[Dean's World] Dave Price: Glimpses of MSM Sanity

[notify at powerblogs.com]

Posted by Dave Price:
Glimpses of MSM Sanity
http://www.deanesmay.com/posts/1146066385.shtml


   An [1]editorial from the primary news source of my pre-Internet days,
   the Chicago Tribune:

     The bombing of the Shiite al-Askari shrine in February brought
     furious reprisals. The attack also exposed the insurgents'
     strategy: divide and conquer. Exploit simmering ethnic and
     religious tensions. Make sure a free and democratic Iraq never
     rises.
     Internecine killing continues, of course, whether it's called a
     civil war or something else. But Iraq now has a new prime
     minister-designate, Jawad al-Maliki, and a top leadership
     representing all of the people. Most important, its leaders appear
     to have learned the most necessary art in a democracy: compromise.
     ...
     In a country without a long history of democratic traditions or
     institutions, a country strafed by a violent insurgency and
     struggling to find its national voice, this is a hopeful day. Just
     as sure, this is a grim day for the insurgents, a day that they had
     hoped to derail. A unified, free and democratic Iraq is what they
     fear most.

   Glad to see at least one major MSM editorial board has a grasp on
   reality and understands what really motivates our enemies, unlike some
   [2]others who seem to think the rationale for fighting them is merely
   a risible sound bite.
   And from Foreign Affairs, a rational [3]look at why so many people
   believed Saddam had WMD, and why the regime never came clean despite
   the consequences:

     ...he decided to save the air force for future needs and ordered
     his commanders to hide their aircraft. This decision was yet
     another indication that Saddam did not believe coalition ground
     forces would ever reach into the heart of Iraq. He was sure his
     regime would survive whatever conflict ensued.
     ...
     When it came to weapons of mass destruction (WMD), Saddam attempted
     to convince one audience that they were gone while simultaneously
     convincing another that Iraq still had them. Coming clean about WMD
     and using full compliance with inspections to escape from sanctions
     would have been his best course of action for the long run. Saddam,
     however, found it impossible to abandon the illusion of having WMD,
     especially since it played so well in the Arab world.

   Taken together, those two facts explain the regime's behavior and give
   the lie to leftist/Democrat claims that Bush misled Americans (as if
   the consensus of the world intelligence community was not proof enough
   of how disingenuous such attacks are).
   Astonishingly enough, even near the end Saddam apparently believed he
   was winning the war:

     As late as March 30, Saddam thought that his strategy was working
     and that the coalition offensive was grinding to a halt. On that
     day, Lieutenant General Abed Hamid Mahmoud, Saddam's principal
     secretary, directed the Iraqi foreign minister to tell the French
     and Russian governments that Baghdad would accept only an
     "unconditional withdrawal" of U.S. forces because "Iraq is now
     winning and . . . the United States has sunk in the mud of defeat."

   This behavior exemplifies why Saddam's regime needed to be removed
   before he could attain a nuclear bluff. These are not rational people.
   Had they acquired nuclear weapons and missiles capable of reaching
   Europe (or even the perception of such) after the crumbling sanctions
   regime collapsed, they would likely have rearmed and contemplated
   invading both Kuwait and Saudi Arabia under the assumption the West
   would not dare risk nuclear war by opposing the action militarily. And
   they might have been right.

References

   1. http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/opinion/chi-0604240204apr24,0,3680133.story
   2. http://www.doonesbury.com/strip/dailydose/index.html?uc_full_date=20060407
   3. http://www.foreignaffairs.org/20060501faessay85301-p10/kevin-woods-james-lacey-williamson-murray/saddam-s-delusions-the-view-from-the-inside.html