Monday, April 05, 2004

NYT.  A revolt by al-Sadr's militia inflict 7 US combat fatalities (now 8) in Iraq. The addition of al-Sadr's militias quadrupled the guerrilla forces in Iraq in one day.  Iraqi guerrilla forces are now within striking distance (~1/4) of the number of guerrillas the Russians fought in Afghanistan.  A bright spot is that al-Sadr's forces are still operating as conventional forces (militias) in an attempt to sieze territory.  This will allow US forces to inflict substantial casualties on them until they go to ground.  The downside is that US casualties may be high over this period despite the fact that US will win the engagements. This is a very, very bad day for the US effort in Iraq. [John Robb's Weblog] This is the beginning of the guerilla warfare I expected all along. (Bearing in mind that I was surprised that the initial resistance began so quickly.) 10:26:50 AM    comment () Joel Beinin of Stanford writes about new pressure (censure) on cash-poor Middle East studies programs at US universities: HR 3077 calls for establishing an International Higher Education Advisory Board with broad investigative powers "to study, monitor, apprise, and evaluate" activities of area studies centers supported by Title VI. The board is charged with ensuring that government-funded academic programs "reflect diverse perspectives and represent the full range of views" on international affairs. "Diverse perspectives", in this context, is code for limiting criticism of US Middle East policy and of Israel. Which may result in the following negative consequence: The legislation, if passed, could actually diminish US national security. No first-rank university would accept direct government intrusion into the educational process. Such institutions would likely refuse to accept Title VI funding if it were subject to political oversight. The already dangerously low number of Americans competent in Middle Eastern languages would then be reduced. [John Robb's Weblog] The idea that any university would refuse to "accept direct government intrusion into the educational process" is absurd in the extreme. Any resident of California (where Stanford is located) should no better, as we have not one, but two whole university systems run by the government. For that matter, "government-funded academic programs" are by definition a direct government intrustion, regardless of whether the government does anything else. Given this amazing display of ignorance by the author, his conclusion that universitys would stop accepting government money strikes me as rather delusional. Still, it would be nice if by some miracle it actually happened--I'll always be happy to see one less group of parasites using the government to steal from me. Also, Americans who wish to learn Middle Eastern languages would then have to learn them from ordinary people from the Middle East instead of a handful of leftover Communists (and probably pay much less money, as well). 9:22:36 AM    comment ()

© Copyright 2006 Ken Hagler. Last update: 2/15/2006; 2:00:36 PM.