A Running Diary of Thought

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Hersh Watch, Day 15: He's at it again.... By the way, notice how Slate's Jack Shafer stole the skeptic's idea! (with slight modification) First, second, and third installments. And does a much, much better job!

posted at 10:11 PM |

 

That Infamous Blogger

The world's new favorite blogger has been found! What makes him so awe-inspiring?

The alleged fact that he's the only Iraqi in Baghdad who's blogging the war. Congrats to him. (the skeptic gives him the benefit of the doubt, considering his detailed posts) Too bad the New Yorker divulged his name... (Was there no concern for his safety?)... Since he hasn't posted in a few days, I'm guessing he's out of commission for awhile... If the skeptic were him, he'd lie low 'til the bombing's over...

posted at 9:52 PM |

 

The Shocking True Story of 9/11

Read it all, right here! Are you getting the picture? Hmmmm?

Ah, the Internet... you're always just a link away to another nutjob's conspiracy theory... Or, make your own!

posted at 9:09 PM |

 

Why the Trans-Atlantic Rift Over Iraq?

The growing Muslim population, that's why. Europe's foreign policy is entering a new period--one that factors in the rise of the vocal foreign policy lobby of Arab-Europeans. It's a demographic shift that, combined with geographical proximity, makes it difficult for a lot of European countries to support the war--regardless of whether they think it is just.

After all, if Europe were for the war, and the Arab population resented it, they would essentially be signing themselves up as targets for extremists. Whether you look at it from a security perspective, or an electoral politics perspective, siding with the war just wasn't a good idea...

A good story by the Weekly Standard's Christopher Caldwell touches on Chirac's designs... with a brief yet smart critique by AfricaPundit.

posted at 8:53 PM |

 

the skeptic Returns!

After a long vacation, the skeptic returns to a new world. But, instead of furthering the already overwhelming, if rather vacuous media coverage of the war, the skeptic will choose to comment on the big picture and buried stories.

First up, buried stories.

The Conspiracy

Self-proclaimed "Avid skeptic Reader" CW ("I happen to realize the skeptic Web page has not been updated for some time. I know you have excuses lined up and I will certainly respect them for a limited time. I think that time is about up.") longs for more information regarding the story of Halliburton's contract to put out oil fires in Iraq. Obviously the point of contention here is that the vice president used to be CEO of that company.

Basic facts:

It's an open-ended contract that pays Halliburton a couple of percentage points above cost. In other words, the higher the cost, the higher the profit. Not exactly an ideal incentive.

But, Halliburton was the company that "drew up the original contingency plan to fight oil well fires and other emergency repairs to the Iraqi oil infrastructure."

"KBR is the only contractor that could commence implementing the complex contingency plan on extremely short notice," a spokesperson said. (Note: KBR is Kellogg Brown & Root, a subsidy of Halliburton)

So why isn't this being covered? Well, first of all, it is. Kind of. Find references to it in the New York Times, Forbes, CNN/Money, the Houston Business Journal, Canada's National Post, and even on the most important television show ever.

But more importantly, it's tough to say it's not legit. There aren't many companies that do this sort of thing, or have drawn up elaborate plans on putting out the oil fires. To those who would complain that they got the inside dish, remember that the debate over this war has been going on for months. Perhaps Halliburton knew "Chainers" was hell-bent on kicking Hussein's ass, but who didn't?

The biggest part of the story at this stage in the game is: "KBR developed a contingency plan to battle oil fires in Iraq at the request of the U.S. Department of Defense last November." (skeptic's bold) Why did the DoD ask Halliburton instead of other firms? That's where the investigating needs to begin. No point in hyping this story until this is checked out... Which on-going internal investigations and the media will hopefully do...

The Street

Tim Cavanaugh notes "In short, if you are not watching Al-Jazeera (and if you have a satellite dish you've got no excuse), you are not getting anything close to full coverage of this war."

He adds, "There's been plenty of footage of crazy riots in Yemen, Cairo, Bahrain and other places I didn't know, all of them being terminated with extreme prejudice by the local cops. The riot in Cairo looked pretty touch and go. Maybe I'm not tuning in at the right times, but I haven't seen any of this stuff on EuroNews, BBC or CNN (where pathetic New Murrow Walter Rodgers is still riding around like Custer with the 7th Cavalry)."

Those other places? Could be Kenya, Somalia, and/or Mauritania. The African response is quickly summed up here.

The Villians

And with the war, comes the buried tragedies that largely go unreported. Drezner treads that terrain quite well.

The Budget

the skeptic will cut straight to the chase: "Senate Passes Budget That Reduces Tax Cut" (AP), "How the President's $726 Billion Plan Was Cut in Half" (NYT), "Senate Votes to Reduce Bush's Tax Cut Plan" (NYT), "Senate Approves $2.2 Trillion Budget" (NYT), and "Senate Budget Halves Tax Cuts" (WP).

The NYT's Rosenbaum calls it "one of Mr. Bush's most serious political setbacks." The WP's Dewar sees it as a "blow to the president's domestic agenda."

You know, with talk like this, you might forget that THE SENATE PASSED A $350 BILLION TAX CUT! the skeptic is skeptical about the intelligence of this... considering the staggering debt the U.S. already has, and how likely that is to grow considerably. Why do the media downplay this sooo much? Is a $350 billion tax cut a political disaster for the Bush administration or an economic disaster in the waiting?

And Finally...

Thank you William Schneider for writing the piece that the skeptic wanted to write....

posted at 7:41 PM |