The San Francisco Chronicle suddenly departs from Mrs. Robert Scheer's pro-Saddam editorial policy with an actual front page report from Baghdad.
one [Iraqi at a Baghdad mosque] pulled aside a reporter. "Don't believe anything anyone says here, because we all know that your translator is a government spy," he said. "We'll only say good things about Saddam to you. But 90 percent of us want Saddam to go. We'll cheer the Americans if they come and get rid of him."Go figure.Looking nervously around him, he continued: "We want all these regime people to be killed."
Meanwhile, today's Chronicle has another story with the headline Germans across political spectrum tongue-lash America; Anti-war fever feeds distaste toward U.S.. As the careful reader will notice, the only "political spectrum" the story refers to is: political figures from the unpopular leftist governing coalition, a feminist, and a theologian who blames the United States for starting the Iran-Iraq war. It is true that a majority of Germans oppose the war, but this story scrupulously ignores the fact that the German political spectrum includes the opposition center-right Christian Democrats (who are troucing the governing coalition in regional elections and in national public opinion polls) and whose leaders support Bush and the war and are distancing themselves from Chiraq. To its credit, the article also contains quotes from Iraqi exiles in Germany who don't think much of the "leave Saddam alone" crowd:
When Family Minister Renate Schmidt, a Social Democrat from Bavaria, enthusiastically praised the Berlin marchers on another talk show for "standing up against a terrible, totally unjustifiable war," she was challenged by journalist Namo Azis.Go figure."All these demonstrations are not in the interest of the Iraqi people, who for years have been terrorized, raped, brutalized," he said.
Looking at the flustered Schmidt, Azis added, "The German government is very short-sighted, and it's not surprising that Chancellor Schroeder and Foreign Minister (Joschka) Fischer have been cheered for their anti-war stance by Iraq's government-controlled press."
While the German government is still firm in its public opposition to the war against Iraq, it is also quietly preparing for a post-Saddam peacekeeping role, Der Spiegel reports. Which kind of suggests that (a) Schroeder has incomplete confidence in Chiraq's plan to keep Saddam in power, and (b) the anti-Bushies who keep whining about not having the support of the international community to rebuild Iraq really are as clueless as you always knew they were.
Gil Shterzer has an update on the e-mail from a Danish Jew I posted last week. Gil confirms the e-mailer's story that Muslims in Denmark are publicly inciting the murder of Jews, with only scant consequences from the authorities.
Bill Herbert finds that cartoonist Ted Rall has sunk to a new low. Which is quite an accomplishment given the depths to which Rall has already sunk.
Self-described Useful Fool John Moore says: The UN is worse than useless. The headquarters building is symbolic of the whole enterprise. Furthermore, it sitting on valuable real estate in the United States, is full of people whose diplomatic immunity allows them to commit crimes, and is a base for espionage. Moore is operating a contest on his blog: "WHAT WOULD YOU DO WITH U.N. HEADQUARTERS?"
I agree that the UN is currently worse than useless, and mainly because some people ascribe too much importance to it. I still think we should keep it around, but only as a talking shop, and without the expectation that it can actually accomplish anything. The best part about keeping the UN Headquarters in the US is that it is a base for espionage -- a base for the US to spy more easily on everybody else.
Al Barger is improving on "Eat an Animal for PETA Day" by an order of magnitude. We will hold Al accountable to tell us which ten species he consumes.
As for me, I already did my part for the "Eat an Animal for PETA Day" by having a big-ass salami sandwich for lunch.
Posted by Stefan Sharkansky at March 15, 2003 03:14 PMAs a diabetic, I eat only a little meat. Meat has no affect on my sugar, but the cholesterol and triglycerides are just as problematic for me. In other words, lots of meat is good for the sugar, but too much can kill me just as dead with a heart attack. I try to walk the line.
Today however, I had to have a nice big chicken dinner. I emailed PETA also...letting them know that I was taking my life in my hands, but I couldn't pass up Eat An Animal for PETA day. Just so you know, my sugar is OK, a big meat meal once in a while doesn't hurt, especially since I'm careful most of the time.
Posted by: bjbarron on March 15, 2003 05:53 PM