Canada in Afganistan

In the recent Throne Speech, Prime Minister Harper stated that his government ("Canada's New Government" is the mandated phrase to be used) will seek to extend the stay of Canadian troops from 2009 to 2011.

On the surface, this seems like a reasoned extension of the War on Terror. Unlike the Iraq Invasion, the invasion of Afghanistan seemed linked directly to events of 9/11 and terrorist activity.

But events have intervened...

When the Taliban and Al Queda were trapped in Tora Bora, a little push would probably have captured Ben Laden and ended both the Taliban and Al Queda. But President Bush had other plans and the request of the field commander for 600 U.S. Army Rangers went unheeded. Those troops were diverted for the planned invasion of Iraq. Defeat was snatched from the jaws of victory thanks to that Bush/Cheney decision.

So what has happened since then? A surge in drug proceeds as the opium crop grows (by 50%, according to some) provides funding for the new guerrilla warfare. (Think about that for a moment - poppies need fields and time to grow. Only 12% of Afghanistan is available for agricultural crops and poppies can be spotted from the air. A 50% increase clearly shows that we lack the resources to find those fields of poppies growing during the months it takes to grow them). Violence is up and as more than one wag has stated, "Karzai (the Afghani President) is no more than the Mayor of Kabul". The rest of the country is seeing a surge in guerrilla activity as it faces 40% unemployment and appalling conditions, from lack of running water, sewage and electricity. The promised aid has not arrived or, when it has, it has been siphoned off to private pots or used in ways that limit any benefit. A report by the Asia Committee back in 2003 set out the issues and solutions. Few of those recommendations have been realized.
The Taliban, or insurgency, or whatever one wishes to call it, is stronger now than it was several years ago. One Australian report suggests this results from "resentment at NATO bombing of civilians, billions of dollars of wasted aid, a lack of jobs and record crops of opium". With no economy to speak of, the only way for an Afghan to earn money is to grow poppies or become a paid fighter for the Taliban. Pakistan is always there as a training ground. Guns, after so many years of war, are easy to get.
Not noted often is that Afganistan, after many years of warfare, has minefields everywhere. Children are often killed as they are sent out to gather fuel in the treeless country. Indeed, the number of Afghans killed or maimed by mines is staggering and the survivors of those events need special care.

Prior to Afghanistan, Canada had a reputation for providing "peacekeepers" in nations around the world. From Lester Pearson's Nobel Peace Prize and the Suez Crisis to Cyprus, from the Israel border to Bosnia, Rwanda and more, our troops had a unique and special purpose. They were not there to fight but to try - and they often succeeded - to keep warring factions apart. We had a world-wide repudiation for peacekeeping.

I think many Canadians were justly proud of that reputation.

The status of our troops in Afghanistan is very different. We are not there as peacekeepers but as warriors. I doubt that many Afghanis can note any difference between the Canadian troops and the American troops. We used much the same equipment and profess the same goals. While the initial intention might have been noble and just, the failure of the United States to fully complete the mission prior to the Iraq invasion not only gave the Taliban time and resources to continue the fighting but changed the war in character. From a war that would quickly be ended, it became - with limited resources - a war that would drag on forever. This is so as we have Allies that provide only a limited number of troops, not sufficient to accomplish the broad goals stated, and some allies who limit where their troops can be sent to areas that are not active war zones. The number of troops presently available dooms this mission to a endless engagement.

Recently, the President of Afghanistan suggested that the Taliban be invited to form part of the government. Perhaps a practical solution to the mess, but what does that say about our continuing to fight the same Taliban in the same country?

From the British defeats over a century ago to the Soviet defeats in the past few decades, Afghanistan has shown it is easy to conquer, difficult to hold. Our goal is no longer to simply destroy terrorists. Indeed, one has to wonder what the present goals are given the invitation mentioned above. And if we cannot clearly set out what goals we have for our forces in the field, we should not be willing to risk Canadian lives in a war that lacks any clear purpose and promises to have no end.

The Throne Speech followed the establishment of a panel to examine Canada's role in Afghanistan last week. To be headed by John Manley, a hawk certainly, the panel is to advise "Canada's New Government" on what role we should play in that country.

Hey! As we have been there for several years perhaps we might have had a role and mission well thought out before?

Thanks to the early phasing back of American special forces, the opportunity to "win" was lost. All we can attain now is a continual festering sore of a war, one that keeps going long after any Energizer bunny has stopped. So it has always been with Afghanistan, from early days through the Brits and Soviets. If our mission is to train Afghan police, then let's do that without the large contingent of soldiers fighting a group that may form part of the government in a short time.

An Idaho Potatoe

All right. It was early in the evening, late in the afternoon, and we were bored. Rick Sanchez holds little appeal and reruns of "CSI" were repeats of repeats.

Those are amongst the excuses I have for watching the hour long interview with Idaho senator Larry Craig. I tried to read a book while the interview was broadcast, but laughs from my partner, Sonia, get my mind wandering back to the screen.

It was designed to be touching. In their living room, I suppose, Larry in causal clothing, wife in red, and holding hands.

But we have been here before, haven't we?

There has been a lot of time to explore possible answers and the rehearse those answers. We have the story as told by the police officer, with nothing to gain by fabricating, of the tapping and touching foot and the left hand palm upward motion, complete with wedding band. Then the predictable denials, familiar to anyone who has watched even one episode of "Dateline Predators". "Of course I didn't do that".

What destroys any credibility are the actions Craig took after, while still in the heat of the spotlight. Forget that weeks past after the event before he was discovered, forget that as a U.S. Senator he knows both how laws are made and followed, but which lawyers to call when need arises. To borrow from securities work, he is a "sophisticated lawbreaker", not a rube.

