Tuesday saw a massive surge of violence hit Iraq as suicide bombers took an appalling toll on the civilian population.
There are two primary points to consider in reference to these attacks, the first is easily agreed upon by both pro and anti-war camps, the latter is a conclusion which I feel will be avoided by many in the media.
Naturally the first is that these attacks were devastating, murderous and bloody. A toll of 110 is painfully high and a grotesque loss.
However, here is where the opinions of the many, and myself will diverge.
Towards the end of the Vietnam War, on the verge of being destroyed outright, the Viet Cong and North Vietnamese Army launched a desperate full offensive upon the cities of South Vietnam at the start of the Vietnamese Tet holy festival. The fighting was brutal and initially American forces were pushed back. However over several days of fighting the US army had taken back all the ground captured by the VC and had massacred its enemies.
The VC and NVA were debilitated, militarily vanquished and largely demolished. It was an outstanding military victory for the US, however it was broadcast largely as a failure. As a result it proved pivotal in forcing the US out of Vietnam by fueling domestic protest in the states.
Since that onslaught, the principle that the US has a casualty threshold, which if surpassed will result in its capitulation has become an orthodox doctrine for America’s enemies the world over.
It is my belief that what we are witnessing is Al Qaeda’s Tet offensive in Iraq. A last gasp and desperate effort to deal a punishing blow to the coalition and Iraqi interim government in the hope that, just as it did in Vietnam, the US will withdraw.
Al Qaeda operatives have been suffering humiliating losses on the field of battle against the Iraqi police and counter terrorism forces, with hundreds being captured and killed. They simply cannot continue to fight a pitched battle and as a result must turn to the only means of fighting a superior force in light of the tactical supremacy of the American trained Iraqi defense forces. Suicide Bombings (only the most naive insurgent supporter still believes guerilla warfare works against the US, its overarching effectiveness as a battlefield doctrine was neutralized long before the end of the Vietnam war).
Al Qaeda, in the death throws of its Iraq operation will hope to kill as many Iraqis as possible to force the interim government into retreat.
The problem with this strategy is that the Iraqi interim government has no great enemies amongst the Iraqi media - what need is there for some heavily-editorialized journalist to tell you what’s going on when you can see it with your own eyes? There is no mass support for the insurgents in Iraq, a huge majority people are sickened and angered by their continuing terror operations in the country. There is quite simply no impetus to withdraw, capitulate or surrender. The Iraqi interim government doesn’t have a casualty threshold.
The time for this strategy was whilst the CPA was still in command of Iraq’s day to day running and security. Al Qaeda has missed the boat and now realizes this fact.
As Zarqawi noted in January that “the grip around the throat of the mujahidin has begun to tighten.” It is now apparent that the Iraqi Interim Government has done an awful lot of squeezing.
Later
John
Harry’s Place has found an interesting passage from Jimmy Carter’s speech to the Democratic Conference:
We’ve had such a confused foreign policy with demands on other nations. We’ve alienated almost everyone who offered their support after 9/11, and now we have just a handful of little tiny countries supposedly helping us in Iraq.
Aside from the obvious factual inaccuracy which Harry points out “There are actually over 30 countries “supposedly” helping the US in Iraq. Little places like Australia, Italy, Poland….” there is also what Harry calls a ‘snubbing’.
I am less forgiving.
That was an grievous insult upon the nations to which I pledge my allegiance.
Carter Implies not only that we are subordinate, insignificant and “little tiny countries” but far worse, that by simple application of logic France, Germany and Russian are far more important than those countries who stood by America in her time of need.
Our contribution of money, of sweat, of blood and of the lives of our sons and daughters to the coalition is but a speck against the heaving significance of the Franco-Prussian political juggernaut.
I am sickened.
He has just managed to insult some of the greatest nations on Earth and more importantly America’s staunchest allies who have time and again galvanized the bonds of our fellowship in the spilled blood of our people. Irrespective of the glowing report he has been given by many (my good friends inclusive) I have no respect for him in light of those callous, repugnant words.
Later
John
The ‘Liberal Stick’ is a mythical artifact invented in invented by my Chicago U attending friend, Sean which is a metaphysical manifestation of liberal rage directed at those who deserve it - ‘to beat with the Liberal Stick’.
When asked what the Liberal Stick would look like I reply that I see it as a Rounders Bat (think a short squat baseball bat), although slightly longer and with an engraving of FDR rolling up his shirt sleeves.
Unfortunately in the past year the Liberal Stick has been passed from idiot to idiot and mashed wildly with so little finesse that it has ultimately harmed the wielder - Dean, Gore, Moore etc (less unfortunate to have Moore hurt himself with the stick).
Shame it takes an Iraqi to do the sticking that needs to be done - to the morally indifferent idiots who make up the Left’s elite ‘interference runners’ on genocide, terrorism and acts of oppression and brutality.
Today Mohammed takes on the recent terrorist attacks in Iraq:
Can you answer the question what will be the response of Iraqis towards these horrible attacks? I’ll help you; These victims came to volunteer to serve their country as IP members and this is not the 1st time this happens and the response of Iraqis to such attacks was always more volunteers and longer lines. What does that tell you Philippine and Spanish government? If this is bravery and wisdom, then how should your actions be labeled? Maybe it’s not your business? That would’ve been a more honest answer had you said it, but you’re not just cowards or stupid, you’re also hypocrites. This include all the “anti-war” crowd with all the clowns there such as Michael Moore and George Galloway and their likes. You make me SICK when you support the “Iraqi resistance” and call these killers a revolutionists. Did you watch your “resistance” today? This is what you support and this is how history will view you; supporters of murderers and criminals, and for what? Fame and money! Enjoy it. It won’t last, as the truth will soon be revealed and you’ll be exposed to all as the disgusting parasites you are.
