24 February 2005

It's over, move on

[source, source]

Javier Solana refused to play along with the EU’s enforced lovefest with George Bush this week, telling the International Herald-Tribune that the Iraqi elections meant little in terms of vindication for Bush’s policies in the Middle East:

The EU’s foreign policy chief cast public doubt on the health of the transatlantic partnership yesterday, puncturing the euphoric claims by European and American officials that President George W Bush had opened a new era in relations.

Javier Solana disputed the American view that last month’s elections in Iraq had vindicated the US decision to invade and questioned whether the Bush administration’s promises of a new era in relations with Europe meant anything. […]

Mr Solana made his deeply pessimistic remarks in an interview with the International Herald Tribune. He disputed the American view that the Iraq elections vindicated the decision to invade.

“Is this a vindication when you count how many billions of dollars have been spent, how many people have been killed, how many soldiers have died? It is a little too early to say.”

Well, I have to agree that the elections don’t vindicate the decision to invade. That was vindicated long ago. Besides, since the lives and money aren’t European, who is Solana to say whether it was well spent?

As for the new era for the transatlantic alliance, I agree that President Bush is starting one. It will be one where the USA has given any hope of Europe being useful and so will simply say nice things about an old relationship while moving on to new ones.

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It's bad enough I have to write for it, I don't want to have to read it as well

A good ripping on the delusional state of on the New York Times editorial writers, Frank Rich. Rich claims that Old Media was all over the Eason Jordan controversy but ignored the Jeff Gannon story. Through excellent linking this is shown to the case only for an alternate reality.

Posted by orbital at 3:41 PM | View 0 TrackBacks | Trackback URL

Where do they get this stuff?

[source, source]

An American soldier overseas is fuming over letters he received from Brooklyn middle-school children accusing GIs of destroying mosques and killing civilians in Iraq.

Pfc. Rob Jacobs of New Jersey said he was initially ecstatic to get a package of letters from sixth-graders at JHS 51 in Park Slope last month at his base 10 miles from the North Korea border.

That changed when he opened the envelope and found missives strewn with politically charged rhetoric, vicious accusations and demoralizing predictions that only a handful of soldiers would leave the Iraq war alive.

Most of the 21 letters Jacobs provided to The Post mentioned some support for the armed forces, if not the Iraq war, and thanked him for his service. But nine of the students made clear their distaste for the president or the war.

Some of the quotes:

One girl wrote that she believes Jacobs is “being forced to kill innocent people” and challenged him to name an Iraqi terrorist, concluding, “I know I can’t.”

Another girl wrote, “I strongly feel this war is pointless,” while a classmate predicted that because Bush was re-elected, “only 50 or 100 [soldiers] will survive.”

A boy accused soldiers of “destroying holy places like mosques.”

As it turns out, Jacobs is currently stationed in South Korea, not Iraq. Now, it’s an obvious assumption that perhaps the teacher “helped” with these letters, but I frankly wouldn’t be surprised if the kids picked this kind of thing up from their parents. But even if that’s true, it doesn’t excuse the teacher and school for passing on the letters.

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