[stevem]

I think the coalition of the willing will succeed in completely changing the dynamic in the Middle East. It will be fun to watch the contrarians when that happens. They will say it was inevitable, and it isn't really a victory over terrorism, anyway, certainly not worth the cost.

[knews_hound]

Excellent and to the point.

Thanks for the post Pokey.

Cheers,

knews hound

[Patti_ORiley]

It is nice to see a positive article coming out of Europe regarding Bush administration.

[Ignatius J Reilly]

REG: Yeah. All right, Stan. Don't labour the point. And what have they
ever given us in return?!
XERXES: The aqueduct?
REG: What?
XERXES: The aqueduct.
REG: Oh. Yeah, yeah. They did give us that. Uh, that's true. Yeah.
COMMANDO #3: And the sanitation.
LORETTA: Oh, yeah, the sanitation, Reg. Remember what the city used to be
like?
REG: Yeah. All right. I'll grant you the aqueduct and the sanitation are
two things that the Romans have done.
MATTHIAS: And the roads.
REG: Well, yeah. Obviously the roads. I mean, the roads go without saying,
don't they? But apart from the sanitation, the aqueduct, and the roads--
COMMANDO: Irrigation.
XERXES: Medicine.
COMMANDOS: Huh? Heh? Huh...
COMMANDO #2: Education.
COMMANDOS: Ohh...
REG: Yeah, yeah. All right. Fair enough.
COMMANDO #1: And the wine.
COMMANDOS: Oh, yes. Yeah...
FRANCIS: Yeah. Yeah, that's something we'd really miss, Reg, if the Romans
left. Huh.
COMMANDO: Public baths.
LORETTA: And it's safe to walk in the streets at night now, Reg.
FRANCIS: Yeah, they certainly know how to keep order. Let's face it.
They're the only ones who could in a place like this.
COMMANDOS: Hehh, heh. Heh heh heh heh heh heh heh.
REG: All right, but apart from the sanitation, the medicine, education,
wine, public order, irrigation, roads, a fresh water system, and public
health, what have the Romans ever done for us?
XERXES: Brought peace.
REG: Oh. Peace? Shut up!
[bam bam bam bam bam bam bam]
[bam bam bam bam bam]

[kitkat]

BUMP, BUMP, BUMP and send it to your liberal friends.

[Diana in Wisconsin]

Excellent article. Thanks!

[SkyPilot]

Love the Monty Python analogy.

[goodnesswins]

b'mkd

[B4Ranch]

Liberated 50 million people... who now hate America.

Oh yeah, what a good deal.

[Redgirl]

Does anyone have some good crow recipes for the NIONers? I think we should send them some.

[doug from upland]

Great post, Pokey!

[Happygal]

Great piece from the Times...and a Monty Python analogy to boot! ;-)

[MHT]

Numbers of people experiencing democracy since 9-11:

Afghanistan 28.5 million, Iraq 25.3 million, West Bank (Palestine) 2.3 million and Ukraine 47.7 million = 103.8 million

Living without previously stashed WMD: Libya 5.6 million

Soon to be experiencing democracy: Syria 18 million, Saudi Arabia 9.1 million males of voting age

Possible domino-effect of Syrian rebellion: Lebanon 3.7 million

Total effected by George W. Bush's vision: 140,200,000 people, mostly Muslims

All current figures as of July 2004 on www.cia.gov's world factbook (the best data resource on the net).

[q_an_a]

don't forget we also liberated North Africa, Italy, France, Belgium, Austria and Germany in Europe plus we liberated Indo China, China, a dozen Pacific countries and rebuilt Japan. If you have time maybe you could send home or else honor the bodies of our young men that fought for your liberation.

[BillF]

Ping to outstanding article with Monty Python reference.

[TheMole]

Great article ... the Monty Python thing is perfect. Mr. Baker has unfortunately omitted one major additional point, which is that more than a two million refugees have peacefully returned to Afghanistan and Iraq. This fact is even corroborated by the UN and other NGO refugee agencies, and studiously ignored by the mainstream press. It belongs on Mr. Baker's list.

[votelife]

bttt