I doubt that we can forgive you all for your cowardice, stupidity and hypocracy just as we’ll never forget the sacrifices and the help of the Americans, Australians, British, Italians, Japanese and all the other coalition members.
Now that’s how you use the Liberal Stick.
Later
John
Simon Jenkins is wrong again.
SO WHAT do we do about Sudan? I mean really do, not just pose. Do we scold it? Or do we condemn it, sanction it, threaten it, bomb and invade it? Do we impose “democracy and prosperity” on Sudan, given that it badly needs both?
The trouble with interventionists is they can’t walk and chew gum at the same time. A year ago I wrote wondering why we were invading Iraq when Sudan might reasonably claim our prior attention. Everyone, except Tony Blair, knew that Iraq was no immediate threat. It just offered an opportune target for a belligerent desire on his part to topple someone nasty. Since all other reasons have evaporated, Mr Blair has virtually admitted as such.
Yet nothing was as nasty as the regime in Khartoum. Eighteen months ago my e-mails were already buzzing with chatter about religious massacres, ethnic expulsions, starvation, rape and pillage in Sudan. Refugee camps were growing in neighbouring Chad. So what was urgent about one murderous Muslim desert state, Iraq, that was not urgent about another?
The answer, of course, was that there were no television cameras in Sudan. There was no oil, the regime in Khartoum was being “helpful” over al-Qaeda and its dying were, quite frankly, black. Today’s Hercules can cleanse only one Augean stable at a time. Sorry, Sudan, but your genocide would have to wait.
Gah, I’ll fisk the entirety of the article tomorrow when I’m more awake. Or better still someone else will rip it to shreds.
Is this man EVER RIGHT!? Non Sequitors, Equivocation and fallacy seem to be his calling cards these days. This article practically fisks itself!
Later
John
Love for the imperialist lapdog’s snackfoods!
According to the Guardian, Saddam Hussein has taken a liking to American snackfoods such as muffins and cookies.
Who’d have known that video game sprite comics could have such amazing clairvoyant powers?
(Link courtesy of my friend Sean who is currently glued to the Democrat conference)
Later
John
Andrew Sullivan talks about the speech that John Kerry needs to make at the Democratic convention.
“…Do not even begin to interpret a Democratic victory as some sign that we will acquiesce to your murderous intent and nihilist politics. In the war against Jihadism, there is no Democrat or Republican. There is simply American. We will unite to defeat you and to secure our country.”
He’s right there, and to be honest if Kerry did make that speech I’d be happy to declare my fantasy vote for him (hey, I’m entitled to have a fantasy vote - after all less than half of the people who have a real vote exercise it).
The problem is of course that I don’t see him making that speech, I see him floundering on and boring the crap out of that convention hall about the staple Liberal issues which pad such conferences (ask me how much of the Labour party conference I can be bothered to listen to - Blairite reforms although vitally important, don’t make for the most interesting aspects of discussion) and passing by the matter of Terrorism with a bit of waffle about internationalizing the War on Terror.
It’s not that those matters aren’t important, it’s just that the War on Terrorism is the single most important matter facing the western world today. It would be akin to Ronald Reagan standing to take office and not mentioning the USSR in his speech. The sad thing is that a lot of people to my left honestly don’t think it is - Kerry needs to tell them in no uncertain terms how dangerously naive such a mindset is.
Hell, there’s still time! Switch the ticket! Bring in Hillary!
As a friend of mine put it, in an IRC channel:
<Asmodeus> “Kerry, that’s enough, return”
<John> lol
<Asmodeus> ^kerry gets sucked into a Pokeball^
<John> Kerry: “Kerry! Kerry! Kerry! Puuuuurple Heart!”
<Asmodeus> lol!
Yeah that’s a big fat geeky Pokémon joke. If you need me I’ll be in the corner salvaging what I can of my credibility.
I leave you with a section of Tim Blair’s pre-convention post that had me laughing so hard I almost fell off my swivel chair.
“I’m heading into town now to set a trap for Michael Moore. I can’t reveal too much, but it involves a long piece of string, an empty cardboard box (extra large), a stick, and a cheeseburger.”
Later
John
Andrew Sullivan stops just short of declaring for Kerry in tomorrow’s (or more accurately today’s as it’s very early in the morning at the moment) Sunday Times.
At home Bush has done much to destroy the coherence of a conservative philosophy of American government and he has been almost criminally reckless in his conduct of the war. He and America will never live down the intelligence debacle of the missing WMDs. He and America will be hard put to regain the moral high ground after Abu Ghraib.
The argument that Kerry must make is that he can continue the war but without Bush’s polarising recklessness. And at home he must reassure Americans that he is the centrist candidate, controlled neither by the foaming Michael Moore left nor by the vitriolic religious right.
Put all that together and I may not find myself the only conservative moving slowly and reluctantly towards the notion that Kerry may be the right man — and the conservative choice — for a difficult and perilous time.
Commence Conservative mudslinging!
Personally I’m still on the fence, but I’m leaning more the other way purely because I place so much importance on each candidate’s competence in the prosecution of the War on Terrorism. But following Michael Portillo’s article in the Times, there seems to be a portion of the right that’s shifting, albeit begrudgingly towards Kerry.
