The Arab Street Speaks Again! This Time, from Shatra, Iraq

"Welcome to Iraq! Welcome to Iraq!" shouted hundreds of Iraqis as their town was liberated by the Marines who entered their town. If there are to be another "100 Bin Ladens" as the Egyptian dictator Hosni Mubarek promised, they won't be coming from Shatra.

Hasta la Vista, Baby

Peter Arnett gets canned again, hopefully for the last time. His Iraqi propogandizing in the first Gulf War didn't get him fired, but his phony story about the United States gassing desserters during the Vietnam War finally did. The learning curve at NBC is rather flat it seems. While the wise man learns from his mistakes, the truly wise learn from the mistakes of others. NBC failed to learn its lessons from CNN's experience and hired this leftist fraud again. When, like peacock, he chose to reveal his true colors, NBC had no choice but to can him, although it took them a while to figure out that they had no choice. They initially tried to defend him.
Good riddance Peter. Maybe you can get a job with Al Jazeera.

Those are our Soldiers

I have found it very difficult recently to tune into CNN for my war news. I’ve been relying almost entirely upon Fox News, even though their morning program is frankly child-like. The reason can be summarized in one word – “our,” as in “our troops.” Another comforting word I hear often on Fox, but almost never on CNN is, “we,” as in, “we are 50 miles from Baghdad.”
Those pompous citizens of the world at CNN are loath to take sides in the war, preferring to present the news as neutrally as possible. The writers and editors at Reuters news agency probably summed up this citizen-of-the-world stance best when they defended their reluctance to take sides against even Usama bin Laden: “One man’s terrorist is another man’s freedom fighter.”
I don’t see it that way. Those fighting men in Iraq and Afghanistan are fighting and dying for my family, for my country and for me. They are making a safer future for the world that even the French and the Germans will someday appreciate. And I don’t appreciate the high-minded indifference, expressed best by former CNN anchorman, Bernard Shaw who refused to be debriefed by US intelligence about what he saw in Baghdad during the early days of the 1991 Gulf War. He didn’t want to compromise this journalistic neutrality. He was a reporter to the world.
Apparently, I am not alone. While a few shrill, disruptive malcontents manage to attract front-page coverage, the great masses of Americans are quietly expressing their opinions with their remote controls and are tuning out news of war protests. Media pollsters and consultants and making it clear to their clients: Lay off protest coverage. Frank N. Magid Associates, a very influential media consulting, firm put it bluntly: “Covering war protests may be harmful to a station's bottom line.”
The electronic media, at least, is being forced to adjust to a new reality - competition. Back when there were only CBS, NBC and ABC to choose from, the ideological left-wing homogeneity of network news was inescapable. When CNN entered the mix, under the guidance of America’s premier limousine liberal, Ted Turner, it chose to position itself even further to the left, where it competes with National Public Radio. But with the new kid on the block, Fox News, viewers have a choice that they are exercising with growing frequency.
The Left is not comfortable with the free market and does not understand it. Among the more amusing tidbits of news in the last month or so was the announcement from a cadre of limousine liberals that they would be investing millions of their dollars to underwrite a new liberal talk radio network. Freedom of choice on the airwaves, given to us back in the eighties by the Reagan Administration, opened the door for conservative talk radio. No longer were stations forced to present a “balanced” message. Radio could put whatever they wanted on the air. When Rush Limbaugh syndicated his show, he created a whole, new genre, which has attracted dozens of copycats.
G. Gordon Liddy, Sean Hannity, Michael Savage, Ken Hamblin, Laura Ingraham and many, many others have followed, filling in every time slot on the radio schedule. Liberals have tried to compete, but simply can’t attract enough audience, and therefore advertising revenue, to keep the lights and transmitters on.
It’s not just that conservatives like having their opinions reinforced by the authority conferred by a broadcast antenna and radio call letters. As one very middle-of-the-road friend of mine once said: “As I listen to Rush, I don’t feel so alone.”
In his early days, Rush would boast about every new station that picked up his show. He would remind of us the size of his audience, now more than 20 million. When one listened to Dan Rather or Peter Jennings, it was easy to believe that conservative views were somewhat oddball. To learn that there were many millions more out there was comforting. Boasting about ratings has become quite common among talk show hosts, probably because consultants have identified this phenomenon.
It is for this reason, as much as any other, that left-wing talk radio will fail. Liberals never have to feel alone.
The news media is no longer an exclusively liberal playpen. Relief from liberalism is only a click away.

