Of all tyrannies, a tyranny sincerely exercised for the good of its victims may be the most oppressive. It would be better to live under robber barons than under omnipotent moral busybodies. The robber baron's cruelty may sometimes sleep, his cupidity may at some point be satiated; but those who torment us for our own good will torment us without end for they do so with the approval of their own conscience.
--C.S. Lewis--

Monday, June 2, 2008

Ignore These Stories

There is no success in Iraq. Pay no attention to the man behind the curtain! These stories can be deceptive. Remember how we were told Maliki was too beholden to the Shia militias and would never tackle guys like Sadr? He sure messed that up by sending his troops in to take out the Mahdi army. Almost as badly as the Iraqi people messed up the predictions of disaster before they went to the polls. And how about the 18 benchmarks set up for Iraqi success. 12 completed and progress on another 5! If you were one of those fools who actually accepted the notion that George Bush isn't pure evil and success in Iraq is possible, things like this might trick you into believing that we're winning the war and shouldn't quit now. But don't worry. Keep the faith. Don't let anyone confuse the issue with an appeal to facts. Barack Obama will make sure we run far, fast, and quickly once he's elected. That will make us much safer and more respected, just as our reactions in Vietnam, Desert One, Beirut, and Somalia did.