Let Us Repeat The Meme: Islamic Fundamentalists Benign, Christians Evil...

...over and over and over...

Before we view this...

Now, let us repeat the meme 'It's all the fault of The West!' over and over, until the sense of sickening horror at this particular atrocity passes.

Now, back to your regularly scheduled program...

Curveball Quote Of The Day/Week/Year: The Liar Who Helped Send Us To War

The news of Curveball, the Iraqi 'intelligence source' who fabricated the entire Saddam Hussein 'Weapons of Mass Destruction' scenario out of thin air, has hit the press and airwaves.

His interview with The Guardian is here.

One must always take anything in The Guardian with a huge grain of salt, but this account is worth reading, in any event.

Here is the quote:

I had the chance to fabricate something to topple the regime," he told the Guardian in a series of interviews carried out in his native Arabic and German. "I and my sons are proud of that, and we are proud that we were the reason to give Iraq the margin of democracy.

The end justifies the means and any tragic collateral damage, in other words.

This is the stuff of John LeCarre novels, only beyond the ability of any novelist to invent.

The tragedy required not only a willing and accomplished liar, but a receptive ear, a willingness to believe. Given Saddam's known record of brutality, it was not too great a leap of faith. He had used chemical weapons on his own people. He had invaded and raped Kuwait. He was a cold-blooded, amoral killer. This proffered tale fit the profile.

Since we had no intelligence operatives on the ground, thanks in great part to the gutting of the CIA in the 1970's, confirming or discrediting the tale was a tough job. We chose to not believe the UN reps who visited, because their record of credibility was so open to question.

And, the West was still rattled by September 11, 2001.

Combine all ingredients, stir gently, heat to a boil. Kill tens of thousands of people.

I wonder how Curveball would fare telling his story locked into a room with the families of all those British, Canadian, and US service members who died as a result of the invasion and subsequent civil war?

We'll never know.

Sometimes, Only Laughter Will Do: The HP Printer Execution In Iraq

So, a soldier in Iraq has an HP printer he needs for his unit's work.

But, it doesn't work.

So, he calls HP tech support, who demand money for their assistance.

Here is the soldier's completely appropriate response.

OS hasn't checked to see if the suits at HP have begun to spin this bit of video, or how. Hopefully, though, this wonderful minute of pushback against US corporate idiocy will travel the world, say, a couple of hundred times; and cause someone, somewhere, within the upper reaches of HP managment and its board to feel some sight sense of, well, shame.

We may be able to assist by simply leaving HP printers on the shelf of the local retailer for the next month or so. Easy, peasy, and doesn't involve a moment or penny of sacrifice on our our part. Jest sayin'...

Appeals to reason and decency are now completely futile in great swathes of American culture. Only laughter (and sometimes a machine gun) will do...


Printer problem in Iraq - Watch more Funny Videos

4th Stryker Departs Iraq: A Few Lessons To Ponder

NPR covered the departure of the final official combat unit from Iraq, in a surprisingly balanced fashion, considering who inhabits the offices at NPR.

Seven years and five months after the U.S.-led invasion, the convoy of combat troops from the 4th Stryker Brigade, 2nd Infantry Division, lumbered across the Iraq-Kuwait border before dawn, with a few hundred members staying behind to wrap up administrative and logistical duties. They will fly out of Baghdad later Thursday.

The departure doesn't mark the end of the U.S. military presence, however: About 50,000 troops will remain in Iraq through the end of next year. The troops are officially there in an advisory role, but will carry weapons to defend themselves and will join Iraqi troops on missions if requested.

OS had the honor of spending a day with a young Marine whose unit was amongst the first to arrive in downtown Baghdad, even as Baghdad Bob was briefing the press across the street that the Iraqi army was 'crushing the invader'. His unit's tractor was used to pull down the statue of Saddam, which was a very good moment. I never asked The Question, but he answered it at the end of the day: 'Did we do the right thing by going in? Yes, absolutely.' He also said that even though it was dangerous, he and his unit knew their lives were never needlessly endangered, that they were well-looked after. They had maps detailing every tree and low wall in their path, and they always had a plan in place. His unit made it to downtown with a few minor casualties, and no men lost. An extraordinary accomplishment.

In 2006, OS found himself drinking a G&T on an Oxbridge lawn, when his English academic conversation partner launched in on him about Iraq--how awful, how dare you Americans, how could you, why did you, Bush is a monster, yadda-yadda-yadda. Out of the blue. Very circumspectly, OS, trying to be the polite guest, responded--'It was a close call, but it was an unfortunate necessity.' Didn't go over well, and luckily a kind soul intervened to steer the conversation elsewhere.

Seven years after the fact, OS still reluctantly concludes the same: Saddam had to go, and we were the only ones who could accomplish it. The UK, bless 'em, as well as the newly-freed nations of Eastern Europe, along with Spain and a few others, knew what was at stake, and sacrificed mightily as well.

