The report makes clear that there is no freedom, no opportunity, much corruption, and excuses a plenty. It states that "Full respect for human rights and freedoms as the cornerstone of good government." Is this hopeless?

Iraq-Iran Musings

This article in the London Times states that the toppling of Saddam Hussein will take place in January or February. In the meantime Jordan has agreed that certain "defensive and humanitarian" operations against Iraq can take place from Jordanian soil. And about 90 former Iraqi generals and senior officers met in London last week to plot Saddam's downfall. The Times also reports that the Iraqi military is barely functioning and there are mutterings—taken seriously by Saddam—about the possibility that he would be removed from power by forces within. And consider the difficulties the Iranian mullahs are having in maintaining their tyranny, from the Strategy Page and Michael Ledeen.

It seems to me both are ripe for overthrow, even possibly from within. See this BBC report and this report on the resignation of a senior Iranian cleric. Well, maybe just a shove and a push from the outside would do it. Sometimes I am willing to think that Iran is more likely to collapse from within than Iraq; there are huge internal problems and a very large pro-Western population that couldn't be simply eradicated (they just shut up for a while) as well as large (and well organized) group of anti-mullah expatriates living in the West. The fact that we are in Afghanistan may also be a factor. You want to bet that there is some intercourse along that long northern border of Iran? Note that the meeting in London was unexpectedly attended by Prince Hassan of Jordan (King Abdullah's uncle). This is another sign that we have Jordan's support against Iraq. Is it possible that there will be a Hashemite ruling Iraq someday? Remember that it was the Hashemites who ruled in Arabia before being overthrown by the House of Saud in 1920.And see another good piece by Michael Ledeen on what Bush should do to support the good guys in Iran.

Qatar

By all accounts our buildup in Qatar is nearly finished. See these pieces from The Washington Times and the London Guardian.

Saudi Arabia

This is a very good (and short) overview of the royal family oligarchy, utterly corrupt, of course. You can see that it is inevitable that they have come down this path considering that the founder, Abd Al-Aziz bin Sa'ud, at the time of his death in 1953 left behind him 44 sons (and many irrelevant daughters, not even counted!) from 17 wives. Note the economic decline of the last twenty years, as well as the very large number of foreign workers. The CIA Factbook on Saudi Arabia contains some useful facts.

Left Wing View of Terrorism

These are two articles by Arundhati Roy, the Indian novelist. She is a tedious fool and one of the most vocal proponents of the view that the West is responsible for everything bad in the world, including the evil of others (never mind world wide poverty!). Almost every assertion she makes is self-evidently false, so I wont bother to refute it. Just thought you'd like to see one from the other side even though she is a slight unmeritable woman, not fit enough to be sent on errands! Read her and feel your blood boil! The one from the Christian Science Monitor is from July 5, 2002 while the second is from the Guardian (London) September 29, 2001 (just after 9/11).

Homeland Security

The White House released their report, "The National Strategy for Homeland Security: Office of Homeland Security" yesterday. Although this has been a headline issue for weeks, in my opinion the conversation surrounding it has not been worthy; it has been too narrow and technical. Even the use of the word "homeland" needs to be considered and re-considered. In order to encourage public conversation on this important matter we will publish a series of articles over the next few months and we are starting with one by David Tucker, outlining the problem. Stay tuned.

The Economy

While the stock market is doing very strange things the economy as a whole seems to be doing just fine. While everyone is going to be pontificating on this for a while, this piece from the Christian Science Monitor makes sense to me. Also consider this Cook Report Poll stating that Bush is starting to be slightly hit by the corporate scandals. And then consider George Will's piece on Milton Friedman's 90th birthday.

California Politics

This Field Poll shows that Governor Gray Davis (D) has a seven-point lead against Bill Simon (R). After you get through a few paragraphs of liberal rationalizations as to why Simon can't possibly win, you get to the lines that are most meaningful: "The percentage of voters choosing Davis over Simon has been edging down. That is symbolic of the governor's situation. He is really not expanding his voter base. And, in fact, it is actually contracting over time. That has to be worrisome." You bet it does (if you are a Democrat). I predict that that contraction will continue and Simon will be elected.

Cloning

The President's Council on Bioethics has released its report, "Human Cloning and Human Dignity." It calls for a four-year moratorium on all human cloning. You can read the whole thing by following the link in the enclosed William Kristol article praising the report. And also consider this from Wesley J. Smith.

Bilingual Education

Secretary of Education Paige has defended bilingual education over the weekend and came out against the anti-bilingual, English immersion initiative in Colorado. This is not good.

Lance Armstrong

That Lance Armstong is a great athlete is certain. How he came back from an illness that would have debilitated anyone else is told in this New Yorker story. We will find out from Thursday on whether he can win yet again; only the skeptics doubt that he can, despite the fact that the course was changed to make the race more exciting (putting the mountains—Lance's strength—near the end). Well, the race is more exciting and should he win, the honor will be that much greater. Go Lance!

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