US Military Officially “Out” of Iraq

104,106 - 113,755Today we are told the last US troops pulled of Iraq. This allowed President Obama to announce the end of the Iraq war a week before Christmas. (We promised the Iraqis we’d be out by the 31st, so for all I know there may be a few stragglers.)

Out, of course, is a relative term. Left behind are a giant embassy compound in Baghdad, guarded by some Marines and up to 5,500 armed security contractors. Plus no doubt various secret outfits, of varying degrees of actual secrecy.

It’s clear to me that the entire affair was a major strategic disaster for the US, one entirely self-inflicted by the Bush administration. The war was prefigured when Bush moved half the US army to the Iraqi border. Having done so, he lacked the guts or the imagination to bring them home without attacking, but then the attack had always been his (and Cheney’s) intention. Bush-Cheney achieved their goal of killing Saddam Hussein, but as far as I can see got nothing of value to the US. Indeed, the strategic victor of the conflict was clearly Iran. There is even a plausible account that Iran manipulated the Bush administration into the conflict through its dupe, or even double-agent, Ahmad Chalabi. Regardless, the cost to the US in blood, treasure, and international influence, was and remains enormous.

One topic surprisingly under-reported in my media is whether the Iraqis think, on balance, it was worth it. They paid a much higher cost in blood, and in social upheaval, including what amounted to near-secession (the Kurds) and ethnic cleansing in many urban areas. I guess I’d like to know. Even a favorable verdict would not justify this war, but it might help some.

I am aware that some people want to argue that Arab Spring has roots in the Iraq war. I don’t see it. The causes of those revolutions seem to be to in the main highly indigenous: oppression plus rising expectations.

The case for semi-isolationism (e.g withdrawing to some form of NATO + a few key allies) has never looked so good. Not because it is good strategy or good international diplomacy (it may not be), or even because it might save us some money. The root of the case for semi-isolationism is that the Imperial Presidency cannot be trusted with the lives of our fellow citizens in uniform, nor with the lives of the inhabitants of the countries we aim to ‘save’.

That said, we should not forget that while the US was a leader in this effort, the US government did not act alone in Iraq: it was abetted by a ‘coalition of the willing’. The United Kingdom, Australia, and Poland contributed to the invasion. Thirty-seven other countries provided at least token, and sometimes more than token, troops to support military operations after the invasion was complete.

Posted in National Security, Politics: International | Leave a comment

Vaclav Havel

BBC reports that Vaclav Havel has died at age 75.

His book of essays Living in Truth, and especially the essay The Power of the Powerless likely would be high on any list of works I have read that left an imprint.

Posted in Civil Liberties, Readings | Leave a comment

New Pew Poll Finds Frustration with Congress & Inequality

I was part of the telephone sample for this new poll sponsored by the Pew Research Center.

I found a few of the questions very difficult because while I think overall the Republicans are worse than the Democrats, I’m pretty mad at the Democrats too.

Posted in Politics: US | Leave a comment

Miami Law’s World-Class International Arbitration Law Program

I don’t think many people yet grasp just how good the University of Miami’s international arbitration law program is, both at the JD and LL.M level.

Consider that the lead international arbitration professor on our faculty, Jan Paulsson, was just rated the #2 international arbitrator in the world based on a peer reputation survey.

And if that wasn’t enough, the #1 international arbitrator in the world in that same survey, Albert Jan van den Berg, visits here every year as a regular Visiting International Professor. And the other regular and visiting professors in the program are quite eminent too.

Read more puffing here.

Admittedly, international arbitration is a relatively small field, which it can be tough to break in to. But it is growing. And we’re really, really good at it.

Posted in Arbitration Law, Law School | 2 Comments

New Comments Bug (I Blame WP Super Cache) [Updated]

Recent comments are not showing up properly for users who have never made a comment. This seems to be a bad interaction between the latest version of WordPress (3.3) and the latest version of WP Super Cache (1.0).

The bug only affects lurkers, and only the more recent comments, but those are probably the ones you want to read. I am hopeful that this will get sorted out in the next bugfix release of the cache, which is due soon. It also think it may get somewhat sorted out as the cached files routinely refresh themselves. I’ve set them to expire on a more aggressive schedule in the hopes of encouraging that process along.

Meanwhile, if you can’t bear to wait until this is sorted out, I can offer the following work-around: point your browser at the Discourse.net comments feed. In most browsers you will be able to read the full text of the comments.

Later Update: I think what is happening now is that I’ve managed to club the cache tuning settings so that unrecognized users (ie those who do not have an ‘I’ve commented’ cookie) will get to see comments 15 or so minutes after they are posted. At least I hope so. I’m going to sleep now.

Posted in Discourse.net | 6 Comments

Random Life Advice

Business pundit Seth Godin offers some almost-random advice tips:

  1. No stranger or unknown company will ever contact you by mail or by phone with an actual method for making money easily or in your spare time. And if the person or company contacting you asserts that they are someone you know, double check before taking action.
  2. Don’t have back surgery. See a physiatrist first, then exhaust all other options before wondering if you should have back surgery.
  3. Borrow money to buy things that go up in value, but never to get something that decays over time.
  4. Placebos are underrated by almost everyone.
  5. It’s almost never necessary to use a semicolon.
  6. Seek out habits that help you overcome fear or inertia. Destroy those that do the opposite.
  7. Cognitive behavorial therapy is generally considered both the quickest and most effective form of addressing many common psychological problems.
  8. Backup your hard drive.
  9. Get a magnetic key hider, put a copy of your house key in it and hide it really well, unlabeled, two blocks from your house.
  10. A rice cooker will save you time and money and improve your diet, particularly if you come to like brown rice.
  11. Consider not eating wheat for an entire week. The results might surprise you.
  12. Taking your dog for a walk is usually better than whatever alternative use of your time you were considering.

I guess I’d endorse ## 1, 6, 8 & 10. I’m not at all on board with # 5, although it’s certainly the case that many people get them wrong. [Update: And why is it wrong to borrow to buy a car, so long as you understand how it depreciates?]

Maybe I’ll start accumulating a list and post it some day. Once in class, I told my students to make a will, especially if they had kids or assets, and was shocked by how many got a startled look in their eyes.

Meanwhile, what’s your best piece of random life advice?

Posted in Blogs | 4 Comments

The Strangely Affirming ‘Film the Police’

There is something oddly affirming about this rap video ‘Film the Police’. (Warning: cruelty and bad words you probably don’t want your toddler learning.)

I am not usually a big fan of rap; although I’ve heard a few very striking and wonderful rap pieces, on the whole my liking for rap tends to be one notch above ‘take it or leave it’: I’ll take it if there’s nothing else on.

Why then do I say a rap video about police brutality is affirming? For one thing, I am cheered that this piece of resistance starts with a judicial trope. The counter-culture assuming the judicial robe is older than I am (and even I just barely recall here come da judge), but it is still cheerful to see it continued, or revived. There’s still some deep resonance about the idea that the rule of law might be something that can be appropriated and turned on the powers that be.

Even more affirming is the central assumption: publicizing state-sponsored violence can end it. And it might be true.

Posted in 99%, Law: Criminal Law, Question Authority | 1 Comment