15 April 2003
A quick recap from Tom Toles.
Lather, rinse, repeat as convenient.
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And now, a blast from the past!
Although it's no revelation that Abu Abbas was in Iraq--that had been known, as Abu Nidal's presence was known. But interestingly, in the story it mentions that Nidal's supporters say that the Iraqi government were the ones that assassinated Nidal. As they would have every motivation to blame that upon Mossad(in fact I thought it was Mossad that did that), I'd give credence to that theory--leading one to an inconvenient short circuit of logic, in that Hussein's totalitarian rule was at times, therefore, also good at snuffing out some terrorists. Hmmm...
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On the WMDs suddenly being in Syria: Ever play "hot potato" as a kid?
Prediction: they'll claim they have no plans and then suddenly they'll find a surprise bit of "evidence" and...oh, just see above.
Later: I'm sorry, the strategy seems to be to provoke Syria into doing something really dumb. My mistake.
(Yes, of course they weren't supposed to be getting the oil. Point is they'll still consider it worth fighting for, more likely than not. We'll see)
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In a way Bush(gasp!) is right that the UN have become irrelevant, in the sense that Hitler would have been right to say the League of Nations was irrelevant--it was the truth. Time after time the UN has failed to prevent war or slaughter; as possibly one of the most glaring examples, they only attempted to protect their own workers in Rwanda, and indeed UN facilities, because everyone sought refuge in them, unwittingly became wrangling centers for the Hutus, because as soon as the refugees mobbed the place the UN would split--often signalling they were leaving with a loud noise of some kind--and the Hutus found their prey conveniently in one spot.
The UN could not stop us, nor Hussein for that matter, nor, if it came to that, my cat, from attacking other countries unprovoked. This is true.
Now, I happen to believe it's better the UN be there than not, but what's the point when it has no teeth? If abiding by its resolutions is only a whim that we, for instance, can follow or not, what's its purpose? The UN doesn't seem to exist to stop war--it exists to normalize it.
************************************
The great and glorious Carol Lay on a less immediately-important, but still considerable, concern: the looting & destruction of some of the oldest archaological treasures of civilization. (some may not realize Iraq is the oldest civilized country in the world)
However, I also read that a great deal of it was put into storage beforehand, so it's not quite as catastrophic as all that.
What I can't understand is why the neocons would be so blithe about the destruction of stuff that backs up, among other things, Biblical history.
Oh, but those oil fields we did take plenty of time and energy to protect and secure?
Guess what.
************************************
And not to ruin everybody's victory fun, but...
Leaving no child behind.
We have a lot to make up for in what's to come, despite that it is in every way a good thing that Hussein is gone.
Lather, rinse, repeat as convenient.
************************************
And now, a blast from the past!
Although it's no revelation that Abu Abbas was in Iraq--that had been known, as Abu Nidal's presence was known. But interestingly, in the story it mentions that Nidal's supporters say that the Iraqi government were the ones that assassinated Nidal. As they would have every motivation to blame that upon Mossad(in fact I thought it was Mossad that did that), I'd give credence to that theory--leading one to an inconvenient short circuit of logic, in that Hussein's totalitarian rule was at times, therefore, also good at snuffing out some terrorists. Hmmm...
************************************
On the WMDs suddenly being in Syria: Ever play "hot potato" as a kid?
Prediction: they'll claim they have no plans and then suddenly they'll find a surprise bit of "evidence" and...oh, just see above.
Later: I'm sorry, the strategy seems to be to provoke Syria into doing something really dumb. My mistake.
(Yes, of course they weren't supposed to be getting the oil. Point is they'll still consider it worth fighting for, more likely than not. We'll see)
************************************
In a way Bush(gasp!) is right that the UN have become irrelevant, in the sense that Hitler would have been right to say the League of Nations was irrelevant--it was the truth. Time after time the UN has failed to prevent war or slaughter; as possibly one of the most glaring examples, they only attempted to protect their own workers in Rwanda, and indeed UN facilities, because everyone sought refuge in them, unwittingly became wrangling centers for the Hutus, because as soon as the refugees mobbed the place the UN would split--often signalling they were leaving with a loud noise of some kind--and the Hutus found their prey conveniently in one spot.
The UN could not stop us, nor Hussein for that matter, nor, if it came to that, my cat, from attacking other countries unprovoked. This is true.
Now, I happen to believe it's better the UN be there than not, but what's the point when it has no teeth? If abiding by its resolutions is only a whim that we, for instance, can follow or not, what's its purpose? The UN doesn't seem to exist to stop war--it exists to normalize it.
************************************
The great and glorious Carol Lay on a less immediately-important, but still considerable, concern: the looting & destruction of some of the oldest archaological treasures of civilization. (some may not realize Iraq is the oldest civilized country in the world)
However, I also read that a great deal of it was put into storage beforehand, so it's not quite as catastrophic as all that.
What I can't understand is why the neocons would be so blithe about the destruction of stuff that backs up, among other things, Biblical history.
Oh, but those oil fields we did take plenty of time and energy to protect and secure?
Guess what.
************************************
And not to ruin everybody's victory fun, but...
Leaving no child behind.
We have a lot to make up for in what's to come, despite that it is in every way a good thing that Hussein is gone.
Labels: politics
¶ Tuesday, April 15, 2003
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