In the Lists

Oddee lists the world's ten most amazing ghost towns. Japan's Gunkanjima (Battleship Island) must surely be the strangest.

Foreign Policy lists the world's five worst advisers. Douglas J Feith - he of the "Office of Special Plans" - is one of them.

Obscurorant lists the world's ten greatest westerns. I can't agree though with the way he bagged 'High Noon', my all-time favourite western.

Comments

[Jason]

The ghost town article was fascinating. Who knew? What's really funny is that I recognize the amusement park ride in Prypiat-it was featured in the "Call of Duty 4" game. I think you can also see some similarities in the "STALKER" game, also taking place there.

Re: Feith - your commenters can attack Obama on national security issues all they want - we all know what the Repub's view of responsible national security policy is, thanks to Feith.

[Kotare]

One thing that I like about Obama, is that for a US politician who has largely been engaged in domestic politics, he demonstrates a thoughtful and knowledgeable approach to world affairs.

[Yours Truly]

Kotare : thanks for placing that "worst advisors" segment in your post. Cheered me ups after a lousy evening the night before.

Especially the part about a certain health minister with her most laughable prescriptions... ironic & tragically funny.

[Kotare]

No worries, YT. Glad you liked it.

[Nemo]

I agree with the dude about Unforgiven needing to be in a top ten, but yeah he's out of line with kicking out High Noon.

Beside the music, there's nothing cooler than Gary Cooper being shit-scared right from the start and having the pathetic locals running for cover, but still manning up for the showdown.

It's not a movie, but I also rate Lonesome Dove as well. Epic.

[Jeff]

Kotare,

Trying to provoke me, huh?

FP's opinion on Feith is misinformed and misleading at best. You might even call it a journalistic hit job instead of a genuinely honest attempt at getting to the “Truth.” Hell, how about integrity!

Feith DID propose a post war political-military plan for Iraq. That is part of the record. The fact that Bremer refused to follow it is also part of the record.

The 14-month occupation by Bremer's Coalition Provisional Authority (CPA) was not what the Pentagon had proposed. That is in the record too. The CPA was basically a scheme of Powell's. Rumsfeld and Feith both thought we (the U.S.) should not been seen as occupiers and that the Iraqis needed to be involved in rebuilding Iraq immediately after the fall of Saddam. Powell, along with Bremer, felt that the U.S. would have to pull the Iraqis along and this would require an extended occupation by U.S. forces. As the evidence, not political hit jobs, begins to surface, the record will eventually be corrected. Until then we're have to endure the worst type of journalism: the bandwagon.

You have given me grist for my mill. Maybe I'll get to a post on this. Thanks for bringing it up.

[Kotare]

It's not all about you, Jeff.

I partly agree with you, though. The blame for a tragic, wasteful and destructive war cannot be laid solely at the feet of one or two scapegoats, no matter that they were highly placed officials in the Bush administration.

[Jeff]

Saddam retained WMD capabilities and programs. He was a threat no matter how you parse it. Taking him out was the right thing to do. The only real argument, as far as I'm concerned, is "how" we take people out like Saddam. Actually, had Bremer followed Feith's approved (by Bush) plan, the U.S. would have handed over Iraq to Iraqis long ago and U.S. forces would have been scaled way back to play support roles only.

[Kotare]

Well, I think we'll have to agree to disagree on this one, Jeff. Because I don't recall the US forces ever finding any Iraqi WMDs. And sure, Saddam may have been a threat (when it comes down to it, anyone can be considered a threat), but to who, with what, and when was the threat likely to materialise? These issues have never been satisfactorily answered by the Bush administration.

[Jeff]

Kotare,

Your right, no WMD were found. But capabilities and programs were! And who was Saddam a threat to?? Wow! That is so demonstrative in so many ways I'm having a hard time believing that statement came from "The Strategist."

Unfortunately, so many people (your not one of them) are so "on the bandwagon" instead of an honest search for the truth in this matter. I know your well read. However, I suggest you read those who supported the war, and the reasoning, as much as you may be reading those who didn't. A continuous feed back loop of information supporting what you think already isn't a good reality check.

[Kotare]

Jeff, I think that the way you've avoided the question suggests that you also find it difficult to articulate just who Saddam was a real threat to.

Saddam had no WMDs, so he was not able to detonate a nuclear device in London or Washington, or even Tel Aviv.

He had no real links with transnational terrorist organizations like al-Qaeda (the Saudits, the main ally of the US, had much more to answer in this respect), so he was not going to be financing these to carry out terror attacks.

His army was falling apart, and had no real offensive capability, so was not going to be invading anyone.

The Iraq economy was crippled by the UN sanctions regime, so Saddam had no real industrial base on which to build, even gradually, national military power.

You know my view about Iraq - from the outset I thought that it was a foolish venture, driven by greed, deceit, hubris, and an expansionist ideology on the part of political leaders, senior officials, and their advisers in the Bush administration. I do read widely, and the more I read simply confirms this view.

For instance, I have yet to read anything that suggests that the Bush administration invaded Iraq with an altruistic concern for the well-being of the Iraqi people - the people that had been left destitute and starving by a decade of US and UK led sanctions - foremost in their minds. If you can direct me to such credible references I'd be more than interested to read them.

[Yours Truly]

I'm filled with sympathy for those young chaps who return from Mesopotamia & the Afghan Hills with limbs missing or afflicted with PTSD. Talk 'bout casualties of war.