Foolish me -- I've been reading Andrew Sullivan again:

I keep hearing from people who insist we should try "containment" of Iraq instead of war. They don't seem to have observed that we are where we are precisely because of twelve years of "containment".

You mean totally unmolested by Saddam's weapons? Yup, that's where we are after twelve years of containment, Andy.

...what can containment mean now? One thing it surely does mean is maintaining sanctions. As Tony Blair just noted, "The moral choice in relation to this is a moral choice that has to weigh up the moral consequences of war. But the alternative is to carry on with a sanctions regime which, because of the way Saddam Hussein implements it, leads to thousands of people dying needlessly in Iraq every year." Exactly.

Yes, it would be far more efficient if those civilians all died at once.

How odd that those who have long accused the West of murdering thousands of Iraqi babies because of sanctions now want to continue those sanctions indefinitely.

Yes, and how odd that the administration you praise as a moral force originally wanted to continue them as well.

But it seems to me that those who sincerely want to maintain the inspections farce and the sanctions tragedy need to be more honest in confronting the moral cost of this policy: not merely doing nothing credible to deter the threat to the West of weapons of mass destruction; not merely the signal to every terrorist and nuke-hungry dictator that the West is too weak to deal with them; not merely perpetuating and reinforcing one of the most hideous police states on the planet; not merely fatally undermining the credibility of the U.N.; but also maintaining the cruelty of famine for the next generation of Iraqi children. This is what the Pope apparently wants.

Hey, Andy, he's your Pope. I left the church at 14. Nobody's forcing you to stay.

Has the U.S. government deliberately withheld intelligence from the U.N. inspectors so that they'll fail to find weapons?

It sure seems that way.

Remember, the Bushies are the folks who say a nuke or gas attack from Baghdad on Main Street U.S.A. is likely to happen any day noon -- so soon that we don't have a few months to let the inspections process play out. Yet apparently we have time to let the inspectors search in vain while we withhold information that would help them find proscribed weapons. Forgive me if I fail to follow the logic.

It's Valentine's Day. Why not celebrate with a bottle of French wine, or a German beer? Belgian beers are splendid, as, of course, is Belgian chocolate.

Don't let the idiots win.

Did I say "idiots"? Sure did. Seen the front page of this morning's New York Post? Check it out, and by all means click to enlarge. The American right's long decline into irreversible infantilism is all but complete.

Eric Alterman lost his cool and said he'd be happy if Rush Limbaugh went deaf. Not his finest hour, but he has apologized (scroll down). (People should still buy his book What Liberal Media?)

Thinking about Rush's hearing reminded me that I meant to post a link to this column by Terry Golway. Golway, bored while driving recently, punched up Rush Limbaugh on the car radio. He writes:

As I don’t get a chance to listen to daytime radio, I can’t say I’m familiar with the civic culture of Limbaugh nation. So I was mildly surprised to hear that nation’s maximum leader carrying on about the stupidity of health insurance and the admirable but regrettably forgotten custom of simply paying Yankee dollars in exchange for services rendered. After all, Mr. Limbaugh told us, that’s what he does when he visits the doctor! Why, he has two or three or four (he can’t keep count!) health-insurance plans, including one foisted upon him by the union of radio blowhards, but he never uses these plans because he pays cash money for his medical needs. What a great nation we would be if only we were all like him! What kind of crypto-Euro-socialists have we become, that we rely on insurance companies to help pay for services we need?

So Did Rush pay cash, or write checks, for all the expenses related to his recent cochlear implant surgery?

And, more important, does he seriously believe that ordinary citizens -- people who, unlike him, don't make tens of millions of dollars a year -- should do the same if they (or their children) have cochlear implant surgery? This procedure and the follow-up cost a lot -- the estimates I found range from $30,000 to $62,000. Does Limbaugh truly believe that ordinary people can just pay for major surgery out of petty cash?

False Alarm? Terror Alert Partly Based on Fabricated Information

A key piece of the information leading to recent terror alerts was fabricated, according to two senior law enforcement officials in Washington and New York.

The officials said that a claim made by a captured al Qaeda member that Washington, New York or Florida would be hit by a "dirty bomb" sometime this week had proven to be a product of his imagination.

Dammit, I can't believe we fell for the Guantanamo braggarts again.

Yet even as I'm typing this, I'm hearing the teaser ad for the local eleven o'clock news, and it's all about the terror alert, as if it's utterly reliable.

Basta -- enough.

Here's a site that offers an ever-so-thoughtful critique of Martha Burk's complaints about the all-male Augusta National Golf Club, where the Masters tournament is held:

ShowBurkYourBalls.com

Ah, the maturity of conservatives.

A US-led military intervention in Iraq will trigger the collapse of Iraq's public health and food distribution system, leading to a humanitarian crisis that far exceeds the capacity of the United Nations and relief agencies, according to a report released at the U.N. by the New York-based Center for Economic and Social Rights (CESR).