Remember instead the sad "resignation" speech in downtown Boise. My "intention" to resign, coupled with the misdirected but recorded telephone call to his lawyer. Those two, taken together show a duplicity that is astounding. Clearly he wanted people to think he was going to resign, encouraged that view while being nefarious and sneaky with wording that allowed an out, just as his recorded statement to the police after the incident. This guy is a pro. Worse yet, a Republican.

Yet there he sat, wife in hand, woefully commenting that his "friends" in the Senate and Romney did not call, did not say goodbye. The poor soul, abandoned by all but newly minted innocent, with full intent to clear his name by not only appealing from his admission of guilt but now appealing the decision to uphold that guilty plea. Now I ask you, how many times on each court day is a plea of guilty for such offences taken and confirmed. Would Joe Q.. Public be afforded the opportunity to recant and claim innocence. Not even "Judge Judy" would permit that sort of nonsense. You had the time to reflect, the time to call a lawyer (weeks of time, really) and talked to the prosecutor by phone. Now you wish to say all that was a mistake, one we would not allow for a normal person?

Further, the interview did disclose that this was not the first time - at least for suspicions. The "Idaho Statesman" found lots of smoke, but no fire:

http://www.idahostatesman.com/localnews/story/143801.html

"The most serious finding by the Statesman was the report by a professional man with close ties to Republican officials. The 40-year-old man reported having oral sex with Craig at Washington's Union Station, probably in 2004. The Statesman also spoke with a man who said Craig made a sexual advance toward him at the University of Idaho in 1967 and a man who said Craig "cruised" him for sex in 1994 at the REI store in Boise. The Statesman also explored dozens of allegations that proved untrue, unclear or unverifiable."

Of course, what causes the attention to stay focused is not necessarily the brazen almost resignation, but the fact that Craig has been an advocate and voted always along the lines of "family values" as espoused by the religious right. The world hypocrisy comes readily to mind. Simply put, Craig has been thirty years trying to impose his "family values" on the rest of the United States, while potentially lacking those same values in his own life. Of course, he and his wife attributed this attention to the media seeking to destroy him. Sure. Jay Leno and Anderson Cooper are out to get him, along with every other comedian and reporter in the nation.

"Wide-stance", not really a quote but attributed to Craig just the same, will be the calling card. If indeed his appeal is allowed, will that no open floodgates for traffic tickets and more from those who months after, saw the need to recant a write-in plea of guilt?

Bah! Humbug!

Nightly Rituals

Perhaps my partner, Sonia, and I have too many books...

Or perhaps age is creeping up on us.

I have always been absent-minded. It seems I get into a book or thought and
manage to simply loose track of everything else. When I am summoned back to
the real world I often leave my book, with the page carefully marked, where
I "know" I will find it again or simply in a convenient place. After
whatever interruption has called me is over, I look around in the "normal"
places for the book I was reading. And, in the words of Flanders & Swann, I
"find it missing". This night, "Dear Old Dead" has been found missing...

This starts a great hunt, often tinged with frustration and anger at myself
for doing this again. I revisit all the places in our house and out where I
have been, where I might have left the book in an unthinking moment. No,
not there. Not on the front porch, not in the bathroom, not by my favoured
spot in the front room. Did I go to the kitchen? No, I don't think so, but
maybe, just maybe I did. Not there either. After several minutes of this
meandering about, with Sonia always asking "What are you looking for now", I
see another book that I have been wanting to read. Around this house, there
is "always" another book handy that needs reading.

Time passes and the book is nowhere to be found. So, with some reluctance
but also with some joy, I open the covers of another book and start off.
Hmmm. Lynn Hightower. "The Debt Collector" - that sounds interesting.
Read the blurbs and flaps. Yes, this will do. A chapter is finished, then
another. Five or so chapters in and it is time to head off to bed. With my
nose still in the book, down the hall I go, Little Boots cheerfully
following. Boots chews on his nighttimes dog biscuit then jumps on the bed.
As my eyes follow, I see the long sought book, "Dear Old Dead", resting
right in the centre of my pillow where I casually threw it when interrupted.
Indeed, the moment I see it I instantly can connect all the dots and
remember exactly why I decided at that moment to put it right where it is.

Now comes the great decision. Do I continue to read the "new book" or
return to the "old book"? Both now lie by my pillow and I tend to avoid the
necessary decision. Hmmm. Both novels, both mysteries. You know, I don't
really "feel" like reading a novel right now. Something a bit meatier.
Now, what was it that DAF said about Bush and Iraq? There was an answer to
that on the tip of my tongue, but I know it was in something I read - what
was it? - a week ago or so. So I cast an eye over the shelves of books now
nested by my desk on Clinton, Bush, Cheney and Iraq, Iran, Israel and
Palestine. That's right - it was something Gwynne Dyer wrote. That narrows
it down to three books, so I take out all three from the shelf. Nope, not
the first, it might be the second. Definitely it was in the third book on
the right side of the page.

The novels take their place on the bed, Boots takes his, and I hope in with
the third book firmly in hand, turn on the light and roll over. The light
is on a timer - it will go off sometime after I fall asleep. Opps! Forgot
to take my night-time pills! Up I go and grab the bubblepack that seems to
rule my days. Pop the night-pills and down they go with a bit of water.
Now back to the bed and hop in yet again, picking up "Dear Old Dead" as I do
so. Dyer has fallen to the floor on the other side of the bed or has
managed to creep under Boots as he starts to snore.

"As before, when George Demarkian had come to New York. it had been
winter..." Ah yes, just where I was before...

The Hunt for C.S. Forester

I feel in love with C.S. Forester’s “Hornblower” series in my late teens, on a trip to Vancouver and Seattle. The series had just been reprinted in uniform volumes by Bantam and were on display at Shorey’s in downtown Seattle. I bought them all (I thought) in the summer of 1968. I was still in university.

