On 'Barack The Magic Negro'

The Washington Post has a nice summary of 'Barack The Magic Negro', which Republican National Committee chair candidate Chip Saltsman distributed to potential supporters on a Christmas CD:

The song, written by conservative satirist Paul Shanklin and aired repeatedly on Rush Limbaugh's radio show last year, is sung in the imagined voice of the Rev. Al Sharpton to the tune of the old Peter, Paul and Mary song "Puff the Magic Dragon." It was inspired by a March 2007 column in the Los Angeles Times by David Ehrenstein, an African American writer who sought to place Mr. Obama's candidacy in the larger context of what he called "the magic Negro," an idealized figure who assuages liberal guilt and fulfills white Americans' desire for "a noble, healing Negro." Mr. Shanklin took the column and ran: "Barack the Magic Negro lives in D.C./The L.A. Times, they called him that/'Cause he's not authentic like me./Yeah, the guy from the L.A. paper/Said he makes guilty whites feel good/They'll vote for him, and not for me/Cause he's not from the 'hood."

While this AFP piece suggests that 'Barack The Magic Negro' "has triggered a nasty battle for the soul of the struggling [Republican] party," Posts Washington and Huffington both reach the same sad conclusion- Saltsman's actions may actually have helped his candidacy.

Afghanistan: Stiffening Our Allies to Win the War

Listen up, all you sceptics about our strategy in Afghanistan. We've got a secret to win this war:

Viagra.

You heard right --- the gift that keeps on giving is going to ensure the locals flock to our side to whip the Taliban. Joby Warrick, in the middle of an extended I-heart-the-US-military series for The Washington Post, explains:



The Afghan chieftain looked older than his 60-odd years, and his bearded face bore the creases of a man burdened with duties as tribal patriarch and husband to four younger women. His visitor, a CIA officer, saw an opportunity, and reached into his bag for a small gift.

Four blue pills. Viagra.

"Take one of these. You'll love it," the officer said. Compliments of Uncle Sam.

The enticement worked. The officer, who described the encounter, returned four days later to an enthusiastic reception. The grinning chief offered up a bonanza of information about Taliban movements and supply routes -- followed by a request for more pills.

Warrick, in serious journalist mode, is careful to seriously intone that these "tactics and operations...are largely classified". But he can seriously assure us that "this is how some crucial battles in Afghanistan are fought and won".

So if you're lying awake at night, not because of your own Viagra-related concerns but because you might think that we're on the verge of a pretty nasty confrontation in Afghanistan in 2009, don't wonder why journalists have come this far from talk of reconstruction through schools, community organisations, electricity, and roads.

Just keep the faith in the little blue pills:

After a long conversation through an interpreter, the retired operator began to probe for ways to win the man's loyalty. A discussion of the man's family and many wives provided inspiration. Once it was established that the man was in good health, the pills were offered and accepted.

Four days later, when the Americans returned, the gift had worked its magic, the operative recalled.

"He came up to us beaming," the official said. "He said, 'You are a great man.' "

"And after that we could do whatever we wanted in his area."

Stories to Watch After Christmas: Afghanistan and Somalia

AFGHANISTAN SURGE: THE US MAKES IT FIRST MOVE

From McClatchy News Services:

The U.S. Marines are considering requesting two battalions and a combat aviation unit in Taliban-controlled southern Afghanistan, which would be the largest proposed expansion of U.S. troops in the volatile region, two senior Marine commanders.


If approved, the move would involve roughly 3,000 Marines and support staff, and it would mark the Marines' shift from the once-restive Anbar province in Iraq to places such as Helmand and Farah provinces in southern Afghanistan, which U.S. and NATO officials concede that Taliban forces have overrun.

BUT IN EASTERN AFGHANISTAN, IT'S THE TALIBAN IN CONTROL

From The New York Times:

Attacks provide the latest evidence of how extensively militants now rule the critical region east of the Khyber Pass, the narrow cut through the mountains on the Pakistan-Afghanistan border that has been a strategic trade and military gateway since the time of Alexander the Great.

The area encompasses what is officially known as the Khyber Agency, which is adjacent to Peshawar and is one of a handful of lawless tribal districts on the border. But security in Khyber has deteriorated further in recent months with the emergence of a brash young Taliban commander who calls news conferences to thumb his nose at NATO forces, as well as with public fury over deadly missile attacks by American remotely piloted aircraft.

SOMALIA: THE LOST AMERICAN INTERVENTION

Two years after the US-prompted regime change that forced the Islamic Courts out of power in Mogadishu, this from The Washington Post:

Advisers to Somali President Abdullahi Yusuf said Wednesday that he would yield to mounting internal and international pressure and resign over the weekend, but officials close to him insisted the situation remained dynamic.

Talk of Yusuf's impending resignation came as the prime minister he appointed last week quit, saying he wanted to end the political infighting that has paralyzed Somalia's transitional government as an Islamist militia has advanced across the southern half of the country.

Pakistan Update: The Missile Attacks Haven't Gone Away....

With all the attention given to Mumbai and its aftermath --- The Washington Post had an editorial today castigating the Zardari Government for "denying the truth" --- the local situation in Pakistan has receded from attention here in Britain.

It shouldn't:

Suspected US missile strikes killed at least eight people Monday in volatile north-west Pakistan.

As The Times of London writes about the links "between [the Pakistani intelligence service] ISI and the likes of LeT [the militant group Lashkar-e-Taiba]: it's a monster we created and now we can't get it back in the bottle", it may want to consider what other monsters are being created with events such as yesterday's.

Pakistan: You May Want to Notice This

The story only gets one paragraph in The New York Times, and I haven't seen it elsewhere in US and British newspapers:

Thousands of antigovernment protesters demanded Thursday that Pakistan shut the route along which supplies are ferried to American and NATO forces in Afghanistan. The demonstration, staged by more than 10,000 people in the city of Peshawar, also focused on a recent series of American missile strikes against targets suspected of belonging to Al Qaeda and the Taliban in Pakistan’s tribal areas. Leaders of the demonstration drew links between the missile attacks and the supply line, saying the equipment was being used for attacks on Pakistani soil and vowing to shut down the convoys.

So now it's not just "Taliban", attacking NATO warehouses and destroying hundreds of trucks, who are threatening the US-led supply operation for the forthcoming "surge" in Afghanistan. (Take note, Washington Post, which is still catching up with that story.)

And why might thousands of demonstrators in Pakistan take to the streets against the US/NATO campaign in Afghanistan? Before you say "extremism", "Taliban sympathiser", etc., consider:

A deadly United States military raid on a house near Afghanistan’s border with Pakistan became a new source of tension on Thursday, with the Americans calling it a successful counterterrorism strike and the Afghans saying it left three innocent civilians dead and two wounded.