Month: April 2003

Ann Morgan at The Libertarian Enterprise –

A Comparison Between Us and the Iraqis – physician heal thyself,
says Ms. Morgan. Indeed! [tle] [End the War on Freedom]

bq. I can’t help but wonder what the reaction of the patriotic flag wavers who are so in favor of this war with Iraq would be if some aliens from the Andromeda galaxy, who had a society organized on more Libertarian type principles than ours is invaded the US tomorrow and proceeded to destroy the pentagon, whitehouse, the capitols of all 50 states, and hunt down every government official above the level of sewer commisioner, in order to ‘Liberate’ us. A few people would applaud this action, yet I can’t help but think that the majority of the same people who approve of what we are doing in Iraq would denounce such a thing being done to us as an ‘atrocity’. And after the aliens left they would probably do their best to rebuild an even more oppresive regime than we had before. Too many people like wearing chains, so long as they are their chains, and they are used to them.

Iraq arms inquiry call rejected. A defence minister dismisses calls for an inquiry into whether security services misled MPs about Iraq’s weapons. [BBC News | Front Page | UK Edition]

Misled them by plagiarizing a 12 year old paper from the Internet and changing some of the wording to make it inflamatory, for example?

Our friends, the German State. That the Russians should be such buffoons by backing Ba’athist Iraq long after it became clear they were going to suffer the full weight of an Anglo-American attack is remarkable. That the Germans should have done so is nothing less than astonishing. Just as in the Falklands War, when Britain’s ‘ally’ France did not withdraw military assistance from Argentina until it no longer actually mattered, we have seen the European Union’s two most influential nations,… [Samizdata.net]

The nerve of those Russians and Germans, looking out for their own national interests. Who do they think they are–sovereign states?

From a description of GW at smith2004:
bq.
Personally, I’d like to go with “unprincipled loathsome squamous
non-Euclidean pile of buzzard barf, vulture vomit and hyena diarrhea,
festering vilely in his foul pit of unleashed Statism, a disgrace to Texas,
the White House and the human race, a viper hissing vilely at the
Constitution, a nauseating shambling horror whose aversion to the principles
on which this country was founded makes Dracula’s feelings about the True
Cross look like purest oogly love, and a genetic wreck with whom even the
Deep Ones would not deign to cross-breed.”

But I’m trying to be nice.

— Eric Oppen
[End the War on Freedom]

An interesting description, but it’s much too vague. This describes the current President’s father equally well, and if we change “Texas” to “Arkansas” it’s also an excellent description of the previous President.

Clutching for Answers in Baghdad. BAGHDAD — The streets of Baghdad are prickly with pointed questions, as residents pick at my sleeve and beg me for answers I cannot give.

“Why is there no water?”

“The river is too high and will soon flood. When will the Americans do something?”

“We need electricity and security, where is it?”

“Where are the prisoners?” asked a man who gave his name as Muhammed. “It’s a simple question. What is the answer?” [Back In Iraq 2.0]

bq. The occupation is not making many friends among the Iraqis, however. In marked contrast to the welcome and friendliness we always receive in the north and in Kirkuk, the looks here are guarded and even cold. We smile and wave at people in the cars next to us when the traffic grinds to a halt, but our fellow drivers look at us and don

Exiled Shiite Chief: Iraqis Should Rebel [AP World News]

bq. The exiled leader of the biggest Iraqi opposition group called Thursday on Iraqis to converge in the Shiite holy city of Karbala to oppose a U.S.-led interim administration and defend Iraq’s independence.

Good for him!

A long way from Nuremburg. You’ve just got to laugh really. Certainly that was my reaction when I happened upon this development, courtesy of Bill Herbert: A coalition of lawyers and human rights groups yesterday unveiled a bid to use the UN’s new International Criminal Court as a tool to restrain American military power. In a move Washington said vindicated U.S. claims that the court would be used for political purposes, the rights activists are working to compile war crimes… [Samizdata.net]

War crimes trials are for the losers. If people in other countries are serious about restraining the US government (and they should be), the way to do it is to form a defensive alliance.

Nancy’s Timeline. Schultzie has put up an absolutely astounding comparison of timelines for various operations. Example:

“We took Iraq in less time than it took Janet Reno to take the Branch Davidian compound. That was a 51-day operation.”

Go there now. [Kim du Toit]

An interesting choice for comparison.

Now I Know War With Syria is Inevitable. Uberblogger Glenn “Instapundit” Reynolds quotes casus belli-establishing news reports about Syria with the comments “interesting” and “hmm.” [Hit & Run]

The War Street Journal is getting in one the act too.

First SARS Test Hits Labs. A German company begins distributing the first commercial diagnostic for SARS, providing an urgently needed test that can produce results in just two hours. [Wired News]

It’s a good thing not all countries are subject to the FDA, or it would be another ten years before this company was allowed to distribute its test.