Posted on 09/08/2002 3:47:13 AM PDT by kattracks
As the invasion of Iraq gets closer, the coalition news is looking pretty good.You can tell by who's out.
Last week, meeting in Cairo, the Arab League solemnly affirmed its undying support for Iraqi dictator Saddam Hussein. An attack on one Arab country, said the league, is an attack on all.
This assertion of Arab mutual defense would offer a tempting opportunity - imagine taking out a half dozen tin-pot Middle Eastern dictators at one blow - if it weren't so transparently at odds with reality.
For weeks, Jordanian and American Special Forces have been engaged in joint maneuvers near the Iraqi border. The U.S. is placing tanks, artillery and troops in another of Iraq's Arab neighbors, Kuwait. The huge new American air bases and command-and-control facilities in Qatar are nearing completion. The U.S. 5th Fleet is gearing up in Bahrain.
As usual, Arab solidarity is nothing more than empty resolutions and hyperbolic babble. On Friday, Arab League chief Amr Mussa, told a news conference that an American invasion of Iraq would "open the gates of hell in the Middle East."
The world hasn't heard such frightening words since Saddam threatened to unleash "the mother of all battles" in 1990.
The European front is coming along nicely, too. Tony Blair is on board. "[The Americans] need to know, are you prepared to commit, are you prepared to be there when the shooting starts?" the British prime minister told a BBC interviewer. And he answered his own question: Yes, even if the editors of the Guardian, the archbishop of Canterbury and George Michael are appalled.
Even better news is the unwillingness of the French to fight. Seeing French soldiers in the foxhole next to you is about as reassuring as seeing your favorite team on the cover of Sports Illustrated. French military officers have fancy hats and the Napoleonic swagger of upscale mental patients. But when it comes to war, they are 0 for the last two centuries. If President Bush is smart, he'll put them in charge of the sandwiches.
Most encouraging of all is the German decision to avoid what Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder calls the "American adventure." Herr Schroeder is a wise leader. He knows his people. Germany shouldn't go to war for the same reason Robert Downey Jr. shouldn't hang out in bars - it exacerbates a tendency to get carried away.
The best contribution the Fourth Reich can make is to serve as a role model for the Arab Axis: Germany is living proof that even the most debased society, led by the even most fanatical dictator, can - once it is militarily squashed - simulate civilized behavior.
Even without Germany and France, the U.S. and Great Britain will not be alone on the battlefield. Israel, the Middle East's only serious military power, will be there if it is needed. The Aussies are ready to fight (they always are). Canada, after sufficient pouting, will most likely send in the Mounties.
Turkish troops are already primed to invade Iraq from the north; Ankara's price is an American promise to stymie an independent Kurdistan. Most of the Central Asian republics of the former Soviet Union have happily transformed themselves into American military assets.
To the East, India will deploy its famous passive aggression to keep Pakistan honest.
What about Russia? President Vladimir Putin faces a choice: Who does he want a special relationship with, Saddam Hussein or George W. Bush? Not since the Orlando Magic took Shaquille O'Neal over Christian Laettner has there been such an easy call.
On Thursday, Bush will go before the United Nations and begin making his case to the international community. But in truth, the Coalition Special is already heading for Baghdad.
Germany and France are not on board, and Bush should make every effort to keep it that way.
Truer words were never spoken....
That line is an instant classic!
That's about as brutal as it gets...
This line was priceless!! Thanks for the good read this morning!
Let's not gang up on the French too much. They did win one war. Napoleon sent his best troops to squash a 3rd world rebellion, mighty Haiti, and kicked their butt. What? General LeClerc lost 45,000 men and lost. Oh. Never mind.
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