August 26, 2003

THE GREAT ALI

Tariq Ali is claiming some very precise Nostradamus-like abilities:

Contrary to the cocooned Iraqis who had been on the US payroll for far too long and told George Bush that US troops would be garlanded with flowers and given sweets, we warned that the occupation would lead to the harrying and killing of Western soldiers on a daily basis and would soon develop into a low-intensity guerilla war.

I haven’t Googled all of Tariq’s pre-war commentary -- who could? -- but I did turn up a few predictions before the vomiting became too intense. This is from last September:

There is growing anger and signs of unrest in every capital. There have been large demonstrations in Saudi Arabia and Egypt. The region could erupt if the "war against terror" is extended to Iraq ...

A near-universal view is that if waged and won, far from being seen as a deterrence, it would greatly facilitate the growth of mass support for terrorist groups.

Hasn’t happened. And no mention of “killing Western soldiers on a daily basis, developing into a low-intensity guerilla war”, etc. Tariq the Future Teller had this to say in January:

I think, curiously enough, the war in Iraq and the occupation of Iraq and the substitution of Saddam with a U.S. puppet government, so the oil can be shared out as war trophy is bound to create resistance sooner or later. It may take four years. It may take ten years. We don’t know.

Except with hindsight. As late as April, with the initial phase of the war complete, Tariq’s crystal balls were still feeding him a “sooner or later” line with no specifics about daily soldier killings or low-intensity guerillas:

Sooner or later, the resistance will begin. My only hope is that it's a nationalist resistance, not a religious one.

Wish on, wishboy. The resistance -- such as it is -- “predicted” by Tariq Ali is hardly nationalistic, unless one imagines attacks on oil and water supplies to be the work of those supportive of Iraqi advancement. Enough foreign fighters are apparently present among the “resistance” to indicate at least some religious component.

Prove your predictive powers, Tariq. Tell us by how much Collingwood will win the 2003 Grand Final. And no fair supplying an answer in October.

Posted by Tim Blair at August 26, 2003 05:07 AM
Comments

i want to hear more about roasted stomachs; is that what one eats when suffering from 'quagmire'?

Posted by: Mr. Bingley at August 26, 2003 at 05:36 AM

Speaking of quagmire, [url=http://www.townhall.com/columnists/thomassowell/]Thomas Sowell[/url] has a great piece on the Iraqi quagmire.

Posted by: Matt from Vegas at August 26, 2003 at 05:55 AM

Geh...it says right there..."How to post a link"...geh...

Posted by: Matt from Vegas at August 26, 2003 at 05:56 AM

Ali - Bumaye!

Posted by: Yobbo at August 26, 2003 at 07:26 AM

May Collingwood's players' stomachs be roasted over a bonfire as Eddie is forced into servitude as Essendon's boots boy. Bombers Akbar!

Posted by: Jake D at August 26, 2003 at 09:34 AM

Don't forget the "hundreds of thousands of deaths" predictions, nor the "carpet bombing" prediction, nor the "ecological crisis" ones.

Hmmm... 'insightful' commentary from Susan Block: it's all about penis size (hey, at least it makes a change from "all about oil", right?), and she'd know cos she's a sex thrapist, see "So that's what it comes down to: dicks. Size does matter. But so does staying power. Hundreds of thousands of people may die, all over a couple of Dickheads, one of whom has political blueballs."

Posted by: FD at August 26, 2003 at 10:06 AM

Wasn't there some info out last week on the organizers of the 'massive protests' on the 'arab street' in such places as Jordan and Saudi?

Had seen somewhere that several of these people were now on the run because the money they had promised the attendees was no longer available after Sadaams fall from power...

Protest mobs angry over not being paid...could this be another "sign of growing unrest?"

Posted by: aRonD at August 26, 2003 at 02:12 PM

Thought this post was great, Tim, till I reached the Collingwood crap.
If Eddiewood wins the GF, I'll WALK back to Australia!

Posted by: Richard at August 26, 2003 at 08:56 PM