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Disunited Nations

George Bush and his junta don't like anybody telling them what to do, especially non-American anybodies. Therefore, on principle, they dislike the United Nations as a non-American power center, however feeble it may be. They also dislike the UN because most nations wield little power on their own; without the UN, they are at the mercy of larger nations. Witness Bosnia, where the UN hesitated before Serbian ethnic cleansing—or Iraq, where the UN was ineffectual before a lawless US invasion. Bush prefers a weak UN, just as he prefers a weak China and a weak European Union, to allow more scope for unilateral American decision-making and military intervention.

The Bushites' muscular, uncompromising stance toward the UN—I hesitate to call it diplomacy—has been expressed forcefully in three incidents recently:

• Renewed support for bomb-thrower John Bolton as UN ambassador
• Removal of the UN's human-rights expert in Afghanistan
• Attempted removal of the UN's nuclear-proliferation director

Nuts and Bolton

In the ongoing saga of Bolton and his quest for the UN, Dick Cheney publicly expressed his support for the nominee: "In this time and place, it's extraordinarily important for us to have a tough advocate at the U.N., and I think John is that advocate." Not "clever diplomat" or "someone who makes friends for the US," but "tough advocate." And the tough advocacy, of course, is for unfettered American hegemony of the neoconservative variety. Left unexpressed by Cheney was the similarity between himself and Bolton in temperament and technique. Both are ruthless, secretive manipulators proud of their tough-guy scorn for the niceties of law and convention.

Richard Cohen, writing in The Washington Post, excoriated Bolton for his outright lies to Congress and his refusal to take responsibility for his baleful actions. Since both tendencies are common in the Bush administration, it does seem unfair that Bolton is the only irresponsible liar who may be called to account. Cohen says:

In a way, I feel a bit solicitous toward the embattled Bolton. He must wonder why, of all the fibbers and exaggerators and outright liars in the Bush administration, he alone is being asked to account for what he said and what he did. It is a fair enough question and leads me to amend a recent column in which I called Bolton a nut. He is, instead, Cheney's acorn. He did not fall far from the tree.

Bolton's hatred for the UN makes him singularly unqualified for this post, except for the fact that his unyielding attitude and its expected undiplomatic effects represent administration policy. A few days ago, Bush reiterated that he thought Bolton was "a good man" with "a distinguished career." Fortunately, a few moderate Republican senators, starting with George Voinovich of Ohio, seem to be coming to their senses, and Bolton may not be confirmed.

Human Wrongs in Afghanistan

The second anti-UN action this week was the removal—at the insistence of the US government—of M. Cherif Bassiouni as the UN human rights commission's independent expert for Afghanistan. Oddly enough, his unceremonious firing came one day after he released an official report that charged Americans in Afghanistan of "engaging in arbitrary arrests and detentions and committing abusive practices, including torture" in prisons. Bassiouni, a professor of law at DePaul University in Chicago, was surprised at the retaliation:

In an interview from his Chicago office, he said that he had been expecting a routine two-year renewal but that the United States had lobbied against him because of his persistent efforts to examine American-supervised prisons and his disclosure that prisoners were being detained in remote "fire bases" constructed for combat operations.

The State Department denied that there had been American pressure, claiming that "the human rights situation in Afghanistan had evolved to the point where it could be monitored under the ordinary procedures of the high commissioner for human rights without the need of an independent expert." And a spokesman for Kofi Annan, clearly under American pressure, said the human rights commission "decided that the situation had improved and that it was time for the mandate to expire."

In fact, Warren Hoge quoted Bassiouni in The New York Times today about the real situation:

Arbitrary arrest and detention are common knowledge in Afghanistan because the coalition forces are known to go to villages and towns and break down doors and arrest people and take them whenever they want.  

It was very reminiscent of what I had seen in the former Yugoslavia, where you would ask victims of beatings and torture who had abused them and they would say they couldn't identify them because they wore battle fatigues with no names and no insignias.

The situation has not improved, and an independent expert is still required, as Bassiouni's report yesterday made clear. The Bushites simply don't want anyone to search for the many additional Abu Ghraibs, in Afghanistan and elsewhere, in which Americans and their allies continue secretly to torture prisoners and deny them legal rights. Such discoveries might call into question their dedication to establishing democracy all over the world.

