01/18 Morning Report

No More Domestic Spying. Bush has decided not to renew electronic surveillance regulations. The official statement says the secret court, established by Congress will be able to get the job done. Personally, I don’t think an added level of bureaucracy is a solution. I it will probably end up accomplishing nothing. The criticism of the Bush administration over this has not been well founded. Congressional oversight was in place from the beginning. Congress new what was going on all along. The “civil liberty protectors” have placed this way above the importance of public safety.

The BBC is making hay with the “announcement” that Bush snubbed their offer back in 2003. Can I say “Good!” The offers from Iran and Syria, and now even the threat from the Saudis, are not solutions. I think the sectarian violence would escalate even farther under Iranian control—as do many others. Iraq belongs to the Iraqis. Maybe it does need to be broken out into autonomous regions. That is still a very likely scenario. But, the Iraqis need to decide that.

Meanwhile, the NY Times had this article on what remains of Iraqi factories. I don’t buy the repeated statement of “last hope”. There are many signs of hope in Iraq. However, I do agree that a strong industry—even the beginnings of one—would be huge.