9/11 Anniversary

Ugh. I hate this day.

I avoid reading media coverage of September 11 memorial events. They depress me.

When I was asked by my mother about my 9/11 avoidance, I told her that beyond 9/11 being a terrible time for our country, I avoid the day because it’s way too political.

She was baffled that her hyper-political son felt that way.

I explained that I hate how the event was used as an excuse to invade Iraq and may well be used as an excuse to invade Iran, or maybe to attack Russia.

I do think that things changed on September 11, 2001. It was a terrible day that horrified every American and responsible citizen of the world. But I worry that 9/11 made us stupid.

Invade Afghanistan?

Makes sense. The Taliban harbored Al Qaida.

Invade Iraq?

Why not? Sadaam was a bad guy. We don’t care if he had anything to do with Al Qaida or not. He was bad.

Invade Iran?

Sure. Their head of state is an asshole.

Attack Russia?

We’re all Georgians now.

I worry that the real damage 9/11 did to our country was that it inhibited critical thinking.

So let’s wave the flag. And while we do that, let’s think about how stupid we have become since a bunch of assholes tried to make us more weak and silly.

I worry that they may have succeeded in their goals.

Maliki Explicitly Endorses Obama’s Iraq Plan

This is huge:

In an interview with SPIEGEL, Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki said Barack Obama’s 16 timeframe for a withdrawal from Iraq is the right one.

Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki supports US presidential candidate Barack Obama’s plan to withdraw US troops from Iraq within 16 months. When asked in and interview with SPIEGEL when he thinks US troops should leave Iraq, Maliki responded “as soon as possible, as far as we are concerned.” He then continued: “US presidential candidate Barack Obama talks about 16 months. That, we think, would be the right timeframe for a withdrawal, with the possibility of slight changes.”

Maliki was careful to back away from outright support for Obama. “Of course, this is by no means an election endorsement. Who they choose as their president is the Americans’ business,” he said. But then, apparently referring to Republican candidate John McCain’s more open-ended Iraq policy, Maliki said: “Those who operate on the premise of short time periods in Iraq today are being more realistic. Artificially prolonging the tenure of US troops in Iraq would cause problems.”

It will be interesting to see how the Obama and McCain campaigns play this one. Though most Americans want the US out of Iraq as soon as possible, I think McCain’s strategy has been to plant doubts in the minds of Americans about the wisdom of an early withdrawal from Iraq. Maliki seems to have taken that issue off the table — can McCain really say that we should leave our troops in Iraq even if the Iraqi president doesn’t want them there? No, he’ll have to concede the point. Especially given the fact the fact now the Bush administration is talking about “time horizons” in Iraq and increasing troop levels in Afghanistan, just as Obama has proposed.

If Obama has essentially won this argument, I suspect that foreign policy will become less of an issue in the campaign and the economy will become an even more pressing issue for the candidates. That’s not good news for Mr. I Don’t Understand Economics.

Things are looking good.

Photo of the Day

From Yahoo!:

Two unidentified Afghan Women chat with each other a few minutes before they were executed by Taliban in Ghazni province, Afghanistan, on late Saturday, July 12, 2008. Taliban fighters told Associated Press Television News that the two were executed for allegedly running a prostitution ring catering to U.S. soldiers and other foreign contractors at a U.S. base in Ghazni city.

Bush Administration Considering Increasing Pace of Iraq Withdrawal

Hmm:

The Bush administration is considering the withdrawal of additional combat forces from Iraq beginning in September, according to administration and military officials, raising the prospect of a far more ambitious plan than expected only months ago.

Such a withdrawal would be a striking reversal from the nadir of the war in 2006 and 2007.

One factor in the consideration is the pressing need for additional American troops in Afghanistan, where the Taliban and other fighters have intensified their insurgency and inflicted a growing number of casualties on Afghans and American-led forces there.

Is it just me, or might politics be at play here?

I thought that we had to stay in Iraq to get the job done, even if that meant spending 100 years there.

But it’s especially amusing that they are using one of Obama’s arguments for a speedier withdrawal – that we need to get out of Iraq, in part, so that we can increase our troop levels in Afghanistan, the real battlefield in the war on terror.

Might the Bush administration be thinking about changing strategies to help McCain?

Or am I just too cynical?