Looking at what's happening in Israel, Gaza and Lebanon its hard to figure out why things have spun out of control so quickly.  One of the more interesting theories offered as to whyHezbollah recently kidnapped a pair of Israeli soldiers (besides the fact that they've done so numerous time in the past to negotiate prisoner releases) is the possibility that  Iran is using its influence to strike Israel and mess up U.S. Middle East policy at a time when the Bush Administration is trying to put maximum pressure on Teheran.  That means what is being described as a local mess doesn't merely have "regional implications" but is actually a big regional mess.  Its hard to say to what extent that is true, and of course Mr. Bush quickly blamed Syria for the mess, but it did remind me of an interview with former CIA agent and Middle East hand Robert Baer for a Frontline special about Iran's support of terrorism.  The interview is interesting not merely because Baer explains Iran's relationship with Hezbollah and other groups, but also in the way he lays out a more nuanced (ie. complicated) picture of Hezbollah, Middle East politics and the continued inability of both the U.S. and Iran to come to terms with one another in any meaningful diplomatic way.  I don't know if it explains rockets falling on Haifa or Beirut International Airport being repeatedly bombed by Israeli jets, but it is a start.

I know that democracies settle their problems peacefully and never go to war against one another, but our oldest "Middle East success story" has invaded and is currently bombing the hell out of our most recent "Middle East success story". 

If you're like me and once again received a raise this year that was significantly lower than the rate of inflation, its hard to appreciate the recent raises handed out at the White House.  Nevertheless, Think Progress decided to go through this National Journal listing of White House salaries and came up with their own list of the four most overpaid White House staffers.  Among the infamous: Director of Lessons Learned?  Fact Checking?  Ethics advisor?  Wow, what does it take to get those plum assignments?  Anyway, I could go on and on but it looks like Rahm Emmanuel covered all the bases on the floor of the House.  Enjoy.

As the White House attacks previous administrations while pondering its next move, or continued inertia, regarding North Korea, one only needs to look at this article to see how badly thing are messed up.  That's right, Japan is considering changing parts of its constitution to allow a preemptive military strike against North Korea if it feels threatened.  While no one challenges Japan's need to defend itself, the remilitarization of Japan does not bode well for relations in East Asia and and one that has much larger implications than most American will appreciate.  For one thing, historically, Korean and Chinese nationalism is not inherently anti-American but it is most definitely anti-Japanese in focus which means two things; further North Korean military demonstrations against Japan, and possible Chinese concerns about Japanese intentions that may further derail our misguided hopes that China will save our butts and make North Korea listen to reason.    Anybody have a clue what happens next?

Apparently bin Laden wants Zarqwai's body released.  We're certainly willing to let you pick it up.  Please call ahead so that we can be ready for you.

Kevin Drum ably picks apart Andrew Sullivan's lament that while he doesn't think we can win in Iraq (especially with the crew in charge) and although things appear to be getting worse not better that nonetheless he can't support the alternative because things could get worse.  What's interesting is that this was the gist of John McCain's speech on the floor of the Senate the other day as well and as I listened to a clip on the radio I was struck by the notion that we are going to continue on the present untenable course not for any obvious hope of success, but so that those who brought us to this point and who shamelessly play politics with our foreign policy and national security can somehow feel that they've saved face in some inexplicable way.  Billions of dollars, thousands dead, unaddressed threats around the globe and a failed state in the heart of the Middle East for lord knows how long not so that we will avoid dishonoring the sacrifice of so many young Americans and Iraqis,  but so the current Administration and its lock-step supporters in Congress can avoid bruising their outsized egos.  That's just wrong. 

They don't have a plan, never have, nor have supporters of our failed policy offered to rethink our involvement and formulate a practical framework for making this enterprise actually succeed.  Instead they choose to engage in decrepit "stab in the back" type metaphors and empty platitudes about freedom and democracy at cheap political photo-ops and meaningless legislative debates while the President has already decided that he's going to let his successor sort this all out?  No one's asking what either the American or Iraqi people want.  After all what's our policy if the Iraqi government suddenly says take off, we don't want you here anymore or, heaven forbid, asks us to negotiate a timetable for withdrawal, what then?  Is it okay or do we stay the course regardless?  Sadly, America deserves so much better.  What a waste...

Craig Crawford's latest reminds us of Einstein's definition of insanity and how it is a apt description of President Bush's so-call "Iraq policy":

Insanity: doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results.

Unless the Iraqis are saying one thing in public and another in private, it looks like someone isn't telling the truth....

God, get a load of this damn hippie screaming about Iraq:

Just ask yourself: Given that Iran is the real looming threat in that region, are we better placed now to deal with that threat than we would have been absent an Iraq war? If we could ask President Ahmadinejad whether he thinks we are better placed, what would his honest answer be?

We are not controlling events in Iraq. Events in Iraq are controlling us. We are the puppet; the street gangs of Baghdad and Basra are the puppet-masters, aided and abetted by an unsavory assortment of confidence men, bazaar traders, scheming clerics, ethnic front men, and Iranian agents. With all our wealth and power and idealism, we have submitted to become the plaything of a rabble, and a Middle Eastern rabble at that. Instead of rubbling, we have ourselves been rabbled. The lazy-minded evangelico-romanticism of George W. Bush, the bureaucratic will to power of Donald Rumsfeld, the avuncular condescension of Dick Cheney, and the reflexive military deference of Colin Powell combined to get us into a situation we never wanted to be in, a situation no self-respecting nation ought to be in, a situation we don’t know how to get out of. It’s not inconceivable that, with a run of sheer good luck, we might yet escape without too much egg on our faces, but it’s not likely. The place we are at is surely not a place anyone in 2003 wanted us to be at—not even Vic Davis Hanson.

Let 'em have it Hippie!

We are stuck there in that wretched place with no way out that would not involve massive loss of geostrategic face. Getting on for 3,000 of our troops have been killed, and close to 20,000 maimed. We’ve spent untold billions of dollars. For what?

What?  That's John Derbyshire?  The National Review Corner?  wow.  Another member of the Cut and Run Club. . .