Screw Harry Potter- the new Mark Steyn column is up and it is free:
It’s mullah time! The question now is whether Iran’s ayatollahs and the original ”Islamic republic” can survive the summer, or whether President Bush will mark the second anniversary of Sept. 11 with two-thirds of his axis of evil consigned to the trash can of history.
That would be a remarkable achievement, by any measure save that of Democratic presidential candidates such as John Kerry, who seems to be running as the French foreign minister (a niche market of limited appeal even among Dem primary voters, one would think). Senator Kerry will continue to insist it’s all a disaster and possibly a cover-up, too. But over in North Korea, the third member of the axis will get the picture. For one thing, it’s hard to be an effective axis when there’s just one of you.
Is there anyone who doesn’t think that John Kerry is a smug, condescending liar who wants to be on every side of an issue? Anyone? Ok, except Theresa Heinz, is there anyone.
Andrew Lazarus
I’m confused. Did Mark Steyn find the WMD? Incompetence? Coverup? A deliberate con job from the word Go? Is George Bush a smug, condescending liar?
Or does our military triumph render these questions unpatriotic, even incoherent? That would seem to be the Steyn position. Bush can’t manage bread, but he’s good on circuses.
MommaBear
Senator Spaceshot is NOT making a good impression on very many; MB wonders if even Theresa is 100% behind everything he says and does.
JKC
Steyn needs his meds adjusted. Where does he think the force to invade Iran will come from? Uzhbekistan? It ain’t comin’ from the US; not with half the US Army tied up in Iraq and a significant portion of what’s left in Afghanistan.
Maybe we can start up an Infantry Division of armchair hawk pundits.
steyn can be in the first pair of boots to hit the ground.
Misanthropyst
Ah, Lazarus, back from the dead – a reminder of just who it was who supported Joe Stalin’s mass murder – and now Saddam Hussein’s. A lefty tradition, eh?
You’re right, son, we should put him back in command of his death camps and torture chambers. Those Iraqis aren’t real people, anyway…
Andrew Lazarus
Hey Misanthropist, Stalin died before I was born, and what exactly does it have to do with me?
Would you please state in so many words: “Because Saddam Hussein was a murderous tyrant, it does not matter whether the WMD excuse to invade Iraq was exaggerated or even fabricated.”
And would you please say in so many words: “Because Saddam Hussein was a murderous tyrant and I hate liberals, anybody who is even interested in what went wrong with the WMD search or that seems suspicious in the justification of the war is a pro-Stalin lefty.”
And after that, why don’t you just take a flying fuck at a rolling doughnut? OK?
Kurt Montandon
Ah, Lazarus, back from the dead – a reminder of just who it was who supported Joe Stalin’s mass murder – and now Saddam Hussein’s. A lefty tradition, eh?
Ah, of course. I’d forgotten that it was under a Democratic president that Hussein butchered a U.S.- inspired rebellion, or used chemical weapons against Kurds, or filled those mass graves that keep getting talked about.
Thanks for reminding me, all this time I’d thought Reagan and Bush Sr. were Republicans.
Perry
I’ve really enjoyed reading your blog. I’m going to add it to my blogroll, if you don’t mind…
John Cole
I don’t mind at all.
Eye Opener
Andrew et alia
“Did Mark Steyn find the WMD? *No, US teams are learning about them now.
Incompetence? *No, except among left-liberal media coverage.
Coverup? No, no coverup except by Baathist-Saddamites in Iraq.
A deliberate con job from the word Go? *Hardly, since it was the studied opinion of ALL G8 leaders that Saddam HAD the weapons, the will to use them, and access to even more.
Is George Bush a smug, condescending liar?” *Hardly. He’s no Liberal.
But I am, and I’ve devoted years of my life to Secret-Codeword analysis for the US government. I’ve come to learn that not all that is known can be disclosed, and of that which can be disclosed, not all is pertinent, and of that which is pertinent, not all is suited to the capacity of the listeners. It might be to your benefit to grow up, allow maturity to happen, and accept that GWBush is conscientiously striving to do the best he can, within Constitutional limits, within time limits, to protect and forward the interests of all freedom-loving citizens of the world, AS WELL AS Americans.
Wouldn’t hurt to accept that, would it?
Andrew Lazarus
I thought we sent home the most expert troops in WMD search, and you can just tell from the change in tone that the Administration is downplaying the important finding any significant cache or lab. Maybe they’ll find a can of “Raid” bugspray in the bazaar. As I wrote before, we’ve had one false alarm after another, calculated to leave the impression that WMD were found.
I can’t prove non-existence of these weapons, any more than I can prove the non-existence of a Judeo-Bolshevik Conspiracy to take over Europe, but I think it’s high time that YOU tell ME what sort of evidence or delay in finding evidence will persuade you that there are no WMD. I don’t mind telling you what evidence will persuade me that there ARE WMD: the WMD. (President Bush’s say-so no longer counts.)
Which brings me to the next point. Eye Opener, you will have to explain in greater detail why this massive error in our intelligence is not a sign of incompetence. If our intelligence agencies were correct, as they now claim, about the limited nature of the WMD program (and the total bogusness of the evidence for a nuclear program), then one would conclude that Bush deceived us, wouldn’t one?
Or is the idea that the President tried to fool us about something so much less important than a blow job too much to bear?