Uplink update
I mentioned the VFW's Operation Uplink a while back; it provides servicemen and women with calling cards to make it easier to call home. SBC Communications, the Baby Bell, has donated $250,000 and is promoting the initiative on their web site. Have a look. A calculator they provide shows that a $20 donation typically buys about 53 minutes of phone time.

Interestingly, I was contacted by someone from SBC, that is, from a marketing outfit they'd apparently hired. A sitemeter entry suggests to me they probably used blogdex to figure out that I'd mentioned Operation Uplink before. Fine, whatever, nice marketing strategy -- assuming they get Glenn Reynolds to mention it again, too. I suppose I'm helping a Baby Bell wrap itself in the flag here, but they did give a decent chunk of cash themselves. So go ahead, help our troops call home. posted by Thomas Nephew at 5:19:00 PM -- |    

 

You have only yourself to blame for reading this

When you sat down at your computer this afternoon, you had a choice of roughly 10 billion Web pages to look at, and this is the one you chose. You thought this was the best of 10 billion options; what are the odds that you were right? That's why I'm pretty confident this column isn't as good as you expected it to be.

...Steven Landsburg, writing on April 9 for Slate. You might not guess it from the above, but the piece is actually an interesting take on wartime expectations even now, and Star Trek fans may find themselves reminded of the "Taste of Armageddon" episode. posted by Thomas Nephew at 12:44:00 AM -- |    

 

Missing tourists may be hostages for release of terrorists
Based on reports by Austrian news magazine "profil", the German daily Die Welt is reporting that Algerian officials are in contact with kidnappers of at least some of the tourists who have gone missing in the Sahara over the past month:

The goal is apparently to force the release of four Algerian extremists recently sentenced in Frankfurt for planning an attack on the Strassburg Christmas Market. The German foreign ministry did not want to comment. “Nothing is being ruled out” in the investigation and all leads are being persued, a spokesman said. Officially, all countries involved are still viewing kidnapping only as a possible scenario about the tourists’ whereabouts.

The missing tourists include fifteen Germans -- who are reportedly separated from the other tourists. Die Welt speculates that this indicates the action is specifically directed against Germany.

The remaining missing persons include ten Austrians, four Swiss, one Dutch person, and one Swede. Die Welt also reports that the elite GSG-9 anti-terror unit is already in Algeria to assist with the investigation.

The four Islamic extremists were convicted on March 10 to ten to twelve year sentences for the planned bombing, which was to have taken place in December 2000. There was no proof of a connection to Al Qaeda. posted by Thomas Nephew at 11:17:00 PM -- |    

 

Next?
For the opinion pieces I mentioned yesterday, "worth reading" only means that I think the pieces are challenging and well written, not that I completely agree with them. The thesis that some of the writers are developing is that human rights repression and threat to the United States tend to go hand in hand. I'm open to the idea that a sufficiently totalitarian regime or movement is in and of itself a security threat: a government (or movement) that brooks no opposition and sets no limits on its ambitions is one that will eventually need to seek its victims elsewhere.

Nevertheless, my view about Iraq was fairly specific to the circumstances: there were supporting UN resolutions, the dictator involved had a history of aggression and non-deterrability, international cooperation in containing him was breaking down, and ending the atrocious repression in Iraq was a good to be weighed against the costs of the war.

I don't support extending that war to any and all totalitarian regimes. The problem is agreeing whether a given regime is 1) "totalitarian" enough, and 2) threatening enough to the United States or our allies to warrant military action, with 3) low enough expected costs. To keep this short, I'll set aside the need for international approval and how to go about gaining it, other than to say the greater the threat, the less the need for that approval.

My personal answers to the above three questions for various "next?" countries are currently: North Korea: yes, yes, no (Seoul). Syria: yes, no, yes. Iran: no, unsure, no. So far, I feel like what's next is that we should try to get Iraq right, and not look around for another fight. That's not to say I'm against exacting some pledges from these countries to mend their ways while the iron's hot, so to speak. posted by Thomas Nephew at 5:48:00 PM -- |    

 

Worth reading

Jonathan Chait suggests that Comical Saeed and Ari Fleischer have a lot in common, that Bill Clinton was the only one to get the Iraq war right and stick to his guns, and that cakewalks aren't.

Tim Burke describes "The authentic temptations of intervention."

Ken Layne defends David Letterman.

Peter Praschl publishes a series called "Unterschiede" ("Differences") about his recent trip to Cambodia. Extra credit points for not being about Iraq. Angelina Jolie, of all people, comes off well. (in German, in case that wasn't obvious; installments so far: 1 2 3 4.)

John Lloyd resigns from the New Statesman: "The left has lost the plot." (Guardian excerpt, via Harry's Place)

Non-leftie Andrew Sullivan compares and contrasts assorted lefties Nicholas de Genova, Nat Hentoff, and Paul Berman.

I join Sullivan in strongly recommending Paul Berman's book "Terror and Liberalism." You can get a feeling for some of Berman's arguments in the book by reading "Resolved," his contribution to the March 3 issue of the New Republic.

William Saletan asserts that "the number of innocent people who are dead because we ousted Saddam is dwarfed by the number of innocent people who are dead because we didn't." (via Daniel Drezner)

posted by Thomas Nephew at 11:36:00 PM -- |    

 

We will remember those who stood by our side
Kanan Makiya, a leader among Iraqi exiles, has been keeping an online journal at The New Republic web site since the war began. Every one of his entries is worth reading. His April 10 entry, of course, is especially good. Makiya dispenses with handwringing about the looting:

Freedom is a heady thing. To an Iraqi, it is like being awakened from a 30-year nightmare by a blinding blaze of bright white light. When a young man steals a television set from the Ministry of Education, he thinks he is striking a blow against the Baath Party. He has not yet become aware that he is in fact stealing it from a building that now belongs to him...

Makiya calls for the transition to an Iraqi police force as quickly as possible; the Iraqi National Congress (a former exile group) has a 700-man nucleus of such a force in southern Iraq now. That certainly isn't enough, but it's an Iraqi start.

But I mainly want to record Makiya's closing:

Yesterday was also a special day for the people of the United States. Their army triumphed. It fought a just war more or less alone and in spite of opposition from countries that put commercial and other interests before the destruction of tyranny. We will remember those who stood by our side. The road ahead is, no doubt, very difficult. And now the burden shifts onto our shoulders, the shoulders of Iraqis inside and outside of Iraq. We thank you people of the great United States for the gift that you have bestowed on us. I cannot promise that we will succeed in making good of it. But I do promise that we will try very hard.

Surely this liberation must count for a great deal, no matter what happens. posted by Thomas Nephew at 12:46:00 AM -- |