Happy Easter. Happy Passover. But, if you’re like the president of Iran and believe in the coming of the “Twelfth Imam,” your happy holiday may be just around the corner, too. President Ahmadinejad, who is said to consider himself the designated deputy of the “hidden Imam,” held a press conference this week — against a backdrop of doves fluttering round an atom and accompanied by dancers in orange decontamination suits doing choreographed uranium-brandishing. It looked like that Bollywood finale of ”The 40-Year-Old Virgin,” where they all pranced around to “This Is The Dawning Of The Age Of Aquarius.” As it happens, although he dresses like Steve Carell’s 40-year-old virgin, the Iranian president is, in fact, a 40-year-old nuclear virgin, and he was holding a press conference to announce he was ready to blow. “Iran,” he said, “has joined the group of countries which have nuclear technology” — i.e., this is the dawning of the age of a scary us. “Our enemies cannot do a damned thing,” he crowed, as an appreciative audience chanted “Death to America!”
The reaction of the international community was swift and ferocious. The White House said that Iran “was moving in the wrong direction.” This may have been a reference to the dancers. A simple Radio City kickline would have been better. The British Foreign Office said it was “not helpful.” This may have been a reference to the doves round the atom.
You know what’s great fun to do if you’re on, say, a flight from Chicago to New York and you’re getting a little bored? Why not play being President Ahmadinejad? Stand up and yell in a loud voice, “I’ve got a bomb!” Next thing you know the air marshal will be telling people, “It’s OK, folks. Nothing to worry about. He hasn’t got a bomb.” And then the second marshal would say, “And even if he did have a bomb it’s highly unlikely he’d ever use it.” And then you threaten to kill the two Jews in row 12 and the stewardess says, “Relax, everyone. That’s just a harmless rhetorical flourish.” And then a group of passengers in rows 4 to 7 point out, “Yes, but it’s entirely reasonable of him to have a bomb given the threatening behavior of the marshals and the cabin crew.”
Category Archives: War Commentary
Red On Red
This seems like good news:
Sheikh Osama Jadaan’s dislike of foreign occupation is nothing compared to his contempt for Iraq’s other intruders – the foreign jihadists who have indiscriminately killed thousands of his countrymen. Now, in what coalition commanders hope will mark a turning of the tide against al-Qaeda in Iraq, he has become the first of the Sunni tribal leaders to declare war on the terrorists to whom, until now, they have given safe haven.
He is well-placed to do so – his al-Karabla tribe lives around the desert city of Al Qaim, near the Syrian border in Anbar province, the Sunni insurgents’ stronghold.
Sheikh Jadaan’s armed followers claim to have arrested and killed 300 would-be jihadis entering from Syria, many bound for service as suicide bombers with Abu Musab al Zarqawi, the leader of al-Qaeda in Iraq.
No Sense Of Humor
Think of this next time someone says that George Bush has “destroyed civil liberties” in this country:
“While the outcome of the recent arrests in connection with SMS messaging is not clear yet, what is certain is that SMS jokes have already put some people into serious trouble,” wrote the website Rooz Online.
The clampdown is in line with the authorities’ uncompromising stance on the internet and bloggers. Wary of modern communications as a means of spreading political dissent, Iran is second only to China in the number of websites it filters – using technology made in America.
Large numbers of the nation’s estimated 70,000 to 100,000 bloggers have faced harassment or imprisonment. The regime has acknowledged monitoring text message traffic. It first admitted it had access to text traffic last December when a military plane carrying more than 100 journalists crashed shortly after take-off at Tehran airport.
“Although”?
Here’s an interesting story from SEEBS news:
Although Americans believe they are better informed about Islam than they were five years ago, a new CBS News poll finds fewer than one in five say their impression of the religion is favorable.
OK, class, what’s wrong with the first word of this story?
Anyone, anyone, Bueller?
Yes, it’s the word “although.” Clearly, any sane person would have started off that sentence with the word “Because.”