The Nuclear Proliferation Option

The third anti-UN action is a continuing campaign to undermine Mohamed ElBaradei, director general of the International Atomic Energy Agency. The IAEA's mission is to limit nuclear proliferation, and under ElBaradei it has had many successes. But his latest term as director general is ending shortly, and the US has been working behind the scenes at the UN to deny him another term, since he was not supportive of the invasion and occupation of Iraq. Zaman Daily News (Istanbul) reports this week that the agency has called an emergency meeting to discuss the matter: 

Diplomatic sources revealed that only the US among the 35 member countries is against the candidacy of Al Baradei saying, "Unless there is a unanimous decision over the candidacy of Al Baradei, voting will be conducted, in which he will need to gain a two-third majority".… The final significant decision will be made in the General Assembly meeting in September.

As I have discussed in previous notes, the Bush administration is apparently no more serious about containing nuclear proliferation than it is about limiting torture of  prisoners. These attitudes, like the misbegotten nomination of Bolton, stem from a profound dislike of international institutions and a willful rejection of international cooperation.

Death in Iraq, Day 772

Iraq now has a government, but it does not have peace, stability, or security. As of today, these are the numbers of the dead:

• 1,576 American military
• 177 other coalition military
• at least 229 coalition contractors
• about 100,000 Iraqi civilians—at least 21,239 deaths have been fully documented in online media reports
• about 9,000 Iraqi military (during the invasion)

And in Afghanistan, 180 American military personnel have died.

During the Vietnam War, newspaper articles and television reports often included photos of returning coffins. The photos were considered an honorable remembrance of the dead.

During the Afghanistan War and the Iraq War, the Department of Defense has refused to release photos of returning coffins and has forbidden civilian photographers from doing so. The Bush administration is apparently fearful that if Americans are reminded of the real consequences of war, they will not support it. The latest Washington Post/ABC Poll bears that out: 54 percent now say the Iraq War was not worth fighting, and 58 percent say the US is bogged down in Iraq. Even though few photos have been available, more and more people have become aware of the continuing carnage.

Yesterday, in response to a Freedom of Information request and subsequent lawsuit filed by Ralph Begleiter, a professor at the University of Delaware and a former correspondent for CNN, DoD released more than 700 photos of flag-draped coffins. Most faces and insignia were blacked out. No names were provided, and almost no context. These four DoD photos, therefore, are presented as a memorial to the Unknown Soldier.

More photos are available at the National Security Archive.

These casualty numbers are updated weekly and posted in the left margin.

Update: Looking at these photos again, I find it strange that DoD did not release them willingly, and even stranger that the faces of living soldiers should be blacked out, as though they were already dead. The brass at DoD and the suits at the White House are apparently so ashamed of what they require these dedicated soldiers to do that their identities must be kept secret, like criminal coconspirators.

Whatever one's view of the leadership and the policies that brought these soldiers to Iraq and Afghanistan, we should honor them for their loyalty and sacrifice. Publication of the photos is one small gesture of respect. As Professor Begleiter said yesterday:

This is an important victory for the American people, for the families of troops killed in the line of duty during wartime, and for the honor of those who have made the ultimate sacrifice for their country. This significant decision by the Pentagon should make it difficult, if not impossible, for any U.S. government in the future to hide the human cost of war from the American people.

The Hunger of Poetry

Poetry Month is almost over, but that doesn't mean you have to stop reading poems come May. Here's one—funny and unexpectedly profound—by Ishmael Reed.

Read it aloud, in a room with lots of mirrors.

beware : do not read this poem

tonite, thriller was
abt an ol woman, so vain she
surrounded herself w /
many mirrors

it got so bad that finally she
locked herself indoors & her
whole life became the
mirrors

one day the villagers broke
into her house , but she was too
swift for them . she disappeared
into a mirror
each tenant who bought the house
after that , lost a loved one to

the ol woman in the mirror :
first a little girl
then a young woman
then the young woman/s husband

the hunger of this poem is legendary
it has taken in many victims
back off from this poem
it has drawn in yr feet
back off from this poem
it has drawn in yr legs

back off from this poem
it is a greedy mirror
you are into this poem . from
the waist down
nobody can hear you can they ?
this poem has had you up to here
belch
this poem aint got no manners
you cant call out frm this poem
relax now & go w / this poem

move & roll on to this poem
do not resist this poem
this poem has yr eyes
this poem has his head
this poem has his arms
this poem has his fingers
this poem has his fingertips

this poem is the reader & the
reader this poem

statistic : the us bureau of missing persons re-
ports that in 1968 over 100,000 people
disappeared leaving no solid clues
nor trace only
a space in the lives of their friends