But, lesson number one is: When you got a murderin' thug on the ropes like we had Saddam in 1991, finish the job. The clean-up would have been messy, but tens of thousands of lives would have been spared. Saddam was never going to repent or relent. He had to be killed, along with his sons and inner circle. No other way to deal with him.

Lesson number 2: It's easier to overrun a place than it is to occupy, administer, and rebuild a place. That's why you don't ever want to be in the empire-building business. Bush and company were so good at the overrunning bit, and pretty clueless about the what to do after they won. If you're gonna go to war, ya' better have a plan for what happens after you win. General MacArthur was a genius, not just because he defeated Japan, but in how he reassembled what remained after August 1945.
Same with Marshall in Europe. If you don't have a plan, don't start shooting.

Lesson number 3: There are always unintended consequences, for good and ill. Al-Quaeda deciding to start a civil war, the Sunnis/Shias/Kurds all going after one another, and the post-Saddam score-settling were awful, and they're not over it yet.

Even as we leave, they're ginning it up again. But we don't make them do that. Planting a car bomb in a marketplace is a willful act, requires a good deal of planning. We didn't create those monsters, they decided to emerge from the woodwork.

And, OS thinks we'll see some good unintended consequences as well, but it may take a little time. The American soldier has a habit of improving the lives of the people he peaceably encounters, and good things will blossom in time.

Lesson number 4: If the Left had not decided to ghoulishly support our defeat at the hands of the monsters, we would have left earlier, with a lot fewer people hurt and killed. Let's remember that every time we vote in the future. Obama and Miz Hillary had a vested interest in failure, and made no attempt to hide it.

Lesson number 5: This one, for the rest of the world. We show up, we do the best job possible, and we leave. Most times, on our own schedule. We don't build empires.

We go home. Where the heart is.

Iraq may yet prove to be a failed country, but not because they weren't given every opportunity to succeed.

HT to all who served.

Lest We Forget Why Chemical Ali Met Justice

OldSouth just couldn't quite form the words yesterday to say anything appropriate about the execution of Chemical Ali.

Andrew Bolt in Melbourne did find them.

 The picture he posted with his few words tells us all.

The western press mob chose to concentrate on the suicide bombings in Baghdad instead, with the subtext: 'If the government hadn't executed the mass murderer Ali, then those insurgents would not have been compelled to drive vans full of explosive into the hotel district.'

'Chemical Ali isn't morally culpable for mass murder.  The people who planned yesterday's attack aren't morally culpable. The US, UK, Australia, Italy, Spain, Poland, et al who removed Saddam and his cousin Ali from power, and made certain they could not continue to fill mass graves--those guys are the true criminals.'


This essay in the Guardian might help put things into focus a bit.

Many of the 5,000 Kurds killed that day died almost instantly as the cloud of poison gas settled upon them. Others suffered a slower, more gruesome death as the gas gradually liquidated their organs but did not actually kill them. Today, the few surviving victims suffer from their injuries; birth defects, breast, lung, skin, and other cancers, along with miscarriages, infertility and mental disorders have painted a dark, permanent, mark on their lives.

Although OS always takes Wikipedia with a grain of salt, this article seems very well-cited and gives a dispassionate account.

There are videos posted as well, you can find them easily enough, out of sight of the children.

And, yes, the West sat silent in 1988 as this crime occurred.

Iraq, lacking the ability to engineer its own plants, had indeed purchased the means from Western suppliers to make and deliver the poison gas upon its own civilian population.

And, yes, had Colin Powell not halted the troops as they had Hussein's personal regiments on the run in 1991, many thousands of lives would have been spared.

And, yes, had Bill Clinton not been chasing skirts, and Mitterand not been chasing Iraqi petrodollars,  and the UN not buried its head in the sand, many more would have been spared.

And, yes, the West stood by and watched the horrors in Rwanda.

And, no, Rwanda doesn't have any oil.

We all know the litany. We are not saints. Therefore, it's always our fault, as if people with brown skin and funny names are just not capable of ethical judgment like WeTheGuiltyOfTheWest are.

But Saddam Hussein and Ali Hassan al-Majid gave the orders for the slaughter of civilians, not just in Kurdistan, but across that country, more than once. The troops who ousted them ran upon a number of mass graves.

For all our shortcomings, and they are many, the West, on one occasion in our generation, said 'Enough is enough.' 

Al-Qeada made the choice to set up shop in the aftermath.  The Iranians made the choice to pump their own arms and zealots into the situation.

Could we/should we have forseen it, made wiser choices? Yep. But other parties chose to incite a civil war, and squander the opportunity given Iraq.

And, no, Ali's execution did not cause the mass murders in Baghdad yesterday.

Someone else made the choice to do that.