Mark Steyn: Pencil in Iraq for this August

National Post (Canada) ^ | 08/02/2002 | Mark Steyn

[Lady Jag]

Clinton told his audience in Toronto this week that, if Saddam's boys ever crossed the Israeli border, "I would personally get in a ditch, grab a rifle, and fight and die."

Better late than never.

My birthday's in August, so who said nothing great ever happens in this month? But to have Bubba sticking his head up in trench to face a bullet, what a priceless birthday present.

[ken5050]

Would Bush chose 9/ll as the date to initiate the attack....?

[benjaminthomas]

Would you please add me as well?

[Dog Gone]

I don't think it will be this month, but he's got just about everything else right.

[TomT in NJ]

I'll be going to Turkey on August 8th for a two week vacation. I guess I'll be seeing our fighter and bomber jets flying overheard on their way to Iraq. Hopefully, the Turks will let me out of Turkey given that my parents are former Turkish citizens.

[Tunehead54]

Here's the Guardian article reviewed at FR: Britons left in jail amid fears that Saudi Arabia could fall to al-Qaeda

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Elfman - here's a different take on the "situation".
BTW I keep my crayons in a box - where do you keep yours? (;-)

[aculeus]

Bump.

[Pokey78]

Will do.

[iconoclast]

Please add me to the Steyn ping list.

DITTO

[Britton J Wingfield]

August 9th, Jerry Garcia finally had the good sense to shuffle off this mortal coil. The 9th is now celebrated as 'Bury Garcia' day :)

[Logan455]

Could you please add me to the Steyn list? Thanks!

[j.havenfarm]

I think the speculation about waves of suicide bombers, etc. cranking up once we go in is probably overblown. But what if the worst happens, and the other side has a dirty bomb or worse to set off in an American city? What better time to find out that when the President and Congress aren't in town. That, plus we've got the Security Council charimanship this month. Also, I'm very suspicious over the genuineness of the flood of leaks coming out of this supposedly leak-proof administration. They have been increasing in number in recent weeks. Oh, and don't forget Saddam's baloons. It's coming. Time's up. Let's roll.

[Pokey78]

Done & done.

[Mark de New Brighton]

The New York Times and The Washington Post have spent the last few weeks running their hugely entertaining Leak Of The Day features, each with a brand-new top-secret plan revealing how the Pentagon intends to invade Iraq from bases in Jordan/Qatar/Diego Garcia/Sarnia with a three-pronged strike/two-pronged strike/radical no-prong strike using a broad spatula approach with plans for post-war reconstruction (the prong is ended but the military lingers on).

There is more funny stuff going on in this paragraph than just about anything I've ever read. I'd especially love to see the invasion start in Sarnia, as long as there's no collateral damage to Port Huron. Steyn rocks! Thanks for keeping him visible, Pokey!

[Bobby777]

"Islamic extremists are threatening to take control of Saudi Arabia's corrupt and autocratic regime, fuelling fears in Washington that the United States might lose its most powerful Muslim ally in the war against Islamic terrorism.

"Despite brutal suppression of any public dissent, anti-government demonstrations have swept the kingdom in recent months to protest the pro-American stance of Crown Prince Abdullah, Saudi Arabia's de facto ruler."

The way to find out what this story really means is to hold it up to the mirror and read it backwards. First, and most obviously, Saudi Arabia is not America's "most powerful Muslim ally in the war against Islamic terrorism," but the principal underwriter and fomenter of Islamic terrorism. Second, Crown Prince Abdullah is not "pro-American," but, compared to the ailing King Fahd, noticeably antipathetic and unco-operative. Third, anti-government demonstrations "sweeping" the kingdom? C'mon then: Name one. Where and when?

thanks to Steyn for saying this ...

[Notforprophet]

I've been saying this for weeks. Wouldn't it be just like GWB to make the press whores sweat out their war correspondence from the 110 degree heat of Crawford, rather than the relatively milder DC climate?

[Notforprophet]

Dang, Pokey! You're getting a whole passel of new Steyn List recruits today? What's the record for a single Steyn article, anyway?

[Dog]

Thought you might enjoy reading Steyn..

[W.]

Thanks, good read. Thought OBL's son's name was Sod, though. Kinda fits the family better...

[Freakazoid]

Pokey. Please add me to the Steyn list.