Date:   4/12/2003 8:14:11 AM ( 22 y ago)
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URL:   https://www.curezone.org/forums/fm.asp?i=571170

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Unleashing the Clowns of War

When George W. Bush issued the order in mid-March to unleash the dogs of war, little did he realize that he simultaneously let loose the clowns of war.

Finding comic relief in a war is a knotty proposition, but the great success of our military forces in the past month has inconveniently ripped the masks off the faces of those individuals and groups that oppose U.S. efforts, revealing themselves as self-absorbed, deluded clowns, scurrying around the fringes of Operation Iraqi Freedom. Now some of them are trying to cover their collective butts.

King of the clowns, no doubt, was Iraqi “information minister” Mohammed Saeed al-Sahhaf, a regime PR flack who obviously forgot to phone the home office. Ridiculed as “Baghdad Bob” by the military, al-Sahhaf brazenly heaped daily abuse on Coalition forces and denied their claims of battlefield victories — all the while U.S. tanks rolled in the background.

Then there was the “elite” Republican Guard and the “battle-hardened” Iraqi army, whose wartime strategy must have been planned by the Keystone Kops. The only consistent strategy that this insane clown posse exhibited was: fire off a few sniper rounds at the enemy; drop their weapons and run away; and finally, shed their uniforms and don civilian clothes. Some of the more fanatical members adopted terrorist tactics of blowing themselves up at military checkpoints, or shooting Coalition soldiers after they had previously surrendered.

During the ramp-up to war, and after it had begun, anti-war protesters acted like clowns run amok, stopping traffic, chanting silly slogans, and otherwise making nuisances of themselves, if not actually not breaking the law like those in San Francisco.

The “Axis of Weasel” leaders of France, Germany and Russia, along with the venal Turkish government, demonstrated their own brand of cowardice with their lack of support for U.S. efforts, primarily because of the financial deals they had cut with the corrupt Hussein regime.

On college campuses around the country, lunatic Conspiracy theories are still propounded by university professors of political science, near-east cultures or international studies.

We learn that the war was hatched by ideologue neo-conservative Jewish advisers to President Bush so that Israel could get hegemony in the region. The war’s ultimate aim, they believe, is to reassert American imperialism around the world, whereby the U.S. president would in effect become “emperor.” Clowns.

Congressional Democrats showed their true colors by voting against the war, claiming that they “support the troops but not the war.” Well-informed in advance with classified intelligence about Saddam’s horrors, they chose instead to put politics above the national interest.

By conveniently pushing a multilateral, U.N.-based solution to the crisis, they knew full well that the feckless U.N. diplomats would do nothing, and that President Bush might end up with egg on his face in this arena if he pushed for a unilateral approach.

Party leadership looked particularly clownish as they tried in their mealy-mouthed way to have it both ways. Tom Daschle, Ted Kennedy, John Kerry and Nancy Pelosi all made outrageous statements about the administration’s position, then tried to explain them away when they realized that what they originally said “wouldn’t play” with the general public.

Many in the media have revealed themselves as simpletons in their coverage as well. “Baghdad Pete” Arnett came as close to treason as he could, in a private interview with a regime official in which he indicated that his filed reports gave voice and inspiration to the anti-war movement.

The New York Times slanted its front-page coverage of the war, with stories putting the Coalition in a negative light, to reflect its anti-war editorial position.

The Los Angeles Times ran column after column by Robert Scheer, a notorious anti-war Bush hater. You’d think Peter Jennings, ABC News anchor, was reporting for anti-U.S. Arab network Al-Jazeera, since he couldn’t bring himself to find anything good to say about the Coalition’s efforts.

In an op-ed piece in the New York Times (4/11), CNN chief news executive Eason Jordan spilled the beans that he has known about regime torture and murder for years, yet not only said nothing about it, but also allowed CNN to attack President Bush’s claims on a daily basis. It is only now that his conscience bothers him.

Finally, the Iraqi people themselves have turned liberation into a circus, impulsively looting offices and stores in ridiculous fashion: a woman pushing a grand piano down the street in Basrah; a boy in Baghdad wrestling with an upholstered sofa teetering on a hot dog stand with wheels.

War brings out the worst in human nature on many levels.

“Send in the clowns. Don’t bother, they’re here.”


Barrett Kalellis is a columnist and writer whose articles appear regularly in various local and national print and online publications. You may reach Mr. Kalellis at kalellis@newsmax.com.


 

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