The Rabid Right Has Made Me Doubt My Faith in America

“What troubles me about the US today is that the reaction to the Obama presidency is so irrational, emotional and, dare I say it, ignorant.”

Rep. Michele Bachmann’s “House Call” protest against health care reform at the U.S. Capitol, Nov. 5, 2009. (Photo credit: Graham Moomaw / The Washington Independent; photo added to article)

By Michael White
The Guardian (London) Political Blog
November 27, 2009

Extended excerpt with sidebars, links, graphics, and video added

Did you read about Congresswoman Michele Bachmann, the thinking man’s Sarah Palin, in the Observer the other weekend? …

First, a confession about finding myself in a place where, as an admirer of the United States of America, I never expected to be.

Barely a week passes nowadays without my questioning what has been one of the basic principles informing my lifelong world view – namely that, whatever wrong or foolish things are done in the name of the US, to its own citizens or to others, counterveiling forces of intelligence and decency will eventually restore a better equilibrium. That’s the 200-year story of the republic.

A good and obvious example of this proposition at work can be seen in last year’s election of Barack Obama to succeed George Bush as president and to correct much of his egregious folly. The wider world applauded or, at least, sighed with relief.

After eight years, here was a president who seemed to get it: to get it about the economy, on both Main Street and Wall Street, about inequality and military-diplomatic unilateralism, about the rise of Asia and the hyper-sensitivity of Islam, about climate change and the need to reform America’s unfair and expensive healthcare provision, which is dragging the country down.

Obama still does get it, and I am not one of those people already writing off his presidency, as another old chum did over a drink yesterday.

I do worry about the president’s still unproven ability to master the forces he has to confront – by choice or necessity – at home or abroad.

Sidebar: Barack Obama: A Question of Toughness

He talks the talk brilliantly, but can he walk the walk, as a president must? “Can he do it?” remains the pivotal question. I certainly hope so. …

What troubles me about the US today in ways I never expected to witness in my lifetime is not Obama’s failure to solve all its urgent problems in a year, or even four.

It is the scale of the irrational, emotional and, dare I add, ignorant, reaction his presidency has unleashed on the American right, some of it understandable in a fast-changing and confusing world, much of it ugly and increasingly violent in tone.

Sidebar: Bachmann Rebuked for Nazi Image

Friends keep saying: “It’s changed since you lived there, Mike.” …

Here’s where Congresswoman Bachmann comes in. Hats off to a mother of five who came up the hard way (divorced parents and poverty), can also find the time to run a business, foster 23 kids and get elected to represent Minnesota, one of the Midwest’s northern Great Lakes states that foreign tourists rarely see.

But Paul Harris’s account in the Observer [link added] has her making foolish remarks about all sorts of things, from CO2 emissions (“a harmless gas”) to Obama (a socialist leading a “gangster government”) and, of course, to healthcare reform.

Sidebar: Gangster Government

Thus, she said recently: “What we have to do today is make a covenant, to slit our wrists, be blood brothers on this thing. This will not pass. We will do whatever it takes to make sure this doesn’t pass.”

Sidebar: Bachmann: “Slit Our Wrists”

Now, rational folk on both left and right can criticise the clutch of healthcare plans now being “reconciled” on Capitol Hill – for one thing, they don’t bear down enough on the excessive cost of the US medical and insurance industries (15% of GNP and rising). The US economy cannot stay competitive with non-wage costs like this.

And, no, I don’t think even William Hague would talk about wrist-slitting, not even on a bad day. Don’t trust politicians who invoke blood: it’s rarely their own that gets shed.

Needless to say, Bachmann inveighs against gays and abortion too – this in a country where doctors get murdered to uphold the sanctity of life.

Sidebar: Bachmann Stunt Back to Roots

One way or another, rightwing Republicans, rather like their Islamist enemies, seem to be very interested in sex. It often proves their trouser-dropping undoing. Ho ho.

Interestingly, the congresswoman also calls herself a “fool for Christ,” though I think something must have been lost in translation here.

Sidebar: Michele Bachmann ‘Lies in Christ’

The theory behind the article is that Alaska’s Palin is unelectable and did the McCain ticket harm in last year’s election. …

Sidebar: Bachmann Headlines British Press

What Palin may have done is paved the way for a more plausible version of her brand of rightwing, nationalistic politics.

Sidebar: Bachmann Eyes ‘Madam President’

President Bachmann?

True? I don’t know either, but the Washington columnist George Will, a bit of a power groupie the last time I looked, has started making obliging noises about Bachmann [link added], heroine of the grassroots anti-Obama “tea party” (as in Boston) movement.

So have the shock jocks on radio and Rupe’s demagogic Fox TV. Fasten your safety belt?

Pretty horrid things were said about George Dubya Bush in his time, I realise, though not by me until he’d earned them: climate change, Hurricane Katrina, the ballooning budget deficit, Guantánamo Bay and waterboarding, the shocking mismanagement of the occupation of Iraq, the unchecked excesses on Wall Street.

There’s a cycle to these things. Bill Clinton did some foolish, wrongs things too, not all in the pizza delivery department either.

But it’s worth reminding fiscal conservatives that it was Ronald Reagan and both Bushes who racked up enormous federal deficits, now scarily matched by many of the 50 states after decades of tax cuts for the wealthy. …

As with healthcare reform, the US poor or nearly poor can be whipped up into a frenzy of indignation against the “government” plotting to interfere in their lives in ways that would puzzle German Christian Democrats.

Sidebar: Bachmann Call for Armed Revolt?

But a lot of fashionable isms are mixed into this heady brew – Christian fundamentalism (curiously in alliance with its Jewish cousins over Israel), survivalism, uber-capitalism posing as libertarian populism.

Sidebar: Condemning Beck and Bachmann

We’ve been here before (Senator Joe McCarthy came from Wisconsin, next door to Minnesota) and seen it off.

Sidebar: Bachmann’s ‘Anti-American’ Rant

But I sometimes feel the irrationality and violence – much of it driven by racial neurosis – that has been a growing part of the American landscape for 50 years may overwhelm the liberal, secular republic and its president.

Sidebar: Obama, Economy Fuel Hate Groups

In America, the sniper is always present. Years ago, when my wife sat watching Colonel Oliver North giving unabashed and arrogant evidence to Congress on his illegal activities selling weapons to Iran (and giving the profits to terrorists in Nicaragua), a cycle courier – black because this was Washington – delivered a parcel.

“Don’t worry about him,” the courier said with a nod towards the screen. “If too many people like him come down from the trees, we’ll take care of them. We’re armed to the teeth, too.”

Sidebar: Bachmann Heads Teabaggers

An alarming thought, but a reminder that the constitution’s right to bear arms cuts both ways, so that if the reactionary side resorts to violence – as the Old South did at Fort Sumter in 1861 – so can the other.

It’s a form of checks and balances for which the republic of 1787 is rightly famous.

Perhaps I should be more optimistic. Checks and balances are the American way and Honest Abe Lincoln called America “the last, best hope of mankind.”