Later
John
(sorry, the post was delayed because I was hanging out with some friends - it is after all the summer)
I read one outrageously stupid article in the Times a few days ago by Anatole Kaletsky claiming that Tony Blair’s moral justification for the war in Iraq collapsed because he was unwilling to intervene in Sudan.
The article’s oversight was astonishing, by insisting Blair act in Sudan, Kaletsky neglected to mention that such action would effectively be military action in the absence of a UN Resolution or any mandate (France has already said it would veto anything even reaching the proportion of an economic sanction). The anti-war movement would likely jump on his case - just as Kaletsky himself did over Iraq.
“What is it to be?” I wondered.
Kaletsky cannot have his cake and eat it. He cannot slate Tony Blair for not taking action when he dragged the PM through the mud when he did take such action. “Just be consistent” appears to be his message to the PM, why on earth should he when half a million people are willing to compare him to the most beastly, abhorrent murderers of the 20th century?
As it happens, the matter seems largely rhetorical, as according to the Guardian, Tony Blair has drawn up plans to send troops to stop the genocide in Sudan.
The Guardian lists three possible avenues for intervention:
British servicemen to help with the delivery of aid if the humanitarian agencies can no longer cope. At present, the Belgian air force is helping to fly in aid. Britain is using civilian planes because they are cheaper.
British logistical support for an African Union force of 60 monitors and 300-strong protection force being deployed in the Sudan. The AU force is short of equipment, including helicopters, vital given the poor state of Darfur’s roads.
British troops to protect refugee camps being harassed by marauding militias. This creation of safe zones would be the most risky of the options and would require the agreement of the Khartoum government, which would be reluctant to give it.
With any luck Blair will make the right choice and intervene. I wonder if the Anti-War movement is so morally far-gone as to oppose the prevention of genocide, after all wasn’t one of their favoured arguments that Saddam Hussein wasn’t currently engaged in genocide?
It is, after all a crime that apparently decreases in severity and slowly exonerates its perpetrators over time. So now, when we have a case so fresh that the blood is still being spilled, will we be allowed to take action?
Later
John
You can write it in Basic:
10 Sit all members
20 If you = poor dictatorship
30 Then blame all your woes on the west and take solace in the international community’s willingness to ignore the subjugation of your people
40 Else nod along
50 pass resolution condemning Israel
Today the UN General Assembly lived up to it’s favourite pastime - passing resolutions bashing everyone’s favourite whipping boy, the state of Israel.
The resolution called for Israel to tear down the security wall in light of the ICJ’s recent ruling.
My own thoughts on the matter are as follows - the Israeli High Court had it right, the wall’s fault is in making the lives of Palestinian people egregiously difficult and therefore where it can be corrected to correct such faults it should be.
However the general gist of a lot of the opposition to the wall is quite simply that it’s a wall and that Israel’s building it - more importantly and perhaps cynically a lot of people oppose it because it’s working so damn well.
As the Israeli Ambassador noted;
“It is simply outrageous to respond with such vigour to a measure that saves lives and responds with such casual indifference and apathy to the ongoing campaign of Palestinian terrorism that takes lives,” he said.
He’s right there. Peace and security are the number one concerns of any nation, and to be honest it would be negligent to pursue any other path than one which strives to achieve those aims.
If there were a way to achieve such aims through negotiation at this time then Israel would pursue them, however no such means exist and they will not exist until such time as the terrorist organizations given free rein in Palestinian territories are destroyed or disbanded.
The simple fact of the matter is that pulling down the wall would result in the death of Israelis, as opposed to the massive inconveniencing of many Palestinians. Of that there can be no doubt. Any action by a government which would absolutely and certainly result in the murder of their civilians is utterly unacceptable and it is downright spurious to demand it of Israel.
If that makes me a zionist neo-con bastard then so be it.
(update: Even better, more from the BBC News article:
The Palestinian Authority has said it will delay pushing for a Security Council resolution until after the US presidential elections in November
Lol, wishful thinking guys. Kerry might not be Dubya, but I can’t see him caving on this matter.)
Later
John
Tim Blair is asking for all the best spicy sauce stories from his readers. I’ve offered mine, so I’ll post it here too.
My friend, Richard is famed for having a total of 3 working tastebuds, much like the character Dave Lister in the Sitcom ‘Red Dwarf’.
He has this limited taste capacity, like Lister, as a result of his incredulous love of all things insanely spicy.
Anyhow, he came into possession of a bottle of ‘Insanity Sauce’. The ridiculous concoction had little effect upon him, so he instead took it into one Food Technology lesson (Home Ec. in most other countries, why we call it Food Tech in the UK is beyond me).
The lesson’s subject was the creation of a pasta sauce and so each student put together their own Bolognese derivative and waited patiently at the end of the lesson for a taste test and mark from the teacher, a Mrs Pike.
Richard had produced a sauce containing no less than 2 tablespoons of Insanity Sauce. He made no effort to warn the teacher of this fact.
Mrs Pike took her customary mouthful, nodded and then moved onto the next table, marking down a score on her little notebook.
She had taken about 5 steps when the firepower of the spicy-stuff really kicked in and she just went absolutely ballistic. She was running around the classroom drinking any water she could get her hands on - funniest damn thing I saw in my entire time at St. Benedict’s College.
