THE CONSERVATIVE HIPSTERS
Thursday, February 03, 2005
POLITICS AS USUAL: TO "COYNE" A PHRASE--DAMN SKIPPY
I'm not one of those bloggers that fawns over Andrew Coyne and his broken down website.
But he is bang on in his National Post column yesterday.
I have a subscription, so allow me to post the relevant sections:
"Of all the many responses from around the world to Sunday's historic election in Iraq, the one that stood out for sheer jaw-dropping effronterie was that offered by -- who else? -- the French. The election, a spokesman for the French President said, was "a great success for the international community."
Well, in a way it was: the more than 40 members of the international community who, led by the United States, Great Britain and Australia, fought a war to liberate the Iraqi people from the genocidal regime of Saddam Hussein -- who put soldiers in harm's way, or contributed money and materiel, or at least lent moral support to the operation. They, along with the millions of Iraqis who defied the threats of Abu Musab al-Zarqawi and his al-Qaeda affiliates and went to the polls, are entitled to take some satisfaction from the vote.
But somehow that's not the "international community" I think the Elysee had in mind. Theirs is the international community that opposed the war -- not the majority of the European Union, or the majority of the OECD, or the majority of the G7, all of whom supported the war, but Saddam's clients on the Security Council, who were content to pass resolution after meaningless resolution demanding Saddam comply with elementary norms of civilized behaviour, but never to enforce them; who supplied him with the technology with which to further his nuclear ambitions (take a bow, France!), or the missiles with which to threaten his neighbours (come on down, Russia!), or the chemical agents used to gas the Kurds (hey, Germany, I thought you were out of that business!).
Had they any shame at all, they would admit their guilt, or at least confess their errors, or at the very least keep quiet."
Sorry France, you don't pitch in $20, you don't get to tap the keg.
But he is bang on in his National Post column yesterday.
I have a subscription, so allow me to post the relevant sections:
"Of all the many responses from around the world to Sunday's historic election in Iraq, the one that stood out for sheer jaw-dropping effronterie was that offered by -- who else? -- the French. The election, a spokesman for the French President said, was "a great success for the international community."
Well, in a way it was: the more than 40 members of the international community who, led by the United States, Great Britain and Australia, fought a war to liberate the Iraqi people from the genocidal regime of Saddam Hussein -- who put soldiers in harm's way, or contributed money and materiel, or at least lent moral support to the operation. They, along with the millions of Iraqis who defied the threats of Abu Musab al-Zarqawi and his al-Qaeda affiliates and went to the polls, are entitled to take some satisfaction from the vote.
But somehow that's not the "international community" I think the Elysee had in mind. Theirs is the international community that opposed the war -- not the majority of the European Union, or the majority of the OECD, or the majority of the G7, all of whom supported the war, but Saddam's clients on the Security Council, who were content to pass resolution after meaningless resolution demanding Saddam comply with elementary norms of civilized behaviour, but never to enforce them; who supplied him with the technology with which to further his nuclear ambitions (take a bow, France!), or the missiles with which to threaten his neighbours (come on down, Russia!), or the chemical agents used to gas the Kurds (hey, Germany, I thought you were out of that business!).
Had they any shame at all, they would admit their guilt, or at least confess their errors, or at the very least keep quiet."
Sorry France, you don't pitch in $20, you don't get to tap the keg.
# posted by Anonymous : 10:26 p.m.
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