--from CESR's Web site

And the report suggests that this will be true even if this prediction (as reported in yesterday's Washington Post) doesn't come true:

Faced with a U.S. invasion of Iraq, President Saddam Hussein would likely launch missile and terrorist attacks against Israel and U.S. facilities abroad, preemptive strikes against the Kurds in the north, and a "scorched-earth strategy" in Iraq "significant enough to stop a military advance," the Defense Department's top intelligence official said yesterday.

Vice Adm. Lowell E. Jacoby, director of the Defense Intelligence Agency, told the Senate intelligence committee that he expects Hussein would destroy Iraq's food and water supplies, and its transportation, energy and other infrastructure, creating a humanitarian disaster that would occupy the attention of U.S. troops trying to reach Baghdad and Iraqi military units.

Criticize him for whatever you want, but read this floor speech made yesterday by Senator Robert Byrd. It's the real State of the Union address.

(Thanks for the link, Phil.)

More on new MSNBC's new star, Michael Savage.

This man is the hellspawn of Howard Stern and David Duke. Go to the link if you think I'm exaggerating when I say that.

(Link courtesy of Tapped.)

How tough will an Iraq war be? Here's how the Daily Kos sees it -- if he's right, this will not be a cakewalk. Readers' comments are also worth your attention; a few of the better comments are in a follow-up.

Kos says, "I've never been a pacifist -- I am an Army vet with strong respect for our military and a great interest in military history and tactics. But there is such a thing as a "just war", a "necessary war", and this ain't it. Not by a long shot."

I know right-wingers can't get enough of this stuff ... but for Valentine's Day?

If this is what puts you in the mood, then please, please be sure you've got the shades drawn, because whatever it is you're doing, I sure don't want to see it.

An update on radio host Michael Savage, who's been hired to do a TV show for MSNBC: FAIR has put out an alert with some choice Savage soundbites. A sample:

"Turd world" immigrants are a frequent target of Savage's anger: "You open the door to them, and the next thing you know, they are defecating on your country and breeding out of control" (Oregonian, 4/24/02).

At times Savage's arguments echo the conspiratorial scapegoating of the white supremacist movement: "With the [Latino] population that has emerged, since they breed like rabbits, in many cases the whites will become a minority in their own nation... The white people don't breed as often for whatever reason. I guess many homosexuals are involved. That is also part of the grand plan, to push homosexuality to cut down on the white race" (San Francisco Bay Guardian, 9/20/00).

I won't buy a damn thing advertised on this man's show.

Atrios's comments section has the full FAIR alert. (And thanks to Atrios for the link to this site.)

HEY, YOU -- TAKE YOUR PRAYER MAT AND GET THE HELL OUT OF HERE! WE HAVE ASSES TO KICK!

US urges quick end to Hajj so it can prosecute war

The Saudi authorities have decided to cut short the rituals of this year’s Hajj (pilgrimage) in response to a US request to clear the peninsula of pilgrims so it can pursue a war with Iraq as soon as possible after the annual gathering.

The policy has been adopted as a "necessary" measure taken in accordance with a fatwa (religious edict) to that effect, a leading Egyptian paper reported on Saturday, February 8.

...The reported announcement raised questions whether there is an American request for an evacuation of the pilgrims amid great prospects for launching a military offensive against Iraq after Eid Al-Adha (Day of Sacrifice), an Islamic celebration marking the end of Hajj....

(Link courtesy Chris at Interesting Times, who wonders if this is true -- as do I. But if it is, it's appalling.)

YOUR TAX DOLLARS AT WORK

In his nearly 20 years in the US House of Representatives, New Jersey's James Saxton has built a solid if low-profile record as a moderate Republican.

But when it comes to Iraq, the unassuming Mr Saxton is an avowed hawk and he has now found a new target for his anger over European intransigence: the Paris Air Show.

The senior member of the House armed services committee has drafted a resolution, which he intends to introduce this week, that would call on all US companies and government officials to bypass the biennial gathering, widely regarded as the most important trade show for the industry.

Although the resolution would not be binding, Mr Saxton said if it passed he believed it would have a significant impact, particularly on the US military....

The resolution is only one of several efforts being considered in Congress to punish French industry. Dennis Hastert, speaker of the House, has discussed with Republican colleagues imposing regulations on French wine and bottled water imported into the US....

--Financial Times (link courtesy TBOGG)

The Speaker of the House! The guy who becomes the Leader of the Free World if anything happens to Bush and Cheney! Acting like ... like ... well, like a Utah state legislator:

In the latest example of antipathy in Utah toward the United Nations, a state House Committee passed a resolution that urges Congress to get the United States out of the world body. The bill now goes to full house, and if passed, would be sent to Utah's Congressional delegation. The measure was introduced by Rep. Don E. Bush of Clearfield who blamed the United Nations for a divided Korea and for the failure of the United States to oust Saddam Hussein in the 1991 Persian Gulf War. "If no U.N,, no Iraq," said Mr. Bush, who is not related to President Bush. "We could have finished them off." Several years ago, a town in Utah, LaVerkin, passed an ordinance that banned United Nations personnel from town limits. The ban was later dropped.