You can read more of Ishmael Reed's wonderful poetry in New and Collected Poems (1989), A Secretary to the Spirits (1978), Chattanooga (1973), Conjure (1972), and Catechism of D Neoamerican Hoodoo Church (1970). Before you start reading, be sure to let your friends know where you are.

The photo was taken at the inaugural protest January 20, 2005, in Berkeley, California, where Reed, Robert Hass, and others read Langston Hughes's poem "Let America Be America Again." Photo © David Bacon. "beware : do not read this poem" © Ishmael Reed

Not Safer, Merely Less Informed

George Bush was elected in 2004 by convincing a bare majority of voters that he would make them safe from terrorist attacks. But in 2004 the number of attacks increased dramatically.

A leader who truly wanted to reduce the probability of attacks would publicize the facts, determine the likely causes, and implement effective programs to counter terrorism. Capturing Osama bin Laden, for example. Or cooperating with other countries to cut off jihadist funding. Or screening more than five percent of the cargo that goes through US ports. Instead, Bush and Condoleezza Rice have attempted to hide the facts, while continuing their propaganda campaign to depict themselves as the last bastion against the Muslim hordes.

The truth is out, as Susan B. Glasser reports in The Washington Post:

The number of serious international terrorist incidents more than tripled last year, according to U.S. government figures, a sharp upswing in deadly attacks that the State Department has decided not to make public in its annual report on terrorism due to Congress this week.

Overall, the number of what the U.S. government considers "significant" attacks grew to about 655 last year, up from the record of around 175 in 2003, according to congressional aides who were briefed on statistics covering incidents including the bloody school seizure in Russia and violence related to the disputed Indian territory of Kashmir.

Terrorist incidents in Iraq also dramatically increased, from 22 attacks to 198, or nine times the previous year's total.…

Under the standards used by the government, "significant" terrorist attacks are defined as those that cause civilian casualties or fatalities or substantial damage to property. Attacks on uniformed military personnel such as the large number of U.S. troops stationed in Iraq are not included.

Those attacks on the military are not decreasing either. The overall situation in Iraq continues to be desperate, with many casualties every day, both military and civilian. Reporters are unable to travel freely, and even the road to the Baghdad airport remains under constant guerrilla attack. Juan Cole points out the absurd disjunction between the administration's claims and the facts:

Hubble and Beauty and Truth

Human beings seek patterns in the data we receive, perceiving order and creating meaning from a flood of sensory input. When we receive insufficient data, or when our brains are insufficiently trained, we create patterns even where none exist.

The great enterprise of science, it seems to me, consists of two related efforts: to gather as much data as possible about the physical universe, and to seek (0r create) accurate patterns in that data: hypotheses and theories and laws. If data-gathering is impeded, so is accurate pattern-seeking.

That's why the Hubble Space Telescope is so important. It's an amazing data collector,  providing astronomers and physicists with 120 gigabytes of fresh data every week, and it's been streaming down that data for 15 years now. 

Like any piece of technology, the Hubble needs periodic maintenance. So when Sean O'Keefe, until recently administrator of NASA, called off a planned space-shuttle flight to repair the telescope and extend its useful life, there were many unhappy scientists. O'Keefe himself was a bean-counter from the Office of Management and Budget, who had previously taught business at Syracuse and Penn State; he was not a scientist.

Michael Griffin was approved by the Senate earlier this month as the new NASA administrator; and he is a scientist, a physicist who is currently head of the space department at the Johns Hopkins Applied Physics Laboratory. Not surprisingly, he said he would reconsider O'Keefe's decision. When he appeared before the Senate Commerce Committee, he emphasized the importance of  Hubble—along with the other three space observatories, which cover gamma-ray, X-ray, and infrared wavelengths:

The Great Observatories, including the Hubble Space Telescope, Chandra, Spitzer, and Compton, have allowed us to extend our gaze to the very edge of the Universe, and back in time almost to its beginning.

