Daily Archives: July 22, 2003


Late Night Reading

Steven at Poliblog excerpts material from an interview with the first President Bush and recommends that we read the interview as well.
Woundwort of Silflay Hraka digests a report that lithuania has offered 43 personnel (unconfirmed) to assist in Iraq. True story or not the anlaysis is humorous.
Dave Johnson, Seeing the Forest, has been reading this report that claims that the California energy crisis was part of a “set-up to provide a pretext for war with Iraq.” You read, you decide.
The Hamster reports on Gephardt’s “stinging attack against the bush administration”.
The Angry Bear has started a condoleezza watch.
Lawrence Solum has the goods on the Second Amendment.
Good Night!


Great….but,

From the Washington Post:

Uday and Qusay Hussein, the two sons of former Iraqi president Saddam Hussein, were killed today by U.S. troops in a firefight in the northern Iraqi city of Mosul, Army Lt. Gen. Ricardo Sanchez announced this afternoon in a news conference in Baghdad…….
The resistance was reportedly stiff when the U.S. troops arrived at the villa in Mosul this morning. Sanchez said the “suspects barricaded themselves in the house” and “died in a fierce gun battle.”
Four bodies were taken from the villa, but Sanchez said they have not yet confirmed the identities of the other two people. Four soldiers also were injured in the battle.
The dead did not include Saddam Hussein,

Hmmmmm….fierce gun battle and stiff resistance? Maybe these guys had 8 arms each or something. Wouldn’t it have been much more useful to have uday and qusay alive? You know, questions and answers??
Via Talkleft.


Domino Theory Redux

Charles Dodgson asks why the bushies might have a list (see Moving to Canada two posts down):

Needless to say, the Iraq war has put something of a strain on things, particularly since the Syrians regarded it as ill-advised to start with, and cooperation isn’t nearly now what it was. But the reckless American border attack seems intended to gin up tensions further, perhaps to provoke yet another war.
And why would anyone in the administration want to provoke a war with a strained Arab state which also has a simmering border dispute with Israel, the region’s ultimate tinderbox?

Go read his answer. I hope you sleep well tonight.


Moving to Canada

From CBC News:

For all they share economically and culturally, Canada and the United States are increasingly at odds on basic social policies – to the point that at least a few discontented Americans are planning to move north and try their neighbours’ way of life.

Jaquandor provides this perspective:

Believe me, I occasionally understand the sentiment. Hell, I’d love to live in Toronto for the dim sum alone. But America is my home. It’s my country. And as a democracy, it’s intended to be a self-correcting mechanism. But the problem with self-correcting mechanisms is this: by definition, a mechanism therefore has to be “incorrect” now and then if it’s going to correct itself. That’s what is meant by the old saw, “My country, right or wrong: when right, to be kept right; and when wrong, to be put right.”
And besides, no matter where you live, there will always be no shortage of stuff that nauseates you, no matter what your political or religious beliefs may be. So, packing up for Canada is just postponing the inevitable. Plus, it will probably annoy the Canadians, and we can’t have that, can we?

And just how long will it be before Canada rises to the top of the bushies list?

“We’re going to get better over time,” promised Lawrence Di Rita, a special assistant to Rumsfeld. “We’ve always thought of post-hostilities as a phase” distinct from combat, he said. “The future of war is that these things are going to be much more of a continuum
“This is the future for the world we’re in at the moment,” he said. “We’ll get better as we do it more often.”