Mark Steyn : This Is One Armchair Warmonger Still Fighting

The Telegraph ^ | May 30, 2004 | Mark Steyn

[quidnunc]

After a couple of weeks away, I return to spend a lonely evening talking to myself at the eerily deserted Armchair Warmongers Club (Fleet Street Branch). Where'd everybody go?

A year ago, Anatole Kaletsky was buoyant and sunny: "The vast majority of Iraqis will soon find themselves incomparably freer and better off than at any time in the past 50 years." Now he's sunk in his own columnar quagmire: "Iraq will indeed now replace Vietnam as the byword for America's military humiliation, its strategic incompetence, its wayward moral compass," etc, etc.

His Times colleague Mary Ann Sieghart has flounced off, too: "That's it! I've had enough. I'm fed up with justifying the war in Iraq to sceptical friends, family and acquaintances." The standard rap against us armchair warriors is that we can't stand the heat of real war, but poor Mary Ann can't stand the heat of real armchairs. The chap on the sofa at that dinner party was just too beastly and sceptical.

Tony Parsons, hitherto the token non-anti-American at the Daily Mirror, feels cheap and used. "Tony Blair fooled me," he says bitterly. "I see now it was all a pack of lies."

-snip-

[OrthodoxPresbyterian]

After a couple of weeks away, I return to spend a lonely evening talking to myself at the eerily deserted Armchair Warmongers Club (Fleet Street Branch). Where'd everybody go?... Anatole Kaletsky ~~ sunk in his own columnar quagmire: "Iraq will indeed now replace Vietnam as the byword for America's military humiliation, its strategic incompetence, its wayward moral compass," etc, etc. His Times colleague Mary Ann Sieghart has flounced off, too: "That's it! I've had enough. I'm fed up with justifying the war in Iraq to sceptical friends, family and acquaintances."... Tony Parsons, hitherto the token non-anti-American at the Daily Mirror, feels cheap and used. "Tony Blair fooled me," he says bitterly. "I see now it was all a pack of lies." With moulting hawks all around squawking their forlorn chorus of "I'm No Longer Such An Ugly Duckling", it's tempting to join the mass ecdysis. But this is one leopard who won't be changing his spots.

Steyn, as always, is a paragon of Wit and Erudition...

One of the reasons I keep this delightful Neo-Conservative word-smith par excellence on my personal "Must Read" list, alongside such Paleo-Conservative curmudgeons as Joe Sobran and Pat Buchanan, and Libertarian hell-raisers like P.J. O'Rourke and Fred Reed.

But while Steyn is apparently attempting to channel Rudyard Kipling with his declaration "this is one leopard who won't be changing his spots", he's sounding more like Alfred Lord Tennyson: "I return to spend a lonely evening talking to myself at the eerily deserted Armchair Warmongers Club (Fleet Street Branch) -- Where'd everybody go?"

“Forward, the Light Brigade!”
Was there a man dismayed?
No!! Though the soldier knew...
Some one had blundered.
Theirs not to make reply,
Theirs not to reason why,
Theirs but to do and die.
Into the valley of Death
Rode the six hundred.

The Light Brigade was (of course) Noble, Patriotic, and Heroic.

They were also (of course) slaughtered to a man by the merciless Russian artillery. "Was there a man dismayed? No!! Though the soldier knew...Some one had blundered."

George W. Bush has fallen ten points in Approval Ratings since the Abu Ghraib prison photos came out. He will of course still win Texas, the West, and the South, but he is now losing to John F-ing Kerry in almost every single one of the "Purple States", the competitive States (mainly along the Ohio-Mississippi River Valley) which make the Electoral difference between Defeat and Victory in a divided Blue-Red Nation.

“Forward, the GOP Brigade!”
Was there a Neo-Con dismayed?
No!! Though the Realist knew...
Rumsfeld had blundered.

[xzins]

Latest poll returns Ohio to the Bush column.

Since I live here and am a native, I know the conservatism in the suburbs and rural areas. The inner cities will kill him unless he works some magic, but the conservative areas NORMALLY carry Ohio in presidential elections.

Ohio and Florida are the keys.

Go to Dales page to see. http://home.comcast.net/~gerrydal/

[xzins]

BTW, you are correct, OP.