At the time, I was most certainly not a book collector but I was an avid reader. I read all of the Hornblower novels and then stopped in at a small bookstore that used to be just off Jasper Avenue on 101 Street in Edmonton’s downtown. I found a few more books by Forester and, more interesting, a list of books that he had written courtesy of the clerk, a fellow named Tom. In that brief moment, I became a book collector.

Now at that time Forester’s books were being given away and some were still available in “first editions”. Always a book hound, now I started to learn the nuances of collecting from identifying a first edition to searching for them. The used bookstores of the day did not favour Forester that much – his titles were often in the big bins of books available for a quarter or so. If the book was on the shelves inside, the price was not much higher.

So that is how it all started, so many years ago.

Tom, the sales clerk at the bookstore, ordered in what he could (I attended his marriage years later and ended up only a few miles south – he is a teacher in Dawson Creek, B.C.). Beyond prowling in used bookshops in Edmonton and elsewhere when I traveled, after an initial rush the collection grew slowly. I was hooked but not yet starkers mad.

The Forester shelf in my bookcase remained more or less the same.

Then we moved to Vancouver with new used bookstores to explore. Titles were added, one by one. On what had become annual forays to London I discovered another world – one that could find such books for me thousands of miles away. Bookstores in Charring Cross and such became regular correspondents. I remember one on Bond Street, where I finally found Forester’s one children’s book, “Poo-Poo and the Dragons”. Bertram Rota provided regular offerings. In those days I was just about the only person collecting Forester in any manner so the plums fell to me.

To aid in finding new books, the sequels to Forester by Dudley Pope, Alexander Kent, Patrick O’Brien and others (the “shot and sail” novels that take the place of Westerns in the UK). Somewhere along the line I write to Mrs. Dorothy Forester, then still in Berkley California and she replied with a two-page manuscript of his that was duly framed. I started writing as well to the other writers and soon had a lively exchange with Dudley Pope, Douglas Reeman (“Alexander Kent”) and most of the rest. That led to some wonderful times in London and the UK. Reeman took me to the Savage Club and out for supper to the pub where Nelson stopped on his way to Trafalgar. Yearly trips and visits followed. We used to stay and Mrs. Beever’s Bed and Breakfast and I can still remember the address – 53 Cambridge Street, London, and SW1. Just around the corner from Victoria Station.

On one trip, I made my way out to Redding and Angmering-by-the-Sea and met both Dorothy Forester and his cousin, Stephen Troughbridge-Smith. We chatted and had tea; Mrs. Forested added to my collection with a copy of “U-97” - a play by Forester - and Steven regaled me with tales of his uncle. The next day, early on, I made my way to Dulwich and located Forester’s home from his early days. After the milkman arrived I knocked on the door and introduced myself to the occupant who took me up to the attic room where Forester played his games with tin soldiers and wrote his first (rather bad) books.

Later via the Internet I was to meet John Forester, son of CSF by his first wife. John hates his father. Due to royalties and such, he was in a battle with Stephen. That delayed the Hornblower series for A&E in the USA. Suffice to say I am perhaps the only person to know both sides of the dispute directly from the horse’s mouth.

One year, I placed an ad in “The Bookseller” a weekly publication that tells the trade what books are being published in the UK. I got a letter from an elderly woman in the UK who offered twenty of the Forester books, all complete with dustjacket for One pound each. She had collected books all her life and her architect was now telling her that unless she got rid of some her house would fall down. So now I had signed copies of Forester’s books and the collection was complete!

We moved, from West Vancouver to Vancouver Island and Campbell River. A divorce meant moving again, this time to a farmhouse near Courtenay. By this time, the Forester books had their own bookcase, glass fronted and only for them.

It was insurance that caused me to think about divesting. To insure such books out in the country was a long and complicated affair. I was told that I could ship them to San Francisco for appraisal which might be acceptable. Ah well, that would be expensive.

When I first tired to contact Forester’s widow, I had corresponded with a person named Llewlyn Howand III. He was then an editor with Little, Brown in Boston. I knew he had left to start his own bookshop (and to sail some magnificent yachts). So I contacted him and send the books off to Boston for sale. They ended up at the University of Texas for the magnificent sum of $5000 or slightly more:

http://www.mwilden.com/forester/

http://library.tamu.edu/portal/site/Library/menuitem.32cd556b7355d69343aecb5419008a0c/?vgnextoid=152f8944d32e0010VgnVCM1000007800a8c0RCRD

http://www.abebooks.com/servlet/SearchResults?an=C.S.+Forester&sortby=1&x=40&y=11 ("The African Queen" is over $30,000 alone, with dustjacket…)

In today’s inflated Forester market, those same books would bring in over $100,000. C’est la vie.

Along this long road, I had wonderful times and met fascinating people. I may well add to this tale – consider this a work in progress for there are so many stories to tell…

A Good Day

Today I had intended to call a record store and order a CD by Long John Baldry, now deceased. Last week, on CBC Radio, there was in interview with Paul Meyer who has just completed a biolgraphy of Long John. Baldry spend most of his last twenty-five years in Vancouver. The bio sounds interesting and it is now on my Chapters list for the next AirMiles Gift Certificate.

Baldry is the Father of British Blues, creditied with the discovery of Rod Stewart and Elton John. Indeed, he saved Elton's life. The story is that Elton, uncomfortable with being Gay and seeing no answer, had his head literally in the gas stove when Baldry called up and convinced him that being out was the way to go.

During the interview, they played a few tracks, including "Don't Give Boogie Woogie to the King of Rock 'n Roll" and "It Ain't Easy". Both were produced by Stewart and the piano is from Elton John. So with that intention I stopped first at a small local thrift and cast my eye down the rows of cassettes they had for sale (Our van, Eggplant, has a cassette player, not a CD). There it was, "It Ain't Easy" by Long John Baldry, for all of $.25. Better yet, the version of "Boogie Woogie played on CBC did not have the voice over introduction, a long tale of Baldry's arrest in London for busking in London.

