I'm studying for the Hebrew part of the final today so there will be light posting today (light for me is two or three posts). But voting is today, so could you please click on the badge on the sidebar or here and see if they are voting yet? We are in the "Best New Blog" category. Thank you! You can vote once a day for ten days. So, what we lack in numbers we can make up in determination. And don't forget Being Five which you can find in the cartoon section. He is also small but determined :-) and his competition is fierce. Also Holy Mama (who is in one of the ecosystem categories, I forgot all about her) Lisa, Shannon, Life Cruiser, JenLo and of course Scott Ott!
And for you IE users, I can't figure out why the sidebar is dropping. I know it's the badge but I don't know why. I got the smallest one they had but it still doing it. I don't want to move it down because I want it to be noticeable for voting purposes (and because I love seeing it there) and I don't want to move the Merry Christmas quote, plus I don't have the time to fix it. So, sorry! I'll see what I can do after my final tomorrow.
In other news, National Review has found some good in the Iraq Study Group report:
For all these reasons, the ISG report is an analytic embarrassment. But President Bush can still make political use of it by emphasizing its responsible aspects. The report opposes timetables or deadlines for withdrawal. It warns of a precipitate pullout: “The near-term results would be a significant power vacuum, greater human suffering, regional destabilization, and a threat to the global economy. Al Qaeda would depict our withdrawal as a historic victory. If we leave and Iraq descends into chaos, the long-range consequences could eventually require the United States to return.”They also found a whole lot of bad. Read about it here.
Just so. The report also pours cold water on the fashionable idea of breaking up Iraq along sectarian lines: “A rapid devolution could result in mass population movements, collapse of the Iraqi security forces, strengthening of militias, ethnic cleansing, destabilization of neighboring states, or attempts by neighboring states to dominate Iraqi regions.”
There is no good alternative to succeeding in Iraq. The report notably avoids talking of an outright U.S. victory. But, between the lines, it thinks victory is still possible. Its definition of success in Iraq is reasonable enough: “an Iraq with a broadly representative government that maintains its territorial integrity, is at peace with its neighbors, denies terrorism a sanctuary, and doesn’t brutalize its own people.” And right at the beginning, the report stipulates, “We believe it is still possible to pursue different policies that can give Iraq an opportunity for a better future, combat terrorism, stabilize a critical region of the world, and protect America’s credibility, interests, and values.”
