Considerettes

What a week to have been away from the blog! So much went on:

• The top sellers of arms to Iraq have been Russia, France and China. Imagine that. The US, by the way, ranks way down in the list (1% of Iraq’s purchases vs. Russia’s 57%, France’s 13% and China’s 12%). Hopefully this will quiet those who seem to think America was the prime, if not only, seller of weapons to Hussein. We didn’t hold a candle to the Axis of Weasels.
• Another human shield admits how wrong he was. He posted a very detailed desciption of his time in Iraq. Best quote: “I had been demonstrating against the war thinking I had been doing it for the very people I was here with now and yet I had not ever bothered to ask them what they wanted.”
• The anti-war crowd has been saying for months that Saddam didn’t pose a threat to anyone, and now they’re saying (as exemplified by this weekend’s Peter Arnett Gestapo Iraq TV interview) that Iraq is a more formidable force than they’d ever imagined. Can’t have it both ways.
• Looks like Iraq has at least some Al-Qaeda backing. Does this surprise anyone? (Yes, yes, I mean “except the anti-war crowd”.)

…and a bunch more, but you get the idea. It’s been quite a ride.

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I’m learning the Java computer language this week, so entries will be minimal.

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A (former) human shield for the country of Iraq got a serious upside-the-head wake-up call while he was in Baghdad. It’s definitely worth the free registration to read the London Telegraph. Best portion:

It hit me on visceral and emotional levels: this was a real portrayal of Iraq life. After the first conversation, I completely rethought my view of the Iraqi situation. My understanding changed on intellectual, emotional, psychological levels. I remembered the experience of seeing Saddam’s egomaniacal portraits everywhere for the past two weeks and tried to place myself in the shoes of someone who had been subjected to seeing them every day for the last 20 or so years.

Last Thursday night I went to photograph the anti-war rally in Parliament Square. Thousands of people were shouting “No war” but without thinking about the implications for Iraqis. Some of them were drinking, dancing to Samba music and sparring with the police. It was as if the protesters were talking about a different country where the ruling government is perfectly acceptable. It really upset me.

Reality. What a concept.

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My essays pages is now listed at The Liberal Dose web site. He’s got lots of great links to other conservative sites, and has a section where he opines on various subjects.

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Less than 24 hours after weapons inspectors left Iraq, Scud missles have been fired from Iraq into Kuwait in response to our cruise missle strike.

Wait a minute…weren’t Scuds supposed to be banned? Am I supposed to believe that, mere hours after folks looking for them left, banned weapons are already being used? Gosh! How could that have happened?

Folks, weapons inspections, of the UN variety, were patently not working. They required cooperation by Hussein–cooperation that never materialized except when it served his purpose. They would never have worked so long as he was in power.

However, weapons inspections of the Coalition variety do appear to be making progress.

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