Between the BBC’s commentary and Mohammed Said Sahaf’s? Three days.
POWELL’S POSTURE: “This comment is in reference to Colin Powell’s interview on German television. One of the things that’s obvious from Colin Powell’s measured yet passionate response to the hostile German interlocutor is how much more mature and serious Powell is than so many of the others in the pro-war camp. No rhetoric about “Old Europe,” no frog-baiting “Freedom Toast” in Air Force One, no swaggering gun-toting. Powell just explains the administration’s position in a way that is inclusive rather than divisive, that tries to extend the coalition of the willing rather than extending ultimatums from Saddam’s disgusting regime to our longest-serving allies.” – more contrarian reader comment on the Letters Page.
NO CREDIT DUE: You have to ask yourselves what it would take to get Tom Friedman and Maureen Dowd to say anything, anything, positive about this administration and the military force they have just wielded so expertly. Dowd, who simply cannot understand the gravity of the situation we have been in these past couple of years, writes with astonishing glibness: “We were always going to win the war with Iraq.” Oh, really? I don’t remember her saying such a thing before. In fact, all I remember is her constant carping about and lambasting anyone in this administration prepared to take responsibility for the threats to this country’s security. Now, in a Johnny-Apple instant, she’s on to the next carp. Friedman, in his turn, makes good points as usual about the need to restore order as soon as possible, but then he says something like this: “America broke Iraq; now America owns Iraq, and it owns the primary responsibility for normalizing it.” No, Tom, America did not break Iraq. Saddam did that. We liberated it with astonishing precision and with an amazing lack of damage to critical infrastructure. The fact that there’s chaos in the interlude between Saddam’s thuggery and a new government is a simple fact of human life. Tom’s absolutely right about the need to invest time, money and care in rebuilding Iraq. But part of the impetus in America for such a task must come from genuine pride in what we have achieved; and a deeper understanding of its moral significance. Let’s take a moment to absorb that before we launch into yet another spasm of self-criticism.
The Dish 