Alsop's Small Thoughts

Insurgent objectives

I know this is one of those really dumb thoughts that occur to me from time to time, but if you were an "Iraqi insurgent" (in quotes because I don't see too many actual Iraqis insurging) and you really wanted the "evil" Americans to leave the country, wouldn't you stop killing so many civilians in senseless suicide bombings? Here's my thinking: The U.S. is under tremendous political pressure to withdraw from Iraq. The only thing that's keeping the U.S. (meaning 160,000 American soldiers) in the country is the fact that it is so unstable, ie that suicide bombings by the so-called insurgents happen on a daily basis. If it was just a matter of the Sunnis and Shiites being pissed off at each other and tearing down each others political posters, you can bet the Americans would get out of the country as fast as possible. But now it's a test of manhood for the U.S. and its military and civilian leadership, so they can't get out. In other words, the only thing standing in the way of the Americans withdrawing from Iraq is the stupid and senseless bombings by the so-called insurgents. Whoever these people are motivating the suicide bombers must be the dumbest politicians in the history of mankind.

Defending the family name

Under the headline "All the News That's Fit to Buy", Alexander Cockburn listed my father as a journalist "willing to promote the views of the CIA" in The Nation magazine (along with a series of other well regarded journalists from that time).  He also referred to my uncle Joe as the "powerful and malevolent columnist". Cockburn is using the recent news that the US Government has been placing articles in the Iraqi newspapers as the platform for a diatribe about journalistic ethics. The column itself is an example of the muddy-headed thinking that he decries. 1)  For Cockburn to apply today's standards to activities by journalists more than 50 years ago is bad enough. 2)  I actually subscribe to the point of view that American journalists are also Americans and that being a journalist doesn't exempt you from any feeling of patriotism or nationalism. But 3), you wonder whether Cockburn actually ever read any of the stuff he refers to as "promoting the CIA's point of view".

Just a proud son wanting to stand up in defense of my father's reputation as a journalist and political columnist, 30+ years after he died.

Compliance note

I just can't resist lifting this little ditty from Richard Davis' weekly letter (called Weekly Musings!) and reproduce without comment (or permission actually):

"As defined by the Let’s Make Someone Pay for the Bubble and Sell-Side Research Looks Like a Good Target Act of 2002, this note includes forward, backward and contemporaneous statements that probably don’t shield this analyst or his firm from liability.  Specifically, individuals  who read this note will see terms such as “believes”, “expects”, “anticipates”, “forecasts”, “who the heck knows”, “you’re guess is as good as mine” and “lot’s of luck on this one”.  These are all forms of mealy-mouthed, hedged forecasts.  As such, should you have a question or comment on this text, we remind you that we were never there and we don’t recall.  You are warned that any recording, rebroadcasting or reuse of this note will result in your immediate and indefinite incarceration in a humid holding pen a few miles south of the Florida Keys."

Davis is a research analyst at Needham & Co., who appears to have been freed by the separation of banking and research to make aggressive, cogent comments that appeal to my troublemaking nature. If I'm ever regulated (lord save me), I'll adopt this statement for my formal disclosures too. And maybe I'll even adapt it to the end-of-email statement that companies have become so fond of inserting automatically these days.  Oops: Have to run -- they're calling my flight to Florida so I can be incarcerated for reproducing this!

What Makes the Insurgents So Cool?

The "insurgents" in Iraq killed another 12 people today in Baghdad. I keep wondering why the Americans are vilified when it's these people -- who may be pissed-off Sunnis or may be troublemakers brought in from other countries by outside forces -- are the ones killing off people by the scores.  I know the Americans are clumsy and unsophisticated, but I thought we were trying to do good: rebuild Iraq, help the Iraqis figure out how to govern themselves rather than live in fear of a dictator, and show them how to live relatively stable, secure lives. And somehow the "insurgents" seem to be forgiven since they are only trying to get rid of the evil Americans and choose to do so by killing innocent bystanders.

Vote no on Harriet

David Brooks persuaded me this morning in his column in The New York Times, titled "in Her Own Words" that Harriet Miers doesn't deserve to be a Supreme Court Justice of the United States.  He includes observations written by her as president of the Texas bar that are so vapid and uninteresting that it appears to me to be a disaster to have her on our court of last resort. 

Sub-rant on the NY Times: I apologize for not including a link to the column, but the New York Times has recently introduced something called Times Select, for  which you either have to pay or register as a print subscriber, which I am. But the nytimes.com informs me that I am registered for Times Select but gives me no clue how to get there and apparently has got me registered as two different people with different email addresses. So I gave up rather than spend the rest of the morning trying to figure it out. Go buy a copy of the Times if you don't have one; the column is on the Op-Ed page.

Rocking in the Dead Sea

I'm sitting in a conference at Le Meridien Resort in the Dead Sea, Israel, listening to Li-El, a 16 year old singer.  Wow! And what a session I've been watching, particularly two one on one interviews with Haim Shaban and Arnon Milchel. These guys have just invested in Israeli media companies and are seeking approval of regulatory changes that will allow them to run the businesses more effectively. The conference, called TIME (for Telecom Internet Media Education), is sponsored by the Israeli Minister of Communication, a firecracker named Dalia Itzik. The fireworks were far beyond anything I've seen in an American or European conference and very entertaining, even though I had to listen through a simultaneous translation.