Posted on 02/28/2005 11:50:51 AM PST by pissant
The return of politics to Iraq has had many blissful secondary consequences, one of them apparently minor but nonetheless, I think, important. When was the last time you heard some glib pundit employing the phrase "The Arab Street"? I haven't actually done a Nexis search on this, but my strong impression is that the term has been, without any formal interment, laid to rest. And not a minute too soon, either.
In retrospect, it's difficult to decide precisely when this annoying expression began to expire, if only from diminishing returns. There was, first, the complete failure of the said "street" to detonate with rage when coalition forces first crossed the border of Iraq, as had been predicted (and one suspects privately hoped) by so many "experts." But one still continued to hear from commentators who conferred street-level potency on passing "insurgents." (I remember being aggressively assured by an interviewer on Al Franken's quasi-comedic Air America that Muqtada Sadr's "Mahdi Army" in Najaf was just the beginning of a new "Tet Offensive.") Mr. Sadr duly got a couple of seats in the recent Iraqi elections. And it was most obviously those elections that discredited the idea of ventriloquizing the Arab or Muslim populace or of conferring axiomatic authenticity on the loudest or hoarsest voice.
The London-based newspaper Al Quds al-Arabi, which has for some time been a surrogate voice for "insurgent" talk in the Arab diaspora, polled its readers after the Iraqi elections and had the grace to print the result. About 90 percent had been favorably impressed by the sight of Iraqi and Kurdish voters waiting their turn to have a say in their own future. This is a somewhat more accurate use of the demotic thermometer than the promiscuous one to which we have let ourselves become accustomed.
(Excerpt) Read more at slate.msn.com ...
I could read him forever, even when I disagree with him. It's lyrical.
And he's got it.
Don't diss this Chris..he's been a big Bush supporter in the Mid-east from the get-go..
I got drunk with Hitchens at a Freeper event back when Billy was still king.
BTTT
Chris writes alot that I ardently disagree with. But he knows that the Islamo-facists hate his liberal worldview even more than they hate the conservative worldview. Unfortuantely, the dem party (with very few exceptions) hasn't listened to his advice regarding the WOT.
Isn't Hitch in a state of perpetual drunkedness?
Bush is the one racking up "Street Cred'.
OK..if I mistook your post, my apologies...but on the Mid-East, I believe you, I and Hitchens agree with W..
Was this printed in Salon too?
That appears to be the case.
I goofed. I can't tell the diff between Slate & Salon & TNR....
Hitchens has been one of the few Liberals to get it. He's been far more consistent in support of the war than some on our side have even been.
In rare times of war idealogy can be placed aside to join together to protect our country. Or at least that used to be the case. So it is that Hitchens and I are on the same side. And he's earned an eternal respect since supporting the war is practically considered 'treasonous' on his side of the aisle. I respect in his case he's made sacrifices I haven't had to make since my aisle is majority on the side of the war.
I do agree I am happy to see the end of the "street cred". In retrospect it's amusing. People that did not know how badly these people wanted to be free, presented themselves as foremost authority that Muslims would rise up in the millions to defend the slight against their honor. That an American stepping foot in the Middle east would be more than pride could withstand. LOL
U B forgiven..
Hitchens is a most fascinating man. I'd love to sit down to a long lunch with him. I'd even put up with his chain-smoking to have the privilege of listening to his intellectual thoughts. Always a pleasure to read his writings.
Just don't try to keep up with his drinking!
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