Book Description
Revolutionary and life changing, the "voluntary simplicity" movement is about achieving financial freedom and living well for less. Now Getting a Life shows how real people have left the rat race for a more meaningful--and financially manageable--life that reflects their own true values and individual goals. Written by a couple who used the nine steps in the bestselling Your Money or Your Life to transform their own relationship with money, Getting a Life offers proven, practical ideas on how to use each step of the program. With honesty and humor, the authors and more than two dozen families and individuals share their personal experiences on such issues as paying for health care, raising children in a materialistic world, and breaking the link between what you do for a living and who you are. Getting a Life shows you how to adopt voluntary simplicity in your own life and what to expect once you do.
Customer Reviews:
The Devil is in the Details.......2005-03-23
In Your Money or Your Life, Dominguez and Robin lay out an easy-to-undestand system that will result in financial security. The challenge is in implementation. It's the little things that tend to derail even the most well-intentioned plans.
The value of this book is that it is a great implementation tool. If you haven't read YMOYL, you'll be scratching your head at many of the the things that Heitmiller and Blix assume you already know. The authors do tend to spend a lot of time on "the way we were" but I suspect it's because their epiphany has so dramatically altered their lives. Don't dwell on it. This is a book about living better, not class struggle.
The bottom line is that if you're going to commmit to the 9 step program Dominguez and Robin outline in YMOYL, you're going to need help. This book is the best source of help I've found and I recommend it (as others have) because the real life stories of others who have taken the journey you've embarked on serve as a source of motivation and how to advice that simply isn't available elsewhere.
Good price but not very useful.......2003-02-09
We read Duane Elgins excellent book Voluntary Simplicity decades ago, and would simply caution that this book Getting A :Life will probably appeal to those who have lots of money and really do not have to worry about making ends meet. For those who are on some type of a fixed income. or those with middle class incomes in a precarious economy it doesn't have much useful information. And I agree with those reviews that note the "yuppy" element.
We run a small simple living group in the Sierras, that is like the ones we ran in Alameda and San Joaquin counties here in California. So we are not new to the live simply and get out of debt ideas. And I note that there is a big difference between spoiled brats needing to learn what is really important in life and those who know what is important in life and want to know even more about how to simplify their lives.
The Intenet be it google searches or Yahoo groups has a whole lot more free information that is useful than this book. Amazon[.com]offers a whole lot more books on the subject that I would recommend.
Not even close to YMOYL.......2001-11-30
Should be subtitled, "How Two Seattle Yuppies Retired Early on 3.5K a Month". This book contains some helpful info, but I was hoping to see someone with a negative net worth pay off their debts and become FI. What I got was the story of a couple of yuppies saying, "Whoa, were worth a bundle and if we refuse to pay for our kids' college we can retire early". Not too impressive to me. I would not read this book if I were looking for material on voluntary simplicity. Why does Vicki Robin endorse this book?
Not as good as Your Money or Your Life, but still good.......2001-11-01
After reading Your Money or Your Life by the late Joe Dominguez and Vicki Robin, Getting a Life: Strategies for Simple Living Based on the Revolutionary Program for Financial Freedom Your Money or Your Life seemed to be a natural progression.
This book *does* offer some very helpful examples of individuals who used the advice in Your Money or Your Life. However, after reading the original book, I was somewhat disappointed by these authors' inconsistent choices in areas of voluntary simplicity. For example, they talk about how they cut their food bill down to just ($) a month for two people, and I know many couples who are into voluntary simplicity who can easily spend much less than that in a month. They also mention that they kept Call Waiting because they only have one phone line, which made me think, What did people do in the past with only one phone line when people were trying to call them? It just seemed inconsistent with some of the other advice they give in the book. Another annoyance was their example of a family who decided to go without health insurance, and just put money away in savings every month in the event of health expenses down the road. This would seem to me false economy. What would happen to this family if after saving a few thousand dollars they were hit with a serious accident or illness? Such an event could easily wipe out all of their savings.
