I'd link to my favorite purveyor of wisdom ("blogger" is too ignoble a description for the author of Attack Poodles), James Wolcott, here, but the post in question has been corrupted. (Not sure if it's a nude juicebar that's responsible, or if true evil is afoot.)
But the article Wolcott referenced, by Eliot Weinberger in London Review of Books, makes for compelling reading. It begins:
Link: LRB | Eliot Weinberger : What I Heard about Iraq.
In 1992, a year after the first Gulf War, I heard Dick Cheney, then secretary of defense, say that the US had been wise not to invade Baghdad and get ‘bogged down in the problems of trying to take over and govern Iraq’. I heard him say: ‘The question in my mind is how many additional American casualties is Saddam worth? And the answer is: not that damned many.’
In February 2001, I heard Colin Powell say that Saddam Hussein ‘has not developed any significant capability with respect to weapons of mass destruction. He is unable to project conventional power against his neighbours.’
That same month, I heard that a CIA report stated: ‘We do not have any direct evidence that Iraq has used the period since Desert Fox to reconstitute its weapons of mass destruction programmes.’
In July 2001, I heard Condoleezza Rice say: ‘We are able to keep his arms from him. His military forces have not been rebuilt.’
On 11 September 2001, six hours after the attacks, I heard that Donald Rumsfeld said that it might be an opportunity to ‘hit’ Iraq. I heard that he said: ‘Go massive. Sweep it all up. Things related and not.’
It goes on:
I heard Colin Powell say: ‘We did miscalculate the difficulty.’
I heard a ‘senior American commander’ say: ‘We need to make a decision on when the cancer of Fallujah needs to be cut out.’
I heard Major-General John Batiste, outside Samarra, say: ‘It’ll be a quick fight and the enemy is going to die fast. The message for the people of Samarra is: peacefully or not, this is going to be solved.’
I heard Brigadier-General Kimmitt say: ‘Our patience is not eternal.’
I heard the president say: ‘America will never be run out of Iraq by a bunch of thugs and killers.’
I heard about the wedding party that was attacked by American planes, killing 45 people, and the wedding photographer who videotaped the festivities until he himself was killed. And though the tape was shown on television, I heard Brigadier-General Kimmitt say: ‘There was no evidence of a wedding. There may have been some kind of celebration. Bad people have celebrations, too.’
I heard an Iraqi man say: ‘I swear I saw dogs eating the body of a woman.’
I heard an Iraqi man say: ‘We have at least 700 dead. So many of them are children and women. The stench from the dead bodies in parts of the city is unbearable.’
I heard Donald Rumsfeld say: ‘Death has a tendency to encourage a depressing view of war.’
No doubt.
The juxtapositions continue, until:
I heard that the US military had purchased 1,500,000,000 bullets for use in the coming year. That is 58 bullets for every Iraqi adult and child.
I heard that Saddam Hussein, in solitary confinement, was spending his time writing poetry, reading the Koran, eating cookies and muffins, and taking care of some bushes and shrubs. I heard that he had placed a circle of white stones around a small plum tree.
Read it and weep.
