Complicated Iraq

That Iraq has weapons of mass destruction and those might get into the hands of ruthless terrorists who will not hesitate to use them for a second, that was the official reason the US invaded Iraq.

Democracy is a great thing, Saddam was a bad guy, true, but those were not the official reasons given. And if they are the reasons given now, will the US invade every country that is not a democracy, will it take out every Saddam of the world? If not, why did Iraq deserve the special favor?

Now we know Iraq did not have the weapons of mass destruction, and we always knew it was not Saddam but Osama who was behind 9/11. But 40% of Republicans believe today it was Saddam, and that is why he had to be taken out. Dick Cheney repeatedly made the nonexistent connection while drumming up support for the war. Some say the intelligence itself was fabricated, very much on purpose. Was it? And if it was not, how was it so faulty? It was not a matter of degree, it was like the intelligence agencies reported having found an entire new planet in the solar system. Finally they found the elephant in the room, for once. Only not true.

But if it is about weapons of mass destruction, North Korea went from not nuclear to nuclear on W's watch. Iran is on the march. And Iran sponsors groups across the region that are shady. So maybe it was not about weapons of mass destruction, or even their spread.

And if it is now about democracy, 40% of humanity longs for it. Iraq is but a small slice of that.

And if your official reason for going in is fundamentally discredited, should you not be in a hurry to get out? If that requires a faster training of the local army, should that not be expedited?

I am glad Saddam is gone, and I think it is America's duty to proactively spread democracy around the world, now squarely tied to its very security, but the Iraq way is not it. $200 billion and counting, 2,200 American lives, 30,000 Iraqi lives. That price is too steep on all sides. There has to be another way, there has to be a progressive way.

Blogalaxy For Global Democracy
Nepal Message To Top Democrats

Visitors

9 February

00:34

Road Runner, New York, United States

9 February

11:32

Afranet Co., Iran

9 February

14:01

Telenor Internet, Norway

10 February

09:53

Eidsiva bredbånd AS, Norway

10 February

12:52

PlusNet Technologies Ltd., United Kingdom

Sean Maloney

Last Wednesday I was trying to figure out which LinkUp to show up for.

I started out at the East Village one because that looked the largest. Recently I have switchd to the West Village one that Dana runs. But the LinkUp this past week looked different. There were all these guest speakers. A few were running for the US Senate against Hillary. I immediately discounted them out. I don't like the idea of people running against Hillary. But I figured this is the DFNYC leadership's plot to bring in Hillary herself down the line. "Senator, we have been parading candidates for the US Senate. You are next!" Smart move. I have seen Howard Dean, Bill Clinton, Jesse Jackson, Al Sharpton, but not yet Hillary Clinton, or Barack Obama. I am sure they look like in their photos, but there is something to be said to meeting in person.

So I find myself choosing between two candidates running for New York Attorney General, the job Eliot Spitzer has so famously glamorized. I google their names. There is a woman who is showing up at the West Village venue.

But then there is Sean Maloney. He had Harriet Miers' job in the Clinton White House. Miers of course got nominated for the Supreme Court by Bush. He left her out to sizzle for a while. "We Democrats don't take good care of our own," Maloney quipped.

Maloney reminds me of Leecia Eve. Eve happens to be African American, she happens to be a woman. Maloney happens to be gay. He has the distinction of being the first openly gay person in a senior White House position. Maloney is going to be a total asset in 2008. From my political point of view, it is not enough to be gay, it is not enough to be openly gay, it is not enough to be gay, and out of the closet, and politically vocal. You also have to navigate the electorate and the system to be of the best possible service for the gay rights issue. You need that sophistication. Being right is not enough, you also got to win. And for the most part you do that by beating the opponent by being as good or better on most other issues. You win, you keep slugging it out, win or lose.

Leecia Eve was not Spitzer's choice for Lieutenant Governor. (Mixer For Ferrer, Who Is Leecia Eve?) Maloney is third in polls, at around 5%. Andrew Cuomo with a famous last name and having been a Clinton cabinet member and Mark Green, the almost Mayor of New York, are in the run and are ahead of him (A Great Mixer). They both are better well known. They are both brand names, wheres Maloney is much younger and only starting out.

But Maloney's got it. He is qualified, he is passionate, he could shake things up. I found him very impressive.

I had a lot of fun during the question answer session. I asked him two questions, one normal, and one "elongated," Lewis Cohen's word for it. And then one after question after he casually mentioned if anyone wanted to know more about his children.

"It is not enough to have the guts to pick the fights, you also have to have the skills to win them. What have you learned from Eliot Spitzer on winning?"

"You say you are third in polls. How do you hope to bridge the gap and pull ahead?"

Someone in the audience asked, "What exactly does an Attorney General do?" Fair enough.

Maloney came across as someone smitten with the DFA. He seemed to be using the DFA network for many of his appearances across the state.

This was the LinkUp on the Upper East Side that Lewis Cohen hosts.

After Maloney left, the LinkUp group had this wonderful conversation on the possibilities of a national Democratic resurgence. I just sat back and listened. I could not believe my ears. And I had been thinking for a few weeks that DFNYC was a local group. (A Huge Mixer: Happy New Year)

On The Web

seanmaloney.com > Sean Patrick Maloney, Democrat for New York ...
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Sean Patrick Maloney - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
happily stuck in Ithaca: Sean Patrick Maloney visits Ithaca
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blogJosh: Sean Maloney Seeks AG Seat
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New York Blade Online
Rivals Spar at Gay Democrats' Forum - New York Times
Slant Point: Dem Maloney Enters State AG Race

In The News

Pirro stands strong in attorney general campaign Auburn Citizen, NY - 2 hours ago
Matt forman, mandy carter, and coretta scott king in washington ... Gay City News - Feb 2, 2006
Rivals Spar at Gay Democrats' Forum New York Times, United States - Jan 25, 2006
Political Memo Democratic Elbows Are Flying, Mostly Aimed at Cuomo New York Times, United States - Jan 26, 2006
Dark horse Democrat shakes money tree Albany Times Union, NY - Jan 13, 2006
Staten Island DA considering entry into attorney general's race Newsday, NY - Jan 23, 2006

Visitors

2 February

12:13

CTX Mortgage Company, Dallas, United States

2 February

12:14

Videsh Sanchar Nigam Ltd, India

3 February

10:27

Adelphia Communications, Buffalo, United States

3 February

20:17

United States (dickinson.edu)

5 February

03:00

Road Runner, New York, United States

5 February

13:02

Road Runner, Stanley, United States

5 February

22:16

Virginia Polytechnic Institute, Blacksburg, United States

6 February

08:36

UNI-C IT Center, Denmark

6 February

09:21

Bredbåndsfylket Troms, Norway

6 February

11:07

Telenor Internet, Norway

6 February

13:19

Pacific Coast Net Inc., Canada

6 February

15:41

France Telecom, France

I bought a 1 GB memory card for my camera on eBay from a merchant in Singapore. I get to pick it up at the post office tomorrow morning. Now my camera could do one hour of video in one go as opposed to the less than 9 minutes it has so far in the past. I also ordered an extra battery at the same time that arrived last week.

This blog is going multimedia and pay per view down the line.