The images and the knowledge returned to us by these, our surrogates, have shaped our culture, our view of the Universe, and our place in it almost as powerfully as if human explorers had been present. As we undertake to redirect our human spaceflight program, it is crucial that we do it without damaging NASA's outstanding science programs, which have been among the crown jewels of the nation's achievements.

That is good news for scientists. More data = more truth (we hope). But it's also very good news for us nonscientists, because more data (of this kind) = more beauty. And that is all ye need to know.

But if you'd like to know more, the place to look is the HubbleSite, NASA's new website for all things Hubble. As part of the 15th-birthday celebration, some new images have been released, and I've reproduced four of them here. You can find many more beautiful chunks of data at HubbleSite.

Happy Birthday, Bill!

It's William Shakespeare's birthday—he's 441 today—and it's still National Poetry Month, so let's listen to three characters from The Tempest.

First the sensitive monster Caliban, describing his island home in the "still-vex’d Bermoothes":

Be not afeard; the isle is full of noises,
Sounds and sweet airs, that give delight and hurt not.
Sometimes a thousand twangling instruments
Will hum about mine ears, and sometime voices
That, if I then had waked after long sleep,
Will make me sleep again: and then, in dreaming,
The clouds methought would open and show riches
Ready to drop upon me that, when I waked,
I cried to dream again.

And here's the aging magician Prospero, preparing to bid farewell to his magic:

You do look, my son, in a moved sort,
As if you were dismay’d: be cheerful, sir.
Our revels now are ended. These our actors,
As I foretold you, were all spirits and
Are melted into air, into thin air:
And, like the baseless fabric of this vision,
The cloud-capp’d towers, the gorgeous palaces,
The solemn temples, the great globe itself,
Yea all which it inherit, shall dissolve
And, like this insubstantial pageant faded,
Leave not a rack behind. We are such stuff
As dreams are made on, and our little life
Is rounded with a sleep. Sir, I am vex’d;
Bear with my weakness; my brain is troubled:
Be not disturb’d with my infirmity:
If you be pleased, retire into my cell
And there repose: a turn or two I’ll walk,
To still my beating mind.

And finally, a few words from his joyful daughter, Miranda:

O, wonder!
How many goodly creatures are there here!
How beauteous mankind is! O brave new world,
That has such people in’t!

Happy birthday, Bill!

Celebrating Physics and Poetry

One hundred years ago, Albert Einstein changed our understanding of the universe. In 1905, among other astounding breakthroughs, he published the special theory of relativity, which addressed the connection between electromagnetic theory and motion. His later work on the general theory of relativity and a unified field theory consolidated and furthered those early insights. (Alan Boyle has an excellent introduction to Einstein for nonscientists at the MSNBC website.)

In a celebration marking Einstein's contributions, 2005 has been proclaimed World Year of Physics. Sean Carroll, a University of Chicago physicist, has mentioned this centenary more than once on his blog Preposterous Universe, and he has also pointed out (more than once) that April is National Poetry Month.

It's a great combination, physics and poetry, especially in the right hands, and Howard Nemerov has the right hands. Here's an excerpt from his 1960 poem "Angel and Stone":

In the world are millions and millions of men, and each man,
With a few exceptions, believes himself to be at the center,
A small number of his more or less necessary planets careering
Around him in an orderly manner, some morning stars singing together,
More distant galaxies shining like dust in any stray sunbeam
Of his attention. Since this is true not of one man or two,
But of ever so many, it is hard to imagine what life must be like.
But if you drop a stone into a pool, and observe the ripples
Moving in circles successively out to the edges of the pool and then
Reflecting back and passing through the ones which continue to come
Out of the center over the sunken stone, you observe it is pleasing.
And if you drop two stones, it will still be pleasing, because now
The angular intersections of the two sets form a more complicated
Pattern, a kind of reticulation regular and of simple origins.
But if you throw a handful of sand into the water, it is confusion,
Not because the same laws have ceased to obtain, but only because
The limits of your vision in time and number forbid you to discriminate
Such fine, quick, myriad events as the angels and archangels, thrones
And dominations, principalities and powers, are delegated to witness
And declare the glory of before the Lord of everything that is.…

Read it aloud, preferably beside a pond with a few stones in your hand. Then read the rest in Nemerov's Collected Poems.

