Two points from today’s War Street Journal opinion section. First, this editorial, “The Fallujah Stakes,” urges precisely the type of overreaction I counsel against in today’s column. Small wonder. But in the middle of their kill-’em-all routine, the editors insert a little nugget I’m hearing more and more these days: “They can’t be bargained with, they can’t be reasoned with, because for them a peaceful transition to Iraqi control after June 30 means defeat.”
What does this even mean? If the neocons can’t churn out better propaganda than this, why are we supposed to believe they can run the planet? Why does a peaceful transition mean defeat for the insurgents? They could just wait until after such a transition to raise hell. Wouldn’t that be easier, assuming that that’s all they have in mind? The neocons are trying to hide–and the insurgents are fighting against–the reality that there won’t be any transfer of power on June 30.
The second item is a (subscribers only) piece by Jose Maria Aznar called “Appeasement Never Works,” in which the former Spanish PM takes a whizz on his country and its current government. You’ll recall how American “conservatives” shriek every time a politician or other celebrity criticizes Dubya, and how the pitch and decibels soar when the critic is on foreign soil at the time (Dixie Chicks, anyone?). So what to make of this sore loser bashing his country in a foreign newspaper in a foreign language?