MSNBC’s Schultz devotes quarter of his show to Michele Bachmann

Eric Roper reports in the Minneapolis Star Tribune’s Hot Dish Politics blog (Nov. 28, 2009) that MSNBC’s Ed Schultz devoted more than a quarter of his Wednesday, Nov. 25 show, live from Minneapolis, to Rep. Michele Bachmann — “an unusual amount of time even for Schultz, who perennially takes swipes at Bachmann in his “Psycho Talk” segment.”

Ed Schultz’s guests: Matt Snyders of City Pages, Maryland Rep. Chris Van Hollen, and Republican Strategist Ron Christie.

Related report

Apparently Ed Schultz knows nothing about Bachmann, either

By Bill Prendergast
Minnesota Progressive Project
Nov. 30, 2009

… and we know that because Ed thought the City Pages profile and interview of her was just wonderful; he “read it on the plane” before interviewing its author Matt Snyders. …

It’s very disappointing me to learn that Schultz — who’s devoted so much airtime to Bachmann’s craziness — is still so ill-informed about her that he saw the City Pages profile and interview as something valuable. …

Why do I say that Snyders profile was sucky and sloppily researched? …

More

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FROM THE ARCHIVES: One Year Ago — November 30, 2008

Mumbai Attack Could Impact Afghan Anti-Terror Mission

One-year retrospective: One year ago today, I reported that the fallout from a three-day terrorist rampage that killed nearly 200 people in Mumbai threatened to unravel India’s improving ties with Pakistan.

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Senate Report: Bin Laden Was ‘Within Our Grasp’

Review seen as warning against resisting Afghanistan troop surge

Al-Qaida leader Osama bin Laden, shown here in 1998, was within reach of U.S. forces in Afghanistan in late 2001, a new U.S. Senate report says. (Photo credit: Getty Images)

Nov. 29, 2009

WASHINGTON – Osama bin Laden was unquestionably within reach of U.S. troops in the mountains of Tora Bora when American military leaders made the crucial and costly decision not to pursue the terrorist leader with massive force, a Senate report says.

The report asserts that the failure to kill or capture bin Laden at his most vulnerable in December 2001 has had lasting consequences beyond the fate of one man. Bin Laden’s escape laid the foundation for today’s reinvigorated Afghan insurgency and inflamed the internal strife now endangering Pakistan, it says.

Staff members for the Senate Foreign Relations Committee’s Democratic majority prepared the report at the request of the chairman, Sen. John Kerry, as President Barack Obama prepares to boost U.S. troops in Afghanistan.

The Massachusetts senator and 2004 Democratic presidential candidate has long argued the Bush administration missed a chance to get the al-Qaida leader and top deputies when they were holed up in the forbidding mountainous area of eastern Afghanistan only three months after the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks.

Aimed at foes of surge?

Although limited to a review of military operations eight years old, the report could also be read as a cautionary note for those resisting an increased troop presence there now.

More pointedly, it seeks to affix a measure of blame for the state of the war today on military leaders under former president George W. Bush, specifically Donald H. Rumsfeld as defense secretary and his top military commander, Tommy Franks.

Video Bin Laden was ‘within our grasp’ (MSNBC, Nov. 29, 2009) — Alex Witt talks with military analyst Jack Jacobs about the Senate report. (03:18)

“Removing the al-Qaida leader from the battlefield eight years ago would not have eliminated the worldwide extremist threat,” the report says. “But the decisions that opened the door for his escape to Pakistan allowed bin Laden to emerge as a potent symbolic figure who continues to attract a steady flow of money and inspire fanatics worldwide. The failure to finish the job represents a lost opportunity that forever altered the course of the conflict in Afghanistan and the future of international terrorism.”

The report states categorically that bin Laden was hiding in Tora Bora when the U.S. had the means to mount a rapid assault with several thousand troops at least. It says that a review of existing literature, unclassified government records and interviews with central participants “removes any lingering doubts and makes it clear that Osama bin Laden was within our grasp at Tora Bora.”

Fewer than 100 U.S. commandos

On or about Dec. 16, 2001, bin Laden and bodyguards “walked unmolested out of Tora Bora and disappeared into Pakistan’s unregulated tribal area,” where he is still believed to be based, the report says.

Instead of a massive attack, fewer than 100 U.S. commandos, working with Afghan militias, tried to capitalize on air strikes and track down their prey.

“The vast array of American military power, from sniper teams to the most mobile divisions of the Marine Corps and the Army, was kept on the sidelines,” the report said.

At the time, Rumsfeld expressed concern that a large U.S. troop presence might fuel a backlash and he and some others said the evidence was not conclusive about bin Laden’s location.

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FROM THE ARCHIVES: One Year Ago — November 29, 2008

Osama bin Laden — Personality profile

2 Dead in Green Zone Attack

One-year retrospective: One year ago today, I reported that a rocket attack on a U.N. compound in Baghdad’s heavily fortified Green Zone had killed two foreigners and wounded 15, while a suicide bomber struck Shiite worshippers at a mosque run by followers of anti-American cleric Muqtada al-Sadr, killing at least 12 people, a day after Iraqi lawmakers approved a status-of-forces agreement with the Bush administration setting a timeline for U.S. withdrawal from Iraq.

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Iraq Vets Find Afghan War More Challenging

Sgt. Michael McCann, from Enterprise, Alabama, mans a checkpoint in Afghanistan’s Logar province, Nov. 19, 2009. “This is a totally different place” from Iraq, he says. (Photo credit: Dario Lopez-Mills / AP)

Nov. 28, 2009

FORWARD OPERATING BASE SHANK, Afghanistan – Veterans of Iraq recall rolling to war along asphalted highways, sweltering in flat scrublands and chatting with city-wise university graduates connected to the wider world.

Now fighting in Afghanistan, U.S. soldiers invariably encounter illiterate farmers who may never have talked to an American as they slog into remote villages on dirt tracks through bitterly cold, snow-streaked mountains.

“Before deploying here we were given training on language, culture, everything. I thought that since I was an Iraq combat veteran, I didn’t need any of that stuff. I was wrong. Both countries may be Muslim but this is a totally different place,” says Sgt. Michael McCann, returning from a patrol in the east-central province of Logar.

While their experiences in the two war zones vary, for many soldiers in the field — if not policy makers — the conflict in Afghanistan is one they think may prove harder and longer to win. …

“The sheer terrain of Afghanistan is much more challenging: the mountains, the altitudes, severity of weather, the distances. That wears on an army,” says Maj. Joseph Matthews, a battalion operations officer in the 10th Mountain Division. “You can flood Baghdad with soldiers but if you want to flood the mountains you are going to need huge numbers and logistics.” …

This almost medieval isolation makes it far more difficult for the Afghan government and coalition forces to spread the aid and information needed to counter the Taliban push while the villagers — mostly illiterate and with little access to radios, never mind television — rely on religious leaders at Friday mosque prayers, or the insurgents, to shape their world view. …

“This is not an interconnected society. There is a complete separation of ideas from Pul-i-Alam and Kharwar,” notes Matthews, of Vero Beach, Fla., of the provincial capital and a district just 23 miles away. “The difference between a village and a city in this country is about 200 years,” says the officer, who served for more than three years in Iraq and is on his second Afghanistan tour.