The rough-cast statue by Robert Berks is in front of the National Academy of Sciences in Washington, beside the Mall. Einstein looms over a vast starfield, musing about the universe and jotting down his famous formulae. Click on the photo for a larger version.

America Is a Sherman Tank

Several years ago, an English friend was trying to explain to me how he thought of America. It is as though a large tank came roaring down the high street in your village, he said. You're helpless; there's nothing you can do. The tank rumbles to a stop in the central square and idles for a moment, waving its turret about, looking for something worth shooting at. There is no resistance. The soldiers pop up, smiling, and toss some candy to the children. And then the tank roars off, leaving in its wake a few smashed cobblestones and a sense of fierce resentment.

I tried to place myself in his shoes, imagining how I would feel if my comfortable, green country were invaded by a much greater force and I were powerless to resist. Even if the invasion were not explicitly military, I would resent the onslaught of foreign movies and computers and business practices and tourists and moneyed investors rolling over my land. All wrapped in a naïve sense of entitlement and a smug idea of generosity. Yes, I began to understand, it would feel like a tank.

And that was before George Bush, and it was in a country that shares more history and language and culture with the US than any other. When your Motherland resents you, you know the whole family is dysfunctional.

But the American invasion is not just cultural and economic; it is explicitly military. The tank is more than a symbol; it is a literal tool of imperial conquest. Ever since World War Two, and increasingly since the end of  the Cold War, the US has strewn military bases around the world, and Americans have increasingly become comfortable as invaders, occupiers, and bullies. We're bringing the poor benighted heathens so much, we're entitled to be in charge—that's the delusion.

Several excellent writers have been exploring this subject recently. Chalmers Johnson's book The Sorrows of Empire (2004) explains the history and the current imperial reality:

Americans like to say that the world changed as a result of the September 11, 2001, terrorist attacks.… It would be more accurate to say that the attacks produced a dangerous change in the thinking of some of our leaders, who began to see our republic as a genuine empire, a new Rome, the greatest colossus in history, no longer bound by international law, the concerns of allies, or any constraints on its use of military force. The American people were still largely in the dark about why they had been attacked or why their State Department began warning them against tourism in an ever-growing list of foreign countries.… But a growing number finally began to grasp what most non-Americans already knew and had experienced over the previous half-century—namely, that the United States was something other than what it professed to be, that it was, in fact, a military juggernaut intent on world domination.

In his book War Is a Force that Gives Us Meaning (2003), Chris Hedges writes eloquently about the attendant psychology and nationalistic myths, the ways in which our animal excitement disguises the horrors of militarism:

In mythic war we imbue events with meanings they do not have. We see defeats as signposts on the road to ultimate victory. We demonize the enemy so that our opponent is no longer human. We view ourselves, our people, as the embodiment of absolute goodness. Our enemies invert our view of the world to justify their own cruelty. In most mythic wars this is the case. Each side reduces the other to objects—eventually in the form of corpses.

Now Andrew Bacevich has written a book that synthesizes both kinds of information and extends the argument. The New American Militarism: How Americans Are Seduced By War (2005) is a particularly interesting addition to the dialog because, as Tom Engelhardt explains, Bacevich is no flaming leftist. He positions himself as "culturally on the right. And I continue to view the remedies proffered by mainstream liberalism with skepticism. But my disenchantment with what passes for mainstream conservatism, embodied in the present Bush administration and its groupies, is just about absolute. Fiscal irresponsibility, a buccaneering foreign policy, a disregard for the Constitution, the barest lip service as a response to profound moral controversies: these do not qualify as authentically conservative values."

The Martin Luther Moment

The new pope's name is Benedict, which means "blessing" or, more generally, "good speech." For those who hoped that the Catholic church of the Roman rite would seize this opportunity to turn away from the medieval rigidities of John Paul II, it is a misnomer. The new pope should be called Maledict.

It may be time now to return to Wittenberg and nail 95 new theses to the church door. When Martin Luther decided that the church had gone astray, he spent years attempting reform from within—even after posting his challenge to papal authority in 1517. Charged with heresy in 1521, he refused to recant. "I do not accept the authority of popes and councils," he said to the prelates and princes assembled at Worms. "Here I stand. I can do no other." He was excommunicated, and his writings were forbidden.

