Q: What did you think about when you found out your unit was being deployed to Iraq?

A: 1 – This is the right enemy in the right place at the right time. 2 – Because we are going over there, we are keeping them from doing evil over here…

Spree doesn’t mention if this soldier is/was one of the 85% who less than a year ago were still found to believe that Iraq was responsible for 9/11, or one of the 15% who didn’t. Sounds like the former to me.

—————–
perris @ 237 says, “saddam I believe was hanged on a muslim holiday”

It’s worse than that. Nir Rosen explains:

The important Muslim holiday of Eid al Adha was due to begin over the weekend. For Sunnis it began on Saturday the 30th of December. For Shias it begins on Sunday the 31st…. By hanging Saddam on the Sunni Eid the Americans and the Iraqi government were in effect saying that only the Shia Eid had legitimacy. Sunnis were irate that Shia traditions were given primacy (as they are more and more in Iraq these days) and that Shias disrespected the tradition and killed Saddam on this day. Because the Iraqi constitution itself prohibits executions from being carried out on Eid, the Iraqi government had to officially declare that Eid did not begin until Sunday the 31st. It was a striking decision, virtually declaring that Iraq is now a Shia state.

– Hijacking Eid and Hanging Saddam, IraqSlogger, 12/31/06

(h/t to Juan Cole — more here)

Somebody hold my hand. I spilled water on my MacBook. I think it’s dead. Right now I’m on the work computer. My brother told me to disconnect my MacBook and let it dry out overnight before I tried to boot it up again.

I die.

I diiiiiiiiiiie…

i would wait longer then a day to be sure it dries–otherwise it will cook. put it someplace warm and open the back to expose the innards-wait at least a couple days to be sure.

To begin with, I would like to thank you for your detailed and insightful analysis. The quality is quite good.

I would mention that Bush has not only taken the record from Bin Ladden for number of Americans killed, one could also argue that he has taken the record from Saddam for number of Iraq people killed. The exact number is unknown, but in the war to liberate Iraq from Saddam and in the subsequent occupation the number of Iraqi people killed is in the hundred of thousands, a large number of which are Civilians.

Hear, hear, Robert.

This should be a front page story.

I would mention that Bush has not only taken the record from Bin Ladden for number of Americans killed, one could also argue that he has taken the record from Saddam for number of Iraq people killed. The exact number is unknown, but in the war to liberate Iraq from Saddam and in the subsequent occupation the number of Iraqi people killed is in the hundred of thousands, a large number of which are Civilians.

This is a modern conflict. Most of the casualties are civilian, and every party to the conflict pretends that what happens to noncombatants is unintentional, or that they are somehow implicated, or that the decision to kill the defenseless was somehow forced upon them, . . .

Has anyone looked at casualties in Iraq to measure how many civilians have fallen as proxies for targets who are armed and dangerous?

Plamemania Countdown: 15 Days

1 January 2007
by emptywheel

Jeff and I have been exchanging a bit of neurotic Plame email this January 1, just 15 days short of Scooter Libby’s trial. And I think we might be closing in on some outstanding questions. (Normal caveats about speculation definitely apply–and a warning–these weeds are as deep as they get.)

First some background. Jeff and I were emailing about how the report on Wilson’s trip might be used. And Jeff had a great find–this passage from a May 19 Fitzgerald response to Libby’s motion to compel discovery.[…]

http://www.comics.com/comics/chickweed/

….dang resolutions.