Tim Blair

I love all of the snide comments about how these people can't wait to hear Saddam sing like a canary about his relationship with the US, and how he'll probably never make it to trial because the US can't risk him squealing. I guess the day they prevent Saddam for testifying at a trial will be an even day (Dubya is an evil genius on even days), whereas the day they captured Saddam and let him live was an odd day (Dubya is a retarded ape on odd days). I wonder what persona Dubya has during leap years? I guess we'll find out in 2004.

"Shropshireites" were singing this tune a long time ago when Bush I went after Noriega. "Noriega will never be caught alive, he's got too much dirt on Bush and Reagan."

Well, old pineapple face was captured, tried and is now sitting in a federal prison in Florida for the rest of his life.

The dirt on Bush I and Reagan? There wasn't any.

Like Noriega, Saddam will be tried openly. And there's no information that will be revealed about the Regan Administration's support for him during the Iran-Iraq war that we don't already know about. It was a short-term policy engendered by the fear of the Islamic revolution spreading through the region.

Doesn't matter. The satellite information, grain credits and cluster bombs provided Saddam - about $1-2 billion total sold - will be turned into "The U.S. created Saddam."

Well, if Reagan created Saddam, I guess FDR created Stalin and Clinton's $3 billion in aid to Kim Jung-Il created him too.

SMG

A quick visit to young Phil the Dill's collective asylum reveals to my shallow mind, a propensity to slag off at all of those who do not agree with their mindset. Sort of like me. Only human nature I guess. Their problem as I see it, is not so much a Left v Right ideology thing, more as a Political suicide v Another 4 years of Government, whether that be here or in the States.
These people can't fathom the fact that unless they create credible social and fiscal policies, the average "punter" just thinks "wankers" and goes back to voting conservative.
Rabid anti-war protests will NOT get you elected. This will not stop "warbloggers" taking the piss out of you. In fact, it provides amusement for those who like to see what their tard cousins on the wrong side of the tracks are up to.

Well, if Reagan created Saddam, I guess FDR created Stalin and Clinton's $3 billion in aid to Kim Jung-Il created him too.

And Pig Iron Bob created Tojo and co.

And the next thing you know we'll be hearing that George W. Bush was created by George Bush.

What's a 'sacriface' ? Is that when you selflessly hide your facial features from the world for the good of your fellow man ?

Actually, I'd say that Barbara Bush had much to do with George W Bush's creation as well. :)

And there's no information that will be revealed about the Regan Administration's support for him during the Iran-Iraq war that we don't already know about

Would that be an unknown known ?

I just spoke with Phil on the e-phone.

It was a simple mistake - he got Australia confused with Austria. Happens to us all, even here DownUnder.

I remember last year I waited at Sydney Airport to pick up my Uncle. When he didn't show I rang around and eventually had to catch a late flight to Innsbruck and fetch him home. "You silly old man" I said, "Get it right - you live in A-U-S-T-R-A-L-I-A, OK ?". He tried to repeat the spelling, but he got confused after the R ...

Anyway thats why Aussies had to invent Qantas way back in the '20s, cause even then we had to keep dashing off to Austria to rescue confused travellers.

Wow, Warblogger Watch. I've posted shitloads of stuff in their comments section, mostly abuse. Then they started blocking me, and it occured to me that I had better things to do anyway.

The combined traffic of those five sites must be what? Twenty thousand times that of Warblogger Wank? You watch them, they ignore you like the insects you are? Is that the deal?

Whatever. Idiots.

And the Politburo guy is a solid anti-fascist, though he mostly focuses on the left-wing fascism popular with our oh-so-sophisticated intellectual elites.

But I think I HAVE heard of an old-school holocaust-denier of the same name. Belive it or not, geniuses, in this large world two people might actually have the same one. There might even be a Phillip Shropshire out there without his head shoved up his ass.

Ha ha! Memories

Austria, Australia -- what's the difference? Now if BUSH had confused the two, it would be proof of his irredeemable idiocy.

In that same post, Shropshire comments:

Just to use myself as an illustration, I recently spent a year working for Americorps, where I taught poor kids and senior citizens basic elementary computer skills. I took home a whopping $200 bucks a week. But that's the kind of thing we bleeding heart liberals do. I'm being consistent... I smiled too when I introduced a kid to the joys of Opera and the realization that our blocking software didn't affect it.