(Music wise, one of our best Saturday afternoon sets of CD's is of Chinese music, edited by Yoyo Mah. We recently found, at another thirft, a three CD set of African music which looks equally good. To my major disapointment no cuts by King Sunny Adda but that can be corrrected! King Sunny came to Vancouver years ago and put on a fantastic show at the old Commodore).

Having started the day with that find, it was over to Habitiant for Living, where I found a nice bi-fold door for our hallway, the louvered type which we wanted. I should be able to get that up tomorrow. Sonia's ensuite is complete but needed a medicine chest. The Sally Ann has a very nice one free for the taking, so I did. Wood trim, three shelves and two mirrored "wings". Just what the doctor ordered.

Arriving home, I saw the post office van just leaving and yes, the book order from Chapters was here. Yesterday brought signed bookplates form Olen Steinhaur, all the way from Hungary. Today brought the order with his last two books, "Liberation Movements" and "Victory Square". There are five books in his series, starting off the "Bridge of Sighs". They are mysteries (and spy thrillers) set in an un-named Eastern European country starting in 1948 and continuing to the demolition of the Berlin Wall. Highly recommended.

The third book was not fiction. "The Ethnic Cleansing of Palestine" is by an Israeli historian and I had read some very good reviews of it.

For those who cleave to the mythology that the Palestinians left their homes in 1948 due to Arab radio urging, forget the myth and look at the truth. Documented truth by an Israeli scholar, Ilan Pappe. Pappe's purpose in writing this book is not to denounce his own
country, Israel. Rather, he states clearly that until such time as the
criminal actions of evicting the Palestinians is recognized by the world,
including Israel and the United States, there can be no peace.

Here is the true story - a deliberate plan to removed any Arab from the
territory of Palestine. Far from only isolated incidents of violence, this
was part of Plan "D", a very deliberate and calculated plan to remove
Palestinians from the lands they had occupied since Roman times. That Arab
radio played into the successful propagation of the myth is certain, but
that was well after Plan "D" had been formulated and was being executed.

This is no anti-Jewish screed. It is a well documented and historically
accurate rendering of the crime that continues to drive violence into the
Israel Palestinian conflict.

Most assuredly, if you read this book you will never, ever look at the
Palestinians in the same way. Their removal and subsequent treatment
including the settlements and outposts was and remains part of a plan the
world has ignored. As Pappe points out, others have been brought before War
Crime tribunals for the same acts that were carried on with impunity by the
founders of Israel.

And perhaps, just perhaps, reading this book will give some insight into the
reason why so many Muslims are mad at Israel and its unconditional backer,
the United States. The ethnic cleansing of Palestine forms the root of
Islamic fundamentalism as much as do the oppressive regimes supported by
American foreign policy. If you still believe that Islamofacists are out to
rule the world, especially your part of it, it might be nice to get to the
single issue that has driven that movement right from the state.
Uncomfortable as it may be, this book provides many answers.

Eh bien, not is the time to take of the old hallway doors and put up the new-to-us bifold. As one might expect, nothing goes totally well - it looks as if a half inch or so need be removed from the new door.

The Hunter is Hunted by Her Prey

(The title comes from an old “Girl Groups” song written by Smokey Robinson)

One thing is very clear…

You don’t have to like a writer to enjoy their books.

Some may recall the American poet, hailed by some as America’s greatest poet, Ezra Pound. Pound was in Italy when the United States entered the war and made many broadcasts favouring the Axis powers:

“After the war, Pound was brought back to the United States to face charges of treason. The charges covered only his activities during the time when the Kingdom of Italy was officially at war with the United States......His insanity plea is still a matter of controversy, since in retrospect his activities and his writings during the war years do not appear to be those of a clinically insane person. Treason is potentially a capital offense. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ezra_Pound

(The same method had been used with the British World War One hero and poet Sigfried Sassoon. He was confined to a mental hospital in Scotland until he agreed to return to the trenches).

I have been reminded of that in my recent “discovery” of an American mystery writer, Jane Haddam (her real name is Orania Papazoglou). Prolific, Haddam has written two series of mysteries. The most durable are the tales of Gregor Demarkian, “the Armenian-American Hecul Poiroit”. There are over twenty in this series:

Not a Creature Was Stirring (1990)
Precious Blood (1991)
Act of Darkness (1991)
Quoth the Raven (1991)
A Great Day for the Deadly
A Feast of Murder (1992)
A Stillness in Bethlehem (1993)
Murder Superior (1993)
Dear Old Dead (1994)
Festival of Deaths (1994)
Bleeding Hearts (1995)
Fountain of Death (1995)
Baptism in Blood (1996)
Deadly Beloved (1997)
And One to Die on (1997)
Skeleton Key (2000)
True Believers (2001)
Somebody Else's Music (2002)
Conspiracy Theory (2003)
The Headmaster's Wife (2005)
Hardscrabble Road (2006)
Glass Houses (2007)
Game of Solitaire (to be released next year)

There are three main characters. Gregor Demarkian is a retired head of the FBI Criminal Behaviour Unit, and its founder. His wife died shortly before his retirement and he returned to the Armenian section of Philadelphia, bought an apartment and enjoys the quiet close-knit neighbourhood. Bennis Hannaford is first a potential victim, then a friend, and more recently a lover (and soon to be wife?). She hails from a rich but dysfunctional family on The Main of Philadelphia. Last is Father Tibor, an Armenian Orthodox priest who offers sage and often confusing advice.

