Mark Steyn: America is winning

The Spectator (U.K.) ^ | 03/08/03 | Mark Steyn

[GOPJ]

Did the networks even bother to cover this? BIG news:

The seizure of Mohammed is testament both to Washington’s approach to Pakistan and to what they’re up against. The big-time terrorist was holed up in the home of a top World Health Organisation microbiologist, whose wife heads up one of the most radical Islamist political parties in the country. Is it normal for UN microbiologists to rent the spare room to terrorists known to be in the market for biological weapons?

[GOPJ]

Did the networks even bother to cover this? BIG news:

The seizure of Mohammed is testament both to Washington’s approach to Pakistan and to what they’re up against. The big-time terrorist was holed up in the home of a top World Health Organisation microbiologist, whose wife heads up one of the most radical Islamist political parties in the country. Is it normal for UN microbiologists to rent the spare room to terrorists known to be in the market for biological weapons?

[CFC__VRWC]

Did the networks even bother to cover this? BIG news:

This is the first I've heard of it. Of course, we shouldn't be too hard on the networks - they would have gotten around to mentioniung this tiny detail, but they've been SO busy telling us how Mohammed's capture is such a crushing defeat for Bush in the war on terrorism. </dripping sarcasm>

[Victoria Delsoul]

It’s good to know that the anti-war arguments are now so unreal they’re impervious to any actual developments back in what we call the real world. This artful formulation — that war with Iraq is a distraction from the war on terror — was designed to enable Democrats to oppose Bush without sounding like a bunch of sissies on national security. The war with Germany is distracting us from the war with Japan.

Bumpity, bumpity, bump!

[m1911]

Asked to account for the stark difference in appearance, several experts pointed out that he’s a ‘master of disguise’. In that case, the master of disguise is doing a great job of convincingly passing himself off as a guy who’s been sleeping in a hedge for a month.

Zing!

[Constitutionalist Conservative]

The State Department gets a bad rap partially because they are responsible for finding a diplomatic solution to problems that don't have diplomatic solutions. Powell has done a good job as Good Cop under those huge constraints. Why should we expect the State Department to be better than the UN could ever possibly be?

With that said, the Clinton hold-overs need to be out of there because they have too much CYA to do to be effective...

Also, you need to remember to separate the political appointees from the careerists. The political appointees are easier to pull onto the current administration's bandwagon; but the careerists at State by and large seem to be opposed to Bush's foreign policy, and it seems that they are doing what they can (through action or inaction) to gum up the works.

[Constitutionalist Conservative]

Is it my imagination, or are his pieces getting longer?

This piece was written for The Spectator, so it makes sense that it is article-length, rather than syndicated-opinion-column-length.

[Rocko]

When Henry Blake was killed in that plane crash was the day the music died.

[Blennos]

The state of KSM provides a glimpse of the career options available to top al-Qa’eda honchos: either, like bin Laden, you go into deep cover as a few specks of DNA discreetly sprinkled in the rubble of Tora Bora, or, like ‘The Brain’, you’ve a choice between hunkering down in a ‘safe house’ or staying on the move, never knowing, even when you’re motoring through the emptiness of the Yemeni desert, if some unmanned CIA Predator will drop the big one on you. Of course, many al-Qa’eda operatives are hoping to be on a fast track to martyrdom and the 72 virgins. But you gotta have a couple of guys who stay alive long enough to instruct the neophytes in how to kill themselves, and right now al-Qa’eda’s management structure is looking severely hobbled.

Well said. Cogent analysis.

[Paul_B]

Aha. Indeed. Thanks.

[MeekOneGOP]

Yes. Steyn has way with words !

[Porterville]

Does anyone feel dog-tired of this waiting???? I worry that the opponents of Bush will increase their hostilities to counter Bush. They are out of control zealots, what is the solution to trump the zealots around the world??? I don't know the answer. I know bullies you punch in the nose. But zealots look the other way, lie, and actually align themselves with mass murderers. Is this just one of those situation that only history can resolve??

[Enduring Freedom]

Providence?

Never heard of it, and neither will you this time next year.