First, I can't believe the poor wanker thought he was benefiting humanity by making a kid listen to opera; second, I can't believe the kid sat through it without kicking him in the groin, getting up and leaving. And third, what the hell does blocking software have to do with opera??

Phillip Shropshire, great white protector and guide to the brown and undertrodden.

No, no! Don't thank me, little people! Your tears of gratetude are all the reward I need. It's enough for me to labor tirelessly here amoung the angelic poor, a light where ther is none, a helping hand in a time of- hey watch it, get off my fucking car.. yes you!- time of need.

Er, that's Opera, not opera.

Sure you don't mean Oprah?

Blocking software often lumps the great art works of the world and other useful stuff in with the porn that kids aren't allowed to see.

Sorry if Im jsut being humourless, but Opera is a browser.

That's a known known. We know what there is to know. There may be unknown unknowns, that is, things you and I didn't even know not to know. On the other hand if these things exist than they are known unknowns for us from the point of view of those who know those things (they know we don't know), but for those people, the facts themselves are known knowns.

Another example of an known unknown is the actual mass of all the matter in the universe. It must be something (sort of) and we know that, we just don't know what that is: it's unknown.

The only way you can have an unknown known is if the information was inserted into your brain while you were asleep and you were carrying the secret plans but didn't know it.

Or if you were like Shirley McClain and you had past lives that remembered things you didn't know. But then, that would make you Cleopatra or something.

In that same post, Shropshire comments:

{...}

Sounds like Phil had/has some sort of self-esteem problem.

Peace activist: "Well America was on Saddam's side against Iran in the 80's."

Response: "Well MoveOn, and France, and you were on Saddam's side against America, and England, and Australia, and the Poles 8 months ago."

I think Opera is a browser. What he is saying is that he showed disadvantaged kids how to use a browser that doesn't block porn sites.

Cluster bombs? I don't think such things were provided to Iraq by the US at any time. I thought 45 utility helicopters (UH-1s) were the extent of the hardware (could be wrong). Grain credits, yes -- but of course Argentina, Canada, and Australia would have (routinely, properly)filled any unmet grain needs if US credits hadn't been available. (SteveMG's points all stand and I agree, I just don't recall any ordnance being sold to Iraq by the US)

Wonderful. I'm always gratified to hear what that doofus with my last name has been up to lately.

"sacrifaces"

Haw! Life rules.

So the consensus here is that 'anti-war' has been functioning as 'anti-America' and 'anti-freedom'; Warblogger-Watch has been 'we see through our own crippled filters'; and the liberal-left's desire to perceive America as 'bad-rootofallEVIL' is still extant and working, despite the SEVERE bashings received on account of Afghani Liberty, Iraqi freedom, Iraqi self-determination, Saddam's capture, the ongoing revelation of mass-graves and Libya's sudden high-contrast change of heart!

The consensus seems to be: "It really SUCKED to be a leftist this year!"

Just to use myself as an illustration, I recently spent a year working for Americorps, where I taught poor kids and senior citizens basic elementary computer skills. I took home a whopping $200 bucks a week. But that's the kind of thing we bleeding heart liberals do.

I spent several weekends last year building a house for a flood victim with Habitat for Humanity. And one weekend building a playground with Kaboom. And I made a whopping $0. (-$50 if you count gas money.) Damn! I'm must be bleeding heart liberal!

Does that mean I have to vote Democrat next year???

Quick! Find me some proletariats I can oppress so I can vote for Bush!!

Dear Alice ----
that would be 'Opera' the browser

So we'd be the country Hitler Anschlussed to?

Opera is a somewhat obscure web browser. Shropshire's comment: "I smiled too when I introduced a kid to the joys of Opera and the realization that our blocking software didn't affect it." is a reference showing a minor how to visit 'adult' web sites.

He missed our contribution? Damn, how embarassing. I guess we'll just have to ask Dubya to rustle up another darn ole war in the next term so we can have another shot.

Hey, what ever happened to the WBW Yahoo group? I actually miss that. I haven't been able to see the likes of Justin Raimondo bitch slapped by the likes of Megan McArdle for well over a year now, and that hurts me.