In spite of the inconsistencies, this book does offer some good advice as well as list plenty of helpful resources for anyone interested in voluntary simplicity. The epilogue does a follow-up of the individuals listed throughout the book and tells you where they're at now in their lives. The epilogue is followed by a section of resources listing foundations, books, newsletters, organizations and other helpful resources for those interested in voluntary simplicity and financial independence.
Very satisfying........2000-10-12
I recommend that you read 'Your Money or Your Life' (YMOYL) before you read this book. I waited about 2 or 3 months to give YMOYL time to really sink in before I read this. When I started reading, I found myself trying to read very slowly so that I could absorb everything. It is very inspiring and englightening to read about other people's experiences following the YMOYL philosophy and the ways that they have integrated this into their lives.
I think your experience with this book will closely follow YMOYL. If you liked YMOYL, then you should find this book inspiring and very interesting. If you didn't, then you won't. If you want more detail on how YMOYL has affected people's lives, then you will enjoy...
Amazon.com
Jacqueline Blix and David Heitmiller are a married couple who grew determined to downscale their fast-track world after reading the revolutionary bestseller Your Money or Your Life. Now self-described "reformed yuppies" who have been following that book's nine-step program of voluntary simplicity since 1991, they relate their experiences--and those of more than two dozen others--in Getting a Life. A dynamic companion to the work that spurred them to action, Blix and Heitmiller's book is packed with inspiring anecdotes as well as practical suggestions for transforming frantic, materialistic behavior into a slower-paced, more fulfilling existence.
Customer Reviews:
When Less Really Is More.......2007-09-04
Getting a Life is a companion piece to the better known Your Money or Your Life, a pioneering book of the "voluntary simplicity" movement. Jacqueline Blix and David Heitmiller, a married couple who successfully worked through the nine-step program outlined in Your Money or Your Life, here recount their own experience with the process and discuss the real life experiences of numerous others who have used that book to simplify their own lives.
Not too many years before writing Getting a Life, Blix and Heitmiller were living the good yuppie life to which most Americans still aspire. They were homeowners who drove late-model cars and owned a boat. They took expensive vacations every year. But they had come to realize that "standard of living" and "quality of life" were two different things, and they were searching for alternatives when they discovered Your Money or Your Life (written by Joe Dominguez and Vicki Robin) and found in it the inspiration they needed to take charge of their lives.
They decided that they were on a treadmill to nowhere if they continued to chase "the good life" by constantly upgrading all of the toys that surrounded them. The desire to always drive late model cars, to have the latest high-tech electronic gadgets and to vacation in the current hot spots was costing them more than money. Blix and Heitmiller came to the realization that they were trading all of their life energy for "stuff" that they didn't even have the time to enjoy anymore. And they wanted to do something about it.
They decided what was important to them and what was not and, in the process, they realized that they could live on a fraction of the income they were earning by simply cutting out all the frills that they really didn't need or enjoy anyway. Both were able eventually to quit their jobs in corporate America and to substitute part-time work as self-employed writers to supplement the interest earned on their savings. Opting out of the rat race allows them the time to do volunteer work and to spend enough time with friends and family to really get to know them. For Blix and Heitmiller, "less is more" is not just cliché. It's their way of life, and they are happier now than ever before.
Getting a Life is a good starting point for anyone looking for a way out of the fast lane. It offers a concise summary of the nine-steps originally offered in Your Money or Your Life and it provides the encouragement of real life success stories of people who have made those principles work for themselves. The book does tend to get a little repetitive at times and the personal stories all begin to sound too much alike, but the message is a good one.
Not for your average Joe/Josephine.......2007-02-20
The fundamental conceit of this book is that the authors were only able to leave the 'fasttrack' because they DID buy into the accumulation dream long enough to acquire enough assets to liquidate and collect interest on. This book is an in-depth outline of their denial that this was a necessary pre-condition.