Monkey Mine Detonators

Holy cow! Just imagine what PETA will have to say about this! We we to accept this offer, it would enlarge our coalition to about 50 countries and three non-human species - pigeons for detecting nerve gas, dolphins for finding underwater mines and monkey for finding landmines.

The Arab Street Speaks, From America

"The bombs have begun to fall on Baghdad. Iraqi soldiers have shot their officers and are giving themselves up to the Americans and the British in droves. Others, as in Nasiriyah and Umm Qasr, are fighting back, and civilians have already come under fire. Yet I find myself dismissing contemptuously all the e-mails and phone calls I get from antiwar friends who think they are commiserating with me because "their" country is bombing "mine." To be sure, I am worried. Like every other Iraqi I know, I have friends and relatives in Baghdad. I am nauseous with anxiety for their safety. But still those bombs are music to my ears."
So writes Kanan Makiya, who views the American attack as essential to her homeland's future. Read the whole thing.

Letting Peace Protestors Run the Asylum

Portland Oregon's Fire Department has ordered its firemen to remove flags from their trucks, fearing attacks from "peace marchers."

To Hell with the French, I'll Take the Dolphins Anyday!

Now we have marine mammals joining us in the war against Iraq. They're more reliable than the French or the Germans anyway.

Quick, Somebody Call Hans Blix, and Michael Moore

We've intercepted messages instructing the Republican Guard to use their chemical weapons. What chemical weapons?

Is it Possible that We're Smarter than Saddam or Hitler

Ralph Peters points out that the battle for Baghdad will not look anything like what the deep thinkers at CNN or NPR expect. Little blood, little destruction.

"Why on earth would Gen. Tommy Franks do exactly what Saddam wants, and send our forces charging into the streets of Baghdad? " he asks. "We're not stupid - or Russian - for God's sake. We're not going to slug down a couple of bottles of vodka apiece and drive straight into Grozniy while Chechens pick off our tanks and troops at their leisure. We are going to make the rules in Baghdad, not Saddam."

The Arab Street Speaks Again (From Baghdad)

Iraqi-Americans are telling an interesting tale about phone conversations with their relatives in Baghdad. They can't wait for the Americans to arrive. And, they're so confident of their liberation this time, that they're openly denouncing Saddam without fear of their tapped phones being monitored. Yeehaw!

Is McCauliffe a Republican Mole?

I'm beginning to like Terry McCauliffe. He must be a Republican Party mole. He could not do more damage to the Democrats if he tried. He is so shrill and obnoxious on television that he must cost the Democrats votes everytime he is heard and seen. And now, he's advising all Democrats to line up behind Tom Daschle's ill-chosen words. Earlier this week Daschle said he was "saddened that this president failed so miserably at diplomacy that we're now forced to war. Saddened that we have to give up one life because this president couldn't create the kind of diplomatic effort that was so critical for our country."
Republicans would like nothing more than to hang this albatross around the whole party's neck. And now, McCauliffe is advising Democrats to hang it around their own necks.

Somebody Call Jacques Chirac, or Tom Daschle

The Iranian government calls America the Great Satan, and are condemning the invasion of Iraq. But, the citizenry hopes that the Marines cross the border and liberate them too.

The Arab Street Speaks again (In Safwan)

So far, however, there is no indication that the Iraqi population at large is resisting the allied forces. At Safwan, another town in the southeast, Iraqis waved in celebration as members of the 1st Marine Division hauled down giant portraits of Saddam Hussein. "We're very happy... Saddam Hussein is a butcher," said a man in the back of a pickup truck, identifying himself only as Abdullah. A woman fell at the feet of the Americans and embraced them, touching their knees, the Associated Press reported.

The Arab Street Speaks Again (in Umm Qasr)

Residents of the port city of Umm Qasr cheered wildly as US Marines tore down pictures of Saddam Hussein.
"We're very happy. . . . Saddam Hussein is a butcher," said a man in the back of a pickup truck, identifying himself only as Abdullah.

The Arab Street Speaks (In Basra)

The Arab street has spoken up again, this time in Iraq. They're cheering their liberation. Expect to see a lot more of this.

Why Waste the Ammo?

Our ever vigilent and unbiased media seems terribly disappointed that the United States has not yet unleashed its SHOCK AND AWE campaign. Even so, there has been little resistance. I think that's because surrenders have been arranged and there's no reason to splatter people who have no intention of fighting. It's good for a post-Saddam Iraq for these people to carry back messages of the mercy and kindness we show them
On the other hand, the Special Republican Guard is reportedly digging in around Iraq. Let's save the ordnance for them.

