Volume 2 Issue 39
March 27, 2003
Settling In
Getting ready for a longer war, Al Sharpton takes a break, and remembering Daniel Patrick Moynihan
As we settle in for the larger, longer war, I saw today that the "Coalition of the Willing" has now hit 49! Wow! I mean, we now have Palau, Costa Rica, Iceland, the Marshall Islands (wait...aren't they part of the US?). Yes, yes, none of those nations has a military, but still! And today, Tonga has joined us. In the face of opposition from Tonga, the "only monarchy in the Pacific" can Saddam still hold? Tonga is 4 times the size of Washington, DC after all! Perhaps the State department will even open an embassy there now (currently, the guy in Fiji looks over it). I'm proud to be part of the coalition, and I'm glad Tonga has joined us. King Taufa'ahau and I will stand proudly together in the face of Iraqi aggression. Oh wait, are they the aggressors? Huh? Oh, never mind.
The Post updated it's list today, it's on A19...strangely it's not online though. Guess we want to keep it secret from the Iraqis. Maybe Tonga has something up their sleeves...oh, and yes, the Marshall Islands gained their independence from the United States in 1986.
The war news was briefly interrupted yesterday afternoon by word of the death of Daniel Patrick Moynihan at 76. Moynihan was one of a rare breed in American politics, a thinker who was also a politician, and vice versa. From humble origins in Oklahoma, he became on of the most important public men of the 20th century, serving every President from Kennedy to Nixon, going to India and the UN (and you think the UN's annoying now?) as an ambassador, and finally serving as New York's Senior Senator. Moynihan was one who had an open mind, who learned about issues and wouldn't sum thing up in just sound bites, and who always meant what he said. He also never limited himself to just one area, but was an expert in international relations, labor law, welfare and poverty policy, architecture and historical preservation, and found the time to write over a dozen books as well.
Moynihan also never engaged in what is now an all too common hatred of his political opponents, even working for Nixon as a liberal Democrat, and being instrumental in blocking his good friend Bill Clinton's health care proposal. Today, politicians talk as if they like the folks on the other side of the aisle, but the way legislation is handled and the groups they hang out in tell a very different story. Yes, it was amazing when Moynihan went to work for Nixon (even his wife refused to move with him to DC), but it was just part of his dedication to service, and to bringing out his ideas, no matter who was listening. Thus, in visions of the neo-conservative movement, he could in 1979 say the Soviet Union was evil, and that the 1980's would see it's downfall, when Ronald Reagan was being attacked for saying the same thing. But then a few years later Moynihan could oppose Reagan's military build-up and involvement in Grenada and Nicaragua without being a hypocrite. In fact, Moynihan opposed most of the military actions over the years, even the 1991 Gulf War, saying that the US needed to not be viewed as arrogant. One can only imagine his take on the war we currently fight in. He was not an orthodox liberal or a "new Democrat", nor a neo-con or "compassionate conservative." Moynihan was a man who understood that good public policy sometimes transcends party lines or even ideological barriers, that unpopular arguments (he was pilloried by liberals in the 1960's for suggesting that children being born out of wedlock were more likely to be in poverty) often are right, and that the true solution to many of the nation's problems rested neither with academia or with politicians, but somewhere in between. We could use more men like him today, and the city of Washington which he loved (and mostly rebuilt, especially Penn Ave.) as well as his nation is worse off for his departure today.
I thought of Moynihan today when reading about two men, Jemal Addison and Howard Johnson, killed in action in Iraq. Both came from rural areas, and both were in the Army as a way out and up. Neither family supported the war, but they do support their troops, as they fight for the nation, even though they think the cause unjust. Who knows that Messrs Addison and Johnson could have accomplished in life had they lived? Can we really say the world is safer for their deaths? Perhaps in time we will be able to, yes, but a Moynihan quote about JFK reported in today's New York Times comes to mind. When interviewed the weekend after the assassination, Moynihan said: "I don't think there's any point in being Irish if you don't know that the world is going to break your heart eventually. I guess we thought we had a little more time." He added softly, "So did he."
Daniel Patrick Moynihan, 1927-2003:
http://www.nytimes.com/2003/03/27/obituaries/27MOYN.html
George Will on Moynihan:
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A34665-2003Mar26.html
Jammal Addison and Howard Johnson:
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A34091-2003Mar26.html
The Willing: Like I said, today's list is only in print I guess, but Dana Milbank did a good story on this a few days ago -
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A21268-2003Mar24.html
The Battle for Basra: No one seems to know exactly what's going on here -
http://www.nytimes.com/2003/03/27/international/worldspecial /27CND-QATAR.html
The insurrection that was rumored to have started appears to have not taken place, but Saddam's men have a stranglehold on the city -
http://www.timesonline.co.uk/article/0,,5944-625238,00.html
In a strange development, 14 Iraqi tanks left Basra yesterday for the Faw Peninsula, but they were all destroyed -
http://www.timesonline.co.uk/article/0,,1-625399,00.html
Neither Shocked or Awed: Once again it looks like the Pentagon has underestimated the extent of Iraq's command and control infrastructure -
http://slate.msn.com/id/2080745/
Some generals also are now saying the war could last months, not days or weeks -
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A33955-2003Mar26.html
The Iraqi's mounted a surprise attack on Allied positions in Nasiriyah yesterday -
http://www.nytimes.com/2003/03/27/international/worldspecial /27CND-BATT.html
The Humanitarian Aid: Yeah, this ain't going so well either -
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/middle_east/2891069.stm
Public Support: How many causalities will the public tolerate?
http://www.nytimes.com/2003/03/27/international/worldspecial /27CASU.html
After? A thoughtful piece on what the world will be like after the war -
http://www.timesonline.co.uk/article/0,,482-625036,00.html
Begging for billions: The EU is being asked to help bail out the airlines now -
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/business/2891995.stm
Another great article on why bailing out the airlines again is probably the worst thing for the industry -
http://slate.msn.com/id/2080741/
Look Who's Running for President: OK, perhaps this doesn't belong here, but it involves Al Sharpton, who is running for President. He tried and failed again this week to get Atlantic City to name a street after Don King. Of course, he can always try to get it into the Democratic platform -
http://www.philly.com/mld/inquirer/news/local/states/new_jer sey/5491863.htm
http://www.pressofatlanticcity.com/news/atlantic/032703SECUR ITY_M27.html
Hong Kong under lockdown: Hong Kong has battened the hatches after the SARS outbreak increased in intensity over recent days. The schools have been closed, and sick people are being confined to their homes -
http://www.nytimes.com/2003/03/27/health/27CND-HONG.html
Gently Rocking: The Pacific Northwest is having an earthquake...a slow motion earthquake. The quake, which if it happened at once would be a 6.7 on the Richter Scale, has been going on for a few weeks now -
http://sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/news/archive/2003/03/26/state1636EST7193.DTL
Finally... Many folks have said the war has become a form of entertainment...so I guess it was inevitable -
http://www.gulfwardrinkinggame.com/
Have a great day!