I've never bought into nor had the aptitude for the yuppie dream in the first place so maybe I'm the bigger fool for still going ahead and reading this whole book. You will find a few useful tips for lateral-thinking on how you can get by on less (or in my case, what I have). Are you a high-income earner who needs an extended pep-talk to assure you that you won't be a total loser if you chuck in the job and the fancy car and *shocker* live within your means? If you answered yes this book is for you. The authors outline a super plan for two adults to get by on the average monthly family wage. You may have to remember to switch off your lights when you leave a room but it will be SO WORTH IT.
They refer in passing to other people whom they have encountered in their simplicity and frugality groups who did not have the monetary headstart they did but dispense with further details with indecent haste.
excellent book, shows that you still can have a decent life.......2003-09-15
I really enjoyed this book. It deals with two middle class people who lived a typical american lifestyle. they had high paying high stress jobs, a beautiful home and lots of toys. They decided to trade in the overconsumption lifestyle for a more fullfilling and more simple life without a paycheck and stress from employment. If you are looking for how to get by on $600 a month, this book will disappoint you (see other reviews below). The authors live on $3000/month which may seem outrageous if your current standard of living is half of that. Their lifestyle includes more than the basic necessities such as food and shelter to stay alive. They go on vacations and trips, have hobbies, own an economy car, go out for dinner occasionally, live in a normal house in a decent neighborhood, read the newspaper etc.. Their life is simplified but still includes most comforts and some luxeries of today's society. Living more simply does not mean deprivation to them, but removing clutter (especially "stuff") from their lives and focus on what they enjoy in life and have TIME. The book goes into detail on what kind of life they lead, standard of living etc. and detailed financial balance of their $3000/month budget. I would only not recommend reading this book if you plan to lead a complete bare bone life or if you are in a very low income segment. The only criticism I have is that they do not think inflation is an issue. Although that may be the case for some basic food items and electronics, I think the ever increasing healthcare premiums will skyrocket as you get older.
A must for breaking away from consumer culture.......1999-10-02
If you are interested in simple living, this book is a must (together with its companion volume, "Your Money Or Your Life"). It gives the personal and human side of the process of breaking away from the high-paced consumer culture. Interviews with others going through the process show how many different paths people are taking. At first I thought a quick skim through this book would be enough, but I've found myself coming back to it again and again in the last two years. The few negative reviews below don't seem to have much to do with the book, which is pleasant and unpretentious.
good book but too yuppy for a poor artist like me.......1999-07-07
I loved YMOYL and hoped this book would be as good. While I did learn a few things, I wished they had spent more time talking about others and less time talking about themselves. They were typical rich yuppie types with more money and stuff than they knew what to do with. The poor things have $9,000 a year in IRA interest alone besides the number of other investments they had. Not to knock having money, but I'm a starving artist type that had never bought into the yuppie dream. I would have liked to maybe hear about someone like me or more about people with lots of debts that need ways to get out from under them. (thankfully, I have no debts). :) It just seemed like they needed two books, one for the yuppies with lots of money, who suddenly become socially aware and want to divest themselves of their things, and one book for people who are naturally frugal, or poor, or in debt. If you're in the last category, this book won't appeal to you as much.
Amazon.com
Disarming Iraq is an insider's account of the diplomatic and inspection efforts leading up to the invasion of Iraq in 2003. Though a bit dry, the book is logically presented and gives an excellent background on the inspections process and the politics surrounding it. Hans Blix, who came out of retirement in 2000 to lead the inspections effort, was often bashed by American politicians and journalists, but he does not use this forum to strike back. Instead, he allows the evidence to do the talking, only occasionally offering his own opinion. Blix stresses that he never trusted Hussein and that inspectors were often misled and stonewalled, but he also points out that they never found any evidence of weapons of mass destruction either. Though Blix welcomes the end of Hussein's brutal dictatorship, his removal was "neither the avowed aim nor the justification given" for the war—-WMDs were the issue. Therefore, he believes the invasion was unnecessary and possibly counterproductive in the long run and is disappointed that they were not given enough time to complete their task. "Containment had worked," he writes. "It has also become clear that national intelligence organizations and government hawks, but not the inspectors, had been wrong in their assessments." Blix blames "monumental" intelligence failures on the part of the U.S. and Great Britain for most of these errors. In particular, he questions America's reliance on Iraqi defectors over their own intelligence agencies. He further wonders why the U.S. dismissed nearly all of the inspection agencies' findings over the past decade, in essence depriving themselves of a valuable source of information. He concludes that inspections are a worthwhile and effective method of containing potentially dangerous regimes and he believes that too high a price was paid for the war: "in the compromised legitimacy of the action, in the damaged credibility of the governments pursuing it, and in the diminished authority of the United Nations." --Shawn Carkonen
Book Description
The war against Iraq divided opinion throughout the world and generated a maelstrom of spin and counterspin. The man at the eye of the storm, and arguably the only key player to emerge from it with his integrity intact, was Hans Blix, head of the UN weapons inspection team.