The Arab Street Speaks

The Detroit Arab street has spoken up loudly, in support of the United States liberation of Iraq. Those who know both Saddam and the United States know what they prefer.

Does Han Blix Know About This?

Iraqis are preparing chemical and biological warfare artillery shells. Another material breach.

Give War a Chance

Might sometimes does make right, when right is on the side of might. Historically armies representing honorable nations have a better record of forging a lasting peace than vigils, candle lightings, die-ins or floating luminaries. And so it shall be now. Shortly, Iraqis will be celebrating their liberation from despotism. In a few years, Iraq will disprove the Left’s contention that democracy cannot flourish in the Arab world.
The Saddamites, ranging from US Senate Minority Leader Tom Daschle to the poodles of Paris have insisted that war could have been avoided by protracting diplomacy indefinitely. Somehow an indefinite period of Keystone Cops scooting around Iraq playing three card monty with the Iraqi dictator does not strike this observer as a satisfactory status quo. And, as the legendary nineteenth century German diplomat Otto Von Bismarck declared shortly before kicking France’s fanny in the Franco-Prussian war, “War is diplomacy by other means.” The difference of opinions seems to revolve around whether diplomacy is an end or the means to an end.
Certainly poodle-style diplomacy accomplished less than nothing before the United States put a little muscle behind it. The only reason that the diplomacy favored by the French was able to make the ephemeral gains that it did these last few months was the positioning of more than a quarter of a million United States servicemen on Iraq’s borders. Saddam showed not the slightest inclination toward cooperating with the world’s will until war was threatened. To expect the United States and Great Britain to indefinitely maintain a threatening force on Saddam’s doorstep is unreasonable, particularly with North Korea issuing threats and building bombs.
The United States is not setting a precedent by excising an evil dictatorship. There have been numerous other instances of righteous might freeing oppressed people. Among the boils on the world’s butt that have been lanced without the United Nations’ permission was Pol Pot’s Khmer Rouge, which was deposed by Vietnam. There was little international distress or condemnation. Pol Pot’s victims were measured in the millions. The brutal, murderous dictatorship of Uganda’s Idi Amin was overthrown by Tanzania. In neither case was the United Nations consulted. And nobody worried about French opinion before doing what needed to be done.
There will be deaths in this war, but unless Saddam kills them, fewer Iraqis will perish at American arms than die in an average year at the hands of Saddam’s Gestapo. In a very short time, the costs of this war will be repaid in saved lives.
We will not see a surge of terrorism. The incidence of terrorism is not limited by the supply of aspiring martyrs eager for the70 virgins who await them in paradise. There already exists an overabundance of such people in the Middle East, particularly since Saddam Hussein began offering $25,000 to the families of suicide bombers. In reality, the incidence of terrorism is limited by the logistical support they receive from regimes such as Saddam’s. Once terrorists are deprived of the land and wealth of Saddam’s Iraq, terrorists will have fewer resources to work with.
It’s quite remarkable that so many people here and around the world are so distressed at the prospect of the United States imposing its will through power. What the United States wishes to impose is democracy and governments that do not threaten the civilized world. There seems to be some disagreement over whether the United States possesses the moral fitness to make this decision for unwilling regimes.
The country and the history should be thankful that the last presidential election turned out as it did. We can gain a measure of the low opinion of the United States that the loser would have displayed had things turned out otherwise. Al Gore’s national security advisor, Leon Fuerth expressed doubt that we could establish a “democratic government in a place that has never known one.”
Former and perhaps future Democratic presidential candidate Gary Hart wrote of planting seeds of peace and democracy in the Middle East that, “the extravagance, not to say arrogance, of this epic undertaking is sufficiently breathtaking in its hubris to make Woodrow Wilson blush.”
Woodrow Wilson earns this slight for believing that democracy should be spread around the world.
Fortunately we are now governed by people who understand the difference between mighty, righteous nations and powerful evil nations.

No Shit!!!!!!!!!!

Hans Blix discovers that the Iraqis are in violation.

This Could Be a Very Quick War

According to Skynews, two thirds of Iraq's army is ready to surrender at the first hint of comat.

Is Saddam Dead?

