The Winds of War

** First, Robin Williams' suicide took a lot out of the last two days. Been enjoying watching his television talkshow appearances over the years and his "interview" at the Actors' Workshop. Defense Secretary Hagel released a statement today praising Williams' support for the troops. Williams constantly entertained troops in Kuwait, Iraq and Afghanistan but never mentioned it in his interviews. In recent years, he has been frank about his alcohol and drug use and his various stays in rehab. His death provoked sick comments from the right. The Right to Life organization claims it was the abortion--we do not know if this event is even accurate--by Williams girlfriend in the 1970s that caused his suicide. Rush Limbaugh claimed it was his "leftist" views that drove him to suicide. Gee, I remember Robin Williams as a regular Noam Chomsky. Fox News said his act was cowardly.  If you never experienced severe depression, you are lucky. If you have,you can empathize with Robin. It feels like being in a dark tunnel that just gets darker as you walk along. What all his professional colleagues report is the tremendous generosity of the man. Take the time to look at the YouTube clips of his one-man concerts at Constitution Hall and the Metropolitan Opera House. 90 minutes of pure manic genius. He leaves behind four finished films. God Bless you, Robin.

++If you thought we escaped insanity because Congress is on a prolonged recess, we have entered the Twilight Zone of pundits of the past emerging again to lecture us on our responsibilities to engage in war again. Of course, Dana Millbank complains that President Obama's vacation shows he has a tin ear. The Imperial Post has been ginning up war fever in a town that has been emptied of everyone except people who work for a living.

++John McCain and Ms.Lindsey Graham weighed in pretending they told President Obama so--about what no one can remember. We are moving into dangerous territory again as America experiences amnesia about how events in both Iraq and Syria evolved and our culpability for these events.

++John McCain had tweeted after our last troops left Iraq that George W. Bush deserved some of the credit. Indeed he does. But so does Iraq Prime Minister Maliki who crushed the Sunni protests in their version of the Arab Spring. The only time I was in Iraq a few years ago Maliki had over 100,000 Sunni prisoners in prison without any charges. It's little wonder that the Sunnis felt that they were being liberated in the first waves of ISIS. Now the brutal killings and rapes by ISIS have turned the Sunnis against ISIS.

++We are at the stage--the first time since W's Administration--where you can't believe a word that you hear on the radio. And how much is that deliberate or because the media has been so conditioned to be for war--any war--that truth does become the first casualty.

++In Iraq, it got so serious that Ayatollah al-Sistani actually made two statements--one urging resistance to ISIS, and the second for the removal of Maliki.

++The United States and France are now arming the Kurds. America is providing airstrikes against ISIS and the Kurds have taken back some of the towns captured by ISIS. 

++The Imperial Post urges President Obama to appoint General Petraeus and former Ambassador Ryan Crocker as special envoys to Iraq. Ironically, some of those Iraqis who fought in the surge have joined ISIS as have veterans of Saddam army.

++Steve Coll wrote in Politico that beyond the humanitarian concerns in our defense of Erbil is our interest in their oil. Coll, who wrote a book about Exxon Mobil, enlarges on the issue. But actually President Obama for his whole term has discouraged both Exxon Mobil and Chevron from investing in Kurdish areas.

++The situation in Iraq and Syria has brought the worst out on both sides. Hillary Clinton danced away from President Obama by saying she opposed his policy in Syria and if he had supported the "moderate" Syrian rebels then ISIS would not have grown so fast. It's true she dissented while as Secretary of State but no one can explain how further militarizing the situation would have ameliorated the situation. 


++In the Gaza War, we have experienced a ping-pong of ceasefires. Today,Egypt proposed a longer ceasefire with a slight lessening of the embargo against Gaza by Israel. They are offering a broader solution also. So naturally, the Imperial Post says the Obama Administration must get tougher on Egypt for its massive crushing of dissent. While the same Post backs Bibi in his actions against Hamas. No one mentions the deaths of the children,the deliberate targeting of the schools and hospitals. Since the Israeli response to the Hamas rocket attacks,Palestinians on the West Bank have protested throwing stones while met with gunfire.

++To give you some flavor of the wayback machine and its reoccurrence, Lady Lindsey Graham warned that an American city would be in flames if President Obama didn't do more against ISIS. He wasn't talking about Ferguson, Missouri when he talked about a city in flames.

++President Obama was criticized for taking a vacation among rich white people in Martha's Vineyard. I don't remember George W. Bush being criticized for meeting Tony Blair in Crawford to plot invading Iraq. 

++The Dixie Chicks must be jealous. Every Republican and conservative,except Laura Ingraham. has criticized President Obama during a war-time situation without any blowback about their patriotism.

++With Republicans urging sending more troops to Iraq, how is that going to turn out when Maliki refuses to step down and has Iraqi social forces defensing him in the Green Zone? Feels like Diem and Mossadegh all over again.

++The religious right has sided with ISIS calling the beleaguered Yazidis, devil worshippers, and Bryan Ferry says it is natural President Obama would want to save them.

++There are certain elements that seem to escape our American pundits. We seem to be giving air cover to the Iranian forces who are already in Iran in big numbers. And the troops that have rescued the Yazidis in the last two days are apparently Kurdish members of the PPK, whom the United States had put on our terrorist list. 

++The Kurds have asked for Humvees and tanks to fight ISIS. As Yogi used to say,it's deja vu all over again.