Category: Old Dish

Apparently not.
UPDATE: This photo appears to be a hoax. I apologize.

It’s Helen Thomas!

He says he’ll oppose British and American post-war administration of Iraq. Sorry, Jacques, but whatever paltry power you once had is now toast.

I biked past a rather pathetic figure in Dupont Circle this afternoon. barely old enough to grow a beard, this poor soul was wearing a large cardboard placard: “Ashamed American.” Ashamed. Ashamed of the liberation of a people from an unspeakable tyrant. It’s a form of self-hatred and inverse liberalism that truly boggles the mind. here’s Eric Hoffer from “The True Believer: Thoughts on the nature of Mass Movements:

It is easier for the frustrated to detect their own imaginings and hear the echo of their own musings in impassioned double-talk and sonorous refrains than in precise words joined together with faultless logic … That the deprecating attitude of a mass movement toward the present seconds the inclinations of the frustrated is obvious. What surprises one, when listening to the frustrated as they decry the present and all its works, is the enormous joy they derive from doing so. Such delight cannot come from the mere venting of a grievance. There must be something more – and there is. By expatiating upon the incurable baseness and vileness of the times, the frustrated soften their feeling of failure and isolation.

Yes, failure and isolation. And it’s going to get worse and worse for these deluded apologists for evil.

Reuters looks on the bright side – for Saddam.

THE DOMESTIC TIDE: Of course, it’s turning. Or, more accurately, cresting.

Even Saddam’s thugs find some of the “human shield” idiots a little hard to take.

“Earlier today, it was the Iraqis who seemed to have the initiative.” – Michael Gordon, today’s New York Times. Hey, you work with the material you’ve got.

American lefties protest. Doesn’t that just say it all? But some of these protests are just grist for a few hundred misguided teens. From the email in-tray:

As I walked among the crowd, I saw the protesters were very benign.-From observing about 150 of them, I saw that most were very young- about 17 or so. There were some 50-something people leading the rest, but they were a minority.-I saw signs and slogans, nearly all were ad hominem attacks on Bush.- Their appearance ranged from dregs-of-life scraps to Tommy Hilfiger.- Females outnumbered the males, but not by much.-By the time I got there, the energy was gone.- Whatever brought them together had vanished, and the entire atmosphere was like an 8th grade dance after the lights came on.- Lots of milling about.-The boys were trying to get the phone numbers of the girls, who were giggling and acting shy.
My righteous indignation melted.-Initially, I took them seriously and wanted to jab a finger in their collective chest and ask where they were when Clinton hit the Sudan, or bombed the former Yugoslavia, or when Saddam gassed, tortured, and raped his own people.-I wanted to challenge them.- Did they think that after 9/11 we could ignore states that could aid and abet terrorists?- Did any of their friends or relatives die on September 11th?- But these kids were jokes.- There was no serious thought here.-To call this event a protest is to misguide the public. This was a social gathering… an interactive parade of America-hating.-I wasn’t angry.-I was sad.-All the clichés floated up to me: what a shame these kids are being raised to hate their country.- How can they try to bite the hand that feeds them? What has gone wrong with these people to energize them to act this way?

Actually, in some ways, this mass lunacy has some potential. If this war continues as well as it has been, won’t the anti-war left not merely be defeated but beyond humiliated? And won’t that leave an impression on at least some of them? The younger ones, perhaps? You’ve got to keep hoping.

“As the sands shift and we execute the plan, one fact remains true: Marines are the windstorm that will liberate the Iraqi people from one of the most repressive regimes on the face of the earth and make their freedom a reality. Nothing will stop the U.S. Marines.” – Lt. Gen. James T. Conway, the chief Marine commander in the region.

A reader writes:

I too am hopeful about the progress of the war.- But I don’t know which network you are watching.- I am hearing reports of fierce fighting in the north as well as Basra in the south.- An Iraqi tug was stopped while attempting to mine a waterway.- And we are not yet confronting the forces around the capitol.- Yes it is going well.- So far so good.- That’s it.- If SH is dead, why aren’t Iraqi leaders running through the streets with white flags shouting don’t shoot?- Is someone suggesting that the Iraqi regime can continue operating with a SH look alike?- To what end?- I don’t think so.

All good points. But there’s also the possibility that some in the Saddam command structure are as in the dark as we are. The question we have yet to answer is: where did the tip of Saddam’s whereabouts come from? An inside job? Brilliant Special Forces work? Either option is highly encouraging. Again, I’m waiting to see new footage of Saddam.