Consider four recent events. First, the debate in the Tory party on whether to leapfrog Labour and adopt the radically redistributive anti-poverty policies symbolised by Polly Toynbee, the Guardian columnist. Then cast your mind to the impending defeat of the Bush-Blair coalition in Iraq. Next consider the nightmarish murder of Tom Rhys Pryce, the young London lawyer stabbed to death by two teenage robbers when he failed to hand over his Oyster card and mobile phone. Finally, turn to a story you probably haven’t noticed: the Royal Economic Society’s annual public lecture, on the subject of how to end poverty among the world’s “bottom billion” people and titled “War and Peace in Africa”.

What do these four news items have in common? The obvious answer is “economic deprivation”. When people lack the basic necessities of life (which in affluent Britain may well include a Tube card and a mobile phone), they naturally turn to violence and crime. Therefore, the surest way to stop the spiral of violence, whether it is in the backstreets of London or the killing fields of Iraq, is to create economic opportunities, to raise living standards and to offer the poor more generous financial support.

This obvious answer is not exactly wrong, but it is dangerously misleading. For in many cases the causal arrow points the other way: it is not economic deprivation that leads to violence and war; it is social and political breakdown that lead to economic deprivation

Excellent article by Anatole Kaletsky. Throwing money at poverty may be an easy feel-good practice, but in reality it is a futile gesture. Peace and prosperity only come to countries that have the required, empowered institutions of state.

They still sound pretty good, too.

g’nite y’all

WASHINGTON (AP) - A bipartisan commission, under pressure to offer a U.S. exit strategy for the increasingly unpopular war in Iraq, has reached a consensus and will announce its recommendations next week, the group’s co-chairman said Wednesday.

Former Rep. Lee Hamilton, D-Ind., declined to disclose any specifics about the Iraq Study Group’s decisions. The report, much anticipated by the Bush administration and members of Congress, is coming out next Wednesday amid the spiraling violence in Iraq that has raised questions about the viability of the Iraqi government.

“This afternoon, we reached a consensus … and we will announce that on Dec. 6,” Hamilton told a forum on national security at the Center for American Progress, a liberal group.

source

NowPublic

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I highlighted “increasingly unpopular” from the AP report. It kind of jumped out at me. How many wars have been “popular?” Are they ever popular?

Ted Carpernter’s essay is representative of the MSM celebration of reaching another grim milestone in Iraq…

The U.S. mission in Iraq has now lasted longer than America’s involvement in World War II. That should be an occasion for sober reflection. In less than four years, from December 1941 to August 1945, the United States and its allies managed to defeat two of the most powerful militaries in the world. By contrast, today, we are still mired in an endless conflict in a single small country after the same amount of time.

No2Liberals weighs in on this with a few thoughts of his own.

I refuse to allow this comment to creep into the Iraq lexicon unchallenged. The actual war with Saddams regime in Iraq took twenty three days. Let me repeat…twenty three days. The actual war in Europe, with U.S. involvement coming after 7 Dec 41, took until May 45.

Now, as to the rebuilding effort, and the democratization process, it has taken from Apr 2003 until now, and is ongoing. The rebuilding and democratization process in Germany took much longer, and we still have a strong military prescence there. The war with Japan lasted from Dec 41 until Aug 45, and took even longer to rebuild and democratize.

The LameStream media started that absurd comment the other day, and I haven’t seen anyone in print, radio, or tv challenge this false assertion.

Sure it fits perfectly into the defeatist mentality, that we need to cut and run, it’s hopeless…blah-blah-blah. The short war with Saddams regime, and those of Hitler and Hideki Tojo, don’t correlate at all, and neither does the amount of time it took, following each of the three previously mentioned regimes, to become stable functioning states. The fact that in Iraq there are many more outside influences disrupting the democratization and rebuilding, certainly doesn’t correlate to WWII.

This misleading comment needs to be refuted each and every time it is mentioned.

I think you did it quite well, amigo.

Wizbang has a pretty good response,

GCP - Flawed Comparisons

STRATFORD, N.J. - November 27, 2006 - It may seem odd, but Silly String is helping to save the lives of soldiers in Iraq and one local community is making a big effort to ship it overseas.

Among the dangers faced by the military fighting in Iraq are booby traps.

Nearly invisible wires trip the explosions, but soldiers and marines have found Silly String is one way to spot the sinister mechanism without setting off the trigger.

Sixth grade teacher Jane Maugeri demonstated Silly String’s use in revealing otherwise stealth threads for students at St. Luke’s School in Stratford on Monday.

It’s all part of a drive by the student council and the parish community to collect cans of silly string to send to Iraq.

source

NowPublic

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