King & Country:

I have a certain fondness for this suggestion from Bernard Lewis and James Woolsey:

Iraq already has a constitution. It was legally adopted in 1925 and Iraq was governed under it until the series of military, then Baathist, coups began in 1958 and brought over four decades of steadily worsening dictatorship. Iraqis never chose to abandon their 1925 constitution--it was taken from them. The document is not ideal, and it is doubtless not the constitution under which a modern democratic Iraq will ultimately be governed. But a quick review indicates that it has some very useful features that would permit it to be used on an interim basis while a new constitution is drafted. Indeed, the latter could be approved as an omnibus amendment to the 1925 document.

This seems possible because the 1925 Iraqi constitution--which establishes that the nation's sovereignty "resides in the people"--provides for an elected lower house of parliament, which has a major role in approving constitutional amendments. It also contains a section on "The Rights of the People" that declares Islam as the official religion, but also provides for freedom of worship for all Islamic sects and indeed for all religions and for "complete freedom of conscience." It further guarantees "freedom of expression of opinion, liberty of publication, of meeting together, and of forming and joining associations." In different words, the essence of much of our own Bill of Rights is reflected therein.

The constitution also establishes a monarchy. The return of the king was advised in Afghanistan as well, but sadly the king did not return, and Karzai has not been able to muster the personal legitimacy a king would have. The Hashemites may be able to do better.

Oil & Gas Journal:

An excellent article on infiltration techniques used by al Qaeda-linked militants appears today in the Oil & Gas Journal. It suggests that Iran is the primary route for mujahedeen from Pakistan and Saudi Arabia.

This tracks nicely with the USCENTCOM report, via the Agonist, that Syria is not a probable entry point for many fighters.

Artificial Intelligence:

I'm amused to see that the Google banner above apparently thinks this is an anti-war site. I gather the post on "Nazis" below is what's causing it to make that determination.

It's kind of comforting to realize that AIs are still pretty dumb.

More French Missiles in Iraq:

This time they killed a colonel, US Army.

Islamist Moderates:

I suggest this article from TechCentralStation. It is a particularly excellent piece on the problems facing those who are sincere believers in Islam, but political moderates.

The Alliance of Free Blogs:

I have joined the Alliance of Free Blogs. You can find the new links to the right.

But while you listen:

...to the Big Dog, remember this.

As I went a-walking one morning in May
I met a young couple who findly did stray
One was a young maid so sweet and so fair
and the other was a soldier and a brave grenadier....

Now I'm off to India for seven long years
drinking wines and strong whiskey instead of cold beers
and if I ever return again it'll be in the spring
and we'll both sit down together to hear the nightingale sing

Freedom is not free.

Rumsfeld Speaks:

Today we hear from the Big Dog himself, SECDEF Donald H. Rumsfeld. Give an ear to him, lads.

On Unmaking Evil, Worldwide:

Chesterton, added yesterday, says this on the thought of a great national enterprise:

When everything about a people is for the time growing weak and ineffective, it begins to talk about efficiency. So it is that when a man's body is a wreck he begins, for the first time, to talk about health. Vigorous organisms talk not about their processes, but about their aims. There cannot be any better proof of the physical efficiency of a man than that he talks cheerfully of a journey to the end of the world. And there cannot be any better proof of the practical efficiency of a nation than that it talks constantly of a journey to the end of the world, a journey to the Judgment Day and the New Jerusalem. There can be no stronger sign of a coarse material health than the tendency to run after high and wild ideals; it is in the first exuberance of infancy that we cry for the moon.

Compare with Bill Whittle:

To those who doubt our mental sophistication, I would remind you that our grandparents walked upon the moon.

Marching Day:

Today is the day for International ANSWER's big anti-war marches. I'll just take a moment to quote from their new brochure on the Iraq war. Please consider:

Having achieved their victory, however, the occupiers now confront a people who have a long and proud history of resistance. The anti-war movement here and around the world must give its unconditional support to the Iraqi anti-colonial resistance.

Now, that "anti-colonial" resistance is killing American soldiers. So, I feel inclined to ask: just what might "unconditional support" entail? Adhering to their cause? Rendering them, say, aid and comfort? Or perhaps something more? It is unconditional support, is it not?

