Middle East

Because rightly there is so much focus on the Middle East, especially Iraq and the upcoming war, I am restricting myself to this subject this week. This is Mark Steyn on why it is a good thing to destabilize the Mid-East. NPR reports that Sharon is thinking of calling for elections, since his support is slipping, and Benjamin Netanyahu is likely to be his opponent. People may have more confidence that the hard-line but prudent Netanyahu can put the country in the position of making a good and lasting peace. It is the second story (audio) down. And this is a very clever and useful piece (with many links within) on what a reasonable person would need to think in order to avoid war with Iraq.

This article from the Washington Times makes clear that the war is coming closer and Michael Kelly claims that both history and logic demand war with Iraq. No disagreement here.

American troops have arrived in Jordan. Just military exercises, it’s nothing to do with Iraq. Of course, every action done by man is by chance!

Here are the latest poll numbers on what kind of support Bush is getting when he goes into Iraq.

This is a pro-Saddam piece by a left-wing member of the British Parliament comparing Saddam with Winston Churchill. I guess I have seen everything.

Victor Davis Hanson explains why we should go it alone and an article in the Weekly Standard argues that Iraq will not look anything like Mogadishu. Michael Barone explains, once again, why the Saudis are our enemy.

Just so we don’t forget, here is an interesting piece on the geopolitics of Russia-China, and how the Bush administration has been able to break up a budding friendship between China and Russia by pulling the Russians into our war on terrorism. Good move.

The fact that Iran claims to have turned over some al Qaeda to the Saudis is not necessarily true, yet a good sign that they feel they have to say or do something nice. Iran is worried. Also, it looks as though Iran’s banned press has moved on to the internet. Good.

Cave Bomb

There is a scientist in Alexandria, Virginia, an American scientist named Anh Duong, who was one of the scientists who created the thermobaric bombs used on caves in Afghanistan. The story is in this piece from the Baltimore Sun. While the whole article is worth reading I’ll just quote one paragraph. You get the point: Good men are not that hard to find when you have a good country.

"It was different than anything we had done before," said Duong. "Not making a new explosive; we've done that. But having a purpose—knowing where it was going and what it was going to be used for. This was one of the proudest achievements of my life. Not just professionally, but personally. We were fighting a war. And it was the chance for me to give something back to the country that had adopted me so generously."