The Washington Post
Collateral Irresponsibility!
October 7, 2002
A Little Hint…
H.L. (Henry Lewis) Mencken once noted that, “A newspaper is a device for making the ignorant more ignorant and the crazy crazier.” In these regards, the Washington Post is not a newspaper that disappoints.
The Sky Is Falling…
In its latest flash of literati enlightenment, the Post warns, “Baghdad Is Planning For Urban Warfare”. At first glance, the common sense reader might just respond with a, “Duh!” But, the plot thickens as the Post teases with the subtlety of the story, “Strategy Opposite of Gulf War Approach.” Uh Oh…something to really worry about.
Unlike a replay of the Gulf war, the Post cautions that this time around, “Iraq’s military likely would respond to a U.S. invasion by attempting to lure American forces close to Baghdad and other large population centers, where Iraqi commanders believe their soldiers would be less vulnerable to air strikes and civilians would be more willing to fight for the government….”
Wait one minute…the Post missed something. What’s with this “civilians would be more willing to fight for the government” stuff? Iraq has promised the United States since 1991 that should the U.S. dare to put a little toe on their dictator-anointed soil then EVERY Iraqi would fight to the death for their beloved Saddam. God (pardon…I mean Saddam) this can get confusing.
Can A Murderer Be A Victim…
OK, let’s start to clean up this confusion, “…Iraqi officials have indicated that they would fight a very different war by shielding their soldiers in cities and trying to draw U.S. forces into high-risk urban warfare.” What exactly is meant by this new twist of “shielding”?
Thank God (I mean Saddam) that some Iraqi diplomat (probably U.S. educated at taxpayer expense) further defines the concept of “shielding”, “They believe they have a tactical advantage in the cities because they can mix with the civilian population. If soldiers start sniping from apartment buildings filled with (civilian?) people, what can the Americans do? They can’t very well blow them up.”
Why can’t the Americans just blow them up? What stopped our ally in World War II, the Soviet Union, from just blowing up buildings full of civilians in Berlin when they contained snipers? Nothing! What stopped our faithful allies, the Germans from leveling entire towns for the sake of a few combatants? Nothing! What stopped Mohamed Atta from ramming Flight 11 into the World Trade Center and killing thousands? Nothing!
And Now A Bit Of Logic…
The Washington Post seems to be missing the point that in warfare only the loser allows its adversary to set the rules. How ridiculous would it be to allow one’s enemy to not only pick the game, but also, to write the rulebook? And what is the Post thinking? Why would they publish this panic-driven Iraqi propaganda? Maybe they really are just a bunch of effete nabobs. Hello out there in Post Land…the days of opposing armies neatly arrayed in open fields died in the trenches of the First World War.
The Post makes the assertion that the Gulf War was comprised solely of, “U.S. ground forces…able to easily overrun Iraqi troops, whose trenches and bunkers provided little cover from American artillery and bombs.” While much of that is true, if all it takes to dissuade an attacking army is the use of a civilian population as a “shield”, then Kuwait would never have been liberated. There was urban combat in the 1991 war.
The entire concept of collateral damage is absurd. When American military lives are at risk it would be grossly negligent to factor in acceptable U.S. losses to spare enemy civilian lives. What if Saddam decided to place Iraq’s entire air defense system on the roofs of apartment buildings? Wouldn’t Saddam be the murderer who selfishly sacrificed his people? Most certainly so!
It might be novel to put forth the notion that the civilian population is ultimately responsible for whatever the situation is in Iraq, or in any country. It is the will, or negligence, of a people that creates the will or negligence of a nation.
Of course this is much too rational for PC acceptability.
The Reality of the Unreality…
Much to the dismay of the “America Is the Enemy” crowd at the Post, the U.S. may just out-maneuver the brilliance of Saddam’s military machine.
As the Post cautions, “Tikrit, Hussein’s home town, located along the Tigris River about 100 miles north of the capital…is surrounded by at least two large military bases, is regarded by Western officials as a place from where Hussein draws his strongest support and where many of the government’s security activities are coordinated. Hussein also reportedly has several presidential palaces in the area. ‘Tikrit will be protected as well, if not better, than Baghdad…It is the heart of the regime.’”
It appears that Iraq will be losing its heart because places like Tikrit will not last more than the first 48 hours of hostilities. Anybody with any sense who lives in Tikrit should shave his or her funny looking bushy mustache and leave town. The days of Saddam cloning are coming to an end.
The meltdown scenarios envisioned by the Washington Post are little better than bathroom banter because, unbelievably, America is not stupid. Much to the disappointment of the “America Is the Enemy” crowd at the Post, it is almost a certainty that any new hostilities with Iraq will be substantially different than those in 1991.
Not that anybody outside of the Dr. Strangelove situation rooms really has a clue about the real U.S. plans, but a good guess might be:
Extremely powerful and violent.
Extremely focused and precise.
Very short duration.
The enemy is Hussein not the Iraqi army or people. Another good guess is that most of the Iraqi army will not be loyal shortly after the rain starts to fall.
One Death is Certain…
Perhaps the Washington Post will remember the “shield” concept when it condemns America for the civilian deaths, which are inevitable and the total responsibility of the Iraqi government. Perhaps the Washington Post should acknowledge that any government, including Iraq, which intentionally uses it civilians as “shields” is guilty of murder…not to mention the cowardice of its leader, Mr. Babble & Hide Hussein. This is a man (?) who waves guns at the sky and hides behind women and children.
Most importantly, perhaps the Washington Post will remember the one murder for which it is about to be responsible. In the Post’s vainglorious quest for the scoop, they brought the reader a bit of first person commentary:
How ordinary Iraqis will react to a U.S. invasion remains unclear. Government officials insist that most people will join the military in defending the country, but several civilians interviewed over the past week said they have little desire to participate in a war.
“We’ll stay at home,” said Samir Lewis, 59, a pharmacist in the northern city of Mosul. “We’re tired of war. If it happens, we hope it will end quickly.”
For such a bunch of supposedly smart journalists, they forgot to provide the poor fellows telephone number and street address for the convenience of Saddam’s secret police. Not to fret, Mr. Lewis is probably already in some hell-hole of a jail thanks to the brilliance of the Washington Post that just had to publish his name.
When he is murdered, Mr. Lewis’ death will be the direct responsibility of the wizards at the Post.
Bingo…the first collateral death of the conflict! Who is the bad guy now?
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