For many gay Catholics, this may be a Martin Luther moment. Benedict XVI believes that homosexuality is "an intrinsic moral evil" and "an objective disorder."

For many female Catholics, this may be a Martin Luther moment. Benedict XVI believes that women cannot be ordained, that their biology destines them for an inferior role. Feminists, he says, are merely "seeking power," or trying to make themselves "the adversaries of men," or seeking to "dominate" them.

For many Catholics appalled by the sexual scandals of the priesthood, this may be a Martin Luther moment. Benedict XVI believes that "the constant presence in the press of the sins of Catholic priests, especially in the United States, is a planned campaign, as the percentage of these offences among priests is not higher than in other categories, and perhaps it is even lower."

For many Catholics who believe that the teachings of Jesus require special attention to the poor, this may be a Martin Luther moment. Speaking of liberation theology, Benedict XVI believes that "Religion must not be turned into the handmaiden of political ideologies. The autonomy of Christianity must be defended against the armed enthusiasts of world revolution, however nobly intentioned they may be."

For many Catholics who value the power of the rational mind over traditional authoritarian rule—in particular the doctrine of papal infallibility—this may be a Martin Luther moment. Benedict XVI believes that anyone who challenges church authority is a moral relativist, that those who do not agree with his rigid beliefs are therefore wrong. "Having a clear faith based on the creed of the Church is often labelled today as fundamentalism," he said. "Relativism, which is letting oneself be tossed and swept along by every wind of teaching, looks like the only attitude acceptable to today's standards."

In Salon, Sidney Blumenthal outlines how truly retrograde Benedict's ideas are:

The new pope's burning passion is to resurrect medieval authority. He equates the Western liberal tradition, that is, the Enlightenment, with Nazism, and denigrates it as "moral relativism." He suppresses all dissent, discussion and debate within the church and concentrates power within the Vatican bureaucracy.

The new pope could surprise us all. He could disavow his many reactionary statements and actions over the years. He could become another John XXIII.

On the evidence so far, however, that seems unlikely. It is much more likely that he will crack down on reformers, that some faithful Catholics will be excommunicated, and that many more will leave. They will decide, like Luther, that reform is necessary, but that it is not possible within this church, led by this medieval pope.

Songs that Wake the Sleepers

There's exciting news from Oxford this week. Thanks to a new infrared technology, a vast trove of previously illegible manuscripts from Egypt is now accessible. It is as though a wing of the great lost library of Alexandria were rediscovered after 1,600 years, and we now have twenty percent more written records from ancient Greece and Rome.

The 400,000 manuscripts themselves, many of them small fragments, were discovered in the rubbish dumps of the Hellenic Greek city of Oxyrhynchus as early as 1897, but they were so decayed that most were unable to be deciphered. Recently, Oxford classicists began working with document reconstruction specialists from Brigham Young University to recover thousands of the documents.

Writing in The Independent (London), David Keys and Nicholas Pyke describe the extraordinary developments:

The original papyrus documents, discovered in an ancient rubbish dump in central Egypt, are often meaningless to the naked eye - decayed, worm-eaten and blackened by the passage of time. But scientists using the new photographic technique, developed from satellite imaging, are bringing the original writing back into view.…

Christopher Pelling, Regius Professor of Greek at the University of Oxford, described the new works as "central texts which scholars have been speculating about for centuries".…

The previously unknown texts, read for the first time last week, include parts of a long-lost tragedy - the Epigonoi ("Progeny") by the 5th-century BC Greek playwright Sophocles; part of a lost novel by the 2nd-century Greek writer Lucian; unknown material by Euripides; mythological poetry by the 1st-century BC Greek poet Parthenios; work by the 7th-century BC poet Hesiod; and an epic poem by Archilochos, a 7th-century successor of Homer, describing events leading up to the Trojan War. Additional material from Hesiod, Euripides and Sophocles almost certainly await discovery.…

"The Oxyrhynchus collection is of unparalleled importance - especially now that it can be read fully and relatively quickly," said the Oxford academic directing the research, Dr Dirk Obbink. "The material will shed light on virtually every aspect of life in Hellenistic and Roman Egypt, and, by extension, in the classical world as a whole."