Category: Networks

Evan Coyne Maloney went to New York and interviewed protesters on camera. The resulting movie is, like, hilarious, man, especially when he asked them why the US didn’t seize the Iraqi oil fields after the 1991 Gulf War.

The LA Times reports that the text of the next Security Council Resolution on the disarmament of Iraq is taking shape:

U.S., Britain to Set Deadlines for U.N., Iraq

UNITED NATIONS — The United States and Britain will present a resolution to the Security Council “in the next few working days” authorizing the use of military force to disarm Iraq and imposing a deadline for the council to vote on it, U.S. and British officials said Wednesday.

Key elements include deadlines for Security Council action, and Iraqi full compliance with UNSCR 1441, and as we might expect, Russia, France, and Germany maintain that the “last chance” spelled out in 1441 should go on forever.

I listened to some of the Non-Aligned Nations speaking to the Security Council this week, and there was a lot of equivocation, with most speakers saying “yes, Iraq’s out of compliance,” and “no, we shouldn’t enforce the resolutions yet, 12 years isn’t near enough time.”

But the underlying message, made clear by India, was the fear that warfare will spike crude oil prices, limiting poor nations’ ability to import fuel, and consequent damage to their economies and transportation systems, especially where food is concerned. They aren’t coming on board until something can be done to protect oil markets during the fighting, and their concerns are well-founded in hard experience for them after the Gulf War.

I don’t know that the US and the UK can solve this problem, but they should try to get pledges from oil exporters outside the Mid-East to boost production and hold prices steady if there’s any interruption in oil production from Kuwait, Saudi Arabia, and Iran.

Happy Fun Pundit reports that Iraqis are preparing for liberation by investing in land:

For those of us that lean strongly towards ‘liberator’, there is some new evidence: Iraq’s real estate market is booming. There is a surge of investment in commercial construction, home prices are skyrocketing, the Iraqi stock exchange is rising, and real estate speculators are making a killing. According to Newsweek, “there is an air of undeniable optimism in the marketplace”.

They know something the protesters don’t, apparently.

Moira’s not real impressed by Chirac’s recurring case of the vapors:

Did he gather up his petticoats and flounce out of the room after this Scarlett impersonation? Is it proper that the leader of a great democratic nation conduct himself like the cheese of some inconsequential satrapy, touchy about his gold braid and ritual deference?

Some of the reader comments are classic.

Ahmad Chalabi, the head of the Iraqi National Congress, has a sharp Op-Ed in OpinionJournal on the nature of liberated Iraq’s government:

SULEIMANIYAH, Iraq–We the Iraqis are ready to embark on a final journey to fulfill our destiny as a dignified and free nation. Here in northern Iraq, I am surrounded by fellow Iraqi patriots, many of whom are now gathering in this liberated zone. We have long been united around the goal of claiming our country from the hands of tyranny. Our struggle for freedom has been a long epic, but our hour of liberation is now beginning.

While the day of Iraq’s freedom is at hand, a day of reckoning for U.S.-Iraqi relations is also close by. After decades of struggle the Iraqi people, with the assistance of the U.S., have a chance finally to construct a free and democratic society at peace with itself and with the world. This cooperation between the Iraqi people and the U.S. also has the potential of being a historical watershed between the Arab and Muslim world and America.

There’s a huge debate going on right now as to whether liberated Iraq will be governed by the US military, only to make the transition to self-rule over a two year period, or, as the INC wishes, the transition to an indigenous democracy is more immediate.

This struggle, as I’ve mentioned, reflects a split within the Administration, with the CIA and State Department favoring gradualism, and the White House and the Pentagon favoring a quicker transition. The INC is probably jumping the gun a bit, as the final decision will probably depend on how the fighting goes, and whether the Iraqi resistance plays a significant role. It’s one thing to sit outside the country and talk about your popular support, and another to prove it on the battlefield.

Chalabi is showing a tin ear to the politics of the liberation, as there is still significant opposition to any military action not sanctioned by the collection of ne’er do wells we call the UN, especially among the European left. The liberation forces need to show unity until the fighting actually finishes, and I can’t say I’m at all impressed by the INC’s behavior these past days.

Link via Dean Esmay, who also has a great link to a letter from Northern Iraq.

LA newspaper mogul Ken Layne puts attendance figures on the weekend protests against the liberation of Iraq in perspective:

More than 200,000 people showed up for the Daytona race on Sunday, despite the rain. (29 million watched it on teevee.) The car race and the war protest in New York had about the same turnout. I’d say the protest got more news coverage than Daytona, but that’s okay. If nobody went to the car race, that would be big news.

I wonder how many of the folks who turned out for the Daytona 500 are pro-Saddam? My guess is it would be somewhere close to negative numbers.

The AP reports that the 18th resolution in the 12-year-old rush to war is ready for action:

Officials in London and Washington were moving ahead, toning down what was supposed to be a very tough resolution. Diplomats said the final text will place Iraq in material breach of its obligations and reiterate that Saddam now faces serious consequences, but it likely will not make an explicit call to arms.

“Serious consequences” is just the kind of wiggly phrasing that can let both sides claim victory. Apparently some 40 smaller countries intend to deliver speeches for a couple of days before the votes are tallied, which should allow for all countries that might become targets of Aql Qaeda to claim innocence. It sure is great we have this multinational body standing ready to duck any and all tough issues that might come its way.

The Observer reports that we’re pulling our troops out of Germany:

America is to punish Germany for leading international opposition to a war against Iraq. The US will withdraw all its troops and bases from there and end military and industrial co-operation between the two countries – moves that could cost the Germans billions of euros.

All this punishment talk aside, isn’t it about time Germany started footing the bill for its own national defense? If nothing else, this should put a damper on the German welfare state.

The New Yorker: Letter from Prague

A year after Havel came to power, there was a crisis in Iraq, and now, as he was leaving office, he was involved in another. Earlier in the month, he had spent hours with his aides at his country villa, discussing the problem, and that day, in the Wall Street Journal, there was a letter signed by Havel, along with seven other European leaders, which essentially agreed with the Bush Administration’s position. I asked him why.

“I think it’s not by chance that the idea of confronting evil may have found more support in those countries that have had a recent experience with totalitarian systems compared with other European countries that haven’t had the same sort of recent experience,” he said. “The Czech experience with Munich, with appeasement, with yielding to evil, with demanding more and more evidence that Hitler was truly evil — that may be one reason that we look at things differently than some others.”

Arabs participating in the Saturday protests showed a unique awareness of the issues:

About 10,000 people waving Iraqi, French and German flags and Saddam Hussein pictures marched peacefully but noisily through the Lebanese capital of Beirut.

…

In Amman, about 5,000 Jordanian demonstrators chanted “Death to the Americans and Victory to Iraq.” Some demonstrators carried posters of Iraqi President Saddam Hussein urging him to launch missile attacks on Israel.

I’d like some pictures, but so far all I can round up is a man with a kid dressed like Saddam on his shoulders. The Arabs who came out to support the Baathist regime were at least honest about what they were doing.