Iraq, past and present

As prisoner Saddam continues his daily tantrums the magic of the internets (and Marie's blog) has allowed us to revisit the misty past and some classic Saddam-is-evil speeches from the 90s.

When taken in combination with the Sheila MacVicar ABC report from 1999 (which crowed about a developing relationship between Saddam and bin Laden), it clearly shows who Bill Clinton and friends were really obsessed with back then--the same guy Bush is accused of being obsessed with now.

MORE 9/28/06

The new terror kingpin has issued another call to arms for peace-loving Muslims to kill, kill, kill during the holy month of Ramadan. But as Hot Air describes, not only with guns but with something a bit more potent.

First, where in the world would they get WMDs? There weren't any in Iraq, right? Second, if they do have them it really doesn't seem feasible to spray them around Iraq proper. Dirty bombs and bioweapons are not respectors of ethnic nationalities, and all our troops in theatre have been immunized for bioweapons. Besides, blowing off radiological weapons would justify Bush. So perhaps this is just a casual bluff.

By the way, his call for the release of the Blind Sheikh is not surprising since both are Egyptians. It might also explain Allahpundit's point about how closely coordinated the messages are between Iraq and "the home office", since Zawahiri is another Egyptian.

MORE 9/28/06

Everybody's talking about Iraq. We have polls, messages from terrorists, messages from Bush, Karzai, Talibani, Musharraf, and even Mel Gibson. On Sunday we'll be treated to another 60 Minutes episode featuring "Watergate Bob" Woodward, and from early excerpts he appears ready to tear into Bush like Bill Clinton on a Fox host. From what can be gathered he'll be charging that the administration has been less than brutally honest about conditions on the ground.

But there are two sides of any wartime disinformation coin. A captured communique from Zarqawi's lair was made public today, which discusses al-Qaeda in Iraq's desperate straits late last year. Here's a pertinent sentence:

We have no alternative but to not squander any element of the foundations of strength, or any helper or supporter."

Support from anyone, huh? Well, one of the casus belli arguments for removing Saddam was removing the circumstance of him being an anyone.

HERE, HERE 9/28/06

Grand Ayatollah Sistani has announced he supports the Pope and desires a meeting, a sharp contrast to the juvenile ranting expurgating out of the two-year-old in Iran. Is expurgating even a word? It seemed to fit.

Anyway, Sistani has a kind hearted look. He seems to be a genuine man of peace and wisdom. I wish ALL Clerics and Imams had a quart or two of what he's got.

By the way, al-Masri mentioned the Blind Sheikh. Here's another comparison, just for fun.



The Grand Ayatollah is definitely the better Santa Claus.