Although tribalism plays a major role in Iraq, U.S. troops find it even stronger in the predominantly rural Afghan society, making the forging of vital bonds between people and government harder. Loyalty is given first and foremost to the tribe, the government coming at best a distant second. …

Full story

A U.S. Marine runs to safety moments after an IED blast in Garmsir district of Helmand Province in Afghanistan, July 13, 2009. (Photo: Manpreet Romana / AFP -- Getty Images file)

IRAQ UPDATE

Suicide Bomber Kills Five in Attack on Iraq Police

 
Dec. 3, 2009

TIKRIT, Iraq – A suicide bomber wearing a vest packed with explosives killed a police commander and four of his bodyguards in Tikrit, the hometown of executed Iraqi dictator Saddam Hussein, on Thursday, police said.

The attack on a crowded street targeted Lt. Col. Ahmed Subhi al-Fahal, head of Tikrit’s riot police unit, while he was shopping.

Seven civilians and two other police officers were wounded in the attack in the city, 95 miles north of Baghdad, police said.

Violence in Iraq has fallen to its lowest levels since the 2003 U.S.-led invasion. Eighty-eight civilians were killed in violence in November, the first time the monthly bodycount fell below 100 in more than six years. …

12/4/09 Update

Iraqi Counterterror Officer Falls to His Prey

Lt. Col. Ahmed Subhi al-Fahal, front center, parades with troops and his son in Tikrit on July 1, 2009. (Photo credit: Loay Hameed / AP)

Dec. 4, 2009

BAGHDAD – He compared al-Qaida in Iraq to wolves, urging that the terrorist group be crushed since he believed its members would never reject violence. But the wolves got to the Iraqi counterterrorism officer first.

Ahmed Subhi al-Fahal’s death in a suicide bombing in Tikrit could embolden al-Qaida loyalists to try to make a return to the area around Saddam Hussein’s hometown where he held sway. On Friday, within hours of his killing, dozens of Web sites affiliated with al-Qaida in Iraq were already celebrating the death of their longtime nemesis. …

Al-Fahal, in his early 30s, was a lieutenant colonel in the Salahuddin provincial police force. But he was mostly known, by al-Qaida and the American military alike, as one of central Iraq’s top counterterror officials, bent on purging insurgents from his turf. …

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FROM THE ARCHIVES: One Year Ago — November 28, 2008

“Bin Laden’s Brain” — Dr. Ayman al-Zawahiri

Zawahiri Blames Wars for Economic Crisis

One-year retrospective: One year ago today, I reported that al-Qaida’s second-in-command, Ayman al-Zawahiri, had said in an Internet video that the U.S. financial crisis was caused by Washington’s military campaigns in Iraq and Afghanistan and taxpayers were paying the price.

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U.S. Was ‘Hell Bent’ on Iraq War, U.K. Envoy Says

Bush administration didn’t care about getting U.N. support, he tells inquiry

Jeremy Greenstock, Britain’s ambassador to the United Nations from 1998 to 2003, arrives at the Iraq inquiry in London on Friday, Nov. 27, 2009. (Photo credit: Kirsty Wigglesworth / AP)

Nov. 27, 2009

LONDON – The United States was “hell bent” on a 2003 military invasion of Iraq and actively undermined efforts by Britain to win international authorization for the war, a former British diplomat told an inquiry Friday.

Jeremy Greenstock, British ambassador to the United Nations from 1998 to 2003, said that President George W. Bush had no real interest in attempts to agree on a U.N. resolution to provide explicit backing for the conflict.

The ex-diplomat, who served as Britain’s envoy in Iraq after the invasion, said serious preparations for the war had begun in early 2002 and took on an unstoppable momentum.

As diplomats frantically attempted in early 2003 to agree upon a U.N. resolution approving a military offensive, Bush’s key aides grew impatient — criticizing the process as an unnecessary distraction, he said.

Grumbling from Washington “included noises about ‘this is a waste of time, what we need is regime change, why are we bothering with this, we must sweep this aside and do what’s going to have to be done anyway — and deal with this with the use of force,’” Greenstock testified before the inquiry into the Iraq war.

Several nations had hoped to stall the invasion of Iraq to allow U.N. weapons inspectors more time to search for evidence that Iraq had weapons of mass destruction — the key justification for the war. No such weapons were ever found.

Yet Bush’s inner circle cared little about what international allies thought and refused to halt plans to invade in March 2003, Greenstock said. He said even [Prime Minister] Blair was unable to persuade Bush, winning only a brief hiatus of two weeks.

Britain’s inquiry is the most exhaustive study yet into the war and will seek evidence from former Prime Minister Tony Blair, military officials and spy agency chiefs. It won’t apportion blame or establish criminal or civil liability. But it will offer recommendations by late 2010 on how to prevent mistakes from being repeated in the future. …

In London, an anti-war rally in 2003 drew an estimated 2 million demonstrators — the largest street protest in a generation.

Greenstock told the panel he had his own doubts, and had threatened to resign if no international backing was agreed upon. His threat came before a Nov. 2002 resolution that offered Iraq a final opportunity to disarm and demanded access for weapons inspectors. …

Christopher Meyer, Britain’s former ambassador to the U.S., told the inquiry Thursday that he believed Bush and Blair had used a meeting at Bush’s ranch in Crawford, Texas, in April 2002, to “sign in blood” an agreement to take military action on Iraq. That was a year before Parliament approved Britain’s involvement. …

Related report

Iraq War Plan Soon After 9/11 (Nov. 22, 2009)

Anti-war protesters from the Stop the War group wear masks depicting British Prime Minister Gordon Brown, right, former U.S. President George W. Bush, center, and former British Prime Minister Tony Blair, left. They posed for photographers Tuesday, Nov. 24, 2009 outside the conference center where the Iraq war inquiry is taking place in central London. (Photo credit: Lefteris Pitarakis / AP)

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FROM THE ARCHIVES: One Year Ago — November 27, 2008

Afghan firefighters wash the road at the site of a suicide attack outside the U.S. Embassy in Kabul on Thursday, Nov. 27, 2008. (Photo credit: Shah Marai / AFP – Getty Images)

Thanksgiving

One-year retrospective: One year ago today, I reported that a suicide car bomber targeting an American convoy exploded about 200 yards outside the U.S. Embassy in Kabul, killing at least four Afghan bystanders, while in Iraq, the country’s parliament approved a security pact with the United States that allowed American troops to stay in the country for three more years.

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President Obama Delivers Thanksgiving Greeting

In his 2009 Thanksgiving message, President Barack Obama calls the nation’s attention to the men and women in uniform who are away from home sacrificing time with family. He also talks about health care reform, the Recovery Act, and job creation. (Nov. 25, 2009)

Transcript

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FROM THE ARCHIVES: One Year Ago — November 26, 2008

Christians on the Run in Iraq

One-year retrospective: One year ago today, I reported that Iraq had lost more than half its Christian population of some 1 million in an exodus that began after the 1991 Gulf War and escalated dramatically after the U.S.-led invasion in 2003.