Later
John
British Spin has a brilliant post on the children of the 60’s, here’s a choice excerpt:
This is a generation that faced no war, lived through no economic collapse. Shielded from dictatorship by weapons they had no responsibility for. This is a generation with a silver spoon in it’s mouth.
And What did they do? Nothing.
Well, I’m a child of the 80’s.
I’ve got to say, he’s right on this one. In the words of an American friend of mine:
“Yo! Baby boomers! Quit voting in blocks and make with the dying!”
I’m sick and tired of the 60’s kids informing me of the cost of liberty. I won’t take that from a generation which did nothing to defend it, or even paid the price for it so much as once. Don’t even try to suggest that Vietnam constitutes such payment.
During the 80’s liberalism took a turn for the worse and stood idly by cheering on the establishment of a containment-driven Middle East policy who’s sole harvest appears to have been limitless oppression and carnage, culminating in the attacks on September 11th.
Now, when we finally have a situation where the left can achieve something and indeed has achieved much, it is the 60’s kids who insist on tearing down the centre-left coalition in what appears nothing more than the petulant rage of a generation who now sees its own impotency and incalculable political failure.
There’s a reason why I skip Jenkins’ column every time I open the Times. He embodies everything about the baby boomers than pisses me off and is, without exception wrong on every issue.
Later
John
(Yeah I know this news is slightly old but it really hasn’t had enough coverage.)
The next time I see any Islamic terrorists on Camcorder footage they’d better be scooting around the room on Segways.
Apparently Gloria Arroyo, not content with letting the terrorists have their way in pulling out the Philippines’ humanitarian contingency in Iraq, has given the terrorists $6 million for all their hard work.
A ransom of $6 million was offered and paid out to the Iraqi rebels holding Filipino truck driver Angelo de la Cruz hostage, to ensure his release before President Arroyo’s scheduled State of the Nation Address (Sona) on July 26, a high level Philippine intelligence officer told the Tribune yesterday. This offer was alleged to have been approved by the President herself, who then tapped Malaysian emissaries for the job, the intelligence officer, who asked for anonymity, said. Of the $6-million payoff, $5 million was shouldered by Malaysia and $1 million by the Landbank of the Philippines, the officer added.
Great, so you pull out your aid workers in Iraq, and then you give the terrorists 6 million dollars in cash?
Something tells me these guys aren’t going to be powerbuying on Ebay with this new windfall - unless the world’s online marketplace™ has added a ‘Heavy Munitions and RPGs’ section.
When American soldiers are fighting terrorism for you in your country and training your own forces to defeat that foe, action like this constitutes an all new low in both intelligent and ethical leadership.
What A Joke
Later
John
BBC News reports:
Nigerian mobile phone users have been anxiously checking who is calling them before answering them in recent days.
A rumour has spread rapidly in the commercial capital, Lagos, that if one answers calls from certain “killer numbers” then one will die immediately.
It also goes on to talk about the much famed rumour that shaking the hands of certain people would make your genitalia disappear.
Except that the term ‘people’ is the BBC’s own wording and the actual term is “white folks”. This news is not only old but the BBC has whitewashed out the old racist undertones. Now instead of reading about vicious bigotry we can laugh at the funny things people in other countries believe.
If someone in the UK suddenly started refusing to stand next to people of Islamic faith in fear of catching some horrible disease I doubt we’d see a similarly light-hearted tone to the article.
Remember folks - It’s only racism if it’s committed by westerners!
Later
John
Stephen Pollard expands on the effects of Michael Howard’s precision steering over Iraq:
Today’s shameful attempt to reposition himself on Iraq is beyond parody. Howard seems to think that he will gain favour by attempting to have it both ways on Iraq. I don’t often agree with Labour’s spin, but today they are spot on: he is indeed “plumbing new depths of opportunism”. And like most opportunism, it will end up pleasing no one. Those of us who understand that Blair and Bush are leading the fight to save Western values now view Howard with contempt. And the Stoppers too can see straight through his pathetic attempts to curry favour with them.
Read his whole post. It’s a good’un.
Later
John
Michael Howard has just stated that had he known what he knows now he would have voted against the motion put before parliament on the Iraq war.
Could this be because he’s just received a thorough drubbing in 2 By-Elections and can’t get any of that tasty anti-war vote?
What a joke.
Later
John
Law students in LA need to eat better.
Even my (previously) crappy University canteen served more appetizing food than Christopher puts up with.
It is clear that Law students in the UK are better off than we think.
I won’t mention my Cambridge dwelling friend’s copious lunches and dinners paid for by city firms - cuuuuuuurses!
Later
John
The following post is witty, intelligent and superbly executed. It’s by Salaam over at The Mesopotamian.
Also, somewhat it seems to us that cutting the heads of hostages is not a particularly good way of illustrating the Arab and Islamic nobility of spirit; especially if it is done in the name of Allah. I mean we are puzzled, because we thought that Allah was The Merciful; the Compassionate. But hard as we try to understand our brothers, we don’t seem to be able to comprehend the merciful nature of their actions. Perhaps we are not sufficiently well trained philosophically and too ignorant to appreciate the finer points of theology and the relationship between beheadings and various forms of murder to monotheism and Jihad in the name of The Merciful, the Compassionate.
Ken Livingstone and his counterparts might do well to tell the ‘pretend muslims’ as I heard one arab describe them, to go take a running jump. Islamic extremism is a cancerous blot and many people know it, by populising extremist idiots all we are doing is insulting the majority of moderate and intelligent muslims around the world.
