Category Archives: Iraq

'No Due Process For A Despot'

“As repugnant as it was, [Saddam’s] hasty hanging was far less offensive —and certainly not illegal —than the legal proceedings that preceded it.

Saddam’s trial did not even qualify as a show trial. Justice coming out of terror-riddled Iraq better resembles the Reign of Terror during the French Revolution (or Mike Nifong’s in Durham County). Masquerading as a court of law, the Iraqi, US-sponsored, Tribunal is more like the French Revolutionary Assembly, meting justice by popular demand…”

The excerpt is from my new WorldNetDaily column, “No Due Process for a Despot,” in which, in addition to explaining why Saddam was not accorded due process (as well as why we should care), I offer a plausible explanation as to why the US did not object to Saddam’s “hasty hanging.” (With thanks to my daughter for her original suggestion.)

‘No Due Process For A Despot’

Iraq, Middle East, Terrorism

“As repugnant as it was, [Saddam’s] hasty hanging was far less offensive —and certainly not illegal —than the legal proceedings that preceded it.

Idio-Experts Find Their Groove

Iraq, Media, Middle East, Pseudo-intellectualism, Republicans, The Zeitgeist, War

The experts—the cakewalk crowd; the people whose utter ignorance of geopolitical realities had them insisting our soldiers would be greeted with blooms and bonbons in Iraq; those fools who said an Iraqi democracy would rise from the torrid sands of Mesopotamia; those jokers who labeled as a liberal or a traitor anyone who exposed their invasion of Iraq for the immoral and illegal crime it was; the likes of Victor Davis Hanson, David Frum, Thomas Friedman, Christopher Hitchens, George Will, Tucker Carlson, and Andrew Sullivan (a few of whom seem to have conveniently recanted at the eleventh hour), Charles Krauthammer, William Kristol, Mark Steyn, Max Boot, John Podhoretz, and the list goes on—the philosopher-kings who’ve been right about almost nothing have finally found a prediction they can make with absolute (ponderous and pompous) certainly:

A is likely to increase violence in Iraq
B is likely to increase violence in Iraq
C is likely to increase violence in Iraq
Saddam’s execution is likely to increase violence in Iraq

Ad infinitum…

Violence in Iraq is rising and is going to continue to rise no matter what. As the idio-experts have discovered, violence in Iraq is a certain thing.

The Iraq Study Group’s Magic Realism

Iraq, Israeli-Palestinian Conflict, Middle East

“The Iraq Study Group has advised the administration to try a few more tricks before getting our spent men and materiel out of Iraq. Led by James Baker and Lee Hamilton, the Group is especially desperate to secure Iran and Syria’s assistance in reversing Iraq’s fortunes. If its central thrust is accepted, “Enhanced diplomatic and political efforts in the region” will, slowly, replace localized brute force.
There is, however, a pesky problem with galvanizing the newfangled axis of angels.
One of the aims of Bush’s disastrous occupation of Iraq was to weaken—even collapse—the Islamic Republic. He has achieved the exact opposite of what he intended. Iran has superseded the US as the most influential power in the region. Syria is second. Both have collaborated nicely in getting Zelzal-2 missiles and short-range Katyusha rockets to Hezbollah. Israel, like the monkey-see-monkey-do country it has become, followed the US’s bliss, as hippies would say, and leveled Lebanon. That failed mission further entrenched the terrible troika—Iran, Syria, and Hezbollah—as the region’s top dogs.
So how do the politically weak entice the strong? How does America leverage influence over Iran and Syria? Promise not to invade them? Threaten not to return their captured soldiers? ‘Allow’ mad Mahmoud to enrich Uranium? We’ve gambled away almost all our bargaining chips—bar one.
We still have Israel…”

The excerpt is from my new WorldNetDaily column, “The Iraq Study Group’s Magic Realism.” Comments are welcome.