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| Iraq-Jordan | |
| Blowing Raspberries | |
| 2005-01-04 | |
Columnist William Raspberry in the "Washington Post" (hat tip Deacon at Powerline):"We can argue all day that Saddam Hussein was a tyrant whose defeat and humiliation should evoke no sympathy from us. But he did have a functioning country. There was a government in place. People went to work and to the market and to school in relative safety. Can anyone really believe that the U.S.-spawned anarchy has left the Iraqi people better off?"The beautiful thing about paragraphs like this one is that you don't need to make too many changes to come up with an infinite variety of new versions. Like this one for example: "We can argue all day that Adolf Hitler was a tyrant whose defeat and humiliation should evoke no sympathy from us. But he did have a functioning country. There was a government in place. People went to work and to the market and to school in relative safety. Can anyone really believe that the Allied-spawned anarchy of the Second World War has left the German people [or Jews or Europeans in general] better off?"An extreme example, perhaps? Saddam was not nearly as wicked as Hitler? Yes, but by the same token the liberation and its aftermath in Iraq pale in comparison with the horror of the Second World War and the desolation afterwards. The problem with the left is not that it keeps asking utalitarian questions about the costs and benefits of maintaining status quo versus affecting change in places like Iraq. The problem is that after all is said and done there never seems to be a regime horrid and oppressive enough for the benefits of its removal to outweigh the costs. Europeans can thank their lucky star that the Second World War took place sixty years ago and not yesterday.
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| Posted by:tipper |
| #9 Stay out of my pool second base. |
| Posted by: Willie R 2005-01-04 6:36:47 PM |
| #8 I'd like to start a top ten category of those who, having gained respect, traded it all in to settle small, petty scores and will go to their graves looking small and foolish. Jimmy Carter, Dan Rather, William Raspberrry etc. As for Raspberry, this article brings to my mind the saying: give him enough rope, and he'll hang himself. |
| Posted by: 2b 2005-01-04 5:50:38 PM |
| #7 If he only had a brain to go with that strawman... |
| Posted by: mojo 2005-01-04 4:46:50 PM |
| #6 double ouch! |
| Posted by: 2b 2005-01-04 4:32:13 PM |
| #5 The PowerLine crew beat the snot out of Raspberry with a parallel of their own in 'The Klannish Left'. To quote Glenn: Ouch. |
| Posted by: eLarson 2005-01-04 4:25:23 PM |
| #4 It seems you desperately need a new keyboard rightwing . Is your caps lock button permanently stuck down or are you just a total moron ? |
| Posted by: MacNails 2005-01-04 1:08:44 PM |
| #3 Tipper-I love what you contribute. That is a great parallel. |
| Posted by: Jules 187 2005-01-04 11:51:53 AM |
| #2 THE LEFTIST IDIOCRATS. WHY DO THEY HATE AMERICA SO MUCH OR IS IT JUST THE CURRENT C&C. WAS THERE SUCH AN OUTCRY OVER BOSNIA. DOESN'T ANYONE REMEMBER GOOD OLE SLODOBAN AND RATKO MURDERING THOUSANDS OF MUSLIMS IN SCREBANICA. WE REMOVED HIM. ARE THE BALKANS BETTER OFF MR. LIBERAL PANTY-WASTE. BY REMOVING HIM WE KEPT THE RADICAL ISLAMOFASCISTS OUT OF MAINSTREAM EUROPEAN POLITICS BY PUUTING AN END TO THE CONFLICT. DID THE MUSLIMS RECOGNIZE THIS? THEY PROBALY DID BEFORE THE BEFORE THE LEFT WING PRESS. DOES THE PRESS REALLY WANT A NUKE TO GO OFF IN DC OR NY? THE PROBLEM WITH THAT IS THE 5 MILLION OR SO LESS SUBSCRIBERS. IT'S TIME PRESS WAKES UP AND REALIZE EVIL IS ALLOWED TO EXIST WHEN GOOD MEN TO NOTHING. DISGUSTING I'D SAY. |
| Posted by: Rightwing 2005-01-04 11:45:36 AM |
| #1 "We can argue all day that Saddam Hussein was a tyrant whose defeat and humiliation should evoke no sympathy from us. But he did have a functioning country..." Sounds remarkably like another one of those "at least the trains ran on time" statements... |
| Posted by: Bomb-a-rama 2005-01-04 11:33:35 AM |