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In His Slow Decision-Making, Obama Goes with Head, Not Gut

President Obama meets with members of his administration in the Situation Room. (Photo credit: Pete Souza / The White House via Associated Press)

Analysis by Joel Achenbach

November 25, 2009

Excerpts

President George W. Bush once boasted, “I’m not a textbook player, I’m a gut player.” The new tenant of the Oval Office takes a strikingly different approach. President Obama is almost defiantly deliberative, methodical and measured, even when critics accuse him of dithering. When describing his executive style, he goes into Spock mode, saying, “You’ve got to make decisions based on information and not emotions.”

Obama’s handling of the Afghanistan conundrum has been a spectacle of deliberation unlike anything seen in the White House in recent memory. The strategic review began in September. Again and again, the war council convened in the Situation Room. The president mulled an array of unappealing options. Next week, finally, he will tell the American public the outcome of all this strategizing.

“He’s establishing his decision-making process as being almost diametrically the opposite of the previous administration,” says Lawrence Wilkerson, a retired Army colonel who served as Secretary of State Colin L. Powell’s chief of staff. Wilkerson, who teaches national security decision-making at George Washington University, says the Bush-Cheney style was “cowboy-like, typical Texas, typical Wyoming, and extremely secretive.”

Stephen Wayne, who teaches about the presidency at Georgetown, said: “He’s not an instinctive decision-maker as Bush was. He doesn’t go with his gut, he thinks with his head, which I think is desirable.” Referring to the Afghanistan decision, Wayne said, “I don’t think he is an indecisive person, I just think this is a tough one.” …

“I think the Obama we’ve seen as president is a very different Obama than we saw during the campaign. He doesn’t seem to be connected, he doesn’t seem to have the passion, he doesn’t seem to be conveying the grand and inspiring vision,” says the progressive historian Allan Lichtman of American University. “If you want to be a transformational president, you’ve got to take the risks.”

Sean Wilentz, a history professor at Princeton, says Obama has suffered from unrealistic expectations among those who put him in office. “They kind of were sold Utopia, and they bought it, and it didn’t happen,” he says. “People were comparing the candidate to Abraham Lincoln before he served a day of his presidency. Nobody can live up to that.” …

The public debate over Afghanistan has focused on whether Obama should authorize more troops. The actual decision is vastly more complicated. Whatever the president chooses to do, he must bring on board as many allies as possible, which means getting a buy-in from Congress, his Cabinet, the Joint Chiefs of Staff, the bean counters who budget military action, NATO, various dyspeptic European leaders, the generals in the theater, the troops on the ground, the sketchy Afghan leadership, the Pakistanis and so on. He must also sell his plan to the American people, convincing the right that he’s tough enough to fight and the left that he knows where the exit is. …

Obama discussed his professorial leadership style in a recent interview with U.S. News & World Report. He said he is not afraid of doubt and is comfortable with uncertainty:

“Because these are tough questions, you are always dealing to some degree with probabilities. You’re never 100 percent certain that the course of action you’re choosing is going to work. What you can have confidence in is that the probability of it working is higher than the other options available to you. But that still leaves some uncertainty, which I think can be stressful, and that’s part of the reason why it’s so important to be willing to constantly reevaluate decisions based on new information.” …

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Topical reports on this site

A Key to Success for Obama? (March 17, 2009)
Excerpts from Oprah Magazine

Aubrey Immelman, PhD, associate professor of psychology at the College of Saint Benedict/Saint John’s University in Minnesota, says the variable that most distinguishes Obama from the two previous presidents is conscientiousness — one of the “big five” personality factors in standard psychology (everyone has all five, in differing degrees; the others are openness to experience, extroversion, agreeableness, and neuroticism).

People who score high on the conscientiousness scale (as determined by several personality inventories) are dependable, orderly, self-disciplined, achievement oriented, cautious, industrious, and deliberate — the type who could, say, run a masterfully efficient political campaign, exercise daily, even while on the road, and make methodical decisions. (Those who score low tend to be careless, irresponsible, disorganized, and unreliable.) …

Full report

Barack Obama’s Leadership Style (Feb. 21, 2009)

Sarah Moore and Angela Rodgers present their research on
“The Personality Profile of President Barack Obama: Leadership Implications” in the State Capitol rotunda, St. Paul, Minn., Feb. 19, 2009. The research, conducted at the Unit for the Study of Personality in Politics, was directed by Aubrey Immelman, Ph.D.

Summary of results: 

The profile reveals that Barack Obama is ambitious and confident; modestly dominant and self-asserting; accommodating, cooperative, and agreeable; somewhat outgoing and congenial; and relatively conscientious. The combination of ambitious and accommodating patterns in Obama’s profile suggests a “confident conciliator” personality composite.

Leaders with this personality prototype, though self-assured and ambitious, are characteristically gracious, considerate, and benevolent. They are energetic, charming, and agreeable, with a special talent for settling differences and a preference for mediation and compromise over force or coercion as a strategy for resolving conflict. They are driven primarily by a need for achievement, but also have substantial affiliation needs and a modest need for power.

The study offers an empirically based framework for anticipating Obama’s performance as chief executive. The following general predictions regarding Obama’s likely leadership style can be inferred from his personality profile:

• Ambitious, self-assured, gracious, considerate
• Preference for mediation and compromise over force or coercion as a strategy for resolving conflict
• High need for achievement; moderate need for affiliation; low need for power
• More pragmatic than ideological
• More task- than relationship oriented
• Likely to act as a strong advocate in his administration, using his powers of persuasion to advance his policy vision
• Preference for gathering information from a variety of sources rather than relying solely on advisors and administration officials
• In dealing with members of Congress, may show preference for avoiding unnecessary conflict by trying to remain above the fray in heated, highly divisive debates
• Preference for articulating and defending his policies in person rather than relying on staff and administration officials to speak for him

Barack Obama: A Question of Toughness (Nov. 2, 2008)

Sen. Barack Obama: Is He Tough Enough?
By Aubrey Immelman
St. Cloud Times
Nov. 1, 2008

Among the many leaders I have studied — presidential candidates as well as foreign adversaries as a consultant to the U.S. military — Barack Obama is something of a rarity. … Read more

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Obama to Speak Tuesday on Afghanistan Policy

Nov. 25, 2009

WASHINGTON – President Barack Obama will announce his plan to bolster the war in Afghanistan in a speech Tuesday night from the U.S. Military Academy at West Point, his spokesman said, a surge that military officials say could top 30,000 troops.

The president promised this week to “finish the job” begun eight years ago, and press secretary Robert Gibbs said Wednesday the announcement would include an exit strategy. But the surge in troops would be Obama’s second since taking office, and liberal Democrats already are lining up against it, in part because of the also-surging cost — up to $75 billion a year.

Gibbs said Obama’s recent meetings with military advisers have often focused on how to train Afghanistan’s police and army to secure and hold areas taken from the Taliban so that U.S. forces can leave. “We are not going to be there another eight or nine years,” he said. …

Obama will be speaking to a war-weary American public. Polls show support for the war has dropped significantly since Obama took office, with a majority now saying both that they oppose the war and that it is not worth fighting.

The president and his top military and national security advisers have held 10 meetings to discuss America’s future steps in Afghanistan. The top general in Afghanistan, Stanley McChrystal, has asked the president for about 40,000 troops, arguing that a robust but temporary surge was the best way to end the war. …

The Afghan war bill hit $43 billion annually this summer, with the addition of 21,000 forces Obama has already added to the fight this year.

