Posted on 04/12/2003 4:47:32 PM PDT by MadIvan
Oh...I see what you're saying...that Mark put the quotes there to point up that it's the paper's characterization. But then the "Good" part is confusing because it's phrased as a direct quote of the President.
It's a confusing paragraph, now that you pointed that out to me....I'm gonna be tossing and turning all night over it. Thanks. >:P
What about the new Saladin, Saddam himself? My guess is that although he was salvaged from Baghdad to Syria in the convoy of the Russian embassy which came under fire, he's no longer in Damascus... Maybe in Moscow, maybe in Ashkhabad.
You think those two places could be taken out too?
But if I may make a suggestion to my friends on the Left, do yourselves a favour and chuck the moron gags. It's insufficient to your needs. In case you still haven't noticed, Bush always winds up getting at least 90 per cent of everything he wants, and it can't all be dumb luck. A year ago the President told Trevor McDonald, "I made up my mind that Saddam needs to go". Well, Saddam has gone. In between came a lot of entertaining diplomatic dances in national costume, but, like the third act of The Nutcracker, they didn't impact on the plot: in the end, the nut got cracked.
Some of his allies - the Prime Minister of Britain - have overcome their squeamishness to regime change. Some of his opponents - the Prime Minister of Canada - were still objecting to regime change even after the regime had changed. But it was Bush's position that counted: one of his strengths is that he won't sacrifice the objective to the process. By contrast, it wasn't always apparent that his predecessor had objectives: what exactly was the desired end when Mr Clinton bombed that aspirin factory in the Sudan? In foreign policy, Clinton had tactics, not strategy: his inability to reach what the special prosecutor Ken Starr called "completion" extended far beyond Monica's gullet. On his tax cuts, on missile defence, on Saddam, Bush is completion-focused.
< snip >
Because he doesn't operate on Media Time, whereby 14 months is a precipitous "rush to war" but a 14-day war is a Vietnam-style quagmire, Bush doesn't get thrown off-course. He is a personally modest man with no particular desire to be on television all day long, which is why he's happy to let Tony Blair take as much of the limelight as he wants and why he was willing to fly to Belfast to emphasise the non-poodle nature of the Prime Minister's relationship: this business of who accords whom the honour of visiting whose village is an obsession of Arab mukhtars, not Texans.
In a sense, Mr Bush's view of Iraq is merely an extension of his view of Mr Blair: his buddy Tone may be somewhat weird and intense and unnaturally hung up on outmoded multilateral institutions, but in the end their common humanity overrides all that. Likewise, Bush doesn't see why children in Mosul are so different from those in Crawford: why shouldn't they have the same freedoms? You can mock this if you wish. It seems very odd that the Left, which routinely bemoans the injustice of Barbara Bush's son having greater opportunities than the son of a crack whore in the inner city merely because of an accident of birth, then turns around and tells 20 million Iraqis that they have to accept their lot and live in a prison state forever. Julian Barnes, Iowa's Democratic Senator Tom Harkin and a zillion others continue to feel this way - even after Saddam's fall.
Please let me know if you want ON or OFF my General Interest ping list!. . .don't be shy. 
Don't worry! Strunk and White would probably find Mark Steyn a little over the top. For example, all these dependent clauses:
In between came a lot of entertaining diplomatic dances in national costume, but, like the third act of The Nutcracker, they didn't impact on the plot: in the end, the nut got cracked.
Absolutely brilliant, made my day!
Thanks. ;-)
I remember when GW was running for president and I said to someone that it was good to have a businessman running the country. They thought that only a lawyer/ politican could be successful.
Steyn has it right IMHO--GW has Reagan's management style--delegate work to competent professionals and then step aside and let them do their job. An occasional tweaking here and there maybe.
Clinton and Gore were both overbearing egotists who thought that they needed to be immersed in all the microscopic details and, since their puny egos prevented them from hiring anyone who could possibly outshine them, they couldn't step back and see the big picture.
It's good to have a self-assured chief executive in the White House! And kudos to Tony Blair for being able to see the big picture and stand up for truth.
Weren't we just talking about this very fact? Who was I talking to about this? I can't remember. Enjoy the good article.
Bashar Assad is well-known for being about as brain-dead as any world leader in memory, and his recent actions and statements have only confirmed this reputation. I agree with Steyn: whether or not we invade Syria, Kid Assad's days are numbered.
I don't think it's odd at all. This just reflects the true nature of the Leftists. They "care" about the oppressed people as long as it serves to further their political agenda.
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