Woops, there goes another benchmark

This piece in today's NYTimes about the Kurds objective to the just passed provincial elections law in Iraq. Their objections will likely mean rejection of the law by the Presidency Council and a postponement of elections until next year.

As the article pointed out, neither the Sunnis (who boycotted the last elections) nor the Sadrists, who would probably do well, will be pleased with that development. One even has to suspect that both the Kurds and the ISCI faction of the Shi'ites prefer it that way since they have a near-hammerlock on the Iraqi government as things currently stand and, in fact, voted against the law.

Of history and holidays; of sizzle and steak

July 4 and July 14 are celebrated as national holidays in the US and France respectively. These are celebrated as the acts of American independence and the revolution that saw off the ancien regime in France.

In the case of July 4, the actual declaration took place two days earlier, with the Continental Congress's passage of the resolution (one of the myths about July 4 debunked in the HNN site's page on the topic)

`Resolved, That these United Colonies are, and of right ought to be, free and inde­pendent states, that they are absolved from all allegiance to the British Crown, and that all political connection between them and the state of Great Britain is, and ought to be, totally dissolved.''

In fact, John Adams had thought that

"The Second Day of July 1776 will be the most memorable Epocha, in the History of America. . . . It ought to be solemnized with Pomp and Parade, with Shews, Games, Sports, Guns, Bells, Bonfires, and Illuminations from one End of this Continent to the other from this Time forward forever more."

However, even that may not have been the true revolutionary act. On May 17, 1775, the Continental Congress advised states to set up their own constitutions and it declared the forces assembled outside Boston to be a Continental Army. Arguably assuming the functions of a sovereign government was pretty damn close to a de facto declaration of independence.

Likewise, the celebration of Bastille Day in France overshadows the Tennis Court Oath. This had its origins on a royal lockout of the Estates-General when it looked like the Third Estate was going to win on a procedural vote that would've given them the dominant position in the ensuing deliberations. On June 20, 1789, over three weeks before the storming of the Bastille, the delegates of the Third Estate assembled at a tennis court and declared themselves a national assembly that wouldn't disperse until the constitution of the kingdom had been rewritten. Again, the true revolutionary act inhered in the assumption of sovereign power.

It is, perhaps, natural for the actual celebrations to center around an easily understood symbolic act than to delve into the more subtle questions of sovereignty. This isn't necessarily a bad thing as long as it inspires a deeper look into the latter kind of events rather than to limit such contemplations to the flashier parts of history.

It hasn't taken Obama long, has it?

Barack Obama is exemplifying the political axiom that candidates in American elections run to the flanks in the primaries and run to the center in the general election. Obama got much of his momentum in this race running on the speech against the Iraq war that he gave in 2002. This was a particular standout because of Hilary Clinton's vote for the Iraq war resolution and her refusal to recant it during the campaign.

Now there's this item in yesterday's NYTimes where Obama has said that he would be open to "refine his policies" regarding withdrawal from Iraq depending on the feedback he got from American military commanders in Iraq later this month. Although he later reiterated his intention to stick with his 16-month withdrawal plan, the initial response represents an unfortunately trimming tendency. Further, he mentioned a training mission for the residual force, not something he had hitherto consider part of its mission.

There is Obama's disturbing stand on the FISA legislation that passed the House and is now before the Senate. This bill would immunize the telecoms from civil suits and would limit the FISA court's review of warrant applications to the general procedure used, with no look at the level of proof provided in the individual cases. Although Obama has undertaken to try to have the immunity provisions stripped from the bill, he has indicated approval of the rest of the legislation, hasn't promised to vote against the bill if telecom immunity is retained and has backtracked on his promise to filibuster the bill under those circumstances.

Finally, there is his statement in opposition to the SCOTUS opinion that barred the death penalty for non-homicides. Although the child rape in that case was an act that rightly evoked a desire for violent retribution, the death penalty in this country is problematic enough in the capital cases where it applies. It certainly doesn't merit expansion.

Fortunately, the bottom-up approach to political organization that marks the Obama campaign has meant that his followers can signal disapproval. Obama's social networking site's largest group is now the one that is opposing his waffling on FISA. Perhaps Obama isn't as different as we originally thought, but he may be different enough.

But it's not about the oil!--Pt. 2

One of the disputes roiling Iraq is the level of Kurdish autonomy. Part of that is the Kurdish government's propensity for signing oil deals on its own without reference to the national government. According to the New York Times, Hunt Oil company of Dallas signed a deal with the Kurds in September and it seems our State Department "did nothing to discourage the deal and in some cases appeared to welcome it". The State Department denies this but there are apparently documents to the contrary.

Ray Hunt is apparently close enough to President Bush to be on his Foreign Intelligence Advisory Board and the Board of Trustees of the George Bush Library Foundation. OpenSecrets.org has him as a major contributor to Republican candidates and the Republican party. He was the 33rd largest nationwide in 2004 with $277,984 going overwhelmingly to the Republicans. Sourcewatch has other Hunt-Bush connections. He is on the Board of Directors of Halliburton and the American Petroleum Institute and chaired the National Petroleum Council.