Related report

Taliban Leader to Muslims: Continue Jihad

Taliban leader Mullah Muhammed Omar

Nov. 25, 2009

KABUL – The Taliban’s reclusive leader has ruled out talks with President Hamid Karzai and called on Afghans to break off relations with his “stooge” administration.

In a statement Wednesday, Mullah Omar also insisted foreign troops were losing the war in Afghanistan.

His message, issued ahead of the Muslim Eid holiday, came a week after Karzai reached out to the Taliban during his inauguration speech, saying it was important to include in the government former Taliban who were ready to renounce terrorism. The hard-line militia has long refused to negotiate with the Karzai government or join what it considers a puppet administration. …

Omar led the Taliban regime that was toppled by the U.S.-led invasion of Afghanistan in 2001, and has not been seen since. Afghan officials claim he is in hiding in Pakistan.

As the Taliban insurgency gathers strength, President Barack Obama has been considering plans to send tens of thousands more U.S. troops to Afghanistan. U.S. military officials expect an infusion of approximately 32,000 to 35,000 troops to begin in February or March. It would be the largest expansion since the beginning of the war eight years ago. …

‘Stooge’ government

“I hope you will continue your legitimate jihad (holy war) and struggle in the way of realizing your Islamic aspirations … and break off all relations with the stooge Kabul administration,” Omar said.

Omar said there would be no negotiations that would prolong or legitimize the presence of foreign forces in the country.

“Those who have occupied our country and taken our people as hostage, want to use the stratagem of negotiation like they used the drama of elections for some time in order to achieve their colonialist objectives,” he said. “However, the people of Afghanistan will not agree to negotiation which prolongs and legitimizes the invaders’ military presence.”

The Taliban leader lambasted U.S.-backed efforts to create militias that would fight the militants — a plan that has been compared to the U.S.-fostered Awakening Councils in Iraq, which have often been credited with reducing violence there, and similar to neighboring Pakistan’s tribal armies which also have been touted as a success.

Omar called on Taliban militants to “mete out an exemplary punishment to those who are leading these mischief-making activities.” …

——

FROM THE ARCHIVES: One Year Ago — November 25, 2008

Army Green Beret Staff Sergeant Ryan Maseth, 24

Shoddy Contracting Kills U.S. Troops

One-year retrospective: One year ago today, I reported that KBR, a contractor providing services to the U.S. military in Iraq and Afghanistan, had committed serious violations of its contract, mainly by conducting inadequate inspections of electrical wiring and grounding at American bases. The Pentagon findings stemmed from the death of Sgt. Ryan Maseth, a highly decorated 24-year-old Green Beret from Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, who was electrocuted on January 2, 2008 while taking a shower at his base in Baghdad.

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U.S. Military Deaths in Iraq

As of Tuesday, Nov. 24, 2009, at least 4,365 members of the U.S. military had died in the Iraq war since it began in March 2003, according to an Associated Press count. …

Since the start of U.S. military operations in Iraq, 31,572 U.S. service members have been wounded in hostile action, according to the Defense Department’s weekly tally. …

U.S. Troop Casualties in Iraq

Latest identifications:

• Army Sgt. Briand T. Williams, 25, Sparks, Ga., died Nov. 22, 2009 in Numaniyah, Iraq, of wounds suffered when insurgents attacked his unit using small arms fire. He was assigned to the 1st Battalion, 10th Field Artillery Regiment, 3rd Heavy Brigade Combat Team, 3rd Infantry Division, Fort Benning, Ga.
• Navy Petty Officer 2nd Class Brian M. Patton, 37, Freeport, Ill., died Nov. 19, 2009 in Kuwait in a non-combat accident.
• Army Staff Sgt. Ryan L. Zorn, 35, Upton, Wyo., died Nov. 16, 2009 in Tal Afar, Iraq, of injuries sustained during a vehicle roll-over. He was assigned to the 1st Battalion, 34th Armor Regiment, 1st Brigade, 1st Infantry Division, Fort Riley, Kan. The circumstances surrounding the incident are under investigation.

U.S. Military Deaths in Afghanistan

As of Tuesday, Nov. 24, 2009, at least 845 members of the U.S. military had died in Afghanistan, Pakistan, and Uzbekistan as a result of the U.S. invasion of Afghanistan in late 2001, according to the Defense Department. …

Latest identifications:

• Army Spc. Jason A. McLeod, 22, Crystal Lake, Ill., died Nov. 23, 2009 west of Pashmul, Afghanistan, of wounds suffered when insurgents attacked his unit with mortar fire. He was assigned to the 704th Brigade Support Battalion, 4th Brigade Combat Team, 4th Infantry Division, Fort Carson, Colo.
• Marine Lance Cpl. Nicholas J. Hand, 20, Kansas City, Mo., died Nov. 22, 2009 while supporting combat operations in Helmand province, Afghanistan. He was assigned to 2nd Battalion, 2nd Marine Regiment, 2nd Marine Division, II Marine Expeditionary Force, Camp Lejeune, N.C.
• Army National Guard Staff Sgt. Matthew A. Pucino, 34, Cockeysville, Md., died Nov. 23, 2009 in Pashay Kala, Afghanistan, of wounds sustained when enemy forces attacked his unit with an improvised explosive device. He was assigned to the 2nd Battalion, 20th Special Forces Group of the Maryland Army National Guard in Glen Arm, Md.
• Army Sgt. James M. Nolen, 25, Alvin, Texas, died Nov. 22, 2009 in Zabul province, Afghanistan, of wounds sustained when enemy forces attacked his vehicle with an improvised explosive device. He was assigned to the 2nd Battalion, 508th Parachute Infantry Regiment, 4th Brigade Combat Team, 82nd Airborne Division, Fort Bragg, N.C.
• Army Pfc. Marcus A. Tynes, 19, Moreno Valley, Calif., died Nov. 22, 2009 in Zabul province, Afghanistan, of wounds sustained when enemy forces attacked his vehicle with an improvised explosive device. He was assigned to the 2nd Battalion, 508th Parachute Infantry Regiment, 4th Brigade Combat Team, 82nd Airborne Division, Fort Bragg, N.C.
• Army Staff Sgt. John J. Cleaver, 36, Marysville, Wash., died Nov. 19, 2009 in Zabul province, Afghanistan, of wounds sustained when a suicide car-bomber attacked his unit. He was assigned to the 782nd Brigade Support Battalion, 4th Brigade Combat Team, 82nd Airborne Division, Fort Bragg, N.C.
• Army Sgt. Daniel A. Frazier, 25, Saint Joseph, Mo., died Nov. 19, 2009 in Zabul province, Afghanistan, of wounds sustained when a suicide car-bomber attacked his unit. He was assigned to the 782nd Brigade Support Battalion, 4th Brigade Combat Team, 82nd Airborne Division, Fort Bragg, N.C.
• Army Spc. Joseph M. Lewis, 26, Terrell, Texas, died Nov. 17, 2009 in Kandahar, Afghanistan, of wounds suffered when enemy forces attacked his vehicle with an improvised explosive device. He was assigned to the 8th Squadron, 1st Cavalry Regiment, 5th Stryker Brigade Combat Team, 2nd Infantry Division, Fort Lewis, Wash. The incident is under investigation.

