This short article in the freshly liberated Atlantic Monthly connects the recent threads on partisan politics and Iraq withdrawal.

We can assume that if the Iraq War ends badly, some Republican hard-liners, amplified by conservative talk radio, will accuse the Democrats of perfidy. The question is: Will the betrayal narrative find traction with the broader American public? In particular, will mainstream Republicans buy into it? Or will cooler heads prevail, so the country can heal and move on?

The answer, of course, is that it depends.

Partisan Retreat

I picked up this book (actually, the out-of-print hardcover edition) last month. Apropos of the season in general and of recent discussion in particular, I thought I'd mention it.

This work traces the historical processes in thought by which American political leaders slowly edged away from their complete philosophical rejection of a party and hesitantly began to embrace a party system. In the author's words, "The emergence of legitimate party opposition and of a theory of politics that accepted it was something new in the history of the world; it required a bold new act of understanding on the part of its contemporaries and it still requires study on our part." Professor Richard Hofstadter's analysis of the idea of party and the development of legitimate opposition offers fresh insights into the political crisis of 1797-1801, on the thought of George Washington, Thomas Jefferson, James Madison, James Monroe, Martin Van Buren, and other leading figures, and on the beginnings of modern democratic politics.

A preview at Google is available. If you search in the book for "insidious alternative", and go to page 13, you'll find a relevant excerpt. Don't miss the footnote to the Washington Irving quote.

The Idea of a Party System: The Rise of Legitimate Opposition in the United States

This video is a really beautiful and educational bit by Bill Moyers on what Lyndon Johnson did for black people with the Civil Rights Act of 1964 and the Voting Rights Act of 1965.

It’s exactly the kind of perspective we need more of.

People forget what good LBJ did for black people, which is why it’s so easy for tempers to flare over a line like Hillary Clinton’s (which is included in the Moyers video). Moyers doesn’t downplay either the struggles of black Americans, or the importance of LBJ’s legislation; his is a perfectly balanced voice of calm.

Bill Moyers on LBJ and civil rights

(Posted in response to Obama Protection)

Hillary Clinton Threatened By Black Man

The Iraqi government has ordered all policewomen to hand in their guns for redistribution to men or face having their pay withheld, thwarting a U.S. initiative to bring women into the nation's police force.

Critics say the move is the latest sign of the religious and cultural conservatism that has taken hold in Iraq since Saddam Hussein's ouster ushered in a government dominated by Shiite Muslims.

Iraqi policewomen are told to surrender their weapons

Domestically, the most significant fact about the NIE is its public manifestation. The White House was powerless to prevent publication of a document that made Bush aides unhappy and uncomfortable. The administration went along because it knew that the document -- and any attempt to suppress it -- would have been immediately leaked.

It is as if this administration has developed its own political version of Jimmy Carter's aborted project for a neutron bomb, which was intended to destroy people while sparing buildings. Bush consistently manages to destroy or damage goals he proclaims and friends who support him, while foes escape harm.

The Spies Strike Back

This essay appears in Foreign Policy.

Offering a very different look at the unpopular Iraq War, Roberts, professor of public administration at Syracuse University, points out the hypocrisies surrounding some of the "myths" about the war on terror. Even if it was devised by neoconservatives, the war also fell under the "desires and preferences of the American people," he contends. Taxes are down, the draft was avoided and "regulatory burdens" minimized, leading Roberts to suggest that this war has been easier on us than wars past. "Americans might try to pin their problems on a few powerful neocons," Roberts writes. "In truth, though, they must shoulder some of the blame."

In the recent presentation by the Comptroller General, there is a plot of annual defense spending over the last century, with the figures adjusted for inflation. This plot shows that expenditures in 2006 have climbed to 67% of the peak of World War II (in 1944-1945).

The War We Deserve

“We are in a holding pattern,” said Joost Hiltermann, an Iraq analyst at the International Crisis Group, a Brussels-based research organization. “The military solution has gained enough peace to last through the U.S. election, but we have a situation that is extremely fragile. None of the violent actors have either been defeated or prevailed, and the political roots of the conflict have not been addressed, much less resolved.”

Already, a walk through neighborhoods where the volunteer groups are active is an unsettling experience. Small groups of young armed men guard street corners, while others ride in open trucks. In many areas they wear camouflage uniforms that resemble military ones, making it hard to tell whom they work for.

A Calmer Iraq: Fragile, and Possibly Fleeting

As Iraqis and American officials assess the effects of this year’s American troop increase, there is a growing sense that, even as security has improved, Iraq has slipped to new depths of lawlessness.

Theft and corruption have become survival tools, creating a spiral of dishonest transactions that leave nearly everyone feeling dirty.

“No one can stop it,” Abu Ali said. “Corruption runs from top to bottom.”

“The size of the corruption exceeds the imagination,” said Shatha Munthir Abdul Razzaq, a member of Parliament’s largest Sunni bloc.

You have to pay a bribe to join the police. This is not just some ill-qualified people trying to improve their chances. Everyone has to pay.

(This article is also available at IHT, and that version was recommended, as well.)

Nonstop Theft and Bribery Are Staggering Iraq

"Mom, we killed women on the street today. We killed kids on bikes. We had no choice."

No Country For Women and Children