But “because” the MSM wants to persist in feeding us the CAIR line that “Islam is a religion of peace,” they have to use a nonsensical word to preface the rest of the thought. For the devil’s advocates in the room, please explain to me and my other readers how a better understanding of Islam would compel one to have a more, rather than less, favorable impression of it.
[Update on Thursday morning]
This kind of reminds me of a similar confusion about cause and effect, when the New York Times will start a story, “Despite the recent drop in the crime rate, the prison population is at an all-time high.”
“Although”?
Here’s an interesting story from SEEBS news:
Although Americans believe they are better informed about Islam than they were five years ago, a new CBS News poll finds fewer than one in five say their impression of the religion is favorable.
OK, class, what’s wrong with the first word of this story?
Anyone, anyone, Bueller?
Yes, it’s the word “although.” Clearly, any sane person would have started off that sentence with the word “Because.”
But “because” the MSM wants to persist in feeding us the CAIR line that “Islam is a religion of peace,” they have to use a nonsensical word to preface the rest of the thought. For the devil’s advocates in the room, please explain to me and my other readers how a better understanding of Islam would compel one to have a more, rather than less, favorable impression of it.
[Update on Thursday morning]
This kind of reminds me of a similar confusion about cause and effect, when the New York Times will start a story, “Despite the recent drop in the crime rate, the prison population is at an all-time high.”
“Although”?
Here’s an interesting story from SEEBS news:
Although Americans believe they are better informed about Islam than they were five years ago, a new CBS News poll finds fewer than one in five say their impression of the religion is favorable.
OK, class, what’s wrong with the first word of this story?
Anyone, anyone, Bueller?
Yes, it’s the word “although.” Clearly, any sane person would have started off that sentence with the word “Because.”
But “because” the MSM wants to persist in feeding us the CAIR line that “Islam is a religion of peace,” they have to use a nonsensical word to preface the rest of the thought. For the devil’s advocates in the room, please explain to me and my other readers how a better understanding of Islam would compel one to have a more, rather than less, favorable impression of it.
[Update on Thursday morning]
This kind of reminds me of a similar confusion about cause and effect, when the New York Times will start a story, “Despite the recent drop in the crime rate, the prison population is at an all-time high.”
“How Can They Think That?”
Melanie Phillips writes about Saddam’s secrets:
Earlier this year, Sada was interrogated about his claims by the American House Intelligence committee, to whom he gave the names of the Iraqi pilots. Subsequently, he says, the Committee went to Iraq and spoke to the pilots. The result, he says, is that a major American investigative and diplomatic effort is now under way to finally locate the missing WMD.
But in Britain, I say, people now firmly believe that there were no WMD and that we were taken to war on a lie. Sada looks utterly flabbergasted.
“How Can They Think That?”
Melanie Phillips writes about Saddam’s secrets:
Earlier this year, Sada was interrogated about his claims by the American House Intelligence committee, to whom he gave the names of the Iraqi pilots. Subsequently, he says, the Committee went to Iraq and spoke to the pilots. The result, he says, is that a major American investigative and diplomatic effort is now under way to finally locate the missing WMD.
But in Britain, I say, people now firmly believe that there were no WMD and that we were taken to war on a lie. Sada looks utterly flabbergasted.
“How Can They Think That?”
Melanie Phillips writes about Saddam’s secrets:
Earlier this year, Sada was interrogated about his claims by the American House Intelligence committee, to whom he gave the names of the Iraqi pilots. Subsequently, he says, the Committee went to Iraq and spoke to the pilots. The result, he says, is that a major American investigative and diplomatic effort is now under way to finally locate the missing WMD.
But in Britain, I say, people now firmly believe that there were no WMD and that we were taken to war on a lie. Sada looks utterly flabbergasted.
Back To The War
With continuing great reporting, Michael Yon provides a travelogue of Thailand and the unreported war there, and Dubai. Oh, and he says that Iraq is in a civil war.
And here’s a very long, but worthwhile essay on Iran by Mark Steyn.