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Saturday, December 9, 2006
Recapping major events
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Jim Wooten was on vacation last week, but still took time to blog on AJC.com about the major news events.
On Iraq: Time will provide the truth of president’s work and goals
The language of the Iraq Study Group report boils down to this: The situation’s bad and could go either way.
The U.S. role should “evolve to one supporting the Iraqi army, which would take over combat operations” and ideally, by the first quarter of 2008, “subject to unexpected developments” all U.S. combat brigades “not necessary for force protection could be out of Iraq.”
OK. That’s in line with what Maj. Gen. William Caldwell, top U.S. military spokesman in Iraq said. “We would expect to see the entire country having reached provincial Iraqi control by early fall of next year,” said the general. “We should see the complete transfer of command and control of all Iraqi army divisions by late spring, early summer.”
The plan all along has been to stabilize the country and transfer security to Iraqi forces that are sufficiently trained and professional to maintain order. Nothing the Iraq Study Group observes or reports alters that fact on the ground.
It’s still up to President Bush — and Congress, through the power of the purse. Bush’s term ends in two years. There is no face-saving exit that leaves behind a government and an army without a reasonable chance of succeeding. All of the approaches the Iraq Study Group suggests can be tried, but when Bush’s term expires, history will judge whether he was true to this country’s commitment.
On Jimmy Carter: Give a closer ear to director who quit the Carter Center
The shocking news from the morning paper is a quote deep in the story announcing that an expert on the Middle East who was the first executive director of the Carter Center, Kenneth Stein, had resigned his position at the center. The quote is this:
“President Carter’s book on the Middle East, a title too inflammatory to even print, is not based on unvarnished analysis; it is replete with factual errors, copied materials not cited, superficialities, glaring omissions and simply invented segments. Aside from the one-sided nature of the book, meant to provoke, there are recollections cited from meetings where I was the third person in the room, and my notes of those meetings show little similarity to points claimed in the book.”
The book, “Palestine: Peace Not Apartheid” has angered supporters of Israel for being one-sided and for many of the other reasons Stein claims, including omissions and factual errors. Other experts on the region have reached conclusions similar to Stein’s. While Carter’s not the first to claim that “apartheid” is an appropriate label — Desmond Tutu did too — his position and status will popularize the label.
The book does have such a provocative title, and its content could materially affect public opinion about Israel and the Middle East. Because of that, the allegations Stein makes in resigning his position as a Carter Center fellow for Middle East Affairs bear fuller examination. Stein in particular should be heard more fully because he was the “third person in the room” and because he is a scholar who would be more reliable in recounting details than an active participant inclined to hear selectively.
On the Kathryn Johnston shooting: NAACP involvement OK, but a racial angle is not
The controversy surrounding the police shooting of an elderly woman who fired at them while they were executing a no-knock warrant has been revealing. What strikes me is how anti-authority much of this country has become.
The Rev. Al Sharpton, you expect. It’s his career. But try as I might, it’s impossible for me to follow the rationalization of those who make decisions for the NAACP in taking on the authorities, who as best I can tell have responded quickly and appropriately to questions raised about the tragedy. So far as I can tell, too, there’s no black-white angle that would suggest a role for the NAACP — unless, of course, the angle is opposition to those in positions of authority, whatever its color.
America is passing through a cynical phase, the legacy perhaps of the ’60s-era protesters, who made protests, demonstrations and opposition to authority the high point of their lives.
- Jim Wooten is the associate editorial page editor. His column usually appears Sundays, Tuesdays and Fridays.
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