Much as I'd like to spread out the link love, I can't help but post another link to the blog with the wince-inducing name Chicken Yoghurt. (I don't eat either one, but somehow the ingredients combine well in a blog).
Justin has a thought-provoking—no, it's more than that, this post brings together the irony and the complete insanity of this war in a way that's beyond provoking.
He reminds us that the world sat by when Saddam used chemical weapons against the Kurds in a place called Halabja:
Link: Chicken Yoghurt: Halabja? That rings a bell..
But like I said, at the time there was nary a squeak from the one-day liberators of Iraq. Only when they needed to persuade a sceptical nation did they truly embrace the horror of what Saddam had done.
Jack Straw, Tony Blair, Colin Powell, and Condelezza Rice all embraced Halabja, eventually, though. Because they recognize atrocity when they see it. (Okay, it takes a few years for them to recognize it. Fourteen years. But still...)
"So they were late in a condemning the atrocities of Saddam Hussein," you say. "They got there eventually and showing what Saddam did to the Kurds gave them leverage to oust the dictator and give the Kurds a better life," you tell me. "Now, Saddam is gone we can get on with giving the Kurds their lives back," you reassure me.
You're wrong, I say:
From the NY Times:
HALABJA, Iraq, April 11 - For years Nuradeen Ghreeb has dreamed of bringing clean drinking water to his hometown. That town happens to be Halabja, where 17 years ago he and his parents cowered in a basement as Saddam Hussein's airplanes attacked with chemical weapons, killing at least 5,000 people.
But on Sunday, Mr. Nuradeen learned that his dream was over, because the United States had canceled the water project it had planned here as part of a vast effort to rebuild Iraq after the 2003 invasion. Ordinarily a quiet and reserved civil engineer, he sat on one of his beloved water pipes on hearing the news and wept, his tears glistening in the afternoon sun.
That's right, there's no room in the budget nowadays to embrace Halabja.
Remember, if you're against the war you're in favor of Saddam and the atrocities he committed. Because if you're against the war you can't distinguish between an atrocity, and say, an atrocity. There's some nuance there, but I'm too busy painting anti-war signs to get it.
More pointed blogging from Chicken Yoghurt:
Because of the mess we created, we have to divert funds away from projects that were clearing up the mess that Saddam created. Because we didn't plan adequately for the aftermath of the war, and we let Iraq subsequently become a basket case - a honey pot for every yahoo with an AK-47 and a boner for his virgins - we can't now look after the people we said we were invading the country to save.
Blair said yesterday: "I can't say I am sorry about it. I am not sorry about it. I think I did the right thing." That's did the right thing. Not doing the right thing. The line's been drawn. It's all in the past. Tony's moved on.
Who speaks for Halabja now?
Go. Read. Be provoked. And remember the name Halabja.
