Antiwar.com Blog

What Happened to Conservatives?: Rep. Ron Paul

Rep. Ron Paul wonders: “Where are all the conservatives?”:

One thing is certain: those who worked and voted for less government, the very foot soldiers in the conservative revolution, have been deceived. Today, the ideal of limited government has been abandoned by the GOP, and real conservatives find their views no longer matter.

More Bad News for Gray Davis?

From the Telegraph:
“Tony Blair is expected to put his name today to a declaration justifying armed intervention against failing states.”

What are “failing states,” you ask?

“Where a population is suffering serious harm, as a result of internal war, insurgency, repression or state failure, and the state in question is unwilling or unable to halt or avert it, the principle of non-intervention yields to the international responsibility to protect.”

Sacramento must be nervous.

Resurgent Taliban

A recent Time: Asia article details the “undefeated” Taliban:

Coalition spokesman Colonel Rodney Davis agrees: “The coalition has degraded what was a formidable force.” True enough. But the Taliban have taken what was left of their own army and morphed it into a guerrilla-and-terror outfit. Their goal, says Afghanistan expert Professor Barnett Rubin of New York University’s (NYU) Center on International Cooperation, is to “cause enough terror that the foreigners will leave Afghanistan and Afghans will be afraid to collaborate with the government in Kabul, causing it to crumble.” That’s likely beyond their reach, but in a country as unstable as Afghanistan, even degraded Taliban fighters are a lethal threat.

The article describes the freedom the Taliban have in Pakistan – an American ally:

Essentially, the Taliban have returned to the cradle in which they were nurtured a decade ago with funding and training by Pakistan’s powerful Inter-Services Intelligence agency (ISI). (Accusations persist that rogue ISI agents or ex-agents still back the Taliban.) The border provinces are controlled by Jamiat Ulema Islam, an extremist party that openly harbors the Taliban. In Quetta, 110 kilometers southeast of Chaman, men roam the streets wearing the distinctive black or white robes and black or white turbans characteristic of the Taliban. “We feel relaxed and safe here,” says a young Talib. A local cleric says Taliban commanders meet regularly in the town to plan raids into their former domain. Foot soldiers “operate in twos and threes,” says a trader who works on both sides of the border. “They sneak across, carry out attacks and come back.”

Antiwar.com’s “Eye on Afghanistan” keeps track of this volitale country — America’s last attempt at nation-building.

Tony Blair Polling Well in Hell’s Eighth Circle: Matthew Barganier

From Matt’s newest column:

British opinions on the late war turn frosty

shafting the BBC

“Bogus From the Beginning: Justin Raimondo”

From Justin’s newest column:

It wasn’t just the possession of WMD that would single Iraq out as the target of our post-9/11 rage: it was the possibility – indeed, given the tone of the administration’s rhetoric, the inevitability – that Osama bin Laden would get his hands on them that impelled us to act. Or so the White House led us to believe.

Government Doing What It Does Best in Iraq

From the AP:

Holidays established, abolished by new Iraqi governing council

Sunday July 13, 2003

A look at holidays abolished by the new Iraqi governing council in its first official act, and the new holiday declared to mark the ouster of Saddam Hussein:

ABOLISHED HOLIDAYS

February 8: Baath Party first took power, 1963

April 7: Foundation of Saddam’s Baath Party, 1947.

April 17: Commemoration of Iraqi military victory in important battle for Faw during Iran-Iraq war, 1987

April 28: Saddam’s birthday.

July 17: Return of Baath party to power, 1968

August 8: End of Iran-Iraq war, 1988.

NEW HOLIDAY

April 9 The fall of Baghdad and Saddam’s regime.

Expect much squabbling over whether MLK Day should be a paid holiday for state workers.