My worry is that the greatest danger in creating a society of resistance is that you might actually succeed. [Boston University professor Andrew] Bacevich may talk about American militarism, but I worry more about these non-state actors who build up armed conflict as their raison d'être. If peace in suddenly in your best interest a year or so down the road, for example, how are you going to tell these kids to stand down? Are they going to be happy working in a cell phone kiosk in Tyre?

That's exactly right. The cynic will want to say that organizations like Hezbollah have no intention of standing down, and the society-of-resistance crap represents a fairly thorough strategy. My guess is kind of a modified view of that: they're building the equivalent of an ideological perpetual-motion-machine, where their raison d'etre might be the realization of specific, not metaphysical, goals like gaining control of Lebanon or the reconquest of Israel or what-have-you, but their ethic or espirit d'corps is based around being implacable. Call it a condition of permanent hysteria. Maybe it's the case that in Year X their best interests are to make peace. But they're creating a mindset where they'll never perceive peace as being in their interests in any long-term sense.

And, to paraphrase Chris Hedges, a culture of resistence is a force that gives us meaning. To return to a bourgeoise life, or to choose one -- selling cellphones in Tyre, for instance -- is meant, I'd submit, to be a foreclosed option. The building of the society of resistence, says the recruiter to the youth-scout-in-training -- now that is the honorable profession. There's time enough to sell cell phones in paradise. It's almost as if these guys are bad people or something.

Crossposted to The Streak.

You know that Flamin’-Hot-Cheetos-drive-me-crazy story from NPR? The one that was an awesome internet meme a while ago? Well, a similar burst of temporary insanity appears to have afflicted Sen. Arlen Specter, who recently called the FISA telecom-immunity provisions that he voted for twice a “festering wound.”

Absent an explanation, the ACLU is noticing the bright-red Cheeto dust of hypocrisy on Specter’s fingers. Here’s Amanda Simon writing an open letter to Specter on the ACLU’s blog:

We are perplexed but also gladdened at your recent change of heart. And may we share this exciting news with you? It is within your very power to reverse this provision which so offends you. You, sir, can begin to heal this festering wound!

Seriously, Senator. Put the Cheeto bag down. You’re a little hyper at the moment. We can solve this.

Crossposted to The Streak, if you can believe that shit.

Mussina was the spirit of competition. Whereas Paul O'Neill would throw tantrums when he didn't succeed, Mussina would sulk, express disappointment in himself during press conferences, and then get to work fixing the problem. Joe Torre dropped him from the rotation temporarily in the summer of 2007 after a rough patch. He came back as a wicked reliever. Returned by Joe Girardi to the rotation this season, he won 20 games for the first time in his career. (Yes, yes, wins are the most contingent and mumbo-jumbo measurement of a pitcher's performance available. But he also threw 150 strikeouts to 31 walks across 200 innings this year, one of his better performances at age 39.)

Tyler Kempner recalls Moosely sourness:

He could be amused by his surroundings or curmudgeonly about any inconvenience. He did crossword puzzles, of course, and read novels and issues of Old Car Trader magazine. He wore funny T-shirts from 80stees.com – the Flux Capacitor, Abe Froman: Sausage King of Chicago, and many more. And he guzzled Mountain Dew all day long.

My personal favorite was from a between-innings video shown at the Stadium in spring 2006. It was one of those lame get-to-know-the-team things, and it asked the Yankees who their favorite reggae artist was. You could predict the answers -- Jeter likes Bob Marley, Melky and Cano prefer some dudes you've never heard of. Then the camera flashed on an ice-grilled Mussina. "Nobody," he said. I'll miss him.

Cartoon courtesy of this guy's awesome blog.

"I saw Frank Luntz," said McInturff, "who is a moron -- I want to make sure this is clearly on the record -- he was talking to Republican governors, making fun of John for not being able to use a BlackBerry. The man can't do it because he is much more disabled than people can imagine... I would like to take a hammer and start breaking bones in Frank's arms."

 Call P-Cutta. Seriously. Frank Luntz is about to look like a bitch if he doesn't respond. Bill McInturff just threw a cocktail at his car. If this goes unanswered, toupee-pulling is going to come next.

So, for instance, I couldn’t include what Moira Whelan of the National Security Network told me. NSN, you’ll recall, was founded by Rand Beers, who’s now in charge of the Obama team’s homeland security transition team. Here’s what Moira thinks a new counterterrorism agenda ought to include:

Language training and incentives for public service in this sector to prevent talent from learning the skills and then going to a contractor, but also to keep talent in. I’m also talking about technical skills here.

