From the generally rotten weblog No Treason, an exceptional entry by John Lopez:
If you think the greatest danger to your life is from Islamic radicals, then try this thought experiment:
Go burn a Koran on your front lawn. Then, go sit on your front lawn holding your shiny, new, unregistered machinegun.
Question: Who will come after you first, the jihadists, or your local police?
I want answers from Wayne LaPierre, Dave Kopel, and co.
If Chalabi is an Iranian spy and “on the outs” with the USGOVCPA, why is he in Najaf making peace deals?
About 100 Iraqi police who arrived in Najaf over the past week to begin joint patrols with U.S.-led coalition forces on Sunday apparently deserted their posts, U.S. military officials said.
In the past few days, U.S. forces coordinated and trained with the Iraqi police to begin the patrols in the Shiite holy city that has been besieged by fighting between U.S. forces and the militia loyal to radical Shiite cleric Muqtada al-Sadr.
It is not clear why the police left the city, but their disappearance added to the skepticism at the U.S. military base in Najaf that a unilateral peace agreement announced three days ago by Shiite representatives would quell the ongoing violence.
100 “police” disappeared? And in Baghdad, not to be outdone by the Saudi hostage takers, a convoy of “westerners” was shot up and the “survivors” dragged away:
Gunmen attacked three civilian vehicles carrying foreigners in northwest Baghdad Sunday, killing two Westerners and seizing three others, witnesses and police at the scene said.
Two of the four-wheel-drive vehicles, of the type used by foreign contractors, employees of the U.S.-led administration and some media in Iraq, appeared to have collided after coming under fire on a main highway, and two bodies could be seen.
Locals and police said the attackers had dragged away three survivors of the attack. Their fate was unknown.
In one of the cars, a dark-colored sports utility vehicle, both front airbags had inflated and were stained red with blood. Bloodstains were also soaked into the back seat.
Nearby, a white four-wheel-drive vehicle had its front staved in by the force of the collision.
After the attack, locals set the two vehicles ablaze, and later shooting erupted between gunmen and police at the scene.
Meanwhile, Duhbya is playing with Saddam’s pistol:
A handgun that Saddam Hussein was clutching when U.S. forces captured him in a hole in Iraq last December is now kept by President Bush at the White House, Time magazine reported Sunday.
[…]
Bush shows Saddam’s gun to select visitors, telling them it is unloaded, both now and when Saddam was captured, Time reported.“He really liked showing it off,” Time quoted a visitor who had seen the gun as saying. “He was really proud of it.”
Well, as long as Duhbya gets to show off his war trophies to his buddies in Washington, I guess all the death, violence and chaos is worth it.
Reading A1 critiqes NY Times omsbudsman Okrent’s comment on the notorious “Editor’s Note” non-apology for hyping disinformation about Saddam Hussein’s nonexistent WMD. An excerpt:
The word from Pastor Dan. Daniel Okrent’s rhetorical stance is always, “We journalists.” His job, as he seems to take it, is to offer the (perversely uncomprehending) masses a glimpse into the mysteries of the trade. Okrent writes as if the “public” part of public editor were a suggestion of taint: as if his chief concern was to make sure that nobody in the fraternity could mistake him for one of those hairy, gap-toothed outsiders.
Billmon has an interesting insight on the Okrent piece, which makes the “Editors Note” seem even more craven and self-serving than it did when I first read it. Check out his timeline.
Oh, and don’t miss this little nugget from Okrent: “While I’m on the subject: Readers were never told that Chalabi’s niece was hired in January 2003 to work in The Times’s Kuwait bureau. She remained there until May of that year.“
There’s been a lot of commentary on the Elisabeth Bumiller piece in the NYT yesterday, Conservative Allies Take Chalabi Case to the White House. Bumiller characterizes the neocon visit – “a small delegation of them marched into the West Wing office of Condoleezza Rice, the national security adviser, to complain about the administration’s abrupt change of heart about Mr. Chalabi and to register their concerns about the course of the war in Iraq.” Pretty much everyone took off on the amusing image of a herd of incensed neocons descending on Condi Rice’s office, but Laura Rozen posts that this may not be accurate.
Secondly, about Condoleezza Rice’s meeting with the pro-Chalabi crowd last week. I am told Rice requested the meeting with Perle, Woolsey, Gingrich, Pletka, Rubin et al, to ask them not to go off the reservation, in reaction to the White House cut off of Chalabi. And if you have noticed, they have refrained for the most part from directing their public criticism directly at the White House, attacking the CIA, DIA and State instead for a policy decision that came from the very top.
Interesting possibility. Does this have anything to do with the Allawi/IGC coup of the past couple of days? Chalabi reportedly voted for Allawi. Whatever happened to “severing his connection” with the CPA and his suspension from the IGC? Juan Cole notes that calling what Chalabi had in mind a “coup” is exaggerated, but what happened with Allawi could fairly be called a coup, from the information available. Is there some connection between the White House ousting of Chalabi and the subsequent Allawi ascension? Is Chalabi even really ousted? If he is, why is he still participating in the IGC votes instead of twiddling his chubby thumbs in a cell in Abu Ghraib?
Arthur Silber paraphrases notable warbots Bill O’Reilly, John Derbyshire, and VD Hanson. Sample: O’Reilly, “If the United States is going to defeat the terrorists, we need to have a total commitment to crushing the bastards. My study of history indicates that the role model we ought to adopt is that provided by one of the most noted liberators of the oppressed and a noble exemplar of freedom and individual rights. I speak, of course, of Genghis Khan.”
Tim Swanson on Minnesota’s crackdown on low gas prices, “Whew, I’m so glad cheapskates like Murphy Oil are being fined and punished, after all, if other companies use this evil business strategy, prices of goods and services would decline en masse, saving individuals and families so much money that they would probably start funding terrorism just so they wouldn’t feel guilty about having so much more wealth laying around.”
Laura Rozen is doing a good job keeping up with the Washington neocons and the unfolding Chalabi mess.
Steve Gilliard says Allawi is a Dead Man Walking. Josh Marshall and Spencer Ackerman also have good info up on, as Ackerman calls it, The Zipless Coup.
Bush Announces Twelve Step Plan For Iraq
The Libertarian Jackass outs himself in The American Conservative, and Stephen Carson at LRC blog helpfully links him up for all of us who don’t get TAC on dead tree. You’d think an article about blogs would be webbed.
Reggie Rivers writes an article in the Denver Post equating military service with slavery, pointing out that you aren’t a volunteer anymore if you can’t quit. Jonah Goldberg can’t figure out why he disagrees with this argument (“Unless I’m in the dark about why this isn’t moronic, I’ll just let it speak for itself.” Then he doesn’t.) but he’s so on Jingo Autopilot that he can’t let anyone advance even this argument without breaking out his little plastic patriot flag and he condescendingly accuses Reggie of implying all soldiers are “buffoons.” “Shame on you, Reggie,” says Jonah in his kindergarten teacher voice. Goldberg, ” But if for some reason people think this guy’s onto something we can have a nice long conversation in here about why joining the army of your own free will in order to serve your country in exchange for A) money B) education C) experience D) training E) a lifetime of benefits and the respect of your country is ever-so-slightly different than slavery.” You’d almost think Jonah is saying that slavery would be OK if you could get a good education, money and benefits as a slave. He makes it sound so good that it’s even more of a mystery than ever why Jonah isn’t wearing his master’s uniform.
WHY THE HELL ARE YOU STILL READING US? DOES JUDITH MILLER HAVE TO KILL YOU HERSELF? Thanks to michael at Reading A1 for the toon.
