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December 22, 2003:
We Saved 25 Million:
According to news interviews, the informant who sold out Hussein
will not get the payoff. He only gave the information after what
the administration called intense interrogation. Could it be
that we have developed a new acronym for torture? Oh well, a
penny saved as the saying goes.
Be Prepared:
I learned that Sixty Minutes cannot do a credible job in dealing
with new situations. They have to be prepared well in advance,
probably months. They must have made a quick switch when the
Hussein news broke. They dumped whatever they had planned for
December 14, probably another rerun, and threw together a random
bunch of pieces. They should have stayed with what they had planned.
What they presented seemed to be incoherent. This makes me realize
how contrived their normal shows must be.
Much as I despise him, I almost felt sorry for Rumsfeld. Stahl
went after him like and apprentice butcher with a dull knife
trying to cut warm pork. She constantly interrupted his answers
to fire new volleys. She belabored points by re-asking questions
that had already been answered. She seems unable to listen. At
one point she practically accused him of torturing. She kept
on with that even after he explained the Geneva Convention to
her. She never let up in her aggressive assault. Though I hate
to admit it, Rumsfeld deported himself quite well. I got that
he is considerably smarter and much better composed that his
interrogator.
What Did We Capture?
We have been looking for a strutting, arrogant, murdering madman.
When he finally went to ground, what we had was a tired sick
confused old man. I hope all of his agents who are still fighting
got to see the heroic figure they are fighting for. No hero he.
Coward is the better term. His sons had courage. He did not.
About the Trial:
Bush seems to think that Hussein should be tried in an Iraqi
court. That is madness. Iraq is not qualified or prepared to
do that. If you want the trial to be seen as legitimate it must
be held in the world court. Nothing less will do. We do not want
a vendetta. We want a legal trial that will stand the test of
world opinion over time.
The Dead Giveaway:
I have found this to be a very reliable test of a writer who
is trying to make a case with no real evidence. He will jump
around from subject to subject giving a bit of this and a bit
of that without really linking any of the pieces together. Perhaps
he is somehow hoping that the shear mass of minutia will be convincing.
If you find the first chapter of a book to be like this, you
can safely put it down. I assure you it won't get better. For
proof, try Pinker with his "Blank Slate," or Colin
with "The Occult."
Hinckley:
He is the guy who shot Reagan and destroyed Brady's life. The
judge actually let that scum bag have unsupervised visits with
his parents on the recommendation of a shrink. Here is what should
happen when he goes nuts and breaks the law again. The shrink
and the judge should be charged and tried as accessories before
the fact.
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