I'm not yet convinced that we missed Saddam last night. The CIA was pretty confident they knew where he was. And the guy I saw on Fox News last night didn't really look like Saddam to me. He supposedly has dozens of doubles out there. This guy was jowly and was wearing glasses I had never seen before. Even if that was Saddam, there was nothing in his speech that showed appreciation of current events. Other than mentioning the date, March 20, that speech could have been recorded a month ago. He has known for days that March 20 was his day of reckoning, so that means nothing.
The Israelis disagree with me and they believe that was Saddam, broadcasting live.
ABC News seems to agree with me and has pictures to prove it.

Give War a Chance

Might sometimes does make right, when right is on the side of might. Historically armies representing honorable nations have a better record of forging a lasting peace than vigils, candle lightings, die-ins or floating luminaries. And so it shall be now. Shortly, Iraqis will be celebrating their liberation from despotism. In a few years, Iraq will disprove the Left’s contention that democracy cannot flourish in the Arab world.
The Saddamites, ranging from US Senate Minority Leader Tom Daschle to the poodles of Paris have insisted that war could have been avoided by protracting diplomacy indefinitely. Somehow an indefinite period of Keystone Cops scooting around Iraq playing three card monty with the Iraqi dictator does not strike this observer as a satisfactory status quo. And, as the legendary nineteenth century German diplomat Otto Von Bismarck declared shortly before kicking France’s fanny in the Franco-Prussian war, “War is diplomacy by other means.” The difference of opinions seems to revolve around whether diplomacy is an end or the means to an end.
Certainly poodle-style diplomacy accomplished less than nothing before the United States put a little muscle behind it. The only reason that the diplomacy favored by the French was able to make the ephemeral gains that it did these last few months was the positioning of more than a quarter of a million United States servicemen on Iraq’s borders. Saddam showed not the slightest inclination toward cooperating with the world’s will until war was threatened. To expect the United States and Great Britain to indefinitely maintain a threatening force on Saddam’s doorstep is unreasonable, particularly with North Korea issuing threats and building bombs.
The United States is not setting a precedent by excising an evil dictatorship. There have been numerous other instances of righteous might freeing oppressed people. Among the boils on the world’s butt that have been lanced without the United Nations’ permission was Pol Pot’s Khmer Rouge, which was deposed by Vietnam. There was little international distress or condemnation. Pol Pot’s victims were measured in the millions. The brutal, murderous dictatorship of Uganda’s Idi Amin was overthrown by Tanzania. In neither case was the United Nations consulted. And nobody worried about French opinion before doing what needed to be done.
There will be deaths in this war, but unless Saddam kills them, fewer Iraqis will perish at American arms than die in an average year at the hands of Saddam’s Gestapo. In a very short time, the costs of this war will be repaid in saved lives.
We will not see a surge of terrorism. The incidence of terrorism is not limited by the supply of aspiring martyrs eager for the70 virgins who await them in paradise. There already exists an overabundance of such people in the Middle East, particularly since Saddam Hussein began offering $25,000 to the families of suicide bombers. In reality, the incidence of terrorism is limited by the logistical support they receive from regimes such as Saddam’s. Once terrorists are deprived of the land and wealth of Saddam’s Iraq, terrorists will have fewer resources to work with.
It’s quite remarkable that so many people here and around the world are so distressed at the prospect of the United States imposing its will through power. What the United States wishes to impose is democracy and governments that do not threaten the civilized world. There seems to be some disagreement over whether the United States possesses the moral fitness to make this decision for unwilling regimes.
The country and the history should be thankful that the last presidential election turned out as it did. We can gain a measure of the low opinion of the United States that the loser would have displayed had things turned out otherwise. Al Gore’s national security advisor, Leon Fuerth expressed doubt that we could establish a “democratic government in a place that has never known one.”
Former and perhaps future Democratic presidential candidate Gary Hart wrote of planting seeds of peace and democracy in the Middle East that, “the extravagance, not to say arrogance, of this epic undertaking is sufficiently breathtaking in its hubris to make Woodrow Wilson blush.”
Woodrow Wilson earns this slight for believing that democracy should be spread around the world.
Fortunately we are now governed by people who understand the difference between mighty, righteous nations and powerful evil nations.

Send me your jokes

I'm going to compile all the best French jokes I can assemble. If you have any favorites, please send them using the link provide on the left side of this page and if they make the grade, I'll post them. If I get enough good ones, I'll establish a dedicated website.
Here's a good French joke. How many Frenchmen does it take to change a light bulb? Just one. He holds the bulb and the world revolves around him.
A companion to this joke: How many Kennedy's does it take to change a light bulb? Two. One to hold the bulb and one to drink until the room spins.