Bushes are Nazis, Confirmed:

The New Hampsire Gazette is running a story claiming that the Bush family had Nazi party links. The evidence for this is that George W. Bush's grandfather, Prescott Bush, had business dealings in Germany with a leading German banker who was a Hitler supporter. How did this happen? Bush's grandfather married someone whose rich father had business dealings with the banker, and Prescott was made a partner in his father-in-law's business.

The author expresses astonishment that the media has not thought this a huge story. Well, lad, here is why: "Blood washes out dishonor," as Alexandre Dumas wrote. In the Second World War, George W. Bush's father, George H. W. Bush, flew 58 combat missions and won the Distinguished Flying Cross. World War II cannot be a source of shame for a family who offered their son to America's defense. Neither can one claim that the family lacked the proper hate of tyrants, when that son fought with such heroism and power.

New Links, Cont.:

While I'm on the topic, I'm going to include a link I've been meaning to for a while. It's in "Philosophy & Ideas," and is of a similar kind to the "Marine Corps Doctrine" link. It's a link to the collected philosophy of G. K. Chesterton, possibly the most important philosopher of the 20th century.

That is a bold enough claim, you say? Fair enough--it is bold, but valid. Written in the first decade of the 20th century, Chesterton's critique of modernism ("The Suicide of Thought") not only saw through to the flaw in Modern thinking, but anticipated Postmodernism and proceeded to critique that as well. Alas, few listened, and philosophy descended into an irrelevance from which it is only now emerging.

On top of that, Chesterton was quite a good poet. His Ballad of the White Horse is said to have been Tolkien's favorite poem, and is one of the best long poems in English--Old, Middle, or Modern. If you read it, read it aloud.

To have been both a poet and a philosopher of quality is surely glory enough for any man. Yet Chesterton was also kind, beloved of children, always ready to challenge his ideological enemies with humor and wit, and happy. It's hard to think of too many who've done better.

Foul Communists, Cont.:

We are pleased to announce a new addition to our web links, The Politburo Diktat. We're only too glad to reciprocate the Commissar's link, as indeed we do with all who link to our hall. Hospitality is meant to be reciprocal, after all.

The Perils of Moderation:

We will now turn to the writings of a non-Commie-backing liberal, Sovay McKnight. Joe Lieberman comes in for some abuse, being playfully labeled a (literal, in this case) Republican clone. This is Joe's reward for being the only man in the Democratic presidential primary to adopt a serious position on national defense, taxation, and so forth.

Still, Sovay is no Communist--although you wouldn't know it from the company her site keeps over in San Francisco. That's not her fault, though: she didn't ask to be placed there.

More on Communists:

Via Winds of Change, I see that the leading leftist blogger, Atrios, is today citing the World Socialist to argue his position.

If you want to draw your news from Communist publications, well, it's a free country. Still... if you don't mind, as long as you're going to continue drawing your news from Communist publications, could you lay off the topic of how "Fox News" is biased?

International ANSWER:

"Act Now to Stop War and End Racism" is the leading group in all antiwar protests in the United States. A transcript of their recent planning session has been made available by Protest Warrior. Excerpt:

I hate to point out that the Constitution itself sucks; there's a lot wrong with it. There's no right to healthcare, no right to education, no right to jobs, none of that is in there. Racism, anti-gay bigotry, none of that is outlawed by the Constitution. Those are the things that need to be in a real peoples' constitution. It's important to point out because we keep defending the Constitution, but it's a Constitution that's extremely weak and does not represent what people need. And when we defend the Constitution we have to go one step further and say "this is what a real constitution should look like."

Another excerpt:

It really clarified things when the economy starts to you know go sour and I actually picked up a copy of Communist Manifesto and started reading what Marx said, that every ten years there's a boom and bust system, and it's like, "Oh okay, I get it!" You know like I read it before and didn't get it, it didn't apply, you know? And now that I read it again it applies! It's like, "Oh okay, I get it!" You know, I think.

Just so you know what you're marching for. Of course, if you'd rather march against Communists who think the Constitution sucks, you can join these lads.

Not exactly a Burka:

This alone justifies the invasion of Afghanistan.

Bebop:

Cowboy Bebop, explained. You have to read well into it to get to the good part--the part about a Ronin epic.

Glorious Knoxville:

Via the Sage of Knoxville, we have this: the winner of the Nobel Prize for Economics is a resident of Knoxville, TN.

Glorious Dixie:

John Derbyshire writes of his trip to Dixie: Alabama Diary, Part I.