The Nossiter Net
The net that shall enmesh them all
Edited, Written, and Published by J.C. Nossiter
The Morning Mendacity
Friday, September 17th, 2004
The Nossiter Net is cast  to snare some of  the riper rascalities of the day.  Comments?  editor@nossiter.net
John Kerry has a plan.  Form a partnership of the leading powers;  deploy a massive international force under NATO command to occupy and stabilize Iraq;  rebuild vital infrastructure at lightning speed while training an Iraqi army, police, and civil service; rule the country with a UN High Commissioner until full autonomy is possible.  If the Kerry campaign ever articulates its position with anything remotely approaching effectiveness, the howls of derision from Mr. Bush and his minions will follow in short order.  The Bush administration’s contempt for the UN is well-known, and its scorn for NATO, while less public, is equally fervent.  Any plan that involves both organizations will be denounced with standard GOP fury.  Let’s predict the bumper sticker response:  Unworkable! Unacceptable!  Unprecedented! Un-American!

Pithy, direct, and completely untrue. The Bush administration MO is now so familiar that we can anticipate the mendacities before they’re hatched.  Because Mr. Kerry’s plan has already been tried and tested in another context, with its efficacy proven beyond doubt.  The Republicans are as likely to acknowledge that fact as the Democrats are to make their case, but fact it is.

The scenario:  terror, anarchy, and vicious factional fighting in a multi-ethnic state.  The time and place:  Bosnia in 1995.  Unrelentingly patient diplomacy on the part of the Clinton administration, France, Germany, Russia, and Great Britain, and the overwhelming military power of NATO resulted in the Dayton Peace Accord.  The accord provided for a multi-national NATO-led peacekeeping force to impose peace, and eventually to restore institutions and infrastructure under a representative of the accord’s trustee nations.  How well has it worked?  Bosnia today is peaceful, holds elections, and though far from a model state, functions reasonably well.

What worked for Bosnia can work for Iraq, with the right leadership on our part.  We certainly won’t get that leadership from a President for whom the UN, NATO, and multi-national negotiations of any kind are anathema.  And we won’t get the leadership change we need unless the Kerry campaign makes itself heard over the howls of the GOP wolf pack.

The Afternoon Affront

The Bush education policy relies in large measure on semi-privatizing the worst public schools by turning them into so-called charter schools, privately run, but paid for with our taxes.  Taxpayers in California woke up this morning to learn from the
New York Times that after investing $100 million in the California Charter Academy, a 60 school chain, their investment has washed away with the Pacific tide.  The California Charter Academy has gone bust, leaving 6,000 students high and dry.  By No Child Left Behind, the President apparently meant that instead of being allowed to fall behind in school, some children will simply forego school entirely.  As Mr. Bush would say, "that’ll larn ‘em."

©J.C. Nossiter 2004
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