light reading

I fetched L. from the airport on Saturday night and she’s settled in on The Hilltop. I took her to the first day of her Smithsonian day camp this morning so I’ll have an after-action report this evening.

I’ve got two reads for the folks this morning: a Christopher Hitchens Vanity Fair piece on waterboarding and Barack Obama’s op-ed piece from today’s NYTimes. Hitchens has been a supporter of the Iraq war from it’s outset but is far too intelligent to be someone that falls in line with those that draw a direct line from supporting the war to condoning torture; believe me, it’s the straightest line you’ll ever see. Obviously, these two positions shouldn’t be mutually supportive – or exclusive. As for the op-ed, it’s nothing new in what the presumptive nominee has said all along. What is new, as far as events are concerned, is the elected leader of Iraq saying that he wants a timeline for withdrawal of American troops. Seems fair enough, right? It isn’t the op-ed that gets my emotions roiling as much as the comments added by the public. In general terms, those that support Obama and those on the left, wholeheartedly agree and cheer the idea. Those outside of that group simply say surrender, flip-flop, Muslim, give me my gun, torture, terrorists, etc. It’s a mindless direct association between American troops leaving – we lose – and the torture mentality. Frankly, it’s embarrassing. If our president – come January 2008, whoever it might be – can’t decide that leaving Iraq at the request of the elected government in that country without being called names by blind followers of some doctrine, then we are much deeper troubles than I ever imagined. I know this is such a nice Monday morning input.

How about this? The Cubs hit the All-Star break tied for the best record in baseball. They’ve won the last three series and can now take a little break – aside from the eight Cubs playing in the All-Star Game.

I think figuring out the Brett Favre situation up in Green Bay may be more difficult than getting a resolution through the U.N. Security Council.

t.