Remember Their Sacrifice

Related links

Iraq Casualties

Afghanistan Casualties

——

FROM THE ARCHIVES: One Year Ago — November 24, 2008

Policemen inspect a burned bus at the site of a bomb attack in eastern Baghdad on Monday, Nov. 24, 2008. (Photo credit: Thaier Al-Sudani / Reuters)

Three Bombs in Baghdad — 20 Dead

One-year retrospective: One year ago today, I reported that a female suicide bomber had blown herself up near an entrance to the U.S.-protected Green Zone, while a bomb tore through a minibus carrying Iraqi government employees in separate attacks in Iraq, killing at least 20 people.

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After leading the charge in Minnesota earlier this year to set a new standard for calling U.S. Rep. Michele Bachmann out for her radical extremism, the St. Cloud Times on Sunday backslid into the longstanding pattern of Minnesota media to gloss over or simply fail to report the full extent of Bachmann’s political paranoia and extremism.

Of particular concern, the stunning reversal in the largest newspaper published inside Minnesota’s 6th Congressional District comes in the wake of an Oct. 14 piece of front-page fluff in the New York Times and two sanitized Bachmann profiles at CNN.com earlier this month.

Correction (11/24/09) — This blog earlier reported that Times Washington correspondent Larry Bivens conducted his interview by email. That is incorrect. Bivens interviewed Bachmann face-to-face on Thursday, Nov. 19, for approximately half and hour. The email interview was conducted by Matt Snyders for the Twin Cities alternative newspaper City Pages.

Following is the published text of Bivens’  interview, annotated and supplemented by critical content missing from the St. Cloud Times puff-piece.

Bachmann Says She is Doing What She was Elected to Do

By Larry Bivins
Times Washington correspondent
St. Cloud Times
Nov. 22, 2009

WASHINGTON — Since her inaugural year in office, Rep. Michele Bachmann has drawn national attention, mostly through statements her opponents have labeled outrageous.

Bachmann’s statements are outrageous on their face, irrespective of how her opponents might characterize them:

Bachmann: “Slit Our Wrists” (Sept. 2, 2009)

While critics ridicule her, supporters shower her with praise.

Bachmann Stunt Back to Roots (Nov. 1, 2009)

Sign displayed at a rally Michele Bachmann keynoted at the Minnesota State Capitol in 2004.

Many of the thousands of conservative activists who attended a Nov. 5 rally in Washington to protest a Democratic health care reform plan came to see and hear Bachmann.

Bachmann Rebuked for Nazi Image (Nov. 12, 2009)

Sign displayed at U.S. Rep. Michele Bachmann’s “House Call on Congress” anti-health care reform rally in Washington, D.C., Nov. 5, 2009. The sign reads, “National Socialist Health Care: Dachau, Germany — 1945.” (Photo credit: Lee Fang / ThinkProgress)

She has been called the voice — and the face — of the conservative movement.

Supporters at Rep. Michele Bachmann’s “House Call” protest against health care reform at the U.S. Capitol, Nov. 5, 2009. (Photo credit: Graham Moomaw / The Washington Independent)

The Stillwater Republican discussed her star status and other issues in a recent interview.

Question: Time magazine called you the new voice of the conservative movement.

How do you view your role?

ANSWER: I feel like I’m just here doing my job, because of the issues we’ve been confronted with within the last few months, like the government takeover of one-sixth of the economy, and the energy issue with the cap and trade. That’s a major issue, where again the federal government is taking control over 8 percent of the private industry. So I feel all I am doing is weighing in and doing my job. I’m not trying to be a national voice.

Bachmann on the Media Circuit (March 9, 2009)

Bachmann sounds the socialism alarm. (Photo credit: CNN / Getty Images)

Q: You certainly have developed a national following. Does this hurt or help your political career, particularly as you look toward the election next fall?

A: What I hear from people back in my district is, “Thank you, Michele. Thank you so much for fighting for us. Keep it up. Don’t give up. We want you to keep fighting.” I get a very strong affirmation from people back home.

Bachmann ‘Wingnut of the Week’ (May 10, 2009)

Bachmann Says ‘I’m Not a Kook’ (March 28, 2009)

Q: Critics point to your appearances on talk shows and your national following and wonder whether they’re distractions from representing the 6th District of Minnesota. How would you respond?

A: I would say that I’m exactly doing my job, representing the people of the 6th District, because I’m fighting for them.

Bachmann’s Census Paranoia (June 27, 2009)

Credit: Steve Sack, Minneapolis Star-Tribune

Bachmann Brainwashing Paranoia (April 8, 2009)

[Answer continued:] I think my critics are fearful that the other side of the story is getting out there. That’s one thing I’ve been able to do, is put out on the air our possible alternatives. We have positive solutions about how to lower the unemployment rate and a better way to do health care reform.

Bachmann Call for Armed Revolt? (March 24, 2009)

Q: Gov. Tim Pawlenty said on MSNBC that moderates need to fall in line with the conservative base of the Republican Party. Do you agree?

Dems Link Pawlenty, Bachmann (Sept. 20, 2009)

Pawlenty’s Attacks on Obama Delight Audience at Values Voter Summit

Gov. Tim Pawlenty speaking at the Values Voter Summit in Washington on Friday, Sept. 18, 2009 (Photo: Brendan Hoffman for The New York Times)

A Toned-Down Bachmann Speaks at Values Voter Summit

A: I think that he’s accurate that they would do well to come over to the conservative position, because that is where the greatest percentage of Americans are today. After all, we have to remember we rule by the consent of the governed, and so it’s important for us to be where the people are, and people don’t like this idea of big government and they don’t like spending more money than we have.

Bachmann Big Spender (June 20, 2009)

Rep. Michele Bachmann spent more than $100,000 on printing and franked mail in the first quarter. (Photo: John Shinkle /Politico)

The Princess of Pork (March 18, 2009)

Q: Do you have any national aspirations?

A: No, I don’t. Because I’m not aspiring to the next step, that frees me to fully work on behalf of the people I’m serving. I’m not here to make sure my paycheck continues into the future, and I’m not here to make sure I become the next governor of Minnesota or the next senator of Minnesota or anything beyond that.

Bachmann Eyes ‘Madam President’ (Sept. 9, 2009)

President Bachmann?

Q: You’ve been described as Democrats’ Public Enemy No. 1 [Note: byFox News Channel's Sean Hannity and by Bachmann herself]. How do you feel about being a target?

A: In being forceful and fighting for the positions that I’m standing for, I obviously must pose a threat for liberals advancing their agenda. I say that because I grew up a Democrat in a Democrat family. My husband and I both worked on Jimmy Carter’s presidential campaign. The first time I ever came to Washington was to dance at Walter Mondale’s inaugural ball. It was a thrill for my husband and me, and we were both happy to work on behalf of Walter Mondale and Jimmy Carter. We really believed in them when we were in college. So in some ways I don’t understand why the Democratic Party would be opposed to me, because I stand for the same values that my parents stood for when we were Democrats.

