Libertarian Leanings

Off to the lake

It's off to Lake Willoughby once more. We anticipate a fabulous Fourth of July holiday, complete with no TV, no radio, and no internet.  I'll be back to posting next weekend.  In the meantime, here are some places you might like to visit. Joust the Facts Maggie's Farm Iraq Pundit Power Line Pat Dollard Bill Roggio Michael Yon Tim Blair Across the Bay Best wishes to everyone on this coming Independence Day.

Loaded with class...

That's Teddy.  Just loaded with class.

Referring to opponents of the bill, Mr. Kennedy said: “We know what they don’t like. What are they for? What are they going to do with the 12 million who are undocumented here? Send them back to countries around the world? Develop a type of Gestapo here to seek out these people that are in the shadows? What’s their alternative?”

The Fairness Doctrine's demise

According to Ed Morrissey the Fairness Doctrine, revival of which was intended to muzzle conservative talk radio, has been killed.

The second is the Pence amendment to forbid the FCC from re-enacting the Fairness Doctrine. I live-blogged the debate on this amendment earlier today, and the voice vote at the time was said to carry Pence to victory. He wanted a recorded vote and got it. The final result: an overwhelming rejection of the Fairness Doctrine, 309-115, with 1 vote present. The Democrats split almost exactly, while all voting Republicans voted for the amendment.

Capital formation

Larry Kudlow weighs in on Democratic efforts to raise taxes.

Ironically, a lot of today’s anti-cap-gains momentum is the handiwork of former Clinton Treasury secretary Robert Rubin. He actually believes a low cap-gains tax has no economic growth impact at all. However, back when Clinton and Rubin were running things, the personal income-tax rate was lifted from 31 to 40 percent, while the cap-gains tax was reduced from 28 to 20 percent, making for a 20 percentage point tax advantage for cap-gains over regular income. Flashing forward, the current Bush administration lowered the income-tax rate to 35 percent and the cap-gains rate to 15 percent, preserving that 20 percent differential.

Hmm . . . Is Rubin saying the cap-gains tax advantage was good for the Clinton boom, but not the Bush boom?

Truth is, that differential provides a strong incentive for entrepreneurial risk taking and higher-risk, cutting-edge investment — both of which lend real torque to the economy.

A Palestinian bid for moderation

Palestinian Sheik Sa'd Sharaf preaches in mosques, lectures at a junior college, and hosts a television show from the West Bank city of Nablus.  He is trying to combat radical Islam by encouraging Fatah to emphasize peace and moderation in their religious teachings.

Sheik Sa'd Sharaf said he is pushing Fatah leaders to enlist religious figures to openly debate the violent interpretation of the Koran as espoused by the rival Hamas militia.

"The prophet Muhammad says, 'Don't kill those who don't use weapons against you. Don't kill a woman. Don't kill a baby,' " he said.

Unfortunately, up to this point politicians of Fatah have largely ignored his efforts.

The views expressed here...

An article in Small Wars Journal by David Kilcullen is followed by this very interesting disclaimer.

David Kilcullen is Senior Counterinsurgency Adviser, Multi-National Force—Iraq. These are his personal views only.

Well, OK.  Those are personal views he's expressing .  But, coming from the Senior Counterinsurgency Adviser, Multi-National Force—Iraq, they may just carry a little weight.  Mr. Kilcullen's article is entitled Understanding Current Operations in Iraq.

The "terrain" we are clearing is human terrain, not physical terrain. It is about marginalizing al Qa’ida, Shi’a extremist militias, and the other terrorist groups from the population they prey on. This is why claims that “80% of AQ leadership have fled” don’t overly disturb us...

Message:  Arm chair counterinsurgency experts who hasten to exclaim, "the surge has failed..." have no idea what's going on.  But that's not news. 

Not that bad

Victor Davis Hanson suggests we step back for a moment and take a good look at where we sit now.  It's really not all that bad.

Theocratic Iran is not exactly as “empowered” as is generally alleged, but in the greatest crisis of its miserable existence. As the mullahs up the ante in the region, they could very soon not only lose Iraq, but also their own dictatorship. Trying to oppose the West in Iraq, Lebanon, and the West Bank is taking an enormous financial toll, as is the general isolation from the world community.

With oil prices at an all-time high, Iran can't provide gasoline for its own people, who resent the billions spent instead on Arab terrorists abroad. If oil were to dip from near $70 to $50-55 a barrel, the regime would face abject bankruptcy. For all the criticism of the U.S. position, from the left and right, we have now found the right blend of military determination not to let Teheran go nuclear, combined with economic and political efforts at containment. There is an array of future options — stronger embargoes, blockades, and military strikes on infrastructure — still on the table. The social unrest the mullahs desire in Iraq is starting to spill over the border into their own Iran, and its magnitude and final course are still unpredictable.

Syria for all its terror still can't overthrow the government in Lebanon, but has managed the impossible: Not only does the Arab world seek to isolate it, but France and the United States are cooperating to thwart it in Lebanon. The last thing we want to do is to give its terror industry the legitimacy it craves by sending any more officials over to Damascus.

Pay attention Ms. Pelosi and Mr. Reid.

Seeking reconciliation

An article in yesterday's Wall Street Journal decribes a very promising three-day gathering in Baghdad of more than 70 Iraqi clerics who are interested in fostering reconciliation among Iraq's Shiites, Sunnis and Kurds.  The aticle was written by Robert McFarlane, a national security adviser for President Ronald Reagan, and is reprinted here in full with his permission.

The Iraqi 'Nation'

One reason put forward for why we ought not continue the fight in Iraq is that the Iraqis themselves aren't doing their part to unite their country against the insurgency. It's wrong.

