Iraq will soon have some real weapons inspectors
I'm numb from shock. Thunderstruck by what I saw at the U.N. Friday.
It was a staggering day of astounding surprises -- geopolitical bombshells were dropping and detonating at every turn. I felt overwhelmed.
Bill of particulars?
Sheesh, where, O where to begin?
First -- and boy, is this a shocker! -- after one, no, two, no, three...wait, 5, oops, 10? Okay, I forget: How many U.N. resolutions on Iraq are there? Oh, yeah, that's right -- 17. Well, after 17 U.N. resolutions, 12 years of defiance, imagine my shock -- SHOCK! -- to learn Iraq was still (gasp!) in defiance, thumbing its nose at the League of Nations, oops, I meant the United Nations
Okay, I'll admit that was low -- comparing the U.N. to the League of Nations is demeaning . . . to the League of Nations. Those clowns in New York make the Boulder, Colorado police look competent.
More stunners:
--Hans Blix told the U.N. Security Council that, after 3 months, no weapons of mass destruction have turned up -- nor has any convincing evidence that U.N. inspectors are likelier to find the stuff than, say, O.J. at finding the "real killers." You're better off calling Miss Cleo's psyhic hotline. On the upside, Saddam's denials, on a credibility scale, rank right there with Michael Jackson claiming he's had only 2 operations performed on his nose. Mini-Me actor Verne Troyer will quit the boozing before Saddam quits the weapons of mass destruction habit.
--The French, often the butt of jokes as sniveling cowards, were surprisingly tough, standing up to a "brutal dictator." No brutal dictator is going to push the French around -- no siree. Problem is: In the eyes of those sniveling cowards -- the French -- Bush was the brutal dictator.
French Foreign minister, Dominique de Villepin demanded that inspections -- which are not inspections because Saddam won't give inspectors anything to inspect -- more time . . . oh, and more airplanes, more offices, more maps, more pencils, more paper, more puters, more CDs, more drones, more giger counters. Then, if all that fails, more talks! And if more talks fail, an 18th U.N. resolution calling for. . . a new round of talks!
--Russia praised Saddam for allowing interview of scientists without minders standing by -- okay with fewer minders standing by (3 minders instead of 5) -- yes! Wonderful progress! A huge leap forward! But progress didn't stop there. In his zeal to cooperate, Saddam's even planting fewer bugs at hotel rooms of U.N. inspectors. Let's see, fewer bugs, fewer minders can mean only one thing: Saddam's going wobbly. Give inspections another 12 years, and he'll cave. (For peaceniks, how's that for a slogan? "Twelve more years! Twelve more years!")
And Democrat reaction? Bush needs to build a coalition. The U.S. can't go it alone with the U.K., Spain, Portugal, Denmark, Italy, Australia, Turkey, Bahrain, Qatar, Kuwait, Saudi Arabia, Albania, Hungary, Estonia, Latvia, Poland, Macedonia, Slovenia, Croatia, Lithuania, Slovakia, Bulgaria, Romania, Czech Republic! The 25 or so countries with us aren't, well, countries enough.
But fret not, for here's the bottom line: Iraq will soon have some Real Weapons Inspectors. How soon? Oh, just as soon as their Commander-in-Chief says, 'Go!'
--------------------------------- "A key piece of the information leading to the recent terror alerts was fabricated," reported completely objective and neutral ABCNEWS Friday morning, fueling a big 'Ah-Ha!-We-Knew-Bush-Ginned-The-Whole-Thing-Up-To-Whip-Up-Support-For-His-War!' media splash."The officials said that a claim made by a captured al-Qaeda member that Washington, New York, or Florida would be hit by a 'dirty bomb' sometime this week had proven to be a product of his imagination," claimed the completely objective and neutral report, False Alarm?, by completely objective and neutral reporters, Brian Ross, Len Tepper and Jill Rackmill.
An al-Qaeda sleeper cell in Virginia or Detroit had, according to this informant, a "detailed plan" to dirty bomb "government buildings and Christian or clerical centers," having cooked up ingenious means to elude security checks.
"Former CIA counter-terrorism chief" and network consultant Vince Cannistraro (also completely objective and neutral) called the 'fabrication' "the reason for a lot of the alarm," insinuating the feds screwed up royally by raising the threat alert status based on a fabricated report before giving the "informant" a polygraph which he flunked.
So, given the feds screwed up royally by raising the threat alert status based on a fabricated report, the feds are set to reverse course -- put the thing back where it was before the goof, right?
Well, no, because, er, (as we learn only well into the article) the threat alert status was not raised based on a fabricated report but on "other (validated) intelligence that officials still believe points to a coming attack, timed to hostilities with Iraq."
In other words, completely objective and neutral ABCNEWS, in their noble zeal to cast the Bush administration in the worst possible light, based their report that the feds had screwed up royally by raising the threat alert status on a fabrication that wasn't the reason why they raised the threat alert status in the first place.
Incidentally, had the thrust of the story been correct -- it wasn't -- the worst the feds might be accused of is, well, screwing up. Nothing more venal than that.
There was, however, nothing unintentional in ABCNEWS' handling of this story. Their hyped "report" was intentionally misleading.
Anyway, that's..
My two cents..
"JohnHuang2"
Awesome rant, John. Outstanding. You so clearly express the frustration and anger that many of us feel while watching this idiocy unfold.
Thank-you for so eloquently putting into words the emotions that we experience!
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