Category: international

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international

Leave Iran Alone: It's Not About Us

I am humored by America’s latest misguided foray: the sudden embrace of Mir-Hossein Mousavi. I’m not too sure how Mousavi managed to seduce America. Perhaps, it’s the proverb that the enemy of my enemy (in this case Mahmoud Admadinejad) is my friend, nevermind that this same line of logic led America to bed Saddam Hussein in an effort to counter the influence of Iran. We all know how that dream date ended up…in a cacophony of bitter recriminations. As typical of all bad break-ups, the squabbling couple ended up fighting over their sundry possessions.

GB: I want my WMDs back.

SH: Rummy told me that they were mine.

GB: Do you want me to come over?

SH: I don’t have them any more.

GB: I’ll find them. You can’t hide my WMDs from me.

SH: Remember your ex, Iran? I used them on her.

GB: I’m going to tear your place apart and find them.

So sad. Anyways, back to Iran. Instead of letting the Iranians sort out their internal affairs, the misguided Republican leadership feel a need to send warm fuzzies to Mousavi.

It’s not about us.

The Iranians need to figure out this election by themselves. They need to forge their own path and uncover an Iranian solution to their conflict. WIthout Obama. Without the GOP. Without us.

It’s not about us.

For whatever reason, Americans believe that speaking out about the Iranian elections and showing solidarity with their fellow Mousavites is a “good thing.” Seriously, do the Iranians care about our unrequited love for their green revolution? Are they hypnotized by the erotic beauty of our green-colored Twitter avatars in the faded glow of night’s light?

It’s not about us.

I suspect that the Iranians would prefer America NOT to care because when our nation does care, we certainly have a strange way of exhibiting our affections, such as by propping up pro-Western dictators and undermining less than friendly elected leaders. Sure, we can plead that this time is different, but our credibility is pretty much shot at this point. Nothing looks more like a CIA-inspired plot than when America starts visibly backing a foreign political leader. Leave the Iranians alone. Don’t co-opt and corrupt their movement and make it something that it is not.

It’s not about us.

Categories
criminal law international tax

Offshore Tax Havens

The IRS is conducting an investigation to determine the tax liabilities of US taxpayers who have signature authority over bank accounts at or over American Express, MasterCard, or Visa credit, debit or charge cards issued by banks or other financial institutions in Anguilla, Antigua and Barbuda, Aruba, Bahamas, Barbados, Belize, Bermuda, British Virgin Islands, Cayman Islands, Cook Islands, Costa Rica, Cyprus, Dominica, Gibraltar, Grenada, Guernsey/Sark/Alderney, Hong Kong, Isle of Man, Jersey, Latvia, Liechtenstein, Luxembourg, Malta, Nauru, Netherlands Antilles, Panama, Samoa, St. Kitts and Nevis, St. Lucia, St. Vincent and the Grenadines, Singapore, Switzerland, Turks and Caicos and Vanuatu.

For this investigation, the IRS has sought account records from PayPal, as well as from MasterCard International and VISA International.

And, how does the IRS go about finding these offshore tax havens? Here’s the money quote:

I have reviewed various offshore/tax haven related Web sites on the Internet. A search of the Internet with any search engine using the key words “offshore” or “tax haven” will produce a very large number of hits.

So, while offshore banks can use websites to market to American taxpayers, the IRS, powered by Google, can also find these same websites and figure out which individuals or institutions may dedicated to helping individuals with significant assets preserve or enhance their wealth with anonymity and ease through offshore bank accounts and credit cards.

Categories
criminal law international

Waterboarding 101

When I read accounts describing waterboarding as being a simulated drowning, I thought they strapped the detainee to a board and actually dunked him into a water tank. I was mistaken. As it turns out, waterboarding is a much simpler procedure.

