Category Archives: Iraq

Update # II: Thank You, Nancy Pelosi

“…Then there is the allegation that Pelosi is enabling a rogue regime that is also sabotaging us in Iraq. As soon as these accusations amount to more than a repetition of assumptions not yet in evidence, I’ll gladly believe them. So far, what is incontrovertible is Assad’s role as the US’s pressure relief valve in Iraq.

Millions of Iraqis have been uprooted and displaced in the aftermath of the invasion. That they have failed to graze our consciousness is largely courtesy of the intrepid cable cretins. They are currently preoccupied with the ‘senseless, horrible’ demise by poisoned pellets of the nation’s pets. And before that with Anna Nicole Smith. And generally with nonsense.

In any event, together, Jordan and Syria have taken in 1.6 million fleeing Iraqi refugees. Syria continues to succor new Iraqi arrivals…”

The complete new column is “Thank You, Nancy Pelosi.” An aspect of the column has been debated on BAB. Read on to discover what else you can get riled about.

Update I: Jay Homnick, writer for The American Spectator, blogger for America’s Reform Club, writes:

Ilana Mercer, whether you agree with her or not, stands out as one of the most independent-minded columnists writing today.
Here is her remarkable defense of Pelosi’s Syrian adventure, and I pass it along for your perusal without prejudice.

Update II: In the comments section, Ted Berry missed the part in my column discussing the original intent of the founders to disperse power. (He is also plain wrong about foreign policy being the sole purview of the executive.) Thus he can assert that whatever Genghis Bush says is Bible from Sinai. Someone do a search please to find out how many times in American history have opposition-party members traveled abroad to make nice with friends and foes. That ought to put this tribal hypocrisy to shame.
As for independent thinking being a liability; don’t I know it? (It’s a quality the great Thomas Szasz, the quintessential individualist, prizes.)
But do note that I have clicked my heels and barked “Jawohl” in deference to the writer’s admonitions that I march in lockstep. Does Terry know how fascistic the demand for adherence for the good of the “nation” sounds? Mother! Or rather, Mussolini!

Updated: Bush Should Slither On His Belly to Bashar

Bush, Democrats, Iraq, Middle East

The White House is furious that House Speaker Nancy Pelosi has traveled to meet with Syrian President Bashar Assad in Damascus. Assad is not the only Middle East leader Pelosi is speaking to. Omigod! Diplomacy!

Trust Pelosi to give as good as she gets; she has pointed to the hypocrisy of the administration, having said nothing about the “the recent visits by Republican members of Congress.” The U.S. also participated “in a regional security conference in Baghdad last month that also included representatives from Iran and Syria.”

But here’s the real difficulty, as the press sees it: “The United States has poor relations with Syria, accusing it of interfering in Iraq.” Come to think of it, Bush, like the snake he is, should be slithering on his belly to Bashar to thank him for serving as the US’s pressure relief valve vis-a -vis Iraq.

Although the cable cretins don’t bother to report about them, and the administration smears reporters who try —millions of Iraqis have been displaced and uprooted in the aftermath of our invasion. Syria has been incredibly generous to these poor refugees. Together, Jordan and Syria have taken in 1.6 million fleeing Iraqi refugees. “On 20 October, Ron Redmond, UNHCR chief spokesman, said some 40,000 Iraqis are now arriving in Syria each month.” Take into account that these figures date back to October 2006.

Pelosi ought to thank the Syrian president for extending to the Iraqi refugees the use of its public schools and the health care system, although they “have to travel out of the country every six months to renew their visas and cannot hold work permits, resulting in high unemployment.” [I’m sure they don’t risk popping back to Iraq when visa renewal falls due, despite McCain’s assurances.]

IRIN (Integrated Regional Information Networks) reports that “the majority of Iraqi refugees in Syria live in the suburbs of Damascus, in deteriorating socio-economic conditions.” That’s where Pelosi should be headed.

Update: Of course, American interests in the Middle East are not to be conflated with Israel’s. The two countries have completely different interests in the region (the one “lives” there, so to speak; the other often makes life impossible for those who live there). The fact that Bush should be speaking to Bashar doesn’t mean that Israel ought to be doing the same. Israel would be in better shape if it didn’t aim above all to please or emulate the US. Syria wants Israel to return territory acquired due to Syria’s aggression. Israel should reject this “option” if it cares to survive. However, time and again Israel has shown that it is no more than an American satellite.

Further reading:

From Russia With (Less Than) Love

Who’s the Boss — Israel or the U.S.?

DEBKAfile Says Saddam Execution Staged By US

Iraq, Israel, Middle East

After receiving irate letters from recovering waraholics about “No Due Process for a Despot,” my latest column, it appears, once again, my deductions therein were not only reasonable, but warranted. Iraqi sovereignty my foot; DEBKAfile confirms the following:

“Saddam Hussein’s execution was a stage in the newly-crafted Iraq strategy Bush has promised to unveil in the New Year.
The strategy, already in the works, was first revealed by DEBKA-Net-Weekly 283, Dec. 22. It hinged on the cooperation of two key national religious figures: the most revered Shiite cleric, Grand Ayatollah Ali Sistani, and the Sunni cleric with the most influence on the Sunni Arab insurgency and the Baath, Sheik Hares al-Dari, head of the Sunna Scholars Council. The plan as conceived by the US president is not contingent on engaging either Iran or Syria.
The next stage, possibly the toughest, is to bring a form of stability and security to Baghdad, for which an infusion of troops will be required, followed by the partition of Iraq into three semi-autonomous Kurdish, Shiite and Sunni regions. Baghdad will serve as the federal capital. Its key role will be the administration of Iraq’s oil resources. Oil revenue will be distributed equitably to all three regions by a higher oil authority, whose members will not be Iraqis but Iraqi federal government appointees backed by the national army.
These arrangements which depend largely on the continuing cooperation of the two clerics are intended to pave the way for the orderly exit of US forces from Iraq.”

A least DEBKAfile, an Israeli source for intelligence, doesn’t pretend that the Iraqis who hunker down in the Green Zone with the Americans are autonomous in any meaningful way.

‘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.

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.)