Prometheus 6   

Editorial run

They've Paid Their Debt; Let Them Vote
By Christopher Uggen and Jeff Manza
In the state of Alabama, if you commit a felony, you forever lose the right to vote. It's a tough law, passed in the aftermath of the Civil War, and some people think it's time it was eased. But when the state Legislature tried to do just that last month, passing a bill to make it easier for those who have served their time to regain their voting rights, Republican Gov. Bob Riley vetoed it.

Passing It Along
By PAUL KRUGMAN
Our national debt is growing and supporters of President Bush are getting concerned. They will get more concerned when the debt affects the president's credibility.

Delusions on Korea
If President George W. Bush maintains his refusal even to explore the possibilities for a deal to remove the nuclear threat from North Korea, he will be gambling with the safety of all Americans.

Fire Rumsfeld and Wolfowitz
H.D.S. Greenway Boston Globe
BOSTON Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld stands at the head of the table. He has outmaneuvered all his cabinet rivals and taken over many of the functions that used to belong to the State Department, the CIA, even the Justice Department. He dominates the Cabinet as no secretary of defense has done since Robert McNamara. He is also articulate, refreshingly if undiplomatically blunt, with a no-nonsense approach.

His deputy, Paul Wolfowitz, is often mentioned as the most brilliant person in government. He is at the top of his game. He has seen his vision of toppling Saddam Hussein fulfilled, and he is an intellectual force behind a whole new way of looking at U.S. foreign policy.

But for all of that, both should be fired. Here's why.

The Iraq campaign, of which they were in charge, has been grossly mishandled. I use the word campaign because the overthrow of Saddam's army and regime was only the opening phase in what has to be, if this country is to maintain any credibility, an open and democratic society in Iraq. This may yet happen, but the current leadership of the Pentagon, through a fatal combination of hubris and incompetence, has so far bungled the job. If there were any accountability in the Bush administration, Rumsfeld and Wolfowitz would be asked to resign.

Cartoons
Tom Toles gives us the vocabulary builder word-of-the-day
Jeff Danziger on the state of Californian politics
David Horsey reports on the latest trends in health care

posted by Prometheus 6 at 7/18/2003 09:46:11 AM |