Two weeks ago, I participated in a remarkable three-day gathering of more than 70 Iraqi clerics. It was held in Baghdad, was organized by Canon Andrew White, an Anglican priest in Iraq, and had one aim: Give Iraqi religious leaders a forum to listen to and engage one another. It was a phenomenal success.

The conference was encouraging from the outset because it attracted some of the top clerics in the country. They included close advisors to Grand Ayatollah Ali Sistani, the senior Shiite prelate in Iraq; Moqtada Al Sadr, the firebrand leader of the Mahdi militia; and equivalent Sunni and Kurdish figures. They arrived clearly interested in fostering reconciliation among Shiites, Sunnis and Kurds, and in the process reducing violence, disarming the militias and enacting into law a framework for a fair distribution of political and economic power. Many of the participants are members of the parliament.

Think about the meaning of what's described in the preceding paragraph. How often have you asked yourself over the past four years as violence has unfolded in Iraq, "Is it possible that the hatred and bitterness on display each day will ever evolve into reconciliation?" After attending this conference, I believe the answer is yes.

First, it is important to note that in Iraq the term "cleric" carries a different meaning than in the West. In Islam, one's personal obligation is to devote himself to improving the well-being of his political and economic setting. A concept known as jihad acknowledges for some sects the legitimacy of violence. Indeed, many of the participants at the conference have a violent history. So much the better, because it is only through getting those at the center of the conflict to engage with their adversaries that we will find the basis for a modus vivendi. And so it turned out at this conference.

The opening salvos from each of the three sects involved rhetorical statements of grievance -- each against the others. What was remarkable, however, was that the statements turned out to be pro forma and by the afternoon of the first day these very powerful figures began to listen to one another. What transpired was fascinating. Shiite participants acknowledged that their followers had intermarried with Sunnis for generations -- and vice versa -- and while all deplored the brutality of Saddam's regime no one counted it as legitimating a blood feud. The common theme was one of anger at the violence in Iraq and its primary driver, al Qaeda. But this rage came tempered by a commitment to put their country back together. Throughout the conference, they called it their "nation."

By the second day they began to focus on setting benchmarks to measure each other's commitment to what was being said. Each of the participants, men and women of great influence -- the elite of Iraq -- pledged to return to their provinces and seek to reduce violence, attempt to disarm the militias and (for those members of the parliament) to forge a compromise and pass critical legislation including the pending oil law -- a benchmark measure of the willingness of Shiites and Kurds to acknowledge the centrality of a secure economic future for Sunnis.

It is important to note that this conference was strongly supported by American Ambassador Ryan Crocker as well as by Gen. David Petraeus, commander of coalition forces in Iraq. Neither sought to intervene nor to drive the conference toward any particular conclusion. Both clearly understood, however, that broad-based political reconciliation is the linchpin of any hope for lasting stability in Iraq.

In Washington, Mr. White's effort to nurture the process of reconciliation has been quietly supported by the Defense Department. Some would dismiss such support as nothing but self-interest on the part of the Pentagon. But I believe there is more to it than that. After four very difficult and counterproductive years in Iraq, we now have leaders in place in Baghdad who understand the nature of this conflict. Ambassador Crocker and Gen. Petraeus intuitively know that a political accommodation acceptable to all is only stable foundation for peace in Iraq. And they also understand that such a foundation can only be laid by Iraqis.

On the last day of the conference the delegates pledged to reconvene as soon as possible. A final settlement will likely take some time. But current plans call for a second meeting to be held in Cairo in August. The irony of this possibly historic work is that it is operating on a shoestring. Mr. White has organized a nonprofit in the U.S. and is now trying to raise the fairly modest sums needed to keep this trialogue going. If you'd like to know more about his efforts, please send me a note.

Mr. McFarlane, a national security adviser for President Ronald Reagan, can be reached via email at RCM@McFarlaneAssociatesInc.com.

Frederick Kagan explains the strategy

In testimony before the House Committee on Foreign Affairs yesterday Frederick W. Kagan, one of the architects of the troop surge, gave a detailed explanation and assessment of its initial impact on the situation in Iraq.  It's in the Weekly Standard.

The purpose of this operation--Phantom Thunder--is to disrupt terrorist and militia networks and bases outside of Baghdad that have been feeding the violence within the city. Most of the car bomb and suicide bomb networks that have been supporting the al Qaeda surge since January are based in these belt areas, and American commanders have rightly recognized that they cannot establish stable security in the capital without disrupting these networks and their bases.

But even this operation--the largest coordinated combat operation the U.S. has undertaken since the invasion in 2003--is not the decisive phase of the current strategy. It is an operation designed to set the preconditions for a successful clear-and-hold operation that will probably begin in late July or early August within Baghdad itself. That is the operation that is designed to bring security to Iraq's capital in a lasting way that will create the space for political progress that we all desire.

In the meantime Democrats continue to declare that the surge has already failed, even though, as Mr. Kagan pointed out, the decisive phases haven't begun.  To abandon the surge strategy at this point would be a grave error, he said, especially since early indications are that it will succeed.  Unfortunately, Democratic objectives remain what they've always been.  The centerpiece of the Democratic strategy to hold on to House and Senate majorities is to get the troops out of Iraq before their success can be realized.

The diagnosis

From Tony Blankley on Iraq:

Doctor: "You have a high fever and infection. You're going to die."
Patient: How about giving me some penicillin?"
Doctor: "I don't have any."
Patient: "Could you get some?"
Doctor: "It would be quite a bother."
Patient: "Oh, in that case you are right to let me die."