This is Dr. Blix’s account of what really happened during the months leading up to the declaration of war in March 2003. In riveting descriptions of his meetings with Tony Blair, Jacques Chirac, Colin Powell, Condoleezza Rice, and Kofi Annan, he conveys the frustrations, the tensions, the pressure and the drama as the clock ticked toward the fateful hour. In the process, he asks the vital questions about the war: Was it inevitable? Why couldn’t the U.S. and UK get the backing of the other member states of the UN Security Council? Did Iraq have weapons of mass destruction? What does the situation in Iraq teach us about the propriety and efficacy of policies of preemptive attack and unilateral action?
Free of the agendas of politicians and ideologues, Blix is the plainspoken, measured voice of reason in the cacophony of debate about Iraq. His assessment of what happened is invaluable in trying to understand both what brought us to the present state of affairs and what we can learn as we try to move toward peace and security in the world after Iraq.
Download Description
The war against Iraq divided opinion throughout the world and generated a maelstrom of spin and counterspin. The man at the eye of the storm, and arguably the only key player to emerge from it with his integrity intact, was Hans Blix, head of the UN weapons inspection team.
This is Dr. Blix's account of what really happened during the months leading up to the declaration of war in March 2003. In riveting descriptions of his meetings with Tony Blair, Jacques Chirac, Colin Powell, Condoleezza Rice, and Kofi Annan, he conveys the frustrations, the tensions, the pressure and the drama as the clock ticked toward the fateful hour. In the process, he asks the vital questions about the war: Was it inevitable? Why couldn't the U.S. and UK get the backing of the other member states of the UN Security Council? Did Iraq have weapons of mass destruction? What does the situation in Iraq teach us about the propriety and efficacy of policies of preemptive attack and unilateral action?
Free of the agendas of politicians and ideologues, Blix is the plainspoken, measured voice of reason in the cacophony of debate about Iraq. His assessment of what happened is invaluable in trying to understand both what brought us to the present state of affairs and what we can learn as we try to move toward peace and security in the world after Iraq.
Customer Reviews:
A Good Read.......2005-11-29
For some reason this book did not generate a lot of interest but the book was actually a good read. I learned a few new things from a different perspective and would recommend the book to get an alternative viewpoint.
In summary his basic comments were that Iraq was not a threat and it was essentially contained and dis-armed since 1992, and the inspectors should have been allowed to complete their mission. Personally I found his arguments compelling and it seems to me that a month or two here or there would have made little difference since Iraq was not in compliance for almost 10 years or more and a few months more was not that important. The book can be read in one evening and it is mostly a good light read, and you will not be disappointed. Often I give away my books, but I kept the Blix book.
In any case, to check on Iraq and the WMD's the UN hired Hans Blix late in 2002. Dr. Blix is not the most dynamic guy but he is solid. He was a Swedish diplomat, US educated at Columbia where his son goes now, low key, highly competent, and he was the IAEA chief for twenty years - now just retired. On paper he is a world expert. Blix was subject to a lot of criticism in some US media and by Vice President Cheney who called the inspectors "useless" and Blix was portrayed as a bungling fool like the famous French detective Inspector Cluseau in a Peter Sellers movie. But really this is far from being an accurate portrayal. He was in fact head of the IAEA for 20 years and one of the world's experts on nuclear programs. This book is Blix's chance to answer his critics all in his own words, no media translation.