Maybe we should try something like this with the French

Suddenly the South Koreans like us. Suddenly faced with the propect of the United States leaving South Korea to the tender mercies of their neighbors to the north has softened their anti-Americanism. In this case, just the prospect of separation has made the heart grow fonder.
Now, we have no troops in France to withdraw, but he French rely upon us for a great deal. And, without the United Nations, the French would be reduced to the irrelevance they deserve. Let's make sure they understand that a French veto means the end of the United Nations. And let them know that every bit of dirt we discover in Saddam's records regarding the French will be made prominently public.

The FBI did their job

If I were to pick the one element of the modern zeitgeist that I find most illuminating, it is the unconditional alliance that the cultural and political left has formed with Islam. The left has long hated western civilization and has cited racism, ethnocentrism, sexism, homophobia and reactionary conservatism as justifications for its indignation. And yet, even though Islamic cultures are rife with all those flaws, the cultural left falls all over itself to show its tolerance of and support for Islam. The enemy of my enemy is my friend, I suppose. And so, with its tail wagging happily, the left happily nuzzles the pants legs of radical Islam.
Locally the forces of political correctness and compassionate exhibitionism have rallied around the cause of Sami Omar Al Hussayen, a University of Idaho computer science graduate student who was arrested recently and charged with visa fraud. More ominous were the suggestions that he is linked to terrorist organizations. Al Hussayn has raised money for the Islamic Assembly of North America, which the FBI alleges funnels a portion of its revenues to radical Islamic groups. He also set up or administered 14 websites for the IANA, some of which carried messages that, according to the FBI, "promoted terrorism through suicide bombings and using airplanes as weapons."
This might be a case of guilt by association. But, while one may not be punished legally for one’s associations, were Al Husseyn a white guy named Bob Smith who donated money to and administered websites for white supremacist groups, I guarantee you that Mr. Smith and his family would not enjoy the same level of support and encouragement from the left that Al Husseyn and his family are being treated to.
Naturally, after Al Husseyn’s arrest, the usual suspects howled outrage and accused the FBI of violating civil rights and committing ethnic profiling and worse. It might be helpful to keep in mind that we are currently under siege by Islamic extremists and to defend ourselves, we have to investigate Islamic extremists. When one is investigating Islamic extremists it’s highly likely that the investigators will run across an occasional Muslim. This is roughly the kind of profiling that occurs when one is trying to catch a steelhead. If it is your goal to catch a steelhead, then you cast your line where steelhead lurk.
It is not inconsistent to simultaneously presume the legal innocence of the accused while trusting good faith on the part of the FBI. The presumption of innocence is after all simply a legal burden placed upon the government forcing it to prove its case. This presumption does not mean that the FBI has jailed an innocent man. It only means that the government has not yet proven its case in court. Evidence presented in court this last week indicates that the FBI would have been remiss in its duties if it did not pursue someone with Al-Husseyn’s resume.
Many who knew Sami Omar Al-Hussayen assure us that he was a really good guy and did not fit their image of a terrorist. This is not too surprising. Sami Al-Arian, the University of South Florida professor who was arrested recently for his alleged connections to terrorists was so convincing in his denunciations of terrorism that he managed an invitation to the White House after the September 11, 2001 attacks. Al-Arian publicly denounced the attacks, but Bill O’Reilly of the Fox News Channel discovered videotape of Al-Arian in Cleveland preaching "Jihad is our path. Victory to Islam, death to Israel. Revolution, revolution, until victory rolling to Jerusalem," words hardly consistent with his public face.
Found in the belongings left behind by the terrorists who hijacked the planes on 9/11 were instructions on how to blend into American society. In other words, to succeed as a terrorist, one must not appear as a terrorist. It’s the ruse used by all successful con men.
The day may come when Sami Omar Al Hussayen is exonerated. It may be that, within his culture, one may be careless in his associations and Bob Smith would not be held accountable in Saudi Arabia for rubbing elbows with Aryan Nations skinheads. But in this country, one is known by the company he keeps and the FBI was right to focus on this guy.

We Win, No Matter What The UN Does

My favorite line last night was when Bush announced that he would force the Security Council to show its cards. He knows he holds the winning hand and he just wants to call their bluff. We're going to blow Saddam to bits and expose his weapons program. We're going to establish democracy in the region and it will be the foundation of a lasting peace. And, if the United Nations chooses to be left behind, then I say it's about time. It's silly to have an organization that puts Libya as chair of its human rights commission or Iraq as chair of its diarmament commission. That the civilized nations of the world should have to seek permission from Cameroon or Trinidad before acting in its own self-defense is ridiculous anyway.
We should replace the United Nations with a coalition of nations dedicated to defending civilization from barbarism.
Maybe someday, France could earn a secondary role in such an organization.