Bachmann Ignites Truth-O-Meter (May 6, 2009)

In the 1970s, “the swine flu broke out . . . under another Democrat president, Jimmy Carter.”
– Michele Bachmann on Monday, April 27, 2009 in an interview with Pajamas Media.

Q: A lot has been made of some of your statements — the “gangster government” comment, the “anti-American” comment [link added]. Is there anything you’ve said that you regret?

A: Oh, gosh, absolutely. Of course, I wish I could be more artful in the way that I say things.

[Answer continued:] But the other thing I’ve noticed that is kind of interesting is it seems like there’s also a double standard and bias in the mainstream media. Polls today say that the American people more than ever think the mainstream media is biased in favor of the liberal position. And so conservatives, especially conservative women, are held to a completely different standard than liberals.

Bachmann Plays Victim … Again (Aug. 14, 2009)

Two Great Americans (Aug. 17, 2009)

U.S. Rep. Cathy McMorris Rodgers (R-Wash.)

“I think the purpose of the town halls is for people to be able to express their views in an orderly and respectful manner, and that needs to take place on both sides,” said McMorris Rodgers, the fifth-ranking Republican in the House. “I certainly don’t condone violence, I don’t condone calling President Obama Hitler and painting swastikas on signs at town halls,” continued McMorris Rodgers, vice chairwoman of the GOP conference. McMorris Rodgers is the first member of the House Republican leadership to decry the Nazi comparisons.

——

Related reports

Michele Bachmann interview in St. Cloud Times

By Bill Prendergast
Minnesota Progressve Project
Nov. 23, 2009

It turns out that the City Pages isn’t the only local organ to run a crap “interview” with Michele Bachmann this week.

The St. Cloud Times has done the same thing. Their Washington correspondent is a Gannett News Service guy name Larry Bivins. He filed a story from Washington that purports to be an interview with Bachmann.

The Strib claims that there is news value in Bachmann’s answer to the last question in the interview — a question regarding possible regrets that she might have about charges of “anti-Americans” and “gangster government” in Washington.

Nah. No news value there, unless the interviewer asks her a follow up about her most recent remarks on these themes. With dates, the quotations, etc. And there’s no news value unless the interviewer asks Bachmann whether she regrets particular statements she’s made throughout her career: with the dates, the quotations, etc. …

St. Cloud Times Gives Bachmann Free Pass
(Hart Van Denburg, City Pages, Nov. 23, 2009)

——

Related reports on this site

Bachmann Reels in CNN (Nov. 18, 2009)

Bachmann Headlines British Press (Nov. 16, 2009)

New York Times Bachmann Fluff (Oct. 29, 2009)

Michele Bachmann Unmasked

(July 20, 2009)

Bachmann: MN Press Pushes Back

(May 3, 2009)

FROM THE ARCHIVES: One Year Ago — November 23, 2008

One-year retrospective: One year ago today, I took a break from reporting on events relevant to my campaign issues.

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Anti-war protesters from the Stop the War group wear masks depicting British Prime Minister Gordon Brown, right, former President George W. Bush, center, and former British Prime Minister Tony Blair, left. They posed for photographers Tuesday, Nov. 24, 2009 outside the conference center where the Iraq war inquiry is taking place in central London. (Photo credit: Lefteris Pitarakis / AP)

U.K. Documents Detail Iraq War Chaos

Nov. 22, 2009

LONDON – Leaked British government documents call into question ex-Prime Minister Tony Blair’s public statements on the buildup to the Iraq war and show plans for the U.S.-led 2003 invasion were being made more than a year earlier, a newspaper reported Sunday.

Britain’s Sunday Telegraph published details of private statements made by senior British military figures claiming plans were in place months before the March 2003 invasion, but were so badly drafted they left troops poorly equipped and ill-prepared for the conflict.

The documents — transcripts of interviews from an internal defense ministry review of the conflict — disclose that some planning for the Iraq war had begun in February 2002. Maj. Gen. Graeme Lamb, then head of Britain’s special forces, was quoted as saying he had been “working the war up since early 2002,” according to the newspaper.

In July 2002, Blair told lawmakers at a House of Commons committee session that there were no preparations to invade Iraq.

Critics of the war have long insisted that Blair offered then-President George W. Bush an assurance as early as mid-2002 — before British lawmakers voted in 2003 to approve U.K. involvement — that Britain would join the war.

The leaked documents are likely to be supplied to a public inquiry established by Prime Minister Gordon Brown to scrutinize prewar intelligence and postwar planning, and which will hold its first evidence sessions later this week.

Brown appointed ex-civil servant John Chilcot to lead the panel, which will call Blair and the current and former heads of Britain’s MI6 intelligence agency — John Sawers and John Scarlett — to give testimony in person. …

Britain’s role in the Iraq conflict — which triggered massive public protests at home — left 179 British soldiers dead.

“Tony Blair consistently denied to Parliament and public that the U.K. government was preparing for war in Iraq, yet these documents show that planning began as far back as 2002,” Alex Salmond, leader of the Scottish Nationalist Party, said Sunday. The revelations prove Blair took Britain into “an illegal and disastrous war on false pretences,” Salmond said. …

Two previous British studies into the war have been carried out . One cleared the government of blame for the death of David Kelly, a government weapons scientist who killed himself in 2003 after he was exposed as the source of a British Broadcasting Corp. report that accused Blair’s office of “sexing up” prewar intelligence.

A separate 2004 inquiry — which Chilcot took part in — into intelligence on Iraq also cleared Blair’s government, but criticized spy agencies for relying on seriously flawed or unreliable sources. …

11/23/09 Update

U.K. Begins Inquiry on Iraq War

Nov. 23, 2009

LONDON – A panel investigating Britain’s role in the Iraq war begins questioning witnesses this week in an inquiry that critics hope will humble former Prime Minister Tony Blair and expose alleged deception in the buildup to conflict.

The investigation is the most sweeping probe yet into the war by any nation that was involved.

It is expected to consider allegations Blair secretly backed President George W. Bush’s plan for invasion a year before Parliament authorized military involvement in 2003.

The panel, which opens public hearings Tuesday, will question dozens of officials over several months — including Blair, military officials and spy agency chiefs. It will also seek evidence from ex-White House staff.

Bereaved families and anti-war activists have long called for a comprehensive study to consider Britain’s role in a conflict that left 179 British soldiers dead and triggered massive public protests.

Lingering doubts about rush to war

But some worry the hearings will do little to answer lingering doubts about Britain’s rush to join the war. Led by a panel appointed by Prime Minister Gordon Brown, the inquiry won’t apportion blame, or establish criminal or civil liability — only offer reprimand and recommendations in hopes mistakes won’t be repeated in the future. …

In the United States, the 9/11 Commission examined some issues around prewar intelligence, and a Senate select committee identified failures in intelligence gathering in a July 2004 report on prewar intelligence assessments.

Brown set up the inquiry to address public criticism of three key aspects of the conflict: the case made for war; the chaotic planning for the invasion; and the failure to prepare for reconstruction. …

‘Last chance to get to the truth’

Retired civil servant John Chilcot heads the panel of five officials — who include Winston Churchill’s biographer and an ex-British ambassador to Russia. Chilcot has acknowledged the study may not satisfy those who insist the war was unjustified and illegal.

