November 03, 2005
Dick Cheney I don’t know anymore
New Yorker profile of Scowcroft is now available on-line
I have always contended Bush senior's re-election failure of 1992 was a tragedy for Middle East. Bernard Lewis has wielded too much power over US administration policy over the last 20 years and the following quote from the above article is most revealing:
Scowcroft suggested that the White House was taking the wrong advice, and listening to a severely limited circle. He singled out the Princeton Middle East scholar Bernard Lewis, who was consulted by Vice-President Cheney and others after the terror attacks of September 11, 2001. Lewis, Scowcroft said, fed a feeling in the White House that the United States must assert itself. “It’s that idea that we’ve got to hit somebody hard,” Scowcroft said. “And Bernard Lewis says, ‘I believe that one of the things you’ve got to do to Arabs is hit them between the eyes with a big stick. They respect power.’ ” Cheney, in particular, Scowcroft thinks, accepted Lewis’s view of Middle East politics. “The real anomaly in the Administration is Cheney,” Scowcroft said. “I consider Cheney a good friend—I’ve known him for thirty years. But Dick Cheney I don’t know anymore.”
Posted by Hazi at 11:31 AM | Comments (0)
May 21, 2005
George Galloway and falling standards of Washington
Favorite quote
"I know that standards have slipped over the last few years in Washington but for a lawyer you are remarkably cavalier with any idea of justice."
The most entertaining event of past week was the live coverage of George Galloway's testimony in the senate. In the same chamber from where Joe McCarthy harranged the world, Galloway turned the tables around on the senators and called their documents schoolboy howlers. Check the BBC and Political Affairs for quotes. Video excerpts in Quick time format. And the best from the land of freedom where the official Senate website declines to publish the testimony.
Of course all is not rosy. There must be something if your name appears with Charles Pasqua (notorious corrupt French politician) and a bunch of Russian mafia members. Read Christopher Hitchens profile.
Posted by Hazi at 09:31 AM | Comments (0)