Yesterday The New York Times ran a front-page story entitled, “In a Force for Iraqi Calm, Seeds of Conflict”. The valueless mouthful of a headline itself seems to advertise the strain reporters Alissa J. Rubin and Damien Cave must have exerted in order to shape the essentially positive story into something ominous.
The piece is about Iraq’s Sunni “Awakening” groups—the local security forces who’ve turned against insurgents and who continue to be invaluable in the rebuilding of the country. The Times reports that these groups could spell disaster because in the long-term they may amount to nothing more than a well-armed, well-trained anti-Shia military force.
Well, anyone who’s really concerned about that can’t also complain about the disbanding of the Iraqi Army. Saddam’s military was a deadly exercise in Sunni dominance. Awakening groups are far preferable to the former Ba’athist army for several reasons. The first being U.S. oversight. “Americans obtain biometric data on every Awakening group member to try to screen out known insurgents,” whereas no such practice would have been possible with the army. The second important difference has to do with goals. The Awakening exists in order to bring security to Iraq. Saddam’s army would almost have surely been a rolling crime wave over the past four years. The most important difference, however, is that Awakening groups are taking pride in the self-determination that comes with citizenship. Whatever problems lie on the horizon may be tempered by Iraq’s increasing sense of genuine statehood.
Ever since the undeniable success of the troop surge The New York Times has been scrambling to rediscover a tragic narrative in the good news. I wouldn’t be surprised to see a New York Times headline in the near future that reads, “Regional Neighbors Find Iraq’s Prosperity Gauche; Success Could Ignite Clash.”
God is Great.
as if their story needed to be more colorful and ancient sounding
How do these pirates get on board these large ships and why aren’t the ships personnel armed?
Yeah, but they are cursed and turn into skeletons in the moon light. They need that one last piece of Aztec gold and …
Love, exciting and new
Come Aboard. We’re expecting you.
Love, life’s sweetest reward.
Let it flow, it floats back to you.
Love Boat soon will be making another run
The Love Boat promises something for everyone
Set a course for adventure,
Your mind on a new romance.
Love won’t hurt anymore
It’s an open smile on a friendly shore.
Yes LOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOVE! It’s LOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOVE! (hey-ah!)
Love Boat soon will be making another run
The Love Boat promises something for everyone
Set a course for adventure,
Your mind on a new romance.
Love won’t hurt anymore
It’s an open smile on a friendly shore.
It’s LOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOVE! It’s LOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOVE! It’s
LOOOOOOOOOOOVE!
It’s the Love Boat-ah! It’s the Love Boat-ah!
The multimillion dollar ransoms are one of the few ways to earn a living in the impoverished, war-ravaged country. Somalia has not had a functioning government since 1991 and nearly half of its population depends on aid.
That’s the future for us, too. No functioning government and half the population depending on aid. Piracy is really the only option, especially with no functioning government. More functioning government + more aid = no piracy.
Hahahahaha. All I could do is laugh. Such karma.
Chuck, I fear there’s a lot of truth to your post.
Hey guys, Sea Kittens have to eat too.
joe- fantasy island was better!
Look look de plane, de plane…
Look look de sea kittens, de sea kittens…
CHOMP!
Khat and boat handling don’t go well together.