>He added: "We have got some groups who don't agree with that vision --
>they are terrorists and former regime guys. Instead they think power in
>Iraq should come out of the barrel of a gun and that is intolerable
>and we will deal with it."
And will the American people be blind to the bloody irony of all this -- as are apparently Safire and Friedman.
Incidentally, using the phrase "doing a Sharon on Iraq" or "a Gaza" assists Washington to escape the bloody irony and continuity. Call it "doing a Saddam", or "doing a Bush". The parallels abound -- in the aftermath of the first Gulf War, a Shia uprising was put down most bloodily and has been cited as one of the reasons for overthrowing Saddam. Well, in the aftermath of this war, it appears that another Shia uprising is about to be put down most bloodily -- reason enough for overthrowing Bush? Not that Kerry is much better -- at least for the world -- but as it's an American election, guess you all will have to make the decision whether the US can afford another four more years of Bush. Globally, I think it's come to the point that Bush has probably done more to undermine US soft power than any other president in recent history.
kj khoo