Various Armenian neighbours, a police chief and would-be mayor round out this cast, and others added as the stories require. Several of the titles involved Roman Catholic nuns. They typical book starts off with a chapter introducing each character, charming little vignettes that present the character and move the plot along just enough. Then, of course, comes a murder, mostly. These are like Agatha Christie in a sense, but far more involved and convoluted. By the time the plot starts to take off, Haddam has made you at home with each of the characters and, if you have been following the series, brought you up to date on the evolving relationship between Gregor and Bennis.

Gregor is not a private detective, as he repeats often enough, but a police consultant. He seems to be invited to all sorts of places, from mansions to colleges, to movie star’s homes and even ships. Naturally, foul deeds are done. Often several. As the plot moves along, the interplay between Gregor and Bennis, and Father Tibor is a delight. Haddam is a person of definite views (more of that later) and interjects politics and political science in very chewable nuggets throughout the text. By making her characters of different political persuasions, she is able to present some funny and also piercing commentary on various views.

Now, what does this have to do with Ezra Pound?

Well, I had never heard of Jane Haddam until I joined a well-established Usenet newsgroup – Rec.Arts.Mystery or RAM. This group has been going for many years, has annual meetings and even a logo. Unlike other newsgroups, this one is not give to flames and ads for sex tonics. Most of the posts are actually about books and mystery writers. Indeed, in the Demarkian novels, Father Tibor is an avid participant in the group.

Father Tibor might join the group in fiction; Jane Haddam joins the group in real life. And that is where I met her – and we instantly disagreed.

To say the least, Haddam and I differ on “American Foreign Policy”, notably the War in Iraq and potentially the War in Iran. So that has lead to some rather hot exchanges. As Haddam’s books are not published in Canada or the United Kingdom, I had not heard of her nor ever seen any of her books. I ordered the first one in with the intention of hating it.

And when it arrived, I tried to hate it. The problem being, like with Pound, I was captured and had to surrender – at least to the books. My first taste was several months ago and now, thanks to my digging deep in cellars and strange out of the way bookshops on line, I have the complete set of Demarkian mysteries and have been reading my way through all of them.

At times, I am ashamed of myself. If I were to stand on principle I would burn them or at the least give them away to some non-English readers. But I simply can’t…

Now, the first books of the series were all written with a holiday in mind. This was, according to what I have read, her publisher’s idea, not hers. So Christmas, Easter, July Fourth, Halloween, St. Patrick’s Day and more - each of the early books revolves around a particular holiday. That gets a bit tiring and makes some titles and plots a stretch. I find Haddam’s plots great fun, but in some cases the coincidences do stretch credulity as the story comes together. The first fifteen books, the "Holiday" Demarkians, were published by Crimeline. With Demarkian "16", "Skeleton Key", Haddam switched publishers to St. Martin's Minotaur and the plots were markedly less restrained by the artificial "holiday" theme. In my opinion, the freedom from holidays resulted in much better and more interesting plots. The newer books are indeed my favourites.

While not commonly found in Canadian bookstores, the titles can be found at Chapters and specialist mystery bookstores. For the early titles in paperback, I found all the paperbacks in a used bookstore in Kamloops. Better World Books and BookCloseOuts on the web also have some of the more recent titles.

Haddam has gone outside of the Demarkian series for another short series (the Patience McKenna novels) and two stand alone novels ("Charimsa" and Sanctity", both released under her true name). I have not managed as yet to locate copies of these but I am certainly looking for them.

Instead of hunting Jane Haddam to get the books signed, I often find myself her prey on line…

Back in 1964...

...there was a book written by Richard Hofstadter called "The Paranoid Style
in American Politics". For those too young to remember, those were the days
of Johnson and Goldwater. Hofstader defined this style of politics as
"heated exaggeration, suspiciousness, and conspiratorial fantasy". These
types view the world as fundamentally hostile. This type of politician
collectivizes his conspiratorial delusions and convinces others that they
share his victimization. Conspiracy for these, he said, becomes the motive
force of historical events".

Typically, this might be the "New World Order" normally depicted by the
United Nations. You can see this at its best in the "Left Behind" series,
mixed in with Revelations and religious dogma.

That was 1964. It seems that it has become the dominant force in American politics. The enemy has changed form the USSR and the United Nations to the "Islamofascist". Ignoring the fact that this group is a small minority of Muslims, it gets front page as the
arch-villain as the recent visit if its President to Co.,umbia University showed all too well.

"I live in a kill zone" says one. Others worry that if Iran gets a bomb
(which according to the international inspectors, it is not doing) a
suitcase bomb will be delivered if not to their doorstep, to a "kill zone"
close by. What has happened to the American psyche to cause this fringe
tactic of politics to become the dominant force?

9/11 was indeed a terrible event, a disaster. Yet countries such as
Germany, Great Britain, Spain and many more have gone through disasters
without becoming paranoid about bombs and fanatics. They respond in a
reasonable manner, with police actions, not bombing a country or invading it
based on mere suspicion made real by lies. And yes, in the case of Iraq,
the evidence is clear that there were indeed lies designed - successfully -
to intimidate and to create this paranoia. The evidence was manipulated to
give the answers wanted, regardless of the root cause (which we many never
know for it certainly has not been given out thus far). Jack Straw in
England saw this clearly and resigned.

Is it because the United States had never had a war on its territory for
over one hundred years? Did that historical and geographic advantage make
its residents too complacent - "It cannot happen here"? I don't know, but
what I see in posts from Americans is a paranoid state driven to
extremes. For it is indeed extreme to speak so casually about bombing
another country that has not attacked yours. Indeed, to speak thus about a country that could
not attack yours given its present state of development. Iran has no way to
deliver any weapon to the USA. And that assumes that it cannot
only make such a bomb, but make one to fit in a suitcase.

