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Matthew Duss

Matthew Duss is a foreign policy analyst and a contributing writer for the Prospect. You can follow him on Twitter @mattduss.

Recent Articles

SO I GUESS SHE WON'T BE CRADLING BUSH'S FOOT, THEN.

Matthew DussJan 25, 2008

Maybe if Peggy Noonan tried to avoid writing things like:

This, truly, is a good man. And that is a rare thing. Agree with Mr. Bush's stands or disagree, there can be no doubting the depth of his seriousness and the degree to which he attempts to do what he is convinced is right, and to lead his country toward that vision of rightness. We have had many unusual men as president and some seemed like a gift and some didn't. Mr. Bush seems uniquely resolved to be as courageous as the times require and as helpful as they allow. There is a profound authenticity to him, and a fearlessness too.

TRUST.

Matthew DussJan 23, 2008

Following on A.J.'s post about the gossamer threads upon which the surgeniks continue to hang their claims of victory, Spencer Ackerman has an article on the ironclad ties that bind us to our new Iraqi Sunni "allies":

MORE GASOLINE FOR THE FIRE.

Matthew DussJan 21, 2008

Just what the Middle East needs, more high-tech weapons floating around:

The Joint Direct Attack Munition is a kit that, when added to the back end of a 500- or 2,000-pound "dumb" bomb, turns it into a lethal, all-weather "smart" weapon. The bomb can hit within four feet of a target when launched from a fighter aircraft more than 10 miles away.

The kits and bombs are a prominent part of the $20 billion U.S. arms package for Persian Gulf states that has been in the works since last summer. President Bush discussed the package with Arab leaders during his recent trip to the Gulf.

[...]

AMERICA DESERVES BETTER INFORMED WARMONGERS.

Matthew DussJan 18, 2008

I haven't finished reading Jeffrey Goldberg's new article on "the next phase of Middle East history," but this anecdote is worth sharing:

Just before the “Mission Accomplished” phase of the war, I spoke about Kurd­istan to an audience that included Norman Podhoretz, the vicariously martial neoconservative who is now a Middle East adviser to Rudolph Giuliani. After the event, Podhoretz seemed authentically bewildered. “What’s a Kurd, anyway?” he asked me.

AS SERIOUS AND THOUGHTFUL AS AN ENDLESS STREAM OF CLOWNS ISSUING FROM A COLORFULLY PAINTED VOLKSWAGEN.

Matthew DussJan 18, 2008

Jonah Goldberg, from a recent interview:

When Barack Obama is on the stump, his whole point is that if we can just be unified, public policy issues don't really matter, what really matters is unity -- that sort of thing.

There's also a sort of contempt for Democratic values that also comes out of this unity thing. One of the most fascistic things that kids on college campuses say is that, "If you're not part of the solution, you're part of the problem." In other words, there is no safe harbor. Either you agree with where the movement wants to go or you are a problem and problems need to be solved by definition.

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