It’s a real concern. Last year, Bob Gates noticed that private security firms were poaching talented soldiers and marines — and especially Special Forces people — with the lure of more money than the Pentagon was offering. He put a stop to it, at least on paper, but it’s hardly a concern just for the military. The big northern-Virginia military contractors have intelligence branches that pay way more than the intelligence community, as do many of the big consulting firms.

You want a top-flight security apparatus, one that’s as smart as it is powerful? It’s going to cost you.

Crossposted to The Streak.

All these operations will be conducted with the necessity of fully respecting the Iraqi Constitution and Iraqi Law, and conducting these operations will be without overstepping the sovereignty of Iraq and its national interests as determined by the Iraqi government. It is the duty of the U.S. to respect the laws of Iraq, its customs and traditions and valid international law.

The Iraqi constitution is a massive and unclear document. How does a company commander in Arab Jabour or Mosul follow this instruction? And these aren't the only restrictions by a long shot. As McClatchy's Nancy Youssef notes, the Iraqis now control even the mail sent to the troops. (Your copy of Fallout 3 is no longer secure...)

Youssef has a fantastic piece about military commanders' concerns in this regard. They think that George W. Bush basically sold out their operational flexibility in his odd zeal to get an agreement in place. And sure enough, even though his insistance on a deal gave the Iraqis all the leverage and undid his plans for what Youssef calls "a semi-permanent occupation," Bush didn't reject the agreement.

As Obama's chances to be elected president improved, the White House felt it was under more pressure. Neither the administration nor the Iraqis wanted to extend the U.N. resolution. "It turned into a very peculiar political predicament," the officer said.

Someday I want to report out what was going through the administration's collective mind when it opted to stick with the SOFA process despite the Iraqis' undermining the administration's rationale for the deal.

Crossposted to The Streak

Janet Napolitano is Obama's pick for the Dept. of Homeland Security, says Politico's Mike Allen. As a native Brooklynite, I am obligated to throw my Roc sign in the air.

One quick note: this is a pretty strong indication that Eric Holder will get the Attorney General spot. Napolitano, who was Arizona's first woman attorney general before becoming its first woman governor, was widely mentioned as an AG contender.

But the big question is why you would want to take this job. Fewer agencies are more of a mess than DHS, a Frankenstein-like agglutination of 170,000 federal employees from different bureaucratic and law-enforcement cultures, transformed into a hive of incompetence and cronyism under Bush. Appealing, no? Napolitano has a reputation for being a strong manager, however, as you can read in my friend Dana Goldstein's recent profile of her in the American Prospect, and management skills are supposed to be paramount for making DHS function as it should.

These should be some interesting confirmation hearings -- unfortunately chaired by Droopy -- not least of which because I'd like to know what Napolitano makes of the spread of state-federal intelligence "fusion centers." The ACLU has its concerns. Here's what Napolitano told Dana in a different context:

When asked what she'd like to work on at the national level, Napolitano won't name a specific position, but she makes a hard sell for her law-enforcement experience. "I think at this stage, what I bring is that I've been an attorney general," she says. As U.S. attorney, Napolitano brags, her work on border-related crime forced her to make "big decisions that require judgment and attention."

Yet while liberals have spent much of this time opposing the Bush administration’s agenda, many of their proposals for Obama go beyond merely rolling back President George W. Bush’s policies — withdrawing from Iraq, shuttering the Guantanamo Bay detention complex, abolishing torture — to offer new areas of emphasis, like stabilizing Afghanistan, an Arab-Israeli peace and a re-envisioned balance between security and liberty.

It's not actually that lame! Sometimes lede-writing is a troublesome thing. Check out, for instance, Taylor Marsh's plan for Afghanistan:

Taylor Marsh, a progressive political analyst and former radio host, also urged a renewed counterterrorism focus in South Asia. “Counterterrorism in the Obama administration has to begin with the Af-Pak region immediately,” she said, referring the to Pashtun areas of Afghanistan and Pakistan. “First, we need limited additional deployment of forces into Afghanistan. Afghan cities must be made more stable, through working with NATO countries, or we’re going to have more problems not fewer with regard to terrorism. Because focusing on Pakistan alone, the jihadists will simply cross the border where we’re not building security. The Af-Pak region deals with two countries of varying complexities and unique challenges for Obama — but neither country can be dealt with in a vacuum.”

What is she, Ahmed Rashid n' shit? Yezzzur. This is progressive counterterrorism.