I suspect it goes deeper. Canada has not had a war on its soil since the
American attempts at invasion, in 1812 and before. Yet we do not wish to
bomb anyone even if we could - and our technology is well advanced. Nor does
any European country support such antics. Is the propaganda of paranoid
fantasy driven so deep that patriotism is confused with aggression? Has
reason been lost in fear? It certainly seems so. Perhaps it ties in with the rise of fundamentalist Christiainity in the United States. "Revalation and rapture are on the way and we msut speed them up!"

And so every rational thought is answered through the lens of paranoia. To
bomb America or Israel would be for Iran to commit suicide. That is answered by
those who see Muslims as all wishing to go to paradise based on a fringe
fanatical cult of that religion. Even those religious leaders in power wish
to retain power, not in heaven but here on earth. They may have a different
religion but they are not mad dogs. A book presumes that Muslims will take
over Europe and fear comes. The world is indeed changing but not by any
grand Islamic conspiracy. It is simple demographics. Birth rates are down
in Europe and North America. We cannot or will not do certain jobs. So we
import labour and that labour stays and has children. One example showed up
last night on TV. Holland now has one sixteenth of its population as
Muslims - one million out of sixteen million. The fastest growing religion
in Europe is Islam, driving by a population explosion amongst new arrivals.
"Mohammed" is the most common European name. To some, that is seen as a
threat, and from a threat comes fear and conspiracy.

In the United States, the privilege of being the only superpower has brought
unparallel military ability. The US spends over one half of all the world's
military budget. Spending on the military is greater than it was during the
Cold War. Yet a small group of fanatics living in caves whom the world
despises cannot be rund to ground. They have become powerful. The American military has won all the battles but onece again seems liekly to loose the war driven politically and not militarily. Indeed, it seems all military advice, unless it agrrees with the administration, is cast asside. The lesson of Vietnam, not to direct military tactics from
Washington has been not only forgotten, but the error repeated. As a
result, the Taliban is not only resurgent in Afghanistan. It is being asked
to form part of the government.

Billions have been wasted and literally thrown away - $9 Billion is missing from the kitty in Baghdad. A third world population has lost by death over one million souls and another four
million have left for other countries. Twenty percent of its population. Yet if this was not bad enough, the paranoia demands that yet another country, similarly without proof and based on fear of "kill zones" and the like be bombed.

One must wonder. An administration that has lied and deceived its public,
that has the lowest popularity of any - even Nixon - is able to manipulate
fear into yet another war, yet another military adventure.

It is madness, as paranoia is defined.

Letter to the Editor - Iran to be Bombed

Dear Editor,

We seem to be getting closer daily to another American adventure - the bombing of Iran. In the several e-groups to which I belong, many Americans are openly encouraging the Bush administration to bomb Iran.

This attitude is driven by fear. Some say Iran must be hit as they live in a "kill zone", other aver to the religious nature of Iran's government and say the Mullahs have no risk as they believe they will go to paradise.

The Bush administration seems expert at instilling fear based on no more than rumours and supposition. You may recall that the attack on Iraq was preceded by the lies (for it is certain those speaking did know the truth) of Weapons of Mass Destruction and a supposed link between Saddam Hussein and Al Qaeda. Neither of these premises were true, yet war followed and years of misery for Iraqi civilians and American troops.

This time, we have the demonization of Iran's president. Perhaps not a nice fellow, he has been misquoted in American media regarding Israel. The issue of gay rights is strange indeed, considering the policy of many American states. And Iran, we are told, is building a nuclear bomb.

Iran might be well advised to build such a bomb, given the nature of Pakistan, it southern neighbour. A "one bullet" country (one bullet kills the President and radicals might take over), Pakistan has a large number of Islamic radicals, and it does have the bomb. Israel has over 200 nuclear warheads and no inspection. Iran states that it is building a "threshold nuclear weapons capability", meaning it will be capable of industrial grade plutonium, a long way from weapons grade. Forty countries, including Canada, Australia, Brazil and thirty-seven others have the same capability. All submit to inspection; all can removed themselves from the treaty on three months notice. While Bush, and especially Cheney, insist that weapons grade is what Iran is doing, the Atomic Energy inspectors, as recently as September of this year, confirmed that only industrial grade is involved in production.

So we have a repeat, only a few years after, of lies and deception by the American administration and a population, it seems, egger to bomb yet another Muslim country based on the fear tactics of the President and a book called "America Alone".

Now, Iran has no air force or sophisticated air defence. It has no navy to speak of. What it does have, in abundance and highly efficient, are "long range sea skimming missiles", easily capable of surviving a bombing attack and sinking freighters and tankers in the Gulf of Hormuz. Shipping insurance rates would skyrocket carrying with them the oil prices. Economically and more,an attack by the United states would be a disaster.

Bush is a lame duck with no internal policies to provide a legacy, unlike
LBJ. The only legacy he has is Iraq.- a disaster. His ratings are poor and
many see him as the worst US president in history. So a lame duck can do
nothing for the balance of his term or roll the dice and hope that he can
get it right. Given the manner in which Bush took office in the first term
with not even a majority but acting as if he had an overwhelming victory
(and much the same the second time around), his personality seems geared to
the last roll of the dice. From many of the comments by Americans that I have read recently, it seems he has support for that sort of madness.

Bush, by many accounts, sees himself as a "war president:, referring to
Lincoln, Roosevelt and Truman. The dream of military conquest or victory is
a strong drive. He has managed to get Americans to accept in the breakdown
of civil rights, to accept bombing as a norm, and to support a war by doing
no more that shopping more at the local malls. That is reprehensible. That
he gets his guidance from god is also a factor, for in that he is as
religiously motivated as the mullahs. Simply, he is spoiling for another fight and Iran is the selected (and already target programmed) victim.

