Mark Steyn: Iraq has never had it so good

The Spectator (U.K.) ^ | 03/27/04 | Mark Steyn

[Pokey78]

[Toirdhealbheach Beucail]

I love this man! There are few that are his equal with the English tongue!

[jays911]

yet another brilliant steyn piece.

[chuckcam]

nice

[eureka!]

What you said. Bump for lunchtime read...

[sarasota]

Steyn is spot on, as usual.

[Blood of Tyrants]

19 per cent said they were much or somewhat worse

Isn't that about the population of Sunni (Saddam's tribe) in Iraq?

[Tax-chick]

If it’s a choice between aggressive neocon optimism or the UN’s slum-landlord approach to nation-building, I know which I’ll take.

Damn straight! Now get the Iraqis (and the Iranians) an NRA, so they can take down the next Saddam wannabe and his goons before they get started.

[Godfollow]

"Which would you bet on? Iraq and Afghanistan? Or Haiti and Kosovo?

A campaign slogan if I've ever heard one... guys this has to be one the best unwitting wittiest statements of the campaign season. Something has to made of it... somebody with Internet design savvy should have fun with this one.

[Starve The Beast]

But, for whatever reason, all these movements are in the direction laid out by Bush in his Whitehall speech in November.

Funny, isn't it, how that's working out for that dumb cluck from Texas? Is it conceivable that Dubya might not be quite the dope that the Berkeley left thought?

Steyn is a genius, can I get an amen?

[third try]

Ping

[VadeRetro]

Many Iraqis are voting with their feet. The UN High Commission for Refugees, which was expecting about two million new refugees to flee from the war last year, instead found no takers. All the traffic’s the other way, and the UN is now closing down its camps around Iraq’s borders owing to lack of business.

Didn't know this. Statistics can be very dry, but this one tells a story.

[maica]

As for Iraq needing UN ‘legitimacy’, why not ask the people? The UN to them means decadent bureaucrats like Hans von Sponeck, the former UN co-ordinator for Iraq who the other day expressed his preference for the ‘order’ Saddam brought to the country, or the stinking sewer of the oil-for-food programme, a humanitarian intervention that turned into a money-laundering scheme for Saddam’s Western cronies. If it’s a choice between aggressive neocon optimism or the UN’s slum-landlord approach to nation-building, I know which I’ll take. Look at it this way. Which would you bet on? Iraq and Afghanistan? Or Haiti and Kosovo?

Steyn give us fabulous "talking points" every day.

PS: All the pundits and govt overseers who are "shocked" to learn that the Food for Oil Program was corrupt must have thought that Saddam built his military compound palaces by careful budgeting.

[Lurker]

It's around 20% IIRC.

L

[xJones]

Steyn is a genius, can I get an amen?

Amen, with a Hallelujah chorus thrown in.:)

[WhiteGuy]

Interesting..................

This story makes me wonder........

What will happen in iraq when our government stops the "rebuilding"?

When will it be determined that iraq can make it without a couple hundred billion of our money being poured in?

I guess it's out of the question to expect them to pay US back.

Will they send a gift at least? Even the prissy-pants french sent us a really big statue for saving their bacon.

Just wondering....................

[MeekOneGOP]

Looks like Mark Steyn hits another one outta the park ...

Many Iraqis are voting with their feet. The UN High Commission for Refugees, which was expecting about two million new refugees to flee from the war last year, instead found no takers. All the traffic’s the other way, and the UN is now closing down its camps around Iraq’s borders owing to lack of business. The other day, the UN’s Ashrafi Camp in Iran, after 30 years as the largest Iraqi refugee facility, threw in the towel when the last refugee went home. Despite being advised by UNHCR that it was unsafe to do so, a million Iraqis are said to have gone back. Not bad for a country which in Saddam’s day was the fifth-largest exporter of refugees.

[kingu]

A campaign slogan if I've ever heard one... guys this has to be one the best unwitting wittiest statements of the campaign season. Something has to made of it... somebody with Internet design savvy should have fun with this one.

I don't know about a campaign slogan, but it sure makes a great tagline.

[prairiebreeze]

That graphic.....BWAHAHAHAHA!!

Prairie