I should have got the link up earlier, thursday night in fact but I’m still pretty foggy under this cold. At least it appears to be diminishing.
Later
John
The Birmingham By-Election in Hodge Hill results in Labour retaining control.
Not good for Michael Howard. Congratulations Liam Byrne!
(update: Lost the 2nd By-Election in Leicester, to the Lib Dems - guess you can’t win ‘em all)
Later
John
I’ve invented a way to drink Lemsip without it being a ridiculously vile experience.
Hopefully it will stand me in good stead as I’m currently suffering from a cold, contracted from my good friend Conrad.
Later
John
Butler: “We should record in particular that we have found no evidence of deliberate distortion or of culpable negligence.”
Dyke: “Butler appears to agree that the intelligence, as Dr (David) Kelly said, was ‘sexed up’. What the Butler report doesn’t tell us is who did the ‘sexing up’.”
What, did Greg Dyke not read the Butler report? Not that I’d expect much in the way of thorough analysis from Mr Dyke anyway.
Later
John
I think it speaks for itself, so here’s the latter part of it:
I accept the Report’s conclusions in full. Any mistakes made should not be laid at the door of our intelligence and security community. They do a tremendous job for our country. I accept full personal responsibility for the way the issue was presented and therefore for any errors made.
As the Report indicates, there is no doubt that at the time it was genuinely believed by everyone that Saddam had both strategic intent in respect of WMD and actual weapons.
On the sparse, generalised and highly fragmented intelligence about Al Qaida prior to September 11th, it is now widely said policy-makers should have foreseen the attacks that materialised on September 11th 2001 in New York . I only ask: had we ignored the specific intelligence about the threat from Iraq, backed up by a long history of international confrontation over it, and that threat later materialised, how would we have been judged?
I know some will disagree with this. There are those who were opposed to the war and remain so now. I only hope that now, people will not disrespect the other’s point of view but will accept that those that agree and those that disagree with the war in Iraq, hold their views not because they are war-mongers on the one hand or closet supporters of Saddam on the other, but because of a genuine difference of judgement as to the right thing to have done.
There was no conspiracy. There was no impropriety. The essential judgement and truth, as usual, does not lie in extremes.
We all acknowledge Saddam was evil and his regime depraved. Whether or not actual stockpiles of weapons are found, there wasn’t and isn’t any doubt Saddam used WMD and retained every strategic intent to carry on developing them. The judgement is this: would it have been better or more practical to have contained him through continuing sanctions and weapons inspections; or was this inevitably going to be at some point a policy that failed? And was removing Saddam a diversion from pursuing the global terrorist threat; or part of it?
I can honestly say I have never had to make a harder judgement. But in the end, my judgement was that after September 11th, we could no longer run the risk; that instead of waiting for the potential threat of terrorism and WMD to come together, we had to get out and get after it. One part was removing the training ground of Al Qaida in Afghanistan. The other was taking a stand on WMD; and the place to take that stand was Iraq, whose regime was the only one ever to have used WMD and was subject to 12 years of UN Resolutions and weapons inspections that turned out to be unsatisfactory.
Both countries now face an uncertain struggle for the future. But both at least now have a future. The one country in which you will find an overwhelming majority in favour of the removal of Saddam is Iraq.
I am proud of this country and the part it played and especially our magnificent armed forces, in removing two vile dictatorships and giving people oppressed, almost enslaved, the prospect of democracy and liberty.
Rock on TB - accepting responsibility and laying down the case.
Later
John
According to The Guardian I ought to be boycotting this stuff. Now I’m not so ridiculously anti-guardian as to simply do the exact opposite of what they tell me to do, however this is the reason given for the boycott:
Why? Counter-revolutionary activities
It has been a bad couple of decades for the Marxist dream, but the Revolutionary Communist Group (RCG) doesn’t give up easily. They claim that ever since Bacardi rum’s Cuban assets were forcibly nationalised by Castro in 1960, the company has covertly financed repeated US plots to overthrow him. The RCG’s campaign, with its roots in Britain’s student body, is called Rock Around the Blockade (RATB). It calls upon revellers not to drink the company’s products and to mock its frontman, Vinnie Jones, whenever possible. “Bacardi shares the responsibility for the suffering imposed on Cuba over the last 40 years by those who refuse to accept the socialist path chosen by the Cuban people,” reads the RATB website.
So you’re telling me that every time I buy a bottle of Bacardi, I’m giving Castro the finger? w00t! Sign me up! Suddenly all those “Welcome to the Latin Quarter” ads they run on every commercial station are less grating.
Suck it up Fidel!
(The fact that it also pisses off the members of a ridiculously whiny student protest group just makes that rum taste even better)
Who would have thought that my disdain for communism would have given me incentive to drink?
Later
John
Conrad at the Gweilo Diaries despairs at the current state of the Catholic church in the wake of new child porn scandals.
Perhaps prosecutors are afraid of a Roman Catholic backlash should they prosecute a few Church fathers. I doubt I’m alone among the faithful in saying ‘go and get the bastards responsible’. Maybe the prospect of having a few bishops sodomized in prison is what it will take to spare future alter boys suffering that indignity in the rectory.
He also goes on to address the issue of celibacy among the clergy during an excellent and lengthy post.
I’m another practicing Catholic on the same page.