Such is not acceptable to the rest of the world. Not even the United
Kingdom. American is alone not due to Muslim radicals, but due to the
policies of its President. If Iran is bombed, it moves from alone to a
pariah, an outlaw state that will attract any terrorist, external or
internal. It will encourage many other countries, some now friends of the
USA, to seek alternatives for trade and more.

*****

This got a reply form one Julia Serup, quoting a book by Georges Sada as her authority. Sada is a Chriistian evangelical. He stated he was told (not that he saw) the WMD were sent to Syria on two Boeing civil aircraft making 56 flights. Similar comments emerge from Israel and the American right wing. Problem - no prooof. The Duelfer report mentions that as a possiblity, but dismisses it as without foundation...

Dear Editor,

As P.T. Barnum has said, "There is [one] born every minute…"

In her post of October 10^th last, Julia Serup quotes one source – Georges Sada. She uses only this source to conclude that Saddam Hussein shipped all the Weapons of Mass Destruction over the border to Syria. Let’s look at that source…

Georges Sada was with second-in-command of the Iraqi air force when he retired in 1986 (almost two decades before the Iraq War). In his book he states that he did not see but was told that all the WMD were flown from Iraq to Syria in two Boeing commercial airliners in 56 flights. The two pilots who allegedly told him this have never come forward.

A Christian, Sada is associated with "World Compassion Terry Law Ministries" as director of the Iraq operations. Others had made similar suppositions lacking in that one essential – proof. Simply put, there is none. Not from Israel, where similar claims have been presented, not from the American military, not from right-wing or religious radio jockeys and not from the investigators sent by the Bush administration to find the WMD.

President Bush would love to have such information and perhaps the best answer to her entire post is that even Bush has now concluded that Saddam Hussein had no Weapons of Mass Destruction. Rather than quoting many sources that deny such a claim, let me simply state that the official U.S. report – the Duelfer Report - denies that Hussein had any such weapons. The head of the investigation, David Kay, resigned his position prior to the final report. As to WMD he stated, "I don't think they existed". "What everyone was talking about is stockpiles produced after the end of the last Gulf War and I don't think there was a large-scale production program in the nineties." and "It turns out that we were all wrong, probably in my judgment, and that is most disturbing." Kay was initially a believer in WMD and would have been overjoyed to find any. The US spent millions trying. Bush and Cheney would have shouted the news around the world.

President Bush himself has conceded this. He stated : "It is true that many nations believed that Saddam had weapons of mass destruction. But much of the intelligence turned out to be wrong.". The lack of WMD was confirmed by Bush in interviews with reporter Bob Woodward for "State of Denial", the last of his "Bush at War" trilogy.

Note that Bush did not say that the WMD had been relocated to Syria, nor did he bomb Syria as would be the case if such had been done.

But Ms. Serup knows better, thanks to one source.

The problem with Ms. Serup’s letter (and her source) is that one can claim anything without verification. UFOs, fairies in the garden, ghosts that haunt Wal-Mart – or even a boom in Prince George. Someone will always be there to believe you. Cutting to the chase, not one news or intelligence agency has verified the hearsay theory of Sada. Nor have the fairies in my garden been substantiated, more’s the pity…

Ms. Serup is free to regard George W. Bush as the greatest president ever if she wishes. Most view him as one of the worst - if not the very worst. His approval rating is in the dumps and even his own Republicans don’t want him around. The NeoCons say his administration is incompetent.

There is no accounting for taste; there is an accounting for citing inaccurate sources for sweeping statements. Ms. Serup, this is yours.

Palestine, Settlements and Outposts

Now, I wish to make a few things clear at the start…

Growing up, I was one of the “outcasts”. At the time and in the place I grew up, those with “funny names” were not as acceptable as those with nice WASP names. My family had “crossed the tracks, literally. The only other kids in a similar situation were the Jewish kids. So we linked together and established long term friendships.

As they did, I supported Israel in everything it did. The family bought – or had donated – trees in Israel. We watched “Exodus” and cheered. Later, we recoiled at the horrible attacks on Israeli athletes and aircraft hijackings. The Arabs, later to be called Palestinians, were terrible!

Time passed, I grew older and perhaps – just perhaps mind – wiser. Looking back, the watershed that caused me to think more carefully about my unquestioned support for Israel was the establishment of the settlements in both Gaza and the West Bank, coupled with the arguments voiced for “Greater Israel” by both Israelis and Zionist Christians. Not being a Christian, none of this made much sense. What did start to make a lot of sense was the simply humanity of the Palestinian cause.

At some time, I wondered late into the night how I might feel if I had been born in East Jerusalem instead of the Canadian prairies. So in 1948, as a two-year old, I might have been bundled up and taken from my home by my fear-struck mother and father. We would have fled to a “refugee camp”, a tent city. Now, over 50 years later, we might well be in that same tent city or perhaps, with luck, in a hovel in the West Bank. Subject to military actions constantly over all those years, watching our neighbour’s homes being bulldozed, hearing from new arrivals of the demolition of their former villages, seeing our friends suffer daily. So at my old age, a son or daughter comes to me and says he or she wants to be a suicide bomber.

After fifty years of hell and seeing no future save more of the same, might I not be tempted to say, “Go with my blessings”? Might fifty years of hell not made me so bitter that even the death of a child would represent a small victory?

Along these lines, I started to see that a bomb was a bomb, the purpose of which was to kill people. Deliver a bomb by a Skyhawk jet and it kills people. Deliver a bomb by a suicide bomber and it kills people. The only difference is the means of delivery. As to targets, an aircraft can drop a bomb anywhere it pleases, given total control of the skies. A suicide bomber has a harder time getting close to military targets. If you have a bomb and are at war, I supposed that you might explode it wherever you could.

Now, the start of this was the establishment of the settlements and “outposts” on the lands captured after the 67 War and more especially, the grounds advanced by Israeli leaders for permitting such to start and continue.

