You Are Interested in What I am Saying

A few interesting articles in the New York Times today.

This piece, about an Englishman who wants an heir for his estate, is charming. His concern for genetic continuity seems misguided, but it would make for a great TV show if properly done.

This piece, about American efforts to weed sectarian "partisans" from the Iraqi police, provides some perspective on the difficulties of rebuilding in an environment like Iraq's. I can remember triumphant posts from Andrew Sullivan about the brave men who were risking death to sign up with the police forces. They were heroes, in his account. It's now clear, as it should have been clear all along, that many of those men were willing to risk death because of the opportunity to control the mechanism of state violence. "Matthew Sherman, a former Interior Ministry adviser, said Shiite parties were especially keen to seize control of those forces [mechanized paramilitary forces] because they can operate anywhere in the country and have great autonomy." What heroes! "Gen. George W. Casey Jr., the top American commander in Iraq, said Friday that police officers had allowed militiamen through checkpoints in eastern Baghdad, where much of the violence occurred." More heroes! "The Interior Ministry is accused of sponsoring death squads in police or paramilitary uniforms." Bravo!

Well, enough salt in that wound, I suppose. I'll leave it to you to speculate about why Sullivan and company got it so wrong. I will note, though, that this administration has finally embraced the logic of affirmative action:

"Americans officials have pushed the Interior Ministry to diversify the forces.... The Americans ensured that the last three classes enrolled greater numbers of Sunni Arabs..."
(in fairness, the US military has thoroughly embraced affirmative action in its own ranks)

I'll also note that this administration has somewhat contradictory interesting views on the role of religion in public life. "Colonel Davis said his advisers had no qualms about removing Iraqi commanders if it became evident they have sectarian loyalties." Granted, Iraq and the United States are very different places, but if that's so then conservatives should qualify their position on religion's effect on society. In the meantime, Bush might want to think about the extent to which sectarians in America have infiltrated our schools, our regulatory agencies, and our President's Council on Bioethics.

[UPDATE: fixed links]