As a book it is an easy to read and surprisingly fast moving. It covers the inspectors, Resolution 1441, talks with the US and others, the spring deadline of 2003 and the start of the Iraq invasion - all from his perspective. I thought it might be a bit plodding but it is not. It is a quick light read of about 275 pages and very well written that can be mostly covered in one evening. In short it is a good book and deserves at least 4 stars.
The book is excellent but probably not as good as the book by Craig Unger - House of Bush, House of Saud. That is the best read of the current crop of books. Also the Richard Clarke book is better, but the Blix book is up near the top of the list and I think that it is a must read. I made a 25 book listmania list of the best books on the subject or closely related. But a book review is no substitute for reading the book.
Worth the buy and the read. Recommend.
We Were Misled! (Or Were We?).......2005-11-20
After nearly three years, we seem to have accepted the common wisdom that the intelligence was manipulated and Bush/Cheney convinced the American public, and especially the Congress, that Saddam was a threat that couldn't wait. Funny, but that's not the way I remember it.
There were a lot of people who questioned the cherry-picked intelligence at the time. Richard Clarke, for instance. And Brent Scowcroft. Most of the rest of the world, as represented by the United Nations, wanted to continue weapons inspections. With Saddam boxed in by no-fly zones, weapons inspectors, and a ton of spy technology aimed at Iraq, he really wasn't much of an immediate threat, and most people knew it. Still, it is interesting to revisit those pre-war days, just to make sure I didn't imagine the whole thing.
Hans Blix spent a lifetime as a diplomat, and as you would expect, he couches his criticisms in pleasant-sounding phrases. Much of the time he does just that, but every now and then, he lets fly with a real, unadulterated opinion. Near the end of Disarming Iraq, he "suggests" that Tony Blair and George Bush and their advisors misled the public by asserting categorically that weapons of mass destruction existed. In the world of international diplomacy, I suppose that is what passes for a slap in the face.
In the run up to the war, there was a lot of behind-the-scenes maneuvering and endless analysis by pundits and the press. It is fascinating to be able to read one inside player's report on what was said in those private meetings. I was surprised to find that Blix has great regard and admiration for Condoleezza Rice. I was less surprised to find that he has respect and perhaps pity for Colin Powell, and no use at all for Dick Cheney or Paul Wolfowitz.
Blix is thorough in describing the history of arms inspection and the history of the U.N.'s dealings with Iraq. Certainly this is useful and important information, but for me the appeal of Disarming Iraq is the description of what was happening in the weeks and days before Iraq was invaded in 2003.
Blix's accounts of his meetings with Cheney and Wolfowitz are chilling. Cheney coldly threatens him by telling him that if his weapons inspectors don't find some evidence and fast, Cheney will not hesitate to discredit Blix. Blix's meeting with Tony Blair is less chilling (Blair offered him crumpets), and the meeting with Bush, revealing.
Blix, in ultra-diplomatic mode here, writes of how Bush's manner contrasted sharply with that of Cheney's, how he makes a "boyish impression" and "frequently changes his posture in his chair." He told Blix and ElBaradei that he was no wild Texan bent on war, that he would let the Security Council talk about a resolution, but not for long. Bush "mentioned the League of Nations." You get a picture here of Bush, impatient and fidgety, making non-sequiturs about the League of Nations, and eager to get this useless meeting out of the way.
It isn't surprising that congressmembers and senators would like to think (or would like us to think) that they couldn't have known what was really going on, but even people like Blix, who says he thought Iraq had weapons programs, could see that in March, 2003, there was no need for an invasion.
WMD improbable of escaping discovery?.......2004-10-14
UN Security Council 687 mandated Iraq disclose a report of all weapons of mass destruction; also, it restricted states from importing Iraq oil until inspectors had determined all prohibitive materials had been eradicated; it gave inspectors unlimited access to all sites; and it helped inspectors find sites through links from the national intelligence agencies.