Now, I knew better than to voice these opinions. Why? When I asked myself that question, the answer came quickly. Looking around, I saw that anyone who voiced any negative opinion about what Israel was or had done was quickly labeled an “anti-Semite”. So fear led to self-censorship.

So I kept this opinion to myself. Little by little, I gave voice to it in very private conversations. In Calgary, I tried to explain just a little to a long time friend who happened to be a very devout Jew. The reaction was extreme and I backed quickly off the topic. My fear was certainly justified.

Yet the thoughts would simply not go away. ‘In the age of the Internet, I started to explore more outside the boundaries of North American media.

As each peace proposal and meeting was hung up over the issue of captured lands and the Palestinians, I dug into some issues. One key find was a site prepared by an Israeli peace group. They provided astounding information on the settlements and outposts:

http://www.peacenow.org.il/site/en/peace.asp?pi=43

Yes, there were lots of fanatical sites on the issue, but this seemed not only informative but also reliable. More questionable was a site that seemed “real” but… Could all these stories be true? Frankly, my prior bias in favour of Israel kept me from full acceptance. Leery of propaganda, I read article after article, discounting the more obvious hate rants – of which in truth there were very few:

http://www.fromoccupiedpalestine.org/

It seemed to me, after 9/11, that the root cause of the terrorism against the United States by fundamentalist Muslims was all based on the Israeli/Palestine conflict. Currently 450,000 Israelis live in settlemetns and outposts on the West Bank - Palestinian territory. No Israeli government has stopped this takover of Palestinian provate lands. That was certainly the cause advanced. My digging got deeper.

In 2007 came the invasion of south Lebanon by the Israelis. Daily the television showed tanks and planes blasting apartment buildings and houses. Over this, the announcer would state that these places were embedded with terrorists, giving cause for destruction. But during that war, refugees trying to flee were prevented from even that by Israeli military. And the cause for such a heavy hand? The kidnapping of two Israeli soldiers. That seemed way out of proportion.

By then, of course, the United States had invaded Iraq and the quagmire has started. So, why Iraq? The more I read, the more it seemed to be part of a plan by a group of “neo-Conservatives”, including vice-president Cheney and more. While the reasons for the war emerged as lies (Weapons of Mass Destruction), my reading disclosed that there were in fact two distinct factions within the new-con group. One had predominantly non-Jewish backgrounds. The other was totally Jewish (Pearl, Wolfowitz, Firth and many, many more). Further, these same individuals were on record as advising the Israeli government while purportedly serving as American officials. They supported a party known as Likud, the party that had pushed the settlements and more. The picture emerging was horrible. Not only, in my opinion, was the war wrong, but many of those who supported it had been serving two masters. Was this an American war, I wondered, or a war on behalf of Israel interests? As I read more, the picture emerged of all new-cons wanting a war, but the selection of Iraq as the target seemed to be more the result of the Likudnike faction.

And I hated the answers I was finding. All the time, I was battling myself for the more I read, form writers who were well informed, the more it seemed that there was what I had always denied – a very strong pro-Israeli lobby that had overstepped the bounds of good conduct to push the United States into a war – a war that even Gwynne Dyer wrote seemed to have no real reason for being.

I admit, I became rather obsessed about the Iraq War. As is my custom, shared with Sonia, books arrived to help me understand this strange conflict. I tried to read both sides, those supporting the war and those opposed, but in candor those opposed became predominant. I even read Laurie Mylroie’s book, which was helped by Wolfowitz and his wife. The blatant bias of this screed, which tries to link Saddam Hussein to both World Trade Center bombings, was extreme. Knowing it had been pushed by a major American policy-maker was shocking. And Wolfowitz was clearly a Likudnite. By now, it was clear that not only were there no WMD but that Hussein played no role in the WTC attacks.

One line from Dyer’s last book on the War, THE MESS THEY MADE, struck in my mind. He writes (p. 246):

“Before the invasion, Israel has seriously pushed the United States as hard as it could to invade Iraq. Israel has seriously overplayed its hand in terms of exploiting its U.S. relationship in recent years, taking advantage of the Bush administration’s chronic inability to distinguish between American and Israeli interests, and it may eventually pay a high price if the American public comes to believe that U.S. troops are dying to serve Israel’s purpose”

Yes, that could come to pass. With the reasons for going to war so clouded with uncertainty (and certainly not to bring democracy to the poor Iraqis) many will start to wonder about “Why?” I have long believed that oil is the root, and that certainly seems a strong reason (Dyer disagrees).

Now, more war clouds gather. Iran is on the target list and if one watches, the same tactics are at work. The “demonization” of Iran is easy, following many years of separation following 1979. Next to Cuba, Iran is the nasty and many commentators and others are now comparing its president, who has few powers under Iranian laws, to Hitler. Remember the same type of comparison a few years ago - when–Hussien was compared to … Hitler? Once again, the drums beat based on rumours and not facts. Inspectors found no WMD; new inspectors find no nuclear weapons programs. And then, Iran has no way of bombing the Unites States, but it could bomb Israel, not that such is likely confronted with Israel’s 200 nuclear bombs. The comparison to Bush and Cheney in the wind up to Iraq is repeated, yet it seems the same Passion play resonates with many Americans. “When will they ever learn…”

I must add that everyone should read Jimmy Carter’s book “Peace or Apartheid”. No American president has so clearly set out the reasons for the conflict and the potential ways of solving it – the one-country solution, the two-country solution, the transportation of Palestinians or?

Think of a world where the Palestinian “question” had been solved. At one stroke, the reasons for much of the terrorism, at least those advanced by all but a fanatical fringe are gone. Perhaps the new-con need to create a new-con state might have been better served by using the Palestinians as subjects instead of Iraq.