In fact in our parish we have a priest who was once Anglican but ‘crossed the floor’ when his church started ordaining women. The Catholic church allowed him to keep his wife and hence the obligation to have sex and children. I couldn’t help but ask “What the fuck?!” Either celibacy is absolutely necessary for the life of a clergyman or it isn’t, there isn’t any middle ground on nearly every other Catholic issue so I don’t see how there ought to be any here.
As for the child porn. Get the assholes. I have no problem seeing how God could forgive them (duh, Christ didn’t sit around flipping through Cosmo during his life) but it doesn’t mean society would be so lenient.
Apart from being considered some sort of worrying affliction by much of the outside world, Catholicism now apparently stands for absolute acceptance of paedophilia as long as it’s committed by one of our holy men. Fuck that.
Later
John
If only there were a way to make Ken Livingstone just the head of London’s transport policy and keep him locked up in his office at all other times:
Harry’s Place has the following quote from This Is London:
Ken Livingstone has created a fresh round of controversy over controversial Muslim cleric Yusuf al-Qaradawi by inviting him back to Britain.
Ignoring the growing outrage over Dr al-Qaradawi’s presence, Labour’s London Mayor hugged him and offered a personal invitation to return for a three-day conference in October, saying it would be an “honour”.
And in angry defiance he rounded on opposition leader Michael Howard and the press claiming they have helped stoke up the alarm over the cleric’s London talks with Britain’s Muslim community.
Ok I can buy the reasoning given to let the man into the country but inviting him to return and then stating that it would be an “honour” to receive him is staggeringly thick. The Far Left alliance with Islamo-Fascism continues unabated. To think I nominated this man as the Labour candidate for London.
(update: Stephen Pollard is on the same page)
Later
John
The Philippines shows that terrorism works. Way to go!
BAGHDAD (Reuters) - The Philippines said on Monday it would withdraw its troops from Iraq as soon as possible to save a Filipino hostage threatened with death by militants.
How utterly moronic. I am speechless. Even if you didn’t agree with the war, pulling them out at a time when they are performing humanitarian work is utterly spurious, much more so when you do it at the call of a bunch of murderous thugs. Gloria Arroyo has shown all the backbone of the Filipino glutenous rice pudding I’m so fond of.
Spain’s socialist withdrawal was breathtaking in its kowtowing to terrorist demands but it at least had a full scale terrorist attack to contend with. The Philippines has withdrawn at the sight of just one of its citizens hooded at gunpoint.
Nice work Gloria - now they’ll leave you till after they’ve finished killing all the other Iraqis, Americans, English, Homosexuals, Jews and infidels.
Later
John
A A Gill’s harrowing account of life in Sudan is heart rending. Mothers obliged to watch their newborn children die, withholding milk because they know all too well that they would be incapable of supporting their newborns.
Meanwhile, the UN steeples its fingers, sucks its teeth and equivocates, hinting that perhaps maybe this might be the worst humanitarian crisis in the world at the moment. Maybe perhaps 100,000 people are dead, and perhaps maybe a million more are on the pending list, waiting to get across the border before the rains come.
This is a disgrace.
Anyone who doubts that this conflict is either genocidal or ethnically motivated only has to visit these camps. All the refugees are black; there are no Arabs here. And even more shocking, 90% of them are women and children. The children up to the age of five are about 50-50 girls and boys, as you’d expect. From 5 to 15 they are 70% girls. Some of the men would have stayed to fight or hide with their livestock but, as Sherlock Holmes used to say, “when you have eliminated the impossible, whatever remains… must be the truth”. It is impossible to imagine any other explanation for this disappeared generation of men than systematic murder. The women tell of deaths, terrified flight, lost children, missing husbands. “We will never go back” says one. “Unless the UN have soldiers, and only if they are white soldiers,” adds another.
When I was a secondary school student, filled with Liberal values I considered the UN as one of man’s greatest achievements and yet the more I have learned and watched the further I’ve come from that naivety. Principled yes, but naive nonetheless.
In my lifetime alone the UN has stood by and allowed Genocide to be perpetrated in Rwanda, Bosnia, Kosovo, Iraq and now in Sudan, by virtue of France’s intransigent anti-americanism and oil interests there shall be no international intervention. Either by financial sanctions or any further action.
A million to die. What a crock.
Later
John
Normal service shall resume shortly.
What can I say? Sometimes a guy needs to sleep till the afternoon - I’m a student after all ;)
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John
News that for the first time, opposition to the war in Iraq has overtaken support by less than 4 points.
“… also the polls indicate for the first time, the vast majority of Americans do not support the decision to go to war.” (syntactical error included)
Vast majority!? First that’s patent bullshit, secondly I heard no such rhetoric when the majority favored action, as they had done for the past 2 years.
It’s not like the BBC had a live feed to bother with, this was recorded and replayed.
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John
France To Oppressed and Terrorized Civilians: HEY F**K YOU!
On Iraq I have always maintained that although it seemed to some (myself included) morally repugnant, France’s opposition to the liberation of the people of Iraq could at least be borne out by some legal twisting.
However opposing action to intervene through sanctions against a genocidal government because of Oil interests is utterly despicable. Millions of people are starving, dying and watching their daughters and sisters being raped and the UN security council is one French Veto away from pulling another Rwanda.
This is utterly indefensible.
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John
I went to the Italian consulate yesterday to go and get my passport renewed.
You will be well aware that at law, embassies are considered to be the land of the country to whom they belong. Well the Italian consulate goes one step further by actually being exactly the same as its homeland in ensuring that a visit there is an authentic trip through Italian Beureaucracy. Quake in fear!