Steyn is one of my favorites.....a list that's dwindling in number. George Will went soft politically and downright mystical in his sentence structure. Cal Thomas is busy being nice enough to stay on Fox News. Bill Safire is like a car with a crudded over catalytic converter.....you never know when he's gonna backfire, but mostly he just stays with traffic.

Coulter....Annie has my vote, too. She wears the pants right now in the American Journalistic family. She's more man than all the rest of the gang combined.

[OrthodoxPresbyterian]

That's a good link. Dales sure does his homework.

I agree that Ohio and Florida are key... but even a couple of "small losses" from the 2000 column (say Missouri and Arkansas) could throw this thing, anyway.

On the other hand, 18-Electoral-Vote Michigan starting to trend in Bush's direction (or at least, becoming a Toss-Up) is unexpected, and interesting...

[irv]

Coulter....Annie has my vote, too. She wears the pants right now in the American Journalistic family. She's more man than all the rest of the gang combined.

Much as I love Ann, you're not being fair. Michelle Malkin is just as tough.

[tet68]

Washington will realise all the extra troops they needed are sitting around twiddling their thumbs in Europe, guarding against enemies who no longer exist on behalf of allies who are no longer allies.

Seems Rumsfield had realized this and has already started
pulling troops out of south Korea.

Steyn Bump!
What a wordsmith!

[SquirrelKing]

Thanks for the ping, Poke.

Print for after work, post-holiday rush rush read.

[WOSG]

"George W. Bush has fallen ten points in Approval Ratings since the Abu Ghraib prison photos came out. "

The New York Times ran 30 straight DAYS OF FRONT PAGE NEWS on it.

And then they tell us in the fine print, most of those pics were taken on a single day, nov 8, 2003.
BFD!!!

Bush has fallen because the media was able to create a temporary panic and scandal out of practically nothing. So what.

Snap out of it! Folks, that's the Steyn message. The war is just, the war is being won.

The Iraq war has gone spectacularly well. we made more mistakes in a single D-Day *training excercise in WWII than in the whole Iraq war!

[WOSG]

We Win the Iraq Issue, we win the election.

Put your doubts aside and join Steyn in becoming a cheerleader for optimism and hope of our victory in Iraq.

we've actually gone 2/3rds of the way to victory already and success is almost assured. All we need is to avoid defeatism.

[OrthodoxPresbyterian]

We Win the Iraq Issue, we win the election. Put your doubts aside and join Steyn in becoming a cheerleader for optimism and hope of our victory in Iraq. we've actually gone 2/3rds of the way to victory already and success is almost assured. All we need is to avoid defeatism.

I do indeed Hope for our victory in Iraq. This is because I always desire the best outcome for my country, America.

Optimism, however, is not in my nature.

My Hopes are always with America... but I don't "do" Optimism. Guess you'll hafta settle for the glass being Half-Full.

But hey, if you're really an Optimist... you should be happy enough with that, neh?

Blessings, OP

[WOSG]

"Optimism, however, is not in my nature. ... My Hopes are always with America"

Realism demands optimism in this case. Why? Optimism feeds confidence, which will aid the calm and reasoned approach that will give us success. So a realist will be optimistic out of desire for success if not out of second-nature. Since only defeatism can defeat us, why give it a single inch of ground?

Remember that Faith, *Hope*, and Charity are virtues. :-)

[Neophyte]

Thanks for the pings! It's so revivfying, to have the Steyn-fix regularly again...

[OrthodoxPresbyterian]

Realism demands optimism in this case.

No, it doesn't.

My HOPES are always with America, of course.

REALISTICALLY, however, I fully expect Iraq to be an Islamic Shi'ite Republic within the next Ten Years... the latest addition to the Greater Shi'ite Empire of Tehran and Baghdad.

• How exactly do you propose to avoid Shi'ite Hegemony, while granting "democracy" to Iraq, when 65% of the Population WANTS to institute Shi'ite Hegemony, and alliance with Tehran?

• At this point, I'd be happy if the One Million Iraqi Christians are not slaughtered or subjugated over the next Ten Years... but they probably will be.

That's Realism.

sad but true. OP

[OrthodoxPresbyterian]

Bonus Question:

How do you institute Constitutional, Secular Democracy amongst a Majority-Shi'ite Population where the highest form of religious expression is beating your own head, and that of your three-year-old toddler, with a blunt machete?