--New York Times

Is it willfully stupid in here, or is it me?

Just what the world needs ... another right-wing blowhard on cable "news" television.

Yup -- this guy.

Hey, why wait? Let's start the sponsor boycott now.

Last year the Iraqi dissident Kanan Makiya spoke of a democratic Iraq in the aftermath of a U.S. invasion and famously said, "If there's a sliver of a chance of it happening, a 5 to 10 percent chance, you have a moral obligation, I say, to do it."

OK. But as opponents of the war have said for months, an invasion also increases the likelihood -- probably by far more than 5 to 10 percent -- of quite a few horrors as well. U.S. News & World Report now lists the calamities most likely to result from this war:

Six Deadly Fears

1. Iraqi forces unleash their chemical or biological weapons arsenal.

2. Saddam Hussein makes a bloody last stand in Baghdad.

3. Iraq's oil wells are turned into fields of fire.

4. Saddam puts civilians in harm's way.

5. Terrorists acquire Saddam's weapons of mass destruction.

6. Once Saddam is ousted, Iraq descends into chaos.

The article has details. Panglossian pro-war naïfs would do well to read it.

Schroeder: U.S., British forces free to operate in Germany even without U.N. backing

BERLIN - Germany will allow U.S. and British forces full use of their German bases in case of war with Iraq even if it is not backed by the U.N. Security Council, Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder signaled in remarks published Wednesday.

Despite his steadfast refusal to support war, Schroeder made a broad pledge last year to ensure unhindered use of military bases and overflights for the United States and other allies.

Asked by Stern magazine whether that also applies to a war without U.N. mandate, Schroeder said: "This is not about legal pettiness, but about a political decision. I have always declared that we will not limit our allies' freedom of movement."

"That applies to the United States as well as Britain," he said in an interview in the weekly's latest edition.

I just thought I'd post this. It doesn't fit into the evil-pacifist-Euro-scum master narrative, so it probably won't make your eleven o'clock news.

Last week I accused conservative columnist Michelle Malkin of garbling a Shakespeare reference made by pro-gun academic John Lott. She e-mailed me and said he garbled the reference. I asked for proof -- a tape. She's now written back to say there's no tape.

This is trivial, I know. But let's not forget that for twenty years the right has accused the left of being hostile to the Western canon. When a prominent right-winger -- either Malkin or Lott -- garbles a simple Shakespeare reference, I reserve the right to turn snarky and point it out. Hey, I have to have some fun.

Bin Laden is now rooting for the Iraqis? If it's true it doesn't surprise me, and no, it doesn't change my belief that al-Qaeda hasn't had ties to Saddam. Look, I grew up in Boston -- specifically, the Italian neighborhood of East Boston -- and I lived through the busing years of the 1970s. Prior to busing, East Boston and South Boston were football rivals, and Eastie-Southie games were frequently accompanied by Eastie-Southie fights (and the fights were hardly limited to Thanksgiving day). But when busing came along, the fighting stopped because the neighborhoods decided they had common enemies: blacks, pro-busing liberals, Judge Arthur Garrity. I've always imagined that Bush's jihad would bring a lot of traditional rivals together -- united against America and the West. And that, I'm afraid, may well be precisely what's happening

The GOP. Pro wrestling. Separated at birth?

Rep. King calls France "second-rate," suggests separate alliance

A congressman from New York state weighed in on the touchy international standoff over Iraq on Tuesday, calling France "a second-rate country" that should be left out of any future defense coalitions.

Peter King, a Republican on the House International Relations Committee, accused France of using its influence in the Security Council and NATO to hobble international cooperation aimed at disarming Iraq of weapons of mass destruction.

"We may have to restructure the alliance, form a new alliance which the French will not be a part of," said King of Long Island, a New York City suburb. "We cannot allow a second-rate country to have a veto power or obstructionist power over American foreign policy."

The congressman argued that France also delayed successful military intervention in Bosnia and Kosovo in the 1990s.

"France is posturing itself as a moral guardian, when they would have lost World War I, and they set a world record in World War II for the quickest surrender by a world power."

King said he has had "all these French people calling me up and attacking me" since making similar comments in a BBC radio interview late Monday night, in which he said the French could go to Iraq "to instruct the Iraqis in how to surrender."

King said he is not worried about offending French sensibilities because "they are yesterday's people." ...

We are on the brink of the most geopolitically dangerous moment in at least forty years and all the audible voices in the party that dominates all three branches of the U.S. government belong to people who sound as if they should be bragging on a barstool.

Grow up, all of you.