The panel’s conclusions may not be “definitive in the sense of a court verdict of legal or illegal,” Chilcot said. “It is much closer to high policy decisions — was this a wise decision, was it well-taken, was it founded on good advice and good information and analysis?” …

Two previous studies into specific aspects of the conflict have been criticized as too timid. …

Chris Ames, an investigator who campaigned for an inquiry, said it likely represents a final opportunity to scrutinize the war.

“This our last chance to get to the truth. People will want witnesses to drop the spin and be honest,” he said.

——

FROM THE ARCHIVES: One Year Ago — November 22, 2008

Rep. Michele Bachmann (R-Minn.) at the Sinclair service station on Century Ave., Woodbury, June 16, 2008, using charts to explain her plan to bring down the price of gasoline to $2 by increased drilling, including offshore drilling and drilling in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge. (Photo credit: Mark Zdechlik / MPR)

$2 Gas? Bad News.

One-year retrospective: One year ago today, I noted that in the summer of 2008 U.S. Rep. Michele Bachmann had claimed she could lower the price of gasoline to $2 a gallon in about two years by increased drilling, including offshore drilling and drilling in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge; however, just a few months later the price at the pump dropped to nearly $2 in a matter of weeks, purely as a result of reduced demand during the economic recession.

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U.S. Fears Iraq Development Projects May Go to Waste

An Iraqi worker at a new water treatment plant in Baghdad’s Sadr City. The $65 million plant is meant to provide water for 200,000 people — just a tenth of the population of the vast slum on Baghdad’s eastern ouskirts. (Photo credit: Erik De Castro / Reuters)

By Timothy Williams

Nov. 21, 2009

Excerpts

BAGHDAD — In its largest reconstruction effort since the Marshall Plan, the United States government has spent $53 billion for relief and reconstruction in Iraq since the 2003 invasion, building tens of thousands of hospitals, water treatment plants, electricity substations, schools and bridges.

But there are growing concerns among American officials that Iraq will not be able to adequately maintain the facilities once the Americans have left, potentially wasting hundreds of millions of dollars and jeopardizing Iraq’s ability to provide basic services to its people.

The projects run the gamut — from a cutting-edge, $270 million water treatment plant in Nasiriya that works at a fraction of its intended capacity because it is too sophisticated for Iraqi workers to operate, to a farmers’ market that farmers cannot decide how to share, to a large American hospital closed immediately after it was handed over to Iraq because the government was unable to supply it with equipment, a medical staff or electricity.

The concern about the sustainability of the projects comes as Iraq is preparing for pivotal national elections in January and as rebuilding has emerged as a political imperative in Iraq, eclipsing security in some parts of the country as the main anxiety of an electorate frustrated with the lack of social, economic and political progress. American forces are scheduled to begin withdrawing in large numbers next year. …

Other facilities, including hospitals, schools and prisons built with American funds, have remained empty long after they were completed because there were not enough Iraqis trained to operate them.

“As large-scale construction projects — power plants, water-treatment systems and oil facilities — have been completed, there has been concern regarding the ability of Iraqis to maintain and fund their operations once they are handed over to the Iraqi authorities,” said a recent analysis prepared for Congress by the Congressional Research Service.

The Government Accountability Office and the special inspector general for Iraq reconstruction have also issued reports in the past several months about the potential failure of American-financed projects once they are transferred to Iraq.

Stuart W. Bowen Jr., inspector general for Iraq reconstruction, said his watchdog agency had “regularly raised concerns about the potential waste of U.S. taxpayer money resulting from reconstruction projects that were poorly planned, badly transferred, or insufficiently sustained by the Iraqi government.” …

In the meantime, the Americans — military and civilian reconstruction specialists alike — continue to depart in large numbers, taking with them their money, equipment and expertise.

Despite the $53 billion spent by the United States, many Iraqis have criticized the rebuilding effort as wasteful. Ali Ghalib Baban, Iraq’s minister of planning, said it had had no discernable impact. “Maybe they spent it,” he said, “but Iraq doesn’t feel it.”

Iraqis, for whom bombed-out buildings are an unremarkable part of urban existence, also say they have seen little evidence of rebuilding.

“Where is the reconstruction?” asked Sahar Kadhum, a resident of Kut, about 100 miles southeast of Baghdad. “The city is sleeping on hills of garbage.”

Indeed, despite the billions in American funds, more than 40 percent of Iraqis still lack access to clean water, according to the Iraqi government. Ninety percent of Iraq’s 180 hospitals do not have basic medical and surgical supplies, according to the aid organization Oxfam. Iraqis also have disproportionately high rates of infant mortality, cerebral palsy and cancer.

Exacerbating the problem, Iraqi and American officials say is that hundreds of thousands of Iraq’s professional class have fled or been killed during the war, leaving behind a population with too few doctors, nurses, engineers, scientists and others.

In Hilla, 60 miles south of Baghdad, a recently completed $4 million maternity hospital built by the Americans is open, but the staff members are unable to operate much of its equipment. …

In Falluja, west of Baghdad, a $98 million wastewater treatment plant built by the United States serves only one-third of the homes it was intended to because the Iraqi government has not supplied it with sufficient fuel, “raising the possibility that the U.S. effort has been wasted,” according to a special inspector general’s report.

At Ibn Sina Hospital in Baghdad, which had been the American military’s largest medical center in the country, Iraqi security forces took up guard positions even before the conclusion of a ceremonial transfer to the Iraqi government last month. The hospital, however, has been closed because the Health Ministry lacks the staff and equipment to reopen it, even though the American military said it left $7.9 million in equipment behind.

Iraq’s most notorious reconstruction project might be the $165 million Basra Children’s Hospital in southern Iraq. Championed by Laura Bush when she was the first lady, its completion has been delayed by more than four years, and the project is $115 million over budget. …

“It was supposed to open in March, but I don’t think it will be ready,” said Ahmed Qassim, the hospital’s director. He added: “Maybe July, but we don’t know. Maybe not July.”

Related reports on this site

Iraqi neglect costs U.S. taxpayers (April 29, 2009)

Empty prison in Iraq a $40 million ‘failure’ (July 28, 2008)

——

FROM THE ARCHIVES: One Year Ago — November 21, 2008

A protester uses his shoe to strike an effigy of President Bush, as thousands of followers of Shiite cleric Muqtada al-Sadr converge on Firdous Square in central Baghdad, Iraq, for a protest against a proposed U.S.-Iraqi security pact, Nov. 21, 2009. (Photo credit: Karim Kadim / AP)

Iraqis Burn Bush in Effigy

One-year retrospective: One year ago today, I reported that followers of Shiite cleric Muqtada al-Sadr had stomped on and burned an effigy of President George Bush in the same central Baghdad square where Iraqis beat a toppled statue of Saddam Hussein with their sandals five years earlier. Chanting and waving flags, thousands of Iraqis filled Firdous Square to protest a proposed U.S.-Iraqi security pact that would allow American troops to stay for three more years.

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