Amid the cheers, sobering facts (Saddam Pity Party at the Boston Globe)

Boston Globe ^ | 12-16-03 | James Carroll

[Lance Romance]

THE NEWS stopped America: Saddam Hussein captured -- not in some kind of command bunker, running the guerrilla war, but in a "spider hole," with mice and rats. For the last two days, interruption was the motif as the report upended assumptions about the war in Iraq, the war on terrorism, the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, the US presidential election, the financial markets, even the shopping season. Good news all around, if you can believe the first reactions. Dec. 13 was being described as a historic day because of the bedraggled man found cowering in the dark.

[Lance Romance]

The United States did not attack Iraq because of Hussein's wickedness (The world is rife with wicked tyrants). It did so because Hussein posed an imminent threat to his neighbors and America, and there was no other way to stop that threat. Additionally, Washington tied Hussein to 9/11 (an Al Qaeda-Iraq meeting in Prague), making the war against Iraq necessary to the war on terrorism.

It is already clear that these justifications were false. Even if Hussein now revealed a stock of chemical or biological agents, the question of "imminence" would remain, because post-invasion investigations have established that no weaponized agents were ready to use.

Someone should let this guy out once in a while to read some other newspapers than the Boston Globe.

Might help dispel some of his falsehoods.

[mewzilla]

I have two words for Mr. Carroll: Salman Pak.

And that's just for starters...

[dighton]

Congratulations, Mr. Carroll!

You have earned a place on the Saddamfreude Watch.

[Always Right]

I was in Indianapolis Circle Center Mall this weekend, and there was a survivor of the Indianapolis selling a book about their story. Unfortunately he sold them out before I had a chance to buy one, 48 books in a little over an hour. The title was Only 318 Survived, but that was a limited run and they aren't widely available yet. I believe the proceeds go to all the survivors as it was written from all their input and gave details of each of them.

[Conspiracy Guy]

This dude is as clueless as he ever was.

Saddam

They found him in a spider hole,
Just like we knew they would.
Though we are glad I'm sure the Dems,
Feel this is not too good.
I'm sure they all are saddened now,
For Saddam's in our hand.
The French, the Germans, chant along,
The Russians lead the band.
They want the contracts to rebuild,
The Dems want Bush to fail.
Death for Saddam is too swift,
Let’s let him rot in jail.
Congratulations to our troops,
And to our leader here.
George Bush is still the man to lead,
He gets my vote next year.

Conspiracy Guy 12/14/03

Cowards

They recently found Saddam,
Hiding in his pit.
I hope this is a warning,
Cowards are not fit.
They do not lead but threaten,
Their people to obey.
They rape and kill their people,
All to get their way.
But take away that power base,
Watch the roaches slide.
Death is for their underlings,
Cowards, they just hide.

Conspiracy Guy 12/15/03

[Rockiesrider]

Well he's right about the fact that the Iraq war and the bomb on Hiroshima have a common link. Invading Iraq and dropping the bomb were two ways of getting the ememy governments to cease their agressions.

[aculeus]

All Globe-oids are wannabe Times columnists.

This guy is sucking up to Pinch "kill the American" Sulzberger.

[been_lurking]

I had spent Saturday in Washington at a conference organized to protest the Smithsonian's new National Air and Space Museum exhibit that opened yesterday. A centerpiece is the Enola Gay, the B-29 bomber that dropped the atomic bomb on Hiroshima.

I stopped here. Told me everything I needed to know about the author and what he would have to say.

[gridlock]

I am getting really tired of this particular debating trick of the left, where they mis-state the conditions under which past decisions were made, and then criticize those decisions based on the false conditions.

They say the invasion of the Home Islands of Japan were projected to lead to only 10,000 American casualties, a clearly ridiculous figure. But once this "factoid" is accepted, it is easy to gainsay the decision to drop the bomb. But given the realities of the time, and the muderous cost of the previous stops on the island-hopping campaign, it becomes clear that the bomb was the least undesirable of several bad options.