1,000 Points for the Answer. (HINT: There is No Answer.)

You were saying something about "Optimism"?

[xzins]

Actually, OP, I have some reasons in my view of bible prophecy to think that Iraq will become economically resurgent.

Shi'ism will not be the basis for such a resurgence.

Likewise, let me offer this small story about my time in the middle east. While there, on and off over a year and a half period, we would stay in the Hilton in Manama Bahrain. Bahrain was an interesting place in that it bordered Saudi. What also made it unique was that it was a "mecca" (pun intended) for a bit of personal liberty. Alcohol was served. Rules weren't quite so strict. The Saudis FLOCKED there for that reason.

While there, we had an occasion of a sailor who began a conversation in the bar with some partying Saudis who'd driven over for fun and games.

The sailor's new "friends" got him alone, overpowered him, and buggered him through the night. He went bonkers and had to be sent back to the states. Everyone thought what had happened was so odd.....I mean....islamics are such "morally controlled" people....right? Hardly. Like I said, the Saudis flock to Bahrain for a bit of libertine excess. Extremely good sources say that the emir has his own private, cordoned off beach at which bikini clad beauties do the Bay Watch bounce.

These anecdotes are to point out that I think there's a very strong undercurrent against the legalistically strict lifestyle of the mullahs. Besides, our Christian faith teaches the depravity of man. We KNOW that no one keeps a legalistically strict lifestyle. My stories demonstrate that type of seething carnality that proves the depravity we learn from the bible. In other words, we see the surface. There is great hypocrisy beneath the surface.

I don't think Iraqis desire any shi'ite fundamentalist ayatollah-led theocracy.

[RnMomof7]

My HOPES are always with America, of course.
REALISTICALLY, however, I fully expect Iraq to be an Islamic Shi'ite Republic within the next Ten Years... the latest addition to the Greater Shi'ite Empire of Tehran and Baghdad.

I fully agree, this was the great misadventure.(It reminded me of the Cuba misadventure ...you would think we would learn) The only thing that prevented it being a brutal theocracy before this was a brutal CIVILIAN none religious government .

The only think I hang onto is that even misadventures and naivety work to the purposes of God.

[RnMomof7]

FYI



http://ap.tbo.com/ap/breaking/MGBKM8WV3VD.html

[OrthodoxPresbyterian]

These anecdotes are to point out that I think there's a very strong undercurrent against the legalistically strict lifestyle of the mullahs. Besides, our Christian faith teaches the depravity of man. We KNOW that no one keeps a legalistically strict lifestyle. My stories demonstrate that type of seething carnality that proves the depravity we learn from the bible. In other words, we see the surface. There is great hypocrisy beneath the surface.

I've no doubt as to the hypocrisy seething beneath the surface of Islam...

I'm thinking more about the Islamic, and particularly Shi'ite, religious methodology for dealing with their own depraved hypocrisy. Their method of "Atonement", if you will...

Atone! I will Atone for my sins...
By beating myself about the head with this sword!!

Unless mine eyes deceive me, I do not see George Washington, Thomas Jefferson, John Witherspoon and James Madison in the above picture. Not exactly my first choice of "folks most likely to embrace constitutional republicanist religious freedom".

I suppose it could be worse... if these folks were Wahhabi Sunnis rather than Shi'ites, they'd be beating other people about the heads with their swords -- Christians, Jews, other Muslims (particularly Shi'ites), whomever.

Nonetheless, I'm not... optimistic. Frankly, my "Hopes" for Iraq over the next ten years boil down to "I hope that the 4-5% Christian population isn't slaughtered outright" -- beyond that, I don't "Hope" for very much good to come out of the place.

Yes, Hussein had to be dealt with; I'm still unsold on the notion that a 200+ Billion dollar war (and counting, and counting) was necessarily the best way to go about it.

Perhaps we could have just bombed Salman Pak into dust, and revoked Executive Order 12333 section 2.11...

No person employed by or acting on behalf of the United States Government shall engage in, or conspire to engage in, assassination.

... for Saddam, Uday, Qusay, and a few other notable Unworthies?

Not saying it would have worked out better... but hey, if nothing else, we could have given it a shot, and then gone to war if it didn't work out. (Six Months elapsed between Powell's speech at the UN establishing our intent to go to war, and the actual Invasion, after all...)