It’s Friday, which means it’s time to go over and read Victor Davis Hanson’s latest. He puts things into perspective:
These are still perilous times. But if anyone on September 12, 2001, had predicted that 22 months later there would still be no repeat of 9/11; that bin Laden would be either quiet, dead, or in hiding; that al Qaeda would be dispersed, the Taliban gone, and the likes of a Mr. Karzai in Kabul; that Saddam Hussein would be out of power, his sons dead, and an Iraqi national council emerging in his place; that troops would be leaving Saudi Arabia, Arafat ostracized, and Sharon seeking negotiations; that new Middle East agreements under discussion – and all at a cost of fewer than 300 American lives – then he would surely have been written off as a madman…
…So far we have lost fewer lives in Afghanistan and Iraq than we did in a single day’s butchery in the Marine barracks in Lebanon. But unlike that terrible sacrifice, this time Americans are fighting back, winning, and changing for the better the lives of millions in the most remarkable, ambitious, and risky endeavor since the end of World War II.
“We will believe they are dead when Uday and Qusay’s bodies are tied to cars and dragged through the streets so everybody can see them,” said Muhammad, an engineer.
As I said, it would be barbaric in western terms, but maybe the most psychologically effective thing to do would be to hang them from something, and tour it around Baghdad on the back of a tank. Just be sure to keep the bodies high enough so they can’t get at them–otherwise, you won’t have much left by the time you get to the end of the first street, vis:
“Death is not enough. They should have been hung up on poles in a square in Baghdad so all Iraqis could see them. Then they should have died as people ate them alive,” said businessman Khalil Ali. “The photographs do not mean anything.”
Lost in much of the debate over health care is the fact that there are tremendous disincentives in the system for market-based approaches built into the tax code. The National Taxpayers’ Union agrees, and has a proposed solution.
It makes so much sense, don’t expect it to happen any time soon.
In contrast to Charlie Rangel, Bill Clinton gets it, and demonstrates why he was so politically successful. Of course, some of it is to try to cover his own sorry ass for his pusillanimousness with respect to foreign (as opposed to Montana militia) terrorism.
Fortunately, in their utter insanity over their unexpected and continued loss of power, to which they thought themselves naturally entitled, I expect the Democrats to continue driving themselves over the cliff.
It looks like they’ve not only killed Uday and Qusay, but their bodies are relatively intact. They may be body doubles, but it seems unlikely to me that there would be two doubles together. In any event, they should be able to confirm with DNA.
Intact bodies means they have pictures to distribute. It might even be useful, albeit barbaric (though not for that part of the world right now), to put the corpses on display in Baghdad, at least for a couple days, to suppress Elvis-like rumors, and really put the peoples’ minds at ease.