April 28, 2003

VIA the Bunyip, this March

VIA the Bunyip, this March 31 war commentary from the Australian Financial Review's Michael Pascoe (subscription required for AFR link):

It looks like a little dose of reality has finally been allowed into George Junior's war party. It will be rather lonely there by itself but before long it should be joined by its friend, disillusionment.

Together they will stand against a wall, casting dark looks around the room, asking each other in voices growing steadily louder: "How did we get into this mess?"

The rest of the party will try hard to ignore them, then to disparage them, but they won't be silenced. The party will begin to break down as arguments start about who let "them" in. Eventually most will give up and depart, with the remainder left to bickering and finger-pointing, until finally agreeing with the question. "Yeah, how did we get into this mess?"

By the end of the party Tony Blair and John Howard will have lost or resigned their jobs. George Junior will remain in denial, locked like Macbeth into a course where he is so steeped in blood it's as easy to go on as to turn back. He will have guaranteed an escalation and extension of terrorism against the west, destabilised the Middle East further and made sure that, just like his Dad, he's a one-term president.

It's possible to see only one person happy as the party dissolves - the tall skinny guy, smiling broadly under his beard and answering to the name of Osama.

With the Pentagon now admitting publicly what it tried to tell George Junior privately, that this Iraq war will take months, not weeks, there are terrible implications to be thought through. This war so far is going to Saddam's plan, not George's.

The last time I checked, both Tony Blair and John Howard still had their jobs. So does Pascoe, oddly enough.

Posted by Tim Blair at April 28, 2003 01:10 PM
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