1991, Tarmiya focused on aluminum tubes. The conclusion of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) was the aluminum tubes were not possible for use in building a nuclear reactor. The team determined centrifuge of Uranium had been used for enrichment of Uranium through a process know as electromagnetic isotope separation. Iraq had spent a total cost in the billions to create three centers with a possible aim of creating a nuclear weapon.
One possible scenario explaining what happened to the weapons of mass destruction came from an Iraqi general named Saadam Kammel. Saadam Kammel defected to Jordon telling his WMD story. Kammel was responsible for the Iraq weapons program. In 1990, Kammel ordered a cash program for a nuclear program using fission material from a research nuclear reactor but the program failed. Kammel took an offensive posture putting biological weapons placed for ready use. 1995, Kammel claims to have ordered the destruction of all Weapons of Mass destruction. However, no documents or evidence suggests that Kammel destroyed all the weapons of mass destruction. Kammel was assassinated by the Iraq regime.
By 1997, IAEA was reporting no discrepancy between the inspectors and the Iraqi declaration. In 1997, the UN Security Committee (UNSCOM) saw a breakdown such that Iraq would no longer deal with inspectors of U.S nationality. Operation Desert Fox forced 100 cruise missiles attacking 100 targets in Iraq. Sanctions significantly affected standards for living. The UN started its Oil for food programming agreeing to sell oil for food and other programs allowed by the United Nations; it allowed the import of military items for elite and supporters. By 2001, Secretary of Defense William Cohen said Iraq had rebuilt its infrastructure and Iraq was capable of producing biological and chemical weapons. An invasion was inevitable.
The UN monitoring, verification and inspection commission (UNMOVIAC) went onsite to determine weapons of mass destruction. The U.S strategy makers were suggesting a preemptive string not relying on a reactive posture; Cheney advocated a preemptive strike; Bush claimed time was running out and the threat of WMD destruction was a no win scenario that could not happen; a return of the UN inspectors could not guarantee Saadam's conformance to UN resolutions
Secretary Collin Powel explained the U.S wanted a solution without armed forces yet at the height of inspectors numbers there were 100,000 troops mass near Iraq. Powel said it was important to beef up inspections and it was necessary for the media to believe that inspections could avert a war. Bush said if no results were produced then disarmament over inspection would be used, so, in essence putting UNMOVIAC on notice.
Resolution 1441 allowed members of the security council power too recommend sites for inspection; allowed members of the security council to be part of the inspection team; allowed UNMOVIAC and IAEA to setup regional bases throughout Iraq; and allowed UNMOVIAC and IAEA to define no fly zones and exclusion zones.
The inspection path become known and considered hopeless. Deadline pressure mounted on Iraq: inspectors reported no prohibitive material, no sites harboring weapons of mass destruction; the US was demanding full, final, and complete declaration; 30 days was not enough time to provide an accurate list; the 12,000 pages declared by the Iraqis consisted in large part of reprints of the 1998 declaration. Military build up suggested inspections were over and containment failed.
UNMOVI AC was vilified for not declaring a smoking gun for the drone and cluster bombers both discovered but not report and illegal by UN resolution. UNMOVIAC lost credibility in reporting 1. Accounts on anthrax, chemical agents VX, SCUD missiles remotely piloted vehicle, and mobile facilities for the production of chemical and biological agents.
Aftermath showed no evidence of weapons taken to Syria; no documents of WMD of weapons destroyed; Iraq showed little resistance without employing chemical and biological weapons during the war. Were the documents hidden with the nuclear parts? UN inspectors claimed the likely hood of WMD escaping discovery as improbable.
In order to not be revisionist.......2004-10-13
One should keep this in mind:
From http://news.scotsman.com
Former UN chief weapons inspector Hans Blix believed the Government's controversial Iraq weapons dossier actually understated the case against Saddam Hussein, according to documents released today (12 Oct 04) by the Foreign Office.
