Here and There, Feb. 21

The kumbayologist editors of the San Francisco Chronicle are so intent on opposing the Bush administration on Iraq that they might as well be the PR agency for the Tikrit mafia. But every once in a while they take a detour from their "Peace through Weakness" campaign and publish an article that actually teachs the public something new about Iraq. On Thursday they printed a story about a group of Iraqi Kurdish immigrants in California who are training to support the U.S. military to overthrow Saddam.

Fares was living in Baghdad in 1991 when he says the first Bush administration made a strategic blunder all Iraqis have paid for: "Life was going to be beautiful. They were supposed to continue until Baghdad, to kick him out. They made a mistake. Ever since, the people have suffered."

He dismisses the dire predictions of a bloodbath in the streets of Baghdad if U.S. troops invade.

"Nobody is going to fight," he said. "(The Iraqi soldiers) are waiting for this moment. When they hear America is going to bomb, they are going to throw their weapons away.

"I speak English and Arabic and Kurdish. I want to help."

another man named Tariq says

"I have friends from Baghdad frankly talking about the collapse of Saddam Hussein," he said. "It means he has lost control. This is the first time I've heard people talking freely on the phone."

Ever the military strategist, Tariq draws a map of Iraq and says that U.S. planes must drop messages on Iraqi cities making clear that the Americans are coming as liberators, not attackers.

"Bush needs to get rid of Saddam Hussein as soon as possible," he said. "If he takes too much time, the anti-war movement in the United States and Europe will probably halt everything."

Yeah, but I suspect that the Chronicle's editorial writers will keep spewing forth that their opposition to replacing Saddam is motivated by human rights concerns for Iraqi civilians.

Pelosi Sleaze Watch The Chronicle also takes a break from its predictably fawning coverage of hometown party hostess and House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi to report that Pelosi is serving up a big barrel of Pork.

Pelosi has pushed through $1 million in federal funds for a think tank started by her longtime adviser and campaign treasurer, former Lt. Gov. Leo T. McCarthy, sparking concerns that she is rewarding a supporter with taxpayer money.

McCarthy, recall, is the bagman who helped Pelosi circumvent the very campaign finance laws that she helped pass.

The good news in California politics is that outgoing San Francisco Mayor Willie Brown failed in his bid for the presidency of CalPERS, the nation's largest public pension fund. All California state employees should sleep a little better knowing that their retirement savings are safe from Brown's sticky fingers.

The INS has decided to give potential terrorists a little extra time to evade authorities.

Friday's deadline for male visitors from Saudi Arabia and Pakistan has been extended four weeks, to March 21. The registration period for men from Bangladesh, Egypt, Indonesia, Jordan and Kuwait has also been extended four weeks and will run from Feb. 24 to April 25.

The INS extended the deadline in response to requests from individuals and immigrant-rights groups, said Jorge Martinez, a spokesman for the U.S. Justice Department.

I wonder if the INS would also consider requests for tougher immigration controls from citizens-who-don't-want-to-be-on-an-airplane-that-gets-blown-out-of-the-sky-rights groups.

German reader Tobias encouraged me to mention CDU leader Angela Merkel's op-ed in Thursday's Washington Post "Schroeder Doesn't Speak for All Germans" (I infer that Tobias is one of those Germans for whom Schroeder doesn't speak). I also noticed that Der Spiegel slapped Merkel for criticizing the Chancellor in the foreign press (which she did) and for "kowtowing" to Bush (to be precise, they spell it Kotau, but she didn't do that either). Amiland has the rest of the story and some interesting history.

Posted by Stefan Sharkansky at February 21, 2003 06:59 AM