Thursday, July 24, 2003

From The Then And Then And Then...Deptartment

Shouldn't this quote from a January 30th, William Safire column be posted at least once a day, every day on at least one left-of-center blog?

When Iraqi scientists are permitted to talk to inspectors and journalists without fear of having their tongues later cut out and their families slaughtered by Saddam, the truth will out in vivid detail about the decadelong deception of the U.N. With "Dr. Germs" singing to save her life at future war crimes trials, today's American straddlers will at last be confronted with conclusive evidence they now profess to doubt ... When the postwar books are written, a former Iraqi spymaster with knowledge of the suicide attacker Mohamed Atta's perhaps unwitting connection to Saddam will eagerly come forth to spill all he knows to save his neck or sell his memoirs. Suspected followers of Osama bin Laden like Musaab Zarqawi and Mullah Krekar, if alive, will further link Al Qaeda to Saddam's mukhabarat police.

And don't miss billmon's catch of a classic Safire Then/Now comparison. Or this amazing discussion of who's playing pattycake with the mukhabarat now. The post makes copious use of Kanan Makiya's "Republic Of Fear," which is right and proper.

Makiya came down on the other side of the war argument, but he remains a man of integrity, whose observations are always valuable. Which leads me to the question of whether any reader is aware of any public commentary by him since the news conference he gave at the National Press Club sometime in June, I believe?

My advice always, while at Whiskey Bar, read everything.