Dysfunction – Mar 15

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Iraq: Beyond Quagmire
Tim Dickinson, Rolling Stone
A panel of experts convened by Rolling Stone agree that the war in Iraq is lost. The only question now is: How bad will the coming explosion be?
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The war in Iraq isn’t over yet, but — surge or no surge — the United States has already lost. That’s the grim consensus of a panel of experts assembled by Rolling Stone to assess the future of Iraq. “Even if we had a million men to go in, it’s too late now,” says retired four-star Gen. Tony McPeak, who served on the Joint Chiefs of Staff during the Gulf War. “Humpty Dumpty can’t be put back together again.”

Those on the panel — including diplomats, counterterror analysts and a former top military commander — agree that President Bush’s attempt to secure Baghdad will only succeed in dragging out the conflict, creating something far beyond any Vietnam-style “quagmire.” The surge won’t bring an end to the sectarian cleansing that has ravaged Iraq, as the newly empowered Shiite majority seeks to settle scores built up during centuries of oppressive rule by the Sunni minority. It will do nothing to defuse the powder keg that an independence-minded Kurdistan, in Iraq’s northern provinces, poses to the governments of Turkey, Syria and Iran, which have long brutalized their own Kurdish separatists. And it will only worsen the global war on terror.

“Our invasion and occupation has created a cauldron that will continue to draw in the players in the Middle East for the foreseeable future,” says Michael Scheuer, who led the CIA’s hunt for Osama bin Laden.

…Question: Not to be crass, but what does that kind of conflict do to the global oil supply?

Juan Cole: During the war between Iraq and Iran, Saddam and Khomeini didn’t destroy each other’s oil-producing capabilities, because they knew it would make each of them a Fourth World country. But if you get a big multicountry guerrilla war, guerrillas could do what they’ve been doing in northern Iraq: Hit the oil pipelines. Guerrillas aren’t calculating it the way states are as far as mutually assured destruction. If you got pipeline sabotage in Iran and Saudi Arabia and southern Iraq, you could take twelve percent of the world’s petroleum production off the market. That looks like the second Great Depression.

Gen. Tony McPeak (retired): This is a dark chapter in our history. Whatever else happens, our country’s international standing has been frittered away by people who don’t have the foggiest understanding of how the hell the world works. America has been conducting an experiment for the past six years, trying to validate the proposition that it really doesn’t make any difference who you elect president. Now we know the result of that experiment [laughs]. If a guy is stupid, it makes a big difference.
(7 March 2007)
Different than many of the other articles on the Iraq war, this group interview includes members of the U.S. foreign policy elite. Read the entire article for a revealing, depressing look at the future. -BA

Stumbling on Happiness
Jonathan Stein, Mother Jones
Daniel Gilbert, author of a new book on happiness explains why members of the wealthiest, most powerful country in the world can’t find their ultimate goal.
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Dan Gilbert’s book “Stumbling on Happiness” is part Malcolm Gladwell pop psychology and part self-help book. What distinguishes it in the first genre is that Gilbert is a psychologist, and knows that of which he speaks. What distinguishes it in the second is that Gilbert has a sense of humor and is deeply intelligent, and expects the same qualities from his readers.

In all, the book is a thought-provoking and persuasive discussion of why a huge portion of a very wealthy, very powerful country wanders astray when it tries to find contentment. The reason, argues Gilbert, lies partly with our society but mostly with ourselves. The human mind is hardwired to guess wrong, to imagine wrong, to make wildly inaccurate predictions and assumptions. And in the end, when we find ourselves dissatisfied with the end result of a course we chose entirely on our own, we wonder why.
(7 Mar 2007)

Federal Judge Finds That Chevron Covered Up Role in Human Rights Abuses in Nigeria
Earth Rights
United States District Court Judge Susan Illston issued an order today finding evidence that Chevron covered up its role in human rights abuses in Nigeria, and was involved in paying the brutal Nigerian military during the years of military dictatorship.

Nine Nigerian plaintiffs sued Chevron in federal court in San Francisco in 1999 for deaths and other abuses in two incidents in 1998 and 1999, in which Nigerian military and police using Chevron helicopters and boats shot and tortured protestors and destroyed two villages associated with opposition to Chevron’s oil activities in the desperately poor Niger delta.

The judge found that there was evidence that Chevron had assisted its Nigerian subsidiary, known as “CNL,” in these operations, including that Chevron “approved payments from CNL” to the Nigerian security forces and that, “after the attacks, [Chevron] engaged in a media campaign to cover up CNL’s involvement in the attacks.”

The plaintiffs have alleged ten different legal claims against Chevron, ranging from crimes against humanity to wrongful death. While Judge Illston dismissed one of these claims, under the federal Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Act, for technical reasons, she reserved judgment on the remaining claims. ..
(14 Mar 2007)