… Or die of boredom, whichever works for you.
The passport office was stuffed with about 2.5 million Italians and there were a marvelous 2 windows open out of 7 for the true Italian experience.
I sat for about 2 hours with my sister who was slowly falling asleep and required a constant stream of coffee to remain cognitively active.
I took a few photos out of boredom and listened to my iPod (don’t worry, I offered it to Chiara first but she declined several times).
Finding the place was damn fun too. London was getting rather a good deal out of the torrential weather whipping around the country and just had to put up with strong winds. However the winds ended up blowing a flurry of little yellow blossoms or seeds or whatever they were from the trees.
Half way through my journey a cluster of them seized my nostrils and caused a massive hayfever induced sneezing fit. At the end of at least half a minute of very impressive sneezes (if I do say so myself) I looked up to discover I had spun around several times and now didn’t have the faintest idea of where the hell I was. I had to trek back to the station to gather my bearings.
So after all of that work - what’s the result? I get my passport back on the 8th of August.
THE 8th of AUGUST!?
It takes them 1 day to make a passport - I’ve seen it done and delivered in that time.
This is where having a distinguished Italian diplomat for a grandfather pays off - the passports ought to be rushed through, double time in order for my sister to get hers in time for her holiday in Senigallia. All it takes is a letter to some old friends and suddenly the wheels of beureaucracy turn at a rate they should have done all along. What is this? 1950?
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John
Anne Clwyd has written a marvelous column in the Guardian outlining the stark choice which must be made by the anti-war left:
The debate in Britain will be a reflection on us and on our values. Are we capable of the maturity displayed by the Iraqis who are working in the most difficult circumstances to build a new democracy? Or will we be represented by those who despise Bush and Blair so much that they are prepared to offer support and succour to the “resistance” which has no alternative or agenda other than more bloodshed and chaos?
It seems morally outrageous that this should be a difficult decision to make, however Anne is far more tolerant and understanding of the far left than I. She is after all the special envoy to the PM on human rights.
I refer to fortune, because the fall of Claire Short has more or less paved the way for Anne Clwyd’s ascension into the media spotlight. Hillary Benn, the current Secretary of State for International Development is hardly as outspoken as her predecessor so it has instead fallen to Anne Clwyd to take the PR reins. She has pursued this aim through articles in the Times and other journals and her impassioned and reasoned speeches to the House of Commons .
She is an extraordinary asset for the Government and bringing her to the fore on the Iraq debate has been a stroke of genius. I can only hope that we get to see more of her in the coming months.
Later
John
They’re making a 2nd Dungeons and Dragons movie. A sequel to the worst movie ever? What a great idea!
Just when the effects of the first one had worn off (somehow it managed to make roleplayers look even more lame than we already did) they make ANOTHER!
I can say, without equivocation that Dungeons and Dragons was the worst film ever made. I forced myself to watch it fully after I had turned it off mid way through the first time just to allow me to appreciate other films more.
The film starred the campest pantomime villain ever, an obnoxious thief who’s “in da h00d” persona was about as out of place in the fantasy setting as you could get and Justin Whalin - the true mark of a bad film.
Why it deserves a sequel is beyond me. It wasn’t even true to the game so it had literally no redeeming qualities. Of course I’ll end up watching it anyway, can’t imagine a there’s a better laugh to be had.
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John
It’s the 88th minute of the European Championships final as I write this and a supporter just ran onto the pitch with a T-shirt on that had the following URL on it: www.jimmyjump.com
Having checked the site out this is the first time I’ve seen a pitch invader actually advertise himself.
Interesting stuff
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John
Over at Healing Iraq, Ays comments on the massive disparity in quality and availability between the hospitals run under Saddam and the hospitals as they are now:
I feel so pleased when sometimes I sit in the pharmacy room there in Basra with my colleague when someone comes and gets his medicine then says ‘how much?’.. And we reply ‘Ibbalash’! ( free).. Just look at the patient when he happily replies: ‘Thank God… thank you.. We are so grateful’…. It’s so refreshing.. Step by step, Iraqis get their human rights.. Live in prosperous and peaceful country and feel safe to raise their children..
To go from being completely unable to afford healthcare to receiving a much higher standard completely subsidized by the ministry of health is a quantum leap. Free healthcare is about as far removed from the old baathist ministry’s policies as possible - before the post of minister was considered a lucrative post and ministers routinely embezzled vast sums of money, who was going to complain?
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John
Just when you thought all the comedy that could be extracted from the Saddam trial pictures had been squeezed from it, Rock Paper Saddam kicks it up another notch - Bam!
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John
China had been asking for Full Market Economy status from the EU and it has been rejected. I’d be interested in looking over the report.
It seems rather spurious that the status should be awarded to a country with such ridiculously poor standards of corporate governance.
Good on you whichever body was responsible for making the call, most likely the commission.
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John
Stephen Pollard highlights one of the most fortunate developments in Europe of the past few years, the rise of New Europe as Franco-German hegemony wanes. A phenomenon that almost seemed too good to be true until Barroso was chosen to take the insufferable Prodi’s place.
The real debate across the EU is much wider than Britain’s exclusive focus on the constitution. It centres on whether the old sclerotic EU needs to change and introduce, albeit 20 years after Thatcher, market-friendly reforms. New Europe is winning, Old Europe losing, as Barroso’s appointment shows.
The tectonic shift in European politics is rarely commented on by much of the news media. After all Donald Rumsfeld first drew a clear and candid line under it and lord knows he’s not a politician people like to like.
