Friday, June 24, 2005
Michael Smith on Downing Street, from the LA TImesI missed this op-ed by Michael Smith, the London Times reporter who broke the Downing Street documents story, from yesterday's LA Times: 9:09:20 AM | American
media coverage of the Downing Street memo has largely focused on the
assertion by Sir Richard Dearlove, head of British foreign
intelligence, that war was seen as inevitable in Washington, where "the
intelligence and facts were being fixed around the policy."
But another part of the memo is arguably more important. It quotes British Defense Secretary Geoff Hoon as saying that "the U.S. had already begun 'spikes of activity' to put pressure on the regime." This we now realize was Plan B. Put simply, U.S. aircraft patrolling the southern no-fly zone were dropping a lot more bombs in the hope of provoking a reaction that would give the allies an excuse to carry out a full-scale bombing campaign, an air war, the first stage of the conflict. [...] The way in which the intelligence was "fixed" to justify war is old news. The real news is the shady April 2002 deal to go to war, the cynical use of the U.N. to provide an excuse, and the secret, illegal air war without the backing of Congress. Makes those documents even more damning, doesn't it? 
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Tom Friedman, the Left's David BrooksI think it's time to face it: Friedman doesn't add anything new to a debate. His newest column is just more evidence. 8:37:30 AM | He's a writer of inconsequence and little, if any, insight. I'm not going to bother reading his columns anymore. What's the point? I don't remember the last time I learned anything from them, or even thought his discussion had meaning. His continued arguments for the Iraqi war, his wishy washy, back and forth support of Bush and his policies, his foolhearty support of Israel and his pie in the sky dream of democratic freedom through the "flat earth" economy, and now his ridiculous assertion that CAFTA would allow us to compete with China in the textile market and that El Salvador will only be truly democratic if we sign another free trade agreement (as if NAFTA has brought overwhelming prosperity and true democracy to Mexico -- ?!)... I just can't handle it anymore. So why try? Adios, Tom.
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Fighting MyselfHere I am again fighting myself, trying desperately not to let myself
slide into a state of perpetual anxiousness. I know it's a combination
of not talking to S for days and coming home to an empty house. I'm
short with my mom, even though I know better, and I'm quick to be angry
at aggressive drivers, even though I know my anger only hurts me. Here
it is after 1 in the morning and I can't sleep, even though I got about
five hours of sleep last night, if that. 1:28:06 AM | For some reason it makes me want to stop blogging anonymously and start being fully who I am, Kate Ingold. I'm compelled to cover this blog with pictures of the two of us together, to somehow validate our relationship. Why on earth do I feel like I need to do this when we've been married almost six years? What's wrong with me? This feeling has come before, whenever several days have passed since I last talked to him. It's like I want to make sure he still exists, and to do that I need to see him right in front of me, even if it's only in photographs taken months ago plastered on my computer screen. It's so completely surreal to be married and yet separated for months on end. I still haven't found the words to describe this experience. I'm trying. I can't write S's name because I don't know if he would want me to. I would never want him to get in trouble because of something I wrote. Those of you who know us already know his name, so it doesn't matter. I've been blogging anonymously, only as "Kate", since 2003. Well, here we are, without our halloween makeup:  Tomorrow I'm driving down state with my mother to go to our family reunion. I'll eat barbeque with my cousins, my aunts and uncles, play with my cousins' babies, without S. I miss him.
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Last update: 8/24/05; 8:18:23 PM .
