----- Original Message -----
Sent: Sunday, November 02, 2003 10:48
PM
Subject: RE: Re: [Futurework] All the
President's votes?
Ed,
[And now for something completely
different.]
First, the lad was a puppet with those around
him pulling the strings.
This evolved into a problem because the lad
wasn't taking notice of those around him, but was going his own way - a
loose cannon.
Now you have returned him to Edgar
Bergen.
Maybe none of these things are
true.
Like the rest of us, he may not be a mental
giant, but mental giants are likely to get us into real trouble. However,
he shows savvy.
Under his leadership, the US showed the world a
new way of handling international problems. It intervened not in a
nominal, and probably belated, reaction to an awful situation, but in a
decisive manner, calculated to end the awfulness.
Belated reactions have killed millions upon
millions. The UN is a master of the belated reaction. We have been
made disturbingly aware of their strength of their resolution. One
bomb and they are gone.
Unfair? Probably, but having taken note of
their quick exit, one must consider them not fit to handle a dangerous
world. Though they talk a lot and show a certain ability to make what are
often incomprehensible and usually ephemeral resolutions. (Probably
forgotten the same afternoon.)
Perhaps, they'll do the sensible thing and
remove their HQ to the north, or to the south, where things are
calmer.
I've seen three interviews in the last week.
One was with an American (I think) cleric
in Iraq whose views were changed by reality. The Iraqis he would meet were
all in favor of the American and British actions. He was vehement that we
had done the right thing. We had done what the overwhelming majority of
the people wanted.
Two journalists were interviewed this morning.
They reported that north and south Iraq is peaceful and people seem
to be well-fed and going about their business. One discussed a high
school attended by more than 1,000 kids. Their major difficulty was
the absence of text-books.
Perhaps Mark Steyn's drive across
Iraq about which his report showed mostly normality does not seem so
strange to FW people any more. (You'll recall he felt a tad uneasy walking
through the evening streets of Tikrit, but no more so than he felt walking
through London's Notting Hill Gate.)
The journalists said the Brits who control the
south keep a low profile and there isn't much trouble.
The death and
destruction is around Bad gad and in the "Sunni
Triangle". This will have to be dealt with by the Iranian army, not the
Americans. The army is over 100,000 and heading toward
200,000.
Meanwhile, although the Triangle is
supposed to be practically a war zone, we find Jon Snow of the UK's
Channel Four is at the races along with thousands of Iraqi
punters.
I find almost glee in the reaction of some
people at every American casualty - they'll have a field day with the
latest helicopter accident - for they want Bush, the Army, and the
US, to fail in Iraq.
Perhaps that will elect
Democrats.
Yet, if it the Iraq incursion succeeds it
will be written large in history. A police action to root
out an evil government and free millions of people who have suffered misery, torture, and
death.
Given the fact that
most politicians would rather do nothing than something - a
politician who goes out on a limb must be regarded as a most
uncommon bloke.
I said it would be something
different.
Harry