One virtually never sees any disagreement among Bush supporters with regard to Iraq or terrorism policies, but Powerline has a very brave and surprising post -- to which all three of its luminaries contributed -- which expresses disagreement with yesterday's essay from world-renowned and esteemed military historian Dr. Victor Davis Hanson, who smeared the motives of the retired American Generals who are criticizing the administration's war effort, by claiming that the Generals are only saying these things to sell books and enrich themselves. Powerline is having none of it.

According to Powerline, Dr. Hanson is wildly off-base. From them we learn that "those griping ex-Generals" are not motivated by a desire to sell books. Rather, they are voicing these criticisms because they are "mostly, in effect, Clinton appointees," because they are simply "'old school' generals who object to Rumsfeld's pet theories" of military transformation, and because these are the rejects who got forced out of their jobs because they "didn't fit with the new program." Hanson was right, of course, that these Generals were operating from base and venal motives; he just got the specific smear wrong.

What is so notable (but unsurprising) here is the reaction of Bush followers to the extremely unusual and extraordinary event of seeing retired Generals criticize not just specific strategic decisions, but the overall mismanagement of the war, and in some cases, the wisdom of the war itself. As I pointed out yesterday, the fact that a bunch of generals hold a certain view does not, by itself, mean that the view is correct, including on military matters. But contrary to the deceitful attempt of Bush followers to pretend that this is some sort of commonplace event ("Generals are always griping about something"), it is remarkable, and significant on at least some level, for this many Generals to make these types of overarching and very public criticisms while a war is still ongoing.

An alternative to spending money we don't have on a new jail? From the Spokesman-Review:

With the jail constantly overcrowded, Spokane County leaders are trying different ways to set lawbreakers on better paths.

The Spokane County District Court is one month into a 90-day experiment in "day reporting," an alternative to jail in which convicts must account for eight hours a day of their time with work or education. A judge determines if a person is eligible for the program.

"There's an emphasis on the defendant being a productive member of society," said Percy Watkins, co-director of the program. "When they're in jail, they can't work."

The program is open only to those who committed nonviolent and nonsexual misdemeanors. Almost all of those participating would have been sent to the Spokane County Jail or Geiger Corrections Center. Their crimes will remain on their records when they complete their sentences.

At the beginning of the year, county commissioners allocated $30,000 for a 90-day test of the day-reporting system. The program started March 20 with three defendants, said Barbara E. Miller, executive director of Friendship Diversion Services, an Olympia-based nonprofit agency that runs the county's day-reporting program.

The Cooper Point Association (CPA) was founded by community members, faulty, and staff in 1972 and has focused on land use/environmental concerns in Thurston County ever since. On Thursday, April 20, 2006 the CPA will hold its annual meeting from 7 to 9 p.m. at Marshall Middle School located at 3939 20th Ave. NW. This year we have two themes: We will start out with the GMA Compliance process by Michael Welters, Director of Development Services for Thurston County; followed by Safety Issues on Cooper Point as presented by Thurston County Sheriff’s Department Captain Dan Kimball and the CPA Board member Eric Johnson.

Crusty has an insightful analysis of the LHD situation:

I can read all the reports posted and listen to stories and review court decisions but it all leads to the same conclusion. A minor school yard fracus got the little snot nosed guy suspended and three big boys feeling proud and puffed up. All they have to do is speak with one voice and keep their stories straight. Who knows what the facts truthfully reveal?

Perhaps they did correctly infer that the little snot nosed guy had contagious or radioactive boogers, hence they were right to stomp on him. It seems the law says you can stomp on anyone as long as you don't stomp too hard. You can stomp because the person turns around and argues. It is illegal to argue. You can stomp because you SAY they argue. Who knows? The little snot nosed guy might actually have blown them kisses (I seriously doubt that). Who can say?

Read more here.

Mar. 13, 2006

Was I wrong to support the war in Iraq? Several conservatives and neoconservatives have begun to renounce the decision to topple Saddam Hussein three years ago. William F. Buckley Jr., as close to a conservative icon as America has, recently wrote that "one can't doubt that the American objective in Iraq has failed." George F. Will has been a moderate skeptic throughout. Neoconservative scholar Francis Fukuyama has just produced a book renouncing his previous support. The specter of Iraq teetering closer to civil war and disintegration has forced a reckoning.

In retrospect, neoconservatives (and I fully include myself) made three huge errors. The first was to overestimate the competence of government, especially in very tricky areas like WMD intelligence. The shock of 9/11 provoked an overestimation of the risks we faced. And our fear forced errors into a deeply fallible system. When doubts were raised, they were far too swiftly dismissed. The result was the WMD intelligence debacle, something that did far more damage to the war's legitimacy and fate than many have yet absorbed.

READ THE REST HERE

 Find out in this week's What's Going on at Oly City Hall at Better South Sound.
 

Vice President Dick Cheney directed his then-chief of staff, I. Lewis "Scooter" Libby, on July 12, 2003 to leak to the media portions of a then-highly classified CIA report that Cheney hoped would undermine the credibility of former Ambassador Joseph C. Wilson, a critic of the Bush administration's Iraq policy, according to Libby's grand jury testimony in the CIA leak case and sources who have read the classified report.

READ THE REST HERE

Decorabilia is trying to get up a posse to tear down this monstrosity that injures the skyline in downtown Olympia. I think we should do everything we can to help.

So, saddle up!

Comments over there.