Belmont Club and Trent Telenko weigh in.

Me? It depends on how one defines a civil war. Also, there is an implicit assumption that a civil war in Iraq is a disaster for the US (which is why so much of the Bush-hating press wants to play it up). But civil wars can end, and have outcomes, and the outcome of this one certainly has the potential for continuing to achieve our Middle East goals (in this case, providing a stable source of oil to counter the Saudis, the establishment of a base from which to further pressure Iran, Saudi Arabia and Syria).

When I hear the whining and the straw men about how Bush “lied” about how easy this would be, I wonder where they were when he was saying shortly after September 11 that this was a struggle that would take decades, and when Rumsfeld was saying that it would be a long, hard slog. I certainly never had any expectations that this would be easy, or happen overnight. In fact, it’s gone about as well as I expected, and it’s certainly gone much better than many of those who opposed it predicted (oil fields on fire, many thousands of innocent casualties, complete anarchy, Iran and/or Syria taking over, casualties from WMD that he didn’t have, etc.).

And sometime, I need to sit down and write up the likely alternate history had we not removed Saddam. That wouldn’t be a pretty picture, either, for the Iraqis, us, or the world. As the general once said, war is a series of shitty choices.

[Update at 10 AM EST]

Gerard Baker has done exactly that.

…or another “Jenin Massacre”? We won’t find out until the investigation is complete, but expect the press to do its best to make it the former, without waiting for the facts.

Having a Pat Robertson moment (or, more likely, a Pat Robertson life), one of the many irredeemable lunatics that passes for religious leaders in the Middle East claims that bird flu discovered in Israel is a sign of Allah’s wrath. He also “…asked for congregants to ‘pray for Allah to dry out the sexual organs of the Jews with a disease so they won’t be able to reproduce anymore.'” Can’t you just feel the love emanating from the Religion of Peace?

As the article dryly notes, though:

Muhammed made his comments in spite of predictions the virus found in Israel may surface through migrating fowl in the nearby Palestinian territories.

The article also mentions cases appearing in Egypt. What did they do to piss off Allah? Turkey I can understand, what with their satanic secular state and all, but Egypt? What with all of the disasters going on all over the place, it’s apparently pretty hard to stay on his good side, even if you’re a Muslim. Maybe even especially if you’re a Muslim, judging by (for instance) the tsunami last year. If what the moderate Muslims say about their religion is true, I’d be more a little convinced if Allah would start smiting all these false prophets.

Having a Pat Robertson moment (or, more likely, a Pat Robertson life), one of the many irredeemable lunatics that passes for religious leaders in the Middle East claims that bird flu discovered in Israel is a sign of Allah’s wrath. He also “…asked for congregants to ‘pray for Allah to dry out the sexual organs of the Jews with a disease so they won’t be able to reproduce anymore.'” Can’t you just feel the love emanating from the Religion of Peace?

As the article dryly notes, though:

Muhammed made his comments in spite of predictions the virus found in Israel may surface through migrating fowl in the nearby Palestinian territories.

The article also mentions cases appearing in Egypt. What did they do to piss off Allah? Turkey I can understand, what with their satanic secular state and all, but Egypt? What with all of the disasters going on all over the place, it’s apparently pretty hard to stay on his good side, even if you’re a Muslim. Maybe even especially if you’re a Muslim, judging by (for instance) the tsunami last year. If what the moderate Muslims say about their religion is true, I’d be more a little convinced if Allah would start smiting all these false prophets.

Having a Pat Robertson moment (or, more likely, a Pat Robertson life), one of the many irredeemable lunatics that passes for religious leaders in the Middle East claims that bird flu discovered in Israel is a sign of Allah’s wrath. He also “…asked for congregants to ‘pray for Allah to dry out the sexual organs of the Jews with a disease so they won’t be able to reproduce anymore.'” Can’t you just feel the love emanating from the Religion of Peace?

As the article dryly notes, though:

Muhammed made his comments in spite of predictions the virus found in Israel may surface through migrating fowl in the nearby Palestinian territories.

The article also mentions cases appearing in Egypt. What did they do to piss off Allah? Turkey I can understand, what with their satanic secular state and all, but Egypt? What with all of the disasters going on all over the place, it’s apparently pretty hard to stay on his good side, even if you’re a Muslim. Maybe even especially if you’re a Muslim, judging by (for instance) the tsunami last year. If what the moderate Muslims say about their religion is true, I’d be more a little convinced if Allah would start smiting all these false prophets.

Thousands of women are being charged in Pakistan for being raped. Boy, can’t wait for that good old Sharia law to come to my neighborhood.

Thousands of women are being charged in Pakistan for being raped. Boy, can’t wait for that good old Sharia law to come to my neighborhood.

Thousands of women are being charged in Pakistan for being raped. Boy, can’t wait for that good old Sharia law to come to my neighborhood.

As some noted in comments, I was too busy this weekend to say anything thoughtful or knowledgable [so what else is new?–ed Hey–I didn’t hire you to snark at me!] about the third anniversary of the action to remove Saddam, but Mohammed at Iraq the Model wasn’t.

Well, not power, but insanity and murderousness.

I wrote previously of a courageous woman. Here is the video, in Arabic, with English subtitles.

And while I’m no big fan of Al Jazeera, props to them for showing it to the Arab world. I wonder why they did? Are they realizing that the jig is up?

And I think that if the Administration were smart, they’d provide SS protection to her.