The papers released by the FO show that British officials at the United Nations in New York showed a draft of the dossier to Dr Blix in September 2002, two weeks before the final version was published.
A note from one official, Adam Bye, said that Dr Blix had liked the section on chemical, biological and nuclear weapons as he believed that it did not exaggerate the facts.
According to the note, Dr Blix said that the dossier even risked understating Iraq's ability to produce weapons of mass destruction - particularly the lethal anthrax virus.
Blix couldn't take the candy from a baby -- just too kind........2004-07-22
"Disarming Iraq" is Hans Blix's thought-provoking and historically-important memoir of the few but critical months leading up to the U.S.-led invasion of Iraq, during which he tried to paint a clear picture -- for the UN and the world -- of his inspection team's findings, claiming no need for urgency and lobbying for diplomacy.
The polarized atmosphere was palpably tense: while the U.S., the UK and Spain insisted that Iraq was not responding to inspections, France, Germany and Russia asserted with equal force that the inspection program had never been fully explored.
Parting the raging waters (for a few weeks, anyway) was the quintessential diplomat Hans Blix. As it reads, he was too diplomatic, unwilling to state his results confidently for fear that it might drive UN policy. It didn?t help that he had a few doubts of his own; that in spite of not finding any "smoking guns" in terms of banned weapons, he still sensed that Iraq was playing a cat-and-mouse game. Either the regime's odd narcissism allowed it to believe that it did not have to comply with the UN, or it was hiding something. Either way, Blix's hesitation was enough to set the stage for Colin Powell's historic February 5, 2003 presentation of evidence of WMD?s in Iraq, which was more or less the proverbial point of no return.
Apparently, what Mr. Blix was trying to tell us -- before he was drowned out by the noisy din of a fearful and overzealous media -- is now common knowledge about WMD?s in Iraq: Blix's commission failed to find anything not because the Iraqis succeeded at hiding the weapons, moving them ahead of inspections, but because the weapons really weren?t there. Iraq had disarmed at the end of the Gulf War in 1991, just as they?d claimed. The UN inspection program had worked -- without knowing it.
So how did the war move forward under false pretenses? According to Blix, "a deficit of critical thinking" was to blame. He speculates that our Congress would never affirm the use of force merely to end a reign of terror (even though Blix himself wishes for a UN resolution against brutal dictatorships). The Bush administration had to justify war in Iraq by linking it to terror, and since there was no real link, it had to capitalize on the "theoretical" link of Iraq's weapons of mass destruction.
This is as far as his speculation goes. Where the phrase "military industrial complex" would seem most natural and expected -- followed by a salacious tell-all about Bush, Cheney and nefarious links to Saudi oil -- Blix cleverly sidesteps the issue of America's impatient itch for war by feigning ignorance. Giving Blix the benefit of the doubt, perhaps he prefers to be thought of as naive and not sensational.
Needless to say, Dr. David Kelly's death (the British scientist who leaked to the BBC that the British government had "sexed up" a document alleging Iraq's nuclear capabilities) was an "unfortunate suicide" -- and not the work of a shadow government. (The entire document, by the way, turned out to be a forgery.)
At least Blix observed the "horse trading" ("intense economic and diplomatic pressures") our government used to obtain votes from other countries -- votes needed to pass the UN resolution authorizing the use of force -- as well as he disapproved the Bush administration?s spying on UN delegations while on their diplomatic visits to New York. Blix had other objections to U.S.-led efforts, but they are all based on facts and evidence, and are in defense of IAEA (a previous inspection organization, also headed by Blix) and UNMOVIC (the UN's Monitoring, Verification, and Inspection Commission).
Interestingly, the largest setback to diplomacy was related to a 167-page "cluster" document released by Blix in early March of 2003, which summarized all the inspections for the three preceding months. Unfortunately for France and Germany, American and British members of UNMOVIC leaked pre-release draft copies of the document. In other words, France and Germany had much less time to prepare their official reactions to the cluster document than their British and American counterparts. Their positions, in favor of renewed inspections, were not as compelling.