They say that the Bush Administration invaded Iraq because the threat from Saddam was "imminent" and there was incontrovertible proof that Iraq was tied to 9/11. Given this falsely high standard, it is child's play to show that the invasion of Iraq does not necessarily meet these tests. The problem is that the Bush Administration never said any such thing. The invasion of Iraq was based on many things, but imminent danger and 9/11 never had anything to do with it.

Using this technique, it is possible to construct an critique of any decision. I have read some authors who suggest that Hitler would have reduced his campaign of murder against the Jews as soon as he had solidified his hold on Europe. If we enshrine that ridiculous assumption as the centerpiece of an argument, who can justify the horrendous human toll of storming Fortress Europe on D-Day? It is a given on the Left that Michael Gorbachev was an enlightened reformer, who voluntarily dismantled the Soviet Union out of the goodness of his heart. So Reagan must be held to task for his diversion of funds away from AIDS treatment and research in order to build Star Wars.

On the local level, one could explain to one's wife that if he had stayed late in the bar, he might have been involved in the subsequent bar-brawl and incurred injuries for which the family has no medical insurance coverage, therefore it important to view his decision to leave the bar early with that hooker in the proper context...

[bert]

The war began in Boston when lax security allowed hijackers to take control of planes destined to crash into the WTC and Pentagon.

The man's hands are bloody. He's from Boston.

[gridlock]

James Carroll's column appears regularly in the Globe.

And the Boston Globe is proud of this fact...

[Cboldt]

They say that the Bush Administration invaded Iraq because the threat from Saddam was "imminent" and there was incontrovertible proof that Iraq was tied to 9/11. Given this falsely high standard, it is child's play to show that the invasion of Iraq does not necessarily meet these tests.

Indeed. In fact, Bush stated that the war should be prosecuted BEFORE the threat was imminent. Adding that one word reverses the condition. This was a pre-emptive attack, and most liberals argued against the attack on those grounds, then.

They take advantage of the short memory of the public. They are masters at stoking emotion. Bunch of dishonest pukes, the liberals are.

[Dallas59]

Such is the damage following from President Bush's war. For what? The question about the Bush war and the Truman decision to use the bomb is the same: Was it necessary?

Yes and Yes.

[from occupied ga]

James Carroll's column appears regularly in the Globe.

Yet another reason to ignore the Globe

[hotpotato]

Additionally, Washington tied Hussein to 9/11 (an Al Qaeda-Iraq meeting in Prague), making the war against Iraq necessary to the war on terrorism.

Never happened. Bush stated there was no evidence pointing to a link between Saddam and 9/11. I do not recall *anyone* in his adminstration stating otherwise. This is one of the frustrating lies told over and over by those who oppose Bush.

[hotpotato]

Additionally, Washington tied Hussein to 9/11 (an Al Qaeda-Iraq meeting in Prague), making the war against Iraq necessary to the war on terrorism.

Senator Rockerfeller started that then accused President Bush of claiming "imminent danger" when Bush actually stated we could not wait until Saddam became an imminent danger.

From a transcript of a speech given by Senator Rockefeller on the Senate Floor on 10/10/02:

"I do believe that Iraq poses an imminent threat, "

[cricket]

Give Carroll an 'A' in style; but a zero in content.

He is another wonderful reminder that a 'mind' expressing itself in perfect articulation, is still a wasted mind; when it cannot make discriminatory distinctions between good and evil. . .

. . .a mind wasted, when it must filter truth through the collective mind of the Liberal/marxist/Left.

[ThirstyMan]

a 'mind' expressing itself in perfect articulation, is still a wasted mind; when it cannot make discriminatory distinctions between good and evil.

a VERY scary flaw to be sure...and so prevalent among those who call themselves democrats. he's a spokesperson for the all-too-common amoral irrelevant.

[cricket]

"a VERY scary flaw to be sure...and so prevalent among those who call themselves democrats. he's a spokesperson for the all-too-common amoral irrelevant."

. . .it is definitely inherent in the core of marxist liberalism. End justies the means; truth not a value.

[Gothmog]

The Globe calls it "the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, ..."

I'm tired of this phrase. Would the Globe call the Nazi intent in WWII (espoused by the Palestinians daily) "the Israeli-German conflict,..."?