world news roundup

This is reassuring. Bush isn’t budging, despite the weekend protests. Good ol’ Dubya. He’s nothing if not consistent. I can deal with that.

Weapons inspectors have hit a snarl, as Iraqi scientists are asking that their private interviews be recorded (likely at the request of Saddam, so that any untoward conversation that takes place can be dealt with effectively and the respective families tortured and burned).

The first U-2 surveillance flight took place yesterday, after Saddam made sure that everything that needed to be hidden was hidden. Iraq was given a 48-hour advance notification of the flight.

Turkey wants us to double our multibillion dollar aid package before letting the U.S. use their soil for war against Iraq. There’s speculation that the 12 million Kurds in Turkey and the Kurds in Northern Iraq may want to carve out their own country post-war, and if so Turkey could stand to lose a lot in a liberated Iraq. The U.S. considers Turkey an essential part of any military action, and says a northern front will make the war less bloody (and therefore less oily). Steven Den Beste suggests that CENTCOM may want to mull over some plans that don’t involve Turkey.

Eastern European countries endorsed a joint European declaration saying Saddam has one last chance to disarm (which, surprisingly, is what resolution 1441 said a few months ago). France is threatening Eastern Europe, saying their pro-U.S. position could endanger their acceptance into the European Union.

Keep in mind, it is still a rush to war. Anything that involves the use of force is a rush to war. Anything that involves weapons inspectors is wonderful, peaceful, effective and legitimate.

Ok folks, here’s the deal so far as I see it. I don’t want Saddam to disarm. The point of this war isn’t to get Saddam to disarm, but to get Saddam out of Iraq because he’s a cruel dictator lunatic that is a threat to HIS national security (remember, there are still 24 million Iraqis in there that aren’t quite dead yet) and OUR international security. We want Saddam to shoot himself in the head. We’ve tried sending faxes to the guy saying “SHOOT YOURSELF IN THE HEAD” in a dozen different languages (and French twice), and we’ve tried inserting subliminal messages into his Frank Sinatra record collection, and we’ve even tried shoveling little pieces of paper all over the United Nations that say “Please shoot yourself in the head pretty please or we’ll have to do it for you and if we don’t do it for you we’ll shovel more paper around that says shoot yourself in the head or we’ll do it this time and we really really mean it this time.” Nothing short of a rush to war seems to be effective! This fellow is impervious to our words! You would think he was a hardened killer or dictator or something!

Oh well. It all works out fine for the United States, anyway. So long as the United Nations (and all those smelly little protestors) prove that they’re unwilling to deal effectively with a prissy little squirt in the desert, they’ll never be able to stand in the way of an International American Imperialist United States World Domination Super Regime that grinds the world into an impossibly just democracy.

Tomorrow I’m gonna wear my t-shirt that says “I am not a terrorist” and wait for people to run up and play the moral equivalency game. The news is just making me bitter.