Reply #20: Steady On, Sir

[The Magistrate]

Bremer and his puppet show have no right to do anything, save perhaps the fact of firepower. Nor is the United States under any obligation to remain in Iraq under international law, though it is obligated to care for the civilain populace so long as it does stay.

Whether the people shooting at U.S. soldiers are good guys or bad guys is quite beside the point: they are people of an invaded country, seeking to repel the invader. They have every right to do that, whether in my view or yours they are Saladins or Shaitans.

It is a ludicrous thing, to prattle about bringing freedom and democracy to a place, claiming this will somehow serve as a catalyst to spread such enlightenment to the region, and proceed to censor the press and bar disagreeable journalists from the country, in the fine old Soviet style. The governments of the region already know how to do that, and their people will hardly find the spectacle inspirational.

It is simply part and parcel of the whole fraud of this enterprise. It was sold to the public with lies, ranging from claims of direct threat to the United States from atomic weapons to the possibility of cheap gasoline. It was proclaimed as a war on "terror" and for "liberation", but was never aimed at anything but corrupting the political process in our own country.

Whatever makes these reptiles look foolish or hypocritical or incompetent should be played up for all the scorn and derision that can be managed: no one ever respects again anyone they have sniggered at.

"LET'S GO GET THOSE BUSH BASTARDS!"