Democrats Poised to Embarass Themselves Again

In about two weeks or less, the Democrats will be handed their heads again. Daschle and Pelosi took time out from civility to blast George W. Bush for the self-serving instransigience of France, Germany and Russia. Once the war is over and these countries duplicity is revealed, they will be exposed for the cynical partisans they are.

Surely, This News Doesn't Surprise Anyone

The French have been caught once again helping to arm Saddam Hussein. Is it any reason they don't want us kicking his butt? They don't want to lose a customer.

Big Boobs Don't Buy Happiness

Now here's a curious tale. Women who get breast enlargement surgery are more likely to commit suicide than their self-satisfied controls.

The Truly Silent Majority

Who can make more noise – 100 voices, or a silent majority of 18,216 voices? Okay, well who deserves greater consideration – should it be the 18, 216 Washington State University students whose priorities last Wednesday included attending their classes, listening to their CD players, or maybe even playing video games with their friends, or should it be the miniscule mob of breast beaters and hand wringers who on Wednesday just past, protested the looming war with Iraq?
Roughly 0.55% of the Washington State University student body stomped around and proclaimed their dissent from United States foreign policy. They growled that students from hostile nations were being watched slightly more closely than the average student. They were upset that we would be soon be tossing a fascist dictator out of power. They couldn’t stand the fact that the arrogant United States would soon be imposing liberty upon one of the most tortured regions of the world.
Meanwhile, the other 99.45% of Wazzu’s student went about their business apparently unworried about the war or perhaps even supportive of United States’ objectives. So, who gets the notice? Why, it’s ½ of one percent who gets noticed.
As the front page of the Moscow-Pullman Daily News proclaimed, “Voices for Peace Grow Louder.” Maybe they were a little louder maybe, but were they any more consequential?
Similar protests around the country attracted similar apathy. At the University of North Carolina, 99.36% of the student body ignored the protests. All but 0.53% of Marquette University’s students disregarded the calls to raise a stink. Virginia Commonwealth University had 2 people show up for its demonstration. The other 99.99% of the student body went to class or drank beer. All of 30 students from Seattle Central Community College joined that campus’s anti-war die-in. That’s probably a lower than usual truancy rate.
But let’s not be narrow minded It could very well be that the pro-Saddam, pro-Islamo-fascism legions are growing in number. After all, I dropped in on a “peace vigil” in Moscow a little over a year ago and saw six people opposing the war in Afghanistan. When you can only attract six protestors to your rally, it does leave an awful lot of room for improvement.
The rally at WSU was preceded over the previous weekend by a blast e-mail from one of the faculty from the Comparative American Cultures Department. Dr. David Leonard announced that, “we intend to participate in a nationwide walkout in protest of the war.” He even went on to ask that the university cancel classes that day so that the protesters could grieve, much as the rest of us grieved after the September 11, 2001 attacks.
How about that? He compared disagreement with United States foreign policy with grieving for 3000 murder victims. Why not grieve for the 1.5 million people whom Saddam Hussein has killed?
According to the e-mail, the initiation of war would, “mean death or serious injury for hundreds of thousands of civilians. It would mean hunger, thirst, illness and homelessness for millions.” Actually, it would mean the opposite.
I’ll predict right now that fewer Iraqis will die from American munitions than perish in an average year at the hands of Saddam Hussein’s Gestapo.
Somehow, I remember similar predictions about the war with Afghanistan. Since that war, hundreds of thousands of refugees have returned to their homes and the Afghan economy is flourishing.
In reality, demonstrations are only as loud as the news media wishes to make them. Does 0.55% of the WSU student body deserve front page, above the fold treatment? Don’t the other 18,216 deserve some consideration? Isn’t it a much bigger story that more than 99% of the student body either supports United States policy or cares so little that they won’t pull themselves away from a television or a textbook to complain about it?
It would seem that if the Moscow-Pullman Daily News sincerely wanted to feel the pulse of student opinion, they might have asked for comments from non-protestors or at least run the math, as I just did. After all don’t the 99.46% of New York University, the 99.71% of Rutgers University, or even the 98.67% of the University of California at Berkeley who joined WSU’s silent majority deserve consideration too?