Thanks to America, Iraq is Recovering

[Dan_Harris]

A very interesting piece.

http://www.chronwatch.com/content/contentDisplay.asp?aid=4108&catcode=10

[Fairweather]

Thanks for the post, Dan. Unfortunately, the local lefties and even most of the liberals here aren't interested in any good news coming out of Iraq. The sky is still falling, and only bad news that casts America in an imperialist light, and buys headway toward taking down Bush, is interesting or acceptable.

[lummox]

guess you dint read the article fairweather cuz the news came outa cleveland.

[Dan_Harris]

lummox said:

guess you dint read the article fairweather cuz the news came outa cleveland.

And Cleveland in located next to Lake Erie. So what What does the fact that the column was written in Cleveland have to do with anything? Would it have more meaning from say, Phoenix? Inquiring minds want to know.

[Off_White]

The piece might have more meaning if were written in, say, Baghdad? Or if the Iraqi writing it hadn't left the country 32 years ago. Are things going so well he's ready to go back? Aside from Ayad Rahim's genetic heritage, what makes him any more credible as an observer than any other citizen of Cleveland (or Phoenix if you'd prefer)? That he's the grown up child of a family that fled Iraq in Saddam Hussein's early days as ruler? Aside from two unspecified polls, what information does he have? Don't get me wrong, I'd like to hear some good news from Iraq, but I'd like it substantiated. I certainly hope the Iraqi people come out of this better than they were pre-sanctions (Clinton policy), and they have a better chance with Saddam Hussein gone, but it's not a slam dunk by any means.

 

 

[Dan_Harris]

"Aside from Ayad Rahim's genetic heritage, what makes him any more credible as an observer than any other citizen of Cleveland (or Phoenix if you'd prefer)? . . . what information does he have? "

 

Granted it is anecdotal, but he mentions contact he has had with relatives in Iraq. First hand is better, but that is more than other citizens of Cleveland would have. Those few folks paint a better picture than most of the gloom and doom in the media. My guess is what is actually happening is somewhere in the middle.

[j_b]

if things are going so well why do we need to beg the UN to validate intervention and deflect iraqi anger away from the troops?

 

anyhow, the overwhelming majority of information coming out of iraq indicates things are not going well at all.

 

so, where are the wmd's?

[lummox]

from steve martin:

 

So, if you're asking me did Iraq have weapons of mass destruction, I'm saying, well, it all depends on what you mean by "have." See, I can "have" something without actually having it. I can "have" a cold, but I don't own the cold, nor do I harbor it. Really, when you think about it, the cold has me, or even more precisely, the cold has passed through me.

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Plus, the word "have" has the complicated letter "v" in it. It seems that so many words with the letter "v" are words that are difficult to use and spell. Like "verisimilitude." And "envelope."

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Therefore, when you ask me, "Did Iraq have weapons of mass destruction," I frankly don't know what you're talking about. Do you mean currently? Then why did you say "did?" Think about "did." What the heck does that mean? Say it a few times out loud. Sounds silly. I'm beginning to think it's just the media's effort to use a fancy palindrome, rather than ask a pertinent question.

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And how do I know you're not saying "halve?" "Did Iraq halve weapons of mass destruction?" How should I know? What difference does it make? That's a stupid question.

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Let me try and clear it up for you. I think what you were trying to say was, "At any time, did anyone in Iraq think about, wish for, dream of, or search the Internet for weapons of mass destruction?"

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Of course they did have. Come on, Iraq is just one big salt flat and no dictator can look out on his vast desert and not imagine an A-test going on. And let's face it, it really doesn't matter if they had them or not, because they hate us like a lassoed shorthorn heifer hates bovine spongiform encephalopathy.

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Finally, all this fuss over 16 lousy words. Shoot, "Honey, I'm home," already has three, with an extra one implied, and practically nothing has been said. It would take way more than 16 words to say something that could be considered a gaffe. I don't really take anything people say seriously until they've used at least 20, sometimes 25, words.

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When I was criticized for my comment, I was reluctant to point out it was only 16 words, and I was glad when someone else took the trouble to count them and point out that I wasn't even in paragraph territory.

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When people heard it was only 16 words, I'm sure most people threw their head back and laughed. And I never heard one negative comment from any of our coalition forces, and they all speak English, too.

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