keep an eye out for Dana Priest, any time you can listen to her. John, you read and reviewed her book, "The Mission," and damn, she is good on the air! Brian Lamb did a "Book Notes" with her, and she did so well he has followed by having her on with him during the morning CSPAN show. Caller after caller were opening their remarks with compliments about what she had to say. Holbrooke and Berger opened the show. Holbrooke was his normal impressive self. I would not buy a used car from Berger. Holbrooke did a good job of pointing out that it was "Early Days" for coming up with how we are going to govern Iraq. It will depend on how extensive the job of defeating Saddam is. Will we have a structure left to deal with or not? TWT. Holbrooke was pushing for the UN to run Iraq, with us providing security, so that we would avoid the "Colonial" label. Berger was agreeing with him. This sounded pretty much like "Let's do it the way we did it in Kosovo." The rest of the crowd that followed didn't feel Kosovo was an accurate model. Dana Priest pointed out that the Military does not like to "Nation Build," they are not trained for it. But it gets thrown a them because they can accomplish things. She said the big failure of the UN at this is that they do not understand it has to be "Security First!" Plus the fact that the UN is a body that is reconstituted every time the Security Council votes. But Priest's major point was that the Military is not a Police Force. It does not do this well. She said that the most important thing we need to do is to set up a Court and Police system ASAP. So what do we do? Go with the present Judges and Police? Have the exiles bring in their people? Try to find people there to take over? These decisions will be critical.

To: JohnM who wrote (83929)	3/20/2003 7:41:32 AM
From: LindyBill	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 281500

Hitchens on Schwartz. A long involved Book review in Atlantic. Holy Writ Recent writers on Islam need to be more stringent in their criticism. Stephen Schwartz is an exception by Christopher Hitchens >>>>I would heartily recommend The Two Faces of Islam , by Stephen Schwartz. A Jew who has been partially seduced by Sufism (and, I should add, a man with whom I have a friendship), Schwartz has set himself to understand the profound differences that express themselves in distinctions of Koranic interpretation. For a considerable time before the assault on American civil society he had been preparing readers for the affront?simultaneously "radical" and "reactionary"?of the Saudi-Wahhabi alliance. Everybody now knows of the nexus of "charities" and madrasahs through which indoctrination, sectarianism, and frenzied prophecy have been promulgated with the help of petro-dollars. A less familiar story is the resistance to the Wahhabi cult by pious and sincere Muslims in Central Asia, the Balkans, and elsewhere. His commitment on this side of the conflict sometimes leads Schwartz to write slightly euphe-mistically about Wahhabism's foes?most notably the Shia clerics in Iran. But he has done a masterly job of identifying and isolating the discrepant traditions within the faith.<<<< The URL for this page is theatlantic.com