It struck me last week that it would be interesting to write a post on how, ironically for all the blathering about Tony Blair damaging Britain’s status in the world, the only person who’s international standing has been flattened has been Jacques Chirac. He has been ignored on Iraq, balled his fists and moaned in NATO and now watches his own sphere of influence drift away as new Europe shunts off from the Franco-German docks that inadvertently cut away its tether.
With Barroso in charge, I’m far more willing to put my weight behind the “Yes” vote on the referendum.
(Addendum: I’ve linked Stephen Pollard 3 times in as many days. That’s a damn good blog)
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John
The Fisk-O-Rama is upon us!
Fahrenheit Fact is a blog created for the sole purpose of fisking the crap out of Michael Moore’s fact-lite insult to the world’s intelligence. They’re up to Fact 27 and I don’t see them stopping anytime soon. Check it out.
Later
John
According to Sgt. Stryker there is an ongoing conflict on the net with western hackers launching DOS attacks on Jihadi websites.
I know that there is still an ongoing war between Isreali hackers and pro-palestinian webmasters but I gave up screwing with computers in that way years ago. It almost got me expelled from school and caused some pretty severe network downtime over at a neighboring school (3 weeks) - it was only due to the fact that I got on well with the head of IT at my school that I was let off.
I’m years off the current standards (I highly doubt anyone would have as easy a job as I - those were the days of Win98 and really lax server security) so I couldn’t really help out but even if the Feds prefer to use these pages for intelligence gathering I’ve got to say it wouldn’t take much just to make an archive of the site and then tear the bugger down.
I say fair play to the guys on the technological edge of the war of terrorism.
Later
John
Allah Pundit just made me spray water up my nose but it was totally worth it.
Check out the image responsible here.
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John
Saddam Hussein in an Iraqi courtroom standing trial for crimes against humanity - who’d have thought it?
Well, at lot of us and I’ve got to say this is a happy day. Unlike the ICJ I have sufficient faith in the Iraqi court to believe that they won’t be allowing him the chance to spout off, post Munich-putsch Hitler style.
“I am Saddam Hussein, president of Iraq,” the criminal said.
Makes you wonder exactly how long he was in that hole for. Did he sleep through the war?
He also offered a cursory “Bush is the real criminal.”
I’d find that even more hilarious if some people didn’t actually believe it - look Mr Kennedy, does it seem slightly, I don’t know, ridiculous to watch your views expressed by the most sickening depraved murderous bastard of the late 20th century?
The more the man speaks the more something hideous is evidenced: The anti-war movement was inherently pro-Saddam.
They may not have wanted it to be but it had that effect, this man was its benefactor. The pro-war movement accepted that a war would result in civilian casualties and instability and the sacrifice of coalition lives. It’s time for the anti-war lobby to accept what would have been the consequences of their actions.
As Stephen Pollard put it:
Sorry, no, old chap. Afraid we didn’t listen to Charles Kennedy, George Galloway, and the others who marched last March to try to ensure you remained in power.
Accept your responsibility, take your lumps. The pro-war people have, now you it’s your turn. Look upon the man you would have rule Iraq, listen to the recounting of a litany of horror and genocide and perhaps, just once feel shame for what might have been had your endeavor succeeded.
Later
John
Admittedly I’ve never been a big fan of marches. More often than not they get hijacked by some group with whom you share no political affinity and a lot of the times you’re surrounded by loons who only agree with you on one point of policy.
However I’d probably have joined the Handover Day demonstrations in Hong Kong this year. Even though my natural preference is to instead sit in air conditioning.
Of all the reports I prefer Hemlock’s account of the day.
As the great man himself says, at the end of his post:
Is tofu-for-brains going to get the hint this time? Or do we have to this every year? Don’t answer.
Power for the people and all that.
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John
But I’ve been linked via a post from Stephen Pollard to Melanie Phillip’s blog.
She addresses one of the astonishing aspects of the recent letter from the Church to No.10, an implicit declaration of intent, by the Church to indoctrinate pro-Israeli christians to accept the drivel the Church currently seems intent upon serving regarding the supposedly villainous and fascistic nature of Israel’s right to sovereignty unfettered by genocidal terrorism.
As I said, Melanie Phillips is rarely someone I’d find myself agreeing with, but from her brilliant appearance on Newsnight to expose and tackle the editorial bankruptcy of the BBC to this post I’ve got to say I’d rather have her writing a column for the Times. She can have Simon Jenkins’ spot - sure she bashes Blair but then so does Simon and it would be nice to have a columnist who isn’t consistently wrong on every issue.
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John
Andrew Sullivan has reason to write this:
All I have to say is that outrage at Abu Ghraib is something I share. I just don’t think portraying the president as eating the heads of live babies is a decent way of expressing it.
I want my baby-back baby-back baby-back rrribs.
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John
Phil over at Flying Chair has a picture of a BIG spider he spotted in the New Territories over in the SAR.
I attended the French International School in Hong Kong, for about 5 months - it was the worst educational experience of my life and I was very glad to move to Shatin College when I returned to Hong Kong.
Anyhow we used to go for runs up the hiking trails near the school for PE. During one such run I saw a spider just as big and looking much the same hanging across the path, tree to tree - needless to say being arachnophobic I managed a personal best on that particular run :)
With all the development all over Hong Kong you tend to forget the other creatures that inhabit the territory, sometimes it’s for the best.
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John