While Blix?s passion is definitely enough to carry his memoirs, one can easily see why it was so difficult for Americans to take Mr. Blix seriously: he lacks that forcible personality that commands respect. Even so, he is gifted with an even temperament, a good sense of humor, and a deeply-imbued sense of integrity, all important qualities for diplomacy. Although he may have been the only individual capable of peaceably bridging the large gap between the UN and Iraq, in retrospect it may have been asking too much from some of our leaders to match Blix?s diplomatic efforts in their reasonableness and patience.
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Arctic Animals: And Their Adaptations to Life on the Edge
Arnoldus Blix
Manufacturer: Tapir Forlag
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover
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Wildlife
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ASIN: 8251920507 |
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Fuzion Forum Yearbook 2004
Jason Libby , and
Blix Otto
Manufacturer: Dilly Green Bean Games
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ASIN: 0974469858 |
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Atmospheric Studies of Earth, Venus and Mars
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W. R. Skinner ,
E. Thrane ,
D. K. Chakrabarty ,
F. J. Lubken ,
G.G. Shepherd ,
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Manufacturer: Elsevier Science Pub Co
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback
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ASIN: 0080426603 |
Book Description
The first chapter contained in this volume focusses on results derived from the Upper Atmosphere Research Satellite. The results obtained from the High Resolution Doppler Imager and the WIND Imaging Interferometer provide remarkable new views of the upper atmosphere. The section entitled Variability in the Low Latitude Middle Atmosphere presents information on some important minor neutral species in the mesosphere and lower thermosphere and the effect of dynamics arising out of gravity waves breaking on them. The variabilities of ionic conductivities and some minor neutral species related to ozone in the stratosphere have been examined. Both rocket and balloon results are presented. Energetics of the Middle Atmosphere: Sources, Sinks and Coupling to Above and Below discusses various aspects of the energy budget of the upper atmosphere. In particular experimental results and model calculations were presented in relation to exothermal chemical re
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Blix
Frank Norris
Manufacturer: Wildside Press
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover
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Vandover and the Brute
ASIN: 1592242642 |
Book Description
It had been easy to promise Blix that he would no longer gamble at his club with the other men of his acquaintance; but it was "death and the devil," as he told himself, to abide by that promise. More than once in the fortnight following upon his resolution he had come up to the little flat on the Washington Street hill as to a place of refuge; and Blix, always pretending that it was all a huge joke and part of their good times, had brought out the cards and played with him.
Download Description
It had been easy to promise Blix that he would no longer gamble at his club with the other men of his acquaintance; but it was "death and the devil," as he told himself, to abide by that promise. More than once in the fortnight following upon his resolution he had come up to the little flat on the Washington Street hill as to a place of refuge; and Blix, always pretending that it was all a huge joke and part of their good times, had brought out the cards and played with him.
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Blix
F Norris
Manufacturer: Doubleday
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Unknown Binding
ASIN: B0000EEDJV |
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Blix
Manufacturer: Doubleday & McClure Co.
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover
ASIN: B000COKXEM |
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Blix And Moran Of The Lady Letty (BCL1-PS American Literature)/Works of Frank Norris (Volume 3 of 10)
Frank Norris
Manufacturer: Reprint Services Corp
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Library Binding
Literature & Fiction
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ASIN: 0781268079 |
Books:
- Gorilla Doctors:Saving Endangered Great Apes (Scientists in the Field Series)
- Healthy Sleep Habits, Happy Child
- History: Fiction or Science? (Chronology, No. 1)
- History: Fiction or Science? (Chronology, No. 1)
- History: Fiction or Science? (Chronology, No. 1)
- History: Fiction or Science? (Chronology, No. 1)
- History: Fiction or Science? (Chronology, No. 1)
- History: Fiction or Science? (Chronology, No. 1)
- How to Heal a Broken Heart in 30 Days: A Day-by-Day Guide to Saying Good-bye and Getting On With Your Life
- I Read It, but I Don't Get It: Comprehension Strategies for Adolescent Readers
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