Friday, April 4, 2003
Mirror.co.uk - HITCHENS: OUR TROOPS MUST STAY STRONG
Hitchens with a few thoughts on the war so far:
IT's almost the perfect combination of a military and a political campaign.
A popular movement of Iraqi rebels sends the forces of Saddam Hussein scuttling into retreat. It then cleans up a nest of bubonic rats, with open links to Osama bin Laden.
From the sky, precision-guided weapons assist the local insurgents with pinpoint strikes, while on the ground 1,000 elite coalition troops provide some muscle and back-up.
Chemical-biological kits are discovered in the abandoned camp of the foe. Soon, oilfields will be secured and much-needed medical and nutritional aid will start to kick in. Civilian casualties are virtually nil, while serious harm is inflicted on the functionaries of a tyrannical fascist party.
Of course, that's only in the north of Iraq. And the Kurdish forces are fighting to keep and extend what they already have. And there are no sandstorms. Nor is there enough confusion to create "friendly fire" disasters. Still, this part of the conflict is being fought under conditions that are otherwise disadvantageous.
There is no friendly or neutral country to serve as a rearguard, as there is in the case of Jordan and Kuwait, because the fools who run today's Turkey couldn't even be bribed to act in their own self-interest.
I hope I can pause to point out that the Kurds are as Muslim as any other participant in this struggle. Their leaders, however, announce that they fight for freedom and not for religion.[...]
A popular movement of Iraqi rebels sends the forces of Saddam Hussein scuttling into retreat. It then cleans up a nest of bubonic rats, with open links to Osama bin Laden.
From the sky, precision-guided weapons assist the local insurgents with pinpoint strikes, while on the ground 1,000 elite coalition troops provide some muscle and back-up.
Chemical-biological kits are discovered in the abandoned camp of the foe. Soon, oilfields will be secured and much-needed medical and nutritional aid will start to kick in. Civilian casualties are virtually nil, while serious harm is inflicted on the functionaries of a tyrannical fascist party.
Of course, that's only in the north of Iraq. And the Kurdish forces are fighting to keep and extend what they already have. And there are no sandstorms. Nor is there enough confusion to create "friendly fire" disasters. Still, this part of the conflict is being fought under conditions that are otherwise disadvantageous.
There is no friendly or neutral country to serve as a rearguard, as there is in the case of Jordan and Kuwait, because the fools who run today's Turkey couldn't even be bribed to act in their own self-interest.
I hope I can pause to point out that the Kurds are as Muslim as any other participant in this struggle. Their leaders, however, announce that they fight for freedom and not for religion.[...]