The three "big items" that are used by leftists to support the "US armed Saddam" meme:

1) 45 unarmed utility helicopters.
2) Vast quantities of agricultural credits redeemed for grain.
3) A standard vaccination strain of anthrax.

Now, yes, Saddam Hussein modified armed the helicopters. Does this mean anybody selling cars to Palestinians is an arms dealer because the transport vehicle can be turned into a weapon of war? Toyota created Hamas!

And yes, food credits allowed Saddam to feed his people while pouring money into his war machine. In that case, the UN Oil for Food program means the UN's hands are dirty, too. Kofi Annan created Hussein!

The last? Humanitarian assistance for the food supply, again. Sure, the weapons program could theoretically use it to create bioweapons, and it was perhaps unwise in light of later events. But anthrax is easy to get ahold of; it's common enough cattle disease that there is no way Hussein could not have gotten it from another source.

Contrast this with, say, the French, who sold Hussein a frickin' nuclear reactor and anitaircraft missiles. Or the Soviets, who sold him tanks and armed warplanes.

Re: "Opera" vs. "opera" vs. Uma vs. Oprah

Damn. Well, thanks, everybody. At least I learned something. But if Phil was showing the kid adult websites, it's even worse than I thought.

(signed) Ignorant Luddite

Kofi Annan created Hussein!

Actually it would have been Boutros Boutros Boutros Boutros Boutros Ghali (did I put in enough Boutroses?)

And God created Adams ... bastard

Arnold,
Did you forget to mention something about education and scholarship credits that come with AmeriCorps? Who paid for those scholarship credits, Arnold? Oh yes, that would be us proletariat-bashing thugs. Or did you think the money just popped out of thin air, leaked out of the lock box?

Not telling the whole story? Well that's what bleeding heart liberals do, eh?

Right now, there are over 100,000 people your age teaching people how to do all kinds of things that neither the young people or those they are helping knew only months ago. They don't make a pittance either. Mom can't send them airline tickets and they don't get to sleep with a bunch of 22-year-old hippie chicks from Ivy League schools because they're surrounded by men in camoflauge all day.

No, they get shot at.

Quit your whining, get a job, add to the economy, learn a trade and teach it to the next guy and volunteer on your free time like all the rest of us.

Mark Steyn in a recent column referenced a report from the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute (not exactly US friendly) on arms supplied to Iraq from 1973 to 2002. Conventional arms only - keep in mind this covers not only weapons but equipment to support troops in the field (i.e. trucks and stuff).

Top contributors were: Russia 57%, France 13%, China 12%, Brazil 2%...go way down on the list and you’ll find Britain and the US...a combined total that's less than what Brazil sold for crying out loud. Those countries (whose opinions on the Middle East we must respect) account for 75%.

http://projects.sipri.se/armstrade/atirq_data.html

Steyn notes that the anti-war point isn't really who gave em the weapons, it’s that the US has been guilty in the past of supporting bastards in the Mid East (a point Bush addressed in Great Britain some weeks ago – he called it, what was it? oh yes.. a failed policy).

Personally, I'm willing to give the US a pass on weapons we sold from 83 to 88 (those were the only years) since we had bigger problems east of Baghdad. But I'll buy Bush's position on it - it didn't work.

And let's not forget that it was the Great Humanitarian and Tireless Peace Crusader Himself, President Jimmy Carter, who wink wink nudged nudged Saddam into that catastrophic war with Iran.

The funny things about the "Saddam has drt on Bush" line are:

1. Why didn't Saddam use that information to blackmail Bush last year?

2. Why didn't Saddam tell Tony Benn or George Calloway or Robert Fisk or the New York Times?

3. Why was Saddam captured alive (or ofr the really nutty ones, why was he captured alive after being drugged and placed in teh hole by the Kurds)?

Anyway, Horray for Australia from the US! Waltzing Matilda!

I guess big Phil "I'll fight ya cos I'm over six foot tall" Shropshire never became that human shield in the end after all.

Maybe he can be a human shield to keep the 'resistance' at bay?

Tim- please don't introduce us to sites like that one again! Aaaaargh! What a bunch....