Categories
international politics

Waterboarding the Attorney General Nomination

Senator Patrick Leahy stated that he will not be supporting the nomination of Michael Mukasey for Attorney General over the waterboarding issue. While Mr. Mukasey has indicated that our current laws prohibit waterboarding, he declined to conclude that waterboarding constituted torture. The problem in this case resides with the question and not with Mr. Mukasey’s answer. Specifically, Senator Leahy should have asked Mr. Mukasey whether he would have considered the simulated drowning of an American service member while in captivity by the Iranian military to be a war crime.  If he opined that such an act was merely morally repugnant, then we know we have the wrong candidate.

Categories
international

Gulp

I just read The War as We Saw It, an op-ed written by seven infantrymen and noncommissioned officers who will soon be returning home from their 15-month deployment in Iraq. This well-written piece provides a valuable perspective to those of us fortunate enough to be in America safe and far away from the daily grind of war. After reading the article, my only thoughts are gulp, uh-oh.

Categories
international

US and Iran Join Forces in Iraq

latimes.jpgThe Los Angeles Times reported that “U.S. defense and intelligence officials sought Sunday to bolster the charge that Iran was providing arms to Shiite Muslim militants in Iraq….”

Yes, that’s one way to report the news. The headline that they should have used was “US and Iran Join Forces in Iraq.” After all, we’re in Iraq backing the Shiites, and Iran is in Iraq backing the Shiites. Curious how things work out, no?

What must be absolutely infuriating to the White House is that even though they treat Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad as a persona non grata, we end up backing the same faction. What do you tell the guy, even if you’re not on speaking terms? Stop backing our Shiites?

The truth is that there is no easy way to get out of this one. If we tell the Iranians to stop arming the Shiites (which, by the way, we are doing), we look like hypocrites. And, at this stage, we clearly can’t switch our support to the “other” side and back the Sunnis, which we had spent countless millions to depose. So, out of pride, we’ll continue to back the Shiites until the mission is accomplished (again) and we can finally hand over Iraq to the Iranians. The End.

Categories
international

Abre Los Ojos

Americans should have experienced a collective Vanilla Sky moment when they viewed the Saddam execution. In that unfiltered and uncensored video shot live from Iraq, Americans could see for the first time the true state of affairs.

National Strategy for Victory in Iraq

Back in November 2005, the National Security Council released a National Strategy for Victory in Iraq [PDF]. The White House has posted an Executive Summary, which should remain available until the strategy or administration changes. Let’s take an in-depth look at several points.

Victory in Iraq

Short term. Iraq is making steady progress in fighting terrorists, meeting political milestones, building democratic institutions, and standing up security forces.

Medium term. Iraq is in the lead defeating terrorists and providing its own security, with a fully constitutional government in place, and on its way to achieving its economic potential.

Longer term. Iraq is peaceful, united, stable, and secure, well integrated into the international community, and a full partner in the global war on terrorism.

Forget about the medium and longer term goals, since the war against Iraq began on March 20, 2003, we haven’t even hit the short term goals, despite the Mission Accomplished banner. Iraq has made no progress in fighting terrorists. As for the political and democratic goals, the Saddam video pretty much exposed the harsh truth about Iraq. Sure, there may be elected officials in Iraq, but when the time came to execute Hussein, the name being chanted wasn’t Bush, Blair or al-Maliki, but Muqtada.

One would assume that the people entrusted with executing Saddam would be the most trusted members of the Iraqi governing inner circle, and now we know where their loyalties lie. With Muqtada the democrat. Talk about killing two birds with one stone. The execution video managed to delegitimize the Saddam trial and the Iraqi government.

What are we doing in Iraq?

We’re spending $200 million a day and placing our armed forces in harm’s way. Unfortunately, from the looks of the Saddam video, all we’re doing is serving as mercenaries for Muqtada at this point. Forget the talk of al-Maliki being an American puppet. As it turns out, we’re Muqtada’s puppet and we have now just discovered it.

Cut and Run

We cannot achieve any victory in Iraq without the help of a local partner. And, as we’ve found out, the current Iraqi government is not it. So, until we find some true democrats in Iraq, we can either cut and run, or continue serving as Muqtada’s mercentaries. Suddenly, cut and run doesn’t look half bad.