Bush today:

“What is important is that Iraqis are now addressing these issues through debate and discussion, not at the barrel of a gun.”

Reueters today:

QAIM – Two Sunni Arab tribes, one loyal to al Qaeda and the other to the government, clashed near Qaim in western Iraq on Friday and Saturday, killing at least 20 people and wounding dozens, local clerics and hospital officials said.

KIRKUK – An Iraqi army officer was assassinated by gunmen near his home in the northern Iraqi city of Kirkuk, police said.

MOSUL – U.S forces killed two insurgents in the northern Iraqi city of Mosul on Thursday including Abu Khallad, a Saudi national, who was believed to be a major facilitator of foreign fighters and suicide bombers to Iraq, the U.S military said.

KIRKUK – A roadside bomb targeting an Iraqi army patrol near Kirkuk’s University wounded six soldiers, five of them seriously, police captain Salam Zangana said.

[Tags: bush iraq]

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In a move that David Isenberg characterizes as turning the other cheek, Hugo Chavez has responded to Pat “Crazy Ass” Robertson’s call for his assassination by offering to sell gasoline and heating fuel at bargain prices to poor communities in the U.S.

Oddly (?), this story is not being widely picked up. There are only eight hits on Google News for chavez robertson “poor communities”, although two of them are Bloomberg and Fox. [Technorati tags: venezuela PatRobertson]

The Chris Lydon radio show, Open Source, did a show on hyper-localism that featured Ed Remsen, mayor of Montclaire NJ, who isn’t above commenting on posts on Baristaville. As Brendan Greeley points out, Remsen isn’t a born-on-the-Net hip guy. But he sure seems to get that the Net is an unowned conversation…and it’s his constituents who are talking. [Technorati tags: baristaville politics hyperlocal ChristopherLydon ChrisLydon]

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Many Americans think of Pat Robertson as buffoon, a foil, a fading TVangelist who asked God to kill a Supreme Court justice he doesn’t like. But to the rest of the world, he’s an important American religious leader who meets with our president and who once ran for the office himself. So, when Robertson suggests that we murder the president of Venezuela, the democratically elected leader of another country — which happens to be the world’s fifth largest oil producer — because the alternative is to start a war, the rest of the world is not going to laugh in anticipation of the Saturday Night Live sketch that will result.

It’s not enough for Rumsfeld to say “Certainly it’s against the law. Our department doesn’t do that type of thing” and “Private citizens say all kinds of things all the time.” He and President Bush need to say more than that they’re not taking the suggestion, but it’s fine with them for a religious leader to make such suggestions. They should — IMO — say that while private citizens can say what they like, they find the suggestion despicable and anti-democratic. Reacting as they have so far makes America less safe.

They could even blurt out the truth that Robertson is getting crazier with age and has been making a fool of himself for years now.
[Tags: venezuela PatRobertson HugoChavez]

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The vigil in Brookline went better than I’d expected. 75-100 people showed up, mailny baby boomers and their parents. We stood at the intersection of two of the major streets, held signs and candles, and chatted with our neighbors. Yeah, I know it was supposed to be a silent vigil, but talking seemed more useful.

One of the protestors said, “It just shows that one person really can make a difference.” Well, yeah. But two can’t: Cindy Sheehan focused our attention, and the second gold star mom who demands an audience with Bush will not have the same effect. So, I think the mathematical formulation is:

One person can make a difference.

Two people can’t.

Twenty million can. [Tags: CindySheehan iraq]

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I’m still planning on joining the local vigil in support of Cindy Sheehan’s quest. We’ll be at Beacon and Washington St. in Brookline, 7:30-8:00. If you’d like to find a vigil in your town, check with MoveOn.org.

Of course, this isn’t really about Cindy’s quest. Her quest is symbolic. If she meets with President Bush, nothing will change. Frankly, I hope Bush keeps responding callously because it serves my political purpose of highlighting his administration’s disconnection from reality: Politicized evidence of the existence of WMDs to get us into the war, low-ball estimates of the required number of troops, embedded journalists, no photos of coffins, Rumsfeld using an automatic pen to “sign” condolence letters to parents. That’s how Bush keeps a “balanced life.”

Saddam was an evil man who caused unfathomable suffering. Had the world been told from the beginning that that’s why we were invading, maybe Bush could have put together a genuine global coalition. Maybe some non-Neocons could have assessed the reality of the situation so we’d be prepared for the chaos afterwards. (Wolfowitz’s first idea, according to Woodward’s book: American troops would occupy the oil fields while the Iraqis spontaneously rise up against Saddam.) Maybe we would have a realistic plan for how to help Iraqis build a country that from the start was a forced fit. Maybe, with some reality there could also have been some honesty, instead of hidden torture and massive corruption. Maybe I would feel safer from terrorism instead of more at risk.

I don’t want to deny for a minute the good that comes from overthrowing a tyrant like Saddam. It is important to keep that in mind. And I don’t think we can simply leave. We need a plan that will help the Iraqis build the best lives they can for themselves and help them avoid the civil war that’s brewing. I’m no expert, but I guess that such a plan would include increased involvement by the rest of the world, talking with all Iraqi parties, perhaps the long-term availability of UN peacekeepers. If that’s the wrong plan, then let’s come up with another. But it’s sure a shame we didn’t have a plan before we invaded.

So, if tonight someone asks me why I’m standing quietly for thirty minutes holding a candle, I’m not going to have a simple answer. It has something to do with remembrance, and remembrance has to do with committing to reality. I’m not so much against the war — I still think I was right to be against it before it began — as I am in favor of pausing for thought. [Tags: iraq CindySheehan politics]

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Andrew Rasiej, who is running for NYC Public Advocate, is blogging at the Talking Points Memo Cafe. His first post is about using the Net in civic life and why the Dems are trailing the Reps in this.

Also, this Wednesday there’s a conference call for political bloggers, with Andrew and some surprise guests on the line. If you’re interested, send an email to inforaisej.com [Tag: AndrewRasiej]

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MoveOn.org is sponsoring nationwide vigils on Wednesday night in support of Cindy Sheehan’s vigil outside of Crawford, Texas.

I’ll be at the one at Washington Square in Brookline. Want to know why? I’m not sure I can tell you. I don’t have a simple solution to the war we were lied into, and I have no sympathy for the dictator we deposed. But I’m heartsick about an administration so abstracted from reality that our president can’t cut short his two-hour bicycle ride or his fund raising to speak with a gold star mom. And I am scared shitless by a powerful nation that thinks it is beholden to nothing but its own ideas…that it, alone in the world, is above the world.

So, I’ll take a half hour of silence in a public square to think about the course we’re on and those who are paying the first price for it. [Tags: CindySheehan MoveOn iraq]

Here’s a powerful voice (Iraq the Model) telling Cindy why her son didn’t die in vain.

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Sure, what Cindy Sheehan is doing is symbolic